Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment she has made of the operational readiness of St Helena Airport; and when she expects commercial operations at that airport to commence.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The St Helena Airport was certificated by Air Safety Support International on 10 May 2016 and is open. As a result of turbulence and wind shear identified on the northern approach, the certification confirms the airport is classed as Category C, which requires certain conditions to be met by airlines and aircraft proposing to use the airport. Work is underway to establish commercial air services.
Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate she has made of the weekly cost of the deferment of the opening of St Helena Airport.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The St Helena Airport was certificated by Air Safety Support International on 10 May 2016 and is open.
Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what programmes her Department provides to counter the use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war and subjugation.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID is committed to addressing all forms of violence against women and girls in emergencies. This includes rape and sexual violence used within armed conflict as a weapon of war. We know that in conflict settings specifically, rape, or sexual violence by combatants is sadly only one component of a wide range of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). Other forms of SGBV are often more prevalent.
DFID’s response to counter the use of rape and sexual violence is primarily through our commitments under the Call to Action to Protect Women and Girls in Emergencies. Through a combination of humanitarian operations and longer term development programmes we address both the immediate needs of survivors of sexual violence and tackle the underlying root causes of violence, such as gender inequality, discrimination and lack of women’s political and economic participation.
Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many of her Department's staff of each grade attended the Commission on the Status of Women in March 2016.
Answered by Justine Greening
The DFID staffing requirements for this event are yet to be confirmed.
Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of its funding to the African Union Gender, Peace and Security Programme on each country in receipt of such funding.
Answered by Grant Shapps - Secretary of State for Defence
UK support to the African Union Gender, Peace and Security Programme (GPSP) comes from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO), which has funded the programme since financial year 2014/15. GPSP has delivered a number of high-impact outcomes, including the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI). To date the GPSP has: established and supported the role of Special Envoy for Women, Peace and Security within the AU, raising the political profile of Gender across the continent; deployed a team of sexual violence experts to the Central African Republic to help care for victims of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse; supported the formulation of the Gender Mainstreaming action plan for AMISOM, the African Union’s peacekeeping operation in Somalia; funded a conduct and discipline officer to work with the AU Peace Support Operations Department in embedding gender into all agreements between the AU and Troop Contributing Countries; and supported the African Union in responding to allegations of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Somalia by delivering initiatives such as a helpline for victims.
Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what spending and technical support her Department has committed to what programmes in Central African Republic in each of the last five years.
Answered by Grant Shapps - Secretary of State for Defence
DFID’s funding to CAR and CAR refugees has increased in the last five years in response to growing humanitarian needs caused by the conflict which started in 2012. DFID committed £2.25m in assistance in 2009, £5m in 2013, £28m in 2014 and has so far programmed £18m in 2015. UK funding has provided health care, livelihoods, protection and food assistance to CAR populations and CAR refugees over this period.
Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department has spent on (a) physical infrastructure and (b) hygiene promotion for water, sanitation and hygiene services in (i) rural and (ii) urban areas in (1) Sierra Leone and (2) Liberia in each of the last five years; and what such spending her Department has planned for in each of the next three years.
Answered by Grant Shapps - Secretary of State for Defence
DFID has spent the following on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Services (WASH) programmes in Sierra Leone and Liberia in each of the last five years, from its bilateral aid budget:
2009 (GBP millions) | 2010 (GBP millions) | 2011 (GBP millions) | 2012 (GBP millions) | 2013 (GBP millions) | Total (GBP millions) | |
Sierra Leone | £3.2 | £3.2 | £4.4 | £11.2 | £15.3 | £37.4 |
Liberia | £4 | £0.4 | £2.5 | £6.8 | ||
£7.2 | £3.6 | £4.4 | £11.2 | £17.8 | £44.2 |
This includes work on both physical infrastructure and hygiene promotion in rural and urban areas; however the data is not broken down in the format requested.
These programmes resulted in over 1 million people gaining access to improved sanitation facilities in Sierra Leone and more than 250 tonnes of municipal solid waste being collected in Monrovia through proper channels.
The ongoing Ebola outbreak, which began in 2014, has devastated both countries. DFID has continued to provide support to WASH as part of our unprecedented £427m response to the crisis. In July this year, the Secretary of State approved a new £240m package to support the government of Sierra Leone in their plans to recover from the outbreak, as well as an additional £6m for the Government of Liberia. Programming, which is now underway, is likely to continue to include significant support for the WASH sector.
Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department takes to ensure that all UK aid is responsive to climate change and low carbon development.
Answered by Grant Shapps - Secretary of State for Defence
DFID’s responsibilities on climate and environment derive from the International Development Act’s commitment to sustainable development, based on the substantial evidence that poverty eradication is not possible without tackling climate change. Hence all DFID programmes are assessed for climate and environment opportunities and risks. The capacity of staff to do this has also been strengthened through DFID’s ‘Future Fit’ programme which has helped spending departments identify key climate issues in their programmes.
In addition, the UK’s flagship International Climate Fund (ICF) has been used to comprehensively address climate issues through DFID programmes in climate vulnerable sectors such as forestry, water, agriculture and disaster management. The ICF has already helped 15m people cope with the impacts of climate change, and created 39,000 jobs.
Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department has reached a decision on whether to fund an extension of the Nigerian Infrastructure Advisory Facility - beyond NIAF 2.
Answered by Grant Shapps - Secretary of State for Defence
The Nigerian Infrastructure Advisory Facility 2 (NIAF2) will end in December 2016. A decision regarding future support for infrastructure development in Nigeria beyond NIAF2 will be taken during the next Country Operational Plan period, starting in April 2016.
Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to (a) help developing countries create efficient tax regimes for multi-national corporations and (b) work with governments in other countries to ensure an equitable tax system for multi-national corporations in developing countries.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The Department for International Development funds the OECD and World Bank Group to provide expert advice to developing country tax authorities to improve their capacity in taxing multinational enterprises and better administering transfer pricing. At the Autumn Statement the Government also announced £1.8 million for HMRC to recruit a dedicated team of experts to tackle tax avoidance and evasion in developing countries, complementing the work of the HMRC Tax Capacity Building Unit. DFID also support the OECD’s Tax Inspectors Without Borders initiative, which puts expert tax auditors in the field working on complex multinational audit cases. In addition the Government is working with OECD members and G20 countries to ensure that developing countries can not only participate in the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) process that is reforming international tax rules, but also implement the outputs that emerge.