Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether she plans to reassign ageing to a specific Ministerial portfolio within her Department in response to the covid-19 outbreak.

Ageing is an important element in the Department for International Development (DFID’s) efforts to tackle extreme poverty and our collective commitment to ‘leave no-one behind’. Baroness Sugg has direct responsibility for ageing as part of her portfolio on Inclusive Societies, and we will make this more explicit in her online portfolio. We recognise that, in addition to their other vulnerabilities, older people, people with pre-existing conditions, and those with complex needs are disproportionately impacted and at more serious risk of severe complications and fatality due to COVID-19.

The UK is at the forefront of the global response to COVID-19 and has, to date, committed up to £241 million of funding to support the global efforts to combat the outbreak of COVID-19. We will work with all of our humanitarian partners to ensure that the most vulnerable, including older people and people with disabilities are reached and supported. We are therefore continuing to take action to support countries to care for their populations.