Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government who will be representing the UK at the Global Refugee Forum.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Minister Mitchell represented the UK delegation at the Global Refugee Forum on 13th December.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to mobilise funding to support the education of refugees in low and middle income host countries.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As set out in the recent Development White Paper, the UK continues to support education for refugee children through our work in emergencies and protracted crises, with our support through Education Cannot Wait and the Global Partnership for Education. This includes support for the implementation of the UNHCR-UNICEF Blueprint for Joint Action for Refugee Children. Working with a number of partners, we will also be announcing further support for inclusive refugee education at the Global Refugee Forum.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Independent Commission for Aid Impact’s 2022 report on UK aid’s results in education, and their official response to that report, what progress they have made in reforming and improving their capacity to assess the impact of their basic education programmes on improving foundational learning outcomes for children in partner countries.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The 2022 Independent Commission for Aid Impact report recommended FCDO accelerate work with partner governments to improve its ability to collect and use reliable data on children's learning. As a result, we developed a new Data for Foundational Learning programme, of up to £27 million (2023 - 2027), to strengthen the data on children's learning in low- and middle-income countries. This programme started implementation in March 2023. Through the Global Coalition for Foundational Learning, we are promoting a shared commitment to foundational learning for all. Additionally, we are improving our internal results framework to better measure impact on improving learning.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the development of free, quality, public education systems in the developing world, particularly in areas where state provision is weak or non-existent.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
We have bilateral education programmes in 19 countries. FCDO projects work closely with governments where state provision is weak, using UK-led research on what works to influence policy on how to reach the most marginalised, particularly girls. The Girls' Education Challenge programme has supported over 1.5 million children to receive education since 2012. We are the largest donor to the Global Partnership for Education which works with governments, including in fragile and conflict affected countries, to strengthen government education systems. In February, we announced a new pledge of £80 million to Education Cannot Wait, the global fund for education in emergencies.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the value to the UK of developing relationships with Slovenian citizens currently living in Slovenia, who have undertaken courses in universities in the UK.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The UK is proud to be celebrating 30 years of diplomatic relations with Slovenia in 2022. Our relationship is strong, and is reinforced by the close and enduring friendship and cooperation facilitated through educational exchange. We welcome the launch last year of the UK-Slovenia alumni network and support its goal to deepen and consolidate our educational ties.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the value of the British Council's presence in Slovenia; and what have been the principal successes of its work in that country.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
We welcome the contribution the British Council has made to UK-Slovenia relations since it opened its offices there in 1992. The British Council's work across the education, cultural and science and innovation sectors in particular have been an important part of deepening UK-Slovenia relations, fostering strong links between our citizens and promoting the exchange of best practice.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to develop healthy nutrition for children in their global support programmes.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Following the conclusion of the Spending Review, the Government is actively considering nutrition programming within the business planning process. No decisions on individual programmes have yet been made.
Tackling malnutrition remains a core focus of our work on global health, humanitarian response and in support of UK goals on girls' education and climate. It is critical for reducing preventable deaths and ensuring children get the best start in life in the poorest countries of the world.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to influence children's healthy nutrition needs in the developing world at the United Nations for Growth Summit in Japan in December.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
FCDO is working closely with the Government of Japan to make sure the 2021 Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit supports meaningful action by governments, donors, businesses, the UN and civil society.
Following the conclusion of the Spending Review, the Government is actively considering its approach to the Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit and will set this out as early as possible as part of the business planning process.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the total financial support which will be given to children's healthy nutrition programmes in the Official Development Assistance budget in (1) 2021, and (2) 2022.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Information about our nutrition spend in financial year 2021 and 2022 will be publicly available through Statistics for International Development (SIDS) in due course. Following the conclusion of the Spending Review, the Government is actively considering its approach to nutrition programming and will set this out as early as possible as part of the business planning process.
Information about our nutrition spend in financial year 2021 and 2022 will be publicly available through Statistics for International Development (SIDS) in due course.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 24 January (HL4591), whether they will provide details of (1) the two education projects supported in Swaziland, and (2) the two education projects supported in Lesotho in 2017.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I regret that due to an administrative error, my previous response initially contained incorrect information. This has been corrected on the Official Report (PQ HL4591) since the question was tabled.
In fact, the British Council supported one project in Swaziland and one in Lesotho in 2017. In both cases, this was the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan (CSFP). The CSFP is an annual scheme made available to all the Commonwealth countries by the Commonwealth Scholarships Commission.
The CSFP is aimed at students of Commonwealth countries who can make a significant contribution to their home country after the completion of a higher education programme in the UK. The British Council provides pre-departure briefings for all scholars on living and studying in the UK, and looks after alumni relations including periodic networking events. The British Council held pre-departure briefings in 2017 and 2016 for scholars from Swaziland and Lesotho.