Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations she has made to her Israeli counterpart on protecting children in Gaza.
Answered by Amanda Milling
We are aware of Save the Children's report into the wellbeing of Gazan children. In 2021, the UK contributed £2 million to UNICEF, which provided child-sensitive grants to vulnerable households in Gaza reaching 4,311 boys and girls. This support met the essential needs of vulnerable children, with the majority of it being spent on food, education, and healthcare. The UK also contributes annually to UNRWA, supporting their Mental Health and Psychosocial Support interventions, especially for children, which included summer school activities targeting 98,595 children in Gaza in 2021.
I recently visited Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) where I saw first-hand the challenges of the prolonged conflict and the impact of the occupation. I reiterated UK support for a two-state solution and the need to improve conditions for ordinary Palestinians in my meetings with Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Roll, and with the Palestinian leadership, including Prime Minister Shtayyeh.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her Department’s policies of Save the Children’s report entitled Trapped: The impact of 15 years of blockade on the mental health of Gaza’s children, published on 15 June 2022.
Answered by Amanda Milling
We are aware of Save the Children's report into the wellbeing of Gazan children. In 2021, the UK contributed £2 million to UNICEF, which provided child-sensitive grants to vulnerable households in Gaza reaching 4,311 boys and girls. This support met the essential needs of vulnerable children, with the majority of it being spent on food, education, and healthcare. The UK also contributes annually to UNRWA, supporting their Mental Health and Psychosocial Support interventions, especially for children, which included summer school activities targeting 98,595 children in Gaza in 2021.
I recently visited Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) where I saw first-hand the challenges of the prolonged conflict and the impact of the occupation. I reiterated UK support for a two-state solution and the need to improve conditions for ordinary Palestinians in my meetings with Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Roll, and with the Palestinian leadership, including Prime Minister Shtayyeh.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps she is taking to help end the 15-year blockade of Gaza.
Answered by Amanda Milling
The UK continues to urge both the Israeli Government and the Palestinian Authorities to prioritise progress towards reaching a durable solution for Gaza and to take the necessary practical steps to ensure Gaza's reconstruction and economic recovery. I recently visited Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) where I saw first-hand the challenges of the prolonged conflict and the impact of the occupation. I reiterated UK support for a two-state solution and the need to improve conditions for ordinary Palestinians in my meetings with Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Roll, and with the Palestinian leadership, including Prime Minister Shtayyeh.
We remain longstanding supporters of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and their work to support Palestinian refugees across the region including Gaza. At the UNRWA pledging conference in New York in June, we announced a new multi-year funding programme with the agency providing £15 million in 2022, which helps UNRWA provide education to over 533,000 children a year (half of them girls), and access to health services for 3.5 million Palestinian refugees.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
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 help ensuring the equitable distribution of second-generation vaccines across the world.
Answered by Amanda Milling
The UK has played a leading role in supporting global access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines from the outset of the pandemic. The UK is one of the largest donors to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) committing £548 million. Our funding has supported COVAX AMC to deliver over 1.3 billion doses to 87 developing countries. The UK is working with partners, such as COVAX and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), to ensure affordable and effective second generation vaccines will be available as required in low and middle-income countries so the world can respond rapidly to a new variant of concern, or other public health threat. In March, the UK hosted the Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit, raising over £1.2 billion - including £160 million from the UK - to develop variant-proof coronavirus vaccines and to develop vaccines against future health threats in 100 days.