Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will ensure that (a) prioritisation for medical evacuation and treatment of children from Gaza is based solely on clinical urgency and medical need and (b) it is not contingent on the availability of private funding or charitable sponsorship.

The Government is working urgently to get some of the critically ill and injured children medically evacuated from Gaza.

The United Kingdom is partnering with the World Health Organization (WHO), which works on the ground and plays a critical role in supporting medical evacuations from Gaza. Clinical leaders in the NHS are working to match Gazan children to a priority list of those needing specialist medical care, provided by medical specialists in Gaza to the WHO, where there is capacity within the NHS to treat them.

Children will only be transferred to the UK where it is clinically safe to do so and in the interests of each individual patient. As such, we will ensure medical assessments are undertaken before they travel.

The UK Government will meet all the costs of those evacuated as part of this process.