Asked by: David Mundell (Conservative - Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale)
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 hold Pride receptions in June in embassies and posts to celebrate LGBTQ+ people.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK is proud to champion LGBT+ rights around the world. Through our international programmes and diplomatic engagement, we bring communities and governments together to strengthen rights and freedoms in every part of the world. The UK's diplomatic missions are encouraged to host events, receptions and joint statements with like-minded partners to celebrate local LGBT+ communities as well as to attend Pride parades. Support will also be given to UK missions this year to deliver the UK's new GREAT Love marketing campaign to highlight the UK's commitment to inclusion.
Asked by: David Mundell (Conservative - Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has plans to hold World AIDS Day receptions in embassies and posts on 1 December.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK remains a world leader in efforts to end the AIDS epidemic and continues to fund all key partners in the global AIDS response, including UNAIDS, the WHO and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. We recognise the importance of World AIDS Day for raising awareness and galvanising the global AIDS response. We will be planning our engagements for the next World AIDS Day on 1 December 2023 nearer to the time.
Asked by: David Mundell (Conservative - Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale)
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 implications for his policies of the recent protests in Peru.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
We are closely monitoring political developments and public protests in Peru, and the implications of these developments for our work in the region. We continue to work with the Peruvian Government across a broad range of shared priorities including infrastructure, trade, security, the environment and values. We have made clear the UK's support for the Peruvian Government, the constitutional process and Peruvian democracy.
Asked by: David Mundell (Conservative - Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with the government of Peru on the use of force during recent protests in Peru.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The Foreign Secretary discussed developments in Peru during a call with Peru's Foreign Minister on 21 February. Minister Rutley spoke with the Peruvian Vice Foreign Minister on 22 February 2023. Our Embassy in Lima has regular discussions with the Peruvian Government about the situation, including reports of abuses and the deaths of protestors that have occurred since the change of government in December, highlighting the need to protect lives and for greater transparency in ensuring respect for fundamental rights.
Asked by: David Mundell (Conservative - Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what progress his Department has made on integrating the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's policy marker on nutrition into its portfolio.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK is committed to integrating nutrition objectives and interventions across multiple sectors including health, humanitarian, women and girls, climate and economic development partnerships. The OECD Nutrition Policy Marker is now embedded in our systems to ensure that FCDO programmes contributing to nutrition objectives are 'marked' from the point of programme design and for onward funding. This will help to improve tracking accountable nutrition programmes.
Asked by: David Mundell (Conservative - Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister for International Development, with reference to Save the Children’s press release entitled new figures reveal more than half of children in Somalia now facing malnutrition, published on 14 September 2022, what recent assessment she has made of that organisation's recommendation to invest £70m to help treat malnourished children in the Horn of Africa.
Answered by Leo Docherty
The humanitarian situation in Somalia is devastating, with roughly half of the country now in need of life saving aid. In order to alleviate the impact of drought and address the risk of famine, since 1 April 2022, the UK has allocated £52.8 million in humanitarian, health and nutrition support to Somalia. UK funded activities are making a difference and saving lives.
The FCDO is prioritising spending that is vital to protect against immediate threat to life and wellbeing, will prevent people falling into humanitarian need, or will prevent delays to accessing healthcare, primary education, sanitation and clean water. Ministers will make any adjustments and final aid prioritisation decisions based on additional Official Development Assistance pressures this autumn.
Asked by: David Mundell (Conservative - Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale)
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 long-term impact of ongoing hunger crises in East Africa on levels of malnutrition in that region.
Answered by Leo Docherty
Across East Africa over 51 million people face severe food insecurity, of which 700,000 are facing famine-like conditions in South Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia. The ongoing drought in the region and dire water shortages are driving alarming levels of malnutrition; about 4.9 million children and 986,100 pregnant and lactating women are acutely malnourished in drought affected areas in the Horn of Africa, including about 1.4 million children who are severely acutely malnourished. There are concrete warnings that the October - December rains might fail. If so, serious humanitarian needs will persist into 2023.
The UK is a major donor to the East Africa region and UK-funded activities are making a difference and saving lives. In Financial Year 2022/23, the UK intends to provide £156 million in humanitarian aid towards crises in East Africa. Of this amount, nearly 50 percent has been allocated as of mid-September.
Asked by: David Mundell (Conservative - Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister for International Development, what plans she has to join the USAID, European donors, and private philanthropies in supporting the provision of child wasting treatments as announced at the UN General Assembly.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
Nutrition is a core focus of our work on global health, our humanitarian response and in support of UK goals on girls' education and climate. The UK remains committed to tackling child wasting, and this was reaffirmed by Lord Goldsmith at the United Nations General Assembly event on child wasting in September hosted by United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and USAID.
The UK launched a five year partnership with UNICEF in 2020 to work to reform the prevention and treatment of child wasting. The Nutrition Match Fund is an early success of this partnership; it provides an equal financial match to countries' domestic contributions for therapeutic feeding. The UK Government announced a £2 million contribution to the Match Fund in June 2022 for a total UK contribution so far of £4 million.