Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the statement by the Commissioner-General for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) on 17 November that the global economic situation has pushed the agency into a "danger zone", whether they have held any emergency meetings with UN partner countries to discuss funding for that agency.

We are longstanding supporters of The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and their work to provide essential services to 5.8 million Palestinian refugees across the OPTs, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. We are aware that the agency has faced funding shortfalls in recent years, which has made it even more challenging to continue service delivery. At the UNRWA pledging conference in New York in June 2022, we announced a new multi-year funding programme with the agency and will provide £15m in 2022. On 22 September in New York, I [Lord Ahmad] attended a Ministerial dialogue on UNRWA's financial situation where I reiterated UK support for the agency and the need for the international community to support it to be on a more viable financial footing.