Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what steps his Department is taking to support multi-lateral institutions in promoting good governance in the global south.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK supports multilateral institutions by providing both core and non-core project funding to help tackle complex governance challenges in developing countries. For example, we provide funding to UN agencies, including UNDP, to promote inclusive, effective and accountable governance. The UK funds the World Bank, IMF and OECD to deliver capacity building on tax and public financial management, including supporting the flagship "Tax Inspectors Without Borders" partnership between the OECD and the UN. Last month the UK announced £2 million new funding to World Bank and IMF Trust funds focused on supporting developing countries build stronger systems to tackle corruption and illicit finance issues. The UK has consistently championed delivering good governance outcomes across the multilateral system, including by playing a leading role to champion and shape SDG 16 that provides the overarching international framework for this.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what recent discussions he has had with his Israeli counterpart on ensuring safe passage of aid convoys through (a) Israel and (b) Israeli-controlled territory in Gaza.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Attacks by extremists on aid convoys en route to Gaza are appalling. Gazans are at risk of famine and in desperate need of supplies. Israel must facilitate immediate, uninterrupted humanitarian access in Gaza, and hold attackers to account. Aid will not make a difference unless it can be properly and safely distributed. Guaranteed deconfliction for aid convoys and other humanitarian work is essential. The Foreign Secretary raised his concerns with Israeli Minister Gantz on 16 May.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what steps he is taking with regional partners to facilitate aid access to all parts of Sudan.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Current humanitarian access into and within Sudan remains highly constrained. Our top humanitarian priority remains securing immediate humanitarian access and operational security guarantees for humanitarian agencies. The UK continues to speak out publicly and vigorously to press the warring parties to facilitate unhindered, crossline & cross-border humanitarian access. On 20 March, the UK highlighted at the Security Council the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) White Note's clear warning that obstruction of humanitarian access by the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces is resulting in people in Sudan starving. On 8 March, the UK led the Security Council to adopt a resolution calling for a ceasefire for Ramadan and for urgent humanitarian access.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what recent discussions he has had with his Zimbabwean counterpart on the (a) economic and (b) humanitarian situation in that country.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK believes that the economic reforms agreed to by the Zimbabwean Government as part of the arrears clearance dialogue remain essential for improving Zimbabwe's long term economic trajectory. The UK is therefore engaging constructively on the Zimbabwe arrears clearance dialogue led by African Development Bank President Adesina and former Mozambican President Chissano. I (Deputy Foreign Minister) recently met Zimbabwe Finance Minister Ncube at the World Bank Spring Meetings to discuss the dialogue. I also regularly speak to a range of ministers and experts across Southern Africa on the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe and in Southern Africa, where we continue to provide support following the recent declaration of drought, including through Africa Risk Capacity, a UK-supported African Union-led disaster risk insurance mechanism.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what steps his Department is taking to improve the transparency of aid.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Aid Transparency remains a high priority for my department. The FCDO has returned to monthly publication of aid programme data and documents, following global best practice. Furthermore, we have delivered our ambitious Open Government Partnership National Action Plan 5 commitments and a new plan for the current year has been co-created with Civil Society. Additionally, ICAI's recent follow-up to their Review into Aid Transparency judges that adequate progress has been made against each of their four recommendations. FCDO also advocates for greater transparency in the aid spending of other donors, recently attending the 2024 International Aid Transparency Initiative's Members' Assembly.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what steps his Department is taking to improve the transparency of aid provided by arms-length bodies.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The FCDO accepted ICAI's recommendation in their 2022 Review into Aid Transparency that our clear and ambitious standards for transparency should be applied to Arm's-Length Bodies. The FCDO publishes information on ODA allocated to its Arm's-Length Bodies and is developing a new automated process to ensure this is done as efficiently as possible, reducing the administrative burden on FCDO teams. Furthermore, following the rollout of this new automated process, the FCDO will work with its ALBs to support improvements in aid publishing practice.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, with reference to paragraph 4.27 of the report by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact entitled ICAI follow-up review of 2022-23 reports, published on 16 May 2024, if he will take steps to issue guidance on police reform and restricting the use of official development assistance funding for civilian policing tasks.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) rules state that activities to support routine civil policing functions with the overall goal of promoting economic development and welfare of developing countries are ODA-eligible. Robust processes are in place, including Overseas Security and Justice Assistance Guidance, to ensure ODA spend on civilian policing meets these requirements. The FCDO continually keeps under review its guidance on support for security sector reform. There is no specific plan to issue new guidance on the use of ODA to fund civilian policing tasks.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether his Department plans to provide additional humanitarian support to NGOs following the recent flooding in Afghanistan.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
FCDO partners including the UN World Food Programme, International Organisation for Migration, and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) are on the ground providing a response to the recent flooding in Afghanistan, and we have communicated that our partners can use our funds flexibly for flood response. We build such no-notice and climate-induced events into our planning with partners, and they are responding accordingly, while keeping us closely posted on their assessments of damage and impacts.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether he has had preliminary discussions with (a) NGOs, (b) partner nations and (iii) the UN on future reconstruction of Gaza's education system.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Post-conflict recovery and reconstruction must be led by Palestinians, but the international community will also need to play a major collective role in this effort. We are progressing our thinking on all aspects of recovery and reconstruction. We have begun discussions with multilateral and bilateral partners on the financing and coordination of reconstruction.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what steps he is taking to help ensure female Afghan students can (a) apply for and (b) study through Chevening scholarships.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The FCDO continues to support higher education for Afghans, currently offering Afghan candidates resident outside of Afghanistan in ODA-eligible third countries the opportunity to apply for a Chevening scholarship.
Under the Chevening Scholarship programme, 15 Afghan women were offered scholarships for academic year 2023/24. 12 women accepted the offer and are currently studying in the UK, out of a total cohort of 21.