Asked by: Anas Sarwar (Labour - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2015 to Question 221760, what assessment she has made of the ability of Syria's neighbouring countries to manage the safety and security of (a) Syrian refugees with urgent medical needs, children and victims of torture and sexual violence and (b) other Syrian refugees.
Answered by Justine Greening
Syria’s neighbours are taking steps to ensure the safety and security of Syrian refugees, most importantly by continuing to provide protection within their borders to those fleeing violence. The UK is assisting the Lebanese and Jordanian governments with the management of their borders, and is funding the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, to provide guidance on best practice and to advocate for the safety and security needs of refugees. The UK also supports a number of specialised partners to help meet the needs of the most vulnerable individuals, including those with urgent medical needs, victims of torture, and sexual and gender-based violence.
Asked by: Anas Sarwar (Labour - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to work with the government of Malawi to enhance financial controls and transparency in that country, with a view to restoring bilateral support by the UK.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
General budget support to Malawi was suspended in 2011 due to concerns relating to human rights and public financial management. Tightly managed sector budget support for health and education was continued by all donors but following the Cash-gate scandal in November 2013 this too was suspended. There can be no consideration of putting UK funding through Malawi government systems until the integrity of the Government’s financial management systems has been restored and independently verified. However, the UK is still committed to poverty reduction and supporting poor people in Malawi, through a large programme of ongoing investments delivered, in health, education, agriculture, water and sanitation, economic development and governance.
In the wake of the Cash-gate corruption scandal in 2013, we have funded a forensic audit as well as technical assistance to the investigation agencies to help bring the culprits to court and continue to support public financial management reforms.
Asked by: Anas Sarwar (Labour - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much funding has been allocated to NGOs and other non-state actors since bilateral support to Malawi was suspended in November 2013; and what the expected outcomes of that funding are.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
General budget support to Malawi was suspended in 2011 due to concerns relating to human rights and public financial management. Tightly managed sector budget support for health and education was continued by all donors but following the Cashgate scandal in November 2013 this too was suspended. There can be no consideration of putting UK funding through Malawi government systems until the integrity of the Government’s financial management systems has been restored and independently verified. However, the UK is still committed to poverty reduction and supporting poor people in Malawi, through a large programme of ongoing investments delivered outside of government systems, in health, education, agriculture, water and sanitation, economic development and governance.
Since November 2013 to date the DFID bilateral programme in Malawi has disbursed £ 70.4 million to NGOs, Multilaterals and other non-state channels outside of government systems. Expected outcomes include:
- An important contribution to meeting contraception needs in a country with a high total fertility rate and increasing population pressure. By 2016, the UK’s Malawi Family Planning Programme is expected to support 800,000 additional women to access and use modern methods of family planning.
- Improved access to Water and Sanitation. 750,000 people will have access to clean drinking water sources by 2016.
- Supporting 15,000 girls to benefit from secondary school bursaries by 2016.
- Supporting improved health outcomes. DFID support is currently supplying the bulk of emergency drugs and medical supplies to Malawi’s hospitals.
- Helping to strengthen civil society in Malawi to hold their government accountable for the provision of basic services.
- Supporting 370,000 people to access relief food supplies; provision of emergency water, sanitation and hygiene facilities for 34,000 people; and assisting 54,000 people with seeds and tools to rebuild their lives after recent floods washed their crops away.
Full details of these outcomes and others are available in DFID’s Operational Plan 2011-2016 accessible online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/389289/Malawi.pdf .
Asked by: Anas Sarwar (Labour - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what representations her Department has made to the Malawian government on the introduction of user fees for health and education services in that country.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID engages with both the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education, Science and Technology on how to best ensure all poor Malawians can access good quality education and health care.
Asked by: Anas Sarwar (Labour - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many staff in her Department worked on issues relating to taxation in the developing world in each of the last five years.
Answered by Justine Greening
The estimated numbers of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff members are one FTE in 2008/09 and 2009/10, two in 2010/11 and four in 2011/12 and 2013/14. These are staff based in the UK working specifically on tax and do not include the wide range of staff across the Department, including policy, financial, corporate advisers and staff in country offices, who also work on tax. This does not include HMRC staff providing tax capacity technical assistance in DFID partner countries.
Asked by: Anas Sarwar (Labour - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to encourage the Nigerian government to allow international aid agencies to carry out their work in the north-east of that country.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The UK is in regular dialogue with the Government of Nigeria about support to victims of Boko Haram. This includes discussing the importance of the Government of Nigeria’s continued support to international aid agencies.
Asked by: Anas Sarwar (Labour - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if the Government will provide funding to meet the humanitarian needs of people affected by the insurgency in Nigeria.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The UK has provided £1 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to deliver food, safe water, clothes, shelter material and other basic necessities to those people displaced following attacks by Boko Haram.
A further £1 million of UK funding is committed to the Nigerian Government’s “Safe Schools Initiative” to help protect children at school in North East Nigeria and provide schooling to children displaced by the violence. The UK has also contributed £1.7 million to the UN’s and EU’s relief efforts.
Asked by: Anas Sarwar (Labour - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions her Department has had with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on the ability of Syria's neighbouring countries to manage the safety and security of Syrian refugees; and what discussions she has had with the UNHCR on the particular requirements relating to refugees with urgent medical needs, children and victims of torture and sexual violence.
Answered by Justine Greening
DFID is in regular contact with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) at country, regional and headquarter levels about all aspects of their mandate, including the protection, safety and security of refugees.
Asked by: Anas Sarwar (Labour - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of her Department's budget has been spent on programmes designed to strengthen tax systems in the developing world in each of the last five years.
Answered by Justine Greening
We do not currently record tax programmes under a separate spend code but we have been expanding our work on tax and transparency over the Parliament. This includes the establishment of a specialist Developing Country Capacity Building Unit in HMRC, to deploy HMRC staff to provide technical expertise in support of these efforts.
Statistics on Overseas Development Assistance are published by calendar year in line with international best practice. Information on country of spend is available from the National Statistics publication ‘Statistics on International Development’ https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistics-on-international-development-2014 . Information on spend by specific project is available from the Development Tracker http://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/
Asked by: Anas Sarwar (Labour - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department spent on programmes designed to strengthen the tax systems in each country in each of the last five years.
Answered by Justine Greening
We do not currently record tax programmes under a separate spend code but we have been expanding our work on tax and transparency over the Parliament. This includes the establishment of a specialist Developing Country Capacity Building Unit in HMRC, to deploy HMRC staff to provide technical expertise in support of these efforts.
Statistics on Overseas Development Assistance are published by calendar year in line with international best practice. Information on country of spend is available from the National Statistics publication ‘Statistics on International Development’ https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistics-on-international-development-2014 . Information on spend by specific project is available from the Development Tracker http://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/