Covid-19: International Response

Baroness Sugg Excerpts

Monday 18th May 2020 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Baroness Sugg]

That the Virtual Proceedings do consider the international response to COVID-19.

The Motion was considered in a Virtual Proceeding via video call.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development (Baroness Sugg) (Con)]

My Lords, I am grateful for the opportunity to update the House on the UK’s international response to Covid-19—the biggest threat that we have faced in decades. A global pandemic needs a global response, and the international community must work together to tackle this virus so that we can all be safe from future waves of infection.

The UK has a proud history of leading international efforts to tackle global problems. Despite the challenges we are facing at home, we are determined to fulfil our role in the international response. The UK has been playing, and will continue to play, a leading role in galvanising the most effective co-ordinated international action through our international strategy, leadership and partners. We are tackling this crisis using the full range of development, diplomatic, national security, prosperity and influencing tools to address the direct and wide-ranging secondary impacts.

We are funding global research into therapeutics, diagnostics and a vaccine, recognising the urgent need to equitably distribute a treatment once it becomes available. We are protecting the poorest and most vulnerable people and working to ensure that no one is left behind. We are supporting British nationals across the world and getting people home when we can; and, of course, we are looking to the future and investing in a clean and resilient global recovery.

Our UK aid support has reinforced our international leadership. The Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary, Chancellor, and Health and DfID Secretaries of State have all been actively engaging in dialogue with world leaders and other international groups—and our engagement is making a difference. We are playing a key role in the multilateral response to Covid-19. We have encouraged the G7 and G20 to act, and have called on international organisations to co-ordinate and increase support for vulnerable countries and to deliver the appropriate international financial and health system assistance.

Working with our G20 partners, we have ensured that critical supply chains remain open for food and medicines, and we have driven agreement on the finance ministers’ action plan for the immediate response and a clean and resilient recovery.

We are investing in vaccines and global health. The UK is proud to have world-class scientific and medical research facilities. British scientists have driven major breakthroughs throughout the history of global health, in epidemiology, immunology and vaccinations. Continuing this tradition, the Government’s Vaccine Taskforce has just provided an additional £84 million of new funding for Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing at Oxford University and Imperial College, bringing the total government investment for these institutions to over £130 million.

The Oxford team is also working in partnership with the great British company AstraZeneca to ensure that any successful vaccine could be rapidly produced to meet global demand. The agreement will deliver 100 million doses in total, ensuring that in addition to supporting our own people we are able to make vaccines available to developing countries at the lowest possible cost. British researchers who built diagnostic kits for Ebola are also working on new rapid diagnostics for Covid-19.

However, our domestic efforts are just one piece of the puzzle in solving this pandemic. No country can do this alone. To maximise our chances of finding a workable vaccine as quickly as possible, the UK has committed £250 million of UK aid to the global Covid-19 initiative by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations—CEPI. This is the largest single contribution by any country to date. The UK is also working closely with CEPI, the World Health Organization and our international partners to ensure that, when a vaccine is available, it will be accessible to everyone who needs it as soon as possible.

Two weeks ago, the Prime Minister co-hosted a virtual summit to raise funds for the global coronavirus response. We called on all world leaders to increase their ambition in this urgent shared endeavour. The global community heeded this call and pledged approximately £6.5 billion for Covid-19 research and supporting activities, including the UK’s own £313 million commitment for vaccines, tests and treatments and £75 million for the World Health Organization. This funding will equip us to fight the virus at home in the UK and across the world.

To further strengthen international efforts on vaccines, on 4 June the UK will host the global vaccine summit for Gavi, the global alliance that provides vaccinations in 68 of the world’s poorest countries. Gavi will be critical to the international co-ordination and operational delivery of a Covid-19 vaccine—at scale, at a price people can afford and available as needed. To this end, the UK has also committed to the equivalent of £330 million a year to Gavi for the next five years. This all builds on our existing significant aid programming on health system strengthening, clean water and sanitation, and global health security.

While we are searching for a cure, we cannot forget the most vulnerable, who are suffering the devastating effects of Covid-19 right now. We have committed up to £744 million of UK aid to support the global response and address both the primary and secondary impacts. This includes building resilience in vulnerable countries and supporting the economic response. We are also pivoting existing work to provide targeted health, humanitarian and economic support. We are paying particular attention to the needs of the most vulnerable. Our funding for UNHCR is focused on supporting refugees. Our support to UNFPA and UNICEF will protect the rights of women and girls, including addressing gender-based violence and ensuring continued access to sexual and reproductive healthcare.

We recognise that NGOs are key partners in responding to the unprecedented challenges of Covid-19. Through direct funding, country programmes and multilateral support, we will work closely with NGOs, which are often best placed to meet the needs of those most at risk. UK aid is also working closely with British businesses such as Unilever to tackle the pandemic. Our £100 million mutual partnership, with £50 million from DfID, will tell 1 billion people around the world about the importance of hygiene. This project will provide significant extra funding to well-known British NGOs such as WaterAid.

To manage the economic impact, the UK has committed, with our G20 partners, to suspend debt service payments from the poorest countries to the end of this year. Implementation by the G20 will provide $12 billion in fiscal space, which can be spent on healthcare and managing the impacts of Covid-19. The UK also made a leading contribution of £150 million to the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust to fund debt repayments to the IMF from the poorest countries.

Thanks to UK leadership—we pushed early for a capital increase of the World Bank in 2018 and we are the largest donor to the International Development Association—the multilateral development banks are in a strong position to respond rapidly to this crisis. With UK support, they are making $200 billion of financing available to developing countries over the next 15 months, with streamlined procedures to ensure rapid disbursement.

We are also reducing the impact on businesses in developing countries. For example, to help companies access the finance they need and to protect supply chains and jobs overseas, the CDC, the UK’s development finance institution, is continuing to invest patiently and is working alongside other DFIs to maximise efforts. UK Ministers will continue to engage with Governments across the globe to ensure that critical supply chains and transport routes remain open for food and medicine. Within the G20, the UK has called for reduced tariffs on essential Covid-related medicines, pharmaceuticals and products.

We are also supporting British nationals across the world. The pandemic has seen borders shut and transport routes suspended. Like many countries, a top priority has been getting our nationals home and supporting our nationals unable to return in keeping safe as they remain overseas. We are working closely with Canada and the US in the G7 on global travel and keeping passenger and freight hubs open. We have worked tirelessly with international partners and commercial airlines to get people home. We estimate that more than 1.3 million people have returned to the UK through commercial routes since the outbreak of the virus, with many benefiting from FCO’s work with airlines and foreign Governments. With funding of up to £75 million, we have worked with UK airlines to arrange 142 specially chartered flights for more than 30,000 people. Additionally, almost 20,000 people have returned home from cruise ships with our help.

We are also planning for our future beyond Covid-19. We need a clean and resilient global recovery. It will be more crucial than ever to think about the connection between healthy lives, healthy societies and a healthy environment, which are at the heart of the sustainable development goals. The UK played an instrumental role in establishing the SDGs; even before Covid-19, we knew that global progress was off track.

This will be alongside continued work on other priorities, including our manifesto commitments, which are all critical parts of a clean and sustainable recovery. We are committed to leveraging the best UK Government offer on critical issues such as providing 12 years of quality education for girls, ending preventable deaths and tackling climate change and biodiversity loss, including through hosting COP 26, which now will be next year.

Covid-19 does not respect national borders and individual efforts will succeed only as part of a global response. The UK will continue to play a leading role in galvanising the most effective co-ordinated international action to support both the current international Covid-19 response and longer-term recovery. As the Prime Minister said on 4 May at the Coronavirus Global Response Summit:

“It’s humanity against the virus—we are in this together and together we will prevail.”

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Sugg]

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have contributed to the debate this evening on the biggest international challenge we have faced in our lifetimes. We are seeing the devastating impact of this killer at home and overseas, and of course, the secondary impacts of Covid-19. We have touched on many aspects this evening—economies, education, livelihoods, food systems, and gender and social inclusion issues—which will be felt for some time to come. As is so often the case, the poorest will be disproportionately affected. It a global problem that needs a global solution.

The debate has also underscored the crucial importance of a strong and co-ordinated international response, and it is in our best interests, and in our nature as an outward-looking nation, to be at the forefront of this. The international impact and the UK’s response are wide-ranging, and this debate has touched on a broad range of these vital issues. I will attempt to address as many points as I am able to in the time allowed, but if I miss any, I will follow up in writing. Many good points have been raised this evening.

The noble Lords, Lord McConnell, Lord Hain and Lord Monks, and the noble Baroness, Lady Smith of Newnham, spoke of the importance of a co-ordinated response. We are working to ensure that the international response to Covid-19 through the G7 and the G20 responds to the needs of the most vulnerable countries. We are working through the G7 and G20 to deliver an ambitious response and are playing a leading role in supporting G7 Foreign Ministers and the Foreign Secretary, who are committed to driving forward a co-ordinated global health response, to build the resilience of vulnerable countries.

As the noble Lord, Lord Hain, mentioned, the development of a vaccine will be crucial to stopping the global spread of the virus. We are working with G20 Governments to develop a vaccine as quickly as possible and make it available to anyone who needs it. The noble Baroness, Lady Smith of Newnham, and the noble Lord, Lord Desai, asked how we are supporting the global recovery. As co-chair of the G20 framework working group, we are leading the development of a wide-ranging G20 action plan, which covers health, economic and financial response, the foundations to secure an environmentally sustainable and inclusive recovery and support for vulnerable countries in lessons for the future. Through this action plan, we are calling on international organisations to support countries to deliver international financial and health system assistance and prioritise resources towards those vulnerable countries.

As the noble Lord, Lord McConnell, highlighted, Covid-19 is a full-spectrum threat to achieving the SDGs. But during our G7 presidency next year, we will continue to press the development priorities and to co-ordinate a strong global response.

My noble friend Lord Lucas, the right reverend prelate the Bishop of Durham, and the noble Lords, Lord St John of Bletso, Lord Hannay and Lord Bilimoria, all spoke about the importance of international trade. This crisis highlights just how important it is to keep trade flowing and to keep supply chains open, so that we can all have the essential supplies that we need at this difficult time. Free trade and resilient supply chains through open markets will be crucial to the global economic recovery as the crisis passes. In the extraordinary meeting of G20 Trade Ministers on 30 March, the International Trade Secretary called for major world economies to work together to tackle the economic impact of coronavirus. In times of economic difficulty, it is more important than ever for countries to remain open to trade.

The noble Baroness, Lady Northover, and the noble Lords, Lord Hannay and Lord Hussain, spoke about the World Health Organization, which of course has a vital role to play in co-ordinating the global response. We must continue to support the WHO and the wider UN system to lead an effective, evidence-based public health response and increase the resilience of the most vulnerable health systems. The WHO is providing key global co-ordination, bringing global health systems together. It also provides evidence-based guidance and operational support where a country’s health system is too weak to deliver the response alone.

My noble friends Lord Holmes and Lord Robathan spoke about the importance of learning lessons from around the world. There is no easy solution to Covid, or indeed to reducing lockdown measures. It is really important that we learn the lessons. We are reviewing the approaches used by other countries. My colleagues across government, our Chief Scientific Adviser and our Chief Medical Officer are in regular conversation with their counterparts around the world, to share lessons and analyses. As many noble Lords highlighted, the World Health Assembly is meeting today, and provides a further opportunity to learn these lessons.

The noble Baronesses, Lady Jay of Paddington and Lady Goudie, spoke of the 0.7% commitment. That commitment remains. However, as the noble Lord, Lord Bruce, highlighted, we must be clear that there are pressures on our finances, so we cannot do everything that we wish. The important thing will be to strike the right balance between our Covid response and ensuring that we are not taking large steps back in the development gains we have seen over the years.

In specific answer to the noble Viscount, Lord Chandos, the £388 million for CEPI and the WHO is ODA money, but the Oxford and Imperial funding is not.

I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Judd, that the work of the Department for International Development is more important than ever, and I also agree about the importance of taking a truly holistic approach to how we respond.

The noble Lords, Lord McConnell and Lord Bruce, spoke of the importance of 12 years of quality education for girls and education in general. It is important that we continue our focus on that. Before Covid-19, we were already facing a learning crisis. We are working to help mitigate the immediate effect of Covid-19 and school closures on pupils and the education workforce by addressing child safety, nutrition, well-being and learning. We are also working to preserve education systems and finance in the medium to long term by maintaining school places and school education funding, improving the crisis response and working towards a recovery when schools reopen.

As the noble Lord, Lord Collins, highlighted, we have made contributions to Education Cannot Wait, as have other donors. We are also working closely with UNESCO, the Global Partnership for Education and other donors to ensure that we get the funding we need. In the slightly longer term, we are working on our detailed girls’ education strategy and action plan, and on integrating that into our Covid-19 response.

The noble Lord, Lord Purvis of Tweed, and the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, spoke about the importance of keeping in mind the significant gendered impacts of this crisis, including the surge in gender-based violence. We are really clear that our global response must explicitly consider and support women and girls. We know that women and girls will be particularly hard hit by the secondary impacts of the pandemic, but they will also be the backbone of recovery in communities. We therefore support the meaningful participation and leadership of women and girls, in both the immediate response and the longer-term recovery process. That will be essential to build back better and have a fully resilient recovery.

The noble Baroness, Lady Blackstone, spoke about the importance of sexual and reproductive health services. We are making sure that we provide those services in response to prevent unintended pregnancies, dangerous back-street abortions, HIV infections and higher risks for mothers and babies. We are flexing our flagship WISH programme in Africa, to ensure that women get access to the sexual and reproductive health services that they need. We are also reorienting existing bilateral programmes to ensure that women and girls can continue to access services they need during the lockdown.

The noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, spoke of the importance of malaria and of the UK as a long-standing leader on it. I assure her that that will continue. Despite the huge efforts which saw malaria deaths halved between 2000 and 2015, progress has been stalled; in addition, progress is threatened by Covid-19. Our priority on malaria today is to support countries to continue to provide essential health services during this pandemic. We are actively flexing our health programmes to make that happen and working with countries to ensure that essential malaria services continue.

The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham and the noble Lord, Lord Collins, spoke on the importance of food security. We are repurposing programmes in agriculture, social protection and humanitarian assistance to tackle the factors driving Covid-19-induced food insecurity. We are also a major funder of existing multilateral programmes in this area, such as the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme. We have committed £50 million to the World Food Programme’s recent urgent appeals and are learning the evidence from previous crises to make sure that we are sharing evidence on improved action. In all this, we continue to put the poorest and most marginalised at the heart of our programmes to address the underlying causes of chronic hunger.

The noble Baronesses, Lady Jay and Lady Sheehan, along with other noble Lords, spoke about the importance of NGOs. Civil society organisations and NGOs are key policy and delivery partners for DfID. We work with a range of charities and the work which the NGOs do is critical. Civil society plays a particularly important role in ensuring that our aid reaches the most vulnerable. DfID has channelled much of its initial support to multilaterals to ensure that we can achieve the necessary scale of action and co-ordination. Much of that work will be delivered on the ground through NGOs such as Plan International, working with the Education Cannot Wait fund. We are working with the UN to make sure that our contributions are channelled to NGOs and others as quickly as possible.

The noble Baroness, Lady Sheehan, referred to £20 million going to NGOs; that is just part of our funding to NGOs, which is done through our rapid response facility. We have also allocated money to NGOs through our Unilever partnership and recently launched a new round of Aid Direct for small and medium-sized charities. Our Small Charities Challenge Fund, for the UK’s smallest and best charities, is open to applications. However, I speak to NGOs regularly and am very aware that the charity sector, like many others, is facing financial and delivery challenges as a result of Covid-19. Many charities have already made use of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. We are also working flexibly and collaboratively with current NGO partners to ensure continued programme delivery. That includes applying Cabinet Office guidance on supply relief to help them continue to deliver life-saving aid.

I join my noble friends Lord Holmes of Richmond and Lord Bridgeman, and the noble Lord, Lord Collins, in thanking front-line workers here and abroad. My noble friend Lord Bridgeman’s idea of a royal commission is an interesting one. I will take it back to the health department, but I agree that we must learn from all these experiences.

On the issue of refugees, which was raised by the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of St Albans, the noble Lords, Lord Griffiths and Lord Alton, the noble Baroness, Lady Goudie, and others, we are working hard to respond to refugee crises and forced displacement globally. Our existing programmes already provide access to public health information on clean water, sanitation and health services for displaced people and their host communities, and we are working closely with international partners to ensure that the global response addresses the needs and vulnerabilities of displaced populations. We are lobbying the UN to ensure that they are included in the global humanitarian response plan, and that their rights are protected. The noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, rightly highlighted the importance of access to such people. We are working hard to ensure that those delivering these essential services get the access they need. We are very concerned to see the recent reports of cases in Cox’s Bazar, among the Rohingya people. We are working closely to do all we can in such challenging circumstances to ensure that we can contain the spread of the disease.

The noble Lords, Lord Bruce and Lord Collins, and my noble friend Lady McIntosh spoke about the importance of water, sanitation and hygiene. They are really important during periods of physical distancing and will be central to preventing the spread of Covid-19. This is the first line of defence against it. We know that handwashing with water and soap kills the virus, but that means access to running water in sufficient quantities.

We are also concerned about an underlying crisis of inadequate WASH in healthcare facilities in developing countries. I have already mentioned the new initiative with Unilever, which will help to strengthen government-led hygiene communication. We are also contributing to the UNICEF global appeal to strengthen water and sanitation co-ordination in countries to assist with the Covid-19 response.

The noble Lords, Lord Foulkes and Lord Collins, spoke about the key importance of making sure that we address our response to older people and those with disabilities. We remain deeply concerned about the significant impact of this crisis on marginalised groups. People with disabilities and older people are more at risk of contracting and dying of Covid-19, because of underlying health conditions and existing barriers, which have been intensified by the crisis. As well as the increased risk of contracting the illness, people with disabilities, older people and other marginalised groups will experience secondary impacts, such as decreased access to services. We are engaging internationally to push for greater explicit consideration of and support to marginalised people. The new funding we are providing through our rapid response facility will target support for vulnerable people.

The noble Lord, Lord Chidgey, spoke about our response in Africa. We are rapidly adapting our bilateral programmes across Africa to help counter the health, humanitarian and economic impact of Covid-19. We provided health experts to give direct support to African countries, made significant contributions to the multilateral response and are supporting the WHO team to help co-ordinate the regional response.

The noble Lord, Lord Bruce, and my noble friend Lord Robathan asked about numbers of cases in developing countries. While the WHO publishes regular updates on the numbers of Covid-19 cases and deaths at a global, regional and country level, reporting, testing and surveillance systems in low-income and middle-income countries are generally weak. That is due to the limited number of tests available, and weaknesses in health, laboratory and information systems. As a result, there are likely to be more cases and deaths than are reported, but exactly how many is not clear. To help address that, we are supporting the development of new tests, supporting the WHO to strengthen its testing and surveillance, and backing research partnerships to strengthen data quality.

The noble Baronesses, Lady Kennedy of The Shaws and Lady Ritchie, and the noble Lord, Lord Alton, spoke about the importance of ensuring that human rights continue to be recognised. We are aware of and concerned by reports of the measures taken by some countries in response to the Covid-19 outbreak, which may unduly restrict human rights and democracy. States must not use the pandemic as a cover for repressive action, such as silencing human rights defenders or journalists. They should restrict rights only so far as permissible under international human rights law. Through our international engagement, we have made it clear that any restriction of human rights must be lawful, targeted, time limited and subject to regular review to ensure that it remains necessary, as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic. For example, the Foreign Secretary issued a statement with his European counterparts to mark World Press Freedom Day. As the noble Baroness highlighted, this risk has a disproportionate impact on marginalised and vulnerable groups, including the elderly, women and girls, minorities and people with disabilities. The phrase “We’re all in this together” has a meaning only if we can avoid the most vulnerable suffering disproportionately. We will continue to raise human rights in all our international engagements.

The noble Baronesses, Lady Goudie and Lady Sheehan, and others spoke about the importance of a ceasefire. When we are fighting this virus, the last thing we need is to be fighting each other. The UK supports the call from the UN Secretary-General for a global ceasefire and his appeal to open up spaces for diplomacy to protect the most vulnerable, allow humanitarian access and focus our collective energies on fighting Covid-19. In recent years, we strongly supported the Secretary-General’s Sustaining Peace agenda and encouraged the UN to place more emphasis on conflict prevention and peacebuilding.

The noble Lord, Lord Campbell of Pittenweem, spoke about NATO. We are supporting NATO as a really important actor in the global response and encouraging the use of NATO’s unique capabilities in our international collaboration. We will continue to protect our NATO commitments during the Covid-19 response, but we must also prevent potential adversaries from exploiting the crisis, as others have highlighted. We therefore support NATO’s efforts against disinformation, which seeks to divide allies, discredit NATO and sow division within our societies. We are deploying our defence experts into NATO to support this effort and putting our expertise at NATO’s disposal. We also continue to ask NATO allies to support vulnerable NATO partners where they can.

The noble Lords, Lord Loomba and Lord Alton, and my noble friend Lord Blencathra spoke about the global review into the handling of this crisis. As the Foreign Secretary said, there will need to be a full review of what happened. That will need to include looking at why the outbreak happened, why it was not stopped earlier and what can be done to manage any outbreaks in the future.

The noble Baroness, Lady Falkner, and the noble Lords, Lord Faulkner and Lord Rennard, spoke about Taiwan. The UK’s position on Taiwan is of long standing and is unchanged: we support Taiwanese participation in international organisations where there is a precedent for their involvement, where they can contribute to the global good and where there is no prerequisite of nationhood for participation. That includes the World Health Organization.

The noble Baroness, Lady Coussins, asked about the British Council. Of course, Covid-19 has had a significant impact on the British Council’s operations and finances. More than 95% of its English teaching and examination centres worldwide have closed, so its cash flow and income have sharply reduced. The noble Baroness highlighted the support that the FCO has provided for additional funding for this financial year. We have also provided some of next year’s grant in aid funding up front to help alleviate pressures, but we are in ongoing conversations with the British Council.

My noble friend Lady McIntosh spoke about wet markets. Conclusive evidence about the origin and mode of transmission of Covid-19 is not yet available, but the virus has really highlighted the health risks associated with keeping and selling live animals, particularly wild animals, and their meat. There is no doubt that poorly managed wildlife trade poses threats to animal health and welfare, diminishes our biodiversity and can result in serious public health issues. The keeping and selling of live animals, including wild animals, or their slaughter for meat in wet markets, can pose significant threats. That is why we agreed with the WHO that it is important to ensure strict food hygiene and health standards and that markets should close if they are not met. Looking ahead, we want to engage with all global stakeholders to understand the range of views on this sensitive matter. I look forward to working with our international partners in the immediate future to make sure that we can build a clean and resilient recovery.

Many noble Lords raised equitable access to vaccines. As the noble Lord, Lord Collins, highlighted, we support the WHO’s Access to Covid Tools. Proposals for the development of and access to these tools are currently being discussed, including at the World Health Assembly today. The UK has long supported affordable and equitable access to essential medicines, including in low and middle-income countries. That is being discussed at the moment and I hope to have more information on it shortly.

I am running out of time. I will touch briefly on malnutrition, because its prevention and treatment are part of our immediate response. We will continue to work with the Government of Japan to ensure that they can deliver a successful Nutrition for Growth summit. As I did earlier, I acknowledge the importance of ensuring that we do not have a cliff edge on our nutrition funding.

Lastly, I thank my noble friend Lady Buscombe for highlighting Bhutan’s response. I join her in congratulating it and wishing it well for the future.

I am out of time, and I apologise because I have not answered all of the many and wide-ranging questions, despite the speed I speak at. I will follow up with a full and complete letter, taking on board everybody’s questions that I was not able to attend to today. This crisis is very much ongoing and it is important that we begin to think about sustainable recovery, as well as making sure that we are dealing with its impacts. The hard-won development gains achieved over recent decades are at risk. Economies have been ravaged and hunger will become famine unless we act now. As the noble Baroness, Lady Blackstone, highlighted, our climate crisis continues to deepen. There are no easy answers, but when we emerge from this crisis we will owe it to all those who have struggled and to those we have lost to rebuild a more resilient, healthier and greener world.

Motion agreed.