Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what support the Government has provided to Kenya to help tackle the impacts of drought in the last two years.

The UK is deeply concerned by worsening drought conditions in Kenya as well as in neighbouring countries. On 17 January, I announced a package of emergency humanitarian support budgeted at £17 million to assist nearly one million people across the East Africa region impacted by drought and other humanitarian pressures. From this package Kenya received help to deliver life-saving nutritional assistance to 26,000 children in areas worst affected by drought.

Since 2007, the UK has provided over £160 million of assistance to the Kenyan Government to establish an early warning system on drought and create a social protection system that regularly reaches 100,000 poor and vulnerable households (c.600,000 people) through cash transfers. During drought, the Kenyan Government uses this system to reach an additional 275,000 households (c.1.6 million people), helping meet urgent needs like food and water. UK support makes a difference on the ground. In past two years, we have supported the programme's transition to a more sustainable, long-term model under Kenyan Government ownership and financing. UK funding for such programmes, which seek to reduce poverty and improve resilience of households in arid and semi-arid lands, will continue. The UK has also provided expertise to the Kenyan Government to establish innovative and sustainable financing mechanisms such as climate insurance to reduce the impact of recurrent droughts on the economy.