Asked by: Blair McDougall (Labour - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to help ensure access to clean water for people in the developing world.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds
The UK is committed to advancing access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in developing countries and for those most likely to be marginalised, including women and girls. Our £18.5 million WASH Systems for Health programme is supporting governments in six developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia to strengthen WASH systems. The UK also provides support to UNICEF to strengthen the capacity of 11 government partners to establish climate resilient WASH services. Last month I announced a new package of aid for Sudan, South Sudan and Chad. This package includes provision for 40,000 displaced people with safe water in South Sudan. Additionally, support to the Sanitation and Water for All partnership supports the leadership, collaboration and accountability needed for progress globally.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to advance clean water, sanitation, and hygiene programmes globally.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds
The UK is committed to advancing access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in developing countries and for those most likely to be marginalised, including women and girls. Our £18.5 million WASH Systems for Health programme is supporting governments in six developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia to strengthen WASH systems. The UK also provides support to UNICEF to strengthen the capacity of 11 government partners to establish climate resilient WASH services. Last month I announced a new package of aid for Sudan, South Sudan and Chad. This package includes provision for 40,000 displaced people with safe water in South Sudan. Additionally, support to the Sanitation and Water for All partnership supports the leadership, collaboration and accountability needed for progress globally.
Asked by: Lord Leigh of Hurley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether any of the £85 million recently announced to tackle antimicrobial resistance will be used to improve access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) globally, given the commitments outlined on WASH in the new national action plan, Confronting antimicrobial resistance 2024 to 2029.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The UK has committed up to £85 million in additional funding to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Of this, up to £50 million will be used to support low- and middle-income countries improve access to essential antimicrobial drugs; up to £25 million will be used to support action on AMR in the Caribbean; and up to £10 million will support a new independent science panel for AMR. It is not anticipated that these three components will directly be used to support improved water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). The UK recognises the key importance of WASH for preventing infections and thereby preventing the emergence of AMR. In 2022, the UK invested £48 million in water supply and sanitation in developing countries. For example, we fund the multi-year £18.5 million WASH Systems for Health programme, which supports governments in six developing countries to strengthen the systems that provide sustainable WASH services - a key part of reducing the global infectious disease burden.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of fishing by China’s state-sponsored distant water fleet in the (a) Andaman Sea and (b) Gulf of Thailand.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The UK is committed to engaging with other countries, including China, to sustainably manage fisheries, protect ecosystems and combat Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. We support ocean protection through appropriate funding. For example, at the G7 Leaders Summit in Cornwall, the Government pledged £500 million to create our Blue Planet Fund to help developing countries protect the ocean from pollution, overfishing and habitat loss. We also push for multilateral action internationally, including through Regional Fisheries Management Organisations, the Convention of Biological Diversity and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation. The UK remains committed to international law and UNCLOS.
China is building a network of fishing bases in developing countries across four continents. Comprising ports, boats, and fish processing plants, the bases service China's distant-water fleet: an armada of over 4,600 vessels (potentially many more) that operates in the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of 42 countries and accounts for 14 percent of worldwide marine catch by value.
Asked by: Lord Leigh of Hurley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support healthcare facilities in developing countries to have clean water, decent toilets and better hygiene, as a cost-effective means for reducing the global infectious disease burden.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The UK is committed to supporting access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), including in healthcare facilities, as part of our approach to Ending Preventable Deaths. Our £18.5m WASH Systems for Health programme will support governments in low- and lower-middle income countries to develop stronger systems crucial to the delivery of sustainable and climate resilient WASH services - a vital part of reducing the global infectious disease burden. Additionally, the Hygiene and Behaviour Change Coalition, funded by the UK, trained 460,000 health workers on hygiene improvements, and supported 14,800 facilities with WASH supplies.
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the press release entitled UK announces new support for improving access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene in Asia and Africa, published on 22 March 2023, what assessment he has made of the potential contribution of that funding to improving water, sanitation and hygiene in those regions; which organisations and partners he plans to allocate that funding to; and which financing models he plans to use for that funding.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK's £18.5 million of funding of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Systems for Health has the potential, by strengthening systems, needed to establish reliable, resilient and inclusive WASH services, to help end preventable deaths in up to five developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Organisations and partners for the main delivery phase will be selected during the design phase. The financing model is expected to be a grant funding mechanism to partners that can demonstrate capability in supporting countries to strengthen their WASH systems.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help increase (a) access to safe and affordable drinking water and (b) the quality of life of young children.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
WASH is an essential part of the UK's work on global health and education. To maximise impact when providing safe and affordable drinking water, we are changing our approach from direct delivery to helping governments strengthen the systems that they need to deliver sustainable, resilient and inclusive WASH services at scale.
Our systems approach benefits the quality of life of children, and forms part of our work on ending the preventable deaths of mothers, babies and children. Our support promotes equitable access to nutritious diets, quality health services, addresses health impacts of climate change and improves access to WASH services.
Asked by: Mark Pawsey (Conservative - Rugby)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what progress he has made on integrating water, sanitation and hygiene improvements within his Department's health programmes.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
We are taking action to improve water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in developing countries through global leadership, strengthening WASH and health systems, improving hygiene and as part of our humanitarian programmes. FCDO work in this area is an integral part of Global Health policy and programming, as laid out in our ending preventable deaths approach paper.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to increase access to clean water globally.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
Improving access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) is a FCDO global health priority, forming a core part of the UK's approach to ending the preventable deaths of mothers, babies and children. Since 2015, the UK government supported over 60 million people to gain access to clean water and/or sanitation. Our support to Sanitation and Water for All reinforces water sector leadership, accountability and collaboration in over 70 countries. Through engagement in the G7, the G20, UN summits and the WASH in Healthcare Facilities Taskforce we ensure WASH is included in efforts to prevent future pandemics and to reduce anti-microbial resistance.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help climate finance reach low-income communities vulnerable to climate change; and whether she has held discussions with her counterparts in high-income countries on this matter.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The UK's International Climate Finance delivered by BEIS, FCDO, and Defra, supports developing nations to adapt and build resilience to the effects of climate change including through improved protecting and restoring nature, improving food security, water management and preparedness against climate-related disasters. At COP27 the Prime Minister announced the UK will triple our funding on adaptation from £500 million in 2019 to £1.5 billion in 2025. In addition, in partnership with the Champions Group of Adaptation Finance, the UK and other climate finance providers are collaborating with low income climate vulnerable countries, to address barriers to increasing flows, quality, effectiveness and accessibility of adaptation finance, including to the poorest people and communities who are already suffering the most from climate change.