Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions he has had with his Zambian counterpart on declaring a national emergency in relation to the drought and famine in western and southern Zambia.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The British Government is engaging actively with the Government of Zambia on the drought affecting large parts of Zambia to ensure assistance is provided to the many Zambians facing food insecurity.
On 29th August, the Department for International Development’s (DFID) visiting Director for West and Southern Africa met with the Zambian Minister of Finance and raised the allocation of resources for the drought response. The Head of Office for DFID Zambia and the British High Commissioner also met with the Vice President last month and encouraged Zambia to request international emergency assistance to scale up the response. DFID is in close contact with Zambia’s Disaster Management Response Unit, the United Nations, and international Non-Governmental Organisations on the ground. The UK is planning to provide support to respond through Emergency Cash Transfers and treatment of acute malnutrition in the worst affected areas.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps he is taking to provide additional aid to alleviate the impending famine in Zambia.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
DFID is following the impact of the drought in Western and Southern Zambia very closely and has visited affected areas to discuss the response with local authorities. The Government of Zambia has not yet declared an emergency but estimates that 1.5 million people will need emergency assistance over the next nine months. We are in contact with the Government’s Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit and with the World Food Programme about how best to distribute food supplies in the event that the Government requests support. We are exploring with the UN the feasibility of emergency cash transfers and responding to a likely increase in acute malnutrition cases. DFID is also a key donor of the START fund, which funds non-governmental organisations responding to localised emergencies.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps he is taking to support the Zambian Government to ensure that farmers are able to purchase sufficient grain from Government food agencies.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
Maize production has dropped by over 50% in Western and Southern Zambia this year as a result of drought, showing just how vulnerable Zambian farmers are to climatic shocks. Through its Climate Smart Agriculture programme, DFID is supporting over 260,000 small-scale farmers to protect yields better from the impact of climate change. DFID is also supporting engagement between Zambian civil society organisations, the Zambian Government and the Food Reserve Agency on agricultural policy and on the implementation of the Government of Zambia’s agricultural e-voucher reform programme, which has great potential to help smallholder farmers source inputs in a more timely fashion and promote agricultural diversification.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many members of staff have left her Department since 1 January 2015; and how many of those members of staff were nationals of non-UK EU countries.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Since 1 January 2015, 530 staff have left DFID, of which 12 have declared as non-UK EU nationals.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what funds for which purposes the Government pledged at the Brussels conference on Afghanistan, held on 4-5 October 2016; what measures she has put in place to monitor how those funds are (a) distributed and (b) spent; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Rory Stewart
On 2 October the Secretary of State announced that the UK would spend up to £750m in ODA to Afghanistan to 2020, depending on Afghan government performance and security conditions. UK support will help build a safer, more stable and prosperous Afghanistan through increased state capacity and legitimacy; it will support increased economic growth and self-reliance and decreased poverty and vulnerability. It will be delivered via multi-donor trust funds and contracts with commercial providers of good and services, UN agencies and UK, Afghan, and international NGOs, and monitored by both internal and external mechanisms.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what anti-corruption measures were agreed at the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan, held on 4-5 October 2016; what steps she plans to take to ensure the effectiveness of such measures; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Helping Afghans to tackle corruption is a key priority for the UK’s engagement in Afghanistan, where we focus first and foremost on anti-corruption efforts that contribute to the building of a stable and self-reliant state. Anti-corruption was a key theme of the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan. At the Conference, the Afghan government announced that the new Anti Corruption Justice Centre (ACJC) was operational. They also made a commitment that five revenue generating ministries will publicly report on implementation progress of their anti-corruption action plans in 2017.
The UK and the rest of the international community will continue to press the Afghan government to deliver on these commitments to ensure that core government functions are transparent, accountable and consistent, and that violations are met with legal, timely and consistently applied sanctions.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what (a) technical support her Department has offered and (b) political engagement with the Afghan government her Department plans in order to ensure that the Afghan government fulfils the commitment it made at the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan, held on 4-5 October 2016, on amendments to the mining law; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The UK aims to reduce Afghanistan’s dependence on aid and help make it a more prosperous safe and stable country.
The UK supports the extractives sector to accelerate economic development and revenue generation. Through the £10.3m Extractive Sector Support Programme, the UK has recommended revisions to the Minerals Law and provided support for the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum to incorporate amendments.
The Mining Advisory Council is currently reviewing the amendments. Following this review, the amendments will go to the Ministry of Justice, the Council of Ministers, Parliament and finally the President for enactment. The UK remains committed to working closely with the Government and other stakeholders in support of this process.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the relationship between clean water and sanitation in schools and girls' school attendance in developing countries; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Grant Shapps - Secretary of State for Defence
Clean water and adequate sanitation in schools ensure safe and hygienic environments for learning. The UK Government supports the view that providing toilets at schools for girls is necessary to provide privacy and dignity. There is some evidence that WASH interventions in schools do improve attendance by girls but much evidence points to other important factors as well.
In 2011, DFID published a systematic review of this issue. This determined that separate facilities for girls were likely to encourage their attendance at school, but insufficient alone to increase attendance and that there are many influential factors, including social and economic pressures on poor families. DFID therefore takes a holistic approach to this issue.
The UK played a key role in ensuring that the recently agreed Sustainable Development Goals include a dedicated goal on water which aims to ensure universal access to water and sanitation by 2030.
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much of her Department's budget is spent on supporting water, sanitation and hygiene services; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Grant Shapps - Secretary of State for Defence
Expenditure by sector is reported in Statistics on International Development (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistics-on-international-development-2014).
Asked by: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the Answer of 15 December 2015 to Question 218242, in which country each of the contacts with private security companies was operating; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID has held a total of 8 centrally let contracts with private security companies since 2008. The table below provides the details of where these contracts were operating.
Country | Number of Contracts | Contracts still active |
U.K. | 3 | 1 |
Kenya | 2 | |
Kenya and Somalia | 1 | |
India | 2 |