Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has used contractors to provide (a) information and (b) analysis to the International Humanitarian Law Compliance Assessment Process Cell.

Our International Humanitarian Law (IHL) assessments include information from a wide range of sources, including a third-party contractor specialising in geolocation verification and consider analysis from a wide range of sources including the UN, Non-Governmental Organisations, media and organisations on the ground.

The UK's operational mandate has been narrowly defined to focus on securing the release of the hostages only. These Royal Air Force surveillance flights are unarmed and do not have a combat role. We will not comment further on detailed intelligence matters to protect operational security.