Asked by: Chris Heaton-Harris (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will take steps to ensure that the Education Cannot Wait fund for education in emergencies is monitored to ensure that (a) the funds are used for the purposes for which they are allocated and (b) those funds achieve the expected outcomes.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The UK has played a leading role in the development of Education Cannot Wait – a fund for education in emergencies, with the International Development Secretary announcing a £30million commitment to the fund as a founding donor at its launch at the World Humanitarian Summit on 23 May. The UK will continue to engage closely during Education Cannot Wait’s inception phase to ensure that the final design and results framework are underpinned by a transparent monitoring and evaluation system and robust financial reporting arrangements, to ensure that the UK and other donors have strong oversight of how funds are utilised and results achieved.
Asked by: Chris Heaton-Harris (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department plans to take to ensure that the Education cannot wait: the fund for education in emergencies focuses on (a) girls, (b) children with disabilities and (c) other marginalised children.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The UK has played a leading role in the development of Education Cannot Wait – a fund for education in emergencies. A key focus for Education Cannot Wait will be on ensuring that marginalised children and young people are able to access a quality education. This includes refugees and internally displaced children, as well as children facing barriers to their education because of their gender, disability or other factors. This focus is reflected in the Fund’s indicative headline results, which commits to providing “Inclusive education [that] reaches the most marginalised children and young people in crises” with a target of “100% of supported education opportunities demonstrate increase in education for girls, disabled and those in remote locations”. The UK will continue to engage closely during Education Cannot Wait’s inception phase, to ensure that this commitment is fully reflected in its final design and results frameworks.
Asked by: Chris Heaton-Harris (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the projects her Department funds which help disabled children access education in Kenya.
Answered by Grant Shapps
DFID is making important contributions to data availability, educational access and learning outcomes for children with disabilities in Kenya. The DFID-funded national special needs survey has collected comprehensive data on the educational needs of children with disabilities for the first time in Kenya; all new DFID infrastructure provide disabled access; and visually and hearing impaired children will soon be supported with learning materials.
Asked by: Chris Heaton-Harris (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department's budget plans include provisions for the UK's contribution to the Green Climate Fund.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is the key new vehicle for helping developing countries adapt to climate change and follow low-carbon development paths. The UK will announce its pledge shortly.
Asked by: Chris Heaton-Harris (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she has taken to ensure that teacher training funded by her Department promotes the inclusion of children with disabilities in education.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
The UK Government has committed to help train 190,000 teachers by 2015, to help improve the quality of education for all children, including those with disabilities. By 2013/14, DFID had supported the training of 123,000 teachers. A major challenge in poor countries is developing the data systems which can capture the needs of children with disabilities. We are therefore supporting UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) to regularly publish education indicators which disaggregate people with disabilities, and to develop new standards for school censuses and surveys related to marginalised populations.
Asked by: Chris Heaton-Harris (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether education will be a priority sector for her Department's disability framework; and whether her Department's country offices will recieve training and support to implement the framework.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
DFID is currently preparing a departmental framework on disability inclusion, which will set out how to strengthen disability inclusion across the department. Education is one of the areas that will be included in the framework, alongside other sectors. The framework will outline how staff will receive further training and support on disability inclusion. This will include developing new guidance and tools for staff on disability inclusion in education programming.