Baroness Suttie

Leaving the EU does not change the UK’s ambition on the environment; the Government has no intention of weakening our current environmental protections now that we have left the EU. The UK has a long history of environmental protection, supported by a strong legal framework which predates our membership of the EU, and we will safeguard and improve on this record.

The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 will ensure that the body of existing EU environmental law, including our Water Framework Directive regulations and the Bathing Water Regulations, continues to have effect in UK law now that we have left the EU.

Local authorities’ existing statutory duties to remove litter and refuse from beaches above the high-water mark are unaffected by our departure from the EU. The statutory Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse sets out the standards that local authorities are expected to achieve in doing so.

Public investments in research and development have had significant impact across a range of diseases and have contributed to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 3. For instance, UK support has been instrumental in the development of Coartem Dispersible, a child-friendly antimalarial drug. More than 390 million treatments of this life-saving drug have been delivered to over 50 countries since its launch in 2009. This is very likely to have helped reduce the number of deaths from malaria. DFID support also enabled the development of the first paediatric tuberculosis (TB) medicine, which is now available in 93 countries that account for 75% of the global paediatric TB burden.

UK Government funding by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to Product Development Partnerships has contributed to 66 new health technologies, including diagnostics, drugs and vaccines being available for diseases and health threats that are underserved by commercial markets. These products have reached over 2.4 billion people around the world. This includes the game changing GenXpert technology to detect TB in 4 hours compared to several weeks previously. The technology was subsequently progressed to diagnose Ebola and COVID-19. This technology was developed with our core support by the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics and their partners. Since 2005, we are also one of the major donors to the TB Alliance, which has developed new treatments for TB, including the first child-friendly drug regimen and novel treatments for multi-drug resistant TB, such as Pretomanid, which, in combination with 2 other drugs, offers a highly effective, shorter and less toxic treatment option.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is a leading supporter of Product Development Partnerships, which bring together partners from the public, private and philanthropic sectors to develop new products in a way that de-links the cost of development from the final cost of product.

The impact of COVID-19 on the UK economy has required us to take the difficult but necessary decision to reduce the overall amount we spend on ODA. However, Global Health remains one of the UK's ODA priorities, focusing on overcoming COVID-19 and supporting healthier and more resilient populations in developing countries.

The Foreign Secretary is currently leading a review of ODA spend for 21/22, the outcome of which will be announced in due course.