Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the work of the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) and its affiliated organisation Caritas Internationalis.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Any partner who is intended to be a direct recipient of FCDO funding must have a documented due diligence assessment in place. A due diligence assessment for a grant recipient determines whether an Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) partner has the capacity and capability to manage programme funds and deliver the programme or project objectives specific to the context. Our records indicate that the legacy departments of the Department for International Development and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office conducted due diligence assessments on Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) and Caritas Internationalis; however, our records indicate that there has been no assessment since the departments merged to form the FCDO.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, which organisations her Department allocates funding to for programmes in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The Department for International Development’s bilateral programme in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) delivers UKaid to the Congolese people through a range of organisations (private sector, non-governmental and multilateral). These are:
1. Action Contre la Faim (ACF)
2. Adam Smith International (ASI)
3. Association de Santé Familiale (ASF)
4. Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD)
5. Cambridge Education (CE)
6. Chemonics / Global Development Firm
7. Concern International
8. Counterpart International
9. Fondation Hirondelle
10. IMA World Health
11. International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC)
12. Mercy Corps
13. National Democratic Institute (NDI)
14. Observatoire de la Dépense Publique (ODEP)
15. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
16. Oxford Policy Management (OPM)
17. Palladium Group
18. PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC)
19. Province of the Anglican Church of Congo
20. Search for Common Ground (SFCG)
21. The Carter Center
22. Tulane Institute of Infant and Early Childhood Health
23. The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)
24. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
26. United Nations Joint Human Rights Office (UN-JHRO)
27. Westminster Foundation for Democracy
29. World Food Programme (WFP)
30. World Bank
31. Women and Young Girl International (WYG International)
In addition, core contributions to multilateral and centrally managed programmes spend money in DRC.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much the Government has provided to church-based agencies for development and humanitarian support in Africa in each of the last five years.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
DFID works closely with a number of Christian organisations in Africa including Christian Aid, Cafod and World Vision, but DFID does not disaggregate and retain specific information on funding to church-based agencies. This information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what funding the Government has provided to church-based agencies for work in Africa in each of the last five years.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
DFID works closely with a number of Christian organisations in Africa including Christian Aid, Cafod and World Vision, but DFID does not disaggregate and retain specific information on funding to church-based agencies. This information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Judd (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
Her Majesty's Government, in the light of findings published by CAFOD in its report UK support for energy in developing countries that between 2009 and 2013 43 per cent of UK spending in the energy sector in developing countries was focussed on fossil fuels and 19 per cent on renewable forms of energy, whether they are planning to seek to reverse those proportions; and if so, what action they are taking to achieve that objective.
Answered by Lord Bates
Between 2011 and 2016, UK Aid provided 12 million people with improved access to clean energy and installed more than 400 MW of clean energy capacity.
The percentages cited in the CAFOD report draw on several sources and appear to include a wide range of funding, including funding which is not classified as Official Development Assistance.
The UK government has committed £5.8bn over the April 2016 and March 2021 period for tackling climate change overseas. This commitment will continue to drive support for developing countries to move to low-carbon economies including renewable energy, as well as building their resilience and helping them to manage their natural resources more effectively.
The DFID bilateral programme will not support new coal plants or new investments in existing coal-fired power plants. We will only consider supporting proposals for multilateral development banks to finance coal-fired power plants in the world’s poorest countries where no other economically feasible alternative exists, the investment is part of a credible low emission development strategy and where there is a clear poverty reduction case.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what financial assistance her Department gives to Christians in developing countries; and what assistance can be given to individual Christians within the criteria set by her Department.
Answered by Rory Stewart
All UK-funded aid is distributed on the basis of need irrespective of race, religion or ethnicity. A very wide range of individuals, across all faiths, benefit from this assistance.
All faith groups can access and receive funding through DFID’s major civil society funding mechanisms: UK Aid Direct and UK Aid Match. Those already in receipt of this funding include: CAFOD, Christian Aid, Samaritans Purse and Habitat for Humanity.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, who represented the Government at the third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa; and what steps the Government took to consult with NGOs, churches and other stakeholders on the UK's contribution in advance of that conference.
Answered by Justine Greening
As Secretary of State for International Development I led the UK delegation at the third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa. In the run up to the conference, the UK Government undertook a programme of consultations on the FFD agenda with a range of stakeholders, including BOND, the UK membership body for organisations working in international development, whose members include Christian Aid and CAFOD.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what meetings Ministers in his Department have had with civil society or religious groups based in the UK which have discussed the situation in Israel and Palestine since 1 July 2014; which organisations attended each such meeting; and when each such meeting took place.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Since the start of July, I have held two meetings with civil society/religious groups based in the UK to discuss the situation in Israel and Palestine.
On 5 August, I held a meeting with a delegation from the British Arab Association. Representatives from the British Arab Association, Syrian Association, Sudanese Association, Young Arab Professionals, Arab Women Association, Yemeni Association, Palestinian Return Centre and the Palestinian Forum in Britain attended.
The other meeting was also held on 5 August with Non-Governmental Organisations. Representatives from Amnesty International, Oxfam, Save the Children, Christian Aid, Action Aid, Welfare Association, Quakers, Medical Aid for Palestinians, British Red Cross, Catholic Aid Agency for England and Wales (CAFOD), Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU) and Friends of Birzeit University attended. This was a joint Foreign and Commonwealth Office-Department for International Development (DFID) meeting with myself and DFID Minister of State for International Development, The Rt Hon Desmond Swayne.
Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what meetings he or Ministers in his Department have had with civil society or religious groups based in the UK to discuss the situation in Israel and Palestine since the start of July 2014; and which such groups have met on what dates.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Since the start of July, I have held two meetings with civil society/religious groups based in the UK to discuss the situation in Israel and Palestine.
On 5 August, I held a meeting with a delegation from the British Arab Association. Representatives from the British Arab Association, Syrian Association, Sudanese Association, Young Arab Professionals, Arab Women Association, Yemeni Association, Palestinian Return Centre and the Palestinian Forum in Britain attended.
The other meeting was also held on 5 August with Non-Governmental Organisations. Representatives from Amnesty International, Oxfam, Save the Children, Christian Aid, Action Aid, Welfare Association, Quakers, Medical Aid for Palestinians, British Red Cross, Catholic Aid Agency for England and Wales (CAFOD), Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU) and Friends of Birzeit University attended. This was a joint Foreign and Commonwealth Office-Department for International Development (DFID) meeting with myself and DFID Minister of State for International Development, The Rt Hon Desmond Swayne.