Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to help improve access to (a) clean drinking water and (b) sanitation in fragile and conflict affected states and regions.

The UK is committed to improving access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) for people in the developing world. The FCDO WASH programmes that are in fragile and conflict affected states including in Chad, DRC, Ethiopia and Mozambique. One example is the £18.5 million 4-year WASH Systems for Health program which works with governments and stakeholders to strengthen the planning, finance, management and accountability systems to improve water and sanitation services. We are also providing UNICEF with £6.25 million over 4 years to strengthen the capacity of governments to provide climate resilient WASH services in countries including fragile and conflict-affected states.