Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what are their priorities for combating global activism against sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The UK government is proud to defend and promote universal and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), including safe abortion. In the face of increasing anti-SRHR activism we will harness UK political leadership and strategic funding to elevate the voices of those most marginalised in the global south, convene and coordinate likeminded and non-traditional partners and protect SRHR from rollback at both global and national levels.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to include a reference to Official Development Assistance support for sexual and reproductive health and rights to achieve gender equality in the National Statement at the UN Commission on the Status of Women in March 2025; and whether this reference will specify that this should be 10 per cent as recommended by the International Parliamentarian's Conference on the Implementation of the International Conference on Population and Development.

Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The UK's National Statement at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will highlight our commitment to reaffirming the principles of the Beijing Declaration and putting women and girls at the heart of everything we do. This will include our commitment to defending and promoting their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

The FCDO is committed to maintaining a strong portfolio of SRHR programming and spend. There are currently no plans to set spending targets on SRHR.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how much funding they provided to combatting female genital mutilation globally in each year from 2019 onwards.

Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Since 2019, the UK has committed up to £35.5 million towards the Supporting the Africa-Led Movement to End Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) programme. This includes funding to the UN Joint Programme for the Elimination of FGM. Since 2019 we have also funded £20 million towards the Sudan Free of FGM programme. The breakdown of these investments by year is in the table below. In addition, the FCDO funds several programmes on ending gender-based violence (GBV) that include FGM. In total FCDO spent £53.4 million on ending GBV in 2023, including FGM.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to accelerate progress in combatting female genital mutilation worldwide.

Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The UK is utilising our policy, programmatic and diplomatic levers to accelerate global efforts to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Since 2019, the UK has funded Phase II of the Africa Led Movement (ALM) to end FGM programme in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Senegal. ALM is working with activists, communities and grassroots organisations to harness evidence-based solutions to take end-FGM efforts to scale. The UK also funds the UN Joint Programme on the Elimination of FGM, to influence legislation, policy, and norm change efforts across 17 countries.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have been raising awareness of cervical cancer in England during Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, and if so, how; and whether they have been collaborating with Unitaid on this and on wider programmes to improve women’s health.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and address barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner. The campaigns focus on a range of symptoms, encouraging body awareness to help people spot symptoms across a wide range of cancers at an early point.

Unitaid are a leading funder of innovative tools to find and treat cervical cancer in low and middle income countries, laying the groundwork for national cervical cancer elimination programmes worldwide. The Department highly values its partnership with Unitaid, and has contributed more than half a billion pounds in funding.

Found: Cambridge; Lord Borwick; Lord Drayson; Lord Lucas; Baroness Neuberger; Baroness Neville-Jones; Baroness Northover

Found: Berkeley; Lord Borwick; Lord Drayson; Lord Lucas; Baroness Neuberger; Baroness Neville-Jones; Baroness Northover

Found: Berkeley; Lord Borwick; Lord Drayson; Lord Lucas; Baroness Neuberger; Baroness Neville-Jones; Baroness Northover

Found: Berkeley; Lord Borwick; Lord Drayson; Lord Lucas; Baroness Neuberger; Baroness Neville-Jones; Baroness Northover