Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many officials in his Department have been seconded away from their normal duties to work on the UK's withdrawal from the EU; and what effect that secondment of staff has had on the effectiveness of his Department.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
134 DFID staff have been temporarily seconded from their normal duties to work on the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. DFID is working closely with other government departments to facilitate the return of staff deployed to other government departments, following the extension of Article 50. As of 21 May 2019, 100 of these staff have returned.
To release staff for deployment, DFID undertook a detailed prioritisation exercise to assess the internal resource required to maintain essential delivery. For DFID, this meant meeting the legal commitment to spend 0.7% of GNI (Gross National Income) on international development in an effective and value for money way and the ability to respond to humanitarian emergencies. All other DFID business is highly important however officials made decisions to slow or pause delivery in order to support the EU exit related resource requirements of other government departments.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to support people fleeing Eastern Ghoutta; and will she make a statement.
Answered by Alistair Burt
DFID funded partners are supporting people displaced from Eastern Ghouta in both Rural Damascus and in Idlib, including the provision of food, shelter and basic hygiene products. We continue to advocate for the protection of civilians and for a ceasefire to be implemented, as demanded by the UN Security Council.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent discussions her Department has had with organisations that work directly on the ground in Syria to support civilians in Eastern Ghouta.
Answered by Alistair Burt
We regularly discuss the situation in Eastern Ghouta with the UN and NGOs who are delivering assistance in Syria. I recently met with several civil society groups from Eastern Ghouta whilst on my visit to Turkey. Where and when access allows, DFID’s humanitarian partners are providing support including food, health, and water and sanitation.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she has taken to provide humanitarian support to people (a) forced to flee their homes and (b) otherwise affected as a result of clashes among farmers, tribes and herdsmen in Nigeria.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
We are concerned by the suffering caused by violence between cattle herders and farmers in Nigeria. The UK has supported a number of initiatives that have brought communities together and provided livelihoods and economic opportunities in the affected areas. We are encouraging the Government of Nigeria to prevent further violence and provide support to the victims of the conflict. At present, the UK’s humanitarian response in Nigeria is focused on providing assistance and protection to hundreds of thousands of people affected by the Boko Haram conflict in the country’s north-east.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether she plans to develop a mechanism to (a) release funding to and (b) assess how much is directed at local and national actors in humanitarian crises in line with the objectives of the Grand Bargain 2020.
Answered by Alistair Burt
DFID already releases funding to local and national actors in humanitarian crises in line with the objectives in the Grand Bargain. In specific terms DFID continues to fund the START Fund, the Humanitarian Leadership Academy and the Disasters and Emergencies Preparedness Programme (DEPP) as part of its Grand Bargain commitments.
DFID is closely following the Grand Bargain workstream on localisation, led by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the Swiss government. Currently discussions are ongoing on how best to track this commitment. Once an approach has been agreed, it is likely that an international mechanism will be used for assessing the commitment e.g. OCHA’s Financial Tracking System, which applies to all donors, not just the UK.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of UK aid to Syria.
Answered by Alistair Burt
UK aid is making a real difference, providing life-saving and life-changing support to millions of people inside Syria, and millions more who have taken refuge in neighbouring countries.
Since 2012, across Syria and the region, UK aid has delivered over 26 million food rations that feed a person for a month, 10.3 million medical consultations, 9.8 million relief packages, and over 8 million vaccines.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of UK aid to Rakhine State and Myanmar.
Answered by Alistair Burt
DFID officials have made a number of visits to Rakhine in the past two months and have regularly updated Ministers. Aid workers have been getting UK-funded humanitarian assistance to some people in parts of Rakhine State, however access remains extremely restricted in northern Rakhine. The UK has provided £1 million to the Red Cross in Burma, which is currently the only aid organisation permitted to provide humanitarian support in Northern Rakhine. We continue to press the Burmese government to end violence, allow full humanitarian access, and to implement the recommendations of Kofi Annan’s Rakhine Advisory Commission to address the underlying causes of violence and under-development.
DFID constantly monitors how we support the UK’s Burma strategy objectives of supporting peace, democracy and an open economy. We have been successful in reaching and improving the lives of many poor and marginalised people in Burma, many of whom have suffered decades of conflict.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the UK response to the humanitarian crisis in Nigeria.
Answered by Rory Stewart
This year alone, the UK will have provided 1 million people in north east Nigeria with life-saving food assistance, supported 532,000 people to access clean water and 196,000 to access health care. The UK stepped up early with humanitarian support, saving thousands of lives and protecting the most vulnerable. We constantly monitor the effectiveness of our support and a full review is undertaken annually and published on DFID’s website.
Asked by: David Lammy (Labour - Tottenham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate her Department has made of the proportion of the Civil Service workforce in her Department dedicated to planning for (a) the UK leaving the EU and (b) projects relating to the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Exit is an all-of-government operation. The Department for Exiting the European Union is doing detailed work with departments to prepare for the upcoming negotiations by understanding the risks and opportunities of leaving the EU and coordinating planning.
Staff within the DFID Europe Department and DFID Trade for Development team based in the Department for International Trade, lead on providing advice to Ministers on EU Exit and exit-related issues and projects.
Members of staff across the Department also provide advice and analysis on EU Exit issues as required.
Given the interactions between EU Exit work and the Department’s other priorities, it would not be possible to give an accurate figure.