Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the 6.9% reduction in the FCDO's resource budget on the ability to respond to global health threats.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Over the coming months, we will work through detailed decisions on how the Official Development Assistance budget will be used in future years, informed by internal and external consultation and impact assessments.
The Minister for Development was delighted to attend the Gavi Global Summit in Brussels on 25 June 2025 and announce that the UK will invest an additional £1.25 billion in support of Gavi's 2026 - 2030 programme. This commitment, alongside contributions from international partners, will help deliver Gavi to partner with countries such as yours to immunise up to 500 million more children, save up to 9 million more lives, and generate over $100 billion in economic benefits.
The UK's commitment to supporting both humanitarian aid and development across the world remains steadfast, despite the reduction to the UK's aid budget. We continue to work across Government and with international partners to deliver on our global health agenda, including how we best mitigate the risks of a range of global health threats. The UK's role in helping secure consensus in May this year on a legally-binding Pandemic Agreement underlines our commitment to tackling these threats.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to publish the revised School Food Standards; and what steps he is taking to consult (a) schools, (b) public health experts and (c) other stakeholders in the process.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
To ensure quality and nutrition in meals for the future, the department is acting quickly with experts across the sector to revise the School Food Standards, so every school is supported with the latest nutrition guidance. We are currently engaging with a range of stakeholders to help us understand the challenges around school food.
We intend to consult on these revisions and further details will be available in due course. We understand the importance of hearing from schools as part of this work and will ensure there are appropriate opportunities for their engagement.