Baroness Tonge – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2014-05-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they intend to take, other than increasing the aid budget, to reduce food insecurity and unemployment in the Gaza Strip.

Baroness Northover

UK support to Gaza includes providing food vouchers to 5,750 households. Our support provides work and an income to 5,300 vulnerable refugees in Gaza, and short term placements to boost the skills and employability of around 1,000 refugee women. We provide long term, predictable support to UNRWA’s General Fund, around 33% of which is spent in Gaza. Our support to the UN Access Coordination Unit helps 24 UN agencies and 90 INGOs get aid and goods into Gaza. Through our programme we are also helping to develop the Palestinian private sector. Movement and access restrictions prevent sustainable recovery of the Palestinian economy, so we continue to press the Government of Israel to ease those restrictions and allow the export of goods from Gaza to Israel and transfers to the West Bank.