Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department facilitates knowledge-sharing between the NHS and health minsters in developing countries.
Answered by Alistair Burt
DFID funds health partnerships with developing countries to share NHS expertise. These partnerships engage with ministries of health at all levels to share learning, on nurse training and clinical audits for example.
As my Hon Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Primary Care at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) outlined in his response to you in PQ 158190, the UK government liaises with health ministers through international forums including the G20, World Health Assembly and UN High Level Meetings, sharing our lessons from the NHS to promote progress towards achieving universal health coverage. Several DFID country programmes include NHS partnerships in response to ministry demand, such as Ghana and Zambia. DFID also supports the DHSC’s high level engagement on global health security and antimicrobial resistance, patient safety and mental health with developing countries, including the upcoming first Global Ministerial Summit on Mental Health.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to support governments in developing countries to build universal healthcare for children.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK supports countries to make progress in universal health coverage through building health systems that meet essential needs for all, including mother and children’s healthcare and prevention of diseases. DFID provides technical assistance and financial support directly to countries. For example, DFID is supporting Ethiopia’s health system by improving primary healthcare services to accelerate gains in adolescent, maternal and child health. In 2016-17, the programme contributed to over 1.3 million children receiving vaccinations against preventable childhood diseases. DFID’s investments in water, sanitation and hygiene and in nutrition also contribute to achieving universal health coverage and are essential for improving child health. DFID is also a leading donor to global health organisations such as Gavi the Vaccine Alliance, Unitaid and the World Health Organisation, and funds research and product development including for child health.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many staff in her Department respond to Freedom of Information requests.
Answered by Rory Stewart
DFID has a central team of three staff who advise on and co-ordinate responses to Freedom of Information requests. All DFID staff may have some involvement in preparing responses.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the average response rate was of her Department to individual Freedom of Information requests in each month since July 2016.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The Government publishes statistics on the operation of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 within central government, including on timeliness. These can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of senior civil service graded posts in her Department classified as (i) deputy director, (ii) assistant director, (iii) team leader and (iv) policy manager have been based outside London in each year since 2014.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The proportion of DFID Senior Civil Servants designated as Deputy Director based outside of London is detailed in the table below.
DFID does not designate Senior Civil Servants as assistant director, team leader or policy manager.
Deputy Director Outside London | |
2016 | 33 |
2015 | 37 |
2014 | 42 |
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, which private consultancy firm her Department holds a contract with; what the value is of each such contract; and what services are being provided by each of those consultancy firms.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Detail on DFID contracts is available via the Contracts Finder website.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent discussions she has had with her ministerial colleagues in other departments on the use of the development aid budget by those departments; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The Secretary of State for International Development has regular meetings with her ministerial colleagues in other departments and discusses a range of issues.