Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the humanitarian effect of the covid-19 pandemic on children in the developing world.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
Children are particularly vulnerable during infectious disease outbreaks. As many as 1.5 billion children have been out of school as a result of COVID-19. The pandemic has resulted in considerable changes to the essential environment that a child’s well-being, development and protection rely upon.
Whilst children were already facing a learning crisis before COVID-19, school closures also put children at risk of malnutrition, making them more susceptible to illness, but also child labour, neglect, abuse and lost learning.
In light of the pandemic, the UK has pivoted its education programmes in 18 countries to provide education and keep pupils safe. For example, DFID Syria has expanded its education programmes to protect vulnerable children by providing hygiene kits, stipends for teachers and home learning materials. At a global level, we have provided £20 million to UNICEF to support the continuity of essential social services for children, women and vulnerable populations, including child protection.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 29 June 2020 to Question 64205 on Department for International Development: Foreign and Commonwealth Office, what estimate she has made of the effect on the number of staff currently employed by each Department of the merger of those Departments.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Merging the Departments will mean changes for how teams are structured. Some roles and responsibilities will change, and we will be working this through over the next few months. It is too early to be able to estimate the impact on staff numbers. We can confirm that there will be no compulsory redundancies for DFID employees as a result of the decision to create the new Department and any changes will be handled in accordance with relevant civil service policy and guidance.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 22 June 2020 to Question 59888, what assessment the Government has made of the effect on staffing numbers in East Kilbride of the planned merger between her Department and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
DFID’s existing office in East Kilbride will become part of the new Department’s estate. Some roles in East Kilbride may change due to business needs and any changes will be handled in compliance with relevant civil service policy and guidance. It is too early to be able to say precisely what effect those changes will be. We can confirm that there will be no compulsory redundancies for DFID employees as a result of the decision to create the new Department and any changes will be handled in accordance with relevant civil service policy and guidance.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2016 to Question 46228, what (a) targets and (b) mechanisms are in place to ensure that funding allocated to the Energy Africa campaign has reached the number of beneficiaries for which that campaign is intended.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
Energy Africa is a UK Government campaign aimed at stimulating African markets in household solar systems so that people currently without modern energy can get access to electricity. To achieve this, DFID aims to develop Energy Africa Compacts with up to 14 African countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe) to address the policy and regulatory barriers inhibiting solar market expansion.
Energy Africa compact implementation will be supported by new and existing DFID energy access programmes, each with their own funding streams and bespoke monitoring mechanisms. We anticipate these DFID programmes will support the off-grid sector to provide energy access to at least 4.7 million people. Implementation of Energy Africa Compacts will also be complemented by funding, support and expertise from other donors and partners.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will take steps to secure the agreement of all parties to permit access for food and other vital supplies to the residents of Madaya and other settlements in Syria in which a civilian population is being besieged by combatant forces.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The UK condemns the use of siege tactics against civilian populations, and continues to call upon all sides to the conflict to respect International Law and ensure free, unimpeded access for humanitarian agencies.
In the past year, only 10% of all requests submitted by the UN to the regime to access besieged and hard-to-reach areas have been approved and delivered. That is why the UK played a critical role in co-sponsoring and lobbying for UN Security Council Resolutions 2165, 2191 and 2258 which enable the UN to deliver aid into Syria without the consent of the regime.
The UK has been at the forefront of the response to the Syria crisis. We have pledged over £1.1 billion, making us the second largest bilateral donor after the US. Of this total, we have allocated £561 million to support vulnerable people inside Syria.
The desperate situation in besieged and hard to reach areas shows why we need the international community to come together at the London Conference for Syria and the region on 4 February to support immediate needs and identify longer-term solutions to address the needs of those affected by the crisis, especially regarding jobs and education. We also hope the Conference will put pressure on the parties to the conflict by shining a spotlight on violations of International Law and impediments to humanitarian access in Syria.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, who represented the Government at the third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa; and what steps the Government took to consult with NGOs, churches and other stakeholders on the UK's contribution in advance of that conference.
Answered by Justine Greening
As Secretary of State for International Development I led the UK delegation at the third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa. In the run up to the conference, the UK Government undertook a programme of consultations on the FFD agenda with a range of stakeholders, including BOND, the UK membership body for organisations working in international development, whose members include Christian Aid and CAFOD.