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 - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
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 - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
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: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
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 - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
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 - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
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 - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
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 - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
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.
Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to (1) identify, and (2) establish, finance streams to support countries vulnerable to the effects of climate change and who are already experiencing those effects.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The UK's International Climate Finance supports developing nations adapt and build resilience to the effects of climate change including through improved 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 climate vulnerable countries, to address barriers to increasing flows, quality, effectiveness and accessibility of adaptation finance.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to accelerate agricultural research into improving food productivity and yields to help address global food shortages.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Research, innovation and its take-up into practice are integral to supporting a thriving productive and sustainable food and farming sector, and to helping address the global challenges we face on food security. Defra engages with other Government departments, including the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), through the UK Research and Innovation-led Global Food Security Programme, which coordinates research and innovation activity of public funders to address food security challenges.
The recently published Government Food Strategy is a once in a generation opportunity to create a food system that feeds our nation today and protects it for tomorrow. It builds on existing work across Government and identifies new opportunities to make the food system more sustainable, resilient, and accessible for those across the UK. In the Food Strategy, Defra detailed plans to invest £270 million in industry-led research and development (R&D) through the Farming Innovation Programme, which will drive innovation in agriculture and horticulture to boost domestic productivity, including by helping to improve crop yield sustainability in the UK, and by driving the take up of new technologies, processes and practices by farmers and growers.
Defra's Genetic Improvement Networks (GINs) on Wheat, Oilseed Rape, Pulses and Vegetable crops aim to improve the main UK crops by identifying genetic traits to improve their productivity, sustainability, resilience and nutritional quality. Across the GINs we have already successfully identified genetic traits that have improved resilience to climate change and common pests and diseases, and we are working with breeders to incorporate these traits into elite UK crop varieties. Ongoing work is also investigating the capacity for nutritional improvement of our crops, such as improved pulse protein quality and nutritionally fortified rapeseed oil.
The Government is also taking steps to unlock the innovation potential of genetic technologies such as gene editing which can help increase crop yield more efficiently, and increase resilience to pests and disease which will benefit developing countries.
Further funding to support R&D for improved agricultural productivity in developing countries is administered by FCDO as part of the UK's overall Overseas Development Assistance (ODA). The UK's ODA R&D spend supports climate-resilient and nature positive food systems, combining 'upstream' science, technology and innovation with 'downstream' delivery, through partnerships with public sector, agribusinesses, and impact investors.
This includes support to the CGIAR, the world's leading agricultural science and innovation organisation (formerly the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research). The CGIAR has a strong track record in delivering tangible climate and development impacts in countries which are a priority for FCDO.
FCDO's Agriculture Research programmes include our major joint research initiatives with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, including work in Cambridge which uses biological nitrogen fixation to sustainably increase yields for small-holder farmers in Africa, and Edinburgh-based research on livestock health.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with her counterparts in other countries on progress towards universal access to (a) water, (b) sanitation and (c) hygiene in healthcare facilities.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Improving access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services, including in healthcare facilities, is a global health priority for the FCDO. It forms a core part of the UK's new Ending Preventable Deaths of mothers, babies and children strategy published in December 2021, and is critical to our wider global health objectives.
The Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development office continues to engage with international partners, including through the G7, G20 and the Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) forum, to ensure WASH is included in efforts to prevent the spread of infections including COVID-19, to prevent future pandemics, and to reduce the threat of anti-microbial resistance. We will also continue to pursue these objectives through our membership of the "WASH In Healthcare Facilities" international taskforce, through our bilateral programming such as our innovative hand hygiene partnership with Unilever, and through our core multilateral funding including to the World Bank and the World Health Organisation.