Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps his Department is taking to help eradicate polio in (a) Afghanistan and (b) Pakistan.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
The UK is the third largest donor to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) and has committed £1.3 billion in total since 1995. In Afghanistan and Pakistan GPEI are working to reach children in inaccessible regions that have been missed by vaccination campaigns. They are also tackling misinformation campaigns that severely affect vaccine uptake. UK funding contributes significantly to these efforts.
The UK are observers on the Polio Oversight Board and represent all state donors on the Strategy Committee, which gives us a position from which to influence the activities of the programme at a strategic level. We regularly review progress in the endemic countries, including Afghanistan and Pakistan and DFID country offices in each of these countries also have valuable insight by engaging with the programme in country.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how the £1 billion Ross Fund will be spent.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The £1 billion Ross Fund, announced in November 2015, will target infectious diseases including malaria, diseases with epidemic potential, neglected tropical diseases which affect over a billion people globally, and antimicrobial resistance which poses a substantial and growing threat to global health. The goal of the Ross Fund is to develop, test and deliver a range of new products (including vaccines, drugs and diagnostics) to help combat these diseases in developing countries. The finer details about the Fund are currently under development
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much of the £1 billion over five years for use by the Ross Fund in conjunction with the Gates Foundation is UK Aid funded.
Answered by Nick Hurd
All of the £1 billion Ross Fund, announced in November 2015, is UK Aid funded. Discussions are underway with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation about how their investments can contribute to the objectives of the Fund.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what financial assistance her Department has given to the Palestinian Authority and its agencies in each of the last three years for which information is available.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The UK provided the Palestinian Authority (PA) with £24.4 million in financial year 2014/15, £43.4 million in 2013/14 (which included an additional core grant of £7.5m as the PA was facing a severe financial crisis) and £35.3 million in 2012/13. We provide technical and financial assistance to the PA to support our statebuilding objectives and to deliver public services in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Our total OPTs spend for these 3 years:
2012/13 – £87,685,103.93
2013/14 – £93,858,767.21
2014/15 – £83,404,099.83
= £264,947,970.97