Asked by: Lord McCabe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the Answer of 8 July 2019 to Question 272116 on Palestinians: schools, whether the initial international review covering the first 70 textbooks will be published in Spring 2020; and when that review will be placed in the Library.
Answered by James Cleverly - Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
The UK government is deeply concerned about allegations of incitement in Palestinian Authority’s school textbooks.
Following UK calls for action, we secured agreement from European partners to commission the Georg Eckert Institute to conduct an independent review, which is currently underway. We expect an interim report by June, with a full report later in the year.
We have regular discussions with our European Partners on the Review and we continue to encourage the EU to publish the report. The issue was most recently raised on 18 February by the UK Consul General Jerusalem with the EU Representative in Jerusalem.
Asked by: Lord McCabe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether the Government has consulted with charities on (a) the potential merits of merging her Department with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and (b) the potential effect of merging those Departments on aid policy.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Prime Minister has appointed a fully joint junior ministerial team for DFID and the FCO. This builds on the good work DFID is already delivering with the FCO: in 32 bilateral posts, 16 multilateral missions and through the eight FCO-DFID Joint Units in London. The Prime Minister also appointed separate Secretaries of State for the Foreign Office and DFID in the recent reshuffle and is keen to make sure UK aid is both spent well and aligned with the UK’s foreign policy priorities.
The Government Manifesto maintains spending 0.7% of GNI on ODA and pledges to end the preventable deaths of mothers, new-born babies and children by 2030 and lead the way in eradicating Ebola and malaria. We will continue to need the support of our partner charities to deliver on these commitments.
Asked by: Lord McCabe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans the Government has to merge the Department for International Development with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Prime Minister has set out an ambitious programme to enhance the UK’s global leadership and demonstrate that the UK is open, outward-looking and confident on the world stage.
A key element of this is the UK’s continued commitment to spending 0.7% of Gross National Income on international development.
The Prime Minister is particularly keen to ensure that this money is spent well and is aligned with the UK’s foreign policy priorities. Therefore, he has appointed a fully joint junior DFID – FCO ministerial team.
Asked by: Lord McCabe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps his Department is taking to work alongside the One Last Push campaign to ensure that (a) funding and (b) other support is available for polio vaccination programmes in countries at risk from that disease.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
The UK is a leading supporter of efforts to eradicate polio, having invested £1.3 billion since 1995. We work closely with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative through engagement at regular governance meetings as well as working with a wide range of other stakeholders including in encouraging others to provide financial support.
We engage closely with parliamentarians through the International Development Committee and All-Party Parliamentary Group on Immunisations to raise awareness and support for continued financing and support to countries at high risk of polio outbreaks. Parliamentarians have an important role to play in advocating for international financial support.
Asked by: Lord McCabe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps his Department is taking to work alongside the One Last Push campaign to ensure that (a) funding and (b) other support is available for polio vaccination programmes in countries at risk from that disease.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Lord McCabe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the UK Government is taking to support and protect health workers so that they are able to continue to provide polio immunisation programmes under the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
The UK is a leading supporter of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) which is responsible for polio programme delivery. Working with state and local governments, GPEI provides additional training and safety measure to protect health workers working in high risk and volatile settings. As part of our risk management, the UK closely monitors GPEI to ensure prevention, reporting and mitigation measures are in place.
Asked by: Lord McCabe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps his Department is taking to support the promotion of polio immunisation in (a) Pakistan, (b) Afghanistan and (c) Nigeria.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
The UK works closely with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) to support their efforts in promoting and delivering polio vaccination programmes in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. We follow developments closely in country through DFID country office staff and through our engagement with GPEI headquarters in Geneva. The successes of the GPEI in Nigeria is evidenced by that country’s achievement of three years without wild polio virus.
During engagement with the GPEI and during bilaterals with the remaining endemic countries the UK stresses the importance of understanding the context-specific blocks to eradication and promoting the great value of immunisation.
Asked by: Lord McCabe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will develop a cross-departmental strategy for the UK’s approach to supporting the (a) prevention of, (b) protection of and (c) solution to the increasing number of internally displaced people around the world.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK Government is strongly committed to meeting the needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs). We published a new Humanitarian Reform Policy in October last year which includes a focus on forced displacement and measures that are relevant for mitigating and responding more effectively to displacement. We believe our primary focus should now be at the global level to press for a more effective international response. For example, several UN Member States, including the UK, are now actively exploring options with the UN – including the idea of launching a UN High Level Panel on Internally Displaced Persons, which presents one way of galvanising greater political and operational attention and action on IDPs.
Asked by: Lord McCabe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 31 January to Question 124954 on Colombia and Lesotho: Taxation, what discussions officials in her Department had with HMRC on the (a) Lesotho, (b) Columbia and (c) Kyrgyzstan tax treaties.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
Officials at the Department for International Development did not have any specific discussions with HMRC on tax treaty negotiations between the UK and Lesotho, Colombia or Kyrgyzstan.
HMRC is the lead department for the negotiation of the UK’s tax treaties, reporting to HM Treasury Ministers. HMRC seeks views from a range of interested parties, including DFID, and then takes a judgement about which countries to seek to engage with. DFID has supported this approach which led to recent successful negotiations with Colombia, Lesotho and Kyrgyzstan.
Asked by: Lord McCabe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, for what reasons her Department's recent financial commitment to the Global Partnership for Education was less than the International Development Committee's recommendation.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The UKs pledge of £225 million over three years compares to the £210 million we spent over the previous four year period. Our annual contribution to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) will increase by almost 50% to £75 million per year. We are the largest bilateral funder. The funding will be used to keep 850,000 children in school each year and train 170,000 teachers. This significant increase in funding reflects the results that GPE has achieved to date and our continued strong commitment to this mechanism.
Our support for GPE goes beyond funding. We will continue to play an active role on the GPE board and we are committed to further increasing our engagement in developing countries to drive improvements in GPE’s delivery.
Our pledge was less than that of the International Development Committee’s recommendation for three reasons. Whilst we are proud to remain GPE’s largest bilateral funder, it is important that other donors also pay their fair share. Secondly, GPE has made significant progress over the last replenishment period, but can continue to improve and demonstrate results. In particular, there is scope for GPE to drive greater improvements in teaching, deliver more for marginalised groups, and strengthen its country model to focus more robustly on quality and learning. Finally, we also invest significantly in other education programmes, and want to maintain a balanced portfolio across bilateral and multilateral spending.