Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they intend to have with the Pakistan Public Services Commissions about ways in which to support the training and professional development of workers from religious minority backgrounds; and what plans they have to increase aid funding to be used for training teachers in Pakistan to promote freedom of religion or belief.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
We have already funded teacher training modules on equity and inclusion delivered to nearly 100,000 teachers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. UK aid prioritises support for the poorest and most excluded people and communities in Pakistan regardless of race, religion, social background or nationality. DFID Pakistan is currently developing new education programmes and as part of this process we will actively consider what we can do to benefit these groups.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to include modules on freedom of religion or belief in all existing and future Department for International Development capacity building programmes.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
DFID’s increasing use of country context analysis has improved the way in which religious dynamics and religious groups are factored into country programmes. Through this process, DFID identifies the most significant problems that hinder development and the main entry points and opportunities to create change. This includes the role of religion and freedom of religion or belief.
Through UK Aid Connect, DFID is funding a consortium led by the Institute of Development Studies to address the challenges in building tolerance and freedom of religion or belief. In November 2018, Lord Ahmad and Lord Bates launched this £12 million initiative which will contribute to making poverty reduction programmes more inclusive, by highlighting and redressing religious inequalities, with a focus on highly volatile contexts.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to support the government of Pakistan to develop financial incentives for parents from marginalised religious minority communities to register their children upon birth, and to send them to schools.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
DFID supports the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) which is the Government of Pakistan’s national social protection scheme. Under the BISP education programme, a total of 3.2 million children will be supported to enrol and stay in primary schools. Targeting is based on poverty status, regardless of race, religion or ethnic background, and encourages parents to provide the birth registration certificate as part of enrolment into the programme.
We do not support financial incentives for any parents to register the birth of their children, as our assessment is that this is not the most appropriate tool to improve birth registration. However, we will continue to actively engage with the Government of Pakistan to promote increased accessibility to birth registration services for marginalised and hard to reach groups, including for religious minorities. We are also designing interventions under our Aawaz II programme to directly work with groups like religious minorities in communities to better access services.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to require organisations that receive UK aid funding for projects in Pakistan to hire at least 5 per cent of any in-country staff from minority communities.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
We do not have any plans to require recruitment by quota for DFID funded programmes. People from minority communities may be reluctant to disclose their minority status, which makes it difficult to count and monitor against this metric. However, our programme documentation makes clear that we require our partners to avoid discriminatory practices in recruitment as well as take action on safeguarding.
Our Aawaz programme has helped members of minority communities to challenge discrimination and its successor Aawaz 2 will continue this work.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what additional aid, if any, they have allocated for Sudan following the signing of the peace deal on 17 August; and what conditions they have placed on any (1) current, and (2) future, aid to Sudan.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The UK is committed to working with partners to meet the needs of the most vulnerable people in Sudan including 8.5 million people in need of humanitarian aid. UK aid is channelled through multilateral organisations, international Non-Governmental Organisations and commercial partners that have a strong track record of delivering in Sudan. This UKAid will provide at least £50 million per year in humanitarian and development assistance to Sudan. By 2021 we will have aided at least 2 million people every year who are affected by conflict, climate and an unreliable food supply.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to support a free press in Sudan through the introduction of journalism training programmes.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The UK expressed its concern over restrictions to the media, freedom of expression and journalists in Sudan under the previous regime and during the recent unrest. The UK made public statement calling for the restrictions on the media to be lifted, and the joint DFID and FCO Minister for Africa relayed this message directly when summoning the Sudanese Ambassador to the FCO on 7 June 2019.
The UK supported Sudan’s participation in the Media Freedom conference in London in July 2019. The UK will work with the transitional government, media and civil society organisations to support freedom of the media and press and an open civic space in Sudan to support pathway to a democratic future.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that school buildings in Pakistan funded by the Department for International Development (DfID) are not fit for purpose, leaving 115,000 children learning in makeshift classrooms; and that 1,277 of the 1,389 schools covered by this DfID programme are potentially at risk from structural design flaws which put them at risk of collapse during earthquakes.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they took in response to reports in 2016 which highlighted concerns about the Department for International Development's Pakistan educational development programmes.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much they paid to (1) the Department for International Development's Special Representative on Education in Pakistan, and (2) other education and management consultancies dealing with education projects in Pakistan, between 2011 and 2015.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans the Department for International Development has to (1) put greater emphasis on problems identified during the annual reporting process, (2) ensure that greater scrutiny is given to the work of consultancy companies and local contractors, (3) give greater priority to monitoring local progress and quality delivery on the ground, and (4) give greater weight to concerns expressed by Pakistanis working on the ground in rural areas of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in future programmes.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.