To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department has plans to allocate funding to the introduction of a UK hospital ship.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, on how many occasions (a) she and (b) officials in her Department have held discussions with counterparts in the Ministry of Defence on the potential procurement of a UK hospital ship.

Both DFID’s Directors General for Policy, Humanitarian and Research and DFID’s Director for Humanitarian, Migration and Security have held discussions with their counterparts at the MoD to discuss the proposal; a senior official-led DFID-MOD working group has met on two occasions and a series of more junior official level discussions have taken place between DFID’s Conflict, Humanitarian and Security Division and the Ministry of Defence. A further senior cross-Whitehall workshop is planned this week.

This builds on broader collaboration between DFID and the Ministry of Defence, including on the establishment of the Humanitarian Innovation Hub, and on taking a joined up approach to building stability in fragile and conflict-affected regions.