Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assistance her Department has provided to separatist occupied areas of eastern Ukraine in the last two years.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
Since 2014 the UK has been the fourth-largest provider of humanitarian assistance to vulnerable people affected by the crisis in Ukraine.
Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department has taken to assist the Kurdistan region.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The UK has committed £79.5 million of humanitarian assistance to Iraq since summer 2014. This includes cash assistance, access to clean water, food, medicines and other life-saving assistance for the most vulnerable. Our partners distribute our aid on the basis of need across Iraq, including to internally displaced persons in northern Iraq.
Given the importance of a coordinated response, we are providing funding to UNDP to support the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Joint Crisis Centre (JCC), as well as its equivalent for the Government of Iraq, the Joint Crisis and Monitoring Centre (JCMC). In close collaboration with the JCMC, UN, donors and NGOs, the JCC is leading humanitarian efforts for the KRG.
Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to assist internally displaced persons in northern Iraq with humanitarian aid.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The UK has committed £79.5 million of humanitarian assistance to Iraq since summer 2014. This includes cash assistance, access to clean water, food, medicines and other life-saving assistance for the most vulnerable. Our partners distribute our aid on the basis of need across Iraq, including to internally displaced persons in northern Iraq.
Given the importance of a coordinated response, we are providing funding to UNDP to support the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Joint Crisis Centre (JCC), as well as its equivalent for the Government of Iraq, the Joint Crisis and Monitoring Centre (JCMC). In close collaboration with the JCMC, UN, donors and NGOs, the JCC is leading humanitarian efforts for the KRG.
Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department has taken to develop agriculture education links with countries that would benefit from UK expertise.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The Department for International Development has supported Partnership Projects covering agriculture and veterinary sciences, across 17 developing countries linking UK Universities and developing country institutions. We have funded research programmes for collaborative projects between UK researchers and partners in Africa and Asia at postgraduate level.
Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to tackle the refugee crisis in Lebanon.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
To date, the UK has pledged over £1.1 billion in response to the crisis in Syria and the region, with £304 million being allocated to meet the immediate needs of refugees and to support host communities in Lebanon. This makes us the second largest bilateral donor after the US.
As part of the No Lost Generation initiative, DFID has pledged a total of £80 million of this allocation to support education in Lebanon, including support for the Lebanese Government’s ‘Reaching All Children with Education’ RACE scheme toexpand the public education systemto include an additional 200,000 Syrian refugees and improve the quality for Lebanese students.
DFID also works in Lebanon to alleviate the impact of the humanitarian crisis through advocacy focused on civilian and refugee protection, humanitarian access for aid, and improving the effectiveness and funding of the international response.
For more information and to stay up to date with what DFID is doing in response to the Syria crisis in Lebanon and across the region, please see https://www.gov.uk/government/news/syria-the-latest-updates-on-uk-aid.
Asked by: Danny Kinahan (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what reports she has received of allegations of India blocking foreign aid to Nepal.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
We are deeply concerned about the impact of the border blockages and resulting fuel crisis in Nepal. This has affected all sectors of the economy and has affected the humanitarian relief effort and the supply of reconstruction materials.
The UK has urged all parties to resolve their differences through peaceful dialogue. I issued a statement on 13th October expressing concern that much needed humanitarian supplies are yet to reach many people still living in temporary shelter.