Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent steps she has taken to help ensure that the economic impacts of the covid-19 pandemic do not reduce children's global access to (a) health, (b) education and (c) nutrition services.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The UK is committed to mitigating the impacts of COVID-19 on children's global access to essential health, nutrition, and education services. We do this through our ambitious global health agenda as set out in the Integrated Review, and the government's manifesto commitment to end the preventable deaths of mothers, new-borns, and children by 2030. We are the largest donor to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and have pledged £1.65 billion from 2021 to 2025 to support the provision of vaccines to 300 million children, saving up to 8 million lives. The Nutrition for Growth summit in Tokyo in December will be a key moment for galvanising international support for access to nutrition for children, and the UK will set out its future ambitions there.
The Prime Minister has launched the UK Girls' Education Action Plan, which sets out the UK's leadership and further commitments on girls' education in the face of the challenges presented by COVID-19, including getting 40 million more girls into school, and 20 million more girls reading by the age of 10 by 2026. The UK and Kenya co-hosted the refinancing summit for the Global Partnership for Education in July in London. The replenishment raised $4 billion on the day to help education systems build back better following COVID-19, and ensure girls return to school and learn.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of (a) the implications for her policies of the recent parliamentary elections in Iraq and (b) relations between the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Federal Government of Iraq.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
We applaud the efforts of Prime Minister Kadhimi and the Iraqi electoral commission to run smooth elections with unprecedented support from the UN. The technical processes show a clear improvement on previous elections, and the lack of any major security incidents is testament to the hard work of the security forces. We look forward to working with the new Government of Iraq to deepen the UK-Iraq relationship and build a peaceful, prosperous Iraq that delivers for all its citizens.
We will continue to work closely with the UN and international partners to encourage a new Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government to resolve their issues, including on a sustainable budget and disputed internal boundaries. Last year's agreement on Sinjar, which the UN supported, is a positive step in this regard. The Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary met the President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, President Nechirvan Barzani, during his visit to London on 15-17 September and discussed the stability of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI).
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent representations she has made to her counterparts in the (a) Kurdistan Regional Government and (b) Federal Government of Iraq on tackling corruption, promoting human rights and allowing freedom of expression.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK continues to speak out against human rights violations and abuses and support the Government of Iraq and Kurdistan Regional Government to safeguard the human rights and freedoms of all Iraqis.
The former Foreign Secretary raised the importance of freedom of expression, human rights issues and anti-corruption with both the Government of Iraq and Kurdistan Regional Government during his visit to Iraq in June. I [Minister Cleverly] will continue to raise the importance of tackling corruption, promoting human rights and allowing freedom of expression during my engagements with Iraqi political leaders. Our Ambassador in Baghdad, and our Consul General in Erbil, also regularly discuss these issues with their interlocutors in both governments.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when she plans to respond to the correspondence addressed to her predecessor dated 25 August 2021 from the Hon. Member for Enfield North on the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan, following the takeover of that country by the Taliban, reference FC10315.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
Supporting education for children, and particularly girls, in Afghanistan, is a priority for the government. We continue to work with the international community to secure women's and girls' rights, including the right to education and jobs and to participate in public life. During the evacuation Operation Pitting alone, the FCDO received over 240,000 emails. Along with the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence we are working to assess all cases as quickly as possible. All 30,000 emails received from MPs on Afghanistan before 11 September have been processed and a response has been issued to the letter sent by the Hon Member on 25 August.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when she plans to respond to the correspondence addressed to her predecessor dated 12 August 2021 from the Hon. Member for Enfield North on the ongoing climate of repression and arbitrary detention against opposition politicians, ethnic and faith minorities, and human rights activists in Turkey, reference FC10013.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The Government recognises the great importance of the effective and timely handling of correspondence. The Minister for Europe and Americas responded on 20 October.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when she plans to respond to the correspondence addressed to her predecessor dated 5 August 2021 from the Hon. Member for Enfield North on wildfires that have seared through the Mediterranean and Aegean regions over the summer months, reference FC9933.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The Government recognises the great importance of the effective and timely handling of correspondence. The Foreign Secretary responded on 21 October.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that covid-19 recovery plans are leveraged to increase the capacity of climate vulnerable countries to manage the effects of climate change and build resilience.
Answered by James Duddridge
The UK Government has made tackling climate change and biodiversity loss the UK's number one international priority. As G7 and COP26 President, the UK is working to catalyse international support for climate adaptation and resilience measures for lower-income countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. COVID-19 recovery support is one important part of this. We have committed £4.8 million to the World Bank Climate Support Facility to develop the technical capacity lower-income countries need to identify opportunities to build low-carbon, climate-resilient approaches into COVID-19 recovery plans. We are also investing up to £20 million in the African Union's COVID-19 Response Fund and worked closely with the African Union on the development of their Green Recovery Action Plan to ensure Africa builds back sustainably from the pandemic.
We are committed to doubling the UK's International Climate Finance to £11.6 billion by 2025/26 aiming for a balance between mitigation and adaptation. This includes specific additional support for disaster-preparedness and resilience-building measures for the world's poorest, such as an additional £120 million in new funding for Disaster Risk Finance, announced at the G7 in June, to enable quicker responses for vulnerable people when extreme weather and climate-linked disasters hit.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of the UN Secretary-General’s annual report on children and armed conflict; and what steps the Government has taken to hold perpetrators of grave violations against children to account.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK is an active member of the United Nations Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) which leads the international response to the use of child soldiers and child protection. This includes pressing those parties to conflict listed in the UN Secretary-General's annual report on CAAC, to enter into concrete action plans with the UN to verify and release any child soldiers associated with armed groups and forces and to prevent re-recruitment. We apply diplomatic pressure to listed governments and armed groups, and fund projects to help protect and rehabilitate vulnerable children.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2021 to Question 34078 on Overseas Aid: Water, which of the UK-funded clean water projects will have funding reduced or ceased as a result of the UK official overseas aid budget being reduced from 0.7 per cent to 0.5 per cent.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic has required the UK government to make the difficult decision to temporarily reduce Official Development Assistance (ODA) from 0.7% to 0.5% of GNI. Global Health, which encompasses water, sanitation and hygiene remains a priority for the UK.
Yearly UK bilateral ODA spend on Water Supply and Sanitation can be found in the respective annual Statistics on International Development publications: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-on-international-development. The statistics for 2020 will be published by the end of this year.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the reduction in the UK foreign aid budget from 0.7 percent to 0.5 percent on clean water projects across the globe.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The Government has made the difficult and temporary decision to reduce Official Development Assistance (ODA) from 0.7% to 0.5% to account for the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our support to global health - which embraces many aspects of water, sanitation and hygiene - remains a priority for this year's budget.
The UK has helped over 62 million people gain access to safe water and/or sanitation between 2015 and 2020 - but many more need to be reached to secure universal access. For this reason, we will move beyond supporting the delivery of water and sanitation facilities, refocusing our efforts and influence on strengthening national systems that are able to deliver and sustain inclusive and resilient water and sanitation services at scale. This approach will support our ambition for global health and make the best use of tax payers funds.