Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the UK meets sustainable development goal 13 on climate change.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The UK played a key role in establishing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and we are determined to be at the forefront of delivering them.
To support developing countries to respond to the challenges of climate change, the UK has pledged to provide at least £5.8bn of International Climate Finance between 2016/17 and 2020/21. Since 2011 UK climate investments have supported 47 million people to cope with the effects of climate change and provided 17 million people with improved access to clean energy.
The UK is also working with the UN to lead international efforts on resilience for the UN Secretary General’s Climate Summit in 2019.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment her Department has made of the humanitarian situation in Cameroon.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
There are significant humanitarian needs in Cameroon with over 460,000 people displaced by recent violence in the Anglophone regions, in addition to the 700,000 people displaced as a result of insecurity both in the far north around Lake Chad and in the Central African Republic. More than 3.3 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. We are providing £5.5 million in humanitarian support to Cameroon this year, including for protection, nutrition, health, food security and livelihoods.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many staff her Department has sent to Cameroon to assess the humanitarian situation in that country.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
We have a humanitarian adviser based in Cameroon who works with partners to regularly assess the humanitarian situation. We are also funding a protection adviser in the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to work on the Anglophone Crisis.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, who will provide expertise and advice to commercial companies under the UK-Aid food trade and resilience programme.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
Technical advice to commercial companies will be provided by IDH Sustainable Trade Initiative, a Dutch and Nairobi-based non-profit public private partnership, both directly and through specialised local companies.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, which (a) multinational and (b) sub-Saharan African companies her Department plans to allocate funding from the Food Trade and Resilience Programme.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
As the Africa Food Trade and Resilience Programme is still in design phase, it is not possible to say yet which companies will receive support. Companies will be selected following detailed market analysis and based on: their impact on local food security; number of women and men farmers in their supply chain; commitment to sustainable, inclusive and gender-sensitive business models; and willingness to contribute their own funds to programme activities.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the press release, UK launches ambition to generate billions more investment in Africa to trigger transformational growth, published on 28 August 2018, what estimate she has made of the financial benefit to UK business from those partnerships.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The Prime Minister announced a range of measures to substantially boost investment into businesses and infrastructure across Africa. The UK will invest up to an additional £4bn in Africa directly, whilst also aiming to mobilise £4bn of private investment into the continent over four years (2018-21).
Benefits will materialise over time. UK investment in Africa supports African economies to grow, building greater opportunities for UK businesses to trade and invest with the continent in the longer-term. CDC investments in Africa build markets and demonstrate to other investors the viability of investing in the continent, creating opportunities for UK investors and businesses. Essential infrastructure, such as power and roads, supported by the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) will lay the foundations for new investible opportunities across Africa in places businesses previously would not have been able to operate, potentially creating opportunities for the UK also.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the press release, UK launches ambition to generate billions more investment in Africa to trigger transformational growth, published on 28 August 2018, which (a) businesses, and (b) sectors in the UK will benefit from the projects.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The Prime Minister announced a range of measures to substantially boost investment into businesses and infrastructure across Africa. CDC, the UK’s Development Finance Institution, will aim to invest up to £3.5bn in African businesses over four years (2018-21), and the UK will invest a further £300m into the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) to build essential infrastructure across Africa, laying the foundations for new trading and business opportunities. Through these and other initiatives, the UK will aim to mobilise a further £4bn of private investment into Africa over the next four years (2018-21).
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the press release, UK Minister for Africa visits Ghana to show support for Ghana’s vision to move beyond aid, published on 28 August 2018, which UK companies will be involved in the Jobs and Economic Transformation Programme.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
Deploying the UK’s world-class development assistance to help African countries to drive private sector growth and job creation is at the centre of the UK’s new partnership with Africa. The Prime Minister made this clear in her recent visit to the continent. In Ghana, the UK’s new Jobs and Economic Transformation programme is expected to help the Ghanaian government to generate over £50 million in private investment and create 15,000 jobs. This is vital if Ghana is to achieve its ambition of moving “beyond aid”.