Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of the reduction to Official Development Assistance on tackling child stunting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Answered by James Duddridge
The seismic impact of the pandemic on the UK economy has forced us to take tough but necessary decisions, including temporarily reducing the overall amount we spend on aid to 0.5% of GNI. We will remain a world-leading ODA donor and still spend more than £10 billion this year to fight poverty, tackle climate change and improve global health. We are working through what this means for individual programmes. Decisions will be announced in due course.
The UK remains a committed development partner to the Democratic Republic of Congo, including on reducing child stunting. In the last year, we have supported 4 million children with community-based nutrition including counselling on exclusive breastfeeding, Vitamin A supplementation, and growing nutritious crops.
Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how the G7 will co-ordinate international action to tackle rising food insecurity and malnutrition in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Answered by James Duddridge
Famine prevention is a priority theme of the UK's G7 Presidency. As part of this, the UK Special Envoy, Nick Dyer, is chairing a Panel on Famine Prevention and Humanitarian Crisis to agree a Compact to prevent famine in 2021 and slow the growth in humanitarian need through stronger approaches to early action. The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the priority countries for the UK's Call to Action on famine and food insecurity.
Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle food security and malnutrition in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Answered by James Duddridge
Tackling severe food insecurity and malnutrition is one of the UK's top priorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Since 2017, UK aid has provided 1.97 million people with food aid, cash and vouchers to reduce food insecurity and treated over 300,000 cases of severe acute malnutrition.
The UK is also leading a global call to action on the risk of famine and appointed Nick Dyer as the UK's Special Envoy for Famine Prevention and Humanitarian Affairs. DRC is a priority country for food insecurity and the UK's Call to Action. During my visit to DRC in November 2020 and a subsequent call with President Tshisekedi in March 2021, I discussed with the Government the need to address insecurity and conflict in the East, one of the key drivers of the humanitarian crisis.
Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much and what proportion of the UK's total Official Development Assistance budget was allocated to sexual and reproductive health and rights including family planning and reproductive, maternal, neonatal and child health as calculated using the (a) Muskoka 1 and (b) Muskoka 2 methodology in (i) 2017, (ii) 2018 and (iii) 2019.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
All FCDO official aid spend can be found in the Statistic for International Development: UK Aid report at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/statistics-on-international-development
a) The last published donor estimates based on Muskoka 1 cover 2002 to 2015 and can be found at: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(18)30276-6/fulltext#seccestitle10
b) The latest Muskoka 2 donors estimates were published as part of the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual & Reproductive Rights in the Donor Delivering Report and cover 2016 to 2018.
The report is available on: https://www.epfweb.org/node/90
Musoka 2 estimates are not available for 2019 onwards due to Multilateral agencies' reporting timeframes and external data compilation.
Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he has taken since changes to the Official Development Assistance budget were announced in July 2020 to inform his Department’s delivery partners of the effect on their programmes.
Answered by Nigel Adams
FCDO has engaged partners about the budget changes announced in July 2020. Most of those changes have been implemented and affected aid delivery partners have been notified of our decision. FCDO is currently working through a process of prioritisation to align its development spending in 2021 with the new GNI target. No decisions have yet been taken on individual budget allocations.
Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that decisions on changes to the Official Development Assistance budget are evidence-based and informed by the experiences of its delivery partners.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The new approach to aid announced by the Foreign Secretary in November 2020 marks our commitment to promoting science, research and data, and a rigorous use of evidence in the design of our interventions. Programmes will be designed to strive for the best possible development outcomes and impact, recognising that development action often takes place in risky and difficult environments. We insist on the rigorous use of evidence and scrutiny in programme design.
At the time of the FCDO merger the Foreign Secretary committed to reinforce the role of the Independent Commission on Aid Impact (ICAI) to strengthen further transparency and accountability in the use of taxpayers' money. In December, FCDO completed a review of ICAI to strengthen its impact and provide practical, action-oriented recommendations to support Government in delivering UK aid.
Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that decisions on changes to the Official Development Assistance budget will secure the best possible value for money for the residual spend.
Answered by Nigel Adams
On November 26 the Foreign Secretary announced new measures to ensure every penny of the UK aid budget goes as far as possible and makes a world leading difference.
As well as focusing our aid on strategic priorities in countries where the UK's development, security and economic interests align, these measures included three ways to improve the quality of aid across government. To increase coherence, FCDO decided the final allocation of ODA to other departments, a process which the Foreign Secretary concluded in January 2021. Programmes were judged against their fit with the UK's strategic priorities, evidence of impact achieved, and whether they represent value for money. Finally, the Spending Review agreed to establish a new administrative cost framework to give departments greater flexibility to design the best projects, rather than outsourcing work to expensive consultants.
Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what criteria his Department will use when deciding which elements of the aid budget to change.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The Foreign Secretary has set out seven core priorities for the UK's aid budget in the overarching pursuit of poverty reduction: climate and biodiversity; Covid and global health security; girls' education; science and research; defending open societies and resolving conflict; humanitarian assistance; and promoting trade and economic growth. Aid will be allocated against these priorities while taking into account considerations of need, including levels of poverty, ability of countries to self-finance poverty reduction and the UK's comparative advantage, to ensure that every penny we spend on ODA goes as far as possible and has the greatest impact and delivers value for money.
Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 10 February 2021 to Question 149769 on Uganda: Overseas Aid, what representations he had made to his Ugandan counterpart on alleged human rights abuses by the Ugandan security services since the Ugandan general election on 14 January 2021; and what steps his Department is taking to support (a) human rights, (b) democracy and (c) the rule of law in that country.
Answered by James Duddridge
Following the Presidential election results on 16 January 2021, I set out, in a statement, our significant concerns about the overall political climate surrounding the elections and have urged the Government of Uganda to meet its international human rights commitments. The treatment of opposition candidates and their supporters since the Ugandan elections is concerning and does not provide for an open political landscape for democracy to flourish. Following the unacceptable constraints placed on the opposition candidate, Robert Kyagulanyi, the British High Commission in Kampala pressed the Ugandan authorities to remove restrictions on his political freedoms prior to the lifting of his de facto house arrest on 25 January. The recent violence towards journalists on 17 February was unacceptable and we welcomed the commitment of the Chief of Defence Forces to investigate the matter and take appropriate action. Our High Commissioner continues to engage with political leaders across all parties to discuss these issues and push for democratic engagement and reform.
The UK Government supports programmes for civil society groups and organisations in Uganda that promote democracy, robust institutions, and transparent elections. We have worked with Uganda over a number of years, helping to strengthen institutions in Uganda to uphold democratic freedoms and advocate for the equal treatment of all Ugandans according to the terms of the Ugandan constitution and laws. As a long-standing partner to Uganda, the UK will continue to follow post-election developments closely, and engage with the Ugandan Government and Ugandans to advocate for democracy.