Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the demands of Syrians and active Syrian civil society groups are taken into account when formulating its policies on Syria for 2021.

HMG regularly engages with Syrian civil society groups to ensure their views are taken into account when developing Syria policy, at both official and Ministerial level. On 7 December, I discussed the UK's Syria policy with UK-based members of Syrian civil society. The previous week I met Syrians affected by the conflict and scholars of our Chevening scheme during my visit to Lebanon. The UK Syria Envoy hosted a virtual roundtable on 9 December with over 10 UK-based Syrian Civil Society groups and NGOs. Additionally the UK is clear that civil society, women and minorities must play a role in the UN-facilitated political process to reach a lasting settlement to the conflict.