Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Bekou Trust Fund to date; and whether she plans to contribute to it.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
We welcome the leadership of the EU on the humanitarian response in CAR and on programmes linking relief, recovery and development. The UK is not a current contributor to the EU Trust Fund in CAR. The UK has committed £33 million in humanitarian funds to CAR and CAR refugees since July 2013, funding a range of NGOs and UN agencies to provide protection, water, health and food security.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what her assessment is of the implications of the current security situation in the Central African Republic for the delivery of humanitarian assistance in that country.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID regularly monitors the security and humanitarian situation in CAR. High levels of violence continue across the country, and a million people have been displaced since December 2013. The security situation impacts not only communities but humanitarian workers. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported 142 security incidents directed at humanitarian workers since January 2014 and 18 humanitarian workers killed. In 2014 DFID provided £18 million to the ICRC, UN agencies and international NGOs to support communities who have suffered from the violence in CAR.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to work with partners in the region to ensure that sufficient aid for reconstruction reaches Gaza following the recent conflict.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID has already disbursed £5 million of the £20 million early recovery assistance that we pledged at the Gaza Reconstruction Conference. The UK was also the first donor to support the temporary Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism which is facilitating the import of construction materials into Gaza, and, in close co-ordination with our EU partners and the Office of the Quartet Representative, we continue to press the Government of Israel to lift restrictions and facilitate the entry of aid into Gaza.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to support the strengthening of health systems in West Africa to better cope with epidemics in the future.
Answered by Justine Greening
The UK is leading the international response to Ebola in Sierra Leone and has committed £230m to help fight the disease. This outbreak of Ebola is unprecedented in scale and highlights the vital importance of strong public healthcare systems. The UK is the biggest bilateral donor to Sierra Leone and commenced a major health systems programme in 2012.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that its programmes in West Africa do not create perverse incentives which prioritise short-term outcomes rather than longer-term strengthening strategies.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID always considers the longer term development impact when developing our programmes. Operational Plans, setting out how DFID’s programmes will deliver results and measure progress up to 2015 for our country office programmes in West Africa (Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone), can be found on the website: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/operational-plans-2013 .
DFID does carry out humanitarian programmes to address short term needs but we also have longer term development programmes designed to build resilience. Full details of our programmes can be found on Development Tracker.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many British military and NHS personnel are in Sierra Leone to deal with Ebola; and what plans the Government has to increase their numbers.
Answered by Justine Greening
Some 800 military personnel have been deployed to Sierra Leone to aid in the UK effort. These personnel have supported the establishment of a command and control logistical hub that will provide the backbone of infrastructure, commodities, training and management needed to scale up the response in Sierra Leone. They are also supporting the ongoing construction and operation of Ebola treatment centres, and are running and staffing a World Health Organisation-led Ebola training academy. The Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship, RFA Argus, and three Merlin helicopters have now arrived in Sierra Leone to provide crucial logistic and transport support to medical teams and aid experts.
To date the UK has received 2140 applications from British medical staff and initial indications of staffing profiles and needs were received from partners on 20 October. DFID and UKMED are currently matching profiles with staffing requirements. Pre-deployment training has already started in the UK for staff deploying to the Kerry Town facility.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to encourage long-term measures to bring about systemic changes required to better cope with future Ebola outbreaks.
Answered by Justine Greening
The UK is leading the international response to Ebola in Sierra Leone. This outbreak of Ebola is unprecedented in scale and highlights the vital importance of strong public healthcare systems. The UK is the biggest bilateral donor to Sierra Leone and commenced a major health systems programme in 2012.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, which community-based women's organisations in Burma receive funding from her Department to assist victims of sexual violence by the Burmese army.
Answered by Alan Duncan
DFID is providing £500,000 through the United Nation's Population Fund (UNFPA) to strengthen the network and capacity of agencies working on gender-based violence in Rakhine and Kachin those areas.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, in what ways her Department's work to give people in developing countries better access to financial services takes account of (a) lack of braille facilities, (b) laws and practices discriminating against people with disabilities and (c) other barriers experienced by people with disabilities.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
Our financial sector development programmes work to strengthen regulation, build infrastructure and improve financial capability to increase the access of poor people, including disadvantaged groups, to financial services that meet their needs.
Asked by: Naomi Long (Alliance - Belfast East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department's country offices are encouraged to seek the views and input of people with disabilities in the design and delivery of their programmes.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
DFID recognises the importance of people with disabilities having influence in the programmes and decisions which affect them. In DFID country offices, stakeholder engagement and participation, including with people with disabilities, is a fundamental part of strategic decision making and programme management.