Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment she has made of the levels of humanitarian access available to organisations operating in Bangladesh and Burma.

We are one of the largest bilateral donors to the Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh, with a total contribution of £59 million, and we have been working with the Government of Bangladesh to facilitate the important work of NGOs. In Burma we continue to press for better humanitarian access. We are working through the Red Cross and the World Food Programme to provide some emergency assistance but we would like to do more. Many urgent needs are not being met because of government restrictions on access.