Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to help protect children from the consequences of the bombing in Idlib, Syria.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
The Government is immensely concerned about the plight of all civilians, particularly children, affected by the current conflict in Idlib and surrounding areas.
Last year DFID provided over £80m humanitarian assistance to Northwest Syria. Our UN and NGO partners are working to meet growing needs among displaced people in the region, including the estimated 100,000 children displaced since 1 May, through the distribution of food, shelter and other essential items. We are also providing education and safe spaces for children. Whilst this work has been impacted by the recent conflict in the region and the senseless attacks on civilian infrastructure such as schools and hospitals, to date our partners are continuing to be able to work effectively in the region to help those most in need. In addition to humanitarian assistance, we continue to use our position on the UN Security Council to call out the regime and Russia for their attacks on schools and hospitals, breaching international law and needlessly impacting civilians.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment he has made of the humanitarian situation in Sudan.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
HMG continues to monitor the humanitarian situation across Sudan, including the conflict areas, with concern. Close to two million people live as Internally Displaced People inside Sudan, with around 600,000 living precarious lives as refugees beyond its borders. Sudan also hosts close to a million refugees, the majority from neighbouring South Sudan. The United Nations has published estimates that 5.7 million people, including all of those displaced, are in need of humanitarian support, although that number may increase to 8 million people if the current economic crisis continues. The United Nations has developed a response plan to meet the needs of 4.4 million people that would cost $1.2Bn, and relies on the governing authorities in Sudan to facilitate safe passage of these supplies and aid workers to reach those in need of assistance. The UK’s Department of International Development in Sudan is prioritising the humanitarian response and has already contributed £30 million this fiscal year.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that (a) farmers and (b) workers in the cocoa industry receive a living income.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
Working towards a living income in global value chains is one of the keys to driving poverty reduction and economic development. The Department for International Development (DFID) is a long-term supporter of the International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labelling Alliance (ISEAL Alliance), the umbrella organisation for standards systems such as Fairtrade, and is one of the founding members of the Living Income Community of Practice. We support the development of standards that help smallholder farmers reach a decent standard of living. DFID also supports the Ethical Trading Initiative, a multi-stakeholder body working with UK food retailers, suppliers, trade unions and civil society to implement International Labour Organisation standards in global value chains, including cocoa.
The UK has a strong history of protecting human rights in business and promoting our values globally. We are committed to upholding the UK’s values, including around labour standards, and will consider the full range of mechanisms available in the design of future trade and investment agreements.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2019 to Question 211150 on Department for International Development: contracts, whether cleaning staff paid the London Living Wage or the National Living Wage as appropriate refers to the Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.
Answered by Alistair Burt
DFID has two Headquarter buildings in the UK, one in East Kilbride, Glasgow and the other in Whitehall, London.
All of the contracted cleaning staff are paid the London Living Wage and National Living wage, whichever is appropriate, as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, which service providers are contracted to carry out third party cleaning contracts for her (a) Department and (b) executive agencies; if she will list all of the services delivered by third party contractors to her (i) Department and (ii) executive agencies; and how many people working for those third party contractors are paid less than the Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
DFID has two Headquarter buildings in the UK, one in East Kilbride and the other in Whitehall.
Our cleaning requirements are outsourced to Interserve Facilities Management as part of an Affiliates Cluster arrangement managed by Cabinet Office.
All cleaning staff are paid the London Living Wage or the National Living Wage, as appropriate.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to ensure that UK aid is (a) effective, (b) transparent and (c) targeted at ending extreme poverty.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
DFID’s core mission is reducing extreme poverty. We are striving to ensure that every project we spend British taxpayers’ money on contributes to both reducing poverty in the developing country and to the UK national interest, for example by tackling multiple drivers of poverty and instability.
We are committed to improving the effectiveness and transparency of UK aid to ensure we are attaining maximum impact from our aid budget. In the 2015 Aid Strategy, the government made a commitment to aim for all UK government departments to be ranked as ‘Good’ or ‘Very Good’ in the Aid Transparency Index by 2020. The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) has the remit to provide independent scrutiny of the impact and value for money of all UK Government aid spending and reports its finding to Parliament’s International Development Committee.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much and what proportion of her Department's overseas aid budget allocated to Commonwealth countries is used to protect and enhance rainforests in those countries.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
DFID’s overall funding for forest conservation and management in all developing countries was £75m in FY15-16 and £69m in FY16-17, including bilateral programmes and relevant multilateral contributions.
Commonwealth countries that benefit from our bilateral programmes are Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Guyana. DFID’s bilateral forest programmes are focused on encouraging sustainable trade, based on legal and sustainable supplies of timber and agricultural commodities. These programmes work across borders to influence the international trade and capital flows which are driving deforestation in developing countries. These include both Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth countries, and it is not possible to disaggregate the spending completely.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in April 2018, what commitments her Department has made to increase aid and investment to (a) Commonwealth countries and (b) for sea defences to Commonwealth island states to counter the risk of rising sea levels posed by global warming.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting agreed vital steps to help end poverty, and increase mutual prosperity, jobs and investment across the Commonwealth. DFID commitments made during the week of CHOGM included: £212 million for the Girls’ Education Challenge fund; support for 2,500 awards under the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan; £7.5 million to tackle human trafficking and child exploitation; £20 million to help eliminate blinding trachoma; £44 million to help Commonwealth countries prepare for the impact of natural disasters; and confirmation, at the Malaria Summit, of £100 million to strengthen health systems.
Over 80% of DFID’s programmes in the Caribbean are wholly or partially focused on improving climate and disaster resilience. The £330 million UK Caribbean Infrastructure Fund, announced in 2015, will build, renovate and strengthen ports, sea defences and roads in 8 Commonwealth Caribbean countries and Montserrat, an overseas territory.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much and what proportion of her Department's overseas aid budget allocated to Commonwealth countries is used to protect and enhance rainforests in those countries.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
DFID’s overall funding for forest conservation and management in all developing countries was £75m in FY15-16 and £69m in FY16-17, including bilateral programmes and relevant multilateral contributions.
Commonwealth countries that benefit from our bilateral programmes are Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Guyana. DFID’s bilateral forest programmes are focused on encouraging sustainable trade, based on legal and sustainable supplies of timber and agricultural commodities. These programmes work across borders to influence the international trade and capital flows which are driving deforestation in developing countries. These include both Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth countries, and it is not possible to disaggregate the spending completely.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much aid her Department is planning to allocate to (a) Commonwealth and (b) non-Commonwealth countries in each of the next five years.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The indicative budgets by DFID country office for 2018/19 and 2019/20 will be available in the Annual Report and Accounts for 2017/18 which is due to be published later this year. Departmental budgets for 2020/21 and beyond have yet to be agreed, and will be set during the upcoming Spending Review.
Over the next five years Commonwealth countries will continue to be important development partners as the UK delivers on its commitments to reduce global poverty. Our aid spending will continue to be focused on supporting countries to grow their economies, trade and invest their way out of poverty and ensuring that no one is left behind.