Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support her Department is providing to Nigerian communities affected by violence caused by (a) armed Fulani herders and (b) Boko Haram.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
We are deeply concerned by the suffering caused by inter-communal violence between farmers and herders in Nigeria, with several serious clashes in recent weeks. We have raised our concerns over the violence at Federal, State and Local government level, as well as with religious leaders and advocacy groups. We continue to call for a solution that meets the needs of all the communities affected. DFID has supported a number of initiatives that have brought communities together and provided livelihoods and economic opportunities in the affected areas. DFID also provides significant support to communities in the north-east affected by the Boko Haram conflict and is one of the leading international donors to the humanitarian response, delivering urgent aid to save lives and minimise suffering. DFID is investing £300 million over five years, reaching one million people in 2017/18 alone with life-saving food assistance, 532,000 with clean water and 196,000 with healthcare.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what funding her Department has allocated to programmes providing prosthetic limbs to people in Yemen.
Answered by Alistair Burt
DFID does not fund any programme specifically providing prosthetic limbs to people in Yemen. However, between 2010 and 2018, DFID has funded the Yemen Social Fund for Development (SFD) with over £108 million. This includes support to SFD’s disability programme, which has supported more than 2,500 children with disabilities, trained over 300 community-based rehabilitation workers, and equipped more than 80 community-based rehabilitation facilities for children with disabilities.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support her Department provided to refugees in Lebanon in winter 2017-18 to help tackle winter conditions.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK provides sustainable, lifesaving support to refugees in Lebanon all year round, including through the winter period. UK aid is providing unrestricted cash assistance to meet the basic needs of 60,000 of the most vulnerable Syrian refugees; improved shelter accommodation for over 30,000 vulnerable refugees; legal assistance and advice (e.g. to obtain birth/marriage registration and civil documentation) to over 100,000 individuals; and clean water and sanitation facilities for over 250,000 Syrian and poor Lebanese. Last winter, DFID also provided 380 heating stoves to vulnerable Syrian refugee households in need of specific wintertime support. Since the start of the crisis, DFID has allocated £608 million in humanitarian and development funding to Lebanon.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she had had with the Government of South Africa on increasing economic growth in that country.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
Discussions between UK and South African Ministers on joint priorities, including shared prosperity and economic growth, take place regularly. Most recently, the Prime Minister met with President Ramaphosa in London on 17 April, when they discussed the President’s plans to accelerate economic growth in South Africa and how the UK can provide support.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to ensure that women refugees are protected and helped to feel secure in camps overseas.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK Government is strongly committed to the protection and security of women refugees both inside and outside of camps. DFID provides support to a number of agencies working directly with women refugees, including the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to ensure that their needs are taken into account, including through appropriate camp design and the provision of lighting. We have shown strong leadership in the global effort to address sexual exploitation and abuse across the aid sector, and are pushing for more effective procedures and greater accountability from all our partners.
Examples of our work include supporting UN agencies and NGOs to improve outreach and response for women and girls at risk of violence in the Rohingya crisis, including £12 million to support counselling and psychological support for over 10,000 women suffering from trauma and over 2,000 survivors of sexual violence. We are also investing in research into the drivers of violence experienced by women and girl refugees, to help us and our partners develop more appropriate prevention and support programmes.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assistance her Department gives to Madagascar in respect of its agricultural development.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The UK is helping to strengthen Madagascar’s agricultural development through our support to multilateral agencies, including the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, as well as participation in the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Plan Partner Group. DFID does not have a bilateral Country Programme in Madagascar.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential humanitarian effect of a military assault on Hodeidah port in Yemen.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UN assesses that an attack on Hodeidah could displace up to 350,000 people and leave hundreds of thousands of Yemenis without access to basic goods, water or healthcare, with any long-term closure of Hodeidah port likely to put over 3 million more people at risk of starvation. Already 8.4 million people face extreme food shortages.
The UK government has been clear in expressing its concerns to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates about any attack on Hodeidah. We urge all parties to the conflict to exercise restraint and to continue to facilitate access for essential commercial and humanitarian imports of food, fuel and medical supplies into the country, including through Hodeidah port.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to increase food, medicine and fuel supplies to Hodeidah port.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK government has been clear in expressing its concerns about any attack on Hodeidah, and is actively calling on all parties to the conflict to continue to facilitate access for essential commercial and humanitarian imports of food, fuel and medical supplies into the country, including through Hodeidah port.
The UK government has worked closely with partners to assess how an attack on Hodeidah might affect the delivery of commercial and humanitarian goods (including food, medicine and fuel) to those in need. The UN’s Yemen Humanitarian Pooled Fund – to which the UK has provided £15m so far this year – has launched a reserve allocation for the procurement of essential goods for Hodeidah, including a $6 million contribution to the World Food Programme to fund the procurement of 600,000 immediate response rations as well as $2m for high protein biscuits to meet needs across Yemen including in Hodeidah.
We continue to provide expertise and funding to the UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism (UNVIM) to facilitate commercial imports of food and fuel into Hodeidah and Saleef ports and to provide assurances to the Saudi-led Coalition that shipments are legitimate and not a threat to their national security.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what funding will her Department plans to provide to UN agencies working in Sudan in 2018-19.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
DFID has planned to provide £32 million of direct funding to United Nations (UN) partners working in Sudan for the 2018/19 financial year. In 2018/19 our contributions to UN partners will help provide at least 550,000 people in Sudan with humanitarian assistance; support to prevent or treat malnutrition; and sustainable access to water.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what funding her Department plans to allocate to UN agencies working in Sudan in the current financial year.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
DFID has planned to provide £32 million of direct funding to United Nations (UN) partners working in Sudan for the 2018/19 financial year. In 2018/19 our contributions to UN partners will help provide at least 550,000 people in Sudan with humanitarian assistance; support to prevent or treat malnutrition; and sustainable access to water.