Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether the administration of Official Development Assistance will continue to prioritise (a) economic development and (b) welfare in developing countries after her Department merges with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK continues to report its aid spend in line with the international definitions of Official Development Assistance as set by the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC). The core definition of ODA is spend that has the promotion of the economic development and welfare of developing countries as its main objective.
We will continue to look at how the UK’s aid can maximise the UK’s role as a force for good in the world, including through the Integrated Review. This will inform the priorities of the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office.
As the Prime Minister said in the House, the work of UK aid to reduce poverty will remain central to the new department’s mission.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps his Department is taking to help enable covid-19 testing in low-income countries.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
DFID is at the forefront of the global response to COVID-19. 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. We are working hard to ensure that our help reaches those most in need through close collaboration with our partners.
So far, the UK has provided up to £744 million of UK aid to help combat the virus and sent UK experts to support vulnerable countries to prepare for the virus. Funding includes research on vaccines, therapeutics and tests. The UK’s £75 million funding to the World Health Organization helps support its key role in providing technical support countries to establish COVID-19 testing strategies and capacity. DFID is also providing up to £23 million to the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, a global non-profit organisation driving innovation in the development and delivery of diagnostics to combat major diseases affecting the world’s poorest populations.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what effect the covid-19 pandemic has had on her Department's planned budget for supporting developing countries in tackling future pandemic outbreaks.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the importance of building strong and resilient systems to protect people, especially the poorest and most vulnerable, against risks including health threats.
During the current pandemic, we want to ensure that any new investments we make to respond to COVID-19, also help to build back stronger systems in the longer term, including for health, nutrition, water and sanitation. At the same time, we are keeping a focus on our long-term investments to strengthen and scale up crisis response and preparedness systems through technical assistance and financial support directly to countries, through supporting the multilateral system, including the development banks, the World Health Organization, global health initiatives and other agencies to provide technical assistance and programmes, as well as funding research and development to increase access and reduce prices for new and existing essential health commodities.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department plans to introduce targets for investment in low carbon energy sources throughout the world.
Answered by James Duddridge
The UK is committed to unlocking affordable and clean energy for the poorest and contributing to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 7. UK Official Development Assistance increasingly supports renewable energy sources – between 2011-12 and 2018-19 UK aid has provided 26 million people with improved access to clean energy and avoided 16 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
The doubling of the UK’s International Climate Finance (ICF) contribution to £11.6 billion from 2021/22 to 2025/26 will ensure that the UK can do even more to support the most vulnerable people and countries and help accelerate the development and adoption of low carbon technologies.
The ICF increase includes up to £1 billion for the Ayrton Fund to go towards the development and testing of new technology in areas such as energy storage, new cooling technologies, next generation solar, and technologies for industrial decarbonisation.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to support investment in renewable energy in Africa.
Answered by James Duddridge
The government is committed to supporting renewable energy in Africa and our support is increasing.
At the UK-Africa Investment Summit in January, a renewable energy package worth over £100 million was announced. This includes funding for off-grid solar projects to reach the rural poor in Africa, providing technical assistance to improve African countries’ renewable energy policies, and investing in clean energy research and innovation such as the Faraday Battery Challenge and the Ayrton Fund. The UK’s offer to support renewable energy across Africa also includes sharing our expertise in low carbon sectors and green finance.
In addition, the UK’s Development Finance Institution, CDC, as well as the UK funded Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) are investing in renewable energy across Africa.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether the Africa-UK Investment Summit will be an annual event.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
This Summit achieved its objectives of laying the foundations for a new stronger relationship between the UK and Africa based on mutually beneficial trade and investment, which will deliver for all our people. Following our departure from the European Union, the Government will build further on these foundations, in a range of ways, to realise the UK’s ambition to be the investment partner of choice for Africa, to create hundreds of thousands of jobs and to ensure the mutual prosperity of all our nations.
I have placed a copy of the UK Government’s statement on the Summit in the Library of the House. The statement is also available on gov.uk.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the outcomes of the UK-Africa Investment Summit 2020 were; and what plans he has to support to grassroots partnerships developed as a result of that summit.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Summit laid the foundations for new partnerships between the UK and African nations based on trade, investment, shared values and mutual interest. Billions of pounds of new commercial deals were announced highlighting the strength of the UK’s offer and existing relationship with Africa.
The UK also announced new initiatives and funding which will: strengthen the joint trading relationship, support African countries in their ambition to transform their economies, launch a major new partnership with the city of London, turbo-charge infrastructure financing, and enable Africa’s clean energy potential. For example, the Government announced it will be scaling up its Financial Sector Deepening Network programme by a further £320mn. This programme is aimed at strengthening financial systems across Africa to make them more attractive to international investors by providing support to countries to meet global standards and by deepening and driving cross-border banking across the continent.
I have placed a copy of the UK Government’s statement on the Summit in the Library of the House. The statement is also available on gov.uk.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the Prime Minister's support for solar technology in African countries in his speech to the UN General Assembly on 24 September 2019, what steps the Government is taking to support (a) solar projects in Africa and (b) the sharing of renewable technology.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
DFID’s support to clean energy in Africa is delivered through a range of programmes. We provide funding to support the installation of more off-grid solar power such as through mini-grid projects (e.g. in Kenya and Rwanda). We are helping to establish markets in a number of African countries for household solar power so poor people have access to affordable clean energy. We are also supporting private sector solar projects through the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and development finance interventions such as CDC, the Private Infrastructure Development Group, and the Multilateral Development Banks.
Over the last seven years the UK has provided 26 million people with improved access to clean energy and installed 1,600 MW of clean energy capacity.
At the G7, the Prime Minister announced the UK would double its support to the GCF, the principal climate multilateral, to £1.44bn over the next four years, to help developing countries adapt to the impacts of climate change and shift away from fossil fuels to renewable energy such as solar power. A range of existing GCF projects are supporting solar power in Africa. For example a GCF project is helping 50 poor, rural communities in Mali to switch from fossil fuel-powered diesel generators and kerosene lamps to green energy by installing solar mini-grids.
The Prime Minister announced at the UN Climate Action Summit funding of up to £1 billion for research, development and demonstration of new technologies and business models to unlock opportunities in developing countries for cleaner growth and better access to clean energy. Emerging technology areas to be supported include for example, energy storage, new cooling technologies, next generation solar, and technologies for industrial decarbonisation.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the announcement by the French Development Agency of €1 billion in equity and €1 billion in loans being made available to African entrepreneurs through the programme Choose Africa, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the UK adopting a similar scheme.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The UK is committed to supporting entrepreneurship in Africa to grow local economies, create jobs, reduce poverty and support sustainable development. Last summer, the PM announced that CDC Group, the UK’s Development Finance Institution, would invest up to £3.5 billion in businesses in Africa over four years (2018 to 2021). CDC has already committed £1.9bn in Africa over the last 3 years (2016-2018). CDC is invested in 698 different companies in Africa, directly supporting 370,000 jobs.
Through CDC and other country specific initiatives, we will mobilise a further £4 billion of private investment for Africa. This investment will allow businesses to grow, produce goods and services for local people, generate income and tax revenues, and help address the financing gap for meeting the Sustainable Development Goals.
In January next year, the UK will convene an Africa Investment Summit to further promote investment in Africa and to strengthen the partnership with UK investors and companies.