Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps he is taking to ensure that some of the Government’s £160 million humanitarian aid package for Yemen is used to stop the spread of covid-19 in communities on both sides of the conflict; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of using UN-backed Yemeni-led frameworks established by (a) the International Initiative on COVID-19 in Yemen and (b) other private sector organisations to deliver aid to both sides.

The UK announced our new pledge of £160 million in humanitarian funding for Yemen in the 2020/21 financial year at the Yemen Pledging Conference on 2 June.

As part of this commitment, the UK will support the UN’s plans to tackle the spread of COVID-19 in Yemen and expects to provide over 700,000 medical consultations, train 12,000 healthcare workers to work safely in a COVID-19 environment and provide a much-needed boost to nearly 4,000 health centres to continue providing existing health services.

In addition, the UK is also supporting the Yemeni Private Sector Cluster, which in April sourced a vital shipment of COVID-19 related supplies and equipment for Yemen.