Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent steps the Government has taken to help ensure the effective delivery of aid to refugee camps in (a) Yemen, (b) Syria and (c) South Sudan.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
In Yemen through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), DFID has supported 224 teachers' salaries for refugee and IDP affected areas from July 2020 to February 2021. This funding covers gaps where existing teachers' salaries have stopped or are under threat. UK aid has provided £10.8 million to UNHCR to assist refugees and IDPs in Yemen since 2017. This includes over 5,000 refugee children supported with child protection activities, and counselling to over 3,000 survivors of gender-based violence.
In South Sudan the UK funds several programmes that help support refugees. The UK-Unilever water and sanitation partnership, UNHCR and Save the Children help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in refugee populations and host communities across the country. DFID-funded education programmes in South Sudan ensure IDP and refugee children have access to quality education despite the multiple barriers they face. The UK works with the UN, NGOs and the Red Cross to ensure that life-saving supplies get to the most vulnerable communities. COVID-19 containment measures have made this more difficult, so DFID works closely with the Government and others to ensure that the movement of humanitarian supplies and personnel are impacted as little as possible.
In Syria. Most of the humanitarian need is among internally displaced persons, now totalling 6.1million. DFID continues to support Palestinian refugees in Syria through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Syria programme, to which the UK has contributed £36m since 2017. UNRWA is the only agency mandated to provide services to this population and often the only organisation with the access, permission, and mandate required to assist Palestinian refugees.
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 take steps to help strengthen rules to prevent the movement of money from corruption (a) leaving and (b) entering developing countries.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The UK is at the forefront of efforts to prevent the proceeds of corruption from developing countries being laundered or transferred overseas. The Government supports developing countries to improve rules and capabilities directly through a range of regional and in-country programming, such as the Countering Illicit Financial Flows Programme in Southern Africa. The UK also supports highly respected global programmes that seek to help developing countries implement international standards, such as the International Centre for Asset Recovery based in Basel and the World Bank-UNODC Stolen Asset Recovery (STAR) Fund. And, through its wider international engagement, the UK influences the evolution of global rules and norms, for example championing the adoption of beneficial ownership transparency standards.
The Government's future plans for tackling the proceeds of corruption from developing countries will be based on existing strategies such as the UK Anti-Corruption Strategy 2017-2022 and the National Economic Crime Plan 2019-2022, as well as the priorities set in the ongoing Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy and subsequent Spending Review.
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, how much her Department has disbursed to multilateral institutions in response to the covid-19 pandemic; and how much of that aid has reached the Global South to date.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The UK is playing a leading role in the international response to the Covid-19 pandemic, pledging up to £774 million of UK aid to help developing countries (the 'global south') address the immediate and longer-term impacts of the crisis. Of the £774 million, £220 million has gone to UN agencies in the UN's Global Humanitarian Response Plan (GHRP), such as the World Food Programme and UN Refugee Agency, as well as humanitarian organisations such as the Red Cross and international NGOs. DFID is also adapting its programmes across its country network to respond to COVID-19 and address the needs of the most vulnerable, as outlined in the GHRP. This funding will help address urgent needs in vulnerable countries, accelerate progress towards a vaccine, reinforce infection control and help the poorest countries address the economic impact of the crisis.
On 4 June, the UK hosted the Global Vaccine Summit, where world leaders, foundations, corporations and organisations pledged $8.8 billion for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The UK remains Gavi's largest donor, having pledged £1.65bn for 2021-25 to help strengthen health systems in the global fight against COVID-19 and immunise a further 300 million children in the world's poorest countries against other deadly diseases. We are a leading donor and shareholder to the multilateral development banks, which have announced financial packages totalling more than £200bn. Given the unprecedented high demand for rapid finance, the UK has doubled its pledge from £2.2bn to £4.4 billion to IMF loan resources for concessional lending to low-income and vulnerable developing countries, and pledged up to £150m to the IMF Catastrophe Containment Relief Trust for the poorest countries to receive debt relief on IMF repayments.
We will continue to work closely with our multilateral partners and fora such as the G7 and G20 to galvanise the global fight against Covid-19 and shape the multilateral response to ensure it addresses the needs of the world's poorest and most vulnerable.
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, how much the CDC Group has invested via private equity funds in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Duddridge
CDCs invests through Private Equity Funds to provide growth capital to companies in Africa and South Asia to create jobs and transform economies, focussing on the small and mid-size companies that face the biggest financing gap.
CDC's backing for Fund managers helps promote the adoption of higher Environmental, Social and Governance standards and support the development of self-sustaining local finance markets.
In the last five years CDC made new investment commitments to private equity funds of:
Asked by: Lord Chidgey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the letter from the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of 22 July regarding Official Development Assistance, (1) what analysis and evaluation techniques will be deployed in prioritising the various streams of development projects across the Sustainable Development Goals spectrum, and (2) what measures will be taken to establish the non-recoverable costs of cancelled or reduced programmes as a result of (a) the reduction in funding, (b) the impact of COVID-19, and (c) the merger of the Department for International Development and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
DFID’s evaluation approach is underpinned by the principles of transparency, rigour and independence, achieved with skilled analytical staff that have a deep and extensive evaluation experience.
Every DFID programme is subject to an annual review which looks at the performance of partners and DFID, including consideration of Value for Money. These reviews are published. Controls are in place to ensure that costs will be identified and recorded in line with Managing Public Money, including where necessary any write-offs or losses. The anticipated decline in GNI and hence ODA, the impact of covid-19, alongside all other key issues will be disclosed as necessary within the department’s 2020/21 Governance Statement.
We will continue to look at how money can be spent most effectively against our priorities, including through the Integrated Review, and the Spending Review – both of which will inform the priorities of the new Department.
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what funding they have allocated for mental health programmes in South Sudan.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The UK is the leading provider of health services in South Sudan, through the Health Pooled Fund (HPF) (£175m 2018-2023). Through the HPF, UK Aid is improving capacity to identify and manage mental health illnesses in health facilities and hospitals; last year HPF trained 412 health workers on mental health across South Sudan.
UK Aid is also supporting specialised mental health services in areas heavily impacted by violence, through our partnerships with Humanity and Inclusion (£3.7m 2018-2021) and Medair (£16m 2016-2021). We also provide psycho-social support to survivors of gender-based violence as part of a five-year £22 million programme with the International Medical Corps. Finally, UK Aid is working in partnership with the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to provide mental health and psychosocial services in protection of civilian sites, with services targeted particularly at vulnerable groups including women and girls.
Asked by: Baroness Tonge (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in view of the reduction in actual Official Development Assistance, what plans they have to re-focus money given to the Commonwealth Development Corporation on poverty, including education and universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
CDC invests in the poorest countries in Africa and South Asia to support the growth of companies that create employment, help transform economies, and improve people’s lives, through the goods and services they produce and the local taxes they generate. In 2019, the businesses into which CDC is invested employed 875,790 people; sourced from 1.84 million farmers; and paid $3.3 billion in local taxes.
As part of its ODA prioritisation process, the Government looked across its ODA programming including CDC. We are investing significantly less capital into CDC than originally planned at the start of the year. Funding will be focused on ensuring that CDC continues to take a targeted response that preserves, strengthens and helps rebuild economies across Africa and South Asia to mitigate the economic and health impacts of Covid-19. Funding originally earmarked for CDC will be re-purposed to ensure we can continue to focus on delivering for the bottom billion including by prioritising girls’ education, climate change, essential health, sexual and reproductive health rights, while also responding to Covid-19.
Asked by: Lord Collins of Highbury (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Adolescent Girls' Education and Empowerment programme planned by the Department for International Development will still take place.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The UK Government remains committed to delivering 12 years of quality education for all girls. Education, particularly girls’ education, will remain a top priority in the new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and a priority for the Prime Minister personally. In my role as Special Envoy for Girls’ Education, I am working to accelerate progress towards getting marginalised girls into schools, staying there and staying safe, and benefitting from quality learning. I am working closely with international partners to encourage greater global ambition, coordination, and investment on girls’ education.
Asked by: Earl of Sandwich (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what additional support they have given to the Bidi Bidi refugee camp in Uganda as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, DFID has worked with partners like the United Nations World Food Programme to ensure continuity of life-saving services, such as the delivery of food assistance, to the population of Bidibidi, Uganda’s largest refugee settlement. Additionally, we have supported specific programmes in Bidibidi through Mercy Corps, an International Non-Governmental Organisation, including:
• a campaign - through public address systems, bulk text messages, posters, song and radio – to raise awareness about prevention of the virus, focused on community “hot spots” including shops, bill boards, markets, water points, and food distribution points;
• payments in vouchers or via mobile money to more than 1,850 farmers (57% of whom were women) to purchase high quality seeds from local dealers to ensure they did not miss the planting season; and
• support to small businesses to continue, providing access to basic hygiene supplies, agricultural inputs, and mobile money services. The local dealers that were selected to support the seed distribution referred to above received business development training on topics including business plan development, marketing and record keeping, as well as cash grants to strengthen their business.
As the pandemic continues to evolve, we are closely monitoring the situation across Uganda, including in the refugee settlements, and prioritising our support accordingly.
Asked by: Lord Chidgey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the extensive flooding across East Africa and the Horn of Africa in the context of the UK aid programme.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Across East Africa and the Horn of Africa, 25.8 million people are severely food insecure and 1.3 million have been affected by floods since March. The UK has responded to localised flood impacts through the START Network, including provision of relief items and recovery programming.
We are deeply concerned about the food security situation. Heavy rains in the region have provided conditions conducive to the unprecedented locust outbreaks, which will affect the food security situation even further. The UK is supporting the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) emergency appeal to help to control the increase of locusts across East Africa, as well as reduce the risk of swarms spreading into the Sahel.
The humanitarian situation will be exacerbated by the impact of COVID-19. We are urgently redirecting UK aid programmes right across Africa to respond to these compound risks.