Written Statements

Tuesday 22nd November 2022 Written Statements

Tuesday 22 November 2022

Official Development Assistance

Tuesday 22nd November 2022 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (James Cleverly)]

As set out in the autumn statement 2022, reflecting the significant shock to the economy and the public finances, the independent Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecasts show that the principles for a return to spending 0.7% of GNI on official development assistance, confirmed by Parliament in 2021, have not been met. Consequently, His Majesty’s Government will continue to spend around 0.5% of GNI on ODA until the principles for a return are met.

Recognising the significant and unanticipated costs incurred to support the people of Ukraine and Afghanistan escape oppression and conflict and find refuge in the UK, the Government are providing additional resources of £1 billion in 2022-23 and £1.5 billion in 2023-24.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s latest estimate of its planned ODA spending for this financial year, 2022-23, is £7,584 million. The FCDO will also plan on the assumption of a similar FCDO ODA budget for next year, 2023-24, to aid financial and operational planning, although this remains indicative. This is in the context of the support we are providing to those fleeing the war in Ukraine and insecurity in Afghanistan.

We will need to decide on the distribution of planned ODA allocations over the remainder of the spending review. I want to update the House on how we will do this.

First, I have instructed officials to focus spend according to the priorities set out in the international development strategy, while maximising value for money and our flexibility to respond to new or emerging priority issues.

Secondly, we will meet the financial commitments we have made to multilateral organisations. They will remain essential partners in achieving our goals. We will work with them on the profile of these commitments to get the balance right with our bilateral programme spending.

Thirdly, we are now able to lift the pause on ODA spending and activity and will act swiftly to manage our bilateral programmes this financial year. We will approach this in a proportionate way, with experts on the ground in-country empowered to determine which programmes to continue, in line with our approach to prioritisation.

We are committed to being more transparent about our ODA spend. The FCDO can meet our development aims only when we work closely with our delivery partners, when we listen to and engage with people in developing countries, and when we explain to the British public how every penny spent helps improve lives around the world and is in our national interest.

In order to maximise the value for money of ODA across Government and deliver greater reliability to our partners, we will strengthen ODA governance arrangements, ensuring that the international development Minister and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury can more effectively scrutinise ODA spend.

The UK will remain a world leader in development, not just through the impact of our ODA spend, but through our business, trade, civil society, research and technology expertise. For example, new vaccines and nutrition-enhanced, drought-resistant crops have been developed by the best brains in UK science and universities collaborating globally. This is one of the many ways in which the UK is partnering with countries to take control of their own future.

[HCWS379]

Ship Safety: Draft Merchant Shipping (Fire Protection) Regulations

Tuesday 22nd November 2022 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mr Richard Holden)]

The Merchant Shipping (Fire Protection) Regulations 2023 were today published as a draft, along with an accompanying draft explanatory memorandum. The draft regulations revoke and replace the Merchant Shipping (Fire Protection: Large Ships) Regulations 1998 (S.l. 1998/1012) (“the 1998 regulations”), the Merchant Shipping (Fire Protection) Regulations 2003 (S.l. 2003/2950) (“the 2003 regulations”) and make other consequential amendments to implement the most up-to-date requirements of chapter II-2 in the annexe to the international convention for the safety of life at sea, 1974 (“the convention”), relating to safety measures for fire protection on ships.

The draft regulations are being published for 28 days. Following the conclusion of this period, and once any observations on the draft regulations have been taken into account, they will be laid for approval by each House of Parliament. This procedure is required under paragraph 14 of schedule 8 to the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 because these regulations revoke an instrument, the 1998 regulations, that was made under section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972. Statutory statements explaining the steps taken to publish the draft regulations and the reasons for the revocation of the provision made by section 2(2) are contained in the annexe to the draft explanatory memorandum.

The draft regulations implement requirements for fire protection on ships in chapter II-2 of the annexe to the convention, including previously unimplemented requirements to improve fire detection and suppression on cabin balconies for tanker ships to carry an oxygen measuring meter and portable gas detector and other measures.

The updated measures in chapter II-2 are in force internationally, but the measures must also be incorporated into our national legislation to enable them to be enforced effectively, most notably to discourage non-compliance by non-UK flagged ships in UK waters, which would be detrimental to the safety of shipping in UK coastal areas. The draft regulations will ensure that UK law includes increased safety standards for fire protection on both UK flagged ships and non-UK flagged ships within the scope of the convention operating in UK waters.

The draft regulations also include an ambulatory reference provision to ensure that future amendments to chapter II-2 referred to in the draft regulations will automatically become UK law when they enter into force internationally. As described in the accompanying draft explanatory memorandum, a ministerial statement will be provided to both Houses of Parliament ahead of any amendment to chapter II-2 referenced in the draft regulations, prior to it coming into force in UK law by way of the ambulatory reference provision.

The draft regulations and the accompanying draft explanatory memorandum can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/regulations-for-fire-protection

[HCWS378]