Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have made any estimate of the number of people who have died in non-EEA countries since 1989 from malnutrition and related causes as a result of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, in particular the dumping of excess food on the local markets of such countries; if so, how many people they estimate to have died as a result of that policy; and if not, whether they will do so.
Answered by Lord Bates
The UK Government is a leading global donor for nutrition and our position is set out in the UK’s Global Nutrition Position Paper (attached): https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/652122/nutrition-paper-2017a.pdf.
The UK Government has not estimated whether any deaths can be attributed to the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to sign the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration in Morocco on 10 and 11 December; and if so, what effect they have calculated signing the Compact will have on UK immigration.
Answered by Lord Bates
The UK Government is supportive of the UN’s Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, both as a step forward in international co-operation to tackle irregular migration and as a framework to help us deliver our commitments under the Sustainable Development Goals.
Our participation in the Global Compact will not affect our continued ability to determine and implement our own migration policy in the national interest. The Compact is a ‘non-legally binding, cooperative framework’, which reaffirms the sovereign right of States to determine their national migration policy.
Asked by: Lord Pearson of Rannoch (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of (1) the present situation in Nepal, especially in outlying villages that cannot be reached by road, and (2) the aid that was sent to Nepal following the recent earthquakes; how much such aid they sent, and what assessment they have made of how much was sent by British citizens; and how much of that aid fulfilled the purposes for which it was sent.
Answered by Baroness Verma
While emergency aid has reached most areas, we still estimate one million people will be living in temporary shelters at altitudes above 1,500 metres over the winter and are in need of urgent cold weather support. DFID, through its partners, is providing winter support to approximately 42,000 families (over 200,000 people) both via in kind assistance (blankets, mattresses, clothes, shelter insulation, solar lamps and cook stoves), as well as through a number of activities that contribute to an enabling environment for an effective and responsive humanitarian support. For example we are supporting helicopter operations to provide lifesaving humanitarian assistance to communities in areas inaccessible by land. Winter distributions are over 60 % complete and are expected to be fully complete by the end of January.
Information on total aid sent to Nepal in the aftermath of the earthquake can be found online through UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affair’s (OCHA) Financial Tracking System which is updated periodically. DFID’s response to the devastating earthquake now stands at £70 million following further commitments made at the International Conference on Nepal’s Reconstruction. Funds raised by the British public for the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal have already reached over £85 million, which includes £5 million in matched funding provided by DFID. More information on Nepal DEC work including a review of the response is available online. The UK is committed to ensuring that our assistance is made available to those most in need. We work with trusted partner NGO’s and UN agencies to deliver the UK humanitarian effort. These groups provide real time feedback of the situation on the ground to ensure DFID funds are used effectively.