Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
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 use child-focused impact assessments for (a) funding mechanisms, (b) context analyses and (c) programmes which involve the participation of (i) children and (ii) youth.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK Government is committed to the promotion, protection and realisation of children's rights in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). We see meaningfully engaging with children and young people as a core part of this. For example, in 2022, my predecessor, Rt Hon Vicky Ford MP convened a roundtable with young people from conflict-affected countries to hear directly from their experience of crisis response. In May 2023, senior officials met with seven adolescent girls from around the world to discuss a range of key challenges in their contexts and their perspectives on best practice for consulting children. The Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Girls' Education, Helen Grant MP, prioritises meetings with young people whilst overseas, and recently travelled to Ethiopia to meet children and young people supported by UK programmes.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
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 potential merits of setting up a Youth Advisory Council in his Department to consult children and young people in policy development.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK Government is committed to the promotion, protection and realisation of children's rights in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). We see meaningfully engaging with children and young people as a core part of this. For example, in 2022, my predecessor, Rt Hon Vicky Ford MP convened a roundtable with young people from conflict-affected countries to hear directly from their experience of crisis response. In May 2023, senior officials met with seven adolescent girls from around the world to discuss a range of key challenges in their contexts and their perspectives on best practice for consulting children. The Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Girls' Education, Helen Grant MP, prioritises meetings with young people whilst overseas, and recently travelled to Ethiopia to meet children and young people supported by UK programmes.
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, if she will hold discussion with the Youth Hostels Association on implementation of the Environmental Improvement Plan 2023.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We engage regularly with the Youth Hostels Association (YHA) on relevant policy areas. For example, YHA are represented at our Access and Engagement Forum, where we discuss implementation of the Environmental Improvement Plan, such as the new commitment for everyone to live within 15 minutes of a green or blue space.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of creating a children and youth advisory council within his Department to help ensure that children and young people are consulted within crisis response and long-term development work.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK Government is committed to the promotion, protection and realisation of children's rights in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). We see meaningfully engaging with children and young people as a core part of this. For example, in 2022, my predecessor, Rt Hon Vicky Ford MP convened a roundtable with young people from conflict-affected countries to hear directly from their experience of crisis response. In May 2023, senior officials met with seven adolescent girls from around the world to discuss a range of key challenges in their contexts and their perspectives on best practice for consulting children.
Asked by: John Howell (Conservative - Henley)
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 implications for her policies of the debate on Youth and the Media, which took place at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 28 April 2023.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The UK thanks the Parliamentary Assembly to the Council of Europe for bringing this topic into focus. The UK is a strong protector of children online and through passage of our Online Safety Bill, we will become one of the safest places to be a child online. We are continually taking steps to empower users of all ages to make safer and well-informed choices online through resources such as the UK Government's Online Media Literacy programmes and our yearly action plans.
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 he has taken to help tackle (a) income inequality and (b) youth unemployment in Malawi.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK Government supports Malawi in tackling low economic growth, which involves tackling reducing income inequality and youth unemployment. Our new Malawi Trade and Investment Programme will launch this year and aims to stimulate a step change in Malawi's growth by promoting higher value and export sectors, cutting time and costs of trade and logistics, raising international and domestic investment in new exports, and creating jobs. On income inequality, our Building Resilience and Adapting to Climate Change programme is contributing to a reduction in extreme poverty and ending the recurrent cycle of hunger and humanitarian assistance in Malawi.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the impact of disposable vapes on wildlife.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are aware that the use of disposable vaping products has increased substantially in recent years and are considering the implications of this trend on the environment. The Government launched a call for evidence on youth vaping and the environmental impact of disposable vapes on 11 April. This will help us to build our evidence base and consider what future policy interventions might help to mitigate these impacts.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what funding has been allocated to (a) FareShare and (b) other food redistribution organisations from (i) the Dormant Assets Scheme and (b) other sources.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Dormant assets funding in England can currently only be distributed to youth, financial inclusion, or social investment wholesalers. Given these restrictions, no funding has been directly allocated to food redistribution organisations such as FareShare.
However, the independent organisations that currently receive dormant assets funding are free to determine the most impactful initiatives in their sectors. We understand that some of their work has indeed benefitted food redistribution organisations. For example, through the Access Foundation, social investment has been provided by the Key Fund to FoodWorks Sheffield, which works to divert food waste and use it to provide affordable food in various neighbourhoods across the city. FoodWorks has grown to save over 500 tonnes of food waste per year, work with hundreds of volunteers, and feed thousands of people each month.
In terms of other sources: since 2018, a series of grant awards have been taken forward by the Food Waste Prevention team in the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to make sure more surplus food is diverted from animal feed and disposal for human consumption. Around £13 million has supported both large and small redistribution organisations across the country to increase their capability and capacity, with FareShare benefitting with around £3 million of grant awards.
During the COVID-19 response, Defra also provided two separate streams of funding to the food distributor FareShare totalling £26.5 million to support food charities with the purchasing and distribution of food to the vulnerable.
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 he is taking to support a fair, inclusive, peaceful and rapid transition to elections in Chad; and what assessment he has made of the risks to (a) security in Chad and (b) regional security in the event that the transition to elections is not fair, inclusive, peaceful and rapid.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Transparent and inclusive democratic elections are vital to ensuring Chad's long-term prosperity and stability, and that of the region. The UK supports the African Union's efforts to restore democratic rule, and continues to encourage the Chadian authorities to uphold the conditions set by the African Union's Peace and Security Council on 14 May 2021. We have expressed the importance of timely, inclusive elections to Chadian partners through our diplomatic engagement, including in a visit from the UK's Sahel Envoy in June 2022. The UK also contributed to the United Nations Development Programme fund to support the inclusion of women and youth in the National Dialogue.Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 17 October to Question 53318 on Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution, what the (a) target countries and (b) objectives of the youth engagement projects were.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
A: Seychelles.
B: To provide a healthy, safe and constructive sporting and development opportunity to potentially marginalised teenage boys and girls, based around values shared by the UK and Seychelles, and in support of community cohesion.