Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to help ensure that funding package to help fight coronavirus and address the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Yemen announced on 2 June 2020 by the Foreign Secretary, is additional to planned humanitarian assistance to Yemen.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK’s £160 million commitment to Yemen for this financial year (2020/21) will help tackle the spread of COVID-19 by providing over 700,000 medical consultations, training 12,000 healthcare workers to work in a safe environment and providing a much-needed boost to nearly 4,000 health centres, to continue providing existing health services.
This funding will also respond to existing humanitarian needs in Yemen by providing support to at least 300,000 vulnerable people each month to help them buy food and household essentials, treat 40,000 children for malnutrition and provide 1 million people with improved water supply and basic sanitation.
We have already disbursed 32% of our £160 million funding to Yemen this year and expect to have disbursed over 50% by the end of July.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2020 on to Question 61564 on Department for International Development: Reorganisation, whether she held discussions with any civil society and development partners on the potential merger of her Department with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office before the decision to merge those Departments was made.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Civil society organisations and our development partners play invaluable role in our fight against poverty. We continue to engage extensively with them as we shape the new Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2020 to Question 61560, on what day was she given formal notice of the merger of her Department with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I am in regular contact with the Prime Minister and other ministers about how the UK allocates and spends ODA. Decisions on Machinery of Government changes are made by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister discussed the merger with both the Foreign Secretary and me ahead of his announcement in the House.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much Official Development Assistance her Department has spent in China in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The Department for International Development (DFID) does not spend Official Development Aid (ODA) bilaterally in China, nor has it done in any of the last five years. China does, however, receive ODA through multilateral institutions that DFID provides core funding to. The Statistics on International Development (SID) provides data on this at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/878406/Table-A10-7April2020.ods
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much Official Development Assistance her Department has spent in India in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The Department for International Development (DFID) invests in and partners with India to promote prosperity, reduce poverty and address climate change, while generating returns and creating trade, investment and other partnership opportunities for the UK.
Financial Aid to India ended in 2015. DFID deploys technical assistance and expertise to stimulate mutual prosperity and generate new markets. DFID uses Development Capital Investment to invest in Indian companies, alongside co-investment from Indian Government bodies, with the returns coming back to HMG in due course. Thus far £63.43 million has been returned.
In the past five years DFID has spent the following amounts in India. Data for 2019 will be published in the Autumn.
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
Technical Assistance | £86,757,207 | £32,092,840 | £22,164,717 | £23,518,884 |
Development Capital Investment | £33,606,105 | £22,115,930 | £25,526,321 | £21,812,215 |
Financial Aid | £30,027,560 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
Total | £150,390,872 | £54,208,770 | £47,691,038 | £45,331,099 |
India also receives ODA through multilateral institutions to whom DFID provides core funding. Information on all UK ODA spend is published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-international-development/about/statistics.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the Government's plans are for the Independent Commission for Aid Impact after the merger of her Department with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office will be accountable to parliament for how it spends UK aid. We remain committed to full transparency in our aid spending and there will continue to be parliamentary and independent scrutiny of the aid budget – the form this takes following the merger will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate her Department has made of the cost to the public purse of a potential loss in productivity as a result of combining her Department with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government will implement the creation of the new Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office in the most cost-effective way possible. This is primarily about bringing together our international efforts so we can maximise the UK’s influence and positive impact around the world. By aligning our efforts, we will maximise our influence and expertise and ensure we are in the best position to confront the challenges that lie ahead. This will strengthen our ability to lead the world’s efforts to recover from the coronavirus pandemic and allow us to seize the opportunities ahead, as we prepare to take on the G7 presidency and host COP26 next year.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with which civil society and development partners she held discussions on the potential merger of her Department with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office before the decision to merge the Departments was made.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Prime Minister has decided to merge the Department for International Development with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to form a new international department – the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The Government will continue to engage closely with interested stakeholders, including UK and international NGOs, in the weeks and months to come as we work to create the new department, which will unite our development expertise and first class diplomatic service to make the UK a greater force for good in the world.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, when she was made aware of the merger of her Department with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Decisions on Machinery of Government changes are made by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister discussed the merger with both the Foreign Secretary and me ahead of his announcement in the House.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether she had meetings with the Prime Minister ahead of the announcement that her Department is to merge with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Decisions on Machinery of Government changes are made by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister discussed the merger with both the Foreign Secretary and me ahead of his announcement in the House.