Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that UK international development aid is not spent on the promotion of terrorism.
Answered by Rory Stewart
DFID’s development work complements and reinforces the UK’s efforts to counter terrorism and extremism. DFID helps to build stronger, stable and more democratic states and societies that are better able to respond to the threat from terrorism. Development programmes can do this by addressing poor governance, corruption, inequality, marginalisation and a lack of economic opportunity which create the enabling environment which extremists exploit. We have enhanced our operational framework and internal guidance to ensure that DFID effectively manages the risk of aid diversion to terrorist groups in line with our obligations under the 2000 Terrorism Act. A dedicated Counter Terrorist Financing Officer has also been appointed. DFID controls include a comprehensive management framework which requires risks to be identified at design stage and reassessed regularly during the project. Further measures include understanding the country context; where terrorist organisations are operating; and the impact of our programmes, to monitor unintended consequences. Every project is subject to an annual performance review and a project completion review, to ensure that the desired objectives have been achieved, and that aid has been delivered to the intended beneficiaries.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans her Department has to increase investment in decentralised renewable energy in developing countries.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
The UK Government is playing a leading role in improving energy access in developing countries. 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. For example, our Energy Access Ventures programme is investing in off-grid electric and we are delivering green mini-grid solutions across Africa.
Through the UK Government’s Energy Africa campaign we are working with solar firms to help them access the finance they need to expand their businesses, create jobs and help reach millions of people in Africa without electricity access
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the composition and remit is of the review she has established to advise her on the future of St Helena airport.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The independent Panel is currently being established, a process which will consider its proposed composition and its remit.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate her Department has made of the public expenditure that is required to extend the life of RMS St Helena.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Through its commitment of Financial Aid to the Government of St Helena, DFID subsidises the costs of the service provided by the RMS St Helena. The subsidy is the difference between the actual costs of operating the service and the actual revenue generated. So it is not possible to calculate the subsidy in advance and without knowing, for example the levels of occupancy on each service and operating costs. For the period between April and July 2016 the RMS service returned a profit of £220,000 so no subsidy was required. The cost of subsidising the operations of the RMS St Helena in FY 2015/16 was £620,000.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions her officials have had with the St Helena government on an interim air service solution.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Discussions are ongoing between my officials and the St Helena Government on the prospects for an interim air service using the southern approach to the runway, where the prevailing winds require aircraft to land with a tailwind. All aircraft have performance limits for the maximum tailwind in which they can operate; technical work is underway to assess the frequencies tailwind speeds at the airport exceed these performance limits.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate the Government has made of the number of St Helena expats who are currently residing in the UK.
Answered by Rory Stewart
We understand from the latest (2011) census data provided by the Office of National Statistics, that the number of people in England and Wales, who registered as being born in St Helena, was 2,645. In Scotland the number is 59. In Northern Ireland it is 11. These numbers do not include the children of St Helenian parents
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she had with the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on the future of St Helena airport.
Answered by Rory Stewart
DFID officials, acting on behalf of the Secretary of State and DFID Ministers, are in regular contact with FCO officials about the future of St Helena Airport.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she had with the Governor of St Helena on the future of St Helena airport.
Answered by Rory Stewart
DFID is in regular contact with the Governor of St Helena about the future of St Helena Airport.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department has taken to help tackle rubella contracted by children in Africa.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
Rubella is a vaccine-preventable disease. The UK is the largest donor to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which protects children from rubella through the Measles-Rubella vaccine. By the end of 2015, Gavi had immunised 164 million children with measles-rubella vaccine.
From 2016 to 2020 Gavi will greatly scale up the Measles-Rubella vaccine, averting more than 1 million future deaths, and greatly reducing the number of children in Africa who suffer from Congenital Rubella Syndrome each year. In total, the UK will invest £1.44bn in Gavi between 2016 and 2020, to immunise 76 million children and save 1.4 million lives.
The Department for International Development supports countries to strengthen their health care systems so that they can provide good quality services to prevent and treat all the main illnesses affecting children, including Congenital Rubella Syndrome.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department has taken to help tackle rubella in Africa.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
Rubella is a vaccine-preventable disease. The UK is the largest donor to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which protects children from rubella through the Measles-Rubella vaccine. By the end of 2015, Gavi had immunised 164 million children with measles-rubella vaccine.
From 2016 to 2020 Gavi will greatly scale up the Measles-Rubella vaccine, averting more than 1 million future deaths, and greatly reducing the number of children in Africa who suffer from Congenital Rubella Syndrome each year. In total, the UK will invest £1.44bn in Gavi between 2016 and 2020, to immunise 76 million children and save 1.4 million lives.
The Department for International Development supports countries to strengthen their health care systems so that they can provide good quality services to prevent and treat all the main illnesses affecting children, including Congenital Rubella Syndrome.