Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the pre-deployment of UK military teams to the Turks and Caicos Islands ahead of Hurricane Melissa, and whether similar pre-deployment strategies will be adopted in future hurricane seasons.

The UK military team pre-deployed to the Turks and Caicos Islands supported the disaster management preparations, response and recovery work as needed.

After Hurricane Melissa passed, HMS Trent redeployed to Jamaica. HMS Trent was equipped with humanitarian and disaster relief trained troops and crisis response equipment. It provided swift access to affected areas and the delivery of essential supplies, specialist recovery personnel, transport and damage assessments.

Similar pre-deployment strategies will be considered as part of response options in future hurricane seasons.