Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps she is taking with international partners to engage conflict parties in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo to improve humanitarian access to areas affected by the Ebola outbreak.

Further to my statement to the House on 21 May (HCWS60), the Minister of State for International Development visited Kinshasa on 29 May to see first-hand how agencies on the ground are responding to the Ebola outbreak, with the support of the UK and other international partners, and to discuss that response with the Director General of the World Health Organization. We will provide further updates to Parliament in due course, as this fast-moving and deeply concerning situation continues to unfold.