Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Integrated Security, Defence and Foreign Policy Review will consider the possibility of procuring a hospital ship.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
DFID and the Ministry of Defence already work closely together deploying ships to respond to humanitarian emergencies. For example, following Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas last September, RFA Mounts Bay played a critical role in the UK response.
The integrated review is the deepest review of the UK’s foreign, defence, security and development policy since the end of the Cold War.
It will establish the strategic aims for our national security and foreign policy, determining the capabilities and structural reforms needed to meet those aims and how we will work with international partners and organisations to promote the UK’s interests around the world.
No decision has been made on the construction or operation of a UK hospital ship, and we will continue to ensure that UKaid is deployed in a way that maximises value for money for development and the UK taxpayer.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to use the foreign aid budget to procure a hospital ship.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
DFID and the Ministry of Defence already work closely together to respond to humanitarian emergencies including using ships for relief efforts. For example, following Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas last September, RFA Mounts Bay played a critical role in the UK response.
As set out in the UK Humanitarian Reform Plan, the UK Government is committed ensuring a bigger, better, faster response capability which is able to respond to a range of different natural disasters.
No decision has been made on the construction or operation of a UK hospital ship, and we will continue to ensure that UKaid is deployed in a way that maximises value for money for development and the UK taxpayer.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to join the Council of Europe Development Bank.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Her Majesty’s Government has no plans to join the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB). The CEB focuses its operations in 22 target countries in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, including the Balkans. The UK already has the tools to achieve our development objectives in these geographies in an effective way that represents value for money for the UK tax payer. For example, we work bilaterally through the joint DFID-FCO Good Governance Fund and have a multilateral footprint through our capital share in the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what specific steps they are taking to ensure that refugee children in Greece are treated in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and enjoy the Convention rights to survival, protection and education.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Greek government is leading on support to refugee children. The UK contributes to these efforts via the European Union who has allocated more than €1 billion of funding to Greece to help it deal with the migration crisis.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Home Office are in frequent contact with the Greek authorities, both at official and ministerial level, to discuss the situation for migrants including children in Greece. The UK is also providing support to help the Greek authorities, European Asylum Support Office (EASO) and the European Commission deal with flows of migrants, including by deploying experts and interpreters on the Greek islands as well as specialists to the EU Commission team in Athens.
Further, as announced by the Home Secretary on 19 January this year, the Government has amended the eligibility date for section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016, to ensure that Greece is able to transfer some of the most vulnerable unaccompanied migrant children to the UK.