Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with reference to the oral evidence given by Andrew McCoubrey, Director for Afghanistan and Pakistan of his Department, to the Foreign Affairs Committee on Follow-up to Afghanistan Inquiry on 17 October 2023, Q33, HC 1888 of Session 2022-23, what steps the Government has taken to encourage the World Bank to release further funds from the Afghanistan Resilience Trust Fund to provide (a) humanitarian assistance following the recent earthquake in Afghanistan and (b) support for Afghan people during winter 2023-23.

The FCDO is committed to supporting Afghanistan's citizens, including helping them respond to the recent earthquake. We provided an additional £1 million to Red Cross and the Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund to provide emergency shelter, food and health assistance. The UK has been instrumental in unlocking over $1 billion through the Afghanistan Resilience Trust Fund and we continue to work with the World Bank to deliver support at scale in health, food security and community resilience in the earthquake affected areas.

In 2023/24, we are providing the World Food Programme with over £30 million to deliver humanitarian assistance, including prepositioning essential winter food supplies in hard-to-reach areas.