Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to improve humanitarian access to South Sudan.

The international community continues to face obstructions to the delivery of humanitarian aid by parties to the conflict. This is completely unacceptable.

Alongside our international partners, the UK is continuing to engage with South Sudan’s leaders at the highest level to make clear that physical and bureaucratic obstacles to the delivery of lifesaving aid must cease immediately.

Despite these obstructions, UKAid continues to save lives. We have been working with UN, Red Cross and INGO partners to distribute life-saving assistance such as food, shelter and medicines across the country, and to preposition humanitarian supplies to ensure adequate stocks to meet needs are in place before the rainy season.