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Written Question
Overseas Aid: Females
Thursday 6th August 2020

Asked by: Lord Collins of Highbury (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Adolescent Girls' Education and Empowerment programme planned by the Department for International Development will still take place.

Answered by Baroness Sugg

The UK Government remains committed to delivering 12 years of quality education for all girls. Education, particularly girls’ education, will remain a top priority in the new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and a priority for the Prime Minister personally. In my role as Special Envoy for Girls’ Education, I am working to accelerate progress towards getting marginalised girls into schools, staying there and staying safe, and benefitting from quality learning. I am working closely with international partners to encourage greater global ambition, coordination, and investment on girls’ education.


Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 22 Jul 2020
Covid-19: UN Sustainable Development Goals

Speech Link

View all Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Covid-19: UN Sustainable Development Goals

Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 22 Jul 2020
Covid-19: UN Sustainable Development Goals

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View all Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Covid-19: UN Sustainable Development Goals

Written Question
Gender-based Violence: Older People
Wednesday 22nd July 2020

Asked by: Lord Collins of Highbury (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking in their role as a co-lead of the Action Coalition on gender-based violence to highlight older women’s experiences of gender-based violence; and what plans they have to prioritise collecting data about violence against older women in low- and middle- income countries.

Answered by Baroness Sugg

The UK is committed to working with our Action Coalition co-leads to ensure our joint objectives focus on tackling all forms of violence against women and girls and reaching the most marginalised, including older women.

We recognise that there is a knowledge gap in understanding the different forms, causes, and consequences of violence against older women. To help fill this gap, DFID is investing £6 million to support the UN Women-led flagship programme initiative on gender data – Making Every Woman and Girl Count – and the joint UN Programme on Violence Against Women and Girls data. These programmes are working to improve the production, availability, accessibility and use of quality data and statistics on gender equality and gender-based violence. This includes developing new global methodologies and standards for capturing older women’s experience of violence, including agreeing a minimum set of questions for women over 50 to be added to existing surveys or modules. We will ensure the Action Coalition draws on this learning from Making Every Woman and Girl Count.

DFID’s Inclusive Data Charter Action Plan (March 2019) also sets out our commitment to improve the quality, quantity and availability of inclusive and disaggregated data, including by age, in DFID and across the global system.


Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 14 Jul 2020
Covid-19: Vaccine Availability

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Written Question
Yemen: Humanitarian Aid
Tuesday 16th June 2020

Asked by: Lord Collins of Highbury (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent steps they have taken to support humanitarian relief in Yemen.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Last financial year (2019/20), UK aid helped feed over 650,000 Yemenis every month, treated over 70,000 children for malnutrition and provided over 1 million people with improved water supply and basic sanitation.

Minister Cleverly announced the UK’s new pledge of £160 million in humanitarian funding for Yemen in the 2020/21 financial year at the Yemen Pledging Conference on 2 June. This pledge makes us the third largest donor to Yemen in the world this year and takes our total commitment to Yemen to nearly £1 billion since the conflict began.


Written Question
Yemen: Humanitarian Aid
Tuesday 16th June 2020

Asked by: Lord Collins of Highbury (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to take steps through the United Nations to support the delivery of humanitarian aid in Yemen.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Minister Cleverly announced on 2 June at the UN’s Yemen Pledging Conference that the UK will be providing £160 million to the UN’s 2020 Yemen appeal this financial year (2020/21) to help respond to Yemen’s humanitarian crisis. We remain committed to supporting the UN to deliver vital humanitarian assistance across Yemen in order to alleviate suffering and meet the needs of millions of vulnerable Yemenis.

Ministers and officials continue to engage closely with other donors and the UN to ensure a coordinated international approach to the current excessive restrictions on humanitarian access, particularly in Houthi held areas. We welcome recent steps taken by the Houthis to improve humanitarian access but are clear that more progress is needed, or humanitarian organisations will be unable to continue delivering vital assistance.


Written Question
Yemen: Humanitarian Aid
Tuesday 16th June 2020

Asked by: Lord Collins of Highbury (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the humanitarian situation in Yemen.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

According to the UN, Yemen remains the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with 80% of the entire population, over 24 million people, requiring some form of humanitarian assistance. More than 20 million people in Yemen do not have reliable access to food and almost 10 million people face extreme food shortages.

We are concerned that the outbreak of COVID-19 in Yemen is already exacerbating this devastating humanitarian situation.

DFID modelling estimates that over 100,000 Yemenis are now likely to have been infected by COVID-19. With only half of Yemen’s health facilities currently functional, we are extremely concerned by the capacity of the Yemen’s healthcare system to respond.

Ultimately, a political settlement is the only way to properly address the worsening humanitarian crisis. We therefore strongly encourage all parties to engage with Special Envoy Martin Griffiths to find a peaceful solution to the conflict.


Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 10 Jun 2020
Sub-Saharan Africa: Water and Sanitation

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Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 08 Jun 2020
Black Lives Matter

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View all Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: Black Lives Matter