Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-02-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Verma on 18 February (HL5926), whether they intend to propose a system of sharing of expenditure by EU member states whereby those that accept smaller numbers of refugees for settlement proportionate to their own population size pay a higher fraction of national income towards programmes benefitting refugees both in Europe and outside it.

Baroness Verma

The UK encourages other EU member States to support programmes of assistance to refugees, as demonstrated most recently at the February Conference on Syria and the Region.

The UK is at the forefront of the response to the Syria crisis, committing over £2.3 billion. We are prioritising our aid in Syria and neighbouring countries, where the scale of displacement is greatest. The Government has no plans to propose a system as suggested by the noble Lord.