Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what progress her Department has made in its programme to increase the use of Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets among children under five years of age and pregnant women in Uganda.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Results from the 2014-15 internationally recognised Malaria Indicator Survey indicate that the proportion of children under five in Uganda who slept under treated nets had gone up from 42% in 2009 to 74%; and that the proportion of pregnant women who slept under a treated net had gone up from 47% in 2009 to 75%. The UK has been a significant contributor to bed nets in Uganda. We have funded procurement and distribution of 5 million bed nets and distributed an additional 4.5 million bed nets.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the outcomes have been of her Department's programme of post-conflict development in Northern Uganda.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Post-Conflict Development Programme for Northern Uganda aims to improve service delivery in health, support the most vulnerable and help young people find employment, amongst other activities. This is in line with the new UK Aid Strategy which includes tackling the root causes of instability and conflict. Some of the main achievements include:
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of her Department's programmes in the eight districts of the Central Region of Uganda in preventing the spread of malaria.
Answered by Nick Hurd
DFID works with UNICEF in the Central Region of Uganda on a programme to prevent the spread of malaria. As part of this, the Integrated Community Case Management programme is improving access to testing and treatment for children under five with high fever. This is an important intervention in preventing the spread of malaria and reducing deaths related to malaria and other treatable diseases.
Results from the 2014-15 internationally recognised Malaria Indicator Survey showed that the prevalence of malaria in children in the central region where the eight districts are located had reduced from 39.1% in 2009 to 10.5%. This is largely as a result of targeted interventions including the programme funded by DFID and implemented by UNICEF.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the outcome has been of its programme to improve the effect of public expenditure on the quality of service delivery and poverty reduction in Uganda.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Supporting public financial management is essential in promoting accountability and ensuring the efficient use of public resources to drive poverty reduction, as well as being fundamental in the fight against corruption.
The Financial Management and Accountability Programme (FINMAP) works across the public financial management system. The programme has registered a number of achievements. The Public Finance Act was passed by Parliament in November 2014 thanks to technical support provided by FINMAP. A new Government of Uganda Public Financial Management reform strategy for 2014–2018 was launched in August 2014. The programme has also strengthened the Office of the Auditor General.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the Answer of 24 January 2013 to Question 139167, how many staff in her Department were in receipt of Continuity of Education Allowance in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) 2014-15; and what the cost to her Department was of providing that allowance for staff based (i) in the UK and (ii) overseas in each such year.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The amount spent on Education Allowance by DFID and the number of HCS staff who have benefited from education continuity payments is provided in the table below.
Year | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 |
Total Number of Employees | 43 | 41 | 46 |
Employees in UK | £32,165.55 | £8,178.80 | £9,337.45 |
Employees Overseas | £995,609.04 | £995,852.61 | £1,042,819.56 |
Cost | £1,027,774.59 | £1,004,031.41 | £1,052,157.01 |
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the Prime Minister's Oral Statement of 22 February 2016, Official Report, column 35, on the European Council, whether her Department is undertaking planning in the eventuality of a majority leave vote in the EU referendum.
Answered by Nick Hurd
At the February European Council, the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government's position, as set out by the Prime Minister to the House on 22 February, is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 17 September 2015 to Question 9945, who conducted the independent evaluations of 2007 and 2013; against what criteria the evaluations concluded that the curriculum promoted values of democracy, pluralism and peace; and what sources of information other than those independent evaluations her Department used to assess the quality of the curriculum in Khyber, Pakhtunkwa and Punjab.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The independent evaluations were conducted by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the delivery agency of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, as part of their regular reporting to the National Education Development Partners Group (NEDPG) in Pakistan.
The NEDPG, which consists of both bilateral and multilateral donors, including the UK, UNESCO, UNICEF, The World Bank, the US, Germany and Australia, has prioritised scrutiny of the curriculum in its dialogue with the government of Pakistan. There is an implicit set of internationally agreed professional norms and standards for all aspects of education, set through the UNESCO Annual Global Monitoring Reports against which conclusions can be drawn.
While GIZ has led evaluation on behalf of the Partners Group, other members carry out reviews of the education sector, including curriculum quality, and these are pooled and used by all. In addition, DFID staff scrutinise the curriculum and its implementation as part of regular monitoring of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa education programmes.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will make an assessment of the effect of the recruitment of doctors to the NHS from developing countries on the health services in those countries.
Answered by Grant Shapps - Secretary of State for Defence
There are no UK-specific estimates of the impact of international recruitment of health workers.
The UK has signed the World Health Organisation Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel. Among its underlying principles is that developing nations who are experiencing shortages of healthcare staff should not be targeted for active recruitment. Adherence to the principles of the code is managed by the NHS Employers organisation.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2015 to Question 7327, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policy of promoting religious tolerance and respect for diversity of the findings on pages 10 and 11 of the report of the US Commission on International Freedom entitled Connecting the dots: education and religious discrimination in Pakistan, published in 2011.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID’s education programmes in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces support the implementation of Pakistan’s 2006 reformed curriculum which teaches religious tolerance and respect for diversity.
The UK has worked alongside the Government of Pakistan who have taken significant steps to update textbooks and replace any content that promotes prejudice and discrimination against religious or other minorities.
Independent evaluations in 2007 and 2013 confirmed this curriculum to be based on values of democracy, pluralism and peace aimed at educating students to be able to think critically about these issues.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that UK Aid resources in Pakistan are not used to purchase educational material for use in classrooms which promote religious intolerance.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID’s education programmes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces support the implementation of Pakistan’s 2006 reformed curriculum which teaches religious tolerance and respect for diversity. Independent evaluations in 2007 and 2013 confirmed this curriculum to be based on values of democracy, pluralism and peace aimed at developing critical thinking students.