Sudan

Lord Bishop of Leicester Excerpts

Thursday 27th November 2025 Lords Chamber

[The Lord Bishop of Leicester]

I am grateful to noble Lords for ignoring the request from my right reverend friend the Bishop of Leeds that this should not be a valedictory debate for him. His contribution to this House, and to the Church and nation more widely, has been immense. However, I sincerely hope that this House and His Majesty’s Government will not ignore the right reverend Prelate’s words regarding Sudan, something which is very dear to his heart.

I want to focus my comments on the funding of local partners in Sudan. The Independent Commission for Aid Impact, in its October 2025 report, found that the UK Government

“in many instances demonstrated credible political leadership and strong convening power, drawing on deep networks that are valued by stakeholders”.

It also finds that the UK has shown

“political and operational leadership in the humanitarian response, through strong technical analysis, evidence-based planning and close coordination with key UN agencies”.

I congratulate the Government on this positive analysis of their role in the crisis, yet the report goes on to state:

“Despite stated political ambition, the UK’s cautious approach to localisation and limited resources constrain the full potential of local partnerships”.


Across Sudan, local actors, in particular first responders, such as Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms, already referred to by the noble Lord, Lord Oates, remain under-supported. These groups often have the capacity to provide more cost-effective and contextually grounded responses than international partners, but they face significant barriers to accessing funding due to stringent UK compliance requirements or those of intermediary organisations. The UK commitment to localisation has not translated into more predictable or better-quality funding for local partners in Sudan. The UK funding that reaches them is generally for small-scale, short-term projects. Given the access constraints that INGOs face, can the Minister tell the House whether there is any intention to review our approach to funding local partners in Sudan?