Asked by: Baroness Hussein-Ece (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what their financial contributions were to (1) United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), (2) UNICEF, (3) UNAIDS, (4) WHO, (5) UN Women, (6) The Global Fund, and (7) International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) in (a) 2018-19, (b) 2019-20, and (c) 2020-21.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Table 1 shows UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) in the form of core contributions to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, for the period 2018 to 2020. Additionally, the UK uses these multilateral organisations as a delivery partner for bilateral aid ("multi-bi" ODA), except for UNAIDS.
The International Planned Parenthood Federation is an international NGO to which the UK provided £5million of bilateral funding in 2018, £35million in 2019 and £49million in 2020, as set out in Table 2.
Table 1 - UK ODA: Core Contributions to Selected Multilateral Organisations (2018-2020, £million)
Organisation | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
United Nations Population Fund | 20 | 20 | 20 |
United Nations Children's Fund | 48 | 48 | 48 |
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS | 15 | 15 | 15 |
World Health Organisation: voluntary contribution | 30 | 35 | 5 |
World Health Organisation: assessed contribution | 13 | 13 | 13 |
United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women | 13 | 13 | 13 |
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria | 360 | 370 | 476 |
Table 2 - UK ODA: Bilateral ODA to International Planned Parenthood Federation (2018-2020, £million)
Programme Title | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
Women's Integrated Sexual Health Programme | 5 | 33 | 47 |
Approaches in complex and challenging environments for sustainable sexual and reproductive health and rights (ACCESS) | 1 | 1 | |
Preventing Recourse to Unsafe Abortion - supporting locally led initiatives (SAAF) | 1 | 1 |
Source: Statistics on International Development 2020
Asked by: Baroness Hussein-Ece (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Israel about reports of the (1) attempted removal, and (2) confiscation of property, of the residents of Khirbet Humsahin by that government.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa called on Israel to stop demolitions in Humsa Al Baqai'a on 5 February 2021. The UK Ambassador joined the Ambassadors of European states on 25 February in a meeting with Israeli Authorities, urging the Government of Israel to cease demolitions and allow access of humanitarian support to the community in Humsa Al Baqai'a. At the UN Security Council on 26 February, the UK Permanent Representative called on Israel to allow the delivery of emergency humanitarian aid for those who have had their homes demolished or confiscated. We also joined European UN Security Council members in delivering a specific statement on this issue following the Middle East Peace Process session. Officials from the British Consulate General Jerusalem visited Humsa Al-Baqai'a on 6 November to reiterate UK support for the community.
Asked by: Baroness Hussein-Ece (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the findings of the report from the Chartered Insurance Institute Women's Risks in Life.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
I note the report and welcome the CII’s wider Insuring Women’s Future initiative, with its aim of prompting the insurance industry to develop better solutions for women.
Headline policies driven by the Government Equalities Office – for example, gender pay gap reporting, promoting family friendly policies – may help address some of the issues underlying risk factors identified in the report.
Asked by: Baroness Hussein-Ece (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to address the findings of the University Partnerships Programme Foundation and Social Market Foundation report On course for success? Student retention at university with particular reference to the conclusion that students from ethnic minority and disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to drop out.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government is committed to ensuring that everyone with the potential has the opportunity to benefit from higher education (HE), irrespective of their background. Entry rates to full-time HE for 18 year olds from all ethnic groups increased in 2017, reaching the highest recorded numbers.
There is, however, more to do to ensure that students, including disadvantaged and black and minority ethnic students, are supported both to access higher education and also to participate and succeed. That is why we have taken a number of actions on this.
From April 2018, Access Agreements will be extended and become Access and Participation Plans. This recognises the importance of HE providers supporting both access and participation, including non-continuation and non-completion of courses, and student success for disadvantaged groups. Additionally, the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework will use non-continuation rates as a core metric when ascribing Gold, Silver or Bronze status to individual universities. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teaching-excellence-and-student-outcomes-framework-specification. Furthermore, the new Transparency Condition created by the Higher Education and Research Act will require many HE providers to publish their completion rates broken down by gender, ethnicity and socio-economic background. Making this data public will expose those providers who are underperforming in this area.
The new regulator for HE, the Office for Students, will also have a statutory duty to have regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity in relation to the whole student lifecycle for disadvantaged and traditionally under-represented groups, not just access.
Asked by: Baroness Hussein-Ece (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government who will be the UK's representative on the proposed five-party conference to discuss the Cyprus Settlement, to be held on 12 January 2017.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The UK welcomes the decision of the Leaders of the two Cypriot communities to proceed to a conference on Cyprus with the Guarantor Powers starting on 12 January 2017. The UK stands ready to participate at an appropriate level and we look forward to receiving further details from the UN and two sides in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Hussein-Ece (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to recognise civil partnerships granted by the government of the Isle of Man to opposite sex couples who are resident in the UK.
Answered by Lord Nash
The 2004 Civil Partnership Act created civil partnerships for same sex couples only. The Act sets out how such relationships entered into outside the UK will be treated. It lists overseas relationships that will be treated as civil partnerships in the UK. It also sets out the conditions that, if met, will result in a relationship entered into elsewhere - but not included in the list - being treated as a civil partnership here.
As opposite sex couples cannot lawfully register a civil partnership here, the Act provides that couples registering a relationship overseas are not to be treated as having formed a civil partnership if, at the time the relationship was formed, they were not of the same sex.
This rule applies in the same way wherever a couple registers their relationship, and treats UK nationals and couples from elsewhere in the same way. It means that an opposite sex civil partnership registered in the Isle of Man is not treated as a civil partnership as a matter of UK law.
Asked by: Baroness Hussein-Ece (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many convicted sex offenders and those prosecuted for domestic violence offences have been given legal aid to pursue child access cases in the family courts in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Baroness Hussein-Ece (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to support the Manchester-based charity Broken Rainbow.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Government is committed to tackling domestic violence and abuse. Broken Rainbow plays an important role in supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender victims of domestic abuse, and the Home Office has informed Broken Rainbow that it will be renewing funding to support its helpline for 2016/17.