The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has a record, as of 28 February 2015, of 233,000 refugees from Sudan in South Sudan.

There are a further 36,000 refugees from Sudan in Ethiopia.

Since 2009 the Department for International Development has reimbursed the Ministry of Defence the following amounts for services and supplies provided by the British Armed Forces in support of humanitarian and disaster-relief operations:

Elections are an integral part of efforts to build a secure and prosperous Democratic Republic of Congo. A new electoral law was promulgated and comprehensive electoral calendar was published on 12 February 2015. We welcome these. This law is an important step towards elections which are credible, inclusive and peaceful, and which respect the will of the Congolese people, the country’s constitution and the African Union Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance. DFID is committed to supporting elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

DFID is committed to supporting elections and is looking at how to do this most effectively. We recognise that civic education is an important ingredient for successful elections, especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

DFID is providing £0.5million to the Materials Monitoring Unit (MMU) which oversees and monitors the import, storage, supply and use of construction materials into Gaza under the auspices of the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism (GRM). This Mechanism is designed to ensure reconstruction material reaches those who need it most.

We continue to engage with the Palestinian Authority, the UN and the Government of Israel to ensure the mechanism continues to work as intended and that any possible infractions are reported.

DFID has been in close and continuous discussion with the donor co-ordination group on the elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We have discussed specifically how to coordinate support to civic education and local observation. Alongside other partners we are also engaged in an on-going discussion with the United Nations Development Programme who have prepared a new programme to support the electoral cycle. We have also participated actively in the MONUSCO-led discussions on support to elections.

The UK is the first country to announce its contribution of $50million to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Catastrophe Containment and Relief (CCR) trust to relieve the burden of debt caused by the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.

The CCR trust is expected to provide grants-for-debt relief of $100million for the three countries most affected by the ongoing Ebola epidemic: Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. These countries will be able to access funds to cover upcoming repayments to the IMF for two years, allowing them to redirect those resources to fighting the outbreak, restoring services and reinvigorating the economy.

In addition, the IMF have provided further funding through their existing programmes in the region bringing their total financial contribution to the Ebola outbreak to date to $349million.

The Financing for Development Conference will provide an important contribution to the post-2015 development agenda, thus supporting its implementation.

Details of who will be attending this conference on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government will be finalised in the next parliament.

DFID is planning to invest an additional £7.4 million between 2015 and 2020 in the asset recovery work currently carried out by the Proceeds of Corruption Unit in the Metropolitan Police. This is part of a £21 million extension and scale up of support to UK law enforcement to tackle bribery and corruption in developing countries.

The UK has disbursed £5 million of our £20 million pledge and we are working hard to disburse the remaining funds over the course of the coming financial year. Gaza’s economy will only recover, however, if reconstruction efforts form part of a process of meaningful political change that will address the underlying causes of the conflict and transform the situation in Gaza. The need for political progress from all parties has never been more apparent. In the meantime, we are engaging with the World Bank’s new mechanism to track donor pledges committed at the Cairo conference and we are urging that all major International donors make good on their pledges.

The UK and our coalition partners are doing all we can to minimise the risks of civilian impact of coalition military action. The UN has reported that airstrikes have caused some local-level internal displacement, but the ongoing conflict is the main cause of displacement of civilians. In both Syria and Iraq, the UN carries out regular humanitarian contingency planning exercises, including preparing for the potential impact of military operations. UK humanitarian advisors on the ground are also monitoring the situation closely and will continue to work closely with the UN, international partners and the Government of Iraq to ensure that effective plans and coordination structures are in place to respond to a variety of scenarios.

The UK is also providing substantial humanitarian assistance for those affected by the conflict. To date the UK has pledged £800 million to respond to Syria crisis and a further £39.5 million for those affected by conflict in Iraq.

In the joint US, UK and Norway statement of 23 December we renewed our call for all parties in the Two Areas, as well as Sudan’s other conflict zones, to immediately allow full and unfettered humanitarian access. It is vital that both the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North make this a priority issue in the next round of African Union High Implementation Panel mediated peace talks, a point that we make consistently to both sides.

The Department for International Development has to date committed £800 million to help those affected by the conflict in Syria. This support includes funding to provide training for health workers in emergency first aid, trauma care, clinical management of rape, mental healthcare and psychosocial support to assist displaced Syrians in Lebanon, Jordan, other states neighbouring Syria and within Syria itself who have experienced conflict-related trauma, including sexual violence. By the end of September 2014, the UK had supported over 630,000 children and over 55,400 adults with psychosocial interventions in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and the wider region.

The Department for International Development has committed £191 million to Lebanon and £164 million to Jordan as part of our response to the crisis in Syria. UK support is providing clean water and hygiene facilities, food and household items, cash assistance, medical care, better quality accommodation, winterisation and cold weather protection, transportation services, early grade learning, primary education and support for small scale agriculture for refugee populations and the communities which host them.

DFID’s investment in the PIDG has supported 35 projects, including in energy, agricultural infrastructure, industrial infrastructure, transport, ports and roads. These projects have created nearly 200,000 jobs and driven £6.8 billion of private investment into some of the world’s poorest countries. In 2013 alone, eight PIDG projects started operations, bringing new or improved services to 8.6 million people.

The UK continues to work closely within the coordination structures established by the Government of Malawi and the UN to ensure our support is part of a well-coordinated relief and recovery response.

The UK fully supports the efforts of the Malawian Department of Disaster Management Affairs and Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development. However, no UK funding is channelled directly through Government of Malawi systems.

The UK has not established any new organisation or body to support floods recovery. DFID Malawi has committed to provide up to £4.1 million in response to the floods, which includes supporting communities to rebuild their homes and their livelihoods through existing programmes and through multilateral partners.

DFID Malawi has committed to provide up to £4.1 million to support both emergency response and early recovery efforts. These are funds from DFID Malawi’s 14/15 budget, including contingency humanitarian funds and the use of value for money savings. This is additional to the £3.4m already provided in response to meet the humanitarian needs of the food insecure during the lean season. DFID is working closely with partners to ensure that flooding support reaches those that need it most, in line with the Government of Malawi’s Preliminary Response Plan and coordinated through Government-led structures. No UK funding is channelled through Government of Malawi systems.

UK commitments so far include:

· £1m to the World Food Programme which is supplying 370,000 people with food for the first weeks, including by air to areas cut off by rising waters;

· £665,000 to UNICEF to provide emergency water, sanitation and hygiene facilities to prevent the spread of disease in displacement camps;

· Over £1m through NGO and private sector partners to provide seeds and tools to smallholder farmers whose crops have been damaged by the floods.

· £800,000 through the UN Humanitarian Fund, in support of particular coordination and camp management, nutrition, protection and health activities, plus funds for specialist UN personnel to coordinate the response.

In addition, a number of NGOs have also accessed the Start Fund, a funding mechanism for delivering rapid humanitarian assistance which is jointly funded by the UK and Irish Governments. ActionAid, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide and Save the Children have used £350,000 from the fund to provide vital resources to those displaced by the floods.

The total cost to the United Kingdom of expenditure on Official Development Assistance in each of the years since 1985, and the percentage of gross national income (GNI) it represented in each year is set out in the tables below.

Since 2005 the Department for International Development has reimbursed the Ministry of Defence by the following amounts for services and supplies provided by the British Armed Forces in support of humanitarian and disaster-relief operations: