Asked by: Alex Salmond (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to build capacity in countries facing a food crisis.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
DFID invests in long-term planning, preventative programmes and putting systems in place to build the capacity of countries at risk of food insecurity. Early warning mechanisms and resilience systems put in place with DFID support since 2010/11 have strengthened the response to the food crisis across the Horn of Africa this year. For example, with DFID support the response in Somalia has mobilised much earlier this year compared to 2010; in Kenya the Hunger Safety Nets Programme has enabled emergency support to be delivered at scale to drought affected households much quicker than in previous crises.
Asked by: Alex Salmond (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether the Government plans to use drones to drop emergency aid in Syria; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Aid delivered by road, by trusted humanitarian partners who ensure it gets to those who need it most, is the most effective way to meet needs in Syria. We are pushing the Assad regime to allow this, while working tirelessly with our partners to examine all other options for getting aid into besieged areas.
Asked by: Alex Salmond (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment she has made of the long-term economic prospects for Montserrat.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
DFID’s first responsibility is to support Montserrat in delivering essential public services to its citizens, including health, education and social services. Ongoing consideration of the island’s long term economic prospects is a key feature of our development partnership, where we have a shared objective of enabling Montserrat ultimately to manage fully its own financial and economic affairs.
Asked by: Alex Salmond (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to tackle food insecurity in Southern Africa.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Southern Africa’s unprecedented El Nino-related drought has triggered a second year of hunger and hardship. More than 31 million people are estimated to be food-insecure across the region. DFID was one of the first donors to respond to the crisis and has already increased the levels of our humanitarian assistance in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho and Zambia. We have also allocated additional funding to support the regional response. As well as responding to the immediate humanitarian needs, we will have increased our efforts to ensure our programme portfolios continue to build resilience and preparedness.
DFID is using its influence within the international community to encourage the scaling up of support and to strengthen coordination regionally and at country level. We are also using our influence with partner governments to advocate for the logistical measures to improve the transport of supplies into and within the region.