Yemen: Overseas Aid

(asked on 26th June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the merger of the Department for International development with his Department on UK (a) humanitarian and (b) development assistance to Yemen.


Answered by
James Cleverly Portrait
James Cleverly
Home Secretary
This question was answered on 1st July 2020

There is already very close co-ordination between the Department for International Development's provision of life-saving humanitarian aid to Yemen and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's work to enable the humanitarian response politically and support the peace process, and we expect this to continue and improve in the new structure. The UK has shown extensive leadership in responding to the humanitarian crisis, committing almost £1 billion in support to Yemen since the conflict began in 2015. Our £160 million commitment this year aims to provide support to at least 300,000 vulnerable people each month to help them buy food and household essentials, treat 40,000 children for malnutrition and provide one million people with improved water supply and basic sanitation. Regarding development, we are working with the Yemeni Government and international partners on planning for Yemen's post-conflict recovery. This includes emphasising the importance of providing security, stabilising the economy, and delivering basic services. In the 2019/20 financial year, we provided £21 million to the Yemeni Social Fund for Development, helping to support labour-intensive public works and enabling 290,000 of the poorest households across Yemen to procure food from local markets to support their basic needs.

The Integrated Review of foreign policy will define the Government's ambition for the UK's role in the world and its outcomes will shape the objectives of the new department. The UK remains committed to our key priorities in Yemen: to support the peace process led by the UN Special Envoy, achieve a sustainable and inclusive political settlement and alleviate the humanitarian crisis.

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