Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what plans she has to ensure that gender equality remains a strategic priority for her Department.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Fundamentally, our new foreign and development policy is about freedom, the freedom for men and women alike to live and thrive around the world, empowered by education and enterprise. Throughout this year's UK's G7 Presidency, we have prioritised action on gender equality guided by the 3E's: 'Educating Girls, Empowering Women and Ending Violence against women and girls' which continues to reflect FCDO priorities. Last week I announced how women and girls will be at the centre of our foreign policy priorities, with more than £20 million of new funding to help stop violence against women and girls around the world, exploring options to strengthen the international response to sexual violence in conflict, including exploring a new Convention and plans for an international conference in 2022.
We will be refreshing FCDO's Strategic Vision for Gender Equality in the new year, which will look to 2030 and show how FCDO will continue to prioritise women and girls. In addition, our latest Spending Review showed, we will increase aid funding for our highest priorities, including support for women and girls, focusing on giving more girls a quality education; ending the extremely harmful practice of female genital mutilation and supporting girls' health.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what plans she has to ensure that aid funding allocated to support women and girls in the developing world will include provision for (a) sexual and reproductive health services, (b) maternal health care and (c) family planning.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The UK is firmly committed to defending comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) globally - this includes family planning and maternal health, both central to the empowerment of women and girls. SRHR is also central to achieving the UK Government's commitment to end the preventable deaths of mothers, babies and children by 2030 and our ambitious commitments on girls' education. We plan to launch an Ending Preventable Deaths Approach Paper soon. The 2021 Spending Review concluded on 27 October 2021. Our internal business planning process to agree individual budgets across the FCDO will begin shortly and conclude this financial year. Any funding for SRHR will contribute to UK objectives to improve the lives of women and girls worldwide.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the situation for Rohingya refugees in Bhasan Char in regards to (a) unlawful imprisonment, (b) access to food and (c) access to water.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We are concerned about reports of unlawful imprisonment of Rohingya refugees on Bhasan Char, and continue to stress to the Government of Bangladesh that any relocation of refugees to Bhasan Char island must be voluntary, safe, dignified and in accordance with international humanitarian principles and standards. We have also stressed the importance of freedom of movement.
Some local Non-Governmental Organisations are supporting the provision of services on Bhasan Char, including access to food and water. We have been clear, along with the UN and multilateral banks, that we will not provide funding until we are sure that there is some freedom of movement, and that conditions on the island are safe and sustainable. We welcome recent progress made by the UN on operational planning, with technical teams now undertaking a set of assessments on the island to determine whether it is suitable to accommodate those who choose to relocate there.
The Minister responsible for South Asia, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, visited Bangladesh this month, and raised the challenges on Bhasan Char with both the UN lead agencies and the Ministry for Disaster Management and Relief, stressing the importance of dignified treatment of all the refugees while they remain in Bangladesh.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent steps her Department has taken to ensure that Palestinian communities have been meaningfully consulted in the development overseas aid initiatives intended to support them.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
Development programmes in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) work to preserve the prospect of a negotiated Two State Solution and to improve the lives of Palestinians throughout the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, in line with the UK's longstanding position. The UK engages with a broad range of stakeholders to understand the impact of UK programming, including in the OPTs.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 26 October 201 to Question 903830 on the Palestinian Authority: ODA recognising the importance of supporting Palestinian institutions, what plans her Department has to restore funding to the salaries of Palestinian health and education professionals in 2021-22.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
Our future spending allocations will be set in the next Spending Review and full budgets for 2021 will be published in due course, including in our regular Statistics on International Development website and in the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office Annual Report and Accounts.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the humanitarian mine action budget will be for the next three years.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
Over the next 3 years the UK's demining work will continue to save lives across the world. The Global Mine Action Programme 3 (GMAP3), due to begin in 2022, will involve landmine clearance and risk education to help affected communities keep safe and capacity development for national authorities to help them manage their landmine contamination.
As one of the founding signatories to the 1997 Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention and a leading supporter of mine action, the UK will also continue to work towards ending the use of landmines and cluster munitions. The UK has now taken on the Presidency of the Convention on Cluster Munitions and will use its leadership role to encourage more states to sign and implement this important treaty.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the barriers preventing UK-based international non-governmental organisations to sign up to the Inter-Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Inter-Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme is run by the Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response (SCHR). SCHR has consulted experts to analyse applicable legal frameworks and to provide guidance to current and potential users to build confidence in the scheme and to help remove any potential barriers to implementation. Since May 2021 the FCDO has funded a full-time administrator role which has boosted SCHR's capacity to engage with organisations considering signing up and to support existing signatories. There are over 100 organisations now implementing the scheme, of whom around one third are UK-based international non-governmental organisations. Under the scheme approximately 200,000 checks have been carried out with no legal or administrative challenges and over 75 people who posed a potential safeguarding risk have not been employed as a result.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the Taliban's decision to ban girls from school in Afghanistan.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
Supporting education for children, and particularly girls, in Afghanistan, is a priority for the UK Government and we are working with other donors to coordinate a consistent international response. Taliban policy on girls' education remains unclear, particularly in respect of girls' secondary education. We will continue to work with the international community to use our influence to secure girls' rights, including the right to education. Before making any funding decisions we will look carefully at how we might support girls' equal access to schooling.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the impact of malnutrition as a result of the collapse of the Afghan Government in August 2021 on (a) women and girls, (b) humanitarian assistance, (c) economic development and (d) the refugee situation.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
Even prior to August 2021 food insecurity was a cause for concern in Afghanistan and the UN's Flash Appeal now estimates that 12.2 million people, or 30 per cent of the population, are facing 'emergency' or 'crisis' levels of food insecurity. We have committed £286 million of development and humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan and will work with the UN and other partners to do all we can to alleviate the humanitarian situation.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of reports on drought in the Afghanistan region; and what assessment she has made of the impact of those reports on (a) the refugee crisis, (b) women and girls, (c) economic development and (d) humanitarian assistance.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
We are very aware of the risks posed by another year of drought in Afghanistan and the UN has analysed the impact of the drought to inform the international humanitarian response. We are particularly concerned about the situation of women and girls, and have emphasised the importance of unfettered humanitarian access. We have committed £286 million of development and humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan and will work with the UN and other partners to do all we can to alleviate the impact of the drought on the humanitarian situation.