Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that its humanitarian response in Mosul minimises child protection risks.

On 21 September, the UK announced an extra £40 million of humanitarian funding to Iraq, taking our total commitment to £169.5 million since June 2014. This new support will be targeted specifically to enable a scale up of humanitarian assistance ahead of Mosul operations. An element of this support will aim to help protect civilians displaced as a result of the operations – including children.

The UK is the largest donor to the Iraq Humanitarian Pooled Fund, which has supported specialist protection and rehabilitation for people escaping from Daesh, including women and children. The UK regularly lobbies the Iraqi authorities to ensure the protection of its people as they flee Mosul and other areas.