Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department has taken to reduce tax evasion in Africa.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
Tackling tax evasion is a priority for DFID as part of our Transparency Agenda, Addis Tax Initiative commitments and the UK Anti-Corruption Strategy.
Since 2013 DFID has supported the Global Forum for the Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes through its International Tax Transparency Programme. The Global Forum helps countries tackle tax evasion by strengthening global tax transparency and international cooperation. The Global Forum now has over 150 members and DFID supports its Africa Initiative to strengthen transparency and the exchange of information across Africa.
HMRC and DFID continues to work alongside the Global Forum with other jurisdictions such as Egypt, Ghana and Nigeria; alongside the African Tax Administration Forum in Uganda and independently in Montserrat to support the implementation of the Automatic Exchange of Information.
DFID’s announcement on the 19 February of a new £47m package of support for Tax for Development will further boost efforts to help countries in Africa and elsewhere to tackle this important issue.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much additional tax revenue will be raised by Governments in Africa as a result of support by her Department by the year 2022-23.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
DFID’s support will help strengthen developing country capacity to raise domestic resources, including through assistance in the implementation of international tax standards. Although many factors impact on revenue growth, so forecasts are not available, past DFID tax programmes have proved to be great value for money. For example, the OECD’s Tax Inspectors Without Borders initiative, which assists developing countries to implement international tax standards, has generated an additional £100 for every £1 spent on operating costs.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the extent of electoral fraud in Ghana; and whether her Department has participated in election observation in Ghana in the past and what plans it has to do so in future.
Answered by Nick Hurd
DFID supported the conclusion of the UNDP Needs Assessment Mission conducted 3-11 November 2014, that the Ghana Electoral Commission, despite its good reputation, continues to suffer from many challenges, primarily poor performance in managing the voters register; inadequate coordination among other institutions involved in the electoral process; and lack of communication and consultations with key stakeholders, including political parties. This increases the potential for electoral fraud. DFID staff have participated in previous election observation and plan to do so again, as part of the overall UK effort to support Ghana in achieving peaceful and credible elections in 2016.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department has spent on election observation (a) in real terms and (b) as a proportion of her Department's budget since 2010.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID tracks its spending on support to elections, and this encompasses election observation to build public confidence in electoral processes and help deter fraud, intimidation and violence. DFID spent a total of £212 million on bilateral and multilateral support to elections during the period 2010/11 to 2014/15 which represents 0.5% of DFID total spend. During this period DFID has funded elections observation in a number of countries often as part of wider election programmes, for example in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Kosovo, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Sudan.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many children received schooling as a direct result of UK aid in (a) sub-Saharan Africa and (b) South Asia in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
Up until September 2013, UK Aid has supported over 6.4 million children in primary and lower secondary school, of which 3.1 million were girls, through our bilateral programmes. Of these, 4.2 million were in Sub-Saharan Africa and 2.1 million children were in South Asia. These figures are the latest available, and are reported in the DFID Annual Report and Accounts 2012/13.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she has taken to ensure developing countries can access UK satellite technology to monitor local agricultural land and environmental risks; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
DFID is supporting projects that use satellite data. DFID supports the World Agroforestry Centre to use data to help monitor and assess agriculture land use and environmental risks including land degradation. DFID contributes to the UK Environment Observations Framework Coordinating Climate Observations Group which coordinates Her Majesty's Government activities supporting the development and use of climate data, including from satellites.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much funding her Department allocated to microfinance schemes in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
DFID's work on microfinance is integrated into broader financial sector development programmes that work to strengthen policy and regulation, build infrastructure and innovate new products and services that meet the needs of poor people.
DFID monitors expenditure in terms of actual spend. Actual spend on the financial sector development portfolio totalled £50.9 million in 2010-11; £50.9m in 2011-2012 and £59.2m in 2012-2013. Cumulative spend between 2007 and 2012 totalled £282.0m.