Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what additional support the Government is providing to people in Kashmir to help the region with the covid-19 outbreak.

The UK has so far pledged £744 million to tackle Covid-19 and save lives around the world. This includes £250 million to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation to rapidly develop a COVID-19 vaccine, the biggest donation of any country.

The World Bank (in which the UK has a significant shareholding) has already made a $6 billion available – including to India and to Pakistan - to support governments to strengthen health systems, including better access to health services to safeguard people from the epidemic, strengthen disease surveillance, and bolster public health interventions.

DFID's programmes in India focus on the lowest income states, which do not include Kashmir. DFID's programmes in Pakistan include support to Azad Jammu and Kashmir.