Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what representations she has received on allegations that Marie Stopes International is performing illegal abortions in Kenya; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK does not currently fund Marie Stopes International to provide any abortion services in Kenya. Marie Stopes International are a valued partner in our comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights work. We have seen no evidence of any illegal activity on their part and no formal allegations have been made to us.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many of the 4.1 million abortion procedures Marie Stopes International undertook in 2017 were funded by the UK taxpayer.
Answered by Alistair Burt
DFID takes an integrated approach to our programming on sexual and reproductive health and rights in order to meet a wide range of women’s reproductive health needs - for example providing a woman with holistic care for gender-based violence, HIV, counselling, post-abortion care and information on family planning. Because these services are integrated, it is not possible to disaggregate figures solely relating to safe abortion procedures.
The aim of DFID’s work on sexual and reproductive health and rights is to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions, increase the use of voluntary family planning, and give women control over their own bodies and lives.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to support and resettle (a) Yazidi, (b) Christian and (c) other religious or ethnic minority Syrian refugees.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The Department for International Development work alongside the Home Office on the resettlement of refugees. The UK works in accordance to the humanitarian principles of impartiality and neutrality which means that we do not take into consideration the ethno-religious origins of people requiring assistance as we resettle solely on the basis of needs, identified by UNHCR through their established submission categories.
To protect the privacy of those being resettled and to support their recovery and integration, we limit the amount of information made publicly available and therefore do not publish a religious and ethnic breakdown of those who have been resettled.
The Home Office are working with UNHCR and other partners to intensify their outreach to groups that might otherwise be reluctant to register for fear of stigma/ discrimination and those who may be unaware of the safe space and options available to them. This includes all religious minorities.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment the Government has made of the nature of the challenges and threats facing (a) Yazidi, (b) Christian and (c) other religious or ethnic minority Syrian refugees.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK is concerned at the severity and scale of violations of freedom of religion or belief in the Middle East, and the continuation of violent extremism. We are committed to ensuring that our humanitarian assistance is delivered without discrimination, in accordance with the humanitarian principles, and based on need alone. The situation of minority communities is taken into account by our partners when assessing those most in need of protection and assistance in a given humanitarian context. This includes when a community is being targeted or is otherwise vulnerable because of their faith.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many full-time equivalent officials in her Department work on the promotion of freedom of religion and belief.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The FCO leads on the promotion of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB). DFID’s contribution on the promotion of FoRB is part of the work of many DFID staff around the world and would not be possible to quantify. All DFID interventions must include analysis of the different needs, rights and patterns of discrimination due to many factors including religion. DFID’s policy on FoRB is led at an official level by the Deputy Director of Inclusive Societies Department and supported by 1.2 full-time equivalent officials.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, in which countries full-time or full-time equivalent DFID officials are employed to work on freedom of religion or belief.
Answered by Alistair Burt
DFID interventions must include analysis of the different needs, rights and patterns of discrimination due to many factors including religion. DFID officials are employed to undertake this analysis as part of their day-to-day work in all of the countries where we have country offices. The full list of countries in which DFID operates can be found on the following website https://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what work has been undertaken by his Department to develop religious literacy among its staff in the last two years.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
We have developed a position paper on faith and development; we continue to host seminars (such as the seminar in November on freedom of religion or belief); we have commissioned and circulated research on religion and development and have facilitated formal training. A limited number of DFID staff have already attended the newly re-launched Foreign and Commonwealth Office “Religion and Diplomacy” course. We plan to encourage more DFID staff to attend this course in the future.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment she has made of her Department's funding to Marie Stopes International in developing countries, in light of the suspension of Marie Stopes’ abortion services in the UK.
Answered by Rory Stewart
DFID has robust monitoring and evaluation procedures to ensure UK taxpayers’ money is achieving the results we expect of it. Precise monitoring arrangements vary by project; however progress is always reviewed by DFID, on an annual basis. All of our reviews demonstrate confidence in the quality of MSI’s services in developing countries.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department has rejected an application for funding on the grounds that the applicant does not provide abortion and contraception services during the last ten years.
Answered by Rory Stewart
DFID does not withhold funding on the grounds of an organisation's beliefs about reproductive health alone. To be eligible for any specific funding, however, an organisation has to be prepared to deliver the expected outputs of that project, and do so in accordance with the highest standards of evidence.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2017 to Question HL3576, what steps her Department is taking to strengthen families.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Strengthening families is a cross-government objective. Through our education, nutrition, health, economic development and social protection programing, DFID aims to tackle the main factors that pull families apart.