Syria is the world’s biggest and most urgent humanitarian crisis. 13.5 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and four in five Syrians live in poverty. The UN estimates that since the crisis began life expectancy among Syrians has dropped by more than 20 years, from 79.5 years to 55.7 years. Significant contributory factors include death rates due to the conflict (including increased death rates among younger people); destruction of health care facilities and difficulties in delivering routine childhood vaccinations; and an increase in poverty.

The UK is at the forefront of the response to the crisis. UK support is reaching hundreds of thousands of people affected by it in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt. The UK has pledged over £2.3 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. We are also mobilising the international community. We co-hosted the “Supporting Syria and the Region” conference in London on 4 February, which secured pledges of more than $12 billion, the largest amount raised in one day for a humanitarian crisis. Of this, over $6 billion was pledged for support in 2016 and a further $6.1 billion for the coming years until 2020. This money will save lives, give hope and give people a chance for the future

Direct financial aid to governments of recipient nations constituted 14%, 12% and 9% of DFID’s total programme expenditure for years 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15 respectively. These are the three most recent years for which this data is currently available. General Budget Support reduced from 2.2% to 0.5% of DFID’s total programme expenditure over the same period.

The Government intends to publish the outcome of the Civil Society Review, Multilateral Aid Review and Bilateral Aid Review in the early summer.

DFID has 2 HQ buildings in the UK, 22 Whitehall and Abercrombie House, East Kilbride. Both offices have a nursing mothers room and are equipped with baby changing facilities and fridges to allow the storage of baby milk.

Syria is the world’s biggest and most urgent humanitarian crisis. Attacks on civilians and violations of International Humanitarian Law are commonplace, and these have included attacks on camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs). The UN estimates that there are 6.6 million IDPs in Syria, which is almost half of all those in need of humanitarian assistance inside the country.

The UK is at the forefront of the response to the crisis. We have pledged over £2.3 billion for the UN-led response in Syria and the region, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. To date, we have allocated £561 million of this to support vulnerable people inside Syria. By the end of May 2016, UK support inside Syria had provided over 16.3 million food rations, each of which feeds one person for one month; access to clean water for 2 million people (peak month); 3.5 million medical consultations; and more than 5.1 million relief packages.

Alongside our work to alleviate the humanitarian crisis, DFID works closely with the FCO to push for the protection of civilians within Syria. The protection of civilians was also at the heart of the “Supporting Syria & the Region London 2016” Conference, which the Prime Minister co-hosted in London in February. Participants agreed to use their influence with all parties to the conflict to halt abuses, to allow humanitarian agencies rapid, safe and unimpeded access throughout Syria in order to reach besieged and hard-to-reach areas.

The UK will consider any option compliant with international law that might save lives in Syria. However, any party seeking to establish a safe area would need to ensure sufficient military capability to guarantee safety from both aerial and ground attack, including by unconventional means. The UK position on military intervention within Syria is well known. In addition, in the current circumstances, the presence of foreign troops at such camps is likely to risk making them a target for some of the parties to the conflict.

The Prime Minister has been clear that the negotiation for Britain's future relationship with Europe will need to begin under a new Prime Minister, and we have now got to look at all the detailed arrangements. In the meantime, Departments continue working to deliver the Government agenda.

The UK is at the forefront of international efforts to support over 4.8 million Syrian refugees to remain in host countries in the region until it is safe to return to Syria, and to support host countries to accommodate them.

As part of this, we are working in partnership with host countries to help them to expand job and education opportunities for refugees in a way that will enable them to better support themselves and give them skills for the future, and we are helping host countries to cope with the impact of refugees on local services.

The UK co-hosted the “Supporting Syria and the Region” conference in London in February, at which neighbouring governments made bold commitments to open up their labour markets to refugees, to improve regulation and the investment climate in their countries, and to ensure all children in their countries have access to quality education.

The Secretary of State for International Development continues to lead engagement with regional partners on tackling the refugee crisis, including by delivering on the commitments made at the London Conference, which will help to create 1.1 million jobs and provide quality education to 1.7 million children by the end of the 2016/17 school year. At the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in April she convened meetings between regional governments, the UN and World Bank and held bilateral discussions with key Ministers. And at the World Humanitarian Summit in May, she and other London Conference co-chairs convened a meeting of all interested parties to discuss and review progress.

Looking forward, we will be using UN General Assembly in September as an important moment to review progress with key leaders on the Syria Conference implementation, including how all parties are all delivering on their commitments to support refugees in the region.

The UK continues to press for sustained humanitarian access to all besieged and hard to reach areas in Syria. We are a core member of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG), which demanded in May that the Asad regime allow land access to all besieged areas from 1 June, or the international community would call on the World Food Programme (WFP) to carry out humanitarian airdrops to those areas. This was only necessary because the regime has consistently failed to live up to its commitments under International Humanitarian Law to ensure free, unimpeded access for humanitarian agencies.

As a result, June saw improved levels of humanitarian access. Eight besieged locations were reached by road, including Darayya which received its first deliveries of food since 2012. However, seven remained unreached at the end of June. The regime has now agreed in principle road access to all 16 besieged areas requested by the UN in July. The ISSG is working with the UN to hold the regime to this commitment.

While delivering aid by road is the best approach to safely deliver the quantities needed and to ensure that it gets to those who need it most, if there is no improvement we must look to the WFP to carry out its plan for airdrops to reach those in need. The ISSG is united in its resolve to ensure full, sustained humanitarian access to the people of Syria.

We are aware of the El Nino induced drought affecting some regions of the Philippines. The Department for International Development have also provided funding to the UK Met Office to provide technical assistance to Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

The Philippines has a well-developed disaster management system that is appropriately resourced; we judge that the impact of El Nino does not exceed the Government of Philippines’s capacity to respond. Should the Philippines require external assistance, Association of Southeast Asian Nations should constitute the first line of international response.

DFID supports staff wellbeing by encouraging people to work regular hours and ensures managers work with them to reprioritise work and avoid overtime. However, as a last resort, where overtime is necessary e.g. to help cope with exceptional or seasonal pressure, the Department either offers time off in lieu (TOIL) or overtime payments for staff up to Grade 6. There are no additional incentives.

The UK is at the forefront of the response to the Syria crisis. UK support is reaching hundreds of thousands of people affected in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt. The UK has pledged over £2.3 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. Spending money in the region builds people’s ability to cope where they are. For most refugees, their first choice is to stay close to home, and to return to Syria.

Through the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme, the UK is helping some of the most vulnerable refugees who cannot be supported effectively in the region and whose needs can only be met in countries like the UK. We will resettle up to 20,000 Syrians in need of protection during this Parliament. We are working closely with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to identify vulnerable Syrians that they deem in need of resettlement, using their established vulnerability criteria.

However, given the scale of displacement in the Middle East and with many millions of people in need, it is essential to provide assistance to those most in need in the region and actively seeking an end to the crisis. Compared with aid, resettlement can only ever support a comparatively small number of people in need.

Home Office are responsible for the overall programme budget.

DFID provided almost £157 million to the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) between 2014/15 and 2015/16 to help build Palestinian institutions, deliver basic services and promote economic development. DFID has either met or exceeded the majority of its targets for programmes in the OPTs.

DFID supported over 390 companies to improve their operations and increase competitiveness. In each of the two years, through UNRWA support, over 26,000 families received social transfers (either food or cash) and almost 45,000 children were provided basic education. Furthermore, over 1.6 million medical consultations were provided over the two years.

In addition to this support, the UK provided more than £17m in immediate humanitarian assistance for those affected by the Gaza conflict in the summer of 2014. Non-food Item (NFI) packages were provided for 23,400 families covering their needs for three months.

No negotiations on legislative or other legal proposals are being led by my Department for the Government in the Council of the EU.

A number of options are being explored. The aim is to establish scheduled services once an operator is identified and regulatory conditions are met.

There are no EU directives related to my Department’s responsibilities awaiting transportation into UK law.

Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) commit both Governments to provide a reciprocal standard of treatment towards each other’s investors, including: protection and security against discriminatory action, fair and equitable treatment and a commitment not to expropriate without compensation. The content of BITs do not place specific obligations on or provide support to domestic companies, including infant industries and SMEs, aimed at delivering wider policy objectives.

Since 2012, through the Investment and Sustainable Development Programme, DFID has provided technical and legal assistance to 24 developing countries to develop and negotiate international investment agreements (including BITs) that best reflect their own interests.

We are aware of the UN Secretary General’s annual report on Children in Armed Conflict, which includes a section outlining the impact of the conflict in Yemen on children. It is important that all sides to the conflict conduct investigations into incidents of concern. To that end, we welcome the announcement by the UN Secretary General on 6 June that the United Nations and the Saudi-led Coalition will review jointly the cases and numbers cited in the text. In parallel, we continue to urge all parties to the conflict to take all reasonable steps to ensure civilians, particularly women and children, are protected in Yemen, and to allow and facilitate rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access.

The UK has provided over £18.1 million in essential humanitarian and health assistance in Kachin and Northern Shan states from 2012 until the end of the last financial year, and plans to spend at least a further £5 million this year. DFID is the biggest contributor to the multi donor funds working in these areas to improve food security, and to provide maternal, new-born and child health care services including immunisation, prevention of HIV among people, Malaria testing and treatment. DFID also provides significant support to education in Kachin and Northern Shan, through UNICEF and the Myanmar Education Consortium.

The commitments agreed at the London Summit could potentially achieve major benefits for developing countries including preventing their resources from being stolen and hidden abroad; ensuring international systems recover these funds whilst punishing perpetrators; and helping citizens have greater opportunities to seek justice against corruption.