Asked by: Danielle Rowley (Labour - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment he has made of the effect on his Department's climate-focused work of planning for the UK to leave the EU without a deal.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
DFID is fully supporting the Government’s preparations to ensure that the UK leaves the EU on 31 October. At the same time, as the Prime Minister made clear at the recent G7 Leaders meeting, the UK is strongly committed to tackling the two immense threats of climate change and biodiversity loss. Putting climate change and environment at the heart of our development programming is a high priority for DFID. While we have, since July 2019, deployed a small number of staff (fewer than 5) who were working on climate change to work on planning for our exit from the EU, overall the number of staff working on climate change is increasing.
Asked by: Danielle Rowley (Labour - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many staff of his Department who previously focused on climate change have moved to a role to plan for the UK leaving without a deal since July 2019.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
DFID is fully supporting the Government’s preparations to ensure that the UK leaves the EU on 31 October. At the same time, as the Prime Minister made clear at the recent G7 Leaders meeting, the UK is strongly committed to tackling the two immense threats of climate change and biodiversity loss. Putting climate change and environment at the heart of our development programming is a high priority for DFID. While we have, since July 2019, deployed a small number of staff (fewer than 5) who were working on climate change to work on planning for our exit from the EU, overall the number of staff working on climate change is increasing.
Asked by: Danielle Rowley (Labour - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether the full report of the UK's Voluntary National Review on its progress towards meeting the Sustainable Development Goals will include an assessment of how the Government is working to address inequality between countries.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
In July, the UK will present a Voluntary National Review (VNR) to the United Nations, setting out the UK’s contribution to achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), at home and abroad. The report will include how the Government is supporting delivery of Goal 10 (reduce inequality within and among countries).
The UK’s commitment to Leave No-one Behind means ensuring the inclusion of the poorest and most marginalised people. Furthermore, DFID’s Data Disaggregation Action Plan and Inclusive Data Charter Action Plan set out our goal to increase the level of disaggregated data we collect, report and use to ensure a deeper understanding of who is at risk of being left behind, where they are, and why.
Asked by: Danielle Rowley (Labour - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether the full report of the UK's Voluntary National Review of its progress on meeting the Sustainable Development Goals will include an assessment of the effect of the Government's domestic and international policies on reducing economic inequality (a) domestically and (b) globally.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The UK’s forthcoming Voluntary National Review (VNR) will take stock of the UK’s contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), at home and abroad, since they were agreed in 2015. It will highlight the areas where the UK is performing well and also identify the areas where we need to further reinforce our efforts. The VNR will cover all 17 Goals, including Goal 10 (reduce inequality within and among countries), and will demonstrate the UK’s domestic and international activity. It will be underpinned by data, to ensure it is robust and credible.