Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what reports she has received on the quality and quantity of aid (a) promised and (b) delivered to Nepal following the earthquakes of 25 April and 12 May 2015.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The UK Government alone has committed £33 million to the Earthquake response in Nepal. This is part of a wider global response to this disaster which currently stands at £371 million in pledged humanitarian support. Assistance from the UK Government will reach over 200,000 people with shelter; 80,000 with cash transfers in compliment to the Government of Nepal’s assistance; over 30,000 people with safe water, and improved hygiene and sanitation; 30,000 people with blankets, cooking sets, and other essential day-to-day household items; 15,000 women and girls with gender and protection initiatives; and over 3,000 people with rehabilitation services. We are also providing support to humanitarian logistics through aircraft and trucking, whilst ensuring information is central to the response through support to beneficiary feedback mechanisms and needs assessments.
DFID is working closely with trusted UN and NGO partners and experts in the humanitarian field to ensure that the supplies distributed are high quality. Emergency shelter supplies provided to our partners conform to international SPHERE and ISO standards for quality, and technical guidance from the Shelter Cluster also reflects these standards.
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions her Department has had with its Nepalese counterpart on reports of an increase in child trafficking and exploitation following the earthquakes of 25 April and 12 May 2015.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
Following the earthquake, DFID Nepal has been in constant touch with the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare and the Department of Women and Children about the risks of child trafficking and exploitation. Within two days of the 25 April, DFID Nepal had approved the allocation of additional resources to combat the risks to child welfare and the safety of women and children. As part of a pre-existing programme (the £35 million, Integrated Program for Strengthening Security and Justice), UNICEF were authorised to send extra personnel to the worst-hit districts to support government protection agencies.
UNICEF has deployed 14 DFID funded Child Protection Officers in 14 disaster affected districts, to track and report any cases of child trafficking or exploitation. DFID is also working closely with the humanitarian cluster system on this issue. We are funding coordinator positions in both the Child Protection sub cluster and the Gender Based Violence sub cluster to ensure the issue is well managed and dealt with in a coordinated way.
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many journeys Ministers of her Department have made using the Government Car Service; and how many such journeys were for the transportation of a red box.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
The information cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.