Oral Answers to Questions

Paulette Hamilton Excerpts

Tuesday 31st January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Anne-Marie Trevelyan]

My hon. Friend will, I hope, be aware that there was a meeting a couple of weeks ago with my fellow Minister Lord Goldsmith to discuss the issue in more detail. Officials are working closely with him to find a resolution.

[Mrs Paulette Hamilton (Birmingham, Erdington) (Lab)]

11. What recent steps his Department has taken to improve access to water, sanitation and hygiene for women and girls across the world.

[The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Mr Andrew Mitchell)]

Britain is working to improve access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene in 37 developing countries.

[Mrs Hamilton]

I refer the House to my declaration in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. A third of women around the world do not have access to clean water. In December, I visited Ghana and saw how water, sanitation and hygiene projects funded by UK aid can be life-changing for women and girls. The Government’s international development strategy commits to “empowering women and girls” around the world, but it does not go far enough. Can the Minister assure me that his Department will prioritise funding for WASH projects for women and girls?

[Mr Mitchell]

I thank the hon. Lady, my constituency neighbour, for flagging up an extremely important area of development policy. Over the last three years, Britain has trained 460,000 health and other key workers in the science of hygiene, and has supported 14,800 healthcare facilities. As she will have seen from her visit to Ghana, that is highly prioritised by the British Government.