Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support her Department is providing to countries neighbouring Venezuela that are hosting refugees from that country.
Answered by Alistair Burt
DFID has deployed two humanitarian experts and funded additional roles for UN agencies in the region. The UK is also supporting the international response through core funding to the UN, humanitarian agencies, the European Commission and Red Cross movements.
The UK continues to urge the Venezuelan Government to accept humanitarian aid and DFID is supporting the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s efforts to urge Venezuela to meet their population’s needs.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department plans to contribute to the fund set up by the Government of the Netherlands in response to the changes to foreign aid for family planning announced by the new US Administration.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
The UK will continue to show global health leadership by promoting and supporting evidence-based sexual and reproductive health and rights. The full implications of the reinstated and expanded Mexico City policy are not yet clear, but we are closely following developments.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department has spent on private consultancies in the last 12 months.
Answered by Priti Patel
Figures for financial year 2015/16 show that DFID spends approximately 13% of its budget through contractors. The House will know that I have recently instructed my officials to undertake a review of how we work with our suppliers. It is essential that all of DFID’s contractors and partners are fully open and transparent, uphold the highest standards and are held to account for those standards.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will take steps to ensure that her Department's purchasing policies support British (a) industry and (b) agriculture.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Department's purchasing policies support the Government’s commitment to do all it can to ensure UK suppliers can compete effectively for public sector contracts, in line with our current international obligations and guidance issued by the Crown Commercial Service.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the contribution of wider access to efficient refrigerated transport to reducing (a) food waste in developing countries and (b) carbon dioxide emissions.
Answered by Nick Hurd
DFID is working to support partner countries to tackle poverty and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by building sustainable infrastructure, increasing their access to clean energy and reducing deforestation. DFID recognises the importance of investment in trade and transport logistics to improve efficiency and reduce delays, which have major impacts on reducing carbon dioxide emissions. These improvements will have downstream impacts on many trade related issues including reducing the amount of spoilt goods from transit delays. We are engaged in this area in a number of ways. For example, Trade Mark East Africa is helping to improve the major trade corridors in East Africa to reduce the time and expense of transporting goods. Furthermore, the investment by CDC group into Grindrod, a South African logistics company, is enabling it to expand its transport logistics investments across sub-Saharan Africa. CDC is the UK’s development finance organisation with DFID as its only shareholder.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the effects of super trawlers on the sustainability of coastal fishing communities in developing countries.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
Assessments of the status of fisheries and their sustainability, including coastal fisheries in developing countries, are undertaken by national authorities and compiled periodically into regional assessments by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.
DFID has provided support both bilaterally and through international organisations to strengthen the governance of fisheries in developing countries. This has included efforts to tackle illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing in West Africa.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what involvement Afghan women had in the London talks on Afghanistan in December 2014.
Answered by Justine Greening
Afghan women played a central role in the London Conference on Afghanistan and were given a platform to share their views throughout. This included at the Civil Society associated event (“Ayenda”), in the Reception, at a follow-up Ministerial breakfast with civil society, and in the main Conference Plenary itself.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent steps her Department has made in providing humanitarian aid to the Kurdistan Regional Government in response to the influx of refugees to that area.
Answered by Justine Greening
We are deeply concerned by the escalating humanitarian crisis in Iraq. The UK was the first country to send a team to the region, deploying three DFID experts to Erbil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. DFID announced a package of emergency humanitarian assistance totalling £5 million, which will reach over 140,000 displaced people, or 28% of those affected, with life-saving assistance. We have also offered to provide technical humanitarian assistance to the Kurdistan Regional Government.