Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent estimate his Department has made of the (a) sum and (b) proportion of (i) Official Development Assistance spending and (ii) British International Investments that were written off as a result of fraud in each of the last 10 years for which data is available.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
There have been no write-offs of British International Investment spending in the last ten years as a result of fraud. The suitability of international organisations receiving Official Development Assistance (ODA), including the projects they organise and grants they provide, is continually assessed through FCDO annual reviews and business cases, as set out in the Department's Programme Operating Framework.
The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) independently scrutinises UK ODA to international organisations to assess value for money and impact, including recent ICAI reviews of tackling fraud in multilateral organisations. For example, the 'Tackling fraud in UK aid through multilateral organisations' review was published on 22 March 2022.
ODA spend is reported on a calendar year basis in line with international reporting requirements; from 2015 to 2021 totalled £95.2 billion. Based on write off and fraud loss data, our records show that losses written off because of fraud cases totalled £3.0 million over the financial years 2015/16 to 2021/21. This equates to 0.003% of the proportion of ODA written off because of fraud.
The tables below provide the breakdown requested.
Calendar Year | UK Net ODA (£) |
2015 | 12,135,596,440 |
2016 | 13,377,131,230 |
2017 | 14,051,240,110 |
2018 | 14,542,017,180 |
2019 | 15,175,654,880 |
2020 | 14,476,944,180 |
2021 | 11,422,628,910 |
Total | 95,181,212,930 |
Financial Year | £ of write off/fraud |
2015/2016 | 156,967 |
2016/2017 | 58,095 |
2017/2018 | 1,096,551 |
2018/2019 | 955,262 |
2019/2020 | 401,121 |
2020/2021 | 71,886 |
2021/2022 | 218,349 |
Total | 2,958,231 |
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department plans to ringfence official development assistance spending on projects for women and girls in upcoming spending plans.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We intend to update on the spending commitments set out in the International Development Strategy once we have worked through decisions with our partners and suppliers.
This financial year, we will prioritise spend in line with the Strategy, particularly focussing on humanitarian programmes and women and girls - while also taking the potential new and emerging needs and priorities of our partner countries into account.
Through our new Women and Girls Strategy, at least 80% of FCDO's bilateral aid programmes will have a focus on gender equality. This is a reflection of how we are prioritising gender and equality across our work.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
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 safeguarding implications of humanitarian actors distributing aid through male-only teams.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The available evidence suggests that most safeguarding violations linked to the delivery of humanitarian assistance are committed by men and that most of the survivors and victims are women and girls. Given the power imbalances inherent in the distribution of humanitarian assistance the safeguarding risks are likely to be lowered by having women actively involved in distribution work. The UK continues to advocate for and actively support the recruitment, training and protection of women in humanitarian work to help reduce the risk of sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment and other forms of harm.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make it his policy to take steps to help prevent the male-only delivery of humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The UK condemns the Taliban's decision to suspend Afghan women from working for NGOs in Afghanistan. We continue to press the Taliban for a reversal of the edict and make clear that Afghan women are vital to the delivery of humanitarian and development operations in Afghanistan.
The UK is working with international partners and NGOs to collectively find solutions that enable women to play an inclusive role in the design, delivery and monitoring of humanitarian assistance.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
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 reports of the mass poisoning of school girls in Iran; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are aware of reports of mass poisonings of school girls across Iran since November and continue to monitor developments closely. On 3 March the Minister for the Middle East Lord (Tariq) Ahmad urged the Iranian authorities to investigate these incidents urgently and with transparency. The Minister underlined that it is essential that all girls can exercise their human right to education without fear.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the meeting of Jordanian, Egyptian, Israeli, Palestinian and US officials on 26 February 2023; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As we made clear on 4 March in a joint statement with France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain, we warmly welcome the recent meeting in Aqaba, where Israelis and Palestinians both affirmed reciprocal commitments, including on efforts to de-escalate and work towards a just and lasting peace. The UK calls on all parties to make good on the commitments made in Aqaba to de-escalate tensions and to work constructively to ensure the next meeting in Egypt is a success.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much funding (a) the UK and (b) all other donors pledged at the International Ministerial Conference on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative 2022.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) International Conference, hosted by the Foreign Secretary in November 2022, was a key opportunity to turn the dial on global action to prevent and respond to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV). At the Conference, the Foreign Secretary launched the UK's new PSVI Strategy, backed by up to £12.5 million of new funding.
The UK also launched a new Political Declaration and secured endorsements from 53 countries and the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General Patten, as well as 40 national commitments detailing the tangible actions, including funding commitments, they will take to tackle CRSV.
The national commitments made by the UK and other countries can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/conflict-related-sexual-violence-political-declaration-at-the-2022-preventing-sexual-violence-in-conflict-initiative-conference/international-ministerial-conference-on-preventing-sexual-violence-in-conflict-initiative-2022-national-commitments
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department plans to increase UK aid to healthcare providers in the West Bank in response to increases in violence by Israeli (a) forces and (b) settlers in that region.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Although the UK no longer provides direct funding to the Palestinian Authority (PA) to support healthcare or healthcare workers, the UK recognises the importance of building the capability of Palestinian institutions to continue to provide essential services. We continue to work with the PA to improve its financial management and revenue collection. This will provide increased revenue to support service delivery, including for healthcare services. We are also working with the UN Development Programme to enhance transparency and accountability within the Palestinian healthcare sector. The UK is also a key donor to UNRWA, which helps 3.5 million Palestinian refugees across the region to access quality primary health services.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what flagship countries his Department has identified for implementation of the Ending Preventable Deaths Approach Paper; and what progress his Department has made on implementation of the Paper.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We have identified eleven potential flagship countries: Bangladesh, DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Somalia and South Sudan. We are conducting bottleneck analysis to determine how best the UK could support accelerated action on EPD.
Since the paper was launched, other progress includes: pledging at least £1.5 billion to improve nutrition for mothers, babies and children; £1.65 billion to GAVI's immunisation work; £15 million to support the Global Financing Facility for women, children and adolescents; and £1 billion to the Global Fund, helping to prevent deaths from HIV, TB, and malaria.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether following the publication of the document entitled Ending preventable deaths of mothers, babies and children by 2030 on 14 December 2021 his Department identified a champion for that strategy.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
I took on the role of Ministerial Champion for Ending Preventable Deaths (EPD). The Champion role will galvanise global action on EPD through partnerships with partner and donor governments. It will help promote UK academia, and public-private partnerships around research, technology and products that will contribute towards improving survival rates of women, babies and children.
In January, I hosted a roundtable event to strengthen collaborative efforts between FCDO, Parliamentarians and civil society. Next month, I [Minister Mitchell] will take part in an international event the UK is co-chairing alongside the US, UNICEF, India and Senegal on EPD.