Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, (a) how much and (b) what proportion of her Department's overseas aid is used to support food production in Africa.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
The UK supports food production in Africa by funding agricultural research, stimulating investment and trade and linking farmers to markets to help them exit poverty while increasing food availability.
Data on UK support to food production in Africa are not readily available. UK bilateral assistance to agriculture quadrupled between 2010 and 2015 to £300 million or 3.9% of the bilateral aid budget. Of this, £129 million was earmarked for Africa and an additional £93 million to global initiatives including Africa.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of her Department's overseas aid supports research and development of agroecological farming in Africa.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
DFID does not collect data on agro-ecological farming as a distinct spending category. Agro-ecological farming covers a breadth of approaches which DFID supports through a wide range of research and development programmes including on soil and water conservation, improved land-use management, climate resilience and conservation agriculture. UK support in these areas contributes to the UK International Climate Fund commitments and wider international development goals in Africa.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what school or nutrition programmes for children in Africa specifically linked to locally produced foods and agroecological production her Department supports.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
DFID links local food production into nutrition programmes in several African countries. For example, DFID invested in Rwanda in local production of complementary food which is reducing stunting among children aged between 6-23 months, and in Malawi in the production of groundnuts that are locally processed into children’s therapeutic food. DFID’s support for the Purchase from Africans for Africa project links local producers to school feeding, with 72,000 children and 16,000 farmers benefiting in five African countries. DFID also works with specialised humanitarian agencies to stimulate local sourcing for food aid programmes across Africa.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment she has made of the humanitarian aid need of people in Aleppo.
Answered by Rory Stewart
DFID-funded partners continue to assess and respond to needs across Aleppo city. Significant numbers of those displaced by the fighting at the end of last year are returning to the east of the city. The UN assesses that there is an urgent need for water and electricity, in addition to food, medicine, shelter and protection support. In the west of the city, our humanitarian partners are providing a range of support to around 398,000 internally displaced persons. Across the city, mains water supply is intermittent due to damage to the Al Khafseh water station. DFID-funded partners are trucking water into Aleppo, installing water tanks, and repairing existing deep wells.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans she has to cap the daily rate of consultants working (a) directly for and (b) for contractors working on projects funded by her Department.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
The Secretary of State announced to the International Development Committee (IDC) on 19 December that DFID will conduct a fundamental review of supplier practices which will include looking at how to drive greater transparency of costs in our supply chain.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many contractors working (a) directly for and (b) on projects funded by her Department have been paid more than £400 a day in each financial year since 2012.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The information is not held in the form requested and can only be collated at a disproportionate cost.