Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how her Department plans to implement its Disability Framework.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID follows a ‘twin-track’ approach to disability inclusion. This means we attach priority to disability in all our policies and programmes as well as supporting disability-targeted programmes.
We have made significant progress in mainstreaming disability inclusion in our humanitarian response, including the development of an internal guidance note on ageing and disability in humanitarian response. We will build on this foundation by supporting partners to deliver on our commitment to include disaggregated data on age and disability as part of our requirements for funding humanitarian proposals, and advocating for the use of the Minimum Standards on Ageing and Disability Inclusion with humanitarian partners to improve the mainstreaming of the principles of inclusion.
DFID has funded the Disability Rights Fund (DRF) since its inception in 2008 and our current grant of over £2.6 million between 2013 and 2016 reinforces our commitment to the DRF. With support from DFID, the DRF supports Disabled People’s Organisations in the developing world to take the lead in advocating for the human rights of people with disabilities at local and national levels.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department has made representations to the EU on its funding of aid and development projects in Eritrea.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Between 2013 and 2015 DFID provided UNICEF in Eritrea with £10 million for child and maternal health and the provision of clean water and sanitation.
In December 2015 DFID provided a further £3 million for nutrition support activities and water and sanitation in areas affected by El Nino in the Horn of Africa through UNICEF’s regional programme, which covers Eritrea.
Over the past 2 years funding to support primarily Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia totalled £1.6 million and focussed on child protection and related work on anti-smuggling and trafficking.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much funding her Department has allocated to projects which are primarily aimed at Eritrean nationals in the last three years; and in which countries such projects are based.
Answered by Nick Hurd
As a member of the European Development Fund Committee (EDF) my Department scrutinises all EDF programming. The National Indicative Programme (NIP) for Eritrea under EDF 11 was considered at the Committee on the 17th of November 2015 and received a positive opinion. Prior to that DFID officials worked with other member states to secure a joint EU and member state approach to linking implementation of the NIP with successful dialogue on human rights.
We continue to monitor this, both in country and in Brussels, alongside other member states.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development on the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, 12 January 2016, Official Report, column 248WH, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the Global Fund is addressing concentrated epidemics among key populations in middle income countries.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The UK is a key supporter of the Global Fund and pledged up to £1 billion between 2014 and 2016, subject to a 10% donor share cap. Approximately 50% of Global Fund resources are directed to Middle Income Countries (MICs) and the UK has asked the Global Fund to focus more heavily on marginalised groups in MICs where they do invest.
The UK is working with the Global Fund and other partners to encourage MICs to develop their own self-financed programmes to combat concentrated epidemics, ensuring that investments are effectively reaching key populations and holding national governments to account so that vulnerable groups are not left behind.