Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to help ensure people in Yemen have access to clean water.
Answered by Lord Bates
Our funding of £170 million to Yemen this financial year (2018/19) includes support to UNICEF to provide access to a safe water supply, sanitation, and hygiene; as well as to other programmes that deliver a range of activities to improve water access alongside other priorities, including our Yemen Multisector Humanitarian Response Programme, the Yemen Humanitarian Pooled Fund, and Yemen's Social Fund for Development.
Our support of £205 million to Yemen in the financial year 2017/18 included funding aimed at providing clean water and sanitation for approximately 1.2 million people. UK funding also provided fuel across the country to keep water systems working in major cities.
Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to help ensure hospitals in Yemen have access to medical supplies, including antibiotics.
Answered by Lord Bates
The UK recently announced £170 million of funding to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen for the financial year 2018/19. This funding will provide life-saving food, medicine (including antibiotics), clean water and sanitation to millions of people facing disease and hunger in Yemen. Our funding to UNICEF, the UN’s Yemen Humanitarian Pooled Fund and to our NGO partners through our Yemen Multisector Humanitarian Response Programme all contribute to improving the quality and availability of healthcare and medical supplies. We have also taken a leading role in calling on all parties to allow unhindered humanitarian and commercial access, including for medical supplies, as well as food and fuel, across Yemen.
Last financial year, we provided over £8 million in targeted cholera funding to UNICEF and the International Organization for Migration. This support aimed to provide medical supplies to half a million people, safe access to chlorinated water to 300,000 people, and rehabilitate medical facilities used by 250,000 people.
Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to help children at risk of starvation in Yemen.
Answered by Lord Bates
The UK recently announced £170 million in support to Yemen for the financial year 2018/19, which will meet immediate food needs for 2.5 million Yemenis, including children at risk of starvation. Last financial year, we provided £60 million to the World Food Programme to provide millions of people with food, as well as £25 million to UNICEF, which included support to treat children with severe acute malnutrition. We also provided £24 million to our NGO partners through our Yemen Multisector Humanitarian Response Programme, which included support to tackle food insecurity and malnutrition.
The UK has also taken a leading role in calling on all parties to allow unhindered humanitarian and commercial access across the country, including for vital food and fuel.
Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to help ensure that waste management is maintained in the Rohingya camps throughout monsoon and cyclone season.
Answered by Lord Bates
The UK is funding the construction and maintenance of over 7,000 latrines, decommissioning those at risk from flooding, and establishing new ones in more appropriate locations ahead of the monsoon and cyclone season.
Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to help ensure that all Rohingya refugees have adequate food and drinking water supplies during the cyclone season.
Answered by Lord Bates
The UK is providing safe drinking water for 250,000 Rohingya people, through the establishment of approximately 20,000 water access points for those living in the camps. Over 367,000 people are being provided with food assistance with UK funding, either through direct food items, vouchers or cash transfers.
Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to help ensure that Rohingya refugees are in suitable housing for cyclone and monsoon season.
Answered by Lord Bates
Activities to prepare for the monsoon are accelerating, including distributing upgraded shelter kits and improvements to pathways and bridges to maintain access. The UK is providing 152,000 people with emergency shelter and more than 100,000 households will receive guidance on how to build improved, safer shelters. Overall, 450,000 people will benefit from UK support to make their shelters more resilient to rain and heavy winds.
Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to help ensure that Rohingya refugee women and girls have access to female sanitary products.
Answered by Lord Bates
Since December 2017, the UK has funded the procurement and distribution of 18,325 ‘Dignity Kits’ for women and adolescent girls, which contain female sanitary products.
Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Bates on 22 February (HL Deb, cols 319–22), what assessment they have made of the extent to which older women with disabilities are among the most vulnerable groups in developing countries; and what plans they have, ahead of the Global Disability Summit in July, to include older women in their disability agenda.
Answered by Lord Bates
The UK government recognises that historically global development has not reached marginalised groups, such as older women with disabilities. This is why we took a leading role in pushing for the global goals to be underpinned by the promise to leave no one behind.
We have been coordinating global efforts to strengthen data quality and systems that accurately capture the experience and lives of older people, women, and people with disabilities. We will continue to drive progress in this area so that we can we can identify those that are most at risk of being left behind and not reached by programming.
Ageing forms an important part of the UK’s work on disability inclusion in international development and is integral to our approach to leaving no one behind. Older women with disabilities will benefit from the Global Disability Summit, which will lock in progress and increase action and investment in this historically neglected area.
Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much money they have provided to (1) the International Planned Parenthood Federation, and (2) Marie Stopes International, in (a) 2016–17, and (b) 2017–18 to date.
Answered by Lord Bates
In 2016/17 DFID channelled funding of £6.5 million and £40.5 million via the International Planned Parenthood Federation and Marie Stopes International respectively. Data for 2017/18 is not yet available.
Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which projects have been funded by the Ross Fund since it was set up.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Ross Fund is a portfolio of programmes, identified in the UK Aid Strategy, led by either DFID or Department of Health (DH), aimed at combatting the world's most serious diseases.
DFID projects funded within the Ross Fund Portfolio are in four areas: 1) product development research, with support to the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, Medicines for Malaria Venture, International AIDS Vaccine initiative, Aeras – TB vaccine development, TB Alliance, Innovative Vector Control Consortium, International Partnership for Microbicides, PATH diarrhoeal diseases vaccines and treatments, PATH meningitis vaccine project and PATH malaria diagnostics; 2) research for epidemic response with support to the World Health Organisation (WHO) R&D Blueprint, joint DFID-Wellcome programme for epidemic response; 3) implementation research, with support to the Febrile Illness Evaluation in a Broad Range of Endemicities, the Coalition for Operational Research for Neglected Tropical Diseases; and 4) implementation programmes, with support to the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria, Global Guinea Worm Diseases Eradication Programme, Nigeria: Tackling Neglected Tropical Diseases through an integrated approach, Support for the Elimination of Lymphatic FILARIASIS, Capacity building through the WHO Department of Neglected Tropical Diseases.
DH projects funded within the Ross Fund Portfolio are the Fleming Fund, Vaccine Network, UK Rapid Support Team and the Global AMR Innovation Fund.