§ Mrs. SpelmanTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether her Department has detailed contingency plans for delivering food to the people of Zimbabwe in the event of an emergency. [80575]
§ Clare ShortThe humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe is already an emergency to which my Department has been responding for over a year. To date we have committed more than £38 million for emergency food provision, health care, agricultural inputs, and monitoring. This has been successfully channelled through UN agencies and non-governmental partners.
We are working closely with the internationally mandated organisations to ensure that appropriate contingency plans are in place for a number of scenarios, including the displacement of people. In the event of deterioration in the situation, we will continue to work with agencies already operational on the ground, with the capability, capacity, and access to deliver assistance.