Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what funding they have provided to the White Helmets in Syria since 1 January; and what assessment they have made of that organisation’s alleged links to terrorist groups.

The UK provided £716,000 from the Conflict Stability and Security Fund to the Syrian Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, in the Financial Year 2019/2020. This funding has supported the White Helmets' emergency search and rescue work in Idlib. We assess that allegations linking the White Helmets to terrorist groups are baseless and are part of a concerted disinformation campaign by the Syrian regime and Russia seeking to undermine the White Helmets' valuable work.