Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she has had with representatives of international financial institutions on financing potential vaccinations and treatments for covid-19 in developing countries.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The DFID Secretary of State regularly speaks with counterparts in the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) on a range of issues. DFID officials have also been working closely with the IFIs and have had initial conversations on the possibility of financing potential COVID-19 vaccines and treatments in developing countries. We also worked with the World Bank Group, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and others, to launch a brand-new scheme to ensure global vaccine production at the UK-hosted Global Vaccine Summit, on 4 June. The COVAX Advance Market Commitment for COVID-19 vaccines is aimed at incentivising vaccine manufacturers to produce sufficient quantities of a potential COVID-19 vaccine and to ensure future access for low- and middle-income countries. The UK has contributed over £48 million ($60.6 million) to this initiative.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department is providing support to organisations or projects researching a covid-19 vaccine.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The UK is at the forefront of efforts to develop coronavirus vaccines. As agreed by the G20, we support a global approach to the rapid development and scaled up manufacture of vaccines with equitable access to all who need them, including in the poorest countries. We are working with international partners, industry and researchers to support an approach to accelerate research and development, scale up global manufacturing capacity and ensure funding to deliver this aim.
The UK is a strong supporter of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which is supporting the development of vaccines that will be available throughout the world. We have pledged £250 million of UK aid to CEPI, the biggest donation of any country to date. CEPI is supporting the development of 10 COVID-19 vaccine candidates, such as the University of Oxford’s vaccine research.
UK aid has also supported Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance for 20 years. We are its biggest donor, helping to immunise over 760 million children and saving over 13 million lives worldwide. Gavi will play a key role in making a new COVID-19 vaccine available and affordable.
UK support, through CEPI, GAVI and others, will help facilitate the end-to-end development and distribution of a successful vaccine.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of processes to prevent the misuse of reconstruction material in Gaza.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Following the review of the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism (GRM) by the UN, Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority in February 2018, and the implementation of improvements in January 2019, we assess that the GRM and, in particular, its Programme Monitoring Unit (PMU) has effective processes to monitor the entry and use of construction materials in Gaza. DFID has recently committed a further £700,000 to the PMU over the next two years. This support will be an important part of efforts to alleviate shelter and basic service needs which were exacerbated by the 2014 conflict and help stimulate economic growth and reduce poverty.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what progress she has made on expanding administrative operations for her Department in Scotland.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
DFID has continued to increase the number of staff based in its office in East Kilbride, Scotland. The number of Home Civil Servants employees based in Abercrombie House has increased from 600 in January 2015 to 904 in January 2019, and we continuously look to maximise the use of space in this office.