Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to support UK civil society organisations not currently in receipt of her Department's (a) grants and (b) contracts during the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Civil society organisations (CSOs) are key partners for DFID in our response to COVID-19. We have pledged new funding specifically for civil society, including UK-based CSOs, to support the international COVID-19 response, including £20 million, the majority of which will be allocated through the Rapid Response Facility, and funding through the DFID Unilever COVID-19 Hygiene and Behaviour Change Coalition. The Small Charities Challenge Fund is open for grant applications from small UK-based development charities.
Aside from new opportunities to gain funding through grants and contracts, there are no plans for DFID to support organisations it does not fund. UK-based CSOs are also eligible for the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to support local civil society organisations providing front line services in the Global South to tackle the (a) spread and (b) consequences of the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Civil society organisations (CSOs) in the global south are key partners for DFID. Many of DFID’s programmes support local CSOs in order to deliver humanitarian and development outcomes, including providing humanitarian support to tackle the spread and consequences of COVID-19. As DFID’s country network adapts programming to respond to COVID-19, country teams are considering how they can do this through partners, including local CSOs.
In addition to direct funding from DFID, there are funds available through our global multilateral support, with southern-based CSOs acting as delivery partners. A key funding avenue is the Country-Based Pooled Funds, to which DFID is a major donor. CSOs receive significant funding through these. COVID-19 allocations have been made through these funds, including in Myanmar, Afghanistan and Sudan so far. We expect further allocations soon.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans she has to discuss the development of the health strengthening systems position paper with representatives of third-sector non-governmental organisations.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The UK government’s manifesto committed to build on existing efforts to end preventable deaths of mothers, new-born babies and children by 2030. Our support for the poorest countries to strengthen their health systems, scale up quality health services and achieve universal health coverage is central to this commitment. We will continue to discuss plans for publication of the health system strengthening position paper with our civil society colleagues, who have contributed valuable feedback to earlier drafts.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, in which month her Department plans to publish its health systems strengthening position paper.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Our support for low-income countries to scale up quality health services and achieve universal health coverage is central to the UK government’s manifesto commitment to build on existing efforts to end preventable deaths of mothers, new-born babies and children by 2030. Publication of the health systems strengthening position paper must therefore be coordinated with other information on how the UK government will deliver this manifesto commitment. We are committed to publishing the health systems strengthening position paper but the exact month cannot be determined until this other information is available.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much and what proportion of Official Development Assistance has been allocated to (a) healthcare, (b) physical health and (c) mental health in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Details of the UK’s Official Development Assistance spend on health are published in Statistics on International Development. Our reporting is based on internationally agreed Organisation for Co-operation and Development - Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC) codes, as part of our commitment to transparent reporting of development assistance in a way that permits international comparisons. We do not currently collect the information disaggregated between physical and mental health as these are not categories within the OECD-DAC codes.
We are focused on ending the preventable deaths of mothers, new-born babies and children. We work to strengthen countries’ health systems, including for both physical and mental health, towards achieving Universal Health Coverage by 2030, which will enable us to lead the way in helping countries to tackle diseases such as malaria and Ebola.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much and what proportion of his Department's budget was allocated to food costs for the UK-Africa investment summit 2020.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As with all such Government events, the full costing will be available in due course. 2020 UK ODA spend, including for this Summit, will be reported in Statistics on International Development, published by DFID in Autumn 2021.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much and what proportion of his departmental budget was allocated to funding accommodation for attendees of the UK-Africa investment summit 2020.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As with all such Government events, the full costing will be available in due course. 2020 UK ODA spend, including for this Summit, will be reported in Statistics on International Development, published by DFID in Autumn 2021.