Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effect of the creation of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on the job security of staff in her Department at grade A2/G7 and above who were appointed in country (SAIC); whether the additional Foreign and Commonwealth Office vetting procedures will affect that job security; and whether the employment protections afforded to those staff will be extended to EU citizens working in her Department.
Answered by Wendy Morton
There will be no compulsory redundancies for DFID employees as a result of the decision to create a new Department. Some roles may change due to business needs and any changes will be handled in compliance with relevant civil service policy and guidance or local labour law for staff appointed in country overseas.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether it is the Government's policy to maintain the Programme Quality Index after the creation of the Foreign, Commonwealth Office in September 2020.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The Portfolio Quality Index will continue to be calculated, however, is just one of the tools DFID used to assess the performance of programmes.
Achieving value for money has always been a core objective of all spend on Official Development Assistance. The Prime Minister was clear in his statement to the house on 16th June that delivering maximum value for the British taxpayer will continue to be a key objective of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans the Government has for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to support (a) Ghana in-country programmes to prevent (i) corruption and (ii) laundering of proceeds from corruption and (b) other country-specific corruption strategies.
Answered by James Duddridge
DFID Ghana is currently implementing an anti-corruption programme - Strengthening Action Against Corruption (STAAC). The programme engages with law enforcement agencies and policy makers to strengthen the Government of Ghana's capacity to detect, investigate and prosecute corruption, as well as supporting civil society to hold government to account. This programme supported a Parliamentary Act in Ghana that established the Office of the Special Prosecutor, which has independent powers to make inquiries into corruption and bribery, and has helped strengthen investigative systems in the Financial Intelligence Centre. It is also supporting Ghana to implement an effective action plan, after it was grey-listed by the Financial Action Task Force in October 2018, including drafting of a new Anti-Money Laundering Bill and development of a beneficial ownership register.
There is strong coordination among HMG departments on tackling corruption and Serious Organised Crime (SOC) in Ghana. Under the FCDO, a new successor programme will be designed to tackle corruption and organised crime, both of which remain top UK Government priorities. In particular, it will seek to establish UK-Ghana partnerships to tackle illicit financial flows and provide asset-tracing and recovery of the proceeds of crime. Under the FCDO, a refreshed anti-corruption strategy will also be developed.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has been made of the potential level of reductions in non-urgent funding to the UN and other multilateral or regional institutions; and whether those reductions will be fully implemented before reductions in funding for bilateral and existing programming are made.
Answered by Wendy Morton
As the Chancellor has set out, like many other nations across the world the UK is experiencing a severe economic downturn as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Given the likely decrease in the size of the economy this year, the First Secretary chaired a review process across government looking at all strands of the ODA budget, evaluating the impacts of spend and making sure the UK can maintain operational capacity. This process also has made sure there is continued support for five ODA priorities; bottom billion poverty reduction, climate change, girls' education, Covid-19 and Britain as a force for good.
All ODA spending Departments will now work with respective partners to make these savings in a responsible and efficient way.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2020 to Question 73751 on Israel: Palestinians, for what reason the UK’s People-to-People programme ended without alternative provision being established to help ensure continued UK support for co-existence projects in Israel-Palestine.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
As the Chancellor has set out, like many other nations across the world the UK is experiencing a severe economic downturn as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Given the likely decrease in the size of the economy this year, the First Secretary chaired a review process across government looking at all strands of the ODA budget, evaluating the impacts of spend and making sure the UK can maintain operational capacity. This process also has made sure there is continued support for five ODA priorities; bottom billion poverty reduction, climate change, girls' education, Covid-19 and Britain as a force for good.
All ODA spending Departments will now work with respective partners to make these savings in a responsible and efficient way.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has been made of the financial sustainability of her Department's (a) major and (b) SME suppliers; how many of those suppliers have been classified as at financial risk; and whether her Department has taken steps to support individual suppliers that are at risk.
Answered by James Duddridge
The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office is actively monitoring and assessing the overall financial health of our supply partners to understand the impact of the global economic downturn and Covid-19 on our supplier base and identify supply partners who are at higher financial risk.
The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office relies heavily on the capacity, expertise, resilience and flexibility of our supply partners large and small, without them we cannot deliver UK aid. A generous package of support has been made available by the Chancellor for UK businesses, including supplier relief for those in the aid sector. DFID has worked with SMEs and major supply partners to find pragmatic and flexible ways to maintain delivery of essential programmes, including amendments to payment schedules, delivery milestones and alternative working arrangements where appropriate.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much funding the CDC Group has invested in ONOMO Hotels to date.
Answered by James Duddridge
CDC has made investment commitments to ONOMO Hotels of £41 million.
CDC's investment in ONOMO is creating jobs and stability in some of the world's most challenged countries including: Mali, Togo, Guinea, Cameroon and Cote D'Ivoire. Since the investment the company has created around 250 new permanent jobs.
CDC's investment also benefits the local economy. For example, as ONOMO now has the capital to expand it was able to employ around 750 construction workers as it added to its sites in 2019. In addition, it purchases around £11 million's worth of locally sourced goods each year - helping create demand for local suppliers.
As with every CDC investment, it has been made with high Environmental, Social and Governance Standards in mind. CDC is working with the company to reduce energy and water use and ensure its new hotels are built using green design and construction.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what investments the CDC Group has made since 2010.
Answered by James Duddridge
CDC invests to achieve two key objectives: To support the business growth that lifts people out of poverty, and to make a financial return, which CDC then reinvests to improve the lives of people in Africa and South Asia. CDC have only made new commitments in Africa and South Asia since 2012. At the end of 2019, CDC had invested in 1,228 businesses - 690 in Africa and 377 in South Asia. In 2019, CDC made £1.66 billion of new commitments and increased its portfolio to £4.7 billion.
CDC publishes a full list of its new investment commitments each year in its Annual Reviews (2010 - present) which can be accessed online at www.cdcgroup.com/en/.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 16 July 2020 to Question 71769, if she will list the (a) NGOs and (b) other stakeholders that have been consulted on the merger of her Department with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Answered by Wendy Morton
As with any government change of this nature, the announcement came first to Parliament. The Government will continue its ongoing engagement with key stakeholders, including on issues relating to the merger. Plans on how we will do this with different partners will be shared in due course.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent discussions she has had with (a) Cabinet colleagues, (b) multilateral donor partners, (c) civil society organisations and (d) other stakeholders on (i) the potential reduction in the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget and (ii) governmental prioritisation of ODA spending.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The International Development Secretary has had ongoing discussion with key stakeholders during the review of ODA spending in 2020. She has worked with Cabinet colleagues throughout the HMG review to identify savings in this year's ODA budget. This involved participating in the meetings chaired by the First Secretary of State to oversee the review, and contributing to the final session of the review with the First Secretary of State and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. She wrote to all DFID private sector and civil society suppliers in May and published a statement on 1 June announcing that DFID would have to pause any new work given the GNI context. Following the outcome of the ODA savings exercise, the First Secretary of State has written to key suppliers to inform them about the outcome. This has been published on DFID's supplier portal, making it available to all DFID's suppliers. Regular and structured engagement was put in place with leading NGOs and CSOs, led by Baroness Sugg and DFID Permanent Secretary Nick Dyer to discuss prioritisation of aid spending during the review. A recent meeting with a number of CSOs took place on the 24 July, led by Baroness Sugg, which covered the conclusions of the review process.