Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made of the food security situation in Ethiopia as of 16 February 2024; and what steps his Department is taking to help support those most in need.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Multiple, overlapping crises are causing concerning levels of critical food insecurity across Ethiopia. The UK is committed to providing support to the most vulnerable and those in desperate need. We have already increased our humanitarian support this financial year by over 50 percent, from £46 million to £74 million in order to better respond to the immediate crisis, including a £23 million contribution to the Productive Safety Net Programme that will reach a further 350,000 people living in extreme poverty across Ethiopia. Additionally, I recently announced £100 million to the Ending Preventable Deaths Programme that will support over three million people across the country.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made of the food security situation in Somalia as of 16 February 2024; and what steps his Department is taking to help support those most in need.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Food insecurity levels in Somalia remain high, driven by climate change and conflict. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification assessment estimates that 4 million Somalis are facing high levels of food insecurity in the first three months of 2024.
The UK is providing £53.5 million in lifesaving humanitarian support this financial year, including £16.5 million for El Niño response efforts. We are also tackling the drivers of food insecurity to prevent future crises. In November, the Prime Minister announced up to £100 million in funding for Somalia to increase resilience to future climate shocks over the next four years.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent discussions he has had with Pacific island states on climate change adaptation.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are on the frontline of climate change and Pacific Island leaders have made it clear that building climate resilience is their priority. UK support for climate adaptation sits at the heart of HMG ministerial engagement with Pacific Island counterparts. At COP28 we co-hosted the Third Climate Development Ministerial with Vanuatu. The Minister for the Indo-Pacific discussed climate change with a range of ministers at the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in November 2023 and the former Foreign Secretary discussed it with the leaders and ministers he met during his visit to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands in April 2023.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps he is taking to help ensure the employment of women by (a) aid agencies and (b) NGOs in Afghanistan.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are committed to ensuring the delivery of aid in Afghanistan, including the continued participation of female aid workers and the full access of women and girls to services. We regularly engage with humanitarian partners to understand the situation for female staff and how best to support their continued role in the response. We provide financial flexibility to partners to support costs, enabling female staff to continue working.
We have repeatedly condemned the Taliban's decisions to restrict the rights of women and girls and are working with the international community to push for women and girls' rights in Afghanistan.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps he is taking to help ensure aid reaches (a) women and (b) girls in Afghanistan.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
UK aid continues to reach vulnerable women and girls despite the obstacles to delivering aid, including the Taliban's prohibitive policies and actions. Between 2022 and 2023, the UK has provided food aid to 2 million women and emergency humanitarian assistance to 2.3 million women.
The UK Government continues to condemn the Taliban's attacks on the rights of women in Afghanistan. We remain committed that at least 50 per cent of people reached with UK aid in Afghanistan will be women and girls - a commitment we met in 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 and are on track to meet for 2023-2024.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps he is taking to help ensure a continued supply of aid to Sudan.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK's top humanitarian priority in Sudan is to secure humanitarian access and operational security guarantees for humanitarian agencies. We continue to work with international partners, such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), to press the parties to allow unfettered humanitarian access, and for the provision of continued support for the Sudanese people. The UK continues to provide assistance to the many people in need in Sudan through our humanitarian aid package of £38 million for 2023-2024. In the next financial year 2024/2025 the UK bilateral ODA to Sudan will double, to £89 million.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has had recent discussions with representatives of trade unions on their work in international development.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
International development is a partnership, and the voices of our partners were central to the UK's White Paper on international development, published in November 2023. We consulted partners in the UK and around the world, and were pleased to receive one response from a national union in this country.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent discussions he has had with his international counterparts on taking steps to help eliminate HIV/AIDS.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK remains a world leader in efforts to end the global AIDS epidemic and funds all key partners in the global AIDS response, including the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), UNITAID, World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria. The Minister of State (Development and Africa) regularly engages with the leadership of these organisations on our key shared priorities for global health, including on approaches to ending AIDS as a public health threat.
The UK's investments, including to the WHO, help to ensure that people at high risk of HIV in the global south can access Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis and other HIV prevention and treatment services. WHO has recently published new guidelines on HIV, STI and viral hepatitis prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care for key populations, which will support countries and local organisations in designing and implementing their HIV strategies and interventions.
Our pledge of £1 billion to the Global Fund will save over 1 million lives, including by providing antiretroviral therapy for 1.8 million people, HIV counselling and testing for 48 million people, and reaching 3 million members of key affected populations with prevention programs.
Our funding for the Robert Carr Fund and UNAIDS supports initiatives to empower local civil society and grassroots organisations, predominantly in the Global South, to increase access to HIV prevention, testing and care services, particularly for LGBT+ people.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has raised with his Israeli counterpart the reported airstrike on the Medical Aid for Palestine and International Red Cross compound in Al Muwasi on 18 January 2023.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas, but it must comply with International Humanitarian Law (IHL); including the protection of hospitals, civilians, and medical staff. We want to see Israel take greater care to limit its operations to military targets and avoid harming civilians. The Prime Minister has made this clear to Prime Minister Netanyahu. The Foreign Secretary also raised this with Prime Minister Netanyahu, including the airstrike affecting the Medical Aid for Palestinian (MAP) and International Red Cross (IRC) compound and team.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps his Department is taking to help support Pakistan to recover in the long-term from the floods that took place in 2022.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK has pledged a total of £39 million of UK aid for flood relief efforts in Pakistan. This money is responding to people's needs and recovery through funding national and international aid agencies on the ground, the provision of UK relief items, and technical expertise. We remain committed to working with the Government of Pakistan and international agencies to understand how we can best support those in need.