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Written Question
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance: Expenditure
Friday 28th February 2020

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much Official Development Assistance her Department has allocated to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance in each year from 2010 to 2020.

Answered by Wendy Morton

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, provides subsidised vaccines and health and immunisation systems support to 68 of the world’s poorest countries. Immunisation is one of the most cost-effective interventions in health and a key driver of progress towards reducing child mortality.

The UK is proud to be one Gavi’s strongest supporters. We provide Gavi with multi-year commitments, which cover five-year periods. This enables Gavi to provide countries with predictable and sustainable financing, which is essential to launching long-term, lasting routine immunisation programmes in national health systems.

The UK committed £1.32 billion to Gavi between 2011-2015. The UK’s current £1.44 billion of support to Gavi between 2016-2020 has saved 1.4 million lives from vaccine-preventable diseases in 68 of the world’s poorest countries. The UK hosted pledging conference for Gavi on 3-4th June 2020, is an opportunity for the UK to use its global leadership to secure Gavi the funds it needs to immunise 300 million more children and save at least 7 million lives between 2021 and 2025.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Vaccination
Wednesday 26th February 2020

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to increase access to vaccines in the global south.

Answered by Wendy Morton

Increasing equitable access to vaccines in the Global South, is the core goal of the UK’s support to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Our £1.44 billion of support to Gavi between 2016-2020 has reached 1.4 million individuals in 68 of the world’s poorest countries, saving their lives from vaccine-preventable diseases. Thanks to Gavi, coverage has risen substantially across these countries to 81%, a 22-percentage point increase from 2000. The UK’s commitment to Gavi is also central to our work to end preventable deaths of mothers, new-borns and children by 2030.

The UK is proud to be hosting the Gavi Replenishment Conference on 3-4th June, to secure Gavi the funds it needs to immunise 300 million more children and save at least 7 million lives between 2021 and 2025.

Gavi’s strategy for the next strategic period is focused on ‘leaving no one behind with immunisation’. Gavi’s next strategic period is critically important for the UK as we work together to improve intra-country equity and coverage of immunisation at a subnational level.


Written Question
South Africa: Droughts
Thursday 11th July 2019

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support his Department is providing to farmers in Bultfontein, South Africa, who are facing eviction due to droughts.

Answered by Harriett Baldwin

The Department for International Development’s bilateral programme in South Africa ended in 2015, and no wider British government resources are spent to support farmers in Bultfontein specifically. DFID does however seek to improve climate resilience throughout South and Southern Africa through regional water management programmes that assist in ensuring water resources are managed effectively.

In addition, DFID’s support to multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, and development assistance spent through International Climate Finance and the Newton Fund, supports resilience building to prepare for, and manage, the effects of extreme weather events.


Written Question
Rainforests: Conservation
Thursday 11th July 2019

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps his Department is taking to protect (a) primary rainforests and (b) the species that live in them.

Answered by Harriett Baldwin

Stopping deforestation is essential to protect biodiversity, tackle climate change and promote sustainable economic development. DFID works to address the underlying causes of deforestation, such as stopping illegal logging and related corruption, and ending unsustainable practices in the production of palm oil, cocoa and other agricultural commodities. This helps to protect habitats for the species that live in forests.

Work to tackle deforestation is funded through the Forest Governance, Markets and Climate programme (£250m, 2011-21), which is tackling illegal logging and promoting trade in legal timber; Investments in Forests and Sustainable Land Use (£107m, 2015-23), which works with companies to develop new and sustainable approaches to growing agricultural commodities, which protect forests and provide sustainable livelihoods; and through the Indonesia country programme.

The Global Environment Facility (GEF), to which the UK is a major donor, also plays a major role in protecting species which live in tropical rainforests. For example, in June the GEF approved $88 million of funding to the Amazon Sustainable Landscapes Programme and $57 million of funding to the Congo Basin Sustainable Landscapes Impact Programme to protect rainforests and the species that live in them.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Plastics
Wednesday 8th May 2019

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to support the recycling of plastic throughout the developing world.

Answered by Harriett Baldwin

The Department for International Development is committed to helping developing countries tackle the problem of plastic pollution. We are doing this with a programme of technical assistance in twenty developing countries. We are starting to work with businesses and NGOs to trial new approaches to increase plastic recycling rates manage waste, thereby helping the environment while creating new jobs. We are also investing in finding ways in which manufacturing processes can reduce plastic pollution. For example, we are match funding Tearfund’s plastic appeal to set up recycling hubs in Pakistan.

In addition, the UK provides considerable funding to multilateral organisations who are working with countries to tackle this problem, including some major investments in better waste management services.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Cocoa
Monday 8th April 2019

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to ensure that international cocoa farmers are achieving a living income.

Answered by Harriett Baldwin

Working towards a living income in global value chains is one of the keys to driving poverty reduction and economic development. The Department for International Development (DFID) is a long-term supporter of the International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labelling Alliance (ISEAL Alliance), the umbrella organisation for standards systems such as Fairtrade, and is one of the founding members of the Living Income Community of Practice. We support the development of standards that help smallholder farmers reach a decent standard of living. DFID also supports the Ethical Trading Initiative, a multi-stakeholder body working with UK food retailers, suppliers, trade unions and civil society to implement International Labour Organisation standards in global value chains, including cocoa.

The UK has a strong history of protecting human rights in business and promoting our values globally. We are committed to upholding the UK’s values, including around labour standards, and will consider the full range of mechanisms available in the design of future trade and investment agreements.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Trade Agreements
Tuesday 12th February 2019

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of the UK leaving the EU on the poverty levels of countries traded with under the Everything But Arms Agreement.

Answered by Harriett Baldwin

The Taxation (Cross-Border Trade) Act enables the UK to put in place a UK trade preferences scheme for developing countries. The UK trade preference scheme will provide the same level of access as the current EU trade preference scheme by granting duty-free, quota-free access to the 48 Least Developed Countries covered by the Everything But Arms tier.

The way to end poverty and aid dependency is through inclusive economic growth, jobs, investment and trade. Unilateral preferences, including those provided through the Everything But Arms tier, are part of the UK’s wider efforts to reduce poverty. By providing access into a larger market, preferences support job creation and entrepreneurship within developing economies. They play a vital part in supporting the UK’s global poverty reduction efforts. At the same time, they can provide access to cheaper products for UK businesses and consumers.


Written Question
Palestinians: Overseas Aid
Wednesday 16th January 2019

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department intends to publish audit reports on Overseas Development Assistance to the Palestinian Authority.

Answered by Alistair Burt

DFID is acutely aware that transparency over UK Aid is vital. We currently do not release these reports, but take concerns relating to our funding to the Palestinian Authority very seriously. I personally will be meeting with a member of the PA cabinet to discuss these issues next week.


Written Question
Palestinians: Overseas Aid
Friday 11th January 2019

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of Overseas Development Assistance to the Palestinian Authority has been spent on the Palestinian Authority Martyrs Fund in each year for which information is available.

Answered by Alistair Burt

No UK aid is used for prisoner payments or the fund to which you refer. UK aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) is used exclusively to pay the salaries of vetted health and education public servants, including teachers, doctors and nurses, in the West Bank. Our money goes into a special, dedicated bank account before being paid to individuals who have been vetted in advance through the European Union Palestinian-European Socio-Economic Management Assistance Mechanism (PEGASE), ensuring UK funding is not diverted. The UK has never allocated aid to the Martyrs Fund to which you refer and we have always had financial safeguards in place to ensure UK aid reaches the intended beneficiaries. UK aid to the PA in 2018 helped immunise up to 3,700 children, provide around 185,000 medical consultations, and educate around 24,000 young Palestinians.


Written Question
Yemen: Humanitarian Aid
Tuesday 19th June 2018

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent discussions her Department has had with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on the provision of humanitarian assistance, and in particular food, to Yemen.

Answered by Alistair Burt

DFID is in regular contact with our UN partners in Yemen who are delivering the humanitarian response. Most recently I spoke to the UN’s Resident Coordinator/Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, Lise Grande, on 14 June. We are also in regular contact with the World Food Programme (WFP) which delivers the majority of food aid into the country at Ministerial level with WFP’s Executive Director David Beasley.

The UN estimates that 17.8 million people in Yemen do not have reliable access to food and 8.4 million people face extreme food shortages. Our funding of £170 million to Yemen this financial year 2018/2019 includes support to meet the immediate food needs for 2.5 million Yemenis, and brings the total UK bilateral support to Yemen to over £570 million since 2015.