Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to support people in (a) Bangladesh and (b) India following the recent flooding of the Brahmaputra river.

I am deeply saddened by the impacts of the recent flooding in India and Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, the UK provided £195,000 to support the response during the first wave of flooding in May. We contributed a further £442,500 after the second wave of flooding in June. This funding continues to support the provision of cash assistance, water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, search and rescue operations, shelter management and provisional education materials. Since 2004, the Government of India has stated publicly it neither seeks nor accepts official international assistance ‎from foreign governments for disaster relief.