Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the £536 million spent by the Department for International Development on malaria in 2013–14 was disbursed, and how much of the total committed to malaria in 2014–15 has not yet been spent.
Answered by Baroness Verma
The methodology used to monitor UK malaria spend between 2008/09 and 2014/15 was published in the 2010 Framework for Results for Malaria. In 2013/14 the UK provided £536 million to help reduce malaria deaths. The UK is helping to tackle malaria through bilateral and multilateral channels. The UK’s bilateral support includes: malaria-specific bilateral programmes (36% of total malaria spend in 2013/14); support to strengthening health systems (20% of malaria spend in 2013/14); and other bilateral support including the delivery of interventions to reduce malaria in pregnancy and supporting malaria related research (10% of 2013/14 malaria spend).
The main contribution to tackling malaria through multilateral channels is the UK support to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (31% of total malaria spend in 2013/14).All of the Department’s 2014/15 spend on malaria has been disbursed. The UK’s investment on malaria has contributed to saving more than six million lives over the past 15 years.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Verma on 1 February (HL5238), what proportion of UK aid spending on water, sanitation and hygiene is targeted at the maintenance and upkeep of existing facilities.
Answered by Baroness Verma
Our WASH programmes take an integrated approach to both provision and maintenance of existing facilities, involving building national, local and community capacity and systems to ensure that services continue to function over time. In 2014, total UK bilateral ODA spending on water supply and sanitation was £181 million. UK aid expenditure is reported in Statistics on International Development report at table A6a which I have attached for your convenience.
We do not collect data separately on the amount of funds allocated to installation of facilities and their subsequent maintenance. In most countries responsibility for financing operation and maintenance is passed to the community where services have been installed, after appropriate training has been provided.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action the Department for International Development is taking to ensure that teachers, including refugee teachers, are paid appropriate wages and receive appropriate training and support in countries hosting Syrian refugees in the region.
Answered by Baroness Verma
The UK remains at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have doubled our commitment and have now pledged a total of over £2.3 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis.
DFID is not currently financing public sector teachers’ salaries directly in Lebanon or Jordan. However, we helped launch and mobilise international support for the No Lost Generation Initiative (NLGI). As part of this support, the UK has allocated £115 million to provide protection, psychosocial support and education for children affected by the crisis in Syria and the region. As a result over 251,000 children have received formal and informal education inside Syria and in the region. We are working to ensure that each host government considers where and when they can employ and fairly compensate Syrian teachers under their national legal and policy frameworks for both education and jobs.
In Lebanon, DFID is investing £21m in the World Bank managed Emergency Education System Stabilisation Programme and an additional £1.3m for the Research for Results: Lebanon Education System Improvement Programme. These programmes support the Government of Lebanon to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its education system including their public expenditure on teachers.
At the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference we co-hosted in London, leaders came together to pledge more than $11 billion, the largest amount raised in one day for a humanitarian crisis. On education, the UK and co-hosts worked with donors and other partners to secure increased funding for education under the UN-led appeals for 2016 and longer term, multi-year education funding commitments to ensure sustainability. Commitments made at the Conference will help to create 1.1 million jobs and provide education to an additional 1 million children.
We continue to work with refugee hosting governments, in particular, to agree the policy commitments necessary to turn increased funding into delivery on the ground. This includes a regional policy dialogue on integrating refugee teachers into national education systems, where possible.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are pressing to be agreed at the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference in February.
Answered by Baroness Verma
The "Supporting Syria and the Region London 2016)" Conference was held on 4 February last week, and more than US$11 billion was pledged to support people in Syria and the region affected by the conflict, the largest amount raised in one day for a humanitarian crisis. Commitments made at the Conference will help to create 1.1 million jobs and provide education to an additional 1 million children. The UK remains at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have doubled our commitment and have now pledged a total of over £2.3 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action the Department for International Development is taking to use its influence with countries hosting Syrian refugees in the region to allow NGOs to provide non-formal education opportunities for out-of-school children.
Answered by Baroness Verma
At the Conference on Supporting Syria and the Region being held in London on 4th February , we want the international community to agree a new goal that all Syrian refugee children and affected host country children are in education, formal school or non-formal, by the end of 2016/17. Equally, for inside Syria, it is our aim to increase access to good quality schooling or other learning opportunities such as self-learning and non-formal education. In neighbouring countries we will also increase access to vocational or skills training and higher education for children and youth.
At the Conference our ambition is that international donors, governments from countries in the region hosting refugees, non-governmental organisations and the private sector come together to agree a set of reciprocal financial and policy commitments. The UK and co-hosts are working with donors and other partners to secure increased funding for education under the UN-led appeals for 2016 and longer term, multi-year education funding commitments to ensure sustainability. We are also working with refugee hosting governments in particular to agree the policy commitments necessary to turn increased funding into delivery on the ground.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures the Department for International Development is taking to reach rural communities with water, sanitation and hygiene programmes, as well as urban ones.
Answered by Baroness Verma
DFID reached over 62 million people with water, sanitation and/or hygiene in the five years to 2014/15. Approximately 90% of these results were delivered in rural communities.
DFID supports large programmes focussed on basic rural water and sanitation services for the poor. These include programmes with the governments of Ethiopia and Mozambique and a programme implemented by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and WaterAid in Nigeria.
Through partnerships with organisations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP), DFID is supporting the water and sanitation sector in developing better and faster ways of delivering improved urban water and sanitation services in unserved slums and low income communities in towns and cities.