Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much economic aid and technical assistance they are currently giving to Tunisia; and how this is monitored.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In financial year 2023/24, the UK will provide £2 million to Tunisia through the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund programme. This includes: support to the Tunisian economic reforms, delivered through the World Bank; a contribution to the UN basket fund TARABOT, to support implementation of the Tunisian Government's Counter-Terrorism Strategy; and projects in the fields of education, gender equality and Open Societies. The UK provides technical assistance directly and through multilateral organisations such as the United Nations, the World Bank, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. We regularly monitor and evaluate the support the UK provides.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the state of relations between the UK and Tunisia.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is a constructive partner to Tunisia. Given the scale of the socio-economic and fiscal challenges, we encourage the Tunisian government to implement urgent reform steps and deliver on the demands of the Tunisian people. The UK stands ready to play a role but tackling these issues are sovereign choices for Tunisia. We also have regular discussions with the Tunisian authorities to reiterate the importance of legitimate political opposition, the separation of powers, civil society, strengthening human rights and an inclusive political process. I [Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa] raised these with Tunisian Foreign Minister Nabil Ammar on 4 May.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the role of Tunisia in promoting security along the Mediterranean littoral of northern Africa.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is aware of the increasing numbers of irregular migrants crossing from Tunisia to Europe. We work with the Tunisian Government to help improve their border security, including through the provision of Royal Navy and Royal Marine instructors to assist the Tunisian National Guard Maritime section. More broadly, the UK Government actively pursues a 'whole of route' approach to addressing unmanaged migration from Africa to Europe, tackling the drivers of migration that encourage people to undertake the dangerous journey in the first place.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to support educational aid and assistance to Tunisia.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is a global leader in education and we see education as a foundation for UK-Tunisian collaboration for the benefit of both the UK and Tunisians. We support education reform in Tunisia through the Global Partnership for Education fund, which recently granted Tunisia $2.3 million to develop their next five-year education strategy. We are also planning to develop a new secondary education project that builds on the achievements of 'Teaching for Success' which trained over 17,000 primary teachers and teaching advisors in improved teaching methods. To enable early school leavers to learn skills for the workplace, the UK funded four 'Second Chance' Education Centres in collaboration with UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the safety of British (1) aid workers, and (2) others, working within Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Nigeria.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The deteriorating humanitarian situation in Nigeria, particularly in the North East, has resulted in 8.3 million people requiring some form of humanitarian assistance. However, growing insecurity presents a high-risk environment for all aid workers as impediments to humanitarian access have increased. As enshrined in International Humanitarian Law, aid workers must never be a target of violence. Our aid programmes in Nigeria support partners to advise on safety and facilitate sustained and unhindered humanitarian access for aid workers, including through our funding for the UN Humanitarian Air Service and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether British aid to Nigeria is conditional on equality of access to that aid from those of all faiths and non in that country.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
UK Government aid is delivered impartially and based on need. We focus our aid investment and expertise on the highest priority issues where we can make the most difference and achieve maximum impact in Nigeria. Everyone has an equal right to UK Government aid regardless of their beliefs. In Nigeria, our humanitarian assistance programme is aligned with the UN Humanitarian Response Plan, which is focused primarily on North East Nigeria, due to the extremely large scale and deep severity of humanitarian needs there.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) press freedoms in Bangladesh, and (2) the extent to which British journalists may freely enter and leave that country.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Bangladesh remains a Human Rights Priority Country for the UK. As the FCDO's 2021 Human Rights and Democracy Report states, press freedom remains restricted in Bangladesh, and we continue to assess that Bangladesh's Digital Security Act has been applied in a repressive manner. Ministers regularly raise human rights issues in public and private with the Government of Bangladesh, including the importance of free media. UK funding has supported objective media coverage of conflict in communities, as well as the training and education of investigative and female journalists in Bangladesh. The UK will continue to engage with the Government of Bangladesh to address these issues, and will support efforts towards a stable, prosperous and democratic Bangladesh. British journalists are able to enter and leave Bangladesh, and the UK Government will raise any incidents of harassment or restrictions on movement with the Government.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the UK aid, if any, given to Bangladesh over the last year.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK was one of the first countries to recognise Bangladesh's independence in 1971, and we celebrated 50 years of diplomatic relations in February 2022. The breadth of the UK-Bangladesh partnership has matured over the last 50 years, and includes trade and investment, defence and security, people-to-people links and cooperation on Rohingya and climate. Bangladesh is a key trading partner, with UK-Bangladesh trade totalling $4.5 billion per year. Bangladesh is an economic and development success story, with an average of 6% GDP growth over the last two decades. In 2021, the UK provided £87.2 million of bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Bangladesh, which contributed towards the Sustainable Development Goals including on humanitarian preparedness and response, women and girls, climate and governance. As Bangladesh works towards graduation from Least Developed Country status in 2026, the UK is proud to stand as a close partner, strengthening ties and building on our shared interests.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of UK-Bangladesh relations.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK was one of the first countries to recognise Bangladesh's independence in 1971, and we celebrated 50 years of diplomatic relations in February 2022. The breadth of the UK-Bangladesh partnership has matured over the last 50 years, and includes trade and investment, defence and security, people-to-people links and cooperation on Rohingya and climate. Bangladesh is a key trading partner, with UK-Bangladesh trade totalling $4.5 billion per year. Bangladesh is an economic and development success story, with an average of 6% GDP growth over the last two decades. In 2021, the UK provided £87.2 million of bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Bangladesh, which contributed towards the Sustainable Development Goals including on humanitarian preparedness and response, women and girls, climate and governance. As Bangladesh works towards graduation from Least Developed Country status in 2026, the UK is proud to stand as a close partner, strengthening ties and building on our shared interests.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the help provided so far to children in Ukraine whose schooling has been interrupted by the conflict in that country; and whether they will change their current level of support to those children.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK has contributed £15 million to UNICEF's appeal for Ukraine and a further £5 million to UNICEF in Moldova. Our support has helped UNICEF provide formal and non-formal education to over 850,000 children, as well as access for Ukrainian women and children to essential services including health, nutrition, and specialist trauma and Gender Based Violence services. Delivery of this assistance is ongoing. An assessment of UNICEF delivery will be published in the Annual Review of the UK's humanitarian support. Decisions on humanitarian spending beyond March 2022, including to education, are to be determined.