Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on supporting educational opportunities for women and girls in Afghanistan.
Answered by James Cleverly - Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
We continue to press the Taliban to ensure the full and equal access to education for all. Secondary schools are now open to girls in at least 10 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces and the Taliban have publicly said they are working towards a plan to get all girls back to school. The Foreign Secretary has discussed women's rights, including girls' education, with international counterparts including at the G7 and at the 12 October extraordinary meeting of G20 Leaders on Afghanistan, where the Foreign Secretary represented the Prime Minister. We will continue to work with the international community to use our influence to secure women's and girls' rights to access to education and jobs and to participate in public life. The Minister of State for South Asia, UN and the Commonwealth, attended the annual Women, Peace and Security Open Debate at the UN Security Council in October and met prominent Afghan women to discuss how the UK can best support Afghan women and girls.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what progress the UK has made as President of the G7 to remove barriers to education across the world.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Meeting under the UK Presidency, G7 Foreign and Development Ministers endorsed two new global targets on girls' education in low-income and lower-middle income countries, which we are calling on the world to help deliver by 2026. Ministers also endorsed a girls' education declaration which specifically states that the G7 will work in collaboration with developing country partners, multilateral institutions, civil society, girl-led groups and youth leaders to remove the obstacles to education that stand in the way of girls. This includes addressing the social, environmental and institutional barriers to education such as reducing violence in and out of schools, reducing harmful cultural practices such as child marriage and FGM, and amending restrictive policies or legislation that prevent girls from thriving in school.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what objectives he plans to pursue as co-chairman of the Global Partnership for Education's Replenishment Summit in July 2021.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The primary objective of the Global Education Summit (GES) is to raise as much as possible of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE)'s $5 billion over five years. At the G7 Summit, the Prime Minister announced the UK pledge of £430 million to GPE, which is our largest ever pledge, and an uplift of 15 per cent from our current position as top bilateral donor. This significant pledge meant we were able to secure commitment from G7 partners of at least $2.7 billion to GPE ahead of the GES.
The UK intends to support the GPE in diversifying its funding base with new sovereign and private donors, and is working closely with our co-hosts, Kenya, to galvanise domestic financing to education from developing nations. At the Summit, we hope to secure up to $4 billion, which is 80 per cent of GPE's $5 billion 5-year target, providing the single biggest ever boost to children's education opportunities around the world.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the UK’s logistical support to India during the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The UK has worked closely with the Indian Government on our package of support to ensure that it focuses on India's most urgent needs. The first shipment was delivered on 27 April. On 2 May, the Prime Minister announced that the UK would send a further 1,000 ventilators to support India's response, these arrived in Delhi on 9 May bringing the total package of equipment to 495 oxygen concentrators, 1,200 ventilators and three oxygen generating units.
Given the importance of effective coordination of the large quantities of assistance arriving in India, the UK is channelling its support through the Indian Government and Indian Red Cross. Decisions on exactly where support provided by the UK will be deployed are for the Indian Government. Ministers and officials remain in regular contact with their counterparts to ensure the transfer of medical equipment is as efficient as possible.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what progress he is making in tackling malnutrition through programmes in (a) Somalia, (b) Yemen and (c) Ethiopia.
Answered by James Duddridge
Since 2013, the UK has responded to chronic levels of malnutrition in Somalia through a multi-year approach that incorporates both humanitarian and development funding and helps to build longer-term resilience. The Somalia programme is addressing malnutrition by focusing on both the prevention and curative treatment of malnutrition. Our resilience programmes have helped over 300,000 people, with interventions that address the underlying causes of humanitarian need, including malnutrition. This has been complemented by our work in providing healthcare and clean water. In 2020 the UK provided 2.5 million vulnerable Somalis with life-saving cash assistance (874,409), nutrition (303,938), health (453,639) and emergency WASH-Water and Sanitation (895,002).
The UK is playing a leading role in combating hunger in Yemen by contributing over £1 billion in UK aid since the conflict began in 2015. Over the course of our next financial year (2021/22), we will provide at least £87 million to the UN Humanitarian Appeal for Yemen, making us the 5th largest donor. Our funding will feed an additional 240,000 of the most vulnerable Yemenis every month, support 400 healthcare clinics and provide clean water for 1.6 million people. We will also provide one-off cash support to 1.5 million of Yemen's poorest households to help them buy food and basic supplies.
In Ethiopia, the UK is working closely with humanitarian and development agencies to make sure aid reaches civilians affected by the fighting. UK-funded aid agencies in Tigray are delivering support in challenging circumstances, including food, shelter, water and healthcare. The Foreign Secretary visited Gondar, in the neighbouring Amhara region, on 22 January and saw first-hand how £11 million of UK Aid is supporting the World Food Programme and NGOs to ensure the delivery of aid to those affected by the Tigray conflict.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to highlight education as part of the global policy agenda of the UK’s presidency of the G7.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Girls' education is a key priority for the UK's G7 Presidency. We will encourage G7 Leaders to endorse two global outcome targets: 40 million more girls in education by 2025, and an improvement of one-third in girls' reading by age 10. We will also be working with G7 partners to raise collective ambition, and ensure a successful replenishment of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), which supports governments in taking vital steps to strengthen national education systems.