Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, on what date his Department plans to publish country budgets.
Answered by Nigel Adams
FCDO will publish 2021/22 financial budgets in our Annual Report and Accounts, which are due to be published later this year.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what impact assessment his Department undertook prior to the decision to reduce UK aid funding for nutrition programmes.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The FCDO's aid budget has been allocated in accordance with UK strategic priorities against the challenging financial climate of the COVID-19 pandemic, after a cross-government review of how we spend ODA. The Foreign Secretary has agreed he will focus our investment and expertise where the UK can make the most difference and achieve maximum impact. Officials considered any impact on women and girls, the most marginalised and vulnerable, people with disabilities, and people from other protected groups, when developing advice for Ministers.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, on what date his Department plans to publish a confirmed budget for future UK aid for nutrition.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Information about our nutrition spend in the financial year 2021-22 will be publicly available through the Development Tracker in due course.
The portfolio, as agreed by the Foreign Secretary, will focus our investment and expertise on issues where the UK can make the most difference and achieve maximum strategic coherence, impact, and value for money.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the reduction in the Official Development Assistance budget on the UK's health research sector and its ability to develop as a science superpower; and for what reason funding for neglected tropical diseases has been reduced by 90 per cent.
Answered by James Duddridge
The Government has had to take the tough but necessary decision to temporarily reduce the UK's commitment to spend 0.7% of gross national income (GNI) on overseas development assistance (ODA). We recognise there will be visible reductions across our ODA portfolio compared to 0.7%, but we have worked hard to maintain UK support to the world's poorest people. FCDO ODA will be targeted to addressing seven global challenges facing the world poorest, focusing our investments and expertise on issues where the UK can make the most difference: climate change and biodiversity; Covid and global health security; girls' education; science, research and technology; open societies and conflict resolution; humanitarian preparedness and response; and trade and economic development.
FCDO will now work through what this means for individual research programmes, in line with the priorities we have identified. Scientific and technological innovation runs through all seven priority themes for our ODA spend.
We continue to value the work of researchers based in the UK and are proud that UK expertise in science, research and development has led to one of the first effective and affordable COVID-19 vaccines. The UK will remain a global leader on international development, with an ODA budget on track to exceed £10 billion this year.
In respect of interventions for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) the UK is proud of the significant contribution we have made to global efforts to protect hundreds of millions of people from NTDs. Our programmes have worked hard to deliver NTD treatment and care and to strengthen health systems to deliver these services going forward. We will work with countries affected by NTDs to help them strengthen their health systems so that they are able to prevent and treat NTDs in a more sustainable way.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to support partnership schemes in Myanmar between UK and local clinicians.
Answered by Nigel Adams
In recent years, the UK funded the Rangoon General Hospital Reinvigoration Trust which helped to enhance health collaboration between UK and Myanmar institutions. The UK has also funded work by the Tropical Health and Education Trust (THET), through the UK Partnerships for Health Systems programme to share skills and knowledge between the UK and Myanmar.
We are committed to looking at innovative ways to share skills and knowledge between the UK and Myanmar, and will engage with THET to try to identify future opportunities to support this.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the reduction in the Official Development Assistance budget is limited to one year; for what reason the UK Partnerships for Health Systems Strengthening programme could not be delayed by a year rather than cancelled; and what assessment he has made of the benefits of a scheme which involves doctors and nurses giving their time voluntarily to support health services in developing countries.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is facing the worst economic contraction in over 300 years, and a budget deficit of close to £400 billion. Given the impact of this global pandemic on the economy, the government has been forced to take tough but necessary decisions, of which one has been to close the UK Partnership for Health Systems (UK PHS) programme. The Government is committed to returning to 0.7% of GNI on ODA spend once the fiscal situation allows. This is confirmed in the Integrated Review.
The tough decision to close the UK PHS programme was made due to uncertainty around future levels of funding. Doctors and nurses who give their time voluntarily through this and previous programmes, have made a substantial contribution to achieving global health goals in developing countries. This has included support to the development of the global health workforce, and strengthening health service delivery and performance with partner countries.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to progress the allocation of the £5 million commitment to developing nursing made to commemorate Florence Nightingale's bicentenary.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The government is committed to supporting nursing and midwifery development in low and low-middle income countries through our work on strengthening health systems. This includes significant investment in global health initiatives, for example our £1.4 billion contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (2020-2024). With the closure of the UK Partnerships for Health Systems, programme we will not meet the commitment to allocate £5 million to support the development of nurses and midwives.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he plans to take with (a) the UN and (b) other international partners to ensure that the Myanmar military and police forces do not violate medical neutrality and uphold their obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The UK is appalled at reports that protestors and medical professionals have been subject to attacks by the Myanmar security forces. The violent crackdown on peaceful protesters and the obstruction of medical care-givers is completely unacceptable. The UK has coordinated a strong international response including through the UN Security Council and the G7. We secured a Presidential Statement at the UN Security Council on 10 March which condemned the violent crackdown on peaceful protestors. We are clear that the military must pay the price for their actions, We have worked with partners such as the EU, US and Canada to sanction military officers who are responsible for serious human rights violations and are exploring all options to put pressure on the economic interests of the military.
We have used the Burma sanctions regime and the Global Human Rights regime to target those responsible for human rights violations in Myanmar. On Thursday 26 March we imposed sanctions on military owned entity Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL), in concert with the US to incur a cost on the military for the coup.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what plans his Department has to approve the next phase of the Volunteering for Development grant in a timely manner.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The impact of the global pandemic on the UK economy has forced us to take the tough but necessary decision to temporarily reduce our aid budget.
We are now working through the implications of these changes for individual programmes, including for the Volunteering for Development grant. No decisions have yet been made.
We understand the need to communicate with VSO in a timely manner regarding this grant.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what plans he has in place to enable to the single sign-off by his Department of all UK official development assistance (ODA); and who is responsible for ODA-funded projects.
Answered by James Cleverly - Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
To maximise the Government's strategic focus in the use of ODA next year, the Foreign Secretary announced that he will run a short cross-government process to review, appraise and finalise all of the UK's ODA allocations across all departments with agreement of their Secretaries of State. It is the Government's intention to conclude this process by the end of the calendar year and communicate to the outcome to departments concerned. Secretaries of State and Accounting Officers will remain accountable for the ODA allocated to their departments as per Managing Public Money guidance.