Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what declarations she made to her Department on the hospitality and services provided during her meetings and visits in Israel between 13 and 25 August 2017.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
My Rt Hon Friend the member for Witham (Ms Patel) resigned as Secretary of State for International Development on 8 November. The information is not held by the Department.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether she informed her Department and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of her visit to Israel between 13 and 25 August 2017 before she travelled to Israel.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
My Rt Hon Friend the member for Witham (Ms Patel) resigned as Secretary of State for International Development on 8 November. Neither the Department for International Development nor the Foreign and Commonwealth Office were aware of the visit in advance.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what meetings she has had since being appointed Secretary of State for International Development with Lord Polak; and whether Lord Polak has visited her Department in Whitehall.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
My Rt Hon Friend the Member for Witham (Ms Patel) resigned as Secretary of State for International Development on 8 November. The Department is aware of a political meeting between my Rt Hon Friend the member for Witham and Lord Polak held on its premises on 27 July 2016. In addition, the Department holds a record of my Rt Hon Friend the Member for Witham being in attendance at two events outside of the Department I understand Lord Polak was also present at. These were a Conservative Party dinner on 27 September 2017 and a Parliamentary Reception of the Conservative Friends of Israel on 24 January 2017. Further information is not held.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the needs of older people with AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
In 2015, there were more people over the age of 50 living with HIV than ever before (5.8 million). This is because we are treating more people and preventing deaths. Older people living with HIV, however, have up to five times the risk of chronic disease and countries face increasing long-term health-care costs.
DFID’s support to countries in sub-Saharan Africa to strengthen their health systems, including integrating HIV services, seeks to address this and ensure the needs of older people living with HIV are met through age-appropriate services.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will increase investment in decentralised renewable energy to benefit the world's poorest people.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
The UK Government is already playing a leading role in improving energy access in developing countries through decentralised renewable energy. DFID has a range of programmes which are working with developing countries to ensure renewable energy markets work effectively as well as supporting energy businesses to grow, and providing consumers with access to funding to buy solar goods.
DFID’s Energy Africa campaign is one way that we are helping increase access to energy. Energy Africa aims to accelerate the expansion of the household solar market in Africa, and is about making the market work for the poor. It helps remove the barriers to household solar market expansion, including policy and regulatory obstacles, and supports businesses to innovate in energy services and technologies. DFID also supports numerous other initiatives to increase people’s access to energy through decentralised renewable energy. For example, the Renewable Energy and Adaptation to Climate Technologies (REACT) Challenge Fund has supported businesses in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda to provide clean energy for households, communities and businesses.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how her Department plans to increase its engagement with people with disabilities and representative organisations in its priority countries.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID’s Disability Framework, published in 2015, recognises that including people with disabilities through local Disabled Person’s Organisations (DPOs) in the design, delivery and monitoring and evaluation of policy and programmes is critically important. This means both hearing first-hand the challenges people with disabilities are facing and identifying effective approaches for collectively addressing these challenges.
Many DFID country offices are engaging directly with local people with disabilities to shape and direct their work. For example, in Rwanda we are engaged with the National Council of Disabled Persons and the National Union of Disabled Organisations of Rwanda (NUDOR), which represents a large number of DPOs. Through our partnerships with VSO, Disability Rights Fund (DRF), Manusher Jonno Foundation, and ADD International we are funding more than 100 DPOs in more than 20 countries to push for human rights and to improve lives for people with disabilities.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how her Department plans to review work under the Disability Framework and report its outcomes in 2018.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID follows a ‘twin-track’ approach to disability inclusion. This means we aim to attach priority to disability in all our policies and programmes as well as supporting disability-targeted programmes. Last year we conducted a review of our first year of implementing the Disability Framework. This involved working closely with civil society partners and our stakeholders to invite their assessment of our progress and to analyse the information we received, assessing staff capability on disability inclusion and gathering feedback from DFID country offices and central teams on how they had delivered on Framework commitments.
We will consider conducting a similar approach moving forward.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how her Department plans to implement its Disability Framework.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID follows a ‘twin-track’ approach to disability inclusion. This means we attach priority to disability in all our policies and programmes as well as supporting disability-targeted programmes.
We have made significant progress in mainstreaming disability inclusion in our humanitarian response, including the development of an internal guidance note on ageing and disability in humanitarian response. We will build on this foundation by supporting partners to deliver on our commitment to include disaggregated data on age and disability as part of our requirements for funding humanitarian proposals, and advocating for the use of the Minimum Standards on Ageing and Disability Inclusion with humanitarian partners to improve the mainstreaming of the principles of inclusion.
DFID has funded the Disability Rights Fund (DRF) since its inception in 2008 and our current grant of over £2.6 million between 2013 and 2016 reinforces our commitment to the DRF. With support from DFID, the DRF supports Disabled People’s Organisations in the developing world to take the lead in advocating for the human rights of people with disabilities at local and national levels.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department has made representations to the EU on its funding of aid and development projects in Eritrea.
Answered by Nick Hurd
Between 2013 and 2015 DFID provided UNICEF in Eritrea with £10 million for child and maternal health and the provision of clean water and sanitation.
In December 2015 DFID provided a further £3 million for nutrition support activities and water and sanitation in areas affected by El Nino in the Horn of Africa through UNICEF’s regional programme, which covers Eritrea.
Over the past 2 years funding to support primarily Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia totalled £1.6 million and focussed on child protection and related work on anti-smuggling and trafficking.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much funding her Department has allocated to projects which are primarily aimed at Eritrean nationals in the last three years; and in which countries such projects are based.
Answered by Nick Hurd
As a member of the European Development Fund Committee (EDF) my Department scrutinises all EDF programming. The National Indicative Programme (NIP) for Eritrea under EDF 11 was considered at the Committee on the 17th of November 2015 and received a positive opinion. Prior to that DFID officials worked with other member states to secure a joint EU and member state approach to linking implementation of the NIP with successful dialogue on human rights.
We continue to monitor this, both in country and in Brussels, alongside other member states.