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Written Question
Developing Countries: Tuberculosis
Monday 4th November 2019

Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment he has made of the effect on identification of tuberculosis cases of the (a) WHO Global Tuberculosis Report published on 17 October 2019 and (b) Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's Strategy 2017-2022.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

Millions of tuberculosis cases continue to go undiagnosed and untreated each year – identifying these is essential to ending the tuberculosis epidemic, which killed 1.5 million people globally in 2018. We are pleased to note the improvement in the number of cases of tuberculosis identified as confirmed by the World Health Organisation Global Tuberculosis Report published on 17 October. 7 million people with tuberculosis were identified globally in 2018, including 600,000 more people than in 2017.

The Global Fund has played an important part in this improvement. A joint initiative between the Global Fund, the Stop TB Partnership and the World Health Organisation aims to accelerate progress in finding people with tuberculosis in 13 countries with the highest disease burden. In these countries, by the end of 2018, already more than 800,000 additional patients were found and treated, compared with the baseline of 2015.

The UK remains fully committed to achieving the targets set out in the World Health Organisation End Tuberculosis Strategy, recently pledging £1.4 billion to the Sixth Replenishment of the Global Fund.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Hearing Impairment
Thursday 8th March 2018

Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much his Department has allocated to deafness programmes in each country for which aid was provided in each of the last five years.

Answered by Harriett Baldwin

The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

However, people with disabilities, including deaf people, benefit from many DFID programmes. For example, through the Girls Education Challenge, DFID supported over 40,000 girls with disabilities, including girls who are deaf, to access an education in countries including Kenya and Uganda.

Through the Disability Catalyst Programme, the UK supports Disabled Persons Organisations to advocate for the rights of deaf people in developing countries including Haiti and Rwanda, including projects preventing violence and advocating for access to education and employment.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Hearing Impairment
Thursday 8th March 2018

Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much funding her Department has allocated to deafness programmes in each of the last five years.

Answered by Harriett Baldwin

The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

However, people with disabilities, including deaf people, benefit from many DFID programmes. For example, through the Girls Education Challenge, DFID supported over 40,000 girls with disabilities, including girls who are deaf, to access an education in countries including Kenya and Uganda.

Through the Disability Catalyst Programme, the UK supports Disabled Persons Organisations to advocate for the rights of deaf people in developing countries including Haiti and Rwanda, including projects preventing violence and advocating for access to education and employment.


Written Question
Commonwealth: Disease Control
Monday 23rd October 2017

Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to include tackling global health threats such as malaria as part of its ongoing dialogue with other Commonwealth countries.

Answered by Alistair Burt

Discussions with Commonwealth members and other countries on global health threats, including malaria, take place through a number of international bodies such as the World Health Organization, the UN General Assembly, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.


Written Question
Malaria
Thursday 19th October 2017

Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to replenish out-of-date bed nets in malaria-endemic countries.

Answered by Alistair Burt

DFID is the second largest international funder to the global malaria response. We fund the provision of bednets for new users and to replace older bednets, through bilateral country programmes, and through the significant UK investment in the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. With UK funding the Global Fund will provide 79 million insecticide treated long lasting bednets from 2014 to 2019.


Written Question
Bangladesh: Cancer
Thursday 15th September 2016

Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate her Department has made of the proportion of the Government's aid to Bangladesh which is allocated to tackle child cancer in that country; and what assessment her Department has made of the effect of that aid.

Answered by Rory Stewart

In 2015/16, 11.5% of DFID’s programme spent in Bangladesh was spent on the Government of Bangladesh’s five year Health Sector Development programme. This includes support to cancer patients.

It is not possible to identify the exact amount of the UK government’s support for child cancer as this is part of many other diseases managed by the Health sector development programme. However, overall deaths in children less than 5 years of age are decreasing fast in Bangladesh. In 2007, the under-five death rate was 65 per 1000 live births. In 2014 it reduced to 46 deaths per 1000 live births. Bangladesh achieved the national target (48/ 1000 live births) for the millennium development goal (MDG-4) for child deaths, ahead of time.


Written Question
Companies: Contracts
Tuesday 26th April 2016

Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if her Department will support a change to legislation to require UK registered companies to publish a full list of their suppliers internationally, to enhance transparency and accountability and to ensure adherence to international labour standards in company supply chains.

Answered by Desmond Swayne

We are aware of similar legislation being proposed in other countries. At present we promote voluntary reporting on supply chain activity, and are trying to increase the tools available to companies to trace their supply chains. We will monitor the effectiveness of similar legislation as it progresses.


Written Question
Bangladesh: Working Conditions
Monday 25th April 2016

Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what progress has been made in implementing the commitments set out in the EU/Bangladesh Sustainability Compact.

Answered by Desmond Swayne

Good progress has been made since the signing of the Sustainability Compact in Bangladesh in all three areas of commitment. On Labour rights, the adoption of the Bangladesh Labour Act 2013 and finalisation of the implementation rules of the Labour Law in October 2015 are important milestones. On health and safety, the Government of Bangladesh has adopted a robust National Health and Safety policy and inspection of 3,500+ factories for fire, electrical and building safety represents important progress. Private sector initiatives such as ‘The Accord’ and ‘The Alliance’ are making a big contribution to the safety of factory workers.


Written Question
Bangladesh: Working Conditions
Monday 25th April 2016

Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether it is Government policy to link an extension of the Generalised System of Trade Preferences for Bangladesh to further improvements in that country's garment sector on factory safety and labour rights.

Answered by Desmond Swayne

Duty-free, quota-free access to European Union (EU) markets is granted to Bangladesh on the basis of need in line with agreed EU regulations. These trade preferences have no expiry date, so an extension is not required, and there is no provision for the use of additional conditionality. Any reduction in Bangladesh's market access would result in immediate and long-term harm to the livelihoods of poor Bangladeshi workers.

The UK Government supports the approach reflected in the ‘Bangladesh Sustainability Compact’ between the Government of Bangladesh, the EU, the USA, Canada and the International Labour Organization, which commits Bangladesh to improvements in occupational health and safety and respect for labour rights. UK officials are working closely with counterparts in Bangladesh to co-ordinate action to improve safety and labour rights in the country’s garment sector and DFID is supporting a number of programmes in this area.


Written Question
Bangladesh: Industrial Relations
Monday 25th April 2016

Asked by: Jim Fitzpatrick (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department has made representations to the government of Bangladesh on trade union recognition and adherence to ILO core labour standards in that country's export processing zones.

Answered by Desmond Swayne

These issues are regularly discussed through a forum known as the 3 + 5, as part of efforts to ensure the full implementation of the sustainability compact with the objective of improving labour standards in Bangladesh. The 3 + 5 group has representatives from three Ministries of the Government of Bangladesh and 5 donor partners, including the UK.

In addition, through the Private Sector Development Programme with the World Bank, DFID has supported the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority to develop a cadre of 60 labour counsellors who support improvements in labour standards in the zones.