Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the humanitarian effect of the covid-19 pandemic on children in the developing world.
Answered by James Cleverly - Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
Children are particularly vulnerable during infectious disease outbreaks. As many as 1.5 billion children have been out of school as a result of COVID-19. The pandemic has resulted in considerable changes to the essential environment that a child’s well-being, development and protection rely upon.
Whilst children were already facing a learning crisis before COVID-19, school closures also put children at risk of malnutrition, making them more susceptible to illness, but also child labour, neglect, abuse and lost learning.
In light of the pandemic, the UK has pivoted its education programmes in 18 countries to provide education and keep pupils safe. For example, DFID Syria has expanded its education programmes to protect vulnerable children by providing hygiene kits, stipends for teachers and home learning materials. At a global level, we have provided £20 million to UNICEF to support the continuity of essential social services for children, women and vulnerable populations, including child protection.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 29 June 2020 to Question 64205 on Department for International Development: Foreign and Commonwealth Office, what estimate she has made of the effect on the number of staff currently employed by each Department of the merger of those Departments.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Merging the Departments will mean changes for how teams are structured. Some roles and responsibilities will change, and we will be working this through over the next few months. It is too early to be able to estimate the impact on staff numbers. We can confirm that there will be no compulsory redundancies for DFID employees as a result of the decision to create the new Department and any changes will be handled in accordance with relevant civil service policy and guidance.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 22 June 2020 to Question 59888, what assessment the Government has made of the effect on staffing numbers in East Kilbride of the planned merger between her Department and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
DFID’s existing office in East Kilbride will become part of the new Department’s estate. Some roles in East Kilbride may change due to business needs and any changes will be handled in compliance with relevant civil service policy and guidance. It is too early to be able to say precisely what effect those changes will be. We can confirm that there will be no compulsory redundancies for DFID employees as a result of the decision to create the new Department and any changes will be handled in accordance with relevant civil service policy and guidance.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2016 to Question 46228, what (a) targets and (b) mechanisms are in place to ensure that funding allocated to the Energy Africa campaign has reached the number of beneficiaries for which that campaign is intended.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
Energy Africa is a UK Government campaign aimed at stimulating African markets in household solar systems so that people currently without modern energy can get access to electricity. To achieve this, DFID aims to develop Energy Africa Compacts with up to 14 African countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe) to address the policy and regulatory barriers inhibiting solar market expansion.
Energy Africa compact implementation will be supported by new and existing DFID energy access programmes, each with their own funding streams and bespoke monitoring mechanisms. We anticipate these DFID programmes will support the off-grid sector to provide energy access to at least 4.7 million people. Implementation of Energy Africa Compacts will also be complemented by funding, support and expertise from other donors and partners.