Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the suggestion by non-governmental organisations of a new approach to humanitarian aid in Syria, as reported in The Guardian on 30 May.

The UK Government agrees that it is unacceptable that people in need in Syria continue to be denied life-saving aid, and condemns the siege and starvation tactics being practised by the Syrian regime and other armed groups. The UK government agrees that the international community must work to ensure Syrians get the aid they need by the most direct routes possible, including through sustained delivery across conflict lines and borders.

Since the start of the Syria crisis, the UK has provided £76 million to agencies working cross-border to provide medical help, food and other aid to hundreds of thousands of people in desperate need inside Syria.