Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent discussions she has had with the South African government about the integration of black and minority ethnic groups into the wealth creating process; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
DFID bilateral assistance to South Africa provides support to the Government of South Africa’s National Development Plan (NDP), a key objective of which is to broaden social cohesion and redress inequalities of the past. This includes funding specifically aimed at promoting inclusive growth and the environment for job creation.
DFID’s current bilateral development programme in South Africa will end in 2015. The UK’s engagement with South Africa from 2015 will, however, include a focus on sharing skills and knowledge to accelerate poverty reduction and tackle inequality.
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to increase the availability of contraceptives to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS as part of her Department's programme in South Africa; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
DFID’s bilateral assistance to South Africa includes support to the South African National Strategic Plan covering HIV and AIDS. This has supported an improvement in access to HIV / AIDS health services in selected districts, and strengthened systems to effectively monitor and evaluate national plans for HIV / AIDS.
DFID’s current bilateral development programme in South Africa will end in 2015. The UK’s engagement with South Africa from 2015 will, however, include a focus on sharing skills and knowledge to accelerate poverty reduction and tackle inequality, providing access to international best practice in areas like health. To this end, in 2014 a bilateral UK – South Africa Memorandum of Understanding on health was signed to provide an overall framework for future cooperation and exchange.
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the success of her Department's efforts to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa through the aid progamme; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
In November 2013 the Department for International Development published a review of the UK’s 2011 HIV position paper, “Towards Zero Infections-Two Years On”. This paper provides an assessment of progress against key results, including in Africa where the majority of our HIV programmes are, to help DFID learn lessons and reassess its priorities to 2015.
We have been making good progress against our expected results. Treatment related commitments have already been achieved, and the remaining targets set out in the HIV position paper are on track to be met by 2015.
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to reduce energy costs in her Department; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The Department for International Development is reducing expenditure on gas through various measures including the installation of a green roof and biomass boiler at our office in Scotland; we have also improved the external fabric of the building reducing heat loss. We have reduced electricity use through reducing the number of IT servers, printers and by upgrading all laptops and PCs to models which use at least 50% less electricity. A reduction in plant operation times and wider temperature control at both UK sites has resulted in significant savings in both gas and electricity. In London we have recently moved to a new smaller office which will save 25% in energy usage; we also incorporated energy saving mechanisms as part of the refurbishment.
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the UK's priorities are for humanitarian policy at the September 2014 session of the UN General Assembly.
Answered by Justine Greening
The priority for humanitarian policy during this month’s session of the UN General Assembly is the creation of a more accountable, transparent and demand driven humanitarian system. This involves ensuring access to those in insecure environments, addressing violence against women and girls (VAWG) in emergencies, making actors accountable for protecting women and girls, and making use of innovative approaches and technologies to provide relief and build resilience.
Our priorities will also be aligned with our broader aims for the post-2015 development agenda.
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will take steps to prioritise measures to improve the position of women and girls as part of her Department's development programmes.
Answered by Justine Greening
DFID has put girls and women at the heart of international development. We prioritise work to improve the position of girls and women in everything we do.
On 13 May 2014, the International Development Gender Equality Act 2014, championed by my Hon Friend, the member for Stone (Sir William Cash MP), came into law. This means that before development or humanitarian assistance is provided, the impact on gender equality must be considered.
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what reports she has received on (a) the humanitarian situation in the Central African Republic and (b) the humanitarian implications of broader insecurity in the Sahel.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
Ministers are regularly updated on the situation on the Central African Republic (CAR). The humanitarian situation in CAR and among refugees remains critical. Malnutrition rates among refugee children are now over 30%, above the emergency threshold. Insecurity and poor rainfall mean that an estimated 1.7m people or a third of the population are food insecure across CAR.
The UK has provided £25.5m in humanitarian and development assistance to the Central African Republic (CAR) crisis since mid-2013.
Across the Sahel region there are ongoing conflicts in Mali, CAR and northern Nigeria which have caused the displacement of thousands of people to the neighbouring countries of Niger, Chad, Cameroon and DRC. The UK has provided £103m in humanitarian support to the Sahel since the beginning of 2013 to help over 1.6m people with immediate life-saving assistance.
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what policies and programmes her Department has to tackle female genital mutilation and early forced marriage; and what progress has been made in this area following the Prime Minister's Girl Summit held in July 2014.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
The UK is the biggest international donor to efforts tackling female genital mutilation, investing up to £35 million over 5 years. This funding enables three strands of work. First, work directly within local communities and governments to back action to end FGM in 15 countries. Secondly, research into the most cost-effective approaches to ending FGM, to make sure our work has the maximum impact, and thirdly social change communications and support to UK based diaspora groups for efforts to end the practice in their countries of origin.
At Girl Summit 2014, the Secretary of State for International Development announced a new commitment of up to £25 million for a UN multi-country programme to end child, early and forced marriage in 12 countries, and an investment of £31 million to generate new evidence on what works to transform lives of poor adolescent girls. DFID is also exploring new mechanisms to support civil society addressing FGM and CEFM.
DFID is driving forward its work on both of these important agendas. In parallel, we are building on the achievements of the Girl Summit, which included support from over 450 governments, organisations and individuals for a Charter that called to an end to FGM and CEFM, 12,000 social media pledges for this cause, and over 130 policy commitments contributing towards this objective. DFID is working to maintain this international momentum by calling for more signatories to the charter, delivery of the commitments that were made and further action to end these practices.
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many young people are involved in the International Citizens Service in (a) Brighton and Hove, (b) East Sussex and (c) South East England; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
As of 31 August 2014 more than 5,600 UK volunteers had started an International Citizen Service placement. This includes, following the pilot phase, 85 volunteers from Brighton and Hove, 139 from East Sussex (including Brighton and Hove) and 708 from the South East including East Sussex.
Statistics on participating UK volunteers, by age and by region are published annually (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/international-citizen-service-ics-volunteer-statistics-2013-2014)
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effects on her Department's aid programme in Nepal of the formation of the new government in that country.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
As part of the new planning cycle for the Department for International Development my office in Nepal has made a thorough assessment of the expected effects on the Department’s aid programme of the formation of the new government following elections in November 2013.
Accordingly we have shifted our aid programme towards creating the enabling environment for inclusive economic growth including an increased focus on jobs, infrastructure and local development, strengthening effective government including public financial management and anti-corruption measures, and continuing to strengthen the quality and targeting of service delivery. We have increased our focus on mitigating the risks of climate change and inequality so that economic and social gains are safeguarded.