Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of Ethiopia about the need for unfettered humanitarian access to Tigray.

The Government is deeply concerned about the grave humanitarian situation in Ethiopia and we have been consistent in calling for unfettered humanitarian access and continue to do so. We are deeply concerned about the impact of the conflict on food security and nutrition in Tigray, including for young children. Over 350,000 people are assessed to be in famine-like conditions - more than anywhere else in the world. We have raised these points with the Government in Addis Ababa consistently and at the highest levels, most recently during the visit of the UK Special Envoy for Famine Prevention and Humanitarian Affairs, Nick Dyer, in May.

On 14 June the Minister for Africa announced the UK will allocate £16.7m to the crisis in Tigray. This will support civil-military coordination to help aid get to those in need and address famine risk through the provision of healthcare, sanitation, and nutrition. This allocation is on top of the existing £27m in 2020-21 already directed to the response, and an additional £4m allocated to support nutrition and vaccinations in Tigray. This brings UK total funding to support response to the crisis to £47.7m. As the Minister for Africa said in his recent statement of 23 June, we urge all parties to the conflict to protect civilians, respect international humanitarian law and agree an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.