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Written Question
Developing Countries: Genito-urinary Medicine
Thursday 15th February 2024

Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to achieve universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights as per Sustainable Development Goal target 5.6.

Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The White Paper on International Development reaffirmed the UK's commitment to deploy policy and investment to advance and strongly defend universal access to comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) in line with Sustainable Development Goal target 5.6.

The UK Government is committed to driving progress and demonstrating leadership on SRHR globally as a major donor, through our diplomatic network and in collaboration with partners. For example, the UNFPA Supplies Partnership averted 8 million unintended pregnancies, 2.2 million unsafe abortion and 170,000 maternal and child deaths in 2022, with the UK as their largest donor. The Women's Integrated Sexual Health (WISH) Programme supported 9.5 million women to use modern methods of contraception and averted over 45,000 maternal deaths, 5 million unsafe abortions and over 16 million unintended pregnancies from the programme's inception to 2021. In May 2023, the UK joined other G7 leaders in re-asserting the critical role of comprehensive SRHR in our efforts to achieve gender equality, explicitly recognising the need for access to safe and legal abortion as well as post abortion care.


Written Question
International Conference on Population and Development
Monday 11th December 2023

Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, ahead of the 30-year review of the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action, what progress they have made since 1994 on sexual and reproductive health and rights in their international work.

Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK Government continues to use its diplomatic and development levers to drive progress and demonstrate leadership on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) globally and the recently released White Paper on International Development reaffirmed the UK's commitment to deploy policy and investment to advance and strongly defend universal access to comprehensive SRHR.

As the largest donor to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Supplies Programme, the Partnership averted 8 million unintended pregnancies, 2.2 million unsafe abortion and 170,000 maternal and child deaths in 2022 alone. Since 2018, UK aid support to the Women's Integrated Sexual Health Programme has supported 9.5 million women to use modern methods of contraception and, in 2021, over 12,000 maternal deaths and 1.8 million unsafe abortions were averted.

This year, the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights ranked the UK highest in the region (91.3 per cent) for our commitment to achieving SRHR for all, including our domestic laws and policies, and our overseas development assistance dedicated to progressing comprehensive SRHR for all.


Written Question
Development Aid: Genito-urinary Medicine
Thursday 1st June 2023

Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will restore the four per cent of UK official development assistance for sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park

Comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) is central to achieving FCDO commitments in the International Development Strategy, our approach to end the preventable deaths of mothers, new-borns and children by 2030 and the International Women and Girls Strategy.

The FCDO ensures the aid budget is directed towards our priorities, delivers value for the taxpayer and meets the UK Government's commitment to spend 0.5 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) on Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) until the fiscal situation allows a return to 0.7 per cent. The International Development Strategy, which includes comprehensive SRHR, will guide aid prioritisation decisions, alongside the International Women and Girls Strategy. We will update on planned allocations for this spending review period in due course.


Written Question
Development Aid: Genito-urinary Medicine
Thursday 1st June 2023

Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prioritise (1) sexual and reproductive health, and (2) the rights of women and girls, in the allocation of official development assistance to developing countries.

Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park

The UK is proud to defend and promote universal and comprehensive sexual and reproductive rights (SRHR). We are committed to working with our partners to drive progress and demonstrate leadership on SRHR on the global stage and in our programmes. This includes the recent announcement that up to £200 million will be delivered towards the Women's Integrated Sexual Health (WISH) Dividend programme focussed between 2024-29 on sub-Saharan Africa, which has the highest rates of maternal mortality, neonatal deaths and unmet need for family planning in the world.

In March 2023, the FCDO published the UK's International Women and Girls Strategy which sets out our plan to promote and defend the rights of women and girls. In this, we committed to ensure that at least 80% of FCDO's bilateral aid programmes should have a focus on gender equality, using OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) markers, by 2030.


Written Question
South Sudan: Land Mines
Monday 20th March 2023

Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park on 7 March (HL5764), whether they will now answer the question put; namely, what assistance they will provide to the government of South Sudan to enable that country to meet its international obligations under the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention to become free of landmines.

Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park

The Global Mine Action Programme (GMAP), the FCDO's main vehicle for clearing landmines and other explosive remnants of war (ERW), has a long-standing commitment to funding demining in South Sudan. Between 2018 and 2022, GMAP provided funding for UK NGO the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) to clear 1,829,632 square metres of land in South Sudan. GMAP signed a new contract with MAG for Financial Year 22/23, which, as of end December 2022, had cleared an additional 168,563 square metres of land there. We are currently negotiating with MAG a new contract for South Sudan to run from April 2023.


Written Question
South Sudan: Land Mines
Tuesday 7th March 2023

Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assistance they will provide to the government of South Sudan to enable that country to meet its international obligations under the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention to become free of landmines.

Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park

The UK is supporting efforts to clear landmines and other explosive hazards in Sudan through the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS). Clearing contaminated land in regional areas across Sudan has provided safe access for humanitarian personnel and enabled civilians to access basic services, such as water supplies and healthcare.


Written Question
Gibraltar: UK Relations with EU
Wednesday 28th December 2022

Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what (1) commitments, and (2) reassurances, they have made to the government of Gibraltar in the event that there is no negotiated outcome to the issues raised by the UK–EU Treaty in respect of Gibraltar.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK Government continues to work alongside the Government of Gibraltar to secure a treaty with the EU, in respect of Gibraltar's relationship with the EU. Following meetings on 14 and 15 December the Foreign Secretary, Chief Minister of Gibraltar, EU Vice President and Spanish Foreign Minister all reiterated their commitment to that outcome. The UK Government is working alongside the Government of Gibraltar to prepare for the possibility of no negotiated outcome. This includes projects to increase infrastructure resilience at the land border and port, and sharing of expertise. The UK will stand fully behind Gibraltar in any scenario.


Written Question
Development Aid
Friday 9th December 2022

Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park on 11 November (HL3016), how much Official Development Assistance (ODA) support they provided to the Global Financing Facility in (1) 2018, (2) 2019, (3) 2020, and (4) 2021; and how much ODA was specifically for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) to bilateral priority countries in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, and (c) 2021.

Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park

The UK Government has committed a total of £95 million of Official Development Assistance to the Global Financing Facility from 2017 to 2025 in two phases. The payments made to date are 1) £18 million in 2018, 2) £8 million in 2019, 3) £3 million in 2020 and 4) £6 million in 2021.

Overall the UK spent the following amount of bilateral Official Development Assistance on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights over the last three years. 1) £515 million in 2019, 2) £372 million in 2020 and 3) £242 million in 2021. This data is calculated using the methodology outlined in the Donor Delivering Report and the Statistics on International Development: Final UK Aid Spend 2021.


Written Question
Africa: Development Aid
Friday 9th December 2022

Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by the Minister of State for Development and Africa on 14 November that he was "pleased to confirm new UK Government funding to the Global Family Partnership FP2030", whether they will provide a breakdown of that funding.

Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park

The UK plays a leading role in advancing voluntary family planning globally, as part of our longstanding commitment to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights. New UK funding to the Global Family Planning Partnership 'FP2030' will accelerate country leadership in regions including North, West, and Central Africa; East and Southern Africa; Asia and the Pacific; and Latin America and the Caribbean.

We are not able to give a yearly funding breakdown until ODA funding allocations are confirmed over the Spending Review period.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Females
Friday 11th November 2022

Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what fiscal steps they are taking to support women and girls' (1) sexual, and (2) reproductive, (a) health, and (b) rights, in countries on which their funding is targeted.

Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park

The UK is committed to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). This is demonstrated by our success in securing a landmark statement at the UN General Assembly third committee and the publication of the UK approach to Ending the Preventable Deaths of mothers, babies and children. We also provide funding to key organisations working on SRHR such as the Reproductive Health Supplies partnership.

Aid prioritisation decisions will be guided by the UK International Development Strategy that includes support to women and girls and global health. The UK also supports countries to mobilise their own resources through policy input and support to programmes such as the Global Financing Facility.