Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of Overseas Development Assistance to the Palestinian Authority has been spent on the Palestinian Authority Martyrs Fund in each year for which information is available.

No UK aid is used for prisoner payments or the fund to which you refer. UK aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) is used exclusively to pay the salaries of vetted health and education public servants, including teachers, doctors and nurses, in the West Bank. Our money goes into a special, dedicated bank account before being paid to individuals who have been vetted in advance through the European Union Palestinian-European Socio-Economic Management Assistance Mechanism (PEGASE), ensuring UK funding is not diverted. The UK has never allocated aid to the Martyrs Fund to which you refer and we have always had financial safeguards in place to ensure UK aid reaches the intended beneficiaries. UK aid to the PA in 2018 helped immunise up to 3,700 children, provide around 185,000 medical consultations, and educate around 24,000 young Palestinians.