Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what due diligence was carried out by CDC on the company Frontiir, operating in Myanmar, prior to their investment in that company.
Answered by James Duddridge
In addition to a financial and development impact assessment, when making an investment CDC evaluates a wide range of Environmental and Social (E&S), as well as Business Integrity, risks through a rigorous due diligence process. All of CDC’s investments follow its Code of Responsible Investing.
In the case of CDC’s investment into Frontiir, this included a stand-alone E&S due diligence with the terms of reference explicitly aligned to the CDC Code of Responsible Investing. The methodology included a site visit to Frontiir’s operations and a review of relevant documentation. The scope of the due diligence placed a focus on contextual factors including implications for any disadvantaged or vulnerable groups, indigenous peoples, alignment with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, forced labour/child labour, occupational health and safety and understanding how data security and privacy are handled, including censorship and government disclosure.
CDC provides further guidance on due diligence in its ESG Toolkit.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much CDC has invested in companies operating in Myanmar in each of the last five years; and what the names are of those companies.
Answered by James Duddridge
The amount CDC invested into companies in Myanmar in the each of the last five years is:
2015 | Nil |
2016 | $50,965,888 |
2017 | $5,534,404 |
2018 | $2,021,605 |
2019 | $20,273,679 |
The names of companies that received investment in this period are: Shan Orchard, Frontiir Co. Ltd, Solar Home Pte Ltd, MC Easy Microfinance Co. Ltd, Alliance for Microfinance in Myanmar Ltd, Advans Myanmar, Irrawaddy Green Tower Project.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department routinely assesses CDC investments against her Department's partnership principles; and what assessment her Department has made of CDC's recent investment in Frontiir in Myanmar against those principles.
Answered by James Duddridge
The Partnership Principles play an important role in the UK Government’s decision-making process, helping to inform the extent to which we work directly with partner governments in countries where we have a bilateral aid programme.
CDC invests in private companies to achieve development impact. It does not lend to governments or invest in state owned enterprises. The Partnership Principles do not readily apply when making investments in private companies, however CDC nonetheless ensures that all its investee companies meet high environmental, social and governance standards through their Code of Responsible Investing.
CDC’s investment into Frontiir followed their Code of Responsible Investing.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, when her Department's Partnership Principles were last updated.
Answered by Wendy Morton
DFID’s Partnership Principles underpin our development relationships with partner country governments. The last major update to the Principles was made in 2015.
The Principles continue to reflect core UK values on human rights and good governance and are an essential tool in providing a balanced judgement of a partner government’s shared commitment to those values.
They allow UK Ministers to make informed choices on our aid relationships on a case by case basis, and they improve the effectiveness of our aid, ultimately supporting countries receiving it to become self-sufficient.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Commonwealth Development Corporation is taking to adapt its global investments to respond to the health and economic effects of the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by James Duddridge
CDC remains a long-term investor and is open for business. CDC and the Department for International Development are working together to deliver a targeted response that preserves, strengthens and helps rebuild economies across Africa and South Asia in response to the impact of COVID-19.
Firstly, CDC is supporting its existing portfolio of companies. CDC is assessing where it can provide additional capital to help firms and their workers weather the crisis. CDC has also launched an Emergency Technical Assistance Facility and published advice on its website (https://www.cdcgroup.com/covid-19) on measures that companies should take to protect the health and safety of employees and customers and protect jobs.
Secondly, CDC is focused on strengthening the response to the wider economic and health challenges created by the COVID-19 crisis. CDC is actively looking to make new investments that can provide more systemic liquidity to companies, especially Small Medium Enterprises, and at investments that can directly mitigate some of the adverse health impacts of COVID-19.
Finally, CDC will be there to support countries rebuild and will continue to invest for long-term sustainable development in its geographies.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the use of expired anti-retroviral (ARV) HIV medication in (a) Zimbabwe and (b) other African countries; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure that flows of in-date ARVs are maintained to tackle HIV during the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by James Duddridge
DFID Zimbabwe does not bilaterally fund the procurement of ARVs in Zimbabwe. The Global Fund – to which the UK is the second largest donor – does however provide support for the procurement of ARVs in Zimbabwe. In June 2019, concerns were raised over the distribution of expired ARVs, procured through the Global Fund. At the time of procurement, the ARVs expiry date was approaching but ARVS were urgently needed as there was a risk of stocks in country. Assurances were provided by the Manufacturer and the Medical Council Association of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) that the medicines were safe and effective before they were distributed.
DFID’s central teams work closely with the Global Fund to ensure they are actively monitoring supply chain issues at a global level and engage closely with partners. Global Fund Partners are supported in implementing good practices including safeguarding against purchase and use of expired drugs.
The COVID-19 outbreak presents a risk to the ongoing supply and distribution of ARVs. The majority of ARV procurement and distribution in Zimbabwe is funded by PEPFAR and USAID have taken several steps to ensure that patients continue to receive their prescriptions such as providing monthly rather than weekly prescriptions, so patients do not have to visit clinics so frequently. The Global Fund is also flexing to cope with the crisis. It has created up to $1 billion of flexible funding opportunities for countries to re-programme existing grants and apply for additional funding, including in Zimbabwe. This will support countries with their direct COVID-19 response, address critical gaps in health systems, and to adapt their HIV, TB, and malaria programmes, including if needed to reinforce in-country ARV supply chain management.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, when she or ministers in her Department last met Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund for HIV, TB and Malaria; and what steps she is taking to ensure continued support for the Global Fund's work.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The most recent meeting between Peter Sands and UK Ministers was with the Secretary of State for International Development’s predecessor at the Global Fund Sixth Replenishment Conference in Lyon on 10 October 2019. The UK is a strong supporter of the Global Fund and the second largest donor to the Sixth Replenishment.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund, what (a) changes to existing and (b) new programmes she has made or established in response to the covid-19 global pandemic.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) is a cross-government fund managed by the Joint Funds Unit (JFU). The JFU are taking steps to ensure existing programmes consider the implications of COVID-19 and are currently assigning 25% of discretionary spending to new programming on COVID-19 response. Activities funded to date include supplying specialist medical equipment, hygiene kits and pharmaceuticals in the Middle East and North Africa, and funding healthcare systems in the UK’s Overseas Territories. An ongoing CSSF re-prioritisation exercise will determine how existing and new programmes respond to COVID-19. This exercise will ensure that CSSF funding complements departmental efforts to coordinate the international health response and support vulnerable countries to meet future challenges to security and stability linked to the pandemic.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what Official Development Assistance qualifying spending over £1 million she has (a) authorised, (b) suspended and (c) transferred to other Government Departments since 15 January 2020.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Dev Tracker (https://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/) publishes all our approved programming and disbursements, all of which flow from Secretary of State (or via her delegated approval). Ministers have made no decisions yet on suspension of activities. It is too early to catch changes to our planned spending for 2020/21 on our management information systems.
Pursuant to my answer on 16 March, the Department will provide details of all budget transfers to other Government Departments in our Memorandum to the International Development Committee on the publication of the department’s Main Supply Estimate.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, when (a) she and (b) her Ministers last met Dr John Nkengasong, Director of the African Union CDC, to discuss tackling the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by James Duddridge
We are supporting the Africa Centres for Disease Control (Africa CDC) COVID-19 response by deploying a UK Public Health Rapid Support Team and £2 million of research and response capacity-building funding alongside the Wellcome Trust from our Joint Initiative on Research for Epidemic Preparedness Programme. We also have a Public Health England expert on long term secondment to Africa CDC with whom I have spoken.
Members of the Government and UK officials are in regular contact with senior Africa CDC representatives. I spoke with the African Union Commissioner for Social Affairs, H.E. Amira El Fadil and Dr Benjamin Djoudalbaye, Head of the Division of Policy, Health Diplomacy and Communication on Tuesday 21 April to discuss the work of Africa CDC and the UK’s on-going support. UK officials have also spoken with Dr John Nkengasong and his team and are due to do so again this week.