Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to provide financial support to (a) workers and (b) farmers in the Global South that supply goods to the UK and other countries affected by covid-19.
Answered by James Duddridge
We are engaging with businesses in the UK and in developing countries to understand the challenges they face with respect to protecting incomes and livelihoods in their supply chains. As a leading shareholder and donor to the Multilateral Development Banks, we have been working them to ensure that they are providing much needed working capital to the small businesses and supply chains that workers and farmers depend on in developing countries. We are exploring how DFID’s private sector development finance programmes can respond and complement this support. For example, CDC, the UK’s development finance institution, continues to invest in businesses across Africa and South Asia to support jobs. The UK also currently supports social protection programmes to assist the most vulnerable in more than 25 countries. In response to COVID-19 we are providing expert advice to governments and international partners to assess how and where social protection could be best used to support an efficient, coordinated response.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the capacity of the healthcare system in Yemen to (a) help prevent and (b) respond to the spread of covid-19 in that country.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
Following the confirmation that Covid-19 is now present in Yemen, we are extremely concerned by the capacity of the healthcare system in Yemen to prevent and respond to a severe outbreak of COVID-19. Only half of Yemen’s health facilities are currently functioning and almost 20 million people lack access to basic healthcare.
In response to concerns about the healthcare system’s capacity, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are providing vital equipment across the country, including testing supplies, personal protective equipment and ventilators. Last year, the UK provided £240 million in response to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, with over £42 million supporting the UNICEF. We also recently announced an extra £10 million to the WHO globally, to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak in developing countries and we will consider providing additional COVID-19 support to Yemen should further funding be required.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she has had with the IMF on supporting developing countries experiencing the economic effect of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by James Duddridge
The department is working closely with HM Treasury to ensure that the IMF continues to play its critical role at the centre of the global financial safety net, including supporting the poorest and most vulnerable countries to respond to the economic costs of the COVID19 pandemic.
The UK has been pressing for improvements to the IMF’s existing toolkit, such as increasing the access limits on the IMF’s emergency financing instruments, which was agreed by the IMF Board on 7 April. The details of this can be found here: https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/Policy-Papers/Issues/2020/04/09/Enhancing-the-Emergency-Financing-Toolkit-Responding-To-The-COVID-19-Pandemic-49320?cid=em-COM-123-41385
DFID is providing up to £150 million as the UK contribution to the IMF Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust, to support the poorest developing countries with debt relief to support public finances during this crisis. The IMF recently announced the first tranche of support through this Trust will be disbursed to 25 countries. We will continue to engage with the IMF to ensure that it can effectively support vulnerable countries during this unprecedented global health and economic crisis, and has adequate resources to meet the needs of developing countries. The Chancellor has announced an additional GBP 2.2 billion of UK loan resources for the IMF Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust, which provides concessional lending to developing countries.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on (a) employment, (b) wages, and (c) farmer income in the global south.
Answered by James Duddridge
DFID is working together with international organisations and other partners to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economies of developing countries, including on the most vulnerable workers, including farmers. We are drawing on modelling by the International Labour Organisation and our knowledge of prior crises.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of the covid-19 pandemic on levels of health in Palestinian refugee camps (a) in Lebanon and (b) throughout the Middle East.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK recognises the United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s (UNRWA) unique mandate to provide protection and core services to Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon Jordan and Syria. In 2019/20 the UK has committed £65.5 million to UNRWA, matching our 2018 contribution. Overcrowded living conditions, physical and mental stress and years of protracted conflict make the population of over 5.6 million Palestine refugees across the Middle East particularly vulnerable. UNRWA is supporting the delivery of national pandemic response plans and has put in place a range of measures to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and to treat patients with symptoms, working in cooperation with WHO and other partners.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the (a) availability and (b) adequacy of (i) medical and (ii) sanitation supplies required in response to an outbreak of covid-19 in Gaza.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK is providing vital support to help respond to COVID-19 in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Our $1 million funding contribution will enable the World Health Organisation and UNICEF to purchase and co-ordinate the delivery of medical equipment, treat critical care patients, train frontline public health personnel and scale up laboratory testing capacity.
The UN assesses that although the current number of detected cases remains relatively low, the capacity of the Palestinian health system to cope with an expected increase in COVID-19 cases is poor. The situation is particularly severe in Gaza, where the health system has shortages in specialised staff, drugs and equipment. We continue to monitor the situation and are working closely with the UN and the international community to ensure a co-ordinated response.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment her Department has made of the capacity of the UN Relief and Works Agency to respond to healthcare needs arising from the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK recognises the United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s (UNRWA) unique mandate to provide?protection and core?services to Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon Jordan and Syria. In 2019/20 the UK has provided £65.5 million to UNRWA, matching our 2018 contribution. UNRWA has 3,300 staff working in 144 health centres who are responding to the pandemic and ensuring that Palestinian refugees continue to have access to quality health care services. UNRWA is supporting the delivery of national pandemic response plans and has put in place a range of measures to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and to treat patients with symptoms, working in cooperation with WHO and other partners.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the covid-19 pandemic, what discussions he is having with his G20 counterparts on agreeing a global deal for (a) affordable health care for people affected by covid-19, (b) collaborating on a vaccination for that disease and (c) ensuring that jobs are protected.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The UK is engaging with the World Health Organisation and other international partners, including G20 counterparts, to contain COVID-19 and mitigate secondary health and socio-economic impacts.
We have committed up to £744 million of UK aid to combat COVID-19 and to reinforce the global effort to find a vaccine. This includes helping developing countries manage the crisis by supporting the operations of the UN, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, as well as the provision of expert advice; supporting the International Monetary Fund to relieve debt servicing pressures on countries struggling with the virus; and supporting international scientific efforts to develop diagnosis tests and vaccines.
G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors recently collectively committed to do whatever is needed to restore confidence and economic growth and to protect jobs, businesses, and the resilience of the financial system.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to help strengthen the capacity of the health care system in Yemen to respond to the spread of covid-19 in that country.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK has been supporting the health system in Yemen during the five-year conflict and has funded over 4.7 million medical consultations and 2.6 million vaccines since 2017. Last year, the UK provided £240 million in response to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, with over £42 million supporting United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
We continue to engage closely with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF who are providing vital equipment across the country, including testing supplies, personal protective equipment and ventilators. The UK also recently announced an extra £10 million to the WHO globally, to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak in developing countries and we will consider additional COVID-19 support to Yemen should further funding be required.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the capacity of the Palestinian health sector to respond to the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK is providing vital support to help respond to COVID-19 in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Our $1 million funding contribution will enable the World Health Organisation and UNICEF to purchase and co-ordinate the delivery of medical equipment, treat critical care patients, train frontline public health personnel and scale up laboratory testing capacity.
The UN assesses that although the current number of detected cases remains relatively low, the capacity of the Palestinian health system to cope with an expected increase in COVID-19 cases is poor. The situation is particularly severe in Gaza, where the health system has shortages in specialised staff, drugs and equipment. We continue to monitor the situation and are working closely with the UN and the international community to ensure a co-ordinated response