Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many (a) veterans and (b) widows of veterans have been supported through the Commonwealth Veterans Programme to date this financial year.

Through the Commonwealth Veteran's Programme, FCDO provides regular cash transfers to Commonwealth veterans and their widows and widowers in 29 countries to ensure they receive the equivalent of two healthy meals a day to prevent them from going hungry.

Disbursements are currently underway for this financial year (April 2020 to March 2021). To date, 2,293 veterans and 2,279 widows of veterans have received support. We do not track the number of households benefitting from this programme, because support is made on an individual basis.