Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall and Camberwell Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to help countries impliment legal reforms that would help end AIDS and HIV amongst the (a) LGBT+ community (b) women and (c) migrants.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
Our funding to the Robert Carr Fund and to UNAIDS helps to support legal and policy reform to combat stigma and discrimination and to improve access to HIV services for those most at risk. Addressing stigma and discrimination and ensuring equality of access to HIV prevention, testing and treatment services is critical to the global HIV response. The UK is a champion for human rights. We support the strategy of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria with its focus on addressing inequities and structural drivers of HIV infection and AIDS-related deaths including legal barriers.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall and Camberwell Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to work with community-led organisations to develop measurement tools based on programme implementation data to identify programmes that are suitable for (a) investment and (b) scale-up.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK's International Development Strategy recognises the importance of locally-led decision-making - to give those who benefit from our programmes a voice in what we do and how we do it.
The FCDO's Official Development Assistance (ODA) programming decisions are delegated to those closest to delivery, working with local organisations to assess emerging evidence and programme performance.
Our approach to annual programme monitoring ensures that teams look at the learning being built through delivery and at programme delivery against objectives. This enables informed decisions on future changes to the programme, including on possible scale-up. All programme annual reviews are published on Dev Tracker (devtracker.gov.uk).
The FCDO are developing an advisory panel which will include local and UK based organisations who will represent community led organisations. The advisory panel will support the FCDO in developing our approach to working with small organisations. We will test our thinking and approaches with this group before implementing changes to approach. So far over 100 organisations have expressed an interest in becoming part of this advisory panel.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall and Camberwell Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to end HIV and AIDS in women and girls around the world.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
As part of efforts to end the preventable deaths of mothers, newborns and children, the UK funds UNAIDS, the Robert Carr Fund and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. On 8th December, Minister of State Mitchell met with Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS, and discussed our shared priorities on gender equality and the importance of this for progress on HIV. Our recent £1 billion pledge to the Global Fund will help to save over 1 million lives and avert over 28 million new infections across the three diseases, and will help to provide medicine for 170,000 mothers to prevent transmission of HIV to their babies. The UK also funds research on HIV and AIDS, such as the development, through the International Partnership on Microbiocides, of the dapivirine ring. This is the first long-acting HIV prevention product for women of its kind. The UK also invests in health systems strengthening to improve access to quality health services for all, including services for the prevention of HIV and to reduce AIDS related deaths.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall and Camberwell Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to end HIV and AIDS in children around the world.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
As part of efforts to end the preventable deaths of mothers, newborns and children, the UK funds UNAIDS, the Robert Carr Fund and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. On 8th December, Minister of State Mitchell met with Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS, and discussed our shared priorities on gender equality and the importance of this for progress on HIV. Our recent £1 billion pledge to the Global Fund will help to save over 1 million lives and avert over 28 million new infections across the three diseases, and will help to provide medicine for 170,000 mothers to prevent transmission of HIV to their babies. The UK also funds research on HIV and AIDS, such as the development, through the International Partnership on Microbiocides, of the dapivirine ring. This is the first long-acting HIV prevention product for women of its kind. The UK also invests in health systems strengthening to improve access to quality health services for all, including services for the prevention of HIV and to reduce AIDS related deaths.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall and Camberwell Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much his Department spent on external recruitment consultants in 2021.
Answered by David Rutley
The FCDO spend on external recruitment consultants in 2021 was £88,354.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall and Camberwell Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if they will publish a breakdown of the total payments made to civil servants in his Department for relocation costs to government offices outside London in 2021.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
We are in process of supporting a number of staff to relocate to our office in East Kilbride. To date no payments have been made. We continue to encourage staff to move out of London to work from our East Kilbride as part of the Places for Growth Programme.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall and Camberwell Green)
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 (a) the Prime Minister and (b) his US counterparts on the Global Fund's replenishment.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary remain engaged on discussions around the UK's pledge to the Global Fund.