§ Mr. GoodmanTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what projects(a) funded and (b) supported by her Department have been engaged in providing assistance to the people of Kashmir during the past five years. [87455]
§ Clare ShortOver the past five years, my Department has given over £1.5 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to support their programmes in Jammu and Kashmir (J and K). We have given a number of grants to Save the Children Fund (SCF) to support their work, including £150,000 to provide food and non-food relief to conflict afflicted families, and £47,000 to help fund their continuing work with children and internally displaced people living in848W camps and temporary accommodation. We have also helped fund a wide range of mostly small-scale NGO development projects in Kashmir, and through the Small Grants Scheme we have provided support for a maternity hospital in Anantnag.
In Pakistan-administered Kashmir, we have funded a community education project in the Muzaffarabad district, and a basic health care project in the Neelum valley.
During my recent visit to Delhi, I raised with the Government of India the prospect of DFID providing further support for development and conflict reduction in J and K. My officials are now taking this forward.