Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what humanitarian and medical aid is being sent to southern Cameroon.
Answered by Rory Stewart
There is currently no request for international humanitarian aid in southern Cameroon. DFID is monitoring the situation closely in coordination with the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross; our assessment is that medical services in the southern region are able to cope without additional international support.
DFID is providing humanitarian aid in northern Cameroon to 238,000 refugees affected by the Lake Chad Basin Crisis, as well as to 216,000 refugees from the Central African Republic in eastern Cameroon.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many unpaid internships there are in her Department.
Answered by Rory Stewart
DFID has no unpaid internships. The Civil Service has been running the Summer Diversity Internship Programme (SDIP) for 15 years. This is a paid, two months programme specifically for BAME, lower socio-economic and those from disabled backgrounds. It is targeted at penultimate/final year undergraduates and is a major plank of the Civil Service early talent diversity strategy. DFID has participated in this scheme for the last 3 years. In 2016 we took 4 summer diversity internships, 2 in 2015 and 4 in 2014.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of staff in her Department were (a) payroll and (b) non-payroll staff in each financial year from 2010-11 to 2015-16.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID provides monthly workforce management information as part of its commitment to transparency. Information on staff numbers and costs is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dfid-workforce-management-information-public-body.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many civil servants in her Department are paid through limited companies.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID does not pay any civil servants through limited companies.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much was spent on non-payroll staff in her Department in 2015-16.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID provides monthly workforce management information as part of its commitment to transparency. Information on staff numbers and costs is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dfid-workforce-management-information-public-body.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of her Department's (a) Senior Civil Servants and (b) core policy civil servants are based in London.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID has 88 Senior Civil Servants (SCS) of which 45 (51%) are based in London. DFID has 225 roles designated as having a policy element of which 139 (62%) are based in London.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans she has to provide aid to people in (a) Madaya and (b) other cities under attack by armed forces of the government of President Assad.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The UK has been at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have pledged over £1.1 billion, making us the second largest bilateral donor after the US. We also co-sponsored and lobbied hard for the passage of UN Security Council Resolutions 2165, 2191 and 2258 which call on the parties to allow rapid, safe and unhindered access for humanitarian aid to besieged and hard to reach places. We are working to bring about an inclusive political solution to end the conflict in Syria through our engagement in the International Syria Support Group, with the UN Special Envoy for Syria, and with the Syrian Opposition.
The UK has provided support to the UN and international NGOs (INGOs) since the start of the conflict to deliver aid in hard to reach and besieged areas of Syria, including Madaya.
On 11 January 2016, the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent confirmed that aid convoys of humanitarian assistance had arrived in the hard to reach town of Madaya, and the besieged areas of Foah and Kefraya. Two further convoys have been given permission. The convoy is expected to meet survival needs of the 40,000 persons inside Madaya, and 20,000 people inside Foah and Kefraya. DFID funding to UN agencies is directly supporting the current convoy with food parcels, nutritional supplements, essential drugs and non-food items including winterisation kits.
The UK worked with partners in the UN Security Council to put humanitarian access in Madaya, and across Syria, on the Security Council’s agenda on Monday 11 January.
In February 2016, the UK will invite world leaders to London for a Conference to support immediate needs and identify longer-term solutions to address the needs of those affected by the crisis.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment has been made of the humanitarian situation in (a) Madaya and (b) other Syrian cities under attack by armed forces of the government of President Assad.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
We are seriously concerned about the acute humanitarian situation in Madaya, Rural Damascus. Madaya has been surrounded by regime and allied forces since July 2015, leading to sharply deteriorating conditions for an estimated 40,000 people, most of whom are women and children. Around 20,000 residents currently face life-threatening deprivation of the basics for survival. Prior to 11 January 2016, humanitarian assistance was last delivered on 18 October, as part of a joint UN/ Syrian Arab Red Crescent/ICRC convoy, that provided assistance to Madaya, Zabadani, Foah and Kefraya under the terms of a ceasefire agreement.
The UK is deeply concerned that nearly 400,000 people live in besieged areas and roughly 4.5 million in hard-to-reach areas in Syria. Due to constrained humanitarian access, we are unable to provide a systematic and updated picture of humanitarian needs across besieged and hard-to-reach areas. The appalling numbers of people living in besieged areas is indicative of the continued flouting of International Humanitarian Law and disregard for civilian lives by the regime, Daesh and armed groups inside Syria.
The UK has been at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have pledged over £1.1 billion, making us the second largest bilateral donor after the US. We have provided support to the UN and international NGOs (INGOs) since the start of the conflict to deliver aid in hard to reach and besieged areas of Syria, including Madaya. We are working to bring about an inclusive political solution to end the conflict in Syria through our engagement in the International Syria Support Group, with the UN Special Envoy for Syria, and with the Syrian Opposition.
In February 2016, the UK will invite world leaders to London for a Conference to support immediate needs and identify longer-term solutions to address the needs of those affected by the crisis.