Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether the UK (a) provides and (b) plans to provide funding to the United Nations Road Safety Trust Fund.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The Department for International Development (DFID) does not provide funding to the United Nations Road Safety Fund. The Fund was launched in April 2018 and we will be monitoring performance and management through the early stages of its establishment.
DFID is not currently planning on providing funds directly to the United Nations Road Safety Fund.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Minister of State of 18 April 2018, Official Report, column 305, if she will publish her Department's policy on orphanages.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
DFID does not have a written policy on support to orphanages but DFID’s general policy is not to fund orphanages. DFID’s primary focus is to tackle the underlying drivers of institutionalisation through poverty reduction programmes and through our strong focus on education, nutrition, health, economic development and social protection programming.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to encourage businesses to comply with the Ethical Trading Initiative Base Code.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
Promoting jobs where workers’ rights are upheld, living wages are paid, and they are free from exploitation, is fundamental for alleviating poverty. The Ethical Trading Initiative’s Base Code is an important standard for companies to aim for, which is why DFID has provided ETI with a £5.1M grant and is encouraging its suppliers to sign up to it.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that sufficient food and medical assistance is being provided to the displaced civilians of Rakine State.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK has long been one of the biggest contributors of humanitarian aid for the displaced population in Rakhine State. We have provided over £30 million in humanitarian assistance since 2012, including food and sanitation for over 126,000 people. In the current context access to the worst affected populations is seriously constrained. We are working at the highest levels with the government, other donors and the UN to improve access and ensure that aid reaches those that need it most. DFID has also committed £10.9 million to meet the needs of displaced Rohingya and the host communities who support them in Bangladesh. The UK Government is deeply concerned about the violence against the Rohingya and other communities in Burma’s Rakhine State, and the plight of thousands fleeing their homes.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent steps her Department has taken to assist child refugees in Italy and Greece.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Since October 2015 DFID has been supporting child refugees in Greece with assistance such as food, clean water and safe shelter, as well as access to protection and psychosocial care. For example, we have provided over 500 safe accommodation spaces for unaccompanied children since September 2016. In Italy, DFID has provided assistance to unaccompanied minors and supported the deployment of child protection experts.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department has taken to increase investment in decentralised renewable energy.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
The UK Government is playing a leading role in improving energy access in developing countries. DFID has a range of programmes which are working with developing countries to ensure renewable energy markets work effectively as well as supporting energy businesses to grow, and providing consumers with access to funding to buy solar goods. For example, our Energy Access Ventures programme is investing in off-grid electric and we are delivering green mini-grid solutions across Africa.
Through the UK Government’s Energy Africa campaign we are working with solar firms to help them access the finance they need to expand their businesses, create jobs and help reach millions of people in Africa without electricity access.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to tackle starvation and malnourishment in Syria.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The "Supporting Syria and the Region London 2016" Conference was held on 4 February last week, and more than US$11 billion was pledged to support people in Syria and the region affected by the conflict, the largest amount raised in one day for a humanitarian crisis. Commitments made at the Conference will help to create 1.1 million jobs and provide education to an additional 1 million children. The UK remains at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have doubled our commitment and have now pledged a total of over £2.3 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. The outcomes of the conference are reflected in the Co-hosts' statement available on the Conference website www.supportingsyria2016.com.
Inside Syria we continue to support the United Nations’ World Food Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, UNICEF and non-governmental organisations, to provide emergency food rations and nutrition interventions and to assist Syrians in growing their own food. Since the beginning of the crisis, UK support has, for instance, provided over 15 million food rations, access to clean water for over 1.6 million people and supported almost 500,000 people with agriculture and livelihoods interventions.
There are 486,700 people living in besieged areas and around 4.6 million in hard-to-reach areas in Syria. Across Syria, Assad and other parties to the conflict are wilfully impeding humanitarian access on a daily basis. It is outrageous, unacceptable and illegal to use starvation as a weapon of war.
On 11 January 2016, the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent confirmed that aid convoys of humanitarian assistance had arrived in the besieged and hard-to-reach towns of Madaya, Foah and Kefraya. Further convoys have since arrived. DFID funding to UN agencies directly supported these convoys with food parcels, nutritional supplements, essential drugs and non-food items including winterisation kits. This is part of the UK’s ongoing support to the UN and international NGOs since the start of the conflict to deliver aid in hard to reach and besieged areas of Syria.
The most effective way to get food to people who are starving and stop these needless and horrific deaths is for Assad and all parties to the conflict to adhere to international humanitarian law. That is why the UK Government continues to call on the Assad regime and all parties to the conflict to allow immediate and unfettered access to all areas of Syria. On 4 February, the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference also brought leaders together to demand an end to these abuses and obstruction of humanitarian aid.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of aid disposed in Syria in protecting people from disease and starvation.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
UK support has reached hundreds of thousands of people in Syria, enabling vulnerable Syrians to survive. By the end of June 2015, UK support inside Syria had provided over 15.1 million food rations, access to clean water for over 1.6 million people, 2 million medical consultations and resulted in over 6.9 million instances when people benefited from sanitation and hygiene activities.
We are concerned that the 2015 UN appeals for the Syria crisis were severely underfunded, meaning Syrian people did not receive the food, shelter and medical treatment they needed so desperately. The UK is playing its part. The "Supporting Syria and the Region London 2016)" Conference was held on 4 February last week, and more than US$11 billion was pledged to support people in Syria and the region affected by the conflict, the largest amount raised in one day for a humanitarian crisis. Commitments made at the Conference will help to create 1.1 million jobs and provide education to an additional 1 million children. The UK remains at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have doubled our commitment and have now pledged a total of over £2.3 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis.
Across Syria, Assad and other parties to the conflict are wilfully impeding humanitarian access on a daily basis. It is outrageous, unacceptable and illegal to use starvation as a weapon of war.
The UN, the Red Cross Movement and NGO partners are best placed to deliver aid to people who are starving. They have the mandate, expertise and capacity to assess needs and deliver an appropriate, timely response. We continue to press for them to be granted full access to all areas in need. We also lobbied hard for UN Security Council resolutions 2165, 2191 and 2258, enabling the UN to deliver aid across borders without the consent of the regime. As a result, 240 shipments of cross-border aid have been delivered by road to Syrians in need.
The most effective way to get food and medical assistance to vulnerable Syrians is for Assad and all parties to the conflict to adhere to international humanitarian law. That is why the UK Government is calling on the Assad regime and all parties to the conflict to allow immediate and unfettered access to all areas of Syria.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support her Department offers to countries affected by the Zika virus.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The UK has been at the forefront of global efforts to ensure the World Health Organisation (WHO) has the funding, expertise and systems to respond to emerging disease threats like Zika, and is the second largest national funder of WHO. The Department for International Development made a discretionary contribution of £14.5 million to WHO in 2015, alongside the Department of Health meeting the UK’s £15 million commitment to WHO core funding. The UK has also provided political and technical support to strengthening the organisation and its preparedness. As part of the UK effort to strengthen global health security DFID contributed an additional £6.2 million to WHO’s contingency fund for emergencies which can be used for the management of Zika.
Affected countries are working closely with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) which serves as the Regional Office of the World Health Organisation. PAHO and governments across the region are issuing information on the emerging Zika infection and are advocating for increased vector control activities. DFID will keep under review its support to countries affected by Zika viral infections and along with other Government Departments we have welcomed the WHO emergency committee statement issued on Monday 1st February. DFID is monitoring the risk posed by Zika through our early warning work, through DFID’s advisers in the region, and by keeping abreast of the evidence.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assistance her Department has given to the reconstruction of infrastructure in Gaza in the last five years.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The UK provided £349 million in support of Palestinian development between 20112015. This includes support for Gaza, the West Bank and Palestinian refugees throughout the region.
In Gaza, DFID support has funded the construction of 13 schools. Following the 2014 Gaza conflict, the UK provided £17 million of immediate humanitarian assistance and pledged a further £20 million of early recovery assistance at the 2014 Cairo Gaza Reconstruction conference. DFID has already disbursed all of the Cairo pledge including £0.7 million to the Materials Monitoring Unit, which oversees and monitors the import, storage and supply of construction materials into Gaza under the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism. DFID will exceed the Cairo pledge over the coming months, as residual funds are disbursed on rejuvenating business and boosting the economy in Gaza.