Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment his Department has made of the humanitarian situation in (a) Idlib and (b) Yemen.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
In Idlib and surrounding areas, the current offensive by Assad’s regime and Russian forces is compounding an already dire humanitarian situation, with 2.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. We are alarmed by UN reports that over 327,500 people have been displaced between 1 May and 13 June and more than 37 schools and 26 health facilities have been damaged or destroyed by airstrikes. DFID is committed to alleviating the suffering among those affected and is working with our partners to scale up our response to meet the growing needs among displaced people, including through the distribution of food, shelter and other essential items.
In Yemen, nearly 80 per cent of the entire population – over 24 million people – require some form of humanitarian assistance and almost 10 million people face extreme food shortages. In response to the crisis in Yemen, the UK has allocated £200 million this financial year alone. This funding will provide food for over a million Yemenis each month, screen 660,000 children under the age of five for malnutrition and provide urgent treatment for 30,000 of the most vulnerable children.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2015 to Question 16005, what steps her Department is taking to promote water and sanitation within the (a) agriculture, (b) social protection and (c) education programme areas to tackle malnutrition.
Answered by Nick Hurd
In total, DFID reached over 62 million people with water, sanitation and/or hygiene in the five years to 2014/15. We are currently formulating our new portfolio to deliver on the UK government’s commitment to help a further 60 million people get access to clean water and sanitation by 2020. All DFID nutrition programmes are based on an assessment of the causes of malnutrition, including the role that lack of clean water and poor sanitation and hygiene plays in making children ill and therefore increasing risk of malnutrition.
DFID’s approach on agriculture for the coming years is set out in detail in the new DFID Conceptual Framework on Agriculture (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dfids-conceptual-framework-on-agriculture). The Conceptual Framework focusses on the role of agriculture in supporting inclusive economic growth and poverty reduction, food and nutrition security and environmentally sustainable food production. This addresses key considerations on water.
DFID supports a range of social protection programmes, with a strong focus on social transfers. The transfers are non-contributory, regular and predictable grants to households or individuals, in cash or in-kind. They help poor and vulnerable people to increase their food consumption and diversify their diets, meet the costs of sending children to school, pay for health services, and meet other basic needs such as clothes, shelter, clean water and soap.
DFID provides access to water, sanitation and hygiene in schools through a range of programmes. Several projects under the Girls' Education Challenge (GEC) are implementing water and sanitation activities as part of their education initiatives. These activities include the construction and/or upgrading of toilets or other sanitation facilities, as well as communication and behaviour change activities to improve hygienic practices. Under this programme, Health Poverty Action (HPA) have constructed Eco-san toilets and girls’ changing rooms and Eco-Fuel have built disabled toilets in school to accommodate girls with disabilities.
Asked by: Stephen McPartland (Conservative - Stevenage)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November 2015 to Question 17479, what recent steps her Department has taken to work with the government of Sierra Leone to deliver high-quality programmes that will increase access to clean water.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The President of Sierra Leone has identified water as one of his top six priorities for the post-Ebola recovery period. In the first phase, the “early recovery” period, DFID is providing assistance to establish or improve water and sanitation facilities in over 250 health facilities and over 300 schools.
In July 2015 the Secretary of State announced a new £240m commitment to Sierra Leone for to help the country recover from the Ebola crisis, including the better delivery of public services. DFID has been supporting the Presidential Delivery Team to prioritise needs for the next phase, which include Water, Health and Education. The UK’s support on water and sanitation will be determined when those prioritised plans have been agreed. It may involve further upgrading of health facilities and schools. Significant support is also envisaged for improving infrastructure, including the existing water distribution system in Freetown; improved waste management, through support to the Government’s National Waste Management Policy and Strategy; and further investment in a programme of Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) – building on our successful £58m WASH programme from 2010 to 2015 which resulted in over 1 million people gaining access to water and to sanitation in Sierra Leone.