Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what (a) military and (b) financial support his Department has provided to the Kurdish region in northern Iraq and Syria in the last year; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

Militarily, the UK is conducting air operations as part of the Global Coalition to assist the Iraqi Government and Kurdish Regional Government in their fight against ISIL. The UK is also providing training and equipment to Iraqi Security Forces and Kurdish Peshmerga in northern Iraq. The UK has provided over 50 tonnes of non-lethal support, 40 heavy machine guns, nearly half a million rounds of ammunition and £600,000 worth of military equipment to the Kurdish Peshmerga. We have gifted 1000 counter-IED VALLON detectors to Iraqi Security Forces, including Kurdish fighters. We have also delivered over 300 tonnes of weapons and ammunition on behalf of other Coalition nations. In Syria, the UK is not providing material support to Kurdish groups. Financially, the UK, through the Department for International Development, is providing £79.5 million in humanitarian assistance to help those across Iraq, including in the Kurdistan Region, who have been affected by ISIL’s brutality. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office also manages a portfolio of projects under the Conflict, Security and Stability Fund worth £10 million in Iraq, aimed at helping political reconciliation, building community cohesion and encouraging security sector reform – a portion of which will benefit the Kurdish Region. The UK is providing over £1.1 billion in humanitarian assistance across the region to help those affected by the conflict in Syria.