Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on facilitating health professionals in England to travel to low and middle income countries to provide healthcare education and training; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The Secretary of State for International Development has not discussed this directly with the present Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (DHSC). It was discussed with his predecessor at DHSC and focused on how DFID and DHSC can work together to promote international health partnerships and schemes that share the expertise of UK health professionals. These partnerships address global health challenges and promote Global Britain.
DFID and DHSC work closely on programmes that facilitate these partnerships for UK health professionals to provide healthcare education and training in low and middle-income countries. We also collaborate on schemes that bring health professionals from low and middle-income countries to both learn from UK healthcare professionals and contribute to the delivery of NHS services.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans she has to provide support for improvements to mental health training for healthcare workers in low and middle income countries.
Answered by Alistair Burt
We align our support for health workers in low- and middle-income countries with priorities set by national governments, and the UK’s objective in strengthening local health systems. This includes working to improve the provision, equity and quality of mental health services and supporting the most marginalized to participate in decisions affecting their health. For example, in Ghana our Health Sector Support Programme has supported mental health systems strengthening and efforts to address underlying stigma and discrimination. Our funding for health partnerships between the UK and developing countries has scaled up peer support work in Uganda and delivered mental health training for maternity care providers in Nepal to improve mental health care.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to improve mental health globally.
Answered by Alistair Burt
DFID is committed to taking a comprehensive approach to mental health.
Through the Disability Rights Fund, we support organisations led by people with psychosocial disabilities to champion their rights. In Ghana, our Health Sector Support Programme has supported mental health systems strengthening and efforts to address underlying stigma and discrimination. And we are generating world-leading evidence around integrating effective mental health care services into primary care through PRIME - our Programme for Improving Mental Health Care.
DFID will set out its future approach on global mental health in our upcoming Disability Framework, following the UK-hosted Global Ministerial Mental Health Summit this October.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much money has been spent to support countries in the Caribbean in each year since 2010.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
From 2010 to 2016, the UK has provided over £420m in bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Caribbean countries. In 2015, the DFID Caribbean programme increased by £330m, including through the establishment of the £300m UK Caribbean Infrastructure Fund (UKCIF).
Following the devastation of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, the UK also provided over £185m in humanitarian and reconstruction support, mainly to the affected islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, British Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos and Anguilla.
|
| 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | |
| figures in £ thousands | £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | |
Antigua and Barbuda | 3 | 2 | 3 | 20 | 3 | 3 | 1 | ||
Barbados |
| 52 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Belize |
| 51 | 322 | 142 | 1,664 | 973 | 1,145 | 423 | |
Dominica |
| 195 | 18 | 34 | 32 | ~ | 492 | 44 | |
Grenada |
| 1 | 1 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 48 | ~ | |
Guyana |
| 1,047 | 367 | 563 | 406 | 1,042 | 2,229 | 658 | |
Haiti |
| 16,944 | 9,714 | 3,264 | 9,585 | 4,685 | 3,850 | 5,996 | |
Jamaica |
| 2,540 | 6,446 | 8,979 | 12,434 | 6,177 | 7,709 | 6,460 | |
Montserrat |
| 10,736 | 27,744 | 21,265 | 31,222 | 20,302 | 33,108 | 28,534 | |
St. Kitts-Nevis | 1 | ~ | 2,354 | 57 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
St. Lucia |
| 11 | 230 | 161 | 100 | 188 | 175 | 43 | |
St.Vincent & Grenadines | 10 | 27 | 48 | 31 | ~ | 110 | ~ | ||
Suriname |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 0 | |
Trinidad & Tobago | 157 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
West Indies, regional | 16,133 | 13,363 | 11,190 | 10,766 | 6,548 | 7,772 | 61,366 | ||
Totals | . | 47,881 | 58,235 | 48,015 | 66,319 | 39,920 | 56,673 | 103,525 | 420,568 |
Source: Statistics for International Development.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department has taken to promote improvement in standards of mental health globally.
Answered by Nick Hurd
DFID’s principal approach is to strengthen health services, improving coverage, access and quality so that services better address all major causes of ill health including mental health. We also support research, together with specific work on mental health in some countries.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of the sustainable development goals on the UK's aid spending on health initiatives; and if her Department will issue a guidance note on that spending.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The UK played a key role in creating a set of Global Goals that are universal and inclusive and is committed to championing the goals. Delivering Global Goal 3, to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all”, will instruct the health support we provide, with priority given to ensuring that poorer, harder to reach populations achieve better access to good quality essential services. DFID’s ongoing Bilateral Aid Review (BAR) and Multilateral Aid Review (MAR) will ensure we allocate our budget in the right places and in the right way, based on solid evidence, to contribute to the delivery of the Global Goals and to achieve our manifesto commitments.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what progress her Department has made on implementing its response to the Eleventh Report from the International Development Committee, Session 2013-14, on Disability and development, HC 947.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
In December 2014 DFID published a Disability Framework which set out how the International Development Committee’s recommendations would be addressed. In December 2015 the Secretary of State launched an updated Framework which set out how DFID would continue to build on this work. DFID recently produced a detailed review of progress on disability which will be shared with the International Development Committee soon.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of (a) funding and (b) other support for global mental healthcare.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Last year the World Health Organisation (WHO), in their Mental Health Atlas 2014, indicated that levels of public expenditure on mental health are very low in low and middle-income countries (US$2 per head of population) and falls far below levels estimated for high-income countries (over US$50 per head of population). A large proportion of funds in low and middle-income countries go to inpatient care, especially mental hospitals.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will make it her policy to make global mental health a priority of her Department.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The UK’s health focus in developing countries is on improving the provision of basic health services for the poor by supporting health system strengthening, health worker capacity and access to essential medicines. Increasing coverage, equity, access and quality will strengthen health services to address all health problems including non-communicable diseases, like mental disorders and dementia.
DFID is helping countries to make fairer, transparent and evidence-based decisions about how to set priorities and allocate resources in health. We are also funding programmes that are directly supporting work on mental health, such as under our Health Partnership Scheme and to Ghana’s Health Sector Support Programme. In addition we support research on mental health through our PRIME (Programme for Improving Mental health carE) programme.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the use by Hamas of (a) UK and (b) UN humanitarian aid.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The UK Government takes comprehensive measures to ensure that the projects it funds in Gaza do not breach European Union or UK counter terror legislation. We continue to take extensive precautions to ensure that Hamas does not derive any financial benefit from our projects, including by providing £0.5m to support the Materials Monitoring Unit (MMU) which oversees and monitors the import, storage, supply and use of construction materials into Gaza through the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism.