Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prioritise (1) sexual and reproductive health, and (2) the rights of women and girls, in the allocation of official development assistance to developing countries.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The UK is proud to defend and promote universal and comprehensive sexual and reproductive rights (SRHR). We are committed to working with our partners to drive progress and demonstrate leadership on SRHR on the global stage and in our programmes. This includes the recent announcement that up to £200 million will be delivered towards the Women's Integrated Sexual Health (WISH) Dividend programme focussed between 2024-29 on sub-Saharan Africa, which has the highest rates of maternal mortality, neonatal deaths and unmet need for family planning in the world.
In March 2023, the FCDO published the UK's International Women and Girls Strategy which sets out our plan to promote and defend the rights of women and girls. In this, we committed to ensure that at least 80% of FCDO's bilateral aid programmes should have a focus on gender equality, using OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) markers, by 2030.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent energy companies from increasing direct debit payments from customers over the summer while global energy prices are falling.
Answered by Lord Callanan
A customer’s direct debit payment arrangement should avoid large credit or debit balance at the end of 12-month period. Energy suppliers are required to ensure a customer’s direct debit payments are set on the best available information. For existing customers, the payment level should be based on energy consumption over the previous year with adjustments for price changes. With Ofgem now setting the energy price cap on a quarterly basis, regular adequacy reviews on customers’ accounts by suppliers should mean when the cost of energy falls, they will see this reflected in their direct debit payment sooner.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park on 7 March (HL5764), whether they will now answer the question put; namely, what assistance they will provide to the government of South Sudan to enable that country to meet its international obligations under the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention to become free of landmines.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The Global Mine Action Programme (GMAP), the FCDO's main vehicle for clearing landmines and other explosive remnants of war (ERW), has a long-standing commitment to funding demining in South Sudan. Between 2018 and 2022, GMAP provided funding for UK NGO the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) to clear 1,829,632 square metres of land in South Sudan. GMAP signed a new contract with MAG for Financial Year 22/23, which, as of end December 2022, had cleared an additional 168,563 square metres of land there. We are currently negotiating with MAG a new contract for South Sudan to run from April 2023.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government which department the minister with responsibility for critical minerals will be based in; and when the Critical Minerals Strategy announced in 2022 will be updated as planned.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston
The Department with lead responsibility for critical minerals is the Department for Business and Trade. The Government is planning to publish a refreshed approach to the Critical Minerals Strategy in Spring this year to reinforce the 2022 Strategy, highlight delivery progress to date, and set out upcoming delivery milestones.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assistance they will provide to the government of South Sudan to enable that country to meet its international obligations under the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention to become free of landmines.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The UK is supporting efforts to clear landmines and other explosive hazards in Sudan through the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS). Clearing contaminated land in regional areas across Sudan has provided safe access for humanitarian personnel and enabled civilians to access basic services, such as water supplies and healthcare.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what (1) commitments, and (2) reassurances, they have made to the government of Gibraltar in the event that there is no negotiated outcome to the issues raised by the UK–EU Treaty in respect of Gibraltar.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The UK Government continues to work alongside the Government of Gibraltar to secure a treaty with the EU, in respect of Gibraltar's relationship with the EU. Following meetings on 14 and 15 December the Foreign Secretary, Chief Minister of Gibraltar, EU Vice President and Spanish Foreign Minister all reiterated their commitment to that outcome. The UK Government is working alongside the Government of Gibraltar to prepare for the possibility of no negotiated outcome. This includes projects to increase infrastructure resilience at the land border and port, and sharing of expertise. The UK will stand fully behind Gibraltar in any scenario.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 13 October (HL2369), how many dengue fever infections there were in the UK in (1) 2020, and (2) 2021, based on data held by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) in (a) England, (b) Wales, and (c) Northern Ireland, comprised of laboratory reports from the UKHSA’s Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory at Porton Down.
Answered by Lord Markham
The following table shows the number of imported cases of dengue cases reported by the UK Health Security Agency’s Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory at Porton Down in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2020 and 2021.
| 2020 | 2021 |
England | 101 | 93 |
Wales | 1 | 1 |
Northern Ireland | 0 | 1 |
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park on 11 November (HL3016), how much Official Development Assistance (ODA) support they provided to the Global Financing Facility in (1) 2018, (2) 2019, (3) 2020, and (4) 2021; and how much ODA was specifically for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) to bilateral priority countries in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, and (c) 2021.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The UK Government has committed a total of £95 million of Official Development Assistance to the Global Financing Facility from 2017 to 2025 in two phases. The payments made to date are 1) £18 million in 2018, 2) £8 million in 2019, 3) £3 million in 2020 and 4) £6 million in 2021.
Overall the UK spent the following amount of bilateral Official Development Assistance on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights over the last three years. 1) £515 million in 2019, 2) £372 million in 2020 and 3) £242 million in 2021. This data is calculated using the methodology outlined in the Donor Delivering Report and the Statistics on International Development: Final UK Aid Spend 2021.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by the Minister of State for Development and Africa on 14 November that he was "pleased to confirm new UK Government funding to the Global Family Partnership FP2030", whether they will provide a breakdown of that funding.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The UK plays a leading role in advancing voluntary family planning globally, as part of our longstanding commitment to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights. New UK funding to the Global Family Planning Partnership 'FP2030' will accelerate country leadership in regions including North, West, and Central Africa; East and Southern Africa; Asia and the Pacific; and Latin America and the Caribbean.
We are not able to give a yearly funding breakdown until ODA funding allocations are confirmed over the Spending Review period.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how initial safeguarding judgments are used by (1) Home Office staff, and (2) contractors, when deciding on the treatment of asylum-seekers, in particular of unaccompanied children.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office and its accommodation providers have robust processes in place to ensure that where someone is at risk they are referred to the appropriate statutory agencies of police, NHS and social services to promote appropriate safeguarding interventions.
All contingency sites have security staff and providers liaise closely with local police to ensure the welfare and safety of vulnerable residents. However, the statutory agencies retain responsibility for all decisions on intervention activity.
We have safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in emergency interim hotels are as safe and supported as possible whilst we seek urgent placements with a local authority. Young people are supported by team leaders and support workers who are on site 24 hours a day. Further care is provided in hotels by teams of social workers and nurses.