Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the government of Iraq in re-assimilating newly liberated regions from Daesh/ISIL; what steps the Government is taking to assist Iraq with such assimilation; and if he will make a statement.

The Government of Iraq is committed to stabilising areas which have been liberated from Daesh by providing the governance, services and security necessary to enable the safe return of Iraqis to these areas. The Global Coalition is supporting the Government of Iraq to do this, including by working through the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Funding Facility for Immediate Stabilisation. In the last year, UNDP report that these efforts have contributed to the return of 170,000 people to Tikrit, 49,000 people to Al Dour and 15,000 people to Mkeishifa. The UK has supported these efforts by providing £2.5 million to UNDP, deploying stabilisation advisors to UNDP and to the British Embassy in Baghdad, deploying a Communications Advisor to support the Governor of Anbar, and providing £225,000 to United Nations Mine Action Service to establish a coordination unit to assess the scope of explosive threats.