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Written Question
CDC: Fossil Fuels
Tuesday 21st April 2020

Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 26 February 2020 to Question 18886 on CDC: Fossil Fuels, what the (a) original investment value was and (b) current net asset value is for CDC's investment in (i) Albatros Energy, (ii) Proton Energy, (iii) Simba Oil Ltd, (iv) SODEP and (v) Uquo Integrated Gas Business (Accugas).

Answered by James Duddridge

The total amount invested across the five investments specified in the question was $5.2 million. The total net asset value, as of 31 December 2019, had risen to $6.2 million.

CDC publishes the amounts it invests directly into businesses and investment funds on its website www.cdcgroup.com. It does not disclose individual valuations as these are commercially sensitive.


Written Question
Iran: Coronavirus
Tuesday 21st April 2020

Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department plans to provide support to Iran for their covid-19 outbreak.

Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary

On 3 March the UK, jointly with E3 partners (Germany and France), announced a comprehensive €5 million package of both material and financial support to combat the rapid spread of COVID-19 in Iran. The UK component of this support consists of a £2 million contribution to the World Health Organisation (WHO) for its work in Iran. This was made on 17 March and will pay for medical equipment, including laboratory items and protective kit, as well as an uplift in staffing.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Charities
Tuesday 31st March 2020

Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans her Department has to allocate additional emergency funding to UK international development charities to ensure those charities do not (a) close, (b) cut programmes and (c) retrench staff as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Answered by Wendy Morton

DFID is talking to our partners to look at ways to address the challenges posed to them and their projects by COVID-19. We will work collaboratively with our partners and take a flexible approach in order to find pragmatic solutions to support both our partners and our programmes.

DFID is implementing the UK government position on supplier partner relief to ensure that we offer support where this is appropriate.

Under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, all UK employers will be able to access support to continue paying part of their employees’ salary for those employees that would otherwise have been laid off during this crisis


Written Question
Department for International Development: Ministerial Responsibility
Tuesday 31st March 2020

Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether she plans to reassign ageing to a specific Ministerial portfolio within her Department in response to the covid-19 outbreak.

Answered by Wendy Morton

Ageing is an important element in the Department for International Development (DFID’s) efforts to tackle extreme poverty and our collective commitment to ‘leave no-one behind’. Baroness Sugg has direct responsibility for ageing as part of her portfolio on Inclusive Societies, and we will make this more explicit in her online portfolio. We recognise that, in addition to their other vulnerabilities, older people, people with pre-existing conditions, and those with complex needs are disproportionately impacted and at more serious risk of severe complications and fatality due to COVID-19.

The UK is at the forefront of the global response to COVID-19 and has, to date, committed up to £241 million of funding to support the global efforts to combat the outbreak of COVID-19. We will work with all of our humanitarian partners to ensure that the most vulnerable, including older people and people with disabilities are reached and supported. We are therefore continuing to take action to support countries to care for their populations.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Coronavirus
Friday 20th March 2020

Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to help ensure that a covid-19 vaccine developed with support funded by the international development budget is affordable for developing countries.

Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary

The UK is at the forefront of supporting the science-led approach to tackling COVID-19 around the world and has invested £65 million so far into COVID-19 research. This includes investment in research and development of a possible vaccine, as well as more immediate gains such as rapid diagnostics and therapeutics.

An effective vaccine will be vital to the long-term control of the outbreak. To date the UK has invested £40 million to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), specifically for COVID-19 vaccine development, alongside our existing support to their research. DFID will work with CEPI and others to ensure that any vaccine candidates are affordable and accessible to developing countries.

We have also made available up to £150 million to the International Monetary Fund to help developing countries meet their debt repayments so that they can focus their available resources on tackling coronavirus. This will enable developing countries to direct greater resources to their healthcare efforts, helping prevent the virus from spreading around the world.

Our response builds on the UK’s longstanding record of supporting countries across the globe to prepare for large disease outbreaks. This includes being the largest donor to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Between 2016 and 2020, DFID provided £1.44 billion of support to GAVI. With UK support they have vaccinated 76 million children between 2016 and 2020, saving 1.4 million lives from vaccine preventable diseases.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Older People
Friday 20th March 2020

Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to protect older people from covid-19 throughout the world.

Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary

The Department for International Development (DFID) is supporting the UK’s global efforts to combat the outbreak of COVID-19 and help the most vulnerable, including protecting older people and people with disabilities. This includes the UK committing up to £241 million of UK Aid to support the global efforts to combat the outbreak of COVID-19. As part of this, the UK is providing £10 million to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) Emergency Flash Appeal.

DFID recognises that older people around the world may be vulnerable to acquiring diseases such as COVID-19 and strong health systems are vital to ensuring health security. The UK works to strengthen health systems through our work in-country, as well as through our support to WHO and other global health initiatives. Additionally, the WHO’s?Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan, and Operational Planning Guidelines outlines the public health measures that need to be taken to support countries to prepare for and respond to COVID-19, with special considerations to be given to marginalised groups, including older people.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Coronavirus
Friday 20th March 2020

Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what advice (a) her Department and (b) the UK Government Coronavirus International Taskforce is providing to low income countries on covid-19 herd immunity.

Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary

The Department for International Development (DFID) is supporting the UK’s global efforts to combat the outbreak of COVID-19 and help the most vulnerable. G7 leaders made an important statement on Monday on the need to coordinate a global response to COVID-19. DFID is working with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to respond to international requests for technical support in managing COVID-19.

This includes supporting countries with preparedness and disease control interventions to make sure we save lives and protect the vulnerable. We are connecting technical experts in partner countries with epidemiologists and public health experts. We are also sharing information that the UK is using to model the pandemic with others.


Written Question
World Health Organisation: Finance
Friday 20th March 2020

Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans she has to increase medium-term funding for the World Health Organisation until the end of 2020 to tackle covid-19.

Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary

The UK provides around £120 million each year to the World Health Organization (WHO). To support the UK’s global efforts to combat the outbreak of COVID-19 and help the most vulnerable the UK has provided an additional £10 million to the WHO’s Emergency Flash Appeal to help prevent the spread of this outbreak by supporting developing countries to rapidly identify and care for patients with symptoms. In addition, experts funded by UK aid will be deployed to the WHO to help coordinate the international response.

We are keeping further international funding under regular review.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Coronavirus
Friday 20th March 2020

Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether the Government has shared its covid-19 (a) scientific model, (b) evidence and (c) herd immunity conclusions with governments of countries that are recipients of UK (i) aid and (ii) development assistance.

Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary

The Department for International Development (DFID) is supporting the UK’s global efforts to combat the outbreak of COVID-19 and help the most vulnerable. G7 leaders made an important statement on Monday on the need to coordinate a global response to COVID-19. DFID is working with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to respond to international requests for technical support in managing COVID-19.

This includes supporting countries with preparedness and disease control interventions to make sure we save lives and protect the vulnerable. We are connecting technical experts in partner countries with epidemiologists and public health experts. We are also sharing information that the UK is using to model the pandemic with others.


Written Question
Syria: Overseas Aid
Monday 9th March 2020

Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent discussions she has had with Kevin Kennedy, the Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis; and what requests for support she has received from Mr Kennedy.

Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary

DFID officials speak regularly with Kevin Kennedy and his team. Most recently they discussed the updated UN Readiness and Response Plan, requesting $500 million from the international community to support the emergency response in Idlib. DFID has contributed to that response.

On 3 March the Secretary of State announced an additional £89 million of humanitarian aid to Syria, including £15 million specifically for Idlib. This will deliver emergency support such as medical items, clean water and shelter, in addition to evacuating medical staff and civilians from unsafe areas where military forces are advancing.