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Written Question
Philippines: Sexual and Reproductive Health
Monday 7th April 2025

Asked by: Baroness Sugg (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what support they are providing to (1) grassroots organisations, (2) local non-governmental organisations, (3) international non-governmental organisations, and (4) development partners, who advocate for sexual and reproductive health and rights in the Philippines.

Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK has supported efforts to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in post-conflict areas of the Bangsamoro region, recognising that gender equality is essential to sustainable peace. The Integrated Security Fund Philippines programme has contributed to the development of the Bangsamoro Gender and Development Code and the Gender Ombud Guidelines, supported awareness-raising initiatives to end harmful practices such as child marriage, and worked with communities to strengthen the capacity of women's desks to provide better support for survivors of gender-based violence. The UK has also engaged with UNFPA to discuss how they can protect and promote SRHR in the Philippines further.


Written Question
Disinformation: Relationships and Sex Education
Friday 4th April 2025

Asked by: Baroness Sugg (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what measures they are taking in their international development strategies to counter misinformation campaigns that target comprehensive sexuality and family planning education.

Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK is proud to support universal and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) for all. This includes support to address the additional barriers faced by adolescents and young people to ensure they can access the information, services and advice they need. The UK works in partnership with governments, civil society and community groups to do so. For example, in December 2024 the Prime Minister announced the Grassroots and Counter Rollback programme which aims to strengthen civil society organisations and movements to counter misinformation and expand access to SRHR.

The UK continues to provide strong political leadership in multilateral fora. We work to protect and progress language relating to adolescents' SRHR, including comprehensive sexuality education and family planning education. Meaningful engagement of young people is also a priority, and this year we will again include a young person as part of the UK delegation to the United Nations Commission on Population and Development.


Written Question
International Assistance: Health Services
Friday 4th April 2025

Asked by: Baroness Sugg (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to ensure that bilateral and multilateral health aid remain condition-free, particularly in regard to sexual and reproductive health and rights programmes; and what plans they have to collaborate with other donor nations to maintain consistent funding flows to key agencies, such as the United National Population Fund and the World Health Organization.

Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK is committed to promoting and defending universal and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) including safe abortion. The UK firmly believes that supporting comprehensive SRHR through proven evidence based public health interventions saves lives and supports prosperity. We will continue to work with our partners, including UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and World Health Organisation (WHO), governments and civil society partners to deliver this and to ensure UK Aid programmes remain free of conditions that would restrict the freedom, rights and choices of women and girls.

The UK will continue to engage with other donor nations to progress and promote SRHR and work to diversify funding for key agencies.

In April, we will be holding a UK- UNFPA Strategic Dialogue as part of which we will discuss how we can best support their efforts towards long-term sustainable financing. This is also something we prioritise through our ODA investments, for example, through UK support to the UNFPA Supplies Partnership, we promote the mobilisation of countries' own domestic resources for reproductive health. The UK was also a key supporter of WHO's recent Investment Round pledging up to £310 million in flexible core voluntary contributions to support the WHO's work for the next 4 years (2024-2028). Flexible funding enables WHO to respond effectively to emerging health threats and priorities, by allocating resources where they are needed most and we encourage other donors to also provide predictable, flexible multi-year support.


Written Question
Berlin: Global Disability Summit
Wednesday 12th February 2025

Asked by: Baroness Sugg (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans Ministers have to attend the Global Disability Summit, due to be held in Berlin in April.

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

The 2025 Global Disability Summit is an important moment for the UK to reinforce our commitment to galvanising international efforts on disability inclusion and launch the refresh of our Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Disability Inclusion and Rights strategy (2022-30), setting out new priorities. The Cabinet Office and the FCDO are working closely together to draw up the UK's delegation and final decisions will be made soon.


Written Question
Development Aid: Disability
Wednesday 12th February 2025

Asked by: Baroness Sugg (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to implement the FCDO disability inclusion and rights strategy 2022 to 2030, published on 16 February 2022, consistently across UK Official Development Assistance programmes.

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

The FCDO continues to take a 'twin track approach' including mainstreaming a disability inclusive and human rights perspective across all the department's work. For example, we will shortly launch new e-learning on how to use the disability inclusion and gender equality policy markers to make FCDO programmes more inclusive across the organisation. Our progress against the strategy is regularly reviewed by a board of independent experts from civil society and academia.

At the Global Disability Summit in April 2025, the FCDO will reinforce our commitment to galvanising international efforts on disability inclusion and launch the refresh of our FCDO Disability Inclusion and Rights strategy. Setting out new priorities, we will continue to provide targeted support to people with disabilities through high quality, targeted programmes to test new innovation and strengthen national systems that better reach people with disabilities. For example, this will include supporting inclusive approaches to education, health, and employment through our Disability Inclusive Development programme.


Written Question
Development Aid: Education
Wednesday 12th February 2025

Asked by: Baroness Sugg (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Humanity and Inclusion report Beyond Access: Ensuring the Continuity of Education for Adolescent Girls with Disabilities, published on 24 January, what steps they are taking to promote continuity of education for adolescent girls with disabilities through development assistance.

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

The UK is working to tackle the barriers to accessing quality education that are faced by adolescent girls with disabilities, through our education policy and programmes.

In countries like Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, UK development assistance has supported the implementation of disability-inclusive pedagogy in classrooms, funded assistive devices, and provided technical assistance to ministries of education, to develop and implement inclusive education policies. We are growing our understanding of what works to support learners with disabilities through our Disability Inclusive Development Programme.

At the Global Disability Summit in April 2025, the UK will reinforce its commitment to galvanising international efforts on disability inclusion, including specific actions on inclusive education, and will launch the refresh of our Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Disability Inclusion and Rights strategy.


Written Question
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Accountancy
Monday 27th June 2022

Asked by: Baroness Sugg (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office accounts due to be published at the end of July will include the detailed spending allocations for the financial year 2022/23.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The FCDO's Annual Report and Accounts will be laid in Parliament before the Summer recess, and will include further detail on FCDO's planned Overseas Development Assistance spending.


Written Question
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Accountancy
Monday 27th June 2022

Asked by: Baroness Sugg (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether a signed hard copy of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office annual accounts will be sent to Members of the House of Lords; and if not, whether this practice has ceased due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Under the International Development (Reporting & Transparency) Act 2006 and the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000, FCDO will provide printed copies of its Annual Report & Accounts (ARA) to the Vote Office which are available to all Parliamentarians. Copies are also available in the respective House Libraries. The Accounting Officer's signed copy of the ARA is supplied to the National Audit Office.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Vaccination
Thursday 24th February 2022

Asked by: Baroness Sugg (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the average purchase price for the 30 million COVID-19 vaccine doses donated to developing countries in 2021.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

By the end of 2021, we met our goal of donating 30 million AstraZeneca doses by the end of the year, benefiting over 30 countries, as part of our G7 pledge to donate 100 million doses by June 2022. The Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Secretariat has now provided guidance for reporting donations of excess COVID-19 vaccine doses in 2021 in ODA. The UK is considering this guidance together with our other commitments and obligations, and is actively engaging with the OECD's DAC Secretariat on valuing Covid-19 vaccines in Official Development Assistance in 2021.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Vaccination
Thursday 24th February 2022

Asked by: Baroness Sugg (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost that they will be reporting to the OECD Development Assistance Committee for COVID-19 vaccine donations to developing countries in 2021.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The DAC Secretariat has now provided guidance for reporting donations of excess COVID-19 vaccine doses in 2021 in ODA. The UK is considering this guidance together with our other commitments and obligations, and is actively engaging with the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Secretariat on valuing Covid-19 vaccines in Official Development Assistance in 2021.