Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2020 to Question 60656 on Renewable energy, what plans her Department has to install solar panels and wind turbines on its buildings in the next five years.
Answered by Nigel Adams
DFID has two offices in the UK, one at 22 Whitehall and the other at Abercrombie House, East Kilbride.
While there are no current plans to install solar panels and wind turbines at either of our UK offices, we are keeping this under constant review and considering options and opportunities as they arise.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department has taken to support (a) healthcare services and (b) disease prevention in Gaza since the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UN assesses that although the current number of detected cases remains relatively low in Gaza and the West Bank, the capacity of the Palestinian health system to cope with an increase in COVID-19 cases is poor, including the low availability of PPE and ventilators. The situation is particularly severe in Gaza, where the health system has shortages in specialised staff, drugs and equipment.
The UK has pledged £764 million to support the global humanitarian response to COVID-19. We have delivered additional vital support in the Occupied Palestinian Territories by providing funding to the World Health Organization and UNICEF to purchase and co-ordinate the delivery of medical equipment, treat critical care patients, train frontline public health personnel and scale up laboratory testing capacity. I also recently announced £20 million in new funding, which will help the Palestinian Authority support its health workers who have been on the frontline battling coronavirus.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans her Department has to help ensure that as schools reopen internationally, girls are not prevented from returning to education.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Ensuring 12 years of quality education for all children, especially girls, is a UK priority, particularly in responding to the COVID 19 pandemic. We are helping to mitigate the short-term risks to children by focussing on their safety, nutrition, wellbeing and learning whilst schools are closed. The UK has announced £20 million for UNICEF’s crisis appeal, which includes education, and a further £5 million to the Education Cannot Wait fund to support emergency education in fragile contexts.
Getting girls and the most marginalised back to school is one of the most important challenges the international education community has ever faced. As the Ebola crisis in West Africa showed, girls in particular are highly vulnerable to the socio-economic impacts of the crisis. We are re-orienting our programmes in 18 countries to help education ministries plan for school re-opening. At global level we will support UNICEF’s Re-Opening Better campaign, with particular focus on the needs of girls and the most marginalised children.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to ensure existing programmes funded by her Department can be adapted to respond to covid-19 so that development progress is not lost.
Answered by Wendy Morton
We are maximising the UK’s efforts to tackle COVID-19 by adapting and scaling up existing programmes where they can respond to the crisis. In country, we are working quickly to pivot our programming to support the COVID-19 response, reinforcing health, humanitarian, social protection or economic support programmes.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the Government's policy is on the UK's (a) future membership of and (b) future funding to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Alistair Burt
There has been no change to our membership or funding commitment to UNESCO. The UK continues to work closely with UNESCO and other member states to ensure it makes crucial reforms to deliver the best results and value for taxpayers’ money. We make ongoing assessments of multi-agency performance, consideration of whether Agencies are providing value for tax payers’ money is an important part of these assessments.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent discussions she has had with stakeholders in the international aid sector on her policy on the UK's contribution to the Global Financing Facility for Every Woman and Child (GFF) in advance of the GFF replenishment conference in November; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The Secretary of State for International Development recently held separate meetings with senior leadership at the World Bank, the Norwegian Government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where the UK’s contribution to the Global Financing Facility (GFF) was discussed. My officials have also had detailed discussions with the GFF team in the last few weeks. Decisions about any potential future support from the UK will be taken in due course.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many and which (a) Ministers and (b) officials in her Department have visited the Irish border in the last 12 months; when those visits took place; and how long they spent at the border in each of those visits.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
a) Details of Ministers’ overseas travel are published quarterly and are available on GOV.UK.
b) Details of business expenses incurred by senior officials include domestic and international travel. This information is also published quarterly and is available on GOV.UK.
The information requested for all officials in my Department is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what (a) representations her Department has made to and (b) what recent discussions his Department has held with the (i) EU and (ii) World Bank on funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in light of the decision of the US to withdraw its funding to that Agency.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK has made official level representations to the EU and World Bank on the position of UNRWA in recent months, and will continue to work with UNRWA and our international partners to ensure essential services are maintained despite the US withdrawal of funding.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what humanitarian assistance her Department is providing to (a) refugees and (b) displaced persons in Cameroon.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
We are providing at least £5 million in humanitarian assistance this year in Cameroon to refugees and internally displaced persons as a result of the Lake Chad Basin crisis, and to refugees from the Central African Republic. This includes basic support in nutrition, health, food security and livelihoods.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
What steps her Department is taking to inform and educate UK citizens on the benefits of international development assistance.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Aid works, and DFID demonstrates this to the British public every day. We do this through media engagement, ministerial visits, speeches, development education, volunteering programmes, and through UK Aid Match. We also held a public event in Birmingham last month to showcase first-hand the life-changing value of UK aid.