Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to develop an Africa strategy.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds
The Foreign Secretary launched a five-month consultation to inform the UK's new approach to the African continent during his visit to Nigeria and South Africa in November 2024. This follows the manifesto commitment to develop a fundamentally transformed partnership that engages with African countries as equals, promotes our economic growth and supports migration priorities. In recent weeks, the Foreign Secretary and the Minister for Africa met with African Ambassadors, High Commissioners, civil society, and African experts to discuss opportunities for building a long-term mutually beneficial UK relationship with African countries.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
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 deliver humanitarian aid to Sudan.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds
The UK continues to provide humanitarian assistance to support people in Sudan and those who have fled the country. The UK has recently doubled its Official Development Assistance (ODA) this year in response to the conflict in Sudan to £226.5 million - the vast majority of which is spent on vital humanitarian aid including support for the regional refugee crisis. This funding includes support to key UN agencies such as the World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF which are providing life-saving food assistance in Sudan. We are also one of the largest donors to the UN-led Sudan Humanitarian Fund (SHF) which delivers life-saving multi-sectoral support to communities across Sudan and is now piloting support to the Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs). The UK also continues to support the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), including their work on emergency preparedness and response, protection of civilians, and providing life-saving healthcare across Sudan.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will take steps to reduce transfer fees on family remittances.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) co-convene, with Save the Children, a UK-based Remittances Working Group which works with key partners including remittance service providers, diaspora communities, NGOs, and other UK government departments to seek solutions that can drive down costs associated with sending and receiving remittances. The FCDO also supports a remittances project trialling new ways to reduce remittance transfer fees for individuals, working with East African diaspora members in the UK who are sending money back to Kenya.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will collect data on family remittances from the UK.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office does not collect or report this data on the flow of family remittances out of the UK. The best source is the World Bank Group's remittance data which captures flows through formal banking systems and is published annually.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made recent representations to the authorities in Afghanistan on the treatment of women and girls in that country.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We repeatedly condemn the Taliban's draconian restrictions on women and girls' rights, both bilaterally and internationally. The UK Mission to Afghanistan in Doha continues to press Taliban acting ministers and Afghan officials on their grotesque human rights abuses. UK officials most recently visited Kabul in January 2025 to raise human rights issues with senior members of the Taliban, including their policies which limit women and girls' freedoms.
While in New York in January I publicly demonstrated my support for Afghan women and girls at the UN, ahead of the International Day of Education on 24 January.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to help ensure the long-term stability of (a) NGOs and (b) aid agencies that (i) provide humanitarian support and (ii) have other operations in Afghanistan.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is a strong supporter of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and aid agencies in Afghanistan. We are planning £161 million in aid to Afghanistan this financial year (2024-25), much of which supports NGOs to deliver lifesaving humanitarian aid for women, girls and other marginalised people. UK officials regularly lobby the Taliban on the vital role of NGOs and risk of further restrictions on their activities. The UK underlined the importance of the humanitarian response in a G7+ senior officials' joint statement on 20 December, and in a statement by UN Security Council members on 27 December.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what proportion of bilateral programme funding had a gender equality policy marker in the last two years for which information is available; and what proportion of that funding had gender equality as a (a) principal and (b) significant objective.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds
Official data, sourced from the Statistics for International Development, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Creditor Reporting System, is available for 2022 and 2023. This data indicates that in 2022, 58% of Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) programmes had a focus on gender equality (using OECD DAC markers Significant and Principal), with (1) 45% marked as Significant and (2) 13% marked as Principal. In 2023, 66% of FCDO bilateral ODA programmes had a focus on gender equality, with (1) 53% marked Significant and (2) 13% marked as Principal. The FCDO remains committed to ensure at least 80% of FCDO's bilateral aid programmes have a focus on gender equality by 2030. Due to an internal systems issue that excluded markers for a number of programmes, data submitted to the OECD Development Assistance Committee by the FCDO published in December 2024 was incorrect. This issue has now been resolved; data has now been corrected and an update published by the OECD.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to promote (a) internet freedom and (b) access to information to advocate freedom of religion internationally.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds
The UK is committed to media freedom, and advocating freedom of religion or belief (FoRB). The UK is a member of the Freedom Online Coalition (FOC), a partnership of 41 governments, co-ordinating diplomatic efforts and engaging with civil society and private sectors to support Internet freedom. We co-chaired the FOC's Task Force on Internet Shutdowns for the past two years. We also co-hosted the International Day for Universal Access to Information with UNESCO, in 2023. Internet freedom and access to information are important enablers of democracy and human rights, including the right to FoRB. We continue to promote FoRB internationally, by coordinating with partners at fora such as the UN, and bilaterally through our diplomatic network.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to help promote freedom of religious belief for (a) Christians and (b) other religious minorities in Nigeria.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds
The UK continues to champion Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) for all in Nigeria, and beyond. No one should live in fear because of what they do, or do not believe in. We work to uphold the right to FoRB through our position at the UN, G7 and other multilateral fora and bilaterally in Nigeria. The UK Government remains committed to supporting Nigeria to address ongoing security challenges, including violent extremism and intercommunal violence, which continue to impinge on the rights of Nigerians to FoRB. In June, we delivered a speech at the UNSC to promote FoRB and highlight our work to tackle intercommunal violence in Nigeria. At the latest UK-Nigeria Security and Defence Partnership dialogue in February 2024, we reaffirmed our commitment to working with Nigeria to respond to the shared threat of terrorism.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
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 coordinate with the interim government of Bangladesh to protect Hindu and other religious minority communities.
Answered by Catherine West
The UK has a long-standing commitment to the protection of human rights. We are committed to Freedom of Religion or Belief for all. In July, the UK government expressed concern about the situation in Bangladesh and called for all sides to end the violence. We support the fact-finding mission by the United Nations to identify human rights violations in Bangladesh. We welcome the Chief Advisor's recent comments on the need to support minority communities in Bangladesh, particularly in the lead up to Durga Puja. The Interim Government in Bangladesh has the UK's full support as it works to restore peace and order.