Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the Education Cannot Wait fund for education in emergencies enhances the capability and effectiveness of existing bodies such as the UNHCR and the Emergency Education Cluster and does not duplicate their work.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Education Cannot Wait is designed to bring together the expertise, energy and capabilities of different actors, to work together more effectively on education in emergencies and protracted crises. A diverse range of organisations were involved in the development of the fund – including UN agencies, donors, recipient countries and civil society – through a consultative process co-chaired by the UK and Canada. The fund is intended to enable agencies to do more of what they currently do well in the sector, for example through providing support to strengthen the humanitarian education cluster at a global and local level. The UK will continue to engage closely during Education Cannot Wait’s inception phase, to ensure that this objective is fully reflected in its final design and finance mechanisms, and that a wide range of organisations are represented through the fund’s governance structure.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will introduce multi-year funding for child protection programmes in the Central African Republic.
Answered by Grant Shapps - Secretary of State for Defence
Since 2013, DFID has committed £58 million to address the needs of Central Africans, Central African children and of refugees from the Central African Republic (CAR). This funding has enabled agencies to support children who have been separated from their families, to provide services for girls and boys who have suffered sexual and gender-based violence, to reduce malnutrition, and give children access to education and training. DFID monitors needs in CAR and reviews regularly the strategy and level of support it provides. DFID are currently considering options for programming in CAR after the end of our current programme, which runs until March 2016.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much of the money pledged by the UK at the donor conference for Palestinians in Cairo in October 2014 has reached beneficiaries in the Gaza Strip; and what that money has been spent on.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
In October 2014, the UK pledged £20 million in early recovery assistance at the Gaza Reconstruction Conference in Cairo. We have fully disbursed our pledge and will exceed it over the coming months, as we disburse residual funds on getting businesses back to work in Gaza.
DFID’s support has included reconstructive surgery and rehabilitation for those injured in the conflict, clearance of unexploded ordnance, short-term employment schemes, shelter and basic services, support to the private sector, funding for the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism (GRM), and direct support and technical assistance to the Palestinian Authority.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what provisions her Department has made for (a) child and adolescent friendly spaces and (b) other psycho-social support for children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The UK is the third largest donor to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which is providing basic education and protection for over 230,000 children in Gaza.
As part of the UK’s humanitarian response to the 2014 conflict, DFID activated its £3 million Rapid Response Facility which included support to Handicap International, Plan International and International Medical Corps to provide psycho-social support, child protection and mental health support to children in Gaza.
DFID also provided support to the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) who have cleared all UNRWA and 21 Palestinian Authority schools of unexploded ordnance allowing 250,000 students to return to school.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what provisions her Department makes for long-term humanitarian funding for children in protracted crises (a) in Central African Republic and (b) elsewhere where aid organisations are inhibited in providing psycho-social support for children affected by armed conflict because of short-term funding cycles.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
Since 2013, the UK has committed £58 million to address the needs of Central Africans, Central African children and of CAR refugees. This funding has enabled agencies to support children who have been separated from their families, provide services for girls and boys who have suffered sexual and gender-based violence, to reduce malnutrition, and give children access to education and training. The UK monitors need in CAR and reviews regularly the strategy and level of support it provides.
In many other conflict affected countries DFID is providing multi-year funding to help humanitarian agencies with strategic longer term plans to assist conflict affected populations, including children.
In the Syria region for example, the UK has allocated £111 million to provide protection, psychosocial support and education for children affected by the crisis in Syria and the region. In Iraq, this includes funding to establish women and children’s centres, which provide counselling and support for women, and safe spaces for children to play and learn. In Syria, the UK is supporting children with food, shelter and health. The UK also helped launch, and mobilise international support for, the ‘No Lost Generation’ Initiative (NLGI), which aims to prevent a whole generation being lost to the Syria conflict through physical and psychological trauma and lack of access to quality education and other basic services.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effect in Gaza on (a) reconstruction and (b) the production of doors and furniture of the recent decision by the Israeli government to reduce the thickness of wood that can be imported into Gaza without prior approval to 1cm.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID is aware of the issue of restrictions on the import of wood into Gaza and senior DFID officials have raised it with the Government of Israel at the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) meeting in September this year. We support calls to ease the number of items on the dual use list whilst recognising Israel’s legitimate security concerns about the use of materials for the manufacture of weapons. We urge Israel to make the process of listing materials as dual use more transparent and in line with internationally recognised dual use items. In the interim, DFID funding to the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism is helping to ensure that construction materials reach Gaza.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what representations she has made to her Israeli counterparts on reducing bureaucratic procedures around the import of construction materials into Gaza.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The UK government has consistently called on the Government of Israel to ease movement and access restrictions into and out of Gaza, including in a recent visit by the Minister of State for International Development. DFID officials also raised the issue of import restrictions on construction materials into Gaza with Israeli counterparts at the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) in September this year. The UK welcomed the June 2015 agreement between the Israeli and the Palestinian authorities on the Residential Stream of the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism (GRM), to allow imports of building materials into Gaza for the reconstruction of homes that were completely destroyed. Whilst this is a step in the right direction, we will continue to push for a durable solution in Gaza that will; address Israel’s legitimate security concerns, allow the opening up of movement and access and support the return of the Palestinian Authority.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will estimate the likely timetable for rebuilding infrastructure in Gaza following the July 2014 conflict.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
Over 94,000 beneficiaries have so far been able to buy construction materials to repair their homes through the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism (GRM). The ‘Residential Stream’ of the GRM, launched on 25 June 2015, aims to facilitate the reconstruction of totally destroyed homes and infrastructure. As of 8th September, there are over 2,800 beneficiaries participating in the residential stream of the mechanism. The UK is the fourth largest donor to the GRM behind Norway, Germany and the Netherlands, providing a total of £700,000 since October 2014. The UN estimates that at the current rate, it may take 20 years to rebuild houses in the 2014 conflict. A more comprehensive lifting of restrictions as part of a political agreement is the only long-term solution for rebuilding infrastructure in Gaza.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what priorities her Department has for the inter-governmental negotiations on the Sustainable Development Goals.
Answered by Justine Greening
The UK wants an inspiring agenda that eradicates extreme poverty through sustainable development by 2030, ensuring that no one is left behind. There must be strong language on finishing the Millennium Development Goals, on gender equality, and on peace, governance, and the Rule of Law.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that a Gaza donor conference takes place in the near future; and what additional steps she has taken to (a) provide support for Palestinian children and (b) raise the importance of such support with her international counterparts.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The Cairo Conference for Reconstructing Gaza took place on 12 October. The UK pledged £20m for early recovery interventions including disposal of unexploded ordnance, rubble clearance programmes and reconstructive surgery for those injured in the conflict. The United Nations Children’s Fund has estimated that nearly 400,000 children in Gaza are in urgent need of psychological support; DFID’s Rapid Response Facility has supported the provision of health and psycho-social care for those affected, and we continue to support the UN Relief and Works Agency which has deployed counsellors to all Gaza shelters to mitigate the impact of psychological trauma. We regularly raise the importance of such support with international counterparts, as well as the need for a durable ceasefire in Gaza that addresses all of the underlying issues.