Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment his Department has made of the potential risks of (a) existing and (b) enhanced (i) security, (ii) defence, (iii) science and (iv) technology relationships with Israel under the 2030 roadmap.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
We enjoy a close strategic partnership with Israel on a wide range of issues. The Memorandum of Understanding we signed in 2021 demonstrated our intent to deepen and expand cooperation across our mutual priorities for our mutual benefit. The subsequent 2030 roadmap outlines how this strategic partnership will continue to serve our collective interests, deepening UK-Israel cooperation across the breadth of our relationship, including science and tech, research and development and security, health, climate and gender.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of violence in central Mali on religious minority groups.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK is closely monitoring rising instability in Mali. There has been an increase in human rights abuses and violations, including on religious minority groups. The violence is sadly widespread but does not appear to be religiously motivated. Following the recent withdrawal of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), it is essential that the authorities in Mali deliver on their commitment to a political transition, with free, fair, transparent and inclusive presidential elections. The UK is committed to working with our partners to support initiatives to protect human rights in Mali.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Autumn Statement on his Department's ability to tackle malnutrition internationally.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK is committed to tackling malnutrition and improving health outcomes for women and girls. Prevention and treatment of malnutrition is vital for the FCDO's work on global health, humanitarian response and in support of the UK goals on girls' education. Spend will be focussed according to the priorities set out in the International Development Strategy, these include global health and ending the preventable deaths of women, babies and children. In due course, we intend to update planned ODA allocations and the spending commitments set out in the International Development Strategy.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when the Government will begin disbursing the £1.5 billion Nutrition for Growth funding.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
FCDO has already begun to implement our 2021 Nutrition for Growth commitment to spend £1.5 billion between 2022 and 2030. Information about spending to tackle global malnutrition is published through the Statistics for International Development (SIDS) in the Autumn each year. We will continue to publish our spend information by project on DevTracker as always (updated monthly). The FCDO has disbursed over £5 billion of ODA for nutrition between 2013 and 2020 and spent £530.2 million on nutrition specific programmes, just missing our 2020 target of £574.8 million.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the proportion of the foreign aid budget allocated to programmes which prevent violence against women and girls.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs has frequent discussions with the Minister for Development on the allocation of the foreign aid budget. The UK will focus spend according to the priorities set out in the International Development Strategy, which includes women and girls, while maximising the best value for money and our flexibility to respond to new or emerging priority issues. Last month, the UK hosted an international conference to drive urgent action to prevent sexual violence in conflict and announced £12.5 million new funding for this. We will be launching a new International Women and Girls Strategy in 2023.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much and what proportion of his Department's foreign aid budget was used for programmes which prevent violence against women and girls in the 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
Ending violence against women and girls remains a top priority for the Government. Spend for 2022-23 is not yet available, the FCDO's latest estimate of its overall ODA spending for 2022-23 is £7.548 million. In 2021, the UK spent £27.6 million on bilateral funding to end violence against women and girls. Multilateral spend for 2021 is not yet available.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will increase the Government’s pledge to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK supports the work of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), to which we have provided £1.38 billion since 1995. We remain proud of our contribution to polio eradication, which has seen polio cases reduced by over 99%. To date, more than 20 million people are walking who may otherwise have been paralysed due to polio. The UK will continue to be a supportive partner to the GPEI in the future to ensure every child everywhere is safe from this disease. In light of ongoing crises, we have temporarily paused some overseas aid spending, including to GPEI, as we review our allocations.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if her Department will make an assessment of the extent of polio immunisation in Malawi.
Answered by Vicky Ford
I am delighted to say that since polio was detected in Malawi in February the government there has led an incredible vaccination campaign, reaching 3.5 million children and covering the full target population. I would like to offer my warmest congratulations to the government and health workers of Malawi for such an incredible achievement. I had the huge honour of meeting the Minister for Health when I visited in April. We discussed the UK’s support for the wider sector and the challenges it faces.