Baroness Goudie

The government has worked at pace to provide an unprecedented and comprehensive package of support to help as many individuals and businesses as possible during this challenging period.

The measures introduced include the small business grants, the coronavirus loan guarantee schemes, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), the deferral of VAT and income tax payments. These measures have been designed to be accessible to businesses in most sectors and across the UK.

Further measures have been announced by my Right Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that build on the significant support already available as well as set out how current support will evolve and adapt. This includes the extension of the CJRS until the end of September 2021, extending and amending the coronavirus loan guarantee schemes to allow businesses more time and greater flexibility to repay their loans, and the extension of the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grant.

The ‘Pay as you Grow’ measures will give UK businesses that borrowed under the Bounce Back Loan Scheme the option to repay their loan over a period of up to ten years, and benefit from repayment holidays where required.

The Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS), which launched on 6 April 2021, will ensure UK businesses of any size can continue to access loans and other kinds of finance up to £10 million per business as they grow and recover from the disruption of the COVID-19 outbreak. For RLS, the government guarantees 80% of the finance to the lender to ensure they continue to have the confidence to lend to businesses. The scheme is open until 31 December 2021, subject to review.

In line with the autumn and winter plan the Government continues to keep arrangements for international travel and the relaxation of travel restrictions under review.

Every child and young person in the country has experienced unprecedented disruption to their education as a result of COVID-19, and those from the most vulnerable and disadvantaged backgrounds will be amongst those hardest hit.

Education recovery lies at the heart of our national mission. This is why the government has announced a package of support worth £1 billion to ensure that schools have the support they need to help all pupils make up for lost teaching time, with extra support in the form of a tutoring programme for those who need it most.

We have also supported charities that provide vital services that are helping vulnerable children and young people, including:

• £1.6 million for the NSPCC to expand its helpline so that adults can report their concerns about any child’s wellbeing;
• More than £7 million to Barnardo’s for the See, Hear, Respond service that offers targeted help to vulnerable children, young people and their families affected by COVID-19;
• £7.6 million for the Vulnerable Children National Charities Strategic Relief Fund, which opened in June and is for national children’s charities that offer services to safeguard vulnerable children that have financially suffered due to the impact of COVID-19; and
• More than £12 million for 14 innovation projects in social services, each taking a holistic, family-based approach to addressing the increased risk some children and young people are facing.

As we continue on the road to recovery, returning to normal educational routines as quickly as possible will be critical for our children’s and young people’s education and for their wellbeing. That is why the government has announced its plans for schools, colleges, specialist settings and local authority adult education services to fully reopen to all children, young people, apprentices and adult learners from the beginning of the autumn term for full time education.

From the 1^st September, the Foreign Secretary will lead the new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. His seat at Cabinet will ensure that development and humanitarian concerns are at the heart of Cabinet decision-making. The Integrated Review will refresh systems to ensure policy coherence across HMG.

Spending 0.7 per cent of our national income on aid is enshrined in law and we will continue to be guided by our responsibilities under the International Development Act, including a commitment to poverty reduction.

The Government remains fully focused on stopping the spread of COVID-19 and saving lives. We are using UK aid to its full effect to counter the health, humanitarian, and economic risks and impact of this pandemic in the developing world. Through aligning our efforts, we will maximise our influence and expertise and ensure we are in the best position to continue to drive the international response to the pandemic – funding the development of a vaccine and supporting the global recovery.

1) DFID is responsible for three quarters of Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) expenditure and has strong systems in place to ensure effective spend. DFID has invested significantly in ensuring that programmes are scrutinised for value for money and effective delivery. The department has a track record of spending and monitoring ODA well, including through ICAI.

(2) DFID is committed to transparency and continues to be a global leader, remaining in the ‘very good’ category of the 2020 Aid Transparency Index which assesses the performance of the world’s major aid donors. DFID is in 9^th place overall out of 47 international donors, and the 2^nd most transparent bilateral donor globally.

The current pandemic makes ever clearer the need for international collaboration on health and the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) will continue to work with DHSC to support the public health needs of the UK where this requires international activity, for example facilitating learning from other countries and work on health issues in multilateral forums.

The UK is the second largest Government donor on global health. This Government is committed to SDG3, ensuring healthy lives and promoting health and wellbeing for all at all ages, and supporting countries to achieve Universal Health Coverage. The pandemic is showing us the vital importance of strong and resilient health systems, with effective public health functions for both preventing and protecting people from health threats and ensuring continued access to quality essential health services, respecting rights and leaving no one behind.

The Government remains fully focused on stopping the spread of COVID-19, mitigating both the direct and indirect impacts, and saving lives. We are using UK aid to its full effect to counter the health, humanitarian, and economic risks and impact of this pandemic in the developing world. By creating the new FCDO the Government is aligning our development and diplomatic efforts to maximise our influence and expertise and ensure we are in the best position to continue to drive the international response to the pandemic – funding the development of a vaccine and supporting the global recovery.

On 16 June the Prime Minister announced that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development will merge to form a new international department – the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The Government will continue to engage closely with interested stakeholders, including UK and international NGOs, in the weeks and months to come as we work to create the new department, which will unite our development expertise and first class diplomatic service to make the UK a force for good in the world.

The Prime Minister is determined that the Integrated Review later this year will set an ambitious vision for the future of the UK as an active, internationalist, problem-solving and burden-sharing nation. The new Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office will be central to the delivery of that vision, so it needs to prepare now to be ready by the Autumn.

This reform will create a department that for the first time for many years has the combination of size, reach and expertise to project us effectively internationally and make sure that we spend our development money in the best possible way.

The significant gender impacts of COVID-19 are deeply concerning. DFID has been regularly consulting various women’s funds and women’s rights organisations (WROs), to understand first-hand what’s happening and to inform our response. Over the last month, DFID has hosted numerous roundtables where WROs took part.

DFID’s decision to pledge £10 million to the United Nations Population Fund and £20 million to UNICEF was informed by the conclusions of a rapid assessment of 122 WROs, which the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence undertook. DFID also launched a call for proposals under our Rapid Response Facility requiring all projects to mainstream gender, protection and safeguarding.

Through engagement with the UN, the World Bank and G7, DFID has promoted the importance of recognising women as frontline actors and leaders, and placing WROs front and centre in the international response.

DFID is being more flexible in its funding to support WROs. Amplify Change, a multi-donor fund is supporting local organisations for improved sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) adapt to address immediate and heightened SRHR risks.

This month DFID hosts its first Gender Equality Challenge Board. Experts, including women’s funds, will be invited to hold us to account on our plans for economic response and recovery.

The UK is pursuing a strong and co-ordinated global response to COVID-19, particularly for the most vulnerable countries. We recognise the risk that responses to the pandemic in some contexts may include politicisation, exploitation and securitisation, which may risk fuelling grievances, triggering violent instability, dividing societies and emboldening conflict actors.

Our approach to promoting stability in fragile and conflict-affected states is underpinned by the DFID Building Stability Framework, which recognises that conflict and fragility do not have single causes and constitute a complex system, and that helping fragile countries become more stable is a long-term endeavour.

DFID is taking steps to ensure that both our immediate responses to COVID-19 and long-term recovery efforts do not exacerbate conflict and instead help to build peace and improve governance. We monitor how the pandemic and responses to it, including any necessary restrictions, interact with conflict and governance on an ongoing basis in fragile states. We are encouraging our implementing partners to demonstrate accountability, strengthen local owner- and leadership and adopt inclusive, conflict sensitive approaches. We are also working with International Financial Institutions and the UN to ensure their humanitarian, development and peace efforts are galvanised into an effective and coordinated response.

We are assessing secondary impacts on local agriculture and food markets in fragile and conflict affected states, and helping to mitigate these through multilateral initiatives such as the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP).

As a shareholder and leading donor to the Multilateral Development Banks, we have been working with them to ensure that they are rapidly providing much-needed working capital to SMEs and supply chains that workers and farmers in developing countries depend on. This includes $8 billion of fast-tracked support from the International Finance Cooperation.

We are also exploring how DFID’s private sector development finance programmes can respond and complement this support. For example, CDC is supporting its existing portfolio of investee companies, and their workforces, to weather the crisis, and is looking to make new investments that provide systemic liquidity to companies, including SMEs.

DFID currently supports social protection and/or humanitarian cash transfer programmes in 35 countries, including Fragile and Conflict Affected States, which support people who are vulnerable to the economic impact of COVID-19.

The UK is pursuing a strong and co-ordinated global response to COVID-19, particularly for the most vulnerable countries. We recognise the risk that responses to the pandemic in some contexts may include politicisation, exploitation and securitisation, which may risk fuelling grievances, triggering violent instability, dividing societies and emboldening conflict actors.

The UK is taking steps to ensure that both our immediate responses to COVID-19 and long-term recovery efforts do not exacerbate conflict and instead help to build peace, improve governance and strengthen social cohesion. We are encouraging our implementing partners to demonstrate accountability, strengthen local owner- and leadership and adopt inclusive, conflict sensitive approaches. We are also working with partners, governments, media providers, civil society and local leaders to counter misinformation. DFID and the FCO are working together to encourage state and security responses that are transparent, proportionate, fair and promote human rights as a core part of the UK response.

We particularly recognise the importance of working with local women’s rights and women-led organisations to deliver more effective and safer responses. We also believe that greater engagement of local partners ensures continuity and builds resilience and social cohesion as efforts shift to the medium and longer term recovery.

The UK is pursuing a strong and co-ordinated global response to COVID-19, particularly for the most vulnerable countries. We recognise the risk that responses to the pandemic in some contexts may include politicisation, exploitation and securitisation, which may risk fuelling grievances, triggering violent instability, dividing societies and emboldening conflict actors.

DFID’s 2016 Building Stability Framework continues to underpin our approach to promoting stability in fragile and conflict-affected states. The Framework recognises that conflict and fragility do not have single causes and constitute a complex system, and that helping fragile countries become more stable is a long-term endeavour.

DFID is taking steps to ensure that both our immediate responses to COVID-19 and long-term recovery efforts do not exacerbate conflict and instead help to build peace and improve governance. We monitor how the pandemic and responses to it interact with conflict and governance on an ongoing basis in fragile states. We are encouraging our implementing partners to demonstrate accountability, strengthen local owner and leadership and adopt inclusive, conflict sensitive approaches. We are also working with International Financial Institutions and the UN to ensure their humanitarian, development and peace efforts are galvanised into an effective and coordinated response.

The UK is one of the biggest humanitarian donors globally and, through our programmes, are working with partners such as the World Food Programme, UNICEF and OCHA to provide food to millions of people. As well as emergency assistance, we are working to tackle longer-term food insecurity and malnutrition.

The COVID-19 pandemic is negatively impacting food security, particularly in countries with high hunger figures, climate vulnerability and fragility or conflict. The UK is working with international partners to better track, monitor and respond to the impact of COVID-19 on food security. We have adapted our social protection, agriculture and food security programmes in highly climate-vulnerable and fragile countries to respond to COVID-19-related challenges. Responses will strengthen resilience of food and agriculture systems in the current crisis but also against longer-term climate shocks and stresses. UK support includes provision of expert advice to governments and partners.

The UK is a key contributor to the UN Global Humanitarian Response Plan, which is supporting the most vulnerable, including refugees, displaced people, and migrants during this pandemic. Through this support, UK partners, such as the World Food Programme, continue to ensure essential commodities and services, and pre-position food supplies for those most in need.

We are deeply concerned about the locust outbreak in Africa and South Asia. We are supporting the UN Food and Agriculture Office on locust control as well as providing livelihoods support to those already impacted by the outbreak.

The UK is deeply concerned about the surge in gender-based violence (GBV) during the COVID-19 pandemic. We have consistently encouraged the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to prioritise GBV within the Global Humanitarian Response Plan (GHRP) through bilateral channels and joint advocacy with other donors. We believe revising the GHRP to explicitly include a specific objective on GBV will prove lifesaving for women and girls.

Whilst we are pleased to see improvements in how GBV is being addressed overall in the GHRP, the UK is still championing a specific objective on GBV in future versions. All UN agencies and international actors must demonstrate that the shadow pandemic of GBV is taken seriously in the global response to COVID-19 and be held accountable for addressing GBV.

DFID is promoting collaboration between humanitarian, development, conflict and diplomatic teams through shared Country Development Diagnostics and joint country planning. DFID also promotes greater collaboration to link up humanitarian cash transfer initiatives with social protection systems. DFID is investing in financing instruments that can be accessed before or at the outset of a shock to reduce its impact. In 2017 the UK established the Centre for Disaster Protection, which offers impartial advice to help countries understand and manage risks such as droughts or hurricanes.

Internationally, the UK doubled last years contribution to the Peacebuilding Fund from £8 million to £16 million per year. The Fund brings together humanitarian, development and peacebuilding actors to take forward vital conflict prevention efforts and build the capacity of UN country teams to address conflict drivers. Since 2018, 30% of UK core funding to UN agencies is performance based, dependent on the collective delivery of key reforms agreed at the World Humanitarian Summit. Targets include measures to improve collaboration, notably through joint and impartial needs assessments, scale up and coordinated cash transfers and enhanced engagement between humanitarian and development actors.

The UK is repurposing programmes in agriculture, social protection and humanitarian assistance to tackle the factors driving COVID-19 induced food insecurity in developing countries. We are a major funder of existing multilateral programmes in these areas, including the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program. We have committed £15m to the World Food Programme’s recent urgent appeals. The recent £7.5m contribution to the Food and Agriculture Organisation will help fight the locust plague in East Africa. We are assessing potential trends in the COVID-19 exacerbated impacts on agriculture and food security, for example, through our bilateral Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusiness programme. We are learning the lessons from previous crises and are sharing the evidence for improved action. In all of this, we continue to put the poorest and most marginalised at the heart of our programmes to address the underlying causes of chronic hunger.

The UK is working in Africa and the Middle East to minimise the immediate risk to life from COVID-19, whilst protecting recent development gains.

We are directly supporting the most vulnerable, including women and girls, through adapting our existing programmes to address the primary impacts of COVID-19 (health and humanitarian programmes) and the secondary impacts (social protection, economic support and livelihoods). Our support is helping to keep goods and supply chains flowing to help minimise negative long-term economic impacts. As a last resort, and where necessary, we are also providing support to our own supply partners to ensure we maintain critical programmes delivering for vulnerable people.

We have so far pledged up to £744 million of UK aid in the COVID-19 response, including up to £150 million to the International Monetary Fund to support vulnerable economies. The UK is leading the way in responding to the economic impact of coronavirus by mitigating loss of livelihoods, higher prices and wider social impacts, and helping to build resilience.

To date, the UK has committed £744 million in the international fight against COVID-19. We are a key contributor to the UN’s Global Humanitarian Response Plan, which is supporting the most vulnerable, including women and girls, refugees and migrants.

New UK funding to the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) and other partners will help install hand-washing stations and isolation and treatment centres in refugee camps, provide protection and education services for forcibly displaced children, and increase access to clean water for displaced people living in areas of armed conflict.

The UK is also providing significant support to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to help make sure life-saving family planning, HIV drugs and equipment needed to care for the survivors of sexual assault can get to the most vulnerable in developing countries. Further support to UNICEF and the Education Cannot Wait initiative will ensure disadvantaged children do not get left behind and deliver protection services for children and women affected by violence.

We are taking decisive and co-ordinated action based on the science and evidence, mitigating COVID-19’s primary and secondary impacts, in support of the poorest and most vulnerable.

We are using UK aid and British expertise to provide leadership internationally. DFID has pledged up to £744 million of UK aid to support the global effort to combat COVID-19. This includes providing up to £150 million to the International Monetary Fund’s Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust to support vulnerable economies. In addition, DFID is also adapting its programmes across its country network. This will support both the immediate response including secondary impacts, and in due course the longer-term recovery. The UK has also pledged £1.65 billion to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance to stop the spread of deadly infectious diseases by vaccinating up to 75 million children and strengthening health systems to help them deal with the rising numbers of COVID-19 cases.

We are also working closely with other international partners to support a holistic response. For example, the Secretary of State has been speaking regularly to other Development Ministers including those from G7 countries, the Nordics, Netherlands and Australia. She has established a series of ongoing informal meetings with them, jointly chaired with Canada, to work together on the challenges of COVID-19 to international development.

The UK has announced up to £241 million of aid funding to support the global efforts to combat the outbreak of COVID-19.

This includes £150 million to the International Monetary Fund to help developing countries focus their available resources to tackle the virus and a £65 million investment into COVID-19 research, which includes eight vaccine candidates and rapid diagnostics tests.

The £150 million to the International Monetary Fund’s Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust is to help developing countries deal with the short-term economic difficulties caused by coronavirus, allowing them to focus their spending on tackling the outbreak. This funding will help lessen the disease’s future global economic impact and thereby help safeguard the UK economy. A team of infectious disease experts will also travel to developing countries to support global efforts to prevent further spread.

UK aid has a longstanding record of supporting countries across the globe to prepare for large disease outbreaks. We are closely working with our partners, including the World Health Organization, to support vulnerable countries ensuring they are prepared and have adequate supplies and health systems can cope.