Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in Zimbabwe on that country’s humanitarian needs as a result of Cyclone Idai.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Secretary of State and I have both written to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in Zimbabwe expressing our condolences and offering our full support. The UK was amongst the first to respond and is the largest donor – allocating £22 million to the response across the three countries affected. While the impact of Cyclone Idai has not been as severe in Zimbabwe as in Mozambique, the situation remains serious and 4,500 people have been displaced. In Zimbabwe, UK aid is providing support for health, child protection, and water, sanitation, and hygiene in the worst-affected areas. DFID is also supporting the provision of emergency latrines and sanitation equipment. We continue to monitor the situation closely and stand ready to provide further support if needed.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she has had with her counterpart in Malawi on that country’s humanitarian needs after Cyclone Idai.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Secretary of State and I have both written to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in Malawi expressing our condolences and offering our full support. UK staff on the ground are supporting the response with the Government of Malawi. The UK was amongst the first to respond and is the largest donor – allocating £22 million to the response, including £3.4million to Malawi. In Malawi, our support is providing 65,000 people with emergency shelter, 150,000 people with food assistance, 250,000 with access to clean water and sanitation, and 130,000 people with access to health services. We continue to monitor the situation closely and stand ready to provide further support if needed.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how the Government's programmes to increase humanitarian relief and disease prevention in Yemen will be delivered in Houthi-controlled areas.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK continues to show leadership in responding to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, with the Prime Minister recently committing £200 million of support for the 2019/2020 financial year. This funding will meet the immediate food requirements of over 3.8 million Yemenis for a month and brings the total UK commitment to Yemen to £770 million since the conflict began in 2015.
The UK only channels support through organisations with a strong record of delivering and monitoring assistance, such as UN agencies and international NGOs. These organisations continue to deliver aid in Houthi controlled areas, where the majority of Yemen’s population live, with the UN Humanitarian Coordinator working tirelessly to improve aid delivery and ensure those most in need are being reached.
Humanitarian actors often report facing bureaucratic obstacles, including waits for visas and multiple permissions to travel through governorate and district-level checkpoints. The UK continues to call urgently on all parties to facilitate safe, rapid, and unhindered access for both the humanitarian response and commercial supplies.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether she has made an assessment of the difficulties that women in Zimbabwe face in obtaining sanitary products in that country; and whether he is taking steps to tackle that humanitarian need.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
Period poverty is a serious issue in Zimbabwe. For example, recent reports show that some 62% of girls are missing school every month and 5% drop out completely due to menstruation. The Government of Zimbabwe has sought to address this through suspending import duty and value added tax on sanitaryware. Through our programmes in Zimbabwe we are currently supporting over 12,000 girls to stay in secondary school by providing a package of essential items including sanitaryware. In addition, the recently launched United Nations humanitarian flash appeal highlights procurement of sanitaryware as a priority action for specific groups.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what additional humanitarian aid the Government is giving in advance of the upcoming winter months to help Hazara families displaced by recent violence against their communities in Afghanistan.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK is extremely concerned about the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan and as a result of UK funding, up to two million Afghans will receive lifesaving assistance in 2018. Provision of humanitarian assistance is based on need. It includes shelter and heating support to help displaced people face the winter, as well as food assistance for those affected by drought, lifesaving health & nutrition services, clean water, and demining activities. As recently announced at the Geneva Conference on Afghanistan, we have increased our funding for the humanitarian response to £67 million this year. We continue to press others to do more.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans the Government has to increase its financial contributions to the UN Population Fund in light of the shortfall caused by the withdrawal of US funding from that agency.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK continues to lead the world in our long-term support for comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). We value the important work of the UN Population Fund, which is why we now give more funding to the agency than any other donor. We judge our level of funding to be right at present, but continue to keep our investments under review. Our long-term commitment to women’s reproductive rights provides stability as the global landscape changes and evolves.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the total amount of UK funding provided to the UN Population Fund was in each financial year since 2010.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The total amount of UK funding to the UN Population Fund since 2010 is detailed in the table below. These figures were taken from ‘Statistics on International Development’ and reflect the calendar years.
Year | UNFPA UK ODA GBP from SID |
2010 | £66,593,834.00 |
2011 | £101,828,450.86 |
2012 | £118,488,227.14 |
2013 | £61,925,500.19 |
2014 | £223,287,512.48 |
2015 | £114,694,141.03 |
2016 | £107,468,706.65 |
2017 | £140,470,545.43 |
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the potential implications of the withdrawal of US funding from the UN Population Fund on that agency’s HIV/AIDS prevention work.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UN Population Fund’s (UNFPA) Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) mandate is fundamental to global HIV prevention efforts and we continue to monitor the situation closely.
UNFPA remains a key player in enhancing access to male and female condoms for HIV prevention, and are co-convenors of the Global Prevention Coalition which DFID supports, to accelerate action on both biomedical prevention and addressing the wider social drivers of HIV infection.
The UK continues to put women and girls at the heart of everything we do. We are the largest donor to UNFPA, and the second largest donor to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria in the current replenishment. Our long-term commitment provides stability as the SRHR landscape changes and evolves.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department's policies of the findings of the 5th November report by the Office of the Inspector General at the United States Department of Defense concerning the diversion of USAID funding for humanitarian assistance in Syria to support the activities of the Ha’yat Tahrir Al-Sham militia.
Answered by Alistair Burt
hile we acknowledge that working in fragile and conflict-affected countries carries risks, DFID has robust and extensive controls in place to ensure that tax payers’ funds are used appropriately and effectively; that UK aid reaches those who need it and that it does not benefit extremist groups, such as Ha’yat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS). DFID does not provide funding unless our NGO and UN partners can assure us that it will not benefit extremist groups, and we will withdraw support if there is reason to believe UK tax payer’s money may be at risk. We remain at the forefront of the humanitarian response to the Syria crisis, and maintain close communication with the US, the UN and other donors to support international efforts in Syria.
As with other DFID programmes, our work in Syria remains under constant review and scrutiny, both through internal and independent processes, including by the National Audit Office and Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI), which last audited DFID’s Syria humanitarian programmes in May 2018.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will ask the National Audit Office to investigate whether funding from her Department has been diverted in financial years (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18 and (c) 2018-19 to support the activities of the Ha’yat Tahrir Al-Sham militia.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK is at the forefront of the humanitarian response providing life-saving and life-changing support for millions of people across Syria, including those living in Northwest Syria where Ha’yat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) is present.
In 2016/17 and 2017/18, DFID spent £205 million and £152 million respectively on humanitarian projects in Syria. In 2017/18, over a third of this was delivered cross-border from Turkey, mostly to Idlib governate in Northwest Syria, where in 2017 we reached over 600,000 people in need. For 2018/19, DFID plans to spend £174 million for life-saving support in Syria.
While we acknowledge that working in fragile and conflict-affected countries carries risks, DFID has robust and extensive controls in place to ensure that tax payers’ money is used appropriately and effectively, that UK aid reaches those who need it most and that it does not benefit extremist groups such as HTS. Our programmes are delivered by trusted NGO and UN partners with proven expertise and track records. We do not provide funding unless these organisations can assure DFID that it will not benefit extremists. All our assistance is monitored robustly, and DFID will withdraw support if there is a reason to believe UK tax payer’s money may be at risk. For example, in September 2018, DFID took the precautionary measure to pause all cross-border assistance at Bab Al Hawa in Northwest Syria, while we investigated concern around whether HTS collected fees from trucks delivering humanitarian aid. Whilst this situation was swiftly resolved, it demonstrates the robust approach we take to these matters, and are working with other donors to mitigate the risks of a similar situation reoccurring in the future.
As with other DFID programmes, our work in Syria remains under subject to regular review and close scrutiny, both through internal and independent processes, including by the National Audit Office and the Independent Commission for Aid Impact, which last examined DFID’s Syria humanitarian programmes in May 2018.