Asked by: Lord Oates (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much funding they have allocated to tackle the impact of climate change on Africa in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Bates
The UK has committed to spend £5.8 billion to tackle climate change in developing countries over the five years 2016/17 to 2020/21, which follows delivery of the commitment to £3.87 billion for the previous five years 2011/12 to 2015/16. The UK’s International Climate Finance (ICF) is delivered through a range of channels, only some of which can be directly attributed to specific countries or regions each year. Our bilateral spend directly attributable to African countries and regions in the last five years is shown below:
| 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 |
UK ICF directly attributable to Africa countries and regions | £87m | £134m | £309m | £364m | £313m |
The UK also delivers a number of centrally managed programmes which operate across a range of developing countries but we cannot separate spending specifically benefitting African countries each year.
In addition, the UK contributes to multilateral funds focused on tackling climate change. These are the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Details of our contribution and their commitments to African countries are as follows:
The UK committed £210 million to the GEF’s 6th replenishment from 2014 to 2018, representing a 8.7% share. The GEF addresses climate change as well as broader environmental issues, and allocated projects worth $172 million (c£135 million) in Africa as part of its 6th replenishment.
Asked by: Lord Oates (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much overseas development aid funding has been committed to Zimbabwe in each of the last ten years for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Bates
The amounts of UK official bilateral development assistance to Zimbabwe in the last ten years are set out below. The final figure for 2016 will be published in mid-2017.
Calendar year | Total UK Net Bilateral Official Development Assistance (£ thousands) |
2015 | 92,896 |
2014 | 104,024 |
2013 | 93,836 |
2012 | 138,831 |
2011 | 48,357 |
2010 | 69,936 |
2009 | 71,309 |
2008 | 49,323 |
2007 | 47,022 |
2006 | 37,970 |
Asked by: Lord Oates (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the state of health provision in Zimbabwe, including drug shortages in Zimbabwean hospitals, and of its impact on neighbouring countries; and what development aid or other support they are providing to address these issues.
Answered by Lord Bates
DFID assesses health provision in Zimbabwe through quarterly health facility surveys. In December 2016, 95% of hospitals had at least 80% of the routinely tracked vital medicines. Impact on neighbouring countries is therefore likely to be minimal. The UK supports medicines and service delivery through The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, GAVI – the Vaccine Alliance and a multi-donor Health Development Fund.
Asked by: Lord Oates (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assistance they are providing to the government of Ethiopia in dealing with the displacement of people as a result of the recent flash flooding in southern Ethiopia.
Answered by Baroness Verma
Extensive spring rains have come at a time when Ethiopia is experiencing its worst drought in 30 years, which has already left 18 million people in urgent need of relief. Britain is scaling up its response to help the Government of Ethiopia provide lifesaving support to thousands of families in urgent need after severe flooding.
Emergency humanitarian supplies – including 34,000 shelter kits, 60,000 blankets, 30,000 kitchen sets, clean water devices and other equipment – have begun arriving in Ethiopia to help 150,000 people in immediate need cope with the aftermath of intense flooding.
The UK is already the second largest bilateral humanitarian donor in Ethiopia, and this new support, at around £3.5 million, brings our total funding to the current humanitarian response in Ethiopia to £145 million.
Asked by: Lord Oates (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether their representatives at the IMF and other international financial institutions will make clear that international financial assistance should not be made available to the government of Zimbabwe unless and until it enacts and implements the provisions of the constitution of Zimbabwe in full.
Answered by Baroness Verma
The UK continues to emphasise that any future financial assistance to Zimbabwe from the international financial institutions will need to be based on evidence of comprehensive reforms.
We welcome the inclusion of the commitment to align legislation with the Constitution in the package of reforms being discussed with the IMF and the Government of Zimbabwe’s letter of intent to the International Monetary Fund Board.
Asked by: Lord Oates (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the likely efficacy of international financial assistance to the government of Zimbabwe in the light of the decision by the Reserve Bank to start issuing bond notes.
Answered by Baroness Verma
If Zimbabwe clears its arrears to the International Financial Institutions, any future financing would need to be based on comprehensive reforms and a firm commitment to sound macroeconomic management. The UK shares concerns that the introduction of bond notes could be damaging to confidence in the Zimbabwean economy, if not managed appropriately by the Government of Zimbabwe.
Asked by: Lord Oates (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the current gap in donor funding to tackle the food shortages in Ethiopia, and what steps they are taking to encourage other donor countries to meet their obligations.
Answered by Baroness Verma
Britain is working closely with the Government of Ethiopia and the international community to ensure adequate funding for drought response activities. Britain’s overall funding for the drought to date is £145 million, making the UK the second largest donor.
In December, the Government of Ethiopia and the United Nations launched an appeal for 2016 to fundraise $1.4 billion (~£923 million) to respond to the drought in Ethiopia. By the beginning of May, 66% of the required funds had been raised.
DFID is working closely with other donor governments to monitor the response and to lobby for support for the Government of Ethiopia and the UN appeal. Most recently, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Hurd discussed the current crisis with EU Commissioner Stylianides and in particular how to encourage others to step-up. DFID has also been working closely with the Ethiopian Government to support their leadership of the humanitarian response. To date, the Government of Ethiopia has allocated $381 million (~£269 million) to address the crisis. This is commendable.
Asked by: Lord Oates (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the signals that would be sent to the government of Zimbabwe were the IMF and other international financial institutions to resume financial assistance to Zimbabwe, in the light of the current activities of the Zimbabwe Republic Police and other elements of the security forces there.
Answered by Baroness Verma
Donors have consistently made clear that resumption of financial assistance to Zimbabwe from the international financial institutions would need to be based on the Government of Zimbabwe’s commitment to make significant process across a broad range of reforms, including rule of law and constitutional alignment. It is of course vital that the right signals are sent to both the government and the people of Zimbabwe.