Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent reports he has received on the Palestinian Authority's policy of payment of salaries to the families of convicted terrorists; what information his Department holds on the basis and scale of such payments; and if he will make a statement.

We receive no such reports. The Ministry of Finance publishes expenditure on its website on a monthly basis, including a breakdown by Ministry. The Palestinian Authority Prime Minister and other Ministers have been clear in both public and to us that their payments to families of prisoners are intended to sustain families whose primary breadwinner has been imprisoned. However, no UK money is used for payments to Palestinian prisoners or their families.