Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that part of the budget of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is ring-fenced for the provision of international aid.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
We will continue to look at how this money can be spent most effectively in our national interest, including through the Integrated Review – which will inform the priorities of the new Department. Development spending will remain central to the new department’s mission. Our commitment to spending 0.7 percent of our national income on aid is enshrined in law and we will continue to be guided by our responsibilities under the International Development Act, including a commitment to poverty reduction.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The UK is extremely concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe. Before the onset of COVID-19, Zimbabwe was already facing a humanitarian crisis due to drought, poor government policies and a worsening economy. According to the World Food Programme’s latest estimates, by December more than half the population – 8.6 million Zimbabweans – will be without the food they need. In response, the UK has committed £49m to provide humanitarian food aid and cash transfers, as well as £5m for the UNICEF cholera fund. To date, 448,000 extremely vulnerable people have received food assistance and 100,000 living in urban areas have received cash transfers
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support producers in the global south whose trade has been disrupted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is championing a comprehensive and coordinated trade and development response to COVID-19 working. This includes advocating for developing country interests at the G20 and WTO and adapting our policy and programming portfolios to provide immediate support.
Through the Trade and Investment Advocacy Fund, Manufacturing Africa programme and our funding to the World Bank, we are supporting countries to better understand the impacts of COVID-19, design their policy response accordingly, engage in the WTO, increase their production of COVID-19 related goods such as personal protection equipment, and ease the passage of goods across borders.
The government is engaging with businesses in the UK and in developing countries to understand the challenges they are facing to protect incomes, livelihoods, and ensure that supply chains remain resilient. We are developing a programme of support in partnership with businesses, to address these issues in the most vulnerable countries and are also providing support to Business Fights Poverty to accelerate a global learning process to enable business to provide support to vulnerable workers in global supply chains. This includes the launch of the Business and COVID-19 Response Centre, an online tool that hosts a range of resources intended to empower companies to take action in support of their most vulnerable employees, suppliers, customers and communities. They have had over 9,000 visits to their COVID-19 Response Centre and other resources and over 1,700 people have registered to engage in the process.
We are continuing to finalise further trade agreements, building on those already signed. Together these will grant preferential market access to around 100 developing countries, helping to support their economic recovery.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prioritise climate justice in the allocation of Official Development Assistance to developing countries recovering from the effects of COVID-19.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The impacts of climate change will disproportionately affect the lives of the poorest and most marginalised. The UK’s aid programme, including our international climate finance, prioritises the interests of the world’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged. Our international response to COVID-19 is focused on securing a strong global health response, in particular supporting countries most vulnerable to the impact of the virus, accelerating the search for a vaccine and new treatments and supporting the global economy. We recognise that there is a connection between healthy lives, healthy societies and a healthy environment.
The steps taken to rebuild economies will have a profound impact on future sustainability, resilience and wellbeing. The Prime Minister recently addressed a high-level event at the invitation of the United Nations Secretary General focussed on ‘recovering better for sustainability,’ and as we prepare for COP26, we are urging the world to take the opportunity to make the recovery clean, inclusive and resilient.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent discussions they have had with representatives of the Commonwealth Development Corporation on adapting its investments and programmes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
DFID ministers and officials are in frequent discussions with CDC’s Chair and Executive Leadership Team as the institution delivers its response to the COVID-19 crisis. Most recently, both the Secretary of State and the Minister for Africa held a productive discussion on 6 May 2020 with the CEO and Chair of CDC. As a long-term investor focussed on delivering development impact, CDC is taking 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. As well as providing additional capital to help firms weather the crisis and meet immediate liquidity needs, CDC has also launched an Emergency Technical Assistance Facility and published advice on its website (https://www.cdcgroup.com/covid-19) on measures that companies should take to protect the health and safety of employees and customers and protect jobs.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support women working in communities to tackle the root causes of gender inequality.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
My officials regularly meet with the women's sector and continue to do so. In the present circumstances the government is providing extra funding to frontline charities including those which support women, and my officials have been alerting and encouraging grassroots women's charities to apply for grant funding which has been made available through the National Lottery Community Fund.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking with multilateral organisations to ensure that official development assistance, allocated to tackling the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, is reaching people living in the global south that need it.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The UK is working together with international partners including the G7, G20, the UN, the World Bank and other multilateral institutions, to galvanise the global fight against COVID-19.
The UK is playing a leading role in the international response to the pandemic, pledging up to £764 million of UK aid to help address urgent needs in vulnerable countries, accelerate progress towards a vaccine, reinforce infection control and help the poorest countries address the economic impact.
We are a major contributor to the UN Global Humanitarian Response Plan, which is supporting the most vulnerable people in this crisis, including women and girls, people with disabilities, refugees, internally displaced persons, migrants and host communities. The UK has committed £2.2 billion in new loan resources for the IMF’s concessional lending operations to make rapid emergency financing available for developing countries, and up to £150 million to the IMF Catastrophe Containment Relief Trust for the poorest countries to receive debt relief on IMF repayments. 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. This funding will 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. The UK remains Gavi’s largest donor, pledging an equivalent of £330 million per year over the next five years.
We continue to use our seat at the table to shape the multilateral response and ensure it addresses the needs and priorities of the poorest and most vulnerable.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they are providing to international non-governmental organisations based in the UK to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
UK and Southern Civil Society organisations (CSOs) are crucial partners for DFID and play a critical role in ensuring UK aid reaches the most vulnerable in the global response to COVID-19. UK charities, such as Christian Aid and Humanity & Inclusion, are receiving funding to support vulnerable people around the world during the crisis. We have allocated £18 million to charities through the Rapid Response Facility and over £24 million through our partnership with Unilever.
A new UK Aid Direct funding round has also been launched, some of which has been set aside for rapid access by existing UK Aid Direct grant holders who are able to respond immediately to COVID-19. As DFID’s country network adapts programming to respond to COVID-19, country teams are considering how they can do this through partners, including through CSOs.
In addition, DFID welcomes the vital role that NGOs will continue to play in service delivery through multilaterals. UN agencies have undertaken a review of their existing procedures related to partnership management and issued additional internal guidance to simplify and expedite collaboration where appropriate. We will be working with the UN and DFID’s country offices to increasingly better understand and track eventual flows to NGOs in-country.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of her Department's progress on tackling malaria in developing countries.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
Between 2000 and 2015 DFID helped to reduce global malaria deaths by 60%, saving 6.2 million lives, and preventing 1.2 billion malaria cases. We support the World Health Organisation goal to reduce malaria deaths by 90% by 2030, on a path to a malaria free world, and contribute through the Global Fund for AIDS, TB, and malaria, country and regional health programmes, and research funding.
In September DFID pledged £1.1 billion to the Global Fund for 2017 to 2019. This included a commitment to double private sector contributions to malaria (up to £200 million) and will fund up to 40 million bednets. Malaria has a high economic cost for affected countries, especially in Africa, so tackling the disease both saves lives and contributes to prosperity.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to support local faith and church networks in Ethiopia in their efforts to assist people affected by the current drought.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
DFID has not provided direct financial support to local faith and church networks responding to the drought in Ethiopia. However, DFID has contributed £70.1 million over three years (2014-16) to the Ethiopia Humanitarian Response Fund (HRF), a pooled donor fund responding to the most urgent drought needs. DFID is the largest donor to the HRF (74% of current funding), which is administered by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
In 2016 alone, the HRF has granted £40 million to 48 projects run by organizations, including World Vision and Catholic Relief Services, to bring food, water and emergency healthcare to over half a million of the most drought affected men, women and children in Ethiopia.