Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much funding her Department has provided to (a) Jordan, (b) Iraq, (c) Israel, (d) The Palestinian Territories, (e) Turkey, (f) Saudi Arabia and (g) Yemen since 2016.
Answered by Alistair Burt
Bilateral official development assistance (ODA) provided by the Department for International Development in 2016 are published in Statistics on International Development 2017:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistics-on-international-development-2017
This shows calendar spend from 1 January to 31 December 2016. The figures include ODA provided by other government departments and cross government funds. The figures for 2017 will be published in autumn 2018.
Israel and Saudi Arabia are not eligible for ODA funding and the UK does not, therefore, contribute to bilateral ODA programmes in either country.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what her Department’s policy is on the purchase of premium economy and business class flights by departmental senior executives; and if she will set out how much of the £24,065.94 total expenses incurred by senior executives set out in the publication DFID senior executives business expenses were due to expenditure on premium economy or business class flights.
Answered by Rory Stewart
DFID policy is for employees always to use the most efficient and economic means of travel for duty visits. All journeys of up to 5 hours must be in economy/standard class. Journeys of over 5 hours must also be in economy/standard class unless there is legitimate business approval provided in advance for a higher standard of travel.
Details of Senior Executives’ expenses, which include a breakdown of expenditure on premium economy and business class flights, can be found at the following address https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/669802/travel-april-june-2017.csv/preview
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the oral contribution by the Minister for the Middle East on 18 July 2017, Official Report, column 297WH, what funds her Department has allocated to supporting engagement with Iran on economic development and openness.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The Department for International Development has not allocated any funds to supporting engagement with Iran on economic development and openness.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much funding her Department has provided to Iran to assist with human rights projects in each year since 2010-11; and how much such funding she plans to allocate in future years.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The Department for International Development (DFID) has not provided any funding to Iran to assist with human rights projects since 2010, and has no plans to do so in future. Between 2011 and 2015, the UK held no diplomatic relations with Iran.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assistance her Department has provided to the Occupied Palestinian Territories in each year since 2010-11.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The amounts of DFID official bilateral assistance to the Occupied Palestinian Territories since financial year 2010/11 are set out below. The final figure for 2016/17 will be published in mid-2017.
Financial Year | Total DFID bilateral assistance (£) |
2010/11 | 73,572,000 |
2011/12 | 91,212,000 |
2012/13 | 87,735,000 |
2013/14 | 93,859,000 |
2014/15 | 83,404,000 |
2015/16 | 77,351,000 |
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the Answer of 18 December 2015 to Question 19719, on Syria, what progress her Department has made in delivering basic governance in Syria since 2015-16.
Answered by Rory Stewart
In Syria, we deliver basic governance by supporting local councils in moderate opposition areas to deliver basic services in response to needs identified by their communities. In 2016, UK support helped local councils provide over 2.3 million Syrians with improved infrastructure; including new roads, electricity grids and waste collection services.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the Answer of 7 July 2015 to Question 4985, what funding her Department has provided for services in Afghanistan providing legal advice to women who are victims of domestic violence in the last three years.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The UK is committed to supporting women who are victims of all forms of violence in Afghanistan. From 2014-2016 the UK funded a £3.1m programme which helps women who have been victims of violence to get the justice they deserve. The programme trained hundreds of government officials, community members, police, judiciary, religious leaders, and law students on the Ending Violence Against Women law. It also established a hotline that provided counselling and legal support to survivors of violence which took over 25000 calls from over two years from women who had been victims of domestic and other forms of violence.
Between 2016 and 2018, the UK is providing £3.1m to UNFPA to establish Family Protection Centres in hospitals that provide health, counselling, legal services and referrals to women who have been victims of violence in Afghanistan.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much funding her Department has provided to (a) Turkey, (b) Lebanon, (c) Jordan and (d) to assist with the effect of the refugee situation in Syria in those countries in each year since 2014-15.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Between April 2014 and December 2016 DFID spent over £596 million on projects in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. All of DFID’s bilateral funding to these countries is to assist with the effects of the refugee situation. A breakdown of this funding by country and financial year is provided below.
Country | 2014/2015 | 2015/2016 | 2016/2017 (up to Dec 2016) | Total spend |
Turkey | £9.8m | £7.8m | £86.1m | £103.7m |
Lebanon | £62m | £95.9m | £94.8m | £252.8m |
Jordan | £50.7m | £48.4m | £140.9m | £240m |
Total | £122.5m | £152.1m | £321.9m | £596.5m |
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many and what proportion of people employed by her Department are from other EU countries.
Answered by Rory Stewart
All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules.
Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose.