Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of whether the Ghanaian Government has achieved its Millennium Development Goal 1A of halving the proportion of people in that country whose income is less than $1.25 a day.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Ghana achieved the Millennium Development Goal 1A target of halving extreme poverty; the United Nations Development Programme noted this was met in 2006, ahead of 2015 deadline. We continue to work closely with Ghana to address the issues that matter to us both, in line with their vision of Ghana Beyond Aid, and our International Development Strategy. Details of UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) spend data is available through our publication Statistics on International Development: final UK aid spend 2021 (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistics-on-international-development-final-uk-aid-spend-2021): country bilateral ODA, including for Ghana, can be found in Additional Table A4a. Spend data for 2022/2023 will be available in Autumn 2023.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much Official Development Assistance his Department has spent in Ghana in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Ghana achieved the Millennium Development Goal 1A target of halving extreme poverty; the United Nations Development Programme noted this was met in 2006, ahead of 2015 deadline. We continue to work closely with Ghana to address the issues that matter to us both, in line with their vision of Ghana Beyond Aid, and our International Development Strategy. Details of UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) spend data is available through our publication Statistics on International Development: final UK aid spend 2021 (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistics-on-international-development-final-uk-aid-spend-2021): country bilateral ODA, including for Ghana, can be found in Additional Table A4a. Spend data for 2022/2023 will be available in Autumn 2023.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent steps she has taken through (a) international diplomacy, (b) Official Development Assistance, or (c) other means, to tackle food poverty in Zimbabwe.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
Zimbabwe is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the severe impacts of climate change and extreme weather. Despite a good harvest in 2021, 2.9 million people in rural and urban areas were classified as food insecure from October 2021 to April 2022. The 2022 harvest, particularly of maize, will likely be substantially lower than in 2021. The Zimbabwean Government statistics project 3.8 million people will fall into cereal food insecurity at the peak of the lean season in early 2023.
Since 2019 the UK has committed £50.4 million through the Zimbabwe Humanitarian and Resilience Programme (ZHARP), managed by the UN World Food Programme, to provide food aid and cash transfers to the poorest and most vulnerable Zimbabweans. In 2020, 413,000 extremely vulnerable people received food assistance in rural areas. From late 2021 onwards UK humanitarian assistance has focused on urban vulnerability with 10,125 people currently receiving monthly cash-based transfers. The UK is also helping reduce overall food insecurity and reliance on food aid by supporting resilience building programmes promoting climate-smart agriculture, solar irrigation, increased productivity for small farmers, better nutrition and dietary diversity.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to promote access to safe abortion and post-abortion care in Nigeria.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The UK does not provide direct support for abortion or post-abortion care in Nigeria. The UK-funded Lafiya programme supports strengthening health systems, as well as a broad range of primary health care interventions that includes maternal and child health, family planning, and HIV and AIDS response.
The UK's Women's Integrated Sexual Health (WISH) programme, which works across 17 African countries including Nigeria, has prevented 5.9 million unsafe abortions since 2018. This £260 million programme delivers voluntary family planning services and reproductive health and rights, with a focus on reaching those most in need - young people, women living in extreme poverty and people with disabilities. It has also prevented 16.5 million unintended pregnancies, supported 9.5 million women and girls to use modern methods of contraception, and averted 45,080 maternal deaths.
The UK funded Global Financing and Reproductive Health Supplies programme (through support to FP2030 and UNAIDS) also plays a vital role in strengthening countries' own ability to deliver life-saving maternal, reproductive and child health services.
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, what steps her Department is taking to support access to safe gynaecological care in Nigeria.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) supports strengthening health systems across a broad range of programmes, including on maternal and child health, family planning, and HIV and AIDS response.
In Nigeria, our Lafiya programme supports the strengthening of the health system and public health care. This does not specifically target gynaecological care but does include support on improving family planning service delivery and maternal health.
The UK has supported 9.5 million women and girls to use modern methods of contraception since 2018 through the Women's Integrated Sexual Health (WISH) programme, which now works across 17 African countries, including Nigeria. This £260 million programme delivers voluntary family planning services and reproductive health and rights, with a focus on reaching those most in need - young people, women living in extreme poverty and people with disabilities. It has averted 45,080 maternal deaths, 5.9 million unsafe abortions and 16.5 million unintended pregnancies.
The UK also plays a vital role in strengthening countries' own ability to deliver life-saving maternal, reproductive and child health services through the Global Financing and Reproductive Health Supplies programmes, and our support to FP2030 and UNAIDS.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has made an estimate of the number of people in Nigeria who live in poverty.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Nigeria has the second highest number of extreme poor people in the world. In 2018/19, approximately 83 million people in Nigeria (around 40 per cent) lived below the national poverty line (https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/03/21/afw-deep-structural-reforms-guided-by-evidence-are-urgently-needed-to-lift-millions-of-nigerians-out-of-poverty). The World Bank estimates that the Covid-19 crisis caused five million more Nigerians to fall below the poverty line (https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/infographic/2022/03/21/afw-nigeria-poverty-assessment-2022-a-better-future-for-all-nigerians).
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to support reproductive health in Africa.
Answered by Vicky Ford
As outlined in the recent International Development Strategy, the UK is strongly committed to "empowering women and girls, unlocking the agency and power of all people" by "driving progress on universal, comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights". The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) supports a broad range of programmes, including on maternal and child health, family planning and HIV and AIDS. Since taking up position of Minister for Africa in September I have visited clinics offering Reproductive Health Services in Senegal, Tanzania, Malawi and Sierra Leone and had the opportunity to hear first hand from women, medical staff and community leaders of the transformational impact these services are having on women and their families.
The UK has supported 9.5 million women and girls to use modern methods of contraception since 2018 through the Women's Integrated Sexual Health (WISH) programme, which now works across 17 African countries. This £260 million programme delivers voluntary family planning services and reproductive health and rights, with a focus on reaching those most in need - young people, women living in extreme poverty and people with disabilities. It has averted 45,080 maternal deaths, 5.9 million unsafe abortions and 16.5 million unintended pregnancies.
The UK also plays a vital role in strengthening countries' own ability to deliver life-saving maternal, reproductive and child health services through the Global Financing and Reproductive Health Supplies programmes, and our support to FP2030 and UNAIDs.
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, if she will take steps to encourage the Colombian Government to provide additional support for indigenous people in that country who live in extreme poverty.
Answered by Vicky Ford
UK ministers and senior officials regularly raise human rights issues, as well as specific cases of concern, with the Colombian Government. At the UN Security Council meeting on Colombia in April, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon raised our concerns for indigenous communities that continue to be disproportionately affected by violence, displacement and confinement. We look to the Colombian Government to further integrate its presence in conflict-affected areas, and strengthen the institutions that can investigate and prosecute the criminal actors responsible.
To date, we have spent over £69 million through the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) to support the implementation of the peace agreement in Colombia and improve stability and security. Our funding is supporting the Colombian Government's rural development and reintegration programmes, transitional justice mechanisms, and strengthening the security and participation of indigenous communities in conflict-affected areas.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the evidence given by the Chief Executive Officer of Energy Action Scotland to the Scottish Parliament's Net Zero, Energy, and Transport Committee on 26 April 2022 in relation to excess winter mortality and the energy price cap rise from October 2022.
Answered by Maggie Throup
While we have no plans to make a specific assessment, the UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) Cold Weather Plan for England provides actions for organisations, communities and individuals, including health and care services, to protect against extreme cold. The UKHSA is also working with partners on cold weather public health campaigns, including the ‘Stay Well This Winter’ campaign and efforts to focus existing schemes to support those facing fuel poverty.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the impact of increasing levels of sovereign debt repayments on extreme poverty in developing countries.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The UK recognises the significant debt vulnerabilities faced by many low-income countries and that high debt service levels may impact efforts to invest in measures to tackle poverty.
That is why, in May 2020, the UK, together with the G20 and the Paris Club, agreed to the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI). This aimed to provide eligible countries with additional fiscal space to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, freeing up resources to fund social, health and economic measures. Preliminary estimates suggest the DSSI has suspended over $12.9 billion in debt service repayments.
The DSSI was a short-term tool to address immediate financing needs. To deliver a longer-term, more sustainable approach to dealing with debt vulnerabilities the UK, along with the G20, also agreed a new Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the DSSI. This was designed to provide more efficient, equitable and effective debt treatments that are better able to set countries on a more fiscally sustainable path, freeing up resources to spend on reaching development goals.
The UK is fully committed to implementing the Common Framework in coordination with our international partners.