Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which sanctions have harmed humanitarian efforts to help civilian populations in countries such as Iraq and Syria; and whether they intend to report to Parliament on that matter on a regular basis.

The Government pursues a policy of targeted sanctions aimed at maximising the desired political effect while minimising unintended consequences. This includes working with international and domestic partners to protect humanitarian efforts as far as possible from the impact of EU sanctions against Syria, UN sanctions against Iraq, and UN sanctions against Daesh and Al'Qaida. We engage regularly with charities and other implementing partners to minimise the impact of sanctions on these humanitarian efforts, for example through the guidance published on 19 October by Her Majesty's Treasury's Official of Financial Sanctions Implementation. The EU carries out regular reviews of its sanctions and the UN Security Council receives monitoring reports from panels of experts. The UK participates actively in these review processes and reports to Parliament on the EU's regular reviews of its sanctions regimes through the agreed scrutiny process for EU legislation.