Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate he has made of the number of cases of bullying and harassment that have been recorded against managers in his Department in each of the last five years.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The number of cases of bullying that have been recorded against managers in DFID was less than 5 in each of the last 5 years. No cases of harassment were recorded against DFID managers in 2014 to 2016. Less than 5 cases were recorded for both 2017 and 2018.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much money her Department has spent on environmental protection in the Overseas Territories in each of the last five years.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The annual contributions DFID makes to the national budgets of Montserrat, St Helena and Pitcairn (those Overseas Territories eligible for official development assistance (ODA)) which support the delivery of government services, includes funds for environmental protection.
DFID contributed £500,000 each year from 2012 -2015 to the Darwin Plus Initiative, a challenge fund created by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and DFID to support environmental protection. Since the 2015 Spending Review, all ODA spend for Darwin Plus has been managed by DEFRA.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of her Department's programmes in Pakistan in each of the last five years.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
Pakistan is one of the UK’s top development priorities. A more prosperous and inclusive country will help millions of the poorest people to have a better future and improve stability and security in Pakistan and the UK.
The figures from our annual audited accounts for DFID investment in Pakistan are:
17/18 £367.2m
16/17 £422.11m
15/16 £336.3m
14/15 £255.4m
13/14 £253.0m
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what progress is being made on preparations for public involvement in the Voluntary National Review of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The Government is committed to an inclusive Voluntary National Review (VNR) that showcases activity across the UK. To date, 200 organisations and individuals have submitted case studies highlighting activity to support delivery of the Goals. We continue to welcome contributions which can be submitted via our VNR website. In March, we will host a number of sector-focussed engagement events – including with the private sector, civil society, young people, local organisations, and trade unions. Details on how to get involved will be published shortly at: www.gov.uk/sustainabledevelopmentgoals.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department are taking to tackle the stigma associated with HIV in developing countries to ensure that to ensure people seek access to treatment.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK government’s HIV response prioritises those still left behind by the huge progress made in recent years. These include adolescents, women and girls and under-served groups most affected by stigma, such as men who have sex with men, injecting drug users, sex workers and prisoners living with and affected by HIV.
For example, through the Robert Carr Civil Society Networks Fund we are supporting civil society networks of people affected by HIV to demand their rights, address stigma and discrimination and hold governments to account. The UK has committed £15 million to this Fund, since its start, to help champion their rights to access prevention and treatment services.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to tackle inequality and discrimination against disabled people in developing countries.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
In July 2018, the UK Government co-hosted the Global Disability Summit to raise global attention on disability inclusion. DFID’s first Disability Inclusion strategy, published in December, sets out plans to mainstream disability inclusion across the organisation and provides a clear time-bound and targeted roadmap on how to do so. Tackling stigma and discrimination against people with disabilities was central to the summit and is one of the cross-cutting areas in the strategy.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to develop long-term economic sustainability in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Answered by Alistair Burt
We have scaled up our work on economic development across the West Bank and Gaza. We are providing up to £38 million over five years (2018-2023) to help tackle the problems of low growth and high unemployment in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs).
Our support will focus on efforts to increase trade and job creation by working with the Palestinian and Israeli authorities to enable greater movement and access for people and goods, and improve water and energy supply, particularly in Gaza. We will also continue to support the implementation of Paris Protocol measures in relation to the transfer of taxes and fees Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA), and any measures agreed by the parties to transfer the responsibility of revenue collection. Our support in these areas will help thousands of Palestinians in their daily lives, support the financial sustainability of the PA and contribute to preserving the viability of the two-state solution.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment her Department has made of how technology can be used to help achieve the UK’s development priorities in respect of (a) health, (b) agriculture and (c) disaster preparedness.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
DFID is committed to harnessing the power of technologies to reduce poverty.
In health, we are investing in the development of new diagnostics and medicines, to achieve global disease reduction targets and address the threat of antimicrobial resistance. In agriculture, we are applying new technologies to significantly improve farmers’ productivity, incomes and resilience, and help ensure agri-food systems deliver safe and nutritious food for a growing population. In disaster preparedness, we are piloting technologies such as unmanned aerial vehicles, to support humanitarian response and improve logistics, and funding research to combat the effects of climate change.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment her Department has made of the humanitarian situation in the Rukban camp in Syria.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK is extremely concerned about the dire humanitarian situation of the 40,000 – 50,000 displaced Syrians currently stranded at Rukban camp. Whilst we were encouraged by the recent aid convoy that took place in November 2018, it is crucial that this is not viewed as a one-off event. A recent UN assessment highlighted in particular the major health and protection concerns caused by the lack of sustained access provided to humanitarian actors.
The UK urges the Assad regime and its backers, in the strongest possible terms, to facilitate full humanitarian access to enable a second convoy with winter supplies to take place followed by regular and unrestricted aid deliveries thereafter.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what programmes her Department (a) promotes and (b) funds to tackle child slavery in developing countries.
Answered by Alistair Burt
DFID is at the forefront of the UK’s international efforts to end violence against, and abuse and exploitation of children – including the worst forms of child labour. We are promoting action to end modern slavery in all its forms in line with Sustainable Development Goals 16.2, 8.7 and 5.2 and as well as leading efforts to increase support for, and implementation of, the Prime Minister’s “Call to Action to end Forced Labour, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking” launched in 2017. The Call to Action has now endorsed by over 80 countries and we continue to work with governments, civil society and the private sector to push for action at all levels.
In 2017 the Government committed to doubling aid spending to tackle modern slavery to £150 million. We have exceeded this goal with UK aid committed now amounting to just over £200 million. DFID funded programmes make up the bulk of this aid and includes work to reduce vulnerability to exploitation and address the permissive environments which allow child exploitation to exist and thrive.
Full details of this work can be found at https://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/. Examples include: a £26 million Regional Programme to tackle the worst forms of child labour in Asia (e.g. Bangladesh and Nepal); a £10 million Children on the Move Programme (in partnership with UNICEF) to protect up to 400,000 children at risk of violence and slavery in the Horn of Africa and along dangerous migratory routes in Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia; and a new £12 million UK Aid Connect Programme to address child labour in fragile and conflict affected states in Africa (such as the DRC).