Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will make it her policy to report against the Sustainable Development Goals to the UN's High Level Political Forum in 2018.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The Government fully supports the UN’s follow-up processes for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and will announce in due course when the UK will put itself forward for a Voluntary National Review to showcase its work on the SDGs at the UN’s High Level Political Forum.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent steps the Government has taken to support meeting the specific targets on (a) violence against women and girls, (b) female genital mutilation and (c) child and early forced marriage within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Answered by Rory Stewart
This government is proud of its global leadership on tackling violence against women and girls. Globally, one in three women have experienced some form of physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime. We cannot and will not tolerate this.
We are supporting the UN and national governments in the challenge to eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls, including female genital mutilation (FGM) and child and early forced marriage (CEFM), across a range of interventions, including, but not limited to:
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 28 November 2016 to Question 53867, who will represent the Government at the 61st session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York in March 2017.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
Government representation at the 61st session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York in March 2017 is in the process of being finalised.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, (a) how much has been paid to officials of her Department as an additional incentive for working overtime on top of their normal overtime payments, (b) how much has been offered to any individual staff member for a one-off occurrence, (c) how many staff received such incentivised additional payments, (d) from which budgets such payments were made and (e) at which Ministerial or official level the business cases or payment approval for such payments was made in (i) each of the last five years and (ii) 2016 to date.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID supports staff wellbeing by encouraging people to work regular hours and ensures managers work with them to reprioritise work and avoid overtime. However, as a last resort, where overtime is necessary e.g. to help cope with exceptional or seasonal pressure, the Department either offers time off in lieu (TOIL) or overtime payments for staff up to Grade 6. There are no additional incentives.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what specific aid her Department is making available for Rohingya Muslims (a) fleeing Burma and (b) being persecuted in Burma.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID provides assessed contribution and core funding to the International Organisation for Migration (IoM) and UNHCR respectively for their work on migration issues and crises. These organisations are coordinating humanitarian responses in the region including in relation to Rohingya Muslims fleeing Burma.
At over £18 million since 2012, DFID is one of the largest bilateral humanitarian donors in Rakhine, providing over 126,000 displaced and conflict-affected people, including Rohingya, with water and sanitation as well as reducing malnutrition and gender based violence. We also work on community dialogue and reconciliation, and are one of the largest donors to a major rural livelihoods programme in Rakhine.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will increase financial aid for Palestine.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID is providing nearly £350million from 2011-2015 to address a broad range of Palestinian development and humanitarian needs. In addition, the UK has provided £17 million of emergency aid since the current conflict began. We keep the level of our funding under constant review.