Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department has taken to ensure that the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative provides for products that are affordable for patients.
Answered by Alistair Burt
DFID supports DNDi because its operational model puts the needs of patients at the heart of what it does and builds in equitable and affordable access to the end product from the outset. DNDi includes these approaches in its contractual relationships with industrial partners and by delinking the cost of the final product from the costs of research and development.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that funding to support the electoral process is effectively disbursed to help stabilise the political climate in the Democratic Republic of Congo; and whether she will take steps to increase funding for civic education and the training of independent electoral observers.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Since 2015, DFID has supported the current electoral process in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This involved support to increasing democratic representation of women and youth, raising people’s awareness through civic/electoral education, protecting human rights defenders and broadening the Catholic Church’s electoral observation activities. Since February 2017, we have increased our support to civic education and the training of additional independent electoral observers. In addition, we announced that funding would be made available to update the national electoral roll, if all parties were prepared to hold free, fair and timely elections. That offer remains on the table.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, (a) how much and (b) what proportion of her Department's overseas aid is used to support food production in Africa.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
The UK supports food production in Africa by funding agricultural research, stimulating investment and trade and linking farmers to markets to help them exit poverty while increasing food availability.
Data on UK support to food production in Africa are not readily available. UK bilateral assistance to agriculture quadrupled between 2010 and 2015 to £300 million or 3.9% of the bilateral aid budget. Of this, £129 million was earmarked for Africa and an additional £93 million to global initiatives including Africa.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of her Department's overseas aid supports research and development of agroecological farming in Africa.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
DFID does not collect data on agro-ecological farming as a distinct spending category. Agro-ecological farming covers a breadth of approaches which DFID supports through a wide range of research and development programmes including on soil and water conservation, improved land-use management, climate resilience and conservation agriculture. UK support in these areas contributes to the UK International Climate Fund commitments and wider international development goals in Africa.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what school or nutrition programmes for children in Africa specifically linked to locally produced foods and agroecological production her Department supports.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
DFID links local food production into nutrition programmes in several African countries. For example, DFID invested in Rwanda in local production of complementary food which is reducing stunting among children aged between 6-23 months, and in Malawi in the production of groundnuts that are locally processed into children’s therapeutic food. DFID’s support for the Purchase from Africans for Africa project links local producers to school feeding, with 72,000 children and 16,000 farmers benefiting in five African countries. DFID also works with specialised humanitarian agencies to stimulate local sourcing for food aid programmes across Africa.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment she has made of the humanitarian aid need of people in Aleppo.
Answered by Rory Stewart
DFID-funded partners continue to assess and respond to needs across Aleppo city. Significant numbers of those displaced by the fighting at the end of last year are returning to the east of the city. The UN assesses that there is an urgent need for water and electricity, in addition to food, medicine, shelter and protection support. In the west of the city, our humanitarian partners are providing a range of support to around 398,000 internally displaced persons. Across the city, mains water supply is intermittent due to damage to the Al Khafseh water station. DFID-funded partners are trucking water into Aleppo, installing water tanks, and repairing existing deep wells.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans she has to cap the daily rate of consultants working (a) directly for and (b) for contractors working on projects funded by her Department.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
The Secretary of State announced to the International Development Committee (IDC) on 19 December that DFID will conduct a fundamental review of supplier practices which will include looking at how to drive greater transparency of costs in our supply chain.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many contractors working (a) directly for and (b) on projects funded by her Department have been paid more than £400 a day in each financial year since 2012.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The information is not held in the form requested and can only be collated at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether the proposed creation of a contingent liability of £40 million in respect of callable capital of GuarantCo is treated as Official Development Assistance (a) when the contingent liability is created and (b) in the event that capital is called from the public purse under the contingent liability.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The creation of the contingent liability in respect of the callable capital for GuarantCo does not have immediate budgetary implications and is not treated as Official Development Assistance (ODA). If the capital is called it will be treated as ODA. This is in line with the internationally agreed rules on ODA.
Asked by: Jeremy Lefroy (Conservative - Stafford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, which infrastructure projects were supported by borrowing guaranteed through GuarantCo between 1 January 2010 and 30 June 2016; how much was guaranteed for each such project; how much funding was leveraged from other sources for each such project; and whether each such project is operational.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The table attached shows all projects supported by GuarantCo. The table indicates whether the support for projects was initiated before or after 01 January 2010. As support for many projects initiated before 2010 will have continued into the timeframe set out in the question, we have also listed all projects where support was started before 01 January 2010. There is no other straightforward way to filter the data. Further information is also available online (http://data.pidg.org/) .