Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the policies of (1) Brazil, (2) France, (3) Denmark, and (4) Bolivia, towards reducing economic inequalities; and what steps they plan to take on the basis of such assessment.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The UK monitors the economic situation in many countries around the world, including economic inequalities, and related policy measures.
Notwithstanding recent gains, Brazil has one of the world's most unequal income distributions as measured by the Gini index. Since its creation in 2003, Brazil's largest welfare cash-transfer programme, Bolsa Familia, has lifted 3.4 million people out of extreme poverty, and brought 3.2 million above the poverty line. During the pandemic, the Brazilian Government spent approximately 4% of GDP to reach almost 70 million vulnerable citizens with direct cash transfers. It now aims to reform and expand Bolsa Familia. A UK-World Bank project is assessing how emergency aid was provided, and how social protection responses can be improved.
The UK and France work closely across the G7, UN, and elsewhere, to reduce economic inequality around the world. In their bilateral meeting on 12 December, the Foreign Secretary agreed with French Foreign Minister Le Drian on the importance of deepening economic ties with allies, and working together to boost economic growth in low-] and middle-income countries. As likeminded partners, the UK and Denmark also regularly share best practice on issues of shared interest. The UK recognises Denmark's fiscal equalisation mechanism, which helps reduce economic inequalities between regions.
Bolivia has made significant gains on inequality in the past 20 years, with its Gini index dropping from 61.6 to 41.6. This was in large part due to a commodities boom, which allowed the Government fiscal space to initiate cash transfers to the poorest in society, and increase investment in public infrastructure. The middle class doubled between 2007 and 2017 (from 13.4% to 28.3% of the population), and the poverty rate fell from 64.5% to 39.3%. The UK continues to work with the Bolivian Government on a range of areas, including trade, investment, and tourism.
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 assessment she has made of the (a) political, (b) economic, (c) social and (d) security situation in Zimbabwe.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The UK remains concerned about the political situation in Zimbabwe, particularly the lack of accountability for perpetrators of human rights violations, and the restrictions to the right to freedom of assembly. The UK regularly urges the Zimbabwean Government to live up to their own constitution and ensure the opposition, civil society and journalists are allowed to operate without harassment. My predecessor most recently raised the human rights situation in Zimbabwe with Foreign Minister Shava on 9 June.
Following two years of recession the Zimbabwean economy is recovering in part due to improvements in macro-economic management. However, the economy still faces severe challenges and remains fragile, largely due to ongoing corruption and a failure to properly address problems with the exchange rate and subsidies. The social situation is concerning with 49% of the population estimated to be in extreme poverty in 2020. Zimbabwe has achieved one of the highest rates of COVID-19 vaccination coverage in Africa.
We welcome Zimbabwe's recent commitment to the 'Kenyatta Declaration' to spend 20% of their budget on education. We continue to monitor social and economic developments closely, encouraging the Government of Zimbabwe to improve economic policy and management, while protecting the poorest. The security situation remains stable.
Asked by: Neale Hanvey (Alba Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the steps her Department could take to help pensioners avoid fuel poverty ahead of energy bill increases.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to tackling fuel poverty and protecting low income and vulnerable households.
The Winter Fuel Payment provides pensioners with support for their energy bills over winter. Government has committed to keeping the Winter Fuel Payment and will continue to pay £200 to eligible households with someone between State Pension age and 79, and £300 to a household with someone aged 80 or over. The payment is intended to give reassurance to pensioners that they can keep warm during the colder months.
Cold Weather Payments are also available for periods of extreme weather to those in receipt of Pension Credit, including those receiving the Savings Credit element. The Scottish Government will in due course replace Winter Fuel and Cold Weather Payments with its own provision under the terms of the Scotland Act 2016.
The Warm Home Discount scheme, worth £354 million this year, further provides eligible low-income and vulnerable households with £140 off their fuel bill over winter. Around one million low-income pensioner households – in receipt of the Guarantee Credit element of the Pension Credit – will receive a rebate this winter. Most eligible pensioners will receive their rebates automatically, without having to take any action. The scheme will be extended to 2026 and continue to support low-income pensioners with their energy bills.
We recognise that some people continue to require extra support, which is why we have introduced a £421 million Household Support Fund to help vulnerable people in England with essential household costs over the winter as the economy recovers. The Barnett Formula will apply in the usual way, with the devolved administrations receiving almost £80 million (£41m for the Scottish Government, £25m for the Welsh Government and £14m for the NI Executive), for a total of £500 million.
This winter, the energy price cap will continue to protect around 15 million British households on default tariffs, saving them between £75 and £100 a year on dual fuel bills. In addition, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy reached a Voluntary Agreement with energy suppliers last year which remains in place this winter. Vulnerable people and those experiencing financial difficulty should contact their supplier to discuss support available under the agreement, including reassessing, reducing or pausing debt repayments.
Asked by: Neale Hanvey (Alba Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to help ensure that (a) UK and international volunteers and (b) UK Non Governmental Organisations and Civil Society Organisations which facilitate volunteering are actively involved in his Department's initiatives to strengthen and promote (i) global peace, security and governance, (ii) humanitarian preparedness and response and (iii) efforts to tackle extreme poverty and help the world’s most vulnerable people.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The UK funded Volunteering for Development (V4D) programme works through volunteers, including UK and international volunteers, across five of the UK Government's seven strategic priorities for ODA. This includes the promotion of open societies and conflict resolution; humanitarian preparedness and response; and the overarching pursuit of poverty reduction.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their latest assessment of the (1) economic, (2) political, and (3) security, situation in Uganda.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is a long-standing partner of Uganda which we are supporting to become more democratic and prosperous - and to continue to play a positive regional role - through our diplomacy, aid, defence co-operation, trade and investment. Uganda's GDP per capita has doubled and the proportion of the population in extreme poverty fell by a third over the past 30 years, but COVID-19 has damaged growth and livelihoods, pulling an estimated 3.1 million people below the poverty line. Population growth is increasing pressure on infrastructure, services and jobs, making it critical that Uganda supports family planning, invests in young people to promote a healthy and educated workforce and protects Uganda's environment so it can better adapt to climate change. We are concerned about the political climate in Uganda following the 2021 elections, including the treatment of opposition candidates and their supporters and restrictions on civil society and media freedom. Our High Commission in Kampala and the Minister for Africa have urged Uganda to meet its human rights commitments, particularly in relation to missing persons and those arbitrarily detained, and to increase efforts to build strong and independent institutions to strengthen democracy. The UK continues to act as a critical friend to make the case for these advancements.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of cuts to Official Development Assistance on (1) university research, and (2) the UK’s soft power across the world.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The Covid pandemic's economic impact has forced the government to take the difficult decision to temporarily reduce ODA to 0.5% of GNI. Despite this reduction, we will remain a world-leading ODA donor, spending around £10 billion on ODA in 2021-22. The Foreign Secretary has set out a strategic approach to ensure maximum impact for our aid spend for 2021-22, laying a Written Ministerial Statement for Parliament in January, summarising overall departmental cross-government allocations of ODA. FCDO and other departments are working through the implications of their allocations for the research programmes they manage with universities.
The UK has led funding for scientific advances that have helped drive significant reductions in extreme poverty, increases in agricultural productivity, declines in childhood mortality, and increases in life expectancy across the developing world. We remain committed to the use of ODA to support research that can provide new solutions to critical challenges in development.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
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 (a) the effect of reductions to the Overseas Development Assistance budget on the ability of the UK to fund research across the world and (b) the effect of that matter on the credibility and reliability of the UK as a research funding partner.
Answered by James Duddridge
The Covid pandemic's economic impact has forced the government to take the difficult decision to temporarily reduce ODA to 0.5% of GNI. Despite this reduction, we will remain a world-leading ODA donor, spending around £10 billion on ODA in 2021-22. The Foreign Secretary has set out a strategic approach to ensure maximum impact for our aid spend for 2021-22, laying a Written Ministerial Statement for Parliament in January, summarising overall departmental cross-government allocations of ODA. FCDO and other departments are working through the implications of their allocations for the research programmes they manage.
The UK has led funding for scientific advances that have helped drive significant reductions in extreme poverty, increases in agricultural productivity, declines in childhood mortality, and increases in life expectancy across the developing world. We remain committed to the use of ODA to support research that can provide new solutions to critical challenges in development.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on poverty rates in the global south.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
COVID-19 is likely to have resulted in over 140 million additional people living in extreme poverty - around 2% of the global population - and many more will have temporarily fallen below the poverty line. This is a seven-year reversal in progress to reduce poverty.
But the UK is at the forefront of the international response, committing up to £1.3 billion of new ODA to counter the health, economic, and humanitarian impacts of COVID-19, including mobilising COVAX to provide vaccines to low- and middle-income countries. We have also reprogrammed over 300 existing programmes to respond to the challenges created by COVID-19, and are supporting the multilateral development banks to make over £200 billion of financing available to developing countries. The UK is also playing a key role in setting the agenda for a longer-term recovery through our Presidency of the G7 in 2021.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the report by Oxfam The Inequality Virus, published on 25 January, what assessment they have made of the implications for UK public policy of the finding that the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to increase economic inequality in almost every country.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The impacts of COVID-19 are widespread and severe and are deepening inequalities. COVID-19 is likely to have resulted in over 140 million additional people living in extreme poverty in 2020 - around 2% of the global population - and many more will have temporarily fallen below the poverty line.
The UK is at the forefront of the international response, committing up to £1.3 billion of new ODA funding to counter the health, economic, and humanitarian impacts of COVID-19, including mobilising COVAX to provide vaccines to low and middle-income countries. We have reprogrammed over 300 existing programmes to respond to the challenges created by COVID-19 and supported the multilateral development banks to make over $200 billion available to developing countries.
We will use our G7 and COP26 Presidencies this year to drive a green, fair and inclusive economic recovery and help countries to build back better from COVID-19.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
What recent assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 pandemic on poverty rates in the Global South.
Answered by James Duddridge
COVID-19 is likely to have resulted in over 140 million additional people living in extreme poverty – around 2% of the global population – and many more will have temporarily fallen below the poverty line. This is a seven-year reversal in progress to reduce poverty.
The UK is one of the largest donors to the COVID-19 international response, committing up to £1.3bn of new ODA to counter the health, economic, humanitarian impacts, and to support the global effort to find and equitably distribute a vaccine.