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Written Question
USA: Remdesivir
Monday 13th July 2020

Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the US Administration's decision to purchase global supplies of Remdesivir for the treatment of patients with covid-19 on equitable access to covid-19 treatments for countries in the Global South.

Answered by Wendy Morton

Supply of Remdesivir will be made possible for 127 low and middle-income countries through Gilead’s non-exclusive voluntary licencing agreements with generic pharmaceutical manufacturers in Egypt, India and Pakistan, ensuring equitable access to treatment. The UK supports voluntary approaches to sharing intellectual property such as non-exclusive voluntary licencing agreements, which promote access whilst retaining the incentives needed for further innovation.


Written Question
Private Infrastructure Development Group: Overseas Aid
Wednesday 26th February 2020

Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate her Department has made of how much UK aid has been disbursed through the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG); and what assessment her Department has made of the extent to which the PIDG has funded projects involving (a) gas, (b) coal and (c) oil.

Answered by James Duddridge

DFID has disbursed $1,036 million to the Private Investment Development Group (PIDG) between 2002 and 2018.

During this 16-year period, PIDG has made a number of infrastructure investments in the poorest countries to increase access to power, some of which use fossil fuels to generate electricity. Of these investments, (a) $396.6 million has been to projects using gas as a fuel source, (b) $1.7 million using coal, (c) $141.9 million using oil, and (d) $210.2 million with mixed or hybrid fuel sources. The coal funding was for early-stage advisory services provided in 2008 to a prospective power project in Indonesia.

Over the same period, PIDG has invested $711 million in renewable power projects.

PIDG does not invest in the extraction of fossil fuels, with the exception of one-off funding of $500,000 (£273,000) in 2004 for technical assistance to the Government of Mozambique on the feasibility of establishing a coal mine in the town of Moatize in Mozambique. No follow-on funding was provided to support this project. PIDG’s strategy now rules out any investing in coal.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Sustainable Development
Wednesday 26th February 2020

Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans he has to ensure organisations in receipt of Official Development Assistance invest in environmentally sustainable projects.

Answered by James Duddridge

Environmental sustainability and tackling climate change are crucial parts of international development and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

All DFID programming is required to comply with a set of Smart Rules and ‘avoid doing harm’ by creating or exacerbating environmental damage. DFID has two Smart Guides to help in this regard: (i) the Environmental and Social Safeguards Guide; and (ii) the Climate and Environment Guide.

DFID expects all organisations it funds to minimize any adverse impacts on local people, their livelihoods, culture and the environment. This is set out in the Supplier Code of Conduct. Suppliers must demonstrate they have taken sufficient steps to protect the local environment and community they work in, and to identify environmental risks that are imminent, significant or could cause harm.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Fossil Fuels
Monday 10th February 2020

Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2020 to Question 9092 on Developing Countries: Climate Change, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of UK Export Finance’s funding for international (a) oil and (b) gas projects on developing country dependency on fossil fuels.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals recognise the importance of affordable clean energy access in order to create economic growth and sustainable development.

All governments that are signatories to the Paris Agreement make their own decisions as to how they will reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to meet their Nationally Determined Contributions. DFID provides technical assistance for developing countries to think about their energy choices and achieve a more sustainable, diversified energy mix. UK ODA increasingly supports renewable energy sources – between 2011-12 and 2018-19 UK aid has provided 26 million people with improved access to clean energy and avoided 16 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. UK Export Finance is not classed as Official Development Assistance.

We are continuing to work closely with departments and agencies across Government, to implement the Prime Minister’s announcement on aligning future UK ODA spending with the Paris Agreement.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Climate Change
Monday 3rd February 2020

Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of her Departments's role in promoting climate dependency; and what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for International Trade on UK Export Finance’s investments in carbon intensive industries abroad.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

The Prime Minister announced in July that the UK Government will align all future UK Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) spending with the Paris Agreement. This means ensuring we assess all programming for the impact they have on climate change, and that any investment support for fossil fuels affecting emissions is in line with the Paris Agreement temperature goals and transition plans. We are working closely with departments across Government to agree how this commitment will be implemented.

As the UK’s export credit agency, UKEF is responsive to the evolving export financing needs of UK companies as they transition away from fossil fuels. The Prime Minister announced at the Africa Investment Summit that the government will provide no new direct ODA, investment, export credit or trade support for coal power and thermal coal mining overseas.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Climate Change
Tuesday 12th March 2019

Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans she has in place to support (a) countries increasingly affected by extreme weather linked to climate change and (b) refugees displaced by the effects of climate change.

Answered by Harriett Baldwin

Tackling climate change is a priority for the UK Government and for DFID. Under the Paris agreement the UK has pledged to deliver £5.8bn of International Climate Finance between 2016 and 2020 to help poorer countries tackle climate change.

These funds are helping to build the resilience of people and communities to cope with climate change already locked in and taking action to reduce future emissions. The UK has helped 47 million people cope with the effects of climate change since 2011.

The UK is also working to increase international action on climate change. The Prime Minister has been asked by the United Nations Secretary General to help secure more ambitious and urgent action to build climate resilience, ahead of the Summit on Climate Change in September 2019.

Climate change, environmental degradation and natural disasters do not create refugees, who are defined as people fleeing persecution and conflict. However the UK recognises that climate change contributes to the displacement of people in the most vulnerable regions. This is why a major focus of our work is to build the resilience of those communities.