Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current humanitarian situation in Venezuela; and what steps they are taking to contribute to the improvement of the lives of Venezuelan citizens.

The UK is extremely concerned by the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. Since 2019, HMG has spent £37 million in humanitarian aid in response to the Venezuelan crisis, focusing on health, nutrition, and water and sanitation, both inside Venezuela, and with refugees in countries in the region. Inside Venezuela, our funds have also made an important contribution to childhood vaccinations, and strengthening the capacity of the country to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to the entire population. As a result of the economic contraction, the UK will not be funding new bilateral humanitarian programmes in response to the Venezuela crisis in 2021. Our remaining programmes will end in July 2021 as planned.

We will still be spending around £10 billion in Official Development Assistance (ODA) globally, meaning that we will remain one of the largest donor countries in the world. The UK continues to be the largest contributor to the United Nations' Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), and provides considerable funding to other multilateral humanitarian agencies. We are proud to be a founding donor of the Venezuela Humanitarian Fund, which is increasing funding to national NGOs, and are exploring whether we might be able to provide some additional funding to the Venezuela Humanitarian Fund for work inside Venezuela. We will continue to work with others through diplomatic channels in addressing the root causes of the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela.