Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment she has made of the operational readiness of St Helena Airport; and when she expects commercial operations at that airport to commence.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The St Helena Airport was certificated by Air Safety Support International on 10 May 2016 and is open. As a result of turbulence and wind shear identified on the northern approach, the certification confirms the airport is classed as Category C, which requires certain conditions to be met by airlines and aircraft proposing to use the airport. Work is underway to establish commercial air services.
Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate she has made of the weekly cost of the deferment of the opening of St Helena Airport.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The St Helena Airport was certificated by Air Safety Support International on 10 May 2016 and is open.
Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what programmes her Department provides to counter the use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war and subjugation.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID is committed to addressing all forms of violence against women and girls in emergencies. This includes rape and sexual violence used within armed conflict as a weapon of war. We know that in conflict settings specifically, rape, or sexual violence by combatants is sadly only one component of a wide range of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). Other forms of SGBV are often more prevalent.
DFID’s response to counter the use of rape and sexual violence is primarily through our commitments under the Call to Action to Protect Women and Girls in Emergencies. Through a combination of humanitarian operations and longer term development programmes we address both the immediate needs of survivors of sexual violence and tackle the underlying root causes of violence, such as gender inequality, discrimination and lack of women’s political and economic participation.
Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many of her Department's staff of each grade attended the Commission on the Status of Women in March 2016.
Answered by Justine Greening
The DFID staffing requirements for this event are yet to be confirmed.
Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of its funding to the African Union Gender, Peace and Security Programme on each country in receipt of such funding.
Answered by Grant Shapps
UK support to the African Union Gender, Peace and Security Programme (GPSP) comes from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO), which has funded the programme since financial year 2014/15. GPSP has delivered a number of high-impact outcomes, including the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI). To date the GPSP has: established and supported the role of Special Envoy for Women, Peace and Security within the AU, raising the political profile of Gender across the continent; deployed a team of sexual violence experts to the Central African Republic to help care for victims of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse; supported the formulation of the Gender Mainstreaming action plan for AMISOM, the African Union’s peacekeeping operation in Somalia; funded a conduct and discipline officer to work with the AU Peace Support Operations Department in embedding gender into all agreements between the AU and Troop Contributing Countries; and supported the African Union in responding to allegations of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Somalia by delivering initiatives such as a helpline for victims.
Asked by: Gavin Shuker (Independent - Luton South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what spending and technical support her Department has committed to what programmes in Central African Republic in each of the last five years.
Answered by Grant Shapps
DFID’s funding to CAR and CAR refugees has increased in the last five years in response to growing humanitarian needs caused by the conflict which started in 2012. DFID committed £2.25m in assistance in 2009, £5m in 2013, £28m in 2014 and has so far programmed £18m in 2015. UK funding has provided health care, livelihoods, protection and food assistance to CAR populations and CAR refugees over this period.