Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will require staff in her Department to report on (a) consultations with disabled people and their organisations, (b) measure to increase inclusion in bilateral aid projects and (c) measures to increase inclusion in funding agreements with partner organisations.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
As part of its International Development Committee hearing commitments, DFID is in the process of preparing a departmental framework on disability inclusion. This will set out our clear commitment, approach and actions to strengthening disability in our policy, programme and international work. It will also include an explanation of how we will strengthen departmental capability on disability, how we will influence our partners to do more, and a timeframe for taking forward the activities outlined in our response to the IDC recommendations.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many of the teachers it aims to train by 2015 will be trained in providing inclusive education to children with disabilities.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
The UK Government has committed to help train 190,000 teachers by 2015, to help improve the quality of education for all children, including those with disabilities. By 2012/13, DFID had trained 99,000 teachers. A major challenge in poor countries is developing the data systems which can capture the needs of children with disabilities. We are therefore supporting UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) to regularly publish education indicators which disaggregate people with disabilities, and to develop new standards for school censuses and surveys related to marginalised populations.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department has taken to ensure that the work carried out under the Girls' Education Challenge Fund is fully inclusive of girls with disabilities.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
The Girls Education Challenge programme has seven projects providing over £9 million to fund disability-focused girls education projects in Uganda, Kenya and Sierra Leone.
Asked by: Lord Blunkett (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 ensure that all the education programmes it funds are inclusive of children with disabilities; and what monitoring her Department undertakes to ensure that all such programmes include accessible materials for use by children with disabilities.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
The UK is committed to ensuring all children, with a focus on the most marginalised and those with disabilities have access to education institutions and complete a full cycle of quality education. We are working with partners, such as UNICEF and UNESCO Institute for Statistics, to improve data for monitoring purposes.