20/11/2017 House of Commons

question, Gordon Marsden. --

cooperation and good humour.

Mr Speaker, although the November

recess...

He needs to blot out the

request for a statement. -- blurt.

To make a statement on the Student

Loans Company.

Thank you. The

Student Loans Company's performance

has improved year-on-year for the

past six years. SLC services account

for around 1.8 million applications

per year. It responds to around 4.5

million phone calls from borrowers

and has over 6 million repaying

order to repay customers with loans

totalling more than £100 billion. In

addition, it has delivered a range

of new products for Government on

time and successfully. This includes

postgraduate loans and to provide

advanced learner loans. This year,

the SLC has processed over 1.4

million applications for student

funding. So far in this academic

year, SLC has paid out approximately

£2.5 billion in maintenance funding

and £2 billion in tuition fee

payments to providers. Customer

satisfaction remains high, at around

85%. And for borrowers in repayment,

at around 72%. It receives

complaints, Mr Speaker, from just

0.1% of its 4.7 million customers.

SLC is of course constantly looking

to learn lessons from what is a low

level of complaints and to use these

complaints to improve the quality of

its services. In addition, the

Department for Education is also

working closely with the Student

Loans Company on a range of

initiatives that will further

improve the user experience for

SLC's borrowers and staff

engagement. Proposals currently

being developed include greater

digitisation of the student loan

application and repayments processes

and investment in more efficient SLC

systems. Following two independent

investigations into allegations

about aspects of his management and

leadership, the SLC has terminated

Stephen Mooney's contract as Chief

Executive Officer of the SLC. --

Steve Lainey. Having taken into

account the findings of these

investigations, they concluded that

the best practice was not being

upheld by Steve Lainey initial. The

SLC board have acted swiftly and

have instituted Peter Lerner as

interim CEO with effect from the

27th of November. He will remain in

post until a permanent appointment

is made. He was formerly chief

Executive of the Institute for

apprenticeships and the skills

funding agency. He has a long and

successful career in a number of

senior leadership positions in the

Department for Education and partner

organisations. I have every

confidence he will provide the drive

and stability the Student Loans

Company requires at this time as we

recruit a permanent chief Executive.

Although the November recess, with

the announcement being snuck out day

as there was a resignation from the

Cabinet. Can I ask the Minister Y in

his letter to me on the 17th of

October, sent six weeks after I

wrote to him on the SLC, the

minister referred to the suspension

of the chief Executive as a neutral

act and did not imply wrongdoing,

when he was fully aware of

allegations against Steve Lainey

engine when the Mac as is written

reply to me. We also publish the

former 's review of the SLC given

two months before the suspension,

where Steve Lainey was rated

outstanding. In that report, was a

minister -- the Minister aware that

there was a reporter said he was

making a real and positive

difference the Student Loans Company

and was a popular leader before the

decision was made to sack him? Will

republish the internal

investigation, in which 5258

allegations against him were

dismissed. So that all members can

understand the issues at the SLC. Mr

Speaker, who appointed the

chairperson and the other three

board members of the SLC and what

other criteria processes for those

appointments? And you confirm that

Simon Devonshire, the board member

who had an dismissed the appeal, is

also a member of the same venture

capital trust?

The lack of proper cooperation

between the SLC and HMRC has led to

significant debt.

Can he tell us how

many overpayments there have been

since 2015, 2016? Given this is the

situation, I have just been told the

government has tacitly admitted

their failure in this area by saying

that from 2019 onwards, HMRC and the

SLC will co-operate on this matter.

It does not address the question of

Mr Lamy and the permanent secretary

at the HMRC blaming each other on

this issue. Mr Lamy has claimed he

had asked for updates that HMRC

would not share. Who is telling the

truth? BBC Panorama raised issues

about private dividers were students

are fraudulently enrolled in courses

in order to claim loans. How much

money has been paid to students who

were subsequently declared to be

ineligible in their last four or

five years? What mechanisms are in

place to reclaim the money? In the

light of all this, will the

government suspend the sale of the

future student loan book? Interest

rate thresholds on student debt will

cost £175 million by 2020. Can he

tell us where the money will come

from? With tens of thousands of

graduates footing the bill for SLC

areas, what confidence can the

Parliament have in the confidence of

this minister who is the key

shareholder of the Student Loans

Company?

Mr Speaker, I would

encourage the honourable member not

to denigrate the hard work of the

dedicated public servants of the

Student Loans Company who are

undertaking a vital task in securing

the finance which young people and

learners in this country need to

pursue higher education. They are

doing so in a successful way. Fewer

than 0.1% of SLC's 4.7 million

customers complained each year. They

are delivering an important service

and he should support them rather

than run them down. Mr Speaker, the

honourable member asked about a

number of matters. He asked about

the investigations that led to the

dismissal of the chief executive of

the Student Loans Company. The

concerns were brought to the SLC

board's attention in May and to the

attention of the Department for

Education. We learnt about this in

May. I learn about it in May, as I

have just said. The two

investigations were immediately set

in motion to get to the bottom of

the allegations which the SLC board

had received. One was led by the

government internal audit agency and

the other was led by Sir Paul

Jenkins, formerly Treasury Solicitor

and head of the government legal

services. They concluded that Mr

Laney had not shown the leadership

which would be expected of someone

in that role and accordingly the SLC

board took the decision that he

should no longer continue in that

role and the Department for

Education as a consequence of the

SLC's decision took the decision to

relieve him of his responsibilities

as accounting officer of the SLC. Mr

Speaker, the honourable member asked

about an eligible payments, some of

which were highlighted by the

Panorama programme that came out a

few days ago. He will be, I am sure,

interested to know that the level of

ineligible payments made to

alternative providers has been

sharply falling in recent years. In

fact, it has fallen by over 80%

since 2012, 2013, from about 4% of

all payments to 0.5% of all payments

in the 2015-16 year. This rate is

low. Of course we want to eliminate

fraud wherever we can identify it,

but this is a low rate of ineligible

payments to these providers. In

fact, it is a rate which is now no

higher than the average across the

other higher education funding

system. I would not use this as a

means of running down the new

entrance to our higher education

system, which is something he often

does from the dispatch box because

it cannot be used to support that

sort of attack. This reduction in

the level of ineligible payments is

the direct consequence of the

controls which the Department for

Education have been putting in place

to ensure that public money is not

abuse. Mr Speaker, we do take the

issue of overpayments extremely

seriously and the honourable member

mentioned some of the steps we are

taking. We do want to see close and

effective cooperation between HMRC

and SLC so that we avoid the risk to

the extent we possibly can of

students overpaying when they

repaid. I understand that the

Chancellor of the Exchequer will be

considering this issue further in

the budget just later this week so

he might want to wait a bit to see

what is in the contents of the

budget for further details. We are

committed to improving the interface

between HMRC and the Student Loans

Company. I would remind him that we

do ensure that all borrowers as they

enter the last two years of their

repayments are given the opportunity

to move to a direct debit system of

repayments and eliminate almost all

risk altogether of repayment.

Mr

Robert Halfon. Thank you, Mr

Speaker. I welcome the efforts the

Minister is taking to reform the

Student Loans Company and he will

know that there is a value for money

enquiry into universities. As well

as looking at the management of the

student loan company, can he use

this opportunity to look at reducing

the rate of interest rates for

students which is much higher than

other countries in the developed

world?

Well, we keep all aspects of

our student finance system under

review to ensure it is fair and

effective, it is meeting our core

objectives of removing financial

barriers to access, funding our

university system fairly and sharing

the cost of doing so equally between

us and the taxpayer. It is to be

compared with unsecured, personal

borrowings. If you look at what a

Bank of England reference rate would

be for an unsecured, personal

borrowing, it would be well over 7%.

This is a unique product written off

after 30 years. It is only entering

the repayment period when someone is

earning more than £25,000. It is a

unique product and it is not easy to

compare any element of it with

offerings from elsewhere in the

commercial sector.

In recent years

the student loan company has been

plagued by mishaps, complaints of

inefficient bureaucracy and poor

customer service. The latest SLC

sell-off is a problem. Many

graduates received letters telling

them they must pay even though their

earnings had not yet reached

repayment level. Can the Minister

confirm that they will not siphon

loans off to a third party? Devolved

administrations are shareholders in

the SLC. Can the Minister outlined

the discussion he has had with

fellow shareholders on the

circumstances of the dismissal of

the Chief Executive of that

committee? Over 1400 people are

employed by the SLC in Glasgow. Can

the government confirmed that any

shake-up of practices will not

involve a plan to move any part of

the company from Glasgow and that

all employees will have an

opportunity to be consulted in any

future discussions? At a time where

graduates are paying up to 6.1% in

low interest, student debt in

England has nearly trebled compared

to Scotland. Does the Minister not

think that while the SLC could use a

radical shake-up and reform, his

policies could as well. The budget

is round the corner, so while the

minister works to clear up the

managerial problems, why does he not

clear up the mess of this policy and

stop saddling English students with

a millstone of debt around their

necks?

I am not sure we need lessons

from Scotland on our higher

education policy. Our higher

education policies have resulted in

levels of access for people from

disadvantaged backgrounds that

should be the envy of members on

that bench rather than a source of

criticism of them. The honourable

member asks about Glasgow and the

work that SLC staff to front its

location in Glasgow. Of course that

is valued and we support everything

they are doing in ensuring the SLC

continues to perform at the level we

wanted to perform as an important

agency of the Department for

Education. It is in its sixth

consecutive year of improvement in

terms of its operational metrics and

we want that to continue and I am

sure Glasgow will play its part in

that.

Would the Minister like to

explain what role the new office for

students will play in this and hope

it will help?

The new office for

students comes into existence

progressively from January one 2018

onwards, with its full operational

existence commencing in April of

2018. The Student Loans Company has

its own statutory existence

independent of that of the office

for students and it will continue to

carry out the vital function we need

to perform in ensuring loans we make

available to remove barriers to

access to higher education continued

to be made available seamlessly to

students in need of them.

Looking at

all these very academic colleagues

and my eye focuses on Doctor Roberta

Blackman Woods.

Thank you, Mr

Speaker. I hope the Minister

appreciates that problems at the SLC

go beyond the actions or lack of

them of the previous chief

executive. The Jenkins report

pointed to bad behaviour amongst the

whole executive leadership team.

Could he tell us what that bad

behaviour is? How long has he known

about it? What action is being taken

to stop it?

The SLC board has taken

prompt action to address

shortcomings in the leadership of

the student loan company that were

identified in the two investigations

that I mentioned. That includes the

report by Sir Paul Jenkins. I have

every confidence in the new chief

executive we have put in place,

Peter Lerner, who has worked

successfully across a range of DFE

partnership organisations, will do

the job that we need him to do.

Jeremy Quinn.

Picking up on the

minister's reply about the office of

students, what role does he see it

play in value for money?

Of course

value for money is a critical part

of our reforms and have been since

the green paper and a white paper

and the higher education and

research act. We want them to hold

the universities to account for the

income they receive from the SLC and

to ensure students are made aware of

where the best teaching is available

across the system and were really

good outcomes are emanating from. We

want that to be clearer to students

so they can make informed choices

about where to study so the

universities can be held to account

for the use of public resources.

And

external audit into the SLC found it

was in the bottom of all

organisations on 36 criteria against

which it was assessed. Can the

Minister tell us what these criteria

were?

I cannot tell him the precise

criteria. What I can tell him is

this is an organisation which has

steadily improved from the one we

inherited as a coalition government

back in 2010. It is in its sixth

consecutive year of performance

improvement and that is something we

should be celebrating. No one is

denying all organisations have room

for improvement. We want to work

with the SLC to ensure that steps

are taken to improve the interface

between HMRC and itself.

Does the

Minister agree with me that it is

imperative that university students

get value for money, but also that

they are able to see where their

money goes and both of these will be

promoted by the office for students

that will launch on January one?

I

am happy to confirm that. We are

consulting on the new regulatory

framework at the office for students

will use. One of the things we are

consulting on is how we can make it

clearer to students how their

tuition fee income is being used

within institutions so they can be

confident and government can be

confident and it is supporting the

core activities we intended to be

useful, namely teaching, producing

world-class research and helping

students go on to get great outcomes

in the of work.

I have huge sympathy for him, not

least because he has such a

fantastic something, -- surname. But

I have also been on his shows. Given

the failure colleagues validity of

the SLC, it is important the House

understands how often the Minister

has met with the senior team. Would

he put out a list of these meetings

so the appropriate enquiries can be

made?

I would be happy to do that.

But I want to remind the right

honourable member that this is a

successful organisation in many ways

and we should not denigrated.

Members of doing a massive

disservice to public servants

working hard in Darlington and

Glasgow to ensure students are

getting access to the finance they

need to undertake higher education.

To have an organisation with 4.7

million customers and to receive

complaints each year from less than

zero by 1% of them is an

achievement. -- 0.1%. We should not

run this organisation down.

Could I

ask my noble friend what he

considers to be the most significant

change brought about by the recent

higher education and research act.

That question is not put together

adjacent to the matter of the

management and operation of the

Student Loans Company. If I be very

polite to the honourable gentleman,

I would say his enquiry is, at best,

tangential. It is at best a nodding

acquaintance of the company but no

better than that. The Minister is a

versatile dextrous fellow and I am

sure he can handle the matter

eloquently.

Students receive funding indirectly

from the Student Loans Company and

universities receive funding

directly from it as well. It is

vital that there is a strong

relationship and students feel that

they are getting value for money

from the funding it provides. The

spirit of the higher education and

research act was to promote value

for money in our system and ensure

universities are delivering great

teaching and research to students.

There you are.

The honourable

gentleman is not known as a

considerable boffin from nothing.

Thank you very much indeed.

Can I

Asuka Minister if he addresses a

question about immigration, no-one

on this side will denigrate the

Student Loans Company. In fact, if

you put the Student Loans Company

and the good services done for so

many students and parents, have to

say, and compare that with our

commercial bank sector, probably

where so many of them should have

actually gone to prison, this

Student Loans Company has done very

well indeed. What is there some

secret agenda? Because this

Government is about to sell off £4

billion of student loans. And who is

leading that consortium? British

banks, led by Barclays.

I thank the

honourable member for acknowledging

the good work that SLC does. And I

think it is important that we

recognise that. The sale of the

string loan because a policy which

of course the last Labour Government

made possible with the passage of

the 2008 sailors to loans act. --

sale of. There is considerable cross

party recognition of the importance

of the sustainability of public

finances and the sale of student

loan books, which the last Labour

Government made possible, is one

which is Government is quite

prepared to continue.

When we talk

about student loans and access to

universities, we often quite rightly

talk about disadvantaged students.

Does my right honourable, my

honourable friend recognise the

current system has really proved and

created opportunities for those

students?

She's absolutely right. It

is the income contingent repayment

student loans system that has made

possible a huge expansion of access

to higher education. I have said the

statistics several days before but

students from this rant is back then

is our 43% more likely to do to go

to university and higher education

than they were in 2009 2010. That is

a direct result of successive

governments having decided to share

the cost of higher education

equitably between students and the

general taxpayer.

Did the Minister

have another go at the question put

to him as to why exactly students

have to pay such a high rate of

interest compared to two lives in

other countries but you might --

compared to students in other

countries?

Everyone here isn't the

impression that students are paying

6% interest rate. All their- 5% of

students in the repayment period pay

rates of about 6.1%. So of course

most students in the repayment

period are being somewhere between

RPI and RPI plus three, which takes

us from RPI Rathlin Island three all

the way to RPI plus three, which

comes to around 6.1. It is a

spectrum of interest rates that she

lives are paying. Only students

earning more than £42,000 in the

repayment period will be paying that

high rate of interest, which I think

has got the imagination will stop

that is roughly from the statistics

I have between 2-5% of students.

Notwithstanding my honourable

friend's LL answer, is it not the

case, however, that far fewer people

from deprived backgrounds go to

university now? Or at least, that is

what I have heard from the party

opposite? Have they got that wrong?

Yes, Mr Speaker, am I -- I am afraid

they have got it wrong. The rate at

which students from the most

disadvantaged backgrounds are going

to university has jumped sharply in

the last six or seven years. As I

just said, they are 43% more likely

to go into higher education now than

they were in 2009 and 2010.

As the

mother of a daughter with the

student loan, I was appalled at the

BBC reports of evidence that

education agents were recruiting

Bulgar students to private colleges

to defraud the taxpayer of thousands

of student loans. Can I ask the

Minister what different departments

are doing to detect bogus students

and will be Government legislate,

for instance, to ban essay mills?

Regarding allegations of fraud from

Panorama in relation to student

loans at three private providers,

the department takes allegations of

fraud and malpractice seriously and

we are grateful to Pamela for

bringing those allegations to our

attention. -- Panorama. They devalue

the work of honest students. Working

with stakeholders, including the

City of London Police, we will take

robust action we abuse is evident.

But it is vital we remember that the

level of ineligible payments to such

providers is actually very low and

about 0.5% of all payments to

providers. It has come down sharply

from 4% in 2012 and 2013 and it is

now higher than the rate of

ineligible payments across the

publicly funded world of higher

education.

The Minister will agree

that one of the key ways of judging

the success of the student loans

finance system is there number of

people from disadvantaged

backgrounds going to university.

What role does CC access agreements

in particular playing alongside the

support provided by the SLC?

Access

agreements play a vital part. The

amount of funding flowing through

access agreements to support

widening participation has doubled

over recent years. And now stands at

well over 800 million pounds per

year. These access agreements are

really driving progress in

participation. The rate in which

people from the most disadvantaged

20% of households are accessing

higher education has really jump. It

now stands at well over 20%, over

20% of that particular group.

Given

that Steve Lamey has criticised the

lack of support from the Department

for Education and this House is at

the Rowenna Davies media reports

dating a picture of a Student Loans

Company leg bye bullying, low morale

and high sickness rates, is not in

the public interest that the Jenkins

report is put into the public

domain, not least so the members of

this House can scrutinise the

performance of the Student Loans

Company but also the support

provided by the Department for

Education?

This is an employment

matter between Steve Lamey and the

SLC. The Department for Education as

taking quick action in response to

the to sit -- the two reports and

suspended Mr Lamey's role as

accounting officer. It is taking

quick steps to put in place new

manager in the form of Peter Lonard

to take SLC forward over the coming

months and years. -- Peter Lerner.

I

am currently student loan. But what

involvement does the Minister see

the new office for students having

end the role of appointing a new

chief Executive?

He is a good

advertisement for the student loans

Company. The office for students

will not have an... A direct role in

the appointment of a new Chief

Executive of the Student Loans

Company. That will be a matter for

the board of the Student Loans

Company and it is a ministerial

appointment as well.

The

incompetence is of the Student Loans

Company range from scaremongering

fake debt collection letters they

wrote to the predicament of my

constituents. Isn't it apparent that

by exposing it is a mess, where 50%

of calls were mishandled at the peak

period, Steve Lamey was dismissed

for telling the truth.

Mr Lamey did

not live up to the standards with

which the SLC board felt were

required for the role and they took

the action to dismiss him. The

Department for Education followed on

by removing his function as

accounting officer. We want the SLC

to continue to be highly performing

organisation and we should remember

that overall it is a success

organisation was just 0.1% of its

customers complaining. Many private

sector organisations would end their

-- in the record like that.

In his

initial reply, he further the van

Alun revelation last week. Is he

aware of any Welsh institutions

being caught up in fraudulent

activity and what discussions as he

had with the Welsh Government?

Mr

Speaker, I am not personally aware

of any such allegations. That would

be a matter for the Welsh funding

agency and Welsh regulatory

authorities. If the honourable

member is aware of any, he should

not lose any time in relaying his

concerns to the appropriate body.

Chaos in the Student Loans Company

adds insult to injury to those

paying off these huge debts on

graduation. It constituents into

senior last Friday, bringing with

him his student loans company

statement. He is a paramedic doing

important, highly skilled work for

the emergency services. He completed

his training with over £20,000 of

debt. He has paid off £1084 since

April 2016 but during the same

period, the company has applied £870

interest. He said to me, no wonder

graduates attempt to leave the

country. What would the Minister

said to him?

Mr Speaker, we want the

student and repayment experience to

be a simple and smooth and effective

as possible. It is striking that the

level of complaints are low. Of

course there will be complaints like

our constituent made to her. She is

right to raise them. We want to

learn from all student experience

and the SLC does learn from the

relatively few complaints that it

gets. But it is important that we do

so.

I have been contacted by Leeds

University union of many cases of

overpayment. One person was told he

could not get another loans. Another

was told to do not meet residency

requirements. The format was

demanded. -- filament. How

Christians be treated fairly when

the SLC makes mistakes with students

very deep in debt?

We want all

students in repayments to be treated

fairly by this turn loans company

and we take the issue of

overpayments particularly seriously.

As I mentioned already, in response

to the honourable member on the

front bench, we can expect to hear

more of this particular feeling of

overpayments and the interaction of

the Student Loans Company and HMRC

in a couple days' time for the

budget.

The Minister seems very

complacent about the level of fraud.

Peter Lilley airport -- economic

report the amount of fraud known to

us. I is nature, people are carried

fraud and devious.

What action did he take in response

to what was exposed by the Panorama

programme?

Mr Speaker, he is of

course right. The nature of fraud is

that you only really have a sighting

shot at understanding the level of

fraud in any system. What we have to

look at is comparable levels of

ineligible payments across different

types of provider. As I said, we do

not now seen a higher level of fraud

to the so-called alternative

providers within the so call --

so-called providers.

Last Thursday I met with senior NHS

leaders who told me there was a

growing desperation to have our

senior NHS professionals. Given that

all these people will have to pay

all the money back, I want to give

the Minister another chance to again

look at the interest rate payments

and the fact they will have to start

paying interest and accumulating

interest before they graduate.

This

is a heavily subsidised student loan

product overall. About 45% of loans

are consciously written off by

government as a deliberate

investment in the skills base of

this country. We want there to be no

financial barriers to access and

that means we do make this money

available under a favourable terms.

The interest rate is a means of

ensuring that those graduates who go

on to have higher lifetime earnings

than average make a contribution to

the overall cost and the overall

sustainability of higher education

and ensuring it continues to drive

access and widen participation

systematically across the piece.

Dennis Skinner.

Is the Minister

where it is not subsidised enough?

There is only one solution to this

and it stares you in the face every

time he opens his mouth. Let's have

a free education like we used to

have from the cradle to the grave.

Mr Speaker, the thing is that our

system of student finances enable

far more people to go to university

than the kind of system which he is

advocating. Mr Speaker, in the 1950s

and 1960s when others in this house

were thinking of whether or not to

go to university, a far smaller

proportion of each cohort of 18-19

-year-olds was given the chance to

go. We are now in a situation where

18 and 19-year-olds are almost 46%

of them getting a chance to go to

university and that is a world away

from what it was when we had an

entirely state funded system of

higher education that meant it was

just the preserve of a narrow elite.

Order. We do have a statement, but

if the honourable gentleman is in a

state of uncontrollable

perturbation, I will take it now.

You may not be aware but in the

other place this afternoon Minister

in the Department for exiting the

European Union has come to give a

specific statement to correct

something he said about Article 50

and whether this could or could not

be revoked. Indeed today, the Lord

has come into the House of Lords and

said, for the avoidance of any doubt

the Supreme Court did not rule on

the legal position regarding its

irreversibility. Mr Speaker, this is

relevant because we are about to

start the EU withdrawal bill at

committee stage proceedings tomorrow

and it is very important that

everybody recognises that it is

possible for Article 50 to be

revoked. The government not

contradicting that, it may be

government policy not to revoke

Article 50, but I wonder whether you

had had noticed that if this

statement has been made in the other

place whether the minister will also

come and clarify this in the House

of commons?

I am grateful to the

honourable gentleman for his point

of order. In short, I have received

no notification any minister intends

to come to the House to make a

statement on that matter. But what I

can say to the honourable gentleman

is that if an error is made in the

other place, it can be corrected

only in the other place. The

requirement for correction does not

span the two houses. However, the

honourable gentleman is an eager

beaver and if, as these matters are

broached in this house in the

committee stage, the honourable

gentleman if he wishes to leap to

his feet with the athleticism for

which he is renowned in all parts of

the House to challenge the Minister

to confirm the veracity of the

correction, it is open to them to do

so. Knowing the honourable gentleman

as I do I feel sure he will be in

this place and ready to leap at the

first opportunity. If there are no

further points of order, we come now

to the statement. Minister of State

for the Middle East and North

Africa.

Minister Alistair Burt.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. With

permission I would like to make a

statement to the House on the

humanitarian and political situation

in Yemen and the implications of the

conflict for regional security. Her

Majesty's government remains deeply

concerned by the humanitarian

situation in Yemen and the impact

recent restrictions are having on

what was already the worst

humanitarian crisis in the world and

largest ever cholera outbreak. We

recognise the risk of a severe

deterioration of the humanitarian

situation if restrictions are not

quickly removed and call on all

parties to ensure immediate access

to commercial and humanitarian

supplies to all Yemen's land, air

and sea ports. But we should be

clear about the reality of the

conflict in Yemen. The Saudi led

coalition launched a military

intervention after a rebel

insurgency took the capital by force

and overthrew the legitimate

government of Yemen as recognised by

the UN Security Council. Ungoverned

spaces in Yemen are being used by

terrorist groups to launch attacks

against regional countries,

international shipping lanes and the

Yemeni people. As the Foreign

Secretary has made clear, we

strongly condemn the attempted

missile attack against Riyadh on the

4th of November. This attack, which

has been claimed by the Hutus,

deliberately targets a civilian area

and was intercepted. The UK can say

that we are wanting to support the

Saudi military. I understand that

the UN team is currently visiting

Riyadh to investigate reports. It is

essential the UN conducts a thorough

investigation. The UK stands ready

to share its expertise to support

this process. But we recognise those

who suffer most in this conflict are

the people of Yemen. We understand

why the Saudi led coalition felt

obliged to temporarily close Yemen's

ports and airports in order to

strengthen enforcement of the UN

mandated arms embargo. It is

critical international efforts to

disrupt illicit weapons flows are

strengthened, but at the same time

it is vital that commercial and

humanitarian supplies of food, fuel

and medicine are able to reach

vulnerable Yemeni people,

particularly in the North West 70%

of those live. Even before the

current restrictions, 21 million

people were already in need of

humanitarian assistance and 7

million worst single step away from

famine. 90% of food is imported and

three quarters of that come via the

porous and no other pause in Yemen

have the capacity to make up the

shortfall. Our partners in Yemen are

already reporting that water and

sewage systems in major cities have

stopped operating because of a lack

of fuel. Millions no longer have

access to clean water and sanitation

in a country suffering from the

worst cholera outbreak in modern

times. The restrictions on access

for commercial and Unitarian

assistance risk making the situation

immeasurably worse. We have heard

the UN's stark warnings about the

risk of famine. We call on all

parties to ensure immediate access

for commercial and humanitarian

supplies to avert the threat of

starvation and disease faced by

millions. We also call for the

immediate reopening of the port and

the resumption of UN flights into

Aung San Suu Kyi and aid in

airports. The Foreign Office

statement on the 15th of November

made clear restrictions on

humanitarian flights are causing

problems, including UK nationals who

wish to enter or exit the country.

We have been urgently and

proactively seeking a resolution of

this situation. Our ambassador in

Riyadh has been infrequently contact

with the Saudi minister and the

Foreign Secretary has discussed the

situation in Yemen with the crown

prince with whom we have emphasised

the urgency of addressing the worst

of the humanitarian crisis. The

Secretary of State for International

Development has spoken to the UN

Secretary General and the

undersecretary general since her

appointment on the 9th of November

about the situation in Yemen. We are

continuing to work closely with

other regional and international

partners, including the UN. On the

18th of November the Foreign

Secretary spoke to the UN Secretary

General. Central to this discussion

was how the security concerns of

Saudi Arabia can be addressed to

enable these restrictions to be

lifted. It is important the UN and

Saudi Arabia enter a meaningful and

constructive dialogue. We will

continue to support the people of

Yemen through the provision of

life-saving humanitarian supplies.

The UK is the fourth-largest

humanitarian donor to Yemen and the

second-largest through the UN

appeal, committing £155 million to

Yemen for 2017-18. UK aid has

provided food to almost 2 million

people and clean water to over 1

million more. The only way to bring

long-term stability is through

political solution and that is why

peace talks remain of most

importance. The UK continues to play

a leading role in diplomatic efforts

to find a peaceful solution, this

includes bringing together key

international actors, including the

US, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and

allies. We intend to convene another

such meeting shortly. It is that we

work together to refocus the

political track. The United Kingdom

will play a leading role in Yemen

through the UN. In June we proposed

and supported the UN Security

Council presidential statement which

expressed deep concern about the

humanitarian statement in Yemen. It

called for an end to the fighting, a

return to peace talks and stressed

the importance of unhindered

humanitarian access. It is vital the

words of the texts are converted

into action. The international

community's demands must be

respected.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I

am standing in today for my right

honourable friend the Shadow Foreign

Secretary who has a child in

hospital. Also, Mr Speaker, as we

discussed today the human cost of

one seemingly intractable conflict I

am sure the whole house will join me

in commemorating the 100th

anniversary of the Battle of Iraq's.

I visited the tunnels last week and

in saluting the service of the Royal

Tank Regiment for whom this day

remains rightly sacred. Mr Speaker,

I thank the Minister of State for

advance sight of his statement. I

will not address all the points he

has made at this stage given there

may be another opportunity to do so

later in today's proceedings. For

the time being I wish to address the

escalating matter of the urgent

crisis in Yemen. On that point the

Minister of State has joined a long

line of Foreign Office ministers who

have come to this house since 2015

and have told us time after time

they are doing everything they can

to tackle the humanitarian crisis in

Yemen and to limit civilian

casualties. Yet time after time,

whatever the government's good

intentions, they humanitarian crisis

keeps getting worse and worse and

the civilian death toll continues

rising ever higher. Now we face a

dramatic escalation of that crisis

with millions of lives in even more

immediate danger. I am afraid that

more good intentions on the part of

the government will simply not cut

it this time. Instead we need urgent

action. We are all familiar with

recent developments as summarised by

the Minister of State. The Saudis

have reacted with understandable

anger to the firing of a ballistic

missile at Riyadh, an act that all

of us on this side of the House

unequivocally condemn in the same

way that we have condemned all the

thousands of Saudi air strikes

against civilian targets inside

Yemen. Following the defeat missile

strike, the Saudis strengthened

their blockade of all rebel held

areas of Yemen and as a result what

little supplies their worth of food,

medicine and other humanitarian

goods have now grown to a halt.

Millions of children who were

already facing severe malnutrition,

a cholera epidemic, an outbreak of

diphtheria, have had their very last

lifeline cut off. Let me quote this

weekend was a joint statement by the

world health programme, the World

Food Programme and Unicef. They say

the tightening of the blockade,

quote, is making an already

catastrophic situation far worse.

They say the supplies the Saudis are

blocking are essential to staving

off disease and starvation and

without them untold thousands of

innocent victims will die. They

estimate if nothing is done over the

coming months, 150,000 already

malnourished children could starve

to death. They conclude, quote, to

deprive his many from the basic

means of survival is an

unconscionable act and a violation

of humanitarian principles and law.

The Minister of State says he shares

those concerns. But at what point

will he admit that strategy isn't

working? At what point will he

warned the Saudis that Britain will

withdraw its support if they carry

on with this blockade? And at what

point do we say this is no longer a

question of diplomatic persuasion

but a matter of international law?

International humanitarian law is

clear Mr Speaker, and Britain's

manual on the armed conflict, saying

that the civil population cannot be

used as a weapon of war. "The

Establishment of a blockade is

prohibited if the damage to the

civil population is excessive in

relation to the military advantage

and if the are deprived of things

essential for their survival, the

blockading party must provide for

free passage of such essential

supplies." So Mr Speaker, I have to

ask the Minister of State, if the

Saudis continue to enforce its

blockade in its current form and

deny humanitarian access, will it be

the judgment of this government that

they are in breach of international

law and if so, will his government

suspended the sale of British arms

that are being used to enforce that

blockade? Mr Speaker, the truth is

that this government has invested

considerable political capital in

its relationship with Saudi Arabia.

It has championed the cramping, the

architect of the conflict in Yemen

and the blockade. If that diplomatic

strategy has been worth anything,

now is the time to prove it. Now is

the time for the government to show

we can have influence and impact on

the Saudis and persuade them that as

a matter of urgency they should open

up the ports to humanitarian

supplies and bring relief to the

millions of children facing

starvation and disease. If the

government cannot achieve that Mr

Speaker then it is time to change

their approach.

Thank you Mr Speaker

and can I thank the honourable

gentleman for his comments and a

large part of it with which I would

not disagree. Can I start by passing

on the good wishes from the benches

to the Right Honourable Lady and

trust that all is well with her

child. And also to recognise what

the honourable gentleman said in

relation to the First World War

battle, we have seen pictures of the

tanks yesterday which brought a

smile to many hearts, thanks for

reminding the House about that. The

honourable gentleman was right to

recognise the frustrations in terms

of the conflict and the actions to

bring it to an end are not solely in

the power of the United Kingdom

government. We have to work with

partners to achieve that. I set out

what we have been seeking to do ever

since it became clear that the

conflict was becoming a matter that

would require political negotiation

and not a military solution, to

bring the parties together and find

an answer to a conflict that has

already taken too many lives but is

about two sides. There is very

little attention paid to the

activities of those on the other

side and those who have been

involved in human rights abuses on

their side, it does take two sides.

Arn Basta in Yemen -- our ambassador

in Yemen, we wish to resolve the

humanitarian issues we are solving

about -- talking about. I do not

quibble with the concerns raised by

agencies, I am in touch with the

world food programme, we know they

have warned us of the severity of

the problems faced if the

restrictions are not eased. Where I

would challenge the honourable

gentleman and put a different

complexion, he speaks about us

continuing to make representations

and a political solution of what

happens if it doesn't work, we are

pressing on the representations. We

do not know what the answer will be

but we are making it clear, as have

other parties, of the seriousness of

the situation and we do expect there

will be a change, there has to be. I

do want to challenge in relation to

international humanitarian law, he

speaks about that law preventing

starvation of civilians as a means

method of warfare, that is quite

correct. And the public made Saudi

comment is that it is not there to

wage war but to prevent the import

of missiles. It is confirmation of

the support of those who wish to

prevent missiles entering Yemen need

to protect themselves and that is

through the work being done by the

UN and the coalition to secure the

entry ports to make sure there are

no threats in the same way there was

to the airport in Riyadh but at the

same time it is vital there is

humanitarian access. We believe that

concentration on both of those will

relieve the humanitarian situation

and at the same time secure the

safety of those who wish to protect

their own people. We will continue

to do that in addition to the work

we are doing negotiations which is

the only solution to the conflict.

Mr Andrew Mitchell.

By Right

Honourable friend has been most

helpful today, I thank him and the

opposition front for their comments

about my old regiment which will be

celebrating and commemorating the

events of 100 years ago next

weekend. But on Yemen, are not three

features of our engagement

absolutely clear? The current policy

on Yemen is doomed to strategic

failure both for Saudi Arabia and by

extension the UK. Secondly, that

Saudi policy violates international

law, as clearly set out in the UN

Secretary-General's letter of last

Friday. And thirdly, that we are

dangerously complicit in a policy

that is directly the mating of

famine and the collective punishment

of an entire population? Are we not

on the brink, Mr Speaker, of

witnessing in Yemen are a totally

preventable massive humanitarian

catastrophe, the likes of the -- the

likes of which we haven't seen in

decades?

In relation to my right

honourable friend's last point, it

is for the very reasons that we wish

to prevent the concerns raised by

agencies in the UN from coming to

fruition that we are spending all

our efforts -- lending all I efforts

in order to preserve safety and

prevent arms getting through to make

sure humanitarian access is indeed

given. He is right to raise the

concerns which I know the whole

House has, that is what is giving

the UK Government every incentive to

continue to do all we can to raise

those issues with those who fear for

their own safety, to make sure they

are not putting others at risk in

the manner described by so many

agencies.

I agree very much with the

comments for the members for Leeds

North East and Sutton Coldfield, and

key for giving me a advance sight of

the statement, I am happy to hear

there is dialogue but we need a lot

more about actions in this House. I

also understand the difficulties

facing the Saudis and the attack in

Riyadh which we of course also

condemn, there needs to be

recognition of the two sides of this

conflict. The 155 million the

Minister talks about in aid is

brought by the people and 8 billion

in arms deals to Saudi Arabia. Will

the Minister speak a little more

about those? Aid agencies have been

reporting for years about the

difficulties of getting aid into

Yemen and across Yemen. Difficulties

faced by aid agencies intends moving

goods across the country and moving

people about the country, only

recently I heard from one man who

saw how the projects are going, he

could not travel round the country

either due to the Visa system in

operation. Despite the inspection

system, Save the Children report

that 13 ships carrying vital

humanitarian aid were still denied

entry to Yemen, what is the UK

Government doing to get seaports

open, especially when these convoys

are quite clearly aid convoys and

not containing missiles? It is fine

to say they are providing funding

but without access and workers on

the ground able to deliver that it

is almost meaningless. This is a

population deliberately being

staffed by its neighbours. Those

neighbours are key allies of the UK.

-- being starved. Save the Children

report 130 children in Newman will

die today, and tomorrow and the next

day until this conflict ends, will

the Minister tell us how he will

stop this?

Again, I come to the last

point of her remarks, how will this

conflict come to an end? It will

come to an end when both sides are

brought together by those who make

it clear that there is no military

solution to this and there has to be

a political solution. That is what

the United Kingdom has been seeking

to do for many months now am a with

appropriate parties here in London,

New York and in the region. We share

the frustrations because like others

we can see the impact. I would

comment on a couple of her other

perfectly proper remarks, the key

test for our continued arms exports

to Saudi Arabia in terms of

humanitarian and international law

is if there is a clear risk that

those items might be used in a

violation of that international law,

that is kept under continual review.

And like other aspects of the UK

arms control policy, it is subject

to rigorous examination here and by

the law. The Honourable lady is

right to raise access, as we have

done. It does not mean our work is

meaningless, as she indicated, we

are working through partners on the

ground but distribution is harder,

of course it is. It is not just in

coalition controlled areas but other

areas, I must remind the House of

their art two side to this. If I may

deal again with arms exports, I know

it is fundamental and I did relate

that to the honourable lady the

other week and I shall do so again

if I may. I do not mean to be harsh

on it. If our not sending support to

our allies, who are facing attacks

upon their own soil from missiles

imported into ungoverned space am

aware they are trying to support and

elected government against the

interests of urgency -- against the

insurgency, if we thought that would

be of use, it would be a course of

action. I do not believe that is the

case. I do not think that if we were

to take that action that it would

not fundamentally undermine a number

of other regional issues which our

allies would wonder when they face

an attack on their Heathrow whether

we were making the right judgments.

We have to pursue other means of

bringing the conflict to an end and

that is what we are seeking to do.

Is Yemen subject to a blockade?

Yemen is subject to restrictions

brought in by the coalition parties

following the attack by a missile on

Riyadh and because of the smuggling

of arms and weapons that have

threatened the coalition vote in the

UAE and Saudi Arabia for some period

of time. I am not sure that the

nomenclature adds to it a great deal

but that is the aspect of the

situation.

I think it is pretty

clear that it is a blockade and the

sheer scale of the humanitarian

crisis now must require urgent

action by this government and by our

partners to press the Saudis to lift

the blockade. The Minister in his

statement said that our partners

Newman are reporting that water in

major cities has stopped operating

because of a lack of fuel. Can he

tell us how high the fuel supplies

are and when can food be distributed

and when the level of debt will

increase genetically as a result?

We

hope it does not reach that case. It

has been made clear that it is a

matter of a number of days in which

both of these issues will become

critical. In terms of what we have

done, since the 4th of November and

the attack and the response from the

coalition, on the 5th of November, a

statement condemned the attack, on

the 13th of November, the Secretary

of State for International

Development spoke about the

circumstance, we issued a further

statement about the need for

humanitarian access, and

conversations in Riyadh are taking

place all the time to reassure them

on security about weapons

threatening them being dealt with

but that humanitarian access is

vital.

Whilst I understand why the minister

is getting a statement today, can I

remind him since 2010 there have

been 15 oral statements, 16 written

ministerial statements and nine

urgent questions. We as the

ministers spend more time in the

department sorting out the problem

and less time talking about it.

I am

grateful to my honourable friend, a

former minister, for his support. I

understand the point he makes. Since

2010 when I was first at the

dispatch box in relation to Yemen we

have had all sorts of different

prospects for a different future for

the people of Yemen. The end of the

presidency, a process which resulted

in a national dialogue, an

opportunity for a new, democratic

future, an opportunity for voices

not heard in the governance of Yemen

ever in terms of young people and

women, and those opportunities were

dashed by the current conflict and

insurgency by a group seeking to

take power with violence, removing

the chances that people had for the

development and the building of

democracy as we had seen. The UK has

been engaged right the way through

that process to encourage all the

right things. Reporting to the House

is an important thing to do, but it

has not taken away any of the time

we have needed to spend in Yemen

itself.

Joe Swinton.

The Minister is

right that a political solution is

essential and the only route to

solving the humanitarian crisis in

the medium term, but access for aid

is vital in the short term. I am

glad the UK Government has raised

this issue with the Crown prince.

What was his response and does the

government, if it sticks to its

current position, have any hope that

the Saudis will let in any vital

supplies in the future?

The Crown

Prince's response on behalf of the

kingdom of Saudi Arabia is to make

the point about the need to control

weapons which might threaten Saudi

Arabia being smuggled into Yemen and

being used by those with whom they

are in conflict, as has been the

case over a period of time. We worry

that the sophistication of the

missiles being smuggled in has

increased and increase the risk not

only to Saudi Arabia and

neighbouring places, but the risk of

the conflict escalating and becoming

still worse. That is why there is a

serious concentration on trying to

prevent that because that looks

likely to prolong the conflict and

make the humanitarian situation

still worse. But at the same time I

understand the Crown Prince was

absolutely aware, as the public

statement to the Saudis made clear,

that it was not the intention of the

restrictions to cause the

humanitarian concerns which are now

dead, but to deal with the arms

supplies being smuggled in. The

agencies we work with and ourselves

are impressing upon the coalition

that that maybe the unintended

effect and that is why those

restrictions need to be lifted and

the access that the honourable lady

is looking for has to happen.

Given

that the United Nations has said

recently that if this blockade is

not lifted, we are likely to see the

worst famine for decades, given the

outbreak of diphtheria and cholera,

could I urge my right honourable

friend to bring to this house some

kind of statement every week, not

necessarily an oral statement, but

in writing, because this situation

is developing daily, weekly, and we

must be kept informed to know what

the situation is, hopefully a turn

for the better.

I thank my

honourable friend for that. I will

talk with the Department and the

House authorities about what would

be the best way to do that. I

understand that, if there is a way

to make sure there is adequate

information from government and

those other agencies involved

rapidly and effectively and I shall

try and do that.

Like many others I

condemned the missile attack on

Riyadh and I would argue that but

can I pressed the Minister on the

discussions with Saudi Arabia. Is

there any reason why the airport

should not be reopened to

humanitarian flights in the next 24

hours?

I thank the honourable

gentleman for the condemnation of

the missile attack as indeed it came

from his front bench. In terms of

timescale we have asked these

restrictions to be lifted

immediately. I cannot speak for the

coalition in relation to their

timescale beyond the fact they want

to be assured that the ports are

adequately protected against this

sort of attack which they saw. That

is why we are urging that the UN are

able to have access to those ports

and to work with the coalition

authorities with neither side is

demanding that the other side move

first in order to make sure there is

an opportunity to secure the ports

against weapons being smuggled in,

but at the same time immediately

improve the access.

The missile

attack on Riyadh takes the conflict

to a new and dangerous phase,

sending ripples through the Muslim

world who are being urged to take

sides, Sunni versus Shia, with a

recent cold war between Saudi Arabia

and Iran. Can my right honourable

friend outlined the ways that we are

tackling the deadlock and engaging

with the humanitarian process?

Can I

thank my honourable friend for her

perceptive question because it goes

to the heart of this. This is

another conflict in a region which

is being fought out over people who

don't deserve it and where the

issues between regional powers have

come into direct confrontation. My

honourable friend is right to say

the sophistication of the missile

launched, at the Saudi equivalent of

Heathrow, takes the conflict into a

different sphere and had that

missile landed on the airport, had

it destroyed civilian airliners,

passengers from all over the world,

including possibly from the UK, we

would have been facing a still

greater crisis. My honourable friend

is right to say our actions are not

just perceived in relation to this

particular conflict, they are

perceived in relation to a wider

issue between legitimacy and those

who would seek to disrupt it, which

is why again we need to bend all our

efforts in the first place on the

humanitarian side, but on the second

to make sure the political

negotiations and solutions improves

the situation and does not make it

worse.

All of us would condemn the

attack on Riyadh, the missile

attack, but can I expressed some

surprise that the Minister has been

reluctant in using the word

blockade? When the United Nations

are warning that diesel and petrol

will run dry inside a month and when

we know that within that month

100,000 children already

malnourished will die and Save the

Children are saying 130 are dying

every single day now, as well as

pushing for the political solution

which is absolutely necessary, is he

giving any indication at all to

Saudi Arabia that they could be in

any way accountable for the deaths

of what could be millions of people?

Well again, I think the term that is

described is less material than the

impact. The impact of these

restrictions are very clear. It has

led to what the agencies have said

about the warning about the running

out of fuel, food and water and it

is one of the reasons why the United

Kingdom has called last week and

again today for the immediate

lifting of these restrictions

subject to what we believe is

reasonable controls by the coalition

authorities to protect themselves.

There is no doubt about the

seriousness of this. I am not making

any point about whether it is called

a blockade or restrictions, it is

the impact that is important and

that is why we must work to relieve

it with our partners as quickly as

possible.

I referred to the

register. Given the supposition that

the rebels will not engage in the

important UN led process unless Iran

allows them, and there is no

interest in Iran to thaw relations

with Saudi Arabia or improve Saudi

Arabia's perception in the world,

how does my right honourable friend

CP is being delivered?

Again, Mr

Speaker, my honourable friend speaks

with knowledge of the area and again

another question which goes to the

heart of the issue. Our perception

is of course there are always

channels available to different

parties in conflict. It is one of

the reasons why all the parties to

the process are so important. We

hope firstly that common humanity

prevails in terms of what is being

inflicted on the people of Yemen as

a result of the insurgency, the

attempted removal of a legitimate

government and all that has flowed

from it, and that the parties will

appreciate there is no military

solution and there has to be a

political one. That applies to all

parties. There are skilled

negotiators, not least the UN

special representative, those in the

countries in the area who wish to

see an end to this conflict because

of the pain being suffered, and I

pay tribute to the governments in

the region who are attempting to

mediate with both sides and the

United Kingdom will give them every

support.

Can the Minister say a

little bit more about practically

how he thinks the security concerns

of Saudi Arabia can be addressed to

allow access to the humanitarian aid

into Yemen?

Mr Speaker, to answer

the honourable lady, there is a UN

verification and inspection

mechanism which the UN works through

its professionals and technicians to

provide the tools for ensuring that

supplies coming into ports are

subject to the right sort of

testing. My understanding is that

the UN and Saudi Arabia are in

contact in relation to this and that

we would wish them to get on site as

quickly as possible to do this. The

problem I think with the smuggling

of weapons is that they can go

through various routes and that is

always difficult, but we have to

respond to the concerns of those who

have had improved and increasingly

sophisticated missiles targeting

against them before there is a

further catastrophe, but it should

not be impossible to be able to

satisfy security conditions as well

as relieve humanitarian problems.

I

would highlight my entry in the

register of members Brahma interests

as someone in the past two has on a

number of occasions spent time in

Yemen. Can I associate myself with

marks from both sides of the House

with the tragedy befalling that

country. The immediate priority must

be the alleviation of humanitarian

suffering, but would he agree with

me that the UK should and must

continue its work to facilitate a

multilateral ceasefire followed by a

political solution but that to have

any long-term success, ultimately it

must emerge among those in the

conflict and not be imposed

externally?

Can I thank my oral

friend who speaks with some

knowledge of the area and the

subject. Firstly, I would like to

commend the efforts that Matthew

Rycroft are permanent representative

at the UN has been making in order

to drive the UN process, and also

our ambassador to Yemen for the

efforts they have made to try and

bring the parties together.

Ultimately it must and should be the

Yemeni solution. If we could go back

to the opportunities presented by

the National dialogue with the

people of Yemen were so close to

something different for them before

those who have traditionally held

power through the gun in the country

reasserted themselves, that is the

solution we would all wish for. But

the reality is that will only come

about when there is agreement

between the current parties in the

conflict to have to find a way to

set their weapons aside.

The closure

of the airport has reportedly cost

over 10,000 lives as it continues to

restrict humanitarian assistance to

stop it is paramount that the

airport is open immediately. Exactly

what recent representations has the

Secretary of State made to the Saudi

led coalition on reopening the

international airport in Yemen?

We

agree with the honourable lady. It

is not just a question of getting

supplies in, it is getting

humanitarian workers in and medical

cases out. There is worry about the

airspace around which is why there

have been restrictions and concerns

there. We recognise the importance

of the airport and it is one of

those areas of access that we would

wish to see reopened as quickly as

possible.

It is highly commendable that the UK

is the fourth-largest humanitarian

donor to Yemen but equally we play a

key role in diplomatic talks, not

least with Saudi Arabia. So can the

Minister give assurances that all

pressure is being kept up on Saudi

Arabia to get access lines open

because Yemen are pretty much

completely reliant on imports of

food.

Mr Speaker, my honourable

friend against beaks with knowledge,

some 90% of the food and supplies

that Yemen needs is imported into

the country. That is why these

issues surrounding the ports and the

airport are so very important.

Again, the question makes it clear

how important these issues are to

the people of Yemen but why the

United Kingdom is so engaged, not

only in dealing directly with

parties of the coalition, whose

security concerns we understand, but

we must also appreciate the

humanitarian consequences of the

actions they are taking to protect

themselves.

It is worth noting that

the alliance in starting this war

against a legitimate government is a

brutal army that has done some

brutal things and if you read the UN

reports, you will see that. And the

distances 750 miles to Riyadh, we

are not talking about missiles made

at the local foundry, this is

high-tech imported equipment. And

the vast majority of people

suffering are in rebel held

territory and they are blocking the

peace process and what can we do to

get them involved in peace in Yemen?

I am grateful to the honourable

gentleman who against beaks with

some knowledge on the subject. And

he puts some necessary balance into

the conversation. Because it is much

easier to pick up media interest in

the Saudis and the coalition, it has

been harder to talk about what the

insurgency has done but he rightly

points the finger at the numerous

atrocities and human rights abuses

they have conducted and their

willingness to bring in missiles to

spread the conflict emphasises how

important it is to bring it to an

end and why it is so important to

support those who are trying to

legitimately prevent them take over

a country and subject them to more

conflict and it will rule. -- ill

rule.

It is universal children's Day

and it is estimated by the UN that

over 2 million children are starving

in Yemen, can the Minister assure

the House that the government is

doing all it can to enable aid in

Yemen?

Again, I can absolutely

assure my honourable friend and we

are doing that. I draw attention to

their being two sides in this

conflict and to make sure that both

are contributing to an end to the

conflict because that is the only

thing that will make sure that in

those areas that are currently under

insurgent control that access to

food, medicine and water is given.

The heart-rending pictures of those

children who are suffering is an

affront on a day like today which is

why we must continue to give all our

efforts to bring every blue -- bring

a conclusion to this conflict.

He

hopes it will be dealt with by

diplomatic means, but if the

blockade continues, due to the

pressing nature of the crisis, will

the British government give

sanctions against the Saudis

especially in terms of arms exports?