Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 26 February 2016 to Question 27899, what recent assessment she has made of the food security situation in Ethiopia.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Responding to the food security situation in Ethiopia is a top priority. DFID has already committed £40 million to provide food aid to 3.8 million people in 2016, as part of its overall £113 million response since the onset of the drought last July.
Across the country, 18 million people are in need of food assistance. Failed rains and the El Niño effect have caused the worst drought in Ethiopia in 30 years. This has resulted in reduced crop yields and numerous livestock deaths – increasing the country’s dependence on food aid.
Plans are in place to provide monthly food rations until June from various sources, including the UN, donors, and the Government. The Government of Ethiopia has committed over $381 million (~£269 million) so far, which is its largest ever response to a drought. However, systems are currently stretched and the scale of the crisis means that further resources are needed to meet monthly food distribution needs from June onwards. We continue to work closely with the Government of Ethiopia to support their leadership of the humanitarian response.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will increase Government funding for emergency food aid to Ethiopia.
Answered by Nick Hurd
We are very concerned about the impact of the current drought on the food security situation for 18 million people across Ethiopia. Britain is working closely with the Government of Ethiopia and the international community to ensure adequate funding for drought response activities.
We acted quickly and decisively at the onset of the drought by providing emergency food aid for 2.1 million people in 2015. This year, we have committed £40 million to provide food aid to a further 3.8 million people in April.
In collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund, DFID is also ensuring that 120,000 severely malnourished children receive treatment in order to recover quickly.
Our overall funding for the drought to date is £113 million. We are continuing to work with the Government of Ethiopia and other donors to make sure needs are being met. We are monitoring the situation closely.
UK Aid resilience work with the Government of Ethiopia has helped prepare 10 million people to cope with this drought.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment she has made of the value for money of the projects supported by the G7 New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
Every DFID programme which is contributing to the New Alliance initiative, including both country-level food security and nutrition programmes and funding for wider agricultural policy reforms, is subject to DFID’s annual review processes, which also assess value for money. Additional funding committed through the New Alliance initiative consists of £44m for ‘enabling actions’, and an additional £76m contribution to the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme. A list of enabling actions and initial programme reviews with further information are available on the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition and DFID development tracker websites.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent independent audit there has been of the effectiveness of her Department's disbursement of services.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The National Audit Office, the principal state audit body in the United Kingdom, provides independent external audit of DFID’s spending, including carrying out value for money and other effectiveness reviews. DFID’s Annual Report and Accounts are also subject to audit by the National Audit Office. The Comptroller and Auditor General signed DFID’s 2014–15 Annual Report and Accounts on 9 July 2015 and issued an unqualified audit opinion. Rigorous independent scrutiny of the effectiveness of DFID’s work is also provided by the Independent Commission on Aid Impact which reports to the International Development Select Committee in Parliament.
DFID’s internal audit department provides assurance over governance, risk management and control systems through a programme of audits which cover DFID processes, departments and projects. In 2014-15 the Secretary of State significantly scaled up internal audit and counter fraud resources to strengthen internal capacity and skills, increase the depth and breadth of assurance coverage, and ensure that all DFID country offices are audited at least every other year. At a programme level, all organisations which receive funding from DFID are required to provide evidence about the use of funds, including providing independently audited financial statements to our programme managers.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of her Department's budget was spent on (a) equipment and goods and (b) consultancy from UK companies in each of the last three years; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
In line with the UK Government commitments to increase transparency, DFID publishes details of types of contract award and spend transactions over £500 on a monthly basis. This includes expenditure at supplier level and the amount for project and Consultancy services. This information can be accessed for spend on the .Gov portal and for contracts on the Contracts finder website.
British taxpayers expect all ODA to be high quality and well-targeted, and since 2010, value for money and transparency of UK official development assistance (ODA) has been a top priority for DFID. In the last 5 years, DFID has worked hard to make its systems and processes more rigorous to make sure that aid projects reach intended beneficiaries and deliver results, including introducing greater ministerial oversight and new spending controls. Business cases and delivery plans are used for all DFID projects setting out the rationale for the projects and how they will be implemented. Formal project reviews are required annually and at completion against a performance monitoring framework. These reviews assess and record that funds have been used for their intended purposes and what results have been delivered. DFID has also reduced the number of bilateral country programmes since 2010. Finally, DFID has introduced greater transparency and scrutiny of DFID’s work through setting up the aid watchdog, the Independent Commission for Aid Impact, which scrutinises everything DFID does, alongside the work of the International Development Select Committee.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment she has made of the humanitarian situation in Yemen; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The UK is deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation in Yemen. The UN estimates that over 21 million people (80% of the population) are in need of humanitarian assistance; 6 million face severe food shortages; and 1 million have been displaced as a result of the current conflict (2015 Humanitarian Needs Overview for Yemen, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Yemen). It is very difficult for humanitarian agencies to operate due to ongoing insecurity, and a lack of incoming supplies and fuel. Unless current trends are reversed, there is a real risk of a collapse in the country’s health system and severe food and water crises.