Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much of the £40 million Chagossian assistance package, announced by the Government on 16 November 2016, has been distributed to the Chagossian community by each Government Department.

As the package covers the next ten years, the Government is taking the time necessary to carry out scoping studies and discuss ideas with Chagossian communities in the UK and overseas in order to develop cost-effective programmes which will make the biggest improvement to the lives of those Chagossians who need it most. Accordingly, we are yet to begin disbursing funding from the support package to the Chagossian community, and it is too early to confirm how funds from the package will be allocated across the UK.