Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she has had with the UN on its aid agencies requiring permission from the Syrian regime in order to deliver aid within that country.

The "Supporting Syria and the Region London 2016" Conference was held on 4 February last week, and more than US$11 billion was pledged to support people in Syria and the region affected by the conflict, the largest amount raised in one day for a humanitarian crisis. Commitments made at the Conference will help to create 1.1 million jobs and provide education to an additional 1 million children. The UK remains at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have doubled our commitment and have now pledged a total of over £2.3 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. The outcomes of the conference are reflected in the Co-hosts' statement available on the Conference website www.supportingsyria2016.com.

The Department for International Development continues to hold regular conversations with the UN and International non-governmental organisations (INGOs) on the issue of humanitarian access inside Syria. We have provided support to the UN and INGOs since the start of the conflict to deliver aid in hard to reach and besieged areas of Syria. Our funding model inside Syria is designed to give maximum flexibility to UN agencies to respond quickly when pockets of humanitarian access open up.

However, in the past year, only 10% of all requests submitted by the UN to the regime to access besieged and hard to reach areas have been approved and delivered. That is why the UK lobbied hard for UN Security Council resolutions 2165, 2191 and 2258, enabling the UN to deliver aid across borders without the consent of the regime. As a result, 240 shipments of cross-border aid have been delivered by road to Syrians in need.

Attempting to deliver humanitarian assistance without the consent of the parties to the conflict is extremely challenging. There is a risk that shipments of humanitarian assistance would be physically stopped and confiscated, humanitarian staff placed in danger and that convoys could come under attack. Likewise, delivering assistance without consent may risk undermining ongoing negotiations on humanitarian access to the 4.6 million people in hard to reach areas across Syria.

Consequently, the most effective way to get food to people who are starving and stop these needless and horrific deaths is for Assad and all parties to the conflict to adhere to international humanitarian law. We continue to call on all parties to allow immediate and unfettered access to all areas of Syria. On 4 February, the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference also brought leaders together to demand an end to these abuses and obstruction of humanitarian aid.