Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Official Development Assistance allocated to (a) Somalia and (b) Somaliland.
Answered by James Duddridge
UK assistance supports the shared security and prosperity of all Somalis across Somalia, and including in Somaliland. Delivering aid in Somalia is notoriously challenging. We safeguard and monitor our investments through third party monitors, a dedicated call centre and regular evaluations. Somalia faces a protracted humanitarian crisis with over 5.9 million people in need of assistance. In 2020 UK Aid has provided 2.4 million vulnerable Somalis with life-saving cash assistance, nutrition, health, shelter and clean water. UK Aid is also helping to make a long-lasting tangible difference to the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable across Somalia, and including in Somaliland, by delivering sustainable programmes improving governance and security; infrastructure and health systems; and by helping create jobs and economic growth.
Asked by: Baroness Mone (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to support global nutrition beyond the Nutrition for Growth Commitments.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Prevention and treatment of malnutrition remains a priority for the UK as part of our commitment to end the preventable deaths of mothers, newborns and children. The FCDO remains committed to working closely with the Government of Japan to make sure the 2021 Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit generates meaningful action by governments, donors, businesses, the UN and civil society. We are looking carefully at options for a new UK commitment?post-2020?and will provide an update on our plans?in due course.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if his Department will publish a response to the 10 recommendations set out in UNICEF UK’s September 2020 report entitled A Future at Risk.
Answered by Wendy Morton
I welcome the publication of the UNICEF UK report 'A Future at Risk', it presents a comprehensive set of recommendations and a rich set of resources to highlight the negative impact COVID 19 has had on education and health in developing countries. Many of the recommendations highlighted in the report are closely aligned with FCDO priorities as we build back from COVID-19.
The UK is committed to ensuring children around the world return to school when it is safe to do so. We have adapted our bilateral education programmes in 18 countries in response to the pandemic and have stepped up funding for education including a £5 million uplift to the Education Cannot Wait fund for emergency education in fragile contexts, and over £5m of new funding to UNHCR to enable over 5500 teachers to provide vital education for children in 10 refugee-hosting countries over the crucial next seven months. We are also getting behind UNICEF's Reopening Better Campaign, both globally and in country.
The UK is committed to supporting developing countries' health systems to respond to COVID-19 and to achieving the health-related SDGs. We will do this with a particular focus on ending the preventable deaths of mothers, new-born babies and children by 2030 and also through increasing UK leadership on malaria. The UK remains committed to preventing and treating malnutrition, including work with the Government of Japan to ensure the 2021 Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit is a success, and advancing and defending comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights. The UK is actively working through the ACT-Accelerator and its partners to realise the aim of ensuring that COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and tests, once available, are accessible to all who need them.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when the Government plans to make its pledge of funding for Nutrition for Growth post-2020.
Answered by Wendy Morton
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given to PQ 74465 on 22 July 2020.
Asked by: David Mundell (Conservative - Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
What the Government's timescale is for pledging funding for Nutrition for Growth post-2020.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Tackling malnutrition is a major priority for our work to end the preventable deaths of mothers, newborns and children. From April 2015 to March 2020, we reached 55.1 million young children, women and adolescent girls through UK nutrition programmes. Last week, we announced a package of £119m UK Aid to address COVID-19 and famine. This includes a new partnership with UNICEF to address acute malnutrition more effectively and efficiently. Nick Dyer has been appointed as the UK’s first Special Envoy for Famine Prevention and Humanitarian Affairs. We are committed to Nutrition for Growth, with a new commitment subject to Spending Review decisions. We will update on plans following the outcome of that.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, when the Government plans to make its pledge of funding for Nutrition for Growth post-2020.
Answered by Wendy Morton
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given to PQ 74465 on 22/07/2020.
Asked by: Lord Chidgey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made in redirecting aid programmes in each relevant country in Africa through (1) their country programmes, (2) multilateral programmes, and (3) the World Food Programme; and for full details in each case.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Many bilateral and multilateral aid programmes across Africa have been redirected, prioritising health, humanitarian, growth and trade as well as education and nutrition, recognising that these components are vital both for the immediate response to COVID-19, and for longer-term recovery. The UK has successfully pivoted huge amounts of programming to support nimble and innovative responses in African countries.
For example, in South Sudan, the UK is making a significant contribution to government-led efforts to prevent and respond to cases of COVID-19, including through support for infection prevention and control as well as water, sanitation and hygiene activities. The UK’s flagship Sexual and Reproductive Health Programme (WISH) has been adapted in 24 countries across Africa to ensure the continuation of lifesaving services to marginalised women and girls despite COVID-19. Multilaterally, £20m has been provided towards the African Union’s new COVID-19 response plan which funds and deploys health workers, clinical equipment, and capacity building training to all 55 AU Member States. In 2020, DFID has so far provided USD 254million to support the World Food Programme’s operations – this includes a USD 19million contribution to The World Food Programme’s Global Services in response to COVID-19.
Asked by: David Mundell (Conservative - Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will make it her policy to maintain the Government's commitments under the Nutrition for Growth global pledging moment after December 2020.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The UK has been a global leader on nutrition since 2013 and remains committed to address malnutrition, particularly as the indirect impacts of COVID-19 are set to increase malnutrition significantly in the poorest countries of the world. We are looking carefully at options for a new UK commitment?post 2020?and will provide an update on our plans?in due course.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effect of the covid-19 pandemic on progress in tackling child (a) wasting and (b) stunting.
Answered by Wendy Morton
We are deeply concerned about the indirect impacts COVID-19 could have on people’s nutrition, the implications for loss of life and for long term deficits to children’s growth and development. Early estimates suggested that every percentage point drop in global GDP could result in an additional 0.7 million stunted children.
Since the early stages of the pandemic, we have been closely engaged in detailed modelling being carried out by academic and operational partners. This modelling assesses the likely increases in child wasting and stunting as a result of disruptions to health and nutrition services and to people’s ability to access nutritious foods. These estimates are due to be published in the Lancet journal shortly and will represent an evidence-based and collective view from global experts of the impact the pandemic will have on nutrition.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government plans to take to end preventable deaths of mothers, newborns and children under five through investments in global nutrition.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The UK remains committed to preventing and treating malnutrition as part of our pledge to end the preventable deaths of mothers, newborns and children. Continued investment to protect the nutrition of the poorest people in the world is even more important as countries face worsening levels of malnutrition in the face of COVID-19. We will continue to support programmes to address malnutrition beyond 2020 and will work with the Government of Japan to ensure the 2021 Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit is a success.