Asked by: Baroness Humphreys (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many charities they fund to run polio vaccination programmes.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is a strong supporter of the global effort to eradicate polio and is proud to be a longstanding supporter of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). Since 1995 we have contributed £1.4 billion in funding. Our funding to GPEI has helped to reduce case numbers by over 99% and limit the number of countries where the wild polio virus remains endemic to just two - Pakistan and Afghanistan. To date, thanks to GPEI's efforts, more than 20 million people are walking who may otherwise have been paralysed due to polio. The UK also continues to support routine immunisation against polio through Gavi, the vaccines alliance. The UK is one of the largest donors to Gavi committing £1.65 billion over the 5-year 2021-2025 period.
Asked by: Baroness Humphreys (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government which countries and multilateral organisations have received UK aid for vaccination programmes at any time in the previous two years; and what the total funding allocated to these vaccination programmes was in the financial years (1) 2023–24, and (2) 2024–25.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is one of the largest donors to Gavi and has committed £1.65 billion to the current "5.0" strategic period covering 2021-2025, supporting Gavi to immunise 300 million children and save up to 8 million lives from vaccine preventable diseases. Of this amount, £300 million is through proceeds from UK investment in Gavi's unique financing instrument, IFFIm. In the last two years, Gavi has supported vaccinations in 54 Gavi eligible countries. In addition to IFFIm proceeds, the UK has made direct investments in Gavi in the financial years (1) 2023-24 of £327 million, and (2) 2024-25 of £463 million. The UK is also a strong supporter of the global effort to eradicate polio and is proud to be a longstanding supporter of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). GPEI works in the 48 countries with endemic and outbreak polio. The UK invested in 2023-24 £15 million, and (2) 2024-25 £15 million.
Asked by: Baroness Humphreys (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the current arrangements for UK citizens awaiting repatriation from New Zealand.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The second of five UK charter flights from New Zealand landed at London Heathrow on 27 April. We have so far chartered two flights back from New Zealand, one from Auckland on 28 April and one from Christchurch on 30 April, with one further flight from Auckland on 2 May. In response to demand, a second group of flights has now been opened for booking, departing Auckland on 11, 15 May and Christchurch on 13 May, also to London Heathrow via Hong Kong.
We have prioritised the most vulnerable and our NHS workers. We subsequently extended these flights to all British travellers remaining in New Zealand. We have advised those who would like to return to the UK to register with our travel partner Corporate Travel Management (CTM) through their online portal, which can be found in our 'Return to the UK' page of our New Zealand travel advice.