Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the World Health Organisation’s proposal for a new international agreement on pandemic preparedness and response; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Amanda Milling
The UK Government supports WHO's proposal to negotiate a new global instrument on pandemic preparedness and response. The Government is actively shaping its design to ensure it improves how the world prevents, prepares for, and responds to future disease outbreaks of pandemic potential. This will protect lives, the economy and future generations from the threat of pandemics. The key will be to ensure the final text is clearly in the UK national interest.
The UK's assessment of the impact of the potential new agreement, including on our wider policy objectives, is ongoing. The Government will update Parliament when appropriate.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much funding the UK Government plans to allocate to the Administered Account, established by the International Monetary Fund to help Ukraine meet its balance of payments requirements, budgetary needs and provide economic stability.
Answered by James Cleverly - Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
We welcome the establishment of the IMF Administered Account for Ukraine. The Government of Ukraine has expressed their preference for financial assistance to come through International Financial Institutions (IFIs) to enable streamlined and large-scale support. We encourage contributors to provide support through the International Monetary Fund or World Bank as is most appropriate for them. The UK has already mobilised over $1 billion of additional financing ($950 million guarantees and a $100 million grant) through the World Bank.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with her international counterparts on support for Ukraine's budgetary and economic stability.
Answered by James Cleverly - Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
The UK is working intensively with our allies and partners globally. Ministerial engagement is extensive, building on bilateral cooperation and multilateral mechanisms especially the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, The North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the G7. The UK is making available over £1 billion in urgently needed economic and humanitarian support in response to the crisis, including $100 million direct budgetary support. In Kyiv the PM also announced additional $500 million in World Bank guarantees to support Ukraine's economy, bringing UK guarantees for World Bank lending to almost $1 billion.
Asked by: Jonathan Edwards (Independent - Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to (a) help increase the manufacturing of covid-19 vaccines and (b) support the rollout of covid-19 vaccination programmes in Kenya.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The UK is actively supporting the scaling up of vaccine manufacturing in Africa. Successful vaccine manufacturing needs commercially viable businesses operating within a well-developed ecosystem of skilled workers, innovative technology, and effective regulation. To help deliver this ecosystem, the UK is supporting the new "Partnership for African Vaccine Manufacturing" initiative to implement a roadmap for African vaccine manufacturing.
The UK is also supporting COVID-19 vaccine roll-out in Kenya. COVAX, to which we are one of the largest donors, has delivered 15.8 million doses of vaccines to Kenya. In addition to our financial support to COVAX, we have shared more than 817,000 COVID-19 vaccines with Kenya both through COVAX and bilaterally. During my visit to a vaccination centre in Nairobi in January, I witnessed the strength of the UK-Kenya health partnership and I have discussed vaccine manufacturing with Government of Kenya officials.