Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps the Government has taken to (a) support the African Risk Capacity Group in each of the last five years and (b) help more African countries join the African risk capacity agreement.
The African Risk Capacity Group (ARC) provides access to rapid and predictable finance following a disaster to protect lives and livelihoods. The UK provided a 20-year repayable loan of £30 million to ARC in 2014 to capitalise the risk pool. The UK has also provided £4.8 million of grants to ARC to implement capacity development and country engagement. The UK also helps countries access insurance through premium subsidies totalling £5.8 million to date, a further £3.5 million budgeted this year). The UK has also supported humanitarian actors (World Food Programme and START Network) to access their own ARC insurance policies to respond to disasters (totalling £7.9 million to date, a further £4 million budgeted for this year).