Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that there is safe drinking water available in (a) Sri Lanka and (b) all other Commonwealth countries.

The UK is committed to supporting countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 6 target of universal access to water and sanitation by 2030. Since 2015, we have supported 40 million people to gain access to clean water and sanitation. This includes beneficiaries in Commonwealth countries in Africa and Asia such as Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

DFID has also supported Commonwealth countries in the Caribbean. For example, following Hurricane Maria DFID allocated £25 million to Dominica to repair and strengthen the water supply system across the island.

DFID’s bilateral programme in Sri Lanka country closed in 2006 when the country graduated to middle income status, and DFID does not have water and sanitation programmes in Sri Lanka.