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Written Question
Trade Agreements: Developing Countries
Wednesday 13th February 2019

Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)

Question to the Department for International Development:

What steps her Department is taking to promote the Government's trade for development programme.

Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons

The UK remains a world leader in trade for development. We are prioritising our trading partners for the future, for example through our commitments on gender, the new Commonwealth Standards Network and our ambition for the UK to be the largest G7 investor in Africa by 2022.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Malaria
Monday 11th February 2019

Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department spent on programmes tackling malaria in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-17 and (c) 2017-18.

Answered by Alistair Burt

DFID contributes to the global effort to tackle malaria through bilateral programmes in countries, research, multilateral funding to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the World Health Organisation (WHO), and through strengthening health systems in malaria affected countries.

The total estimated UK spend on malaria was £332 million in 2015/16, £499 million in 2016/17 and £481 million in 2017/18. All direct bilateral malaria spend and relevant multilateral contributions are available in Statistics on International Development. DFID is currently the second largest global funder of the effort against malaria and will remain a leading global donor in the future.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Tropical Diseases
Monday 11th February 2019

Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department spent on programmes tackling Neglected Tropical Diseases in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-17 and (c) 2017-18.

Answered by Alistair Burt

Estimated UK spend on programmes tackling neglected tropical diseases was £48 million in 2015/16, £60 million in 2016/17 and £73 million in 2017/18. The figures include expenditure on programmes to prevent or treat neglected tropical diseases and funding for research.

In 2017, UK funded programmes delivered over 144 million treatments for neglected tropical diseases.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Poliomyelitis
Wednesday 31st October 2018

Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking ensure progress made by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative is sustained after polio funding is withdrawn in countries transitioning away from support in 2019.

Answered by Alistair Burt

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has successfully led global efforts that have reduced Wild Polio Virus cases by more than 99% since its inception in 1988. The UK has played an important role in this process and UK support to GPEI will mean up to 45 million children can be vaccinated against polio each year until 2020.

It is a key priority for the UK that polio-funded assets continue to ensure strong health systems after the world has been declared polio-free, when GPEI will cease to exist. Governments and key partners must take responsibility for ensuring the assets of the polio programme are not lost and countries remain polio-free. The UK expects the World Health Organisation (WHO) to take a leading role in ensuring a robust and coordinated response and part of the UK’s funding to WHO is conditional on this being met.

The UK has been instrumental in ensuring a coherent strategy be developed and implemented that will support countries as they transition from GPEI support. We will continue to work with WHO and other key polio partners to ensure this is fully actioned and well coordinated.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Sustainable Development
Tuesday 29th May 2018

Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what contribution her Department plans to make to the voluntary national review of progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

Answered by Harriett Baldwin

The UK enjoys enormous respect and influence on development issues, and was at the forefront of negotiating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs provide a framework to tackle the most pressing global challenges of our time – extreme poverty and disease, global instability and conflict, mass migration, climate change and gender inequality – challenges that are at the core of DFID’s work.

As such, DFID holds policy oversight for the SDGs, and we are working closely with the Cabinet Office and other Government Departments to develop our plans for the UK’s Voluntary National Review. We will ensure that the review takes account of the UK’s domestic and international contributions to this global agenda and will consult a wide range of stakeholders.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Malaria
Wednesday 9th May 2018

Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, given the UK Government’s recent recommitment to defeating malaria, if her Department will increase investment in community-based primary healthcare programmes in remote, rural communities.

Answered by Alistair Burt

DFID supports low income countries to make faster progress towards universal health coverage, with a particular focus on improving access to good quality primary care in poorer, very often remote areas. This support to strengthening health systems helps to ensure that countries are better able to prevent, detect and treat all causes of ill health, including malaria.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Financial Services
Monday 26th March 2018

Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she has had with (a) the UK financial services sector and (b) multilateral financial institutions on the (i) development and (ii) issue of catastrophe bonds as a tool for mitigating catastrophic risk for developing countries.

Answered by Alistair Burt

DFID has had strong engagement with the UK financial services sector on the disaster risk financing agenda, for example through the Insurance Development Forum (IDF). The Centre for Global Disaster Protection, recently set up by DFID, has run an Innovation Lab in partnership with the UK financial services sector, which explored the use of innovative risk transfer instruments, including catastrophe bonds, to support building back disaster affected infrastructure to be more resilient.

DFID works closely in partnership with the World Bank on the disaster risk financing agenda – and the World Bank has worked with catastrophe bonds in Mexico, and underpinned the new Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility with a bond. Catastrophe bonds serve as one of a suite of financial tools the World Bank offers to support developing countries mitigate catastrophic risk from disasters.


Written Question
Democratic Republic of Congo: Famine
Monday 4th December 2017

Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions her Department has had with representatives of the African Union, EU and UN on responding to the famine in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Answered by Rory Stewart

I visited Kasai Central, in the DRC, in November 2017 to see for myself the impact of the conflict and resulting food insecurity. I met with representatives from the AU and UN agencies during my visit and discussed the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the DRC, and how the international community should respond. My officials are working closely with the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to ensure strong leadership and urgency in responding to the crisis.


Written Question
Democratic Republic of Congo: Famine
Monday 4th December 2017

Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department is providing additional funds to protect children from famine in the Kasaï region, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Answered by Rory Stewart

I visited the Kasai Central, in the DRC, in November 2017 to see for myself the impact of the conflict and resulting food insecurity. 294,000 children are at risk of dying from malnutrition. UK bilateral aid is already supporting 25,800 children with lifesaving assistance. We recently announced the new allocation of £175 million for humanitarian support over the next five years (2017-2022) for DRC. This will support a further 220,000 children nationally under the age of 5 with vital nutrition.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Malaria
Monday 20th November 2017

Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much funding her Department provided for activities to combat malaria in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16.

Answered by Alistair Burt

DFID tackles malaria through bilateral programmes in countries, research, multilateral funding to the Global Fund and the World Health Organisation, and through activities such as strengthening health systems in endemic countries.

The Malaria Framework for Results estimated UK spend at £428 million for 2014/15. This was the final year of the Framework and no estimate of comparable spend was produced for 2015/16. All direct bilateral malaria spend and relevant multilateral contributions are available in Statistics on International Development . DFID is currently the second largest global funder of the effort against malaria and expects to remain a leading global donor in the future.