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World Food Programme: Finance

Question for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

UIN HL10211, tabled on 18 September 2023

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of UN World Food Programme's analysis, published on 12 September, that every 1 per cent cut in food assistance could push 400,000 people towards the brink of starvation and that as a consequence of cuts “an additional 24 million people could fall into emergency hunger over the next 12 months”; and what steps it plans to take, if any, in response to this analysis.

Answered on

3 October 2023

We share WFP's alarm at their analysis and ask the Agency to prioritise those who are most in need and the most food insecure, basing its decisions on its own internal assessments and internationally-recognised tools like the Integrated Phase Classification. We urge WFP to keep improving its targeting to ensure the most vulnerable segments of the population are reached with adequate support.

We are supportive of WFP's efforts to expand its donor base beyond traditional donors (including other Governments, International Financial Institutions and the private sector) and urge them to continue investing in efficiencies to ensure scarce resources are used in the most effective manner possible.