Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government plans to take to support the prevention of future chemical weapon attacks by the Assad regime in Syria.

Holding to account those responsible for chemical weapons attacks is essential to deter and prevent further use. We support the expert Fact Finding Mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) which is investigating the attack on Khan Sheikhoun on 4 April, and which will draw on a variety of sources, including samples, video footage and interviews to determine what happened. Following any findings of the Fact Finding Mission, it will then be for the UN-OPCW Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) to identify 'to the greatest extent feasible' those responsible.

We believe that the US action on 7 April was a necessary, appropriate and justified response to an awful crime. It sent a message that the era during which Assad's barbarism met with passivity and inaction has come to an end.