Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent discussions her Department has had with the Start Network on humanitarian emergencies and the (a) financial and (b) logistic support needed to address them.

The Start Network manages the Start Fund, a pooled fund for humanitarian response that focuses on rapid response to underfunded, and small-medium scale emergencies. Since the START Network’s inception, DFID has been the largest donor to the Start Fund, contributing £46 million since 2014, and has helped the START Network grow in size and influence.

DFID sits on the Strategic Advisory Board of the START Fund Council which provides strategic oversight of the fund. The Department attended the most recent Start Fund Council meeting in the Hague in November 2017.