Democratic Republic of the Congo: Ebola

Penny Mordaunt Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd May 2018 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for International Development (Penny Mordaunt)]

Following the declaration of an outbreak of Ebola in Equateur Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on 8 May, I am updating the House on what the British Government are doing to support the response.

The Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the World Health Organisation are leading the response. They have issued a joint funding appeal and response plan. The UK has acted quickly in support of the Government and the WHO.

I have announced today that the Department for International Development (DFID) will be providing £5 million in funding to the World Health Organisation’s response plan. This money will be made available immediately and will support the delivery of a range of WHO activities, including: surveillance, case management, laboratories, co-ordination, logistics, and operational readiness in neighbouring areas.

In addition to direct support to the joint Government of DRC and WHO appeal, the UK has already supported a variety of elements of the response to the outbreak. The UK has been instrumental in ensuring that lessons have been learned from previous Ebola outbreaks. For example from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, we have learned the importance of acting early and making sure sufficient resources are allocated from the outset. We have invested heavily in global preparedness, early response mechanisms, and vaccines.

In 2014, DFID worked with the Wellcome Trust to develop an experimental Ebola vaccine: thousands of doses of this vaccine are currently being issued by WHO, Médecins Sans Frontiéres and the Government of DRC through support from UK aid and Gavi, the Vaccines Alliance. Health workers and other frontline staff began receiving the vaccine on 21 May.

Three experts from the Department of Health and Social Care’s UK Public Health Rapid Support Team—two epidemiologists and a data scientist—are being deployed to the DRC imminently to assist our partners in tracking the spread of the disease so that it can be tackled quickly and effectively. Laboratory support has also been offered.

The UK is also a major supporter to a wide range of organisations and response mechanisms which are currently tackling the outbreak. The UK is the largest contributor to the United Nations’ central fund for emergencies and the second largest contributor to the World Health Organisation’s contingency fund for emergencies, including £4 million from the Department of Health and Social Care in March this year. Each of these have provided $2 million for the response. DFID has also made available £1 million from its joint research initiative on epidemic preparedness with Wellcome, alongside a further £2 million available from Wellcome to support improved diagnosis and treatment. The UK aid-supported Start Network of 42 international aid agencies has mobilised £250,000 to help tackle the outbreak. The UK also provides funding to the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service, which has mobilised two helicopters and an aeroplane to meet the logistical needs of the Ebola response.

In addition to the emergency Ebola response, DFID’s new £40 million Tackling Deadly Diseases in Africa programme (TDDAP) is enhancing longer-term preparedness, detection, and response in the region. £20.5 million will enable WHO to do this. It builds on the UK’s support to WHO’s reform efforts and systems strengthening following the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa. This is already delivering a much-improved and better co-ordinated response to the current Ebola outbreak in DRC, helping to prevent it from developing into an epidemic that could seriously threaten more lives and prosperity across Africa and the world. In the future, the programme will also support another specialist regional organisation; this component is currently out to tender. TDDAP also contains a contingency mechanism of up to an additional £20 million, which allows the UK to swiftly respond to emergencies like in the DRC.

The WHO’s International Health Regulations Emergency Committee met on Friday 18 May and concluded that the Ebola outbreak in the DRC did not presently constitute a global health emergency. However, the committee concluded that the risk to the public in the DRC itself was “very high” and the risk to countries in the region was high.

In our increasingly interconnected world, diseases like Ebola do not respect borders. As a result of lessons learned from the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the UK is working to strengthen the international response to health threats in order to ensure future outbreaks are identified quickly and tackled effectively This has included supporting the WHO in Africa to reform and improve their response. Helping countries to identify diseases early—and to limit their spread across borders—is beneficial for all of us: preventing potentially devastating damage in developing countries, and reducing risk to the UK population at home.

The WHO continues to assess the international risk of this outbreak as low. Public Health England has assessed the risk to the UK as negligible to very low and will continue to review this. Led by the Government Chief Scientist, the Department of Health and Social Care, and the Chief Medical Officer, with support from the Cabinet Office, colleagues across Government have ensured that the UK is in a state of readiness to respond should that risk change. The Government will continue to monitor the situation closely and will adapt their international and, if necessary, a UK domestic response as the situation evolves.

[HCWS710]

Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment: Aid Sector

Penny Mordaunt Excerpts

Thursday 17th May 2018 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for International Development (Penny Mordaunt)]

Following the written ministerial statement of 20 March, Official Report, column 11WS, I am updating the House on what the Department for International Development (DFID) is doing to protect recipients of UK aid and those working in the sector from harm—safeguarding for short—with our focus on preventing and responding to sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.

Ensuring DFID’s programmes meet the highest standards

Around 60% of DFID’s funding is delivered through multilateral organisations. On 21 April I co-hosted with the Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Co-operation a roundtable with senior representatives of international financial institutions—I am placing the list of names in an annex to this document in the Libraries of both Houses—and discussed how we can pool best practice and resources to tackle this issue across the sector. All 10 institutions signed a joint statement reaffirming their commitment to preventing sexual harassment, abuse and exploitation, both within their own institutions and their operations, many of which are funded by DFID. I will be pressing for them to translate this commitment into further concrete actions in 2018.

From my recent meetings in Washington it is clear that multilateral organisations are taking this issue extremely seriously and looking to learn from previous cases and improve their systems and processes. For example, the World Bank has strengthened its staff rules covering sexual misconduct and abuse and is rolling out staff training and a wider review of its human resources policies with respect to sexual harassment and exploitation.

The UN Secretary-General has made clear his zero tolerance approach to both sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment. In the past two weeks I have discussed safeguarding with the heads of the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. At the UN system chief executives board meeting in London earlier in May, Secretary-General António Guterres led a special session with the heads of 31 UN agencies, funds and programmes on addressing sexual harassment within the UN system. This included a new 24-hour helpline for staff to report harassment and access support, so fast-tracking complaints. I am pressing for agreement to a consistent UN-wide approach on reporting, investigation and outreach, and support when cases of sexual exploitation, abuse or harassment occur.

I am also pressing all organisations that DFID funds to learn from best and worst practice. Last month Save the Children UK withdrew from bidding for new UK Government funding while it looks to learn lessons and the Charity Commission carries out a statutory inquiry into its handling of internal cases.

Following my letter to DFID partners seeking assurances on their safeguarding policies and procedures, I have now received responses from our top suppliers, multilateral partners, development capital partners and research partners. This is a total of 283 organisations. I will publish a high-level summary of the returns on gov.uk later this month updating the information published on 20 March on the 179 charities directly receiving UK aid. I am including the link to that document in an annex to this document in the Libraries of both Houses.

Following the 5 March summit organised by DFID and the Charity Commission, DFID has convened four NGO working groups and an external experts group to develop concrete ideas. I met representatives of the working groups and the experts this week to discuss which of their initial proposals could make the biggest difference. The work is focusing on:

accountability to beneficiaries and survivors—prioritising those who have suffered and survived exploitation, abuse and violence, and designing systems of accountability and transparency that have beneficiaries at their centre;

how the aid sector can demonstrate a step change in shifting organisational culture to tackle power imbalances and gender inequality;

ensuring that safeguards are integrated throughout the employment cycle, including work on the proposal for a global register/passport; and

providing full accountability through rigorous reporting and complaints mechanisms, and ensuring that concerns are heard and acted on.

Ensuring all UK aid meets the highest standards

On 28 March I chaired a meeting of UK Government Departments that spend official development assistance (ODA). I updated Ministers on DFID’s work including the new safeguarding due diligence standards which I announced in March. Following a successful pilot, the new process will be rolled out to other programmes later this month. DFID will write to all other UK ODA spending departments with the details should they wish to adopt the same approach.

This month senior DFID officials have held further meetings with opposite numbers from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Cabinet Office and the Charity Commission to discuss how we can raise our own performances on safeguarding and that of others in the aid sector.

I am in contact with the Ministry of Defence about pre-deployment training for peacekeeping operations, and DFID’s HR director has been working with colleagues across Whitehall to drive up internal HR standards.

Working with other donors to drive up standards

The Department is working closely with Canada as G7 presidency and at a meeting of G7 Development Ministers at the end of May I have been asked to lead a discussion on sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.

DFID is now chairing monthly meetings of a group of 15 donors—I am placing the list of names in the Libraries of both Houses—to seek collective action including in our key implementing partners.

DFID is also working with the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to explore how to measure donors’ performance on sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment as part regular peer reviews. I plan to write to all DAC donors, observers and other major donors updating them on our work and seeking their suggestions.

The UK is leading the change needed on this issue. We have made good progress since March and I will use every opportunity possible in the coming weeks and months to push for much more. I will host an international conference in London on 18 October.

Attachments can be viewed online at:

https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-05-17/HCWS694/.

[HCWS694]

Disabled People: Elected Office

Penny Mordaunt Excerpts

Thursday 17th May 2018 Written Statements

[The Minister for Women and Equalities (Penny Mordaunt)]

It is essential that our public offices, from the UK Parliament to local government, reflect the diversity of the UK population. Currently the disabled population of this country is not sufficiently represented.

If we want to inspire and encourage businesses and other organisations to place inclusivity at the heart of their work, then politicians should lead by example. Political parties also have a duty to ensure they encourage and support their candidates as well as support to their workforce and ensure a level playing field in recruitment.

The Government Equalities Office, together with the Office for Disability Issues and the Cabinet Office, will consult with disability stakeholders to undertake a programme of work over the next 12 months to help both major and smaller political parties best support disabled candidates.

The prime responsibility for this would sit with political parties themselves. However within this, there will be ways the Government can help too, for example by looking at extending the support we already provide in other areas such as employment to enable other activities such as volunteering or representing their communities.

Within 12 months we hope to have political parties offering and advertising support, as well as solutions to help independent candidates.

While this work is ongoing we want to ensure that disabled people can run for office, so we are announcing a fund of up to £250,000 to support disabled candidates, primarily for the forthcoming English local elections in 2019. We will set out further details about the scheme in the near future and any measures taken to ensure such costs are not considered to be part of a candidate’s election expenses.

Establishing this fund should not disincentivise political parties from continuing to develop their own measures. Instead, it should help them prioritise this issue and take action to ensure no one is disadvantaged in the democratic process.

I hope that the interim fund will also help us gather further evidence of what good practice looks like.

I will keep the House updated on further developments.

The Minister for Women and Equalities (Penny Mordaunt)

The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Chloe Smith)

The Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work (Sarah Newton)

[HCWS695]

Syria

Penny Mordaunt Excerpts

Monday 30th April 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for International Development (Penny Mordaunt)]

Let me take this opportunity to put on record that the aid workers who have been attacked in South Sudan are very much in our thoughts. Aid workers should never be a target, and I am sure that the whole House will want to send our good wishes to them and their families at this difficult time.

I want to update the House on the United Kingdom’s support for the people of Syria. I am keenly aware that Members are deeply concerned about the level of suffering experienced by millions of Syrians. The United Kingdom has shown, and will continue to show, leadership in the international humanitarian response.

In the eighth year of the conflict, the plight of the Syrian people remains grave. The Syrian regime appears to have no intention of ending the suffering of its own people, although the opposition have placed no conditions on peace negotiations. The barbaric attack in Douma on innocent civilians, including young children, was yet another example of the regime’s disregard for its responsibility to protect civilians. Some may seek to cast doubt over the attack and who was responsible for it, but intelligence and first-hand accounts from non-governmental organisations and aid workers are clear. The World Health Organisation received reports that hundreds of patients had arrived at Syrian heath facilities on the night of 7 April with

“signs and symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic chemicals.”

Regime helicopters were seen over Douma on that evening, and the opposition do not operate helicopters or use barrel bombs.

Assad and his backers—Russia and Iran—will attempt to block every diplomatic effort to hold the regime accountable for these reprehensible and illegal tactics. That was why the United Kingdom, together with our United States and French allies, took co-ordinated, limited and targeted action against the regime’s chemical weapons capabilities to alleviate humanitarian suffering. Britain is clear: we will defend the global rules-based system that keeps us all safe. I welcome the support that we have received from Members and from the international community. We will work with the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to create a new independent mechanism to attribute responsibility for chemical weapons attacks. We will work with France on the International Partnership against Impunity for the Use of Chemical Weapons, and we will work with the EU to establish a new sanctions regime against those responsible for chemical weapons use.

In wielding its UN veto 12 times, Russia has given a green light to Assad to perpetrate human rights atrocities against his own people. This is a regime that has used nearly 70,000 barrel bombs on civilian targets; a regime that tries to starve its people into submission, although the UN Security Council has called for unhindered humanitarian access; a regime that has continued to obstruct aid to eastern Ghouta and removes medical supplies from the rare aid convoys that do get in; a regime that deploys rape as a weapon of war, with nearly eight out of 10 people detained by it reported to have suffered sexual violence; and a regime that deliberately bombs schools and hospitals, and targets aid workers and emergency responders as they race to the scene to help.

We must support the innocent victims of these atrocities. All warring parties must comply with the Geneva conventions on the protected status of civilians and other non-combatants. There must be an immediate ceasefire, and safe access for aid workers and medical staff to do their jobs.

We also want to adapt what we do to the new reality of this war. That is why I have announced the new creating hope in conflict fund with USAID, to work with the private sector to find new technology to save lives in conflict zones. Britain will establish a humanitarian innovation hub to develop new capabilities to hinder regimes that appear determined to slay innocent men, women and children.

Our aid has made a difference. Despite the horrific violence meted out by Assad, we have been able to prevent mass starvation and large-scale outbreaks of disease. When we are able to reach the people who need our help, our aid works. We are the second largest bilateral donor to the humanitarian response in Syria. Since 2012, our support has provided over 22 million monthly food rations, almost 10 million medical consultations and over 9 million relief packages. But the suffering continues. Some 13.1 million people are now in need of humanitarian assistance. Over half of Syria’s population has been displaced by violence, with nearly 6 million seeking refuge in neighbouring countries. In north-west Syria, an intensification of hostilities and the arrival of an additional 60,000 people from eastern Ghouta is stretching scarce resources. Today, 65% of the population of Idlib—over 1.2 million people—have been forced from their homes.

At last week’s conference, I announced that the UK will provide at least £450 million this year, and £300 million next year, to alleviate extreme suffering in Syria and to provide vital support in neighbouring countries. This will be in addition to our support for the second EU facility for refugees in Turkey. We have now committed £2.71 billion since 2012, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis.

Our pledge will help to keep medical facilities open to save lives. We will deploy protective equipment to keep medics and rescue workers safe. We will deploy antidote stocks to treat any further victims of chemical weapons. We will train doctors and nurses to treat trauma wounds. We will focus on education, making sure that every child in the region has access to quality education even in the most trying circumstances, on steps to protect civilians and on ensuring that those responsible for attacks face justice.

We will help to support the millions of Syrian refugees sheltering in neighbouring countries. Our friends in the region—Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey in particular—continue to demonstrate extraordinary generosity by opening their doors to millions fleeing the conflict in Syria. We must continue to offer them our fullest support. Last week, I also announced that the UK will host an international conference with Jordan in London later this year. It will showcase Jordan’s economic reform plans and aspiration to build a thriving private sector, and mobilise international investment.

There are refugees who cannot be supported in the region: people requiring urgent medical treatment, survivors of violence and torture, and women and children at risk of exploitation. We will work closely with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to identify those most at risk and bring them to the UK. We are helping but, with Russia’s support, Assad continues to bomb his own people, and that is why so many continue to die and so many have fled their homes.

There can be no military solution to the Syrian civil war. As UN special representative Staffan de Mistura said in Brussels last week, the Assad regime risks a pyrrhic victory unless it and its backers engage in a genuine political process. Only this can deliver reconciliation and the restoration of Syria as a prosperous, secure and stable state. The UK will continue to support the efforts of the UN, under the Geneva process, to this end.

The obstacles remain serious. The regime has shown no inclination to engage seriously so far, and the Security Council remains divided. But the international community cannot, and should not, resign itself to failure. The costs for Syria, for the region and for the wider international rules-based system are too great. The Foreign Secretary was in Paris last Thursday to discuss with key partners how we should intensify our efforts to bring this conflict, and its causes, to an end. While we actively work to find a political solution, the UK will continue to stand alongside the people of Syria and the region to do what we can to alleviate human suffering and to demand immediate access for aid workers to all those who need our help. I commend this statement to the House.

[Kate Osamor (Edmonton) (Lab/Co-op)]

I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement, and I thank her for giving me advance sight of it. Let me join her in expressing my anger at the attacks on aid workers in South Sudan. Let me also congratulate her on her appointment today as Minister for Women and Equalities.

The war in Syria has gone on for more than eight years, and 100,000 civilians have died, 1 million have been injured and 12 million displaced. For all our differences, I believe that we in this House are united in our desire to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Syrian people and, as fellow humans, to help to bring an end to their suffering.

Turning first to money, I welcome the fact that last week the UK pledged £250 million more in new funding to help Syria. That can sound like a lot, but the truth is that last week’s pledging conference in Brussels raised less than half the $9 billion needed. It also raised less than was raised at a similar conference this time last year. Indeed, Mark Lowcock, the UN’s emergency relief co-ordinator, has warned that we have a $5 billion shortfall and that the UN will now have to make hard choices. The Prime Minister of Lebanon, where 25% of the population are refugees, has warned that his country remains “a big refugee camp”. Without enough funding, tensions are rising in Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Jordan, so will the Secretary of State say more about how the UK intends to help to fill that remaining shortfall and about what plans exist to increase our own contribution? Given that delays have been reported in the United States’ pledge and that pledges from the Gulf states have so far been less than was hoped, what assurances can she give the House that she is putting extra pressure on those others also to come to the table?

It is not all about the money, however—it is not enough just to get the chequebook out. Without a political solution, our aid budget will only ever have a limited impact, so what are the Government doing to show political leadership in securing a ceasefire? After they ignored the UN and joined US airstrikes, will the Government now recommit to a joint multilateral solution to peace through the UN, even if that seems difficult? Let us remember that, a fortnight ago, this House debated the decision by the Prime Minister to bomb Syria without even coming to this House for a vote. We were told then that the action was intended to alleviate human suffering. Will the Secretary of State tell us whether her Department ever carried out an assessment of the likely humanitarian impact of the airstrikes before they were authorised by the Prime Minister?

Opening the chequebook overseas counts for nothing unless we also live up to our responsibilities to Syrian refugees here in the UK. The Government promised to take 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020, yet the UK is taking just 4% of the number of refugees received by Germany, and the numbers across European countries are dwarfed by those in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq. We are not even able to hit the Dubs amendment target of 3,000 children, and that is pitiful.

My hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty) also reported recently that his constituents were unable to host and help Syrian refugees because of the logistical and bureaucratic hurdles set up by the Home Office. That pattern is being replicated up and down the country. If the Government can prioritise targets to remove people from this country, why are we not able to hit a simple target to let in a handful of refugee children from countries such as Syria? Will the Secretary of State please sit down with the new Home Secretary and urge him to remove these barriers straight away so that we can, at the very least, hit the UK’s very modest targets for resettling Syrian refugees and children?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank the hon. Lady for her warm words at the start of her response. We are doing many things to ensure that we and the international community have the funding we need to alleviate the immense suffering being endured by the Syrian people. The first part of our contribution is obviously asking others to lean in, so my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Middle East and I have been asking other nations to do that. We obviously heavily co-ordinate our efforts with UN agencies and with their asks. We are also leading the charge on reforming the humanitarian system. We lose about $1 billion a year globally because the system does not work efficiently, so if we can get it to work better, we will have more money to deploy where we need it.

We are also helping in other areas. To give one example, I was recently in Jordan looking at the costs of healthcare; particular prices must be paid for vaccines for refugees. We are looking at the specific cost issues for the countries that are shouldering an immense burden and at what we can do to try to alleviate those costs or to get more sensible pricing systems in place.

We are also working with the multilateral system; as the hon. Lady will know, the capital replenishment of the World Bank was a huge success for the UK’s development goals. That formed part of our desire to ensure that the countries that are shouldering burdens, specifically Jordan and Lebanon, have their contributions taken into account when decisions are being made. I am pleased to be working with the president of the World Bank and Bill Gates on being human capital champions and on ensuring that all multilaterals are making decisions about which nations are stepping up and not only funding their own people, but supporting refugees from other nations.

The hon. Lady mentioned the UN, and we all know about the problems we have with the Security Council and Russia’s veto. We must find other ways of working and to encourage people to come to the table, and we have to put pressure on Russia and Iran to play their parts in getting the situation resolved.

As for the air strikes, their purpose was to degrade and deter the use of chemical weapons, as the hon. Lady knows. The vast majority of Members across the House recognise why they were a good thing for the people of Syria, for our own safety and for trying to ensure international norms. One reason why we are not able to share information with the House in advance of such strikes is that we can only make the judgment to which she referred when we know what the targets are. We can only make a judgment about whether a strike will be legal, effective in its objective and compliant with our targeting policies if we know what the targets are, and we cannot share that information with the House for understandable reasons.

We have chosen to support millions in the region. We are taking a number of refugees into the UK, but we are supporting millions of individuals not just with the basics of life, but by trying to ensure that they have some kind of future, particularly with our investment in education. Since I became Secretary of State, I have set up several new groups with the Home Office, both recently and last year, to consider issues in which there is Home Office interest, including the administration of the situation of refugees. For example, if people caught up in the Rohingya crisis have relatives here, we are trying to be proactive and to ensure that we are doing everything we can to get sensible things to happen.

[Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)]

I must express disappointment that, while rightly damning the monsters in the Syrian Government, my right hon. Friend still has nothing to say about the maniacs—the jihadists—who lead most of the armed opposition. Can she tell us whether this aid will be supplied only to displaced Syrians outside Syria or, if it will be supplied to Syrians within Syrian territory, whether it will be supplied to Assad-controlled territory, to territory controlled by the armed jihadist opposition or to territory controlled by the only people we have ever been able to support militarily—the Kurdish-led Syrian democratic forces? Those forces are currently under attack from Turkey, which she has just described as one of our friends in the region.

[Penny Mordaunt]

Turkey is a key NATO ally—I hope my right hon. Friend would want me to describe it as such—and it is supporting an enormous number of refugees. I very much understand his concern on this issue. The way we distribute aid is based on need, and we obviously have protections to ensure it is distributed as it should be. The main obstacle to that happening is access to particular areas, but aid is not being given to terrorist groups and it is not being abused in that way.

Most of the armed opposition are now dead. Back when we had the vote on the Floor of the House in 2013, there were 12 groups that nobody could describe as extremists or terrorists, and they were the best hope for a peaceful and good outcome to this situation. We are now faced with a situation in which Assad will continue his campaign, despite no restrictions being put on negotiations by the opposition groups. The only peaceful outcome in Syria will be with the consent of all parties, which I am afraid does not point to Assad remaining there.

[Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Glasgow South) (SNP)]

I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of her statement. I wish her well with her new ministerial responsibilities, and I associate the Scottish National party with her words on the aid workers in South Sudan.

The Syrian conflict is making the Schleswig-Holstein question look positively simple by comparison, but there are a number of questions that I hope the Secretary of State will be able to help me with this evening. Can she tell us a bit more about the new sanctions she has announced? Will they target the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Centre and the network of shady bank accounts connected to it? Will she seek to address the large imbalance between the number of UK and EU sanctions and the number of sanctions brought in by the US Treasury? The US Treasury has almost 300 sanctions, but I understand there are fewer than 30 from the United Kingdom.

Can the Secretary of State tell us how she plans to strengthen the chemical weapons convention and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons? Isopropyl alcohol and hexamine are required to make sarin gas, but neither of those two components is covered by the chemical weapons convention. Are there plans to address that? Can she tell us a bit more about the US aid imitative she mentioned in her statement and how much new money will go to it?

The UN Security Council is tasked with underpinning global security, and it worries us all that it is now effectively an entirely broken instrument. Although, like the Secretary of State, I hold no candle for the Russian veto, if the veto is dead for Moscow, it is dead for every permanent member of the Security Council. Given that with the airstrikes the UK Government have essentially acted, whether we like it or not, outwith the norms she says the Government have acted to defend, what is the long-term plan to bring back some decorum, some decency and some order to the UN Security Council?

[Mr Speaker]

It is always in the interest of our proceedings that they should be entirely intelligible to those who attend or who watch on television. If memory serves me correctly, only three people knew the answer to the Schleswig-Holstein question: one died, a second went mad and the third forgot the answer.

[Penny Mordaunt]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I hope to do rather better in my reply to the hon. Member for Glasgow South (Stewart Malcolm McDonald).

Whether through financial levers or through having other options in our humanitarian toolbox, we need to be able to do more in future. When I was a Defence Minister, I was fed up of coming to the House to say why we could not do airdrops; as Secretary of State for International Development, I am fed up of coming to the House to say why we cannot protect people better. We are a smart nation. We have great brains in our armed forces and in our civil contingencies, and we work very closely with our US allies. We have to come up with some better capabilities, and I am determined that we will do so.

We also want to focus on financial levers, and we are working with the EU and other international partners to develop them. I cannot give details on that today, but it is in train. I will update the House at a later date.

The US aid initiative is a joint partnership with the UK. Initially, we are each putting in £5 million to invite competition. We are asking people to come in with ideas, and we will then look at and develop those ideas, which could be about protecting civilians, getting power or water supplies back up or getting aid to individual people.

Additionally, we will set up a humanitarian innovation hub in the UK. My right hon. Friend the Minister for the Middle East will lead on that, and it will use the best brains from across many sectors to come up with solutions that we can use and that may help our defence and civil contingency capabilities.

On the UN, huge efforts are being made by our dedicated team in New York. I have spent time with them and I have visited them, and they are making a sterling effort. We need to keep pressure on Russia and Iran, which is the only way we will get things back to how we want them to work. In the meantime, we have to find other ways of making sure that we adhere to international norms. We will all be safer if that is the case.

[Crispin Blunt (Reigate) (Con)]

Is any expenditure from the conflict, stability and security fund planned for Idlib province? If so, what are the objectives of that expenditure and how will it be accounted for?

[Penny Mordaunt]

Expenditure from that fund has already been put into Idlib in particular. I am looking to do more with DFID’s funding in Idlib and in other areas that are next in the firing line. We still have some access to four such areas, and I can write to let my hon. Friend know exactly what expenditure has come out of the CSSF.

[Stephen Doughty (Cardiff South and Penarth) (Lab/Co-op)]

I thank the Secretary of State for her statement. I associate myself with her comments about South Sudan, and I put on the record my deep concern about today’s situation in Kabul, where we have seen significant loss of life, including journalists and others.

The Secretary of State talks about the importance of humanitarian access. Given the issues we have seen with Turkey’s operations in and around Afrin and Turkey’s role in controlling many of the crucial border points around Idlib where, unfortunately, we expect there to be significant military action in the near future, what conversations have she and her ministerial colleagues had with the Turkish Government at the highest levels to ensure that those border posts are open for humanitarian access?

--- Later in debate ---

[Penny Mordaunt]

My right hon. Friend the Minister for the Middle East has spoken to the Turkish Government and to a number of individuals at the UN. We want this situation to de-escalate. It is, at the very least, a distraction in the fight against Daesh, as I reported to the House in the quarterly counter-Daesh update a few weeks ago. We remain concerned, and we will continue our diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the situation.

[John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con)]

Will the Secretary of State confirm that, by helping refugees closer to Syria, rather than inviting them here, we can help many, many more people? As those refugees will obviously want, in due course, to return to their country, is there any news on possible progress on a diplomatic solution?

[Penny Mordaunt]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. We are able to help millions of individuals, and it is not just about providing a safe haven; it is also about providing them with education and skills training to ensure that when they are able to return to their homes—and we hope that will be sooner rather than later—they are equipped to pick up their lives as swiftly as possible.

[Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD)]

The last chapter of the history of Syria’s destruction has already been written: it is the complete annihilation of Idlib by barrel bombs delivered by Assad’s murderous forces, backed up by the equally murderous Russians. What can the UK Government do to try to avoid tens of thousands of additional deaths in Idlib? Will the Government expand the family reunion scheme and increase the number of Syrian refugees who are able to come to the UK, to protect more vulnerable people?

[Penny Mordaunt]

The right hon. Gentleman is right, in that we think Idlib and some other areas are going to be next hit. We have done a tremendous amount to forward deploy equipment to protect individuals—everything from sandbags to personal protection equipment. He will understand that in some areas access is extremely difficult and there are enormous numbers of people. Our priority is to protect those individuals who can protect others—the civilian defence workers and medics in those areas. Of course, we urge those who are in control of those events, who do not have to bomb their own people, to desist from doing so and to come to the negotiating table.

[Mrs Pauline Latham (Mid Derbyshire) (Con)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on her appointment as Minister for Women and Equalities, in addition to her current job, and I know she feels passionately about that. An estimated 478 health facilities have either been destroyed or attacked since the conflict began. What is she doing to make sure that vital medical care can be given?

[Penny Mordaunt]

In addition to the protection for those individuals I have just mentioned, part of our funding will be going to train thousands of medics in advanced trauma care. It is vital that we keep health services running, provide medical consultations and keep pushing for access for medical supplies. I am afraid that my hon. Friend is right to say that hospitals, medical facilities and aid convoys containing medical equipment have been targeted by the regime.

[Mr Ivan Lewis (Bury South) (Ind)]

I congratulate the right hon. Lady on her new responsibilities. May I use this opportunity to pay tribute to the work of St Bernadette’s parish in my constituency, which is developing resources to enable it to host a Syrian refugee family? In the context of the debate about the Windrush scandal and a “hostile environment”, many people reasonably ask why, following the Dubs amendment in the House of Lords, this country is not fulfilling its moral responsibility to Syrian child refugees. How many Syrian child refugees have we taken and what are her plans for the future?

[Penny Mordaunt]

On the resettlement of vulnerable individuals, we have taken about half our commitment to date—just over 10,000 individuals. I fully appreciate the hon. Gentleman’s urging us to do all we can to ensure people are safe. We have chosen to prioritise those who are extremely vulnerable and in need of a particular health treatment, or those who are vulnerable for some other reason, but we are supporting millions of refugees. We are the major contributor to that, taking care not just of people’s basic needs, but of education. I recently visited some of the education facilities in countries in the region, and Britain should be very proud of what we are doing to assist people. I visited a school that is particularly focused on children who have disabilities and have been injured in the shelling in Syria. UK aid is doing great work. We are helping not just a few thousand individuals in the UK but millions in the region.

[Sir Roger Gale (North Thanet) (Con)]

In her opening statement, my right hon. Friend referred to the “barbaric attack in Douma on innocent civilians, including young children”. Last week, in the margins of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Mr Slutsky, who is Mr Putin’s spokesman on earth, whined that the Russians only faced obligations, not rights. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Russian Federation has absolutely no right either to use or promote the use of chemical weapons and that if the Russians want to be accepted in the civilised world, they should join the UK and others in seeking a political solution, rather than exacerbating the suffering?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I could not agree more. There is a very good reason why these weapons have been outlawed: they cause immense suffering. This regime is choosing not only to bomb its own people, but to exterminate them in the most cruel ways imaginable. Any nation that facilitates that should be ashamed of itself. I do not think the Russian people would approve of that kind of behaviour, and the Russian Government should look to their conscience and to the security of their own people, because by breaking these international norms they are putting their own people in danger, too.

[Mr Speaker]

I cannot say I have heard of this Slutsky fellow, but I am sure that the hon. Member for North Thanet (Sir Roger Gale) can take it upon himself to educate the gentleman—very useful.

[John Woodcock (Barrow and Furness) (Lab/Co-op)]

The statement is welcome, and I hope it will be followed by further regular and frequent updates. The Secretary of State knows that many of us are pushing for far stronger actions than sanctions to deal with the full spectrum of Assad’s atrocities, but when she talks about “A new sanctions regime against those responsible for chemical weapons use”, do we firmly put Iran and Syria among those “responsible”? Will she consider a wider sanctions regime, covering siege, starvation and deliberate targeting of civilians, as well as chemical weapons use?

[Penny Mordaunt]

Yes, I can give the hon. Gentleman that assurance. He will understand why we do not want to make announcements until we are ready to act on these matters, but we are looking closely at what we think would be effective and what will deter future action. He is right to say that chemical weapons are against international norms, but barrel bombing children is against international norms, too.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

Given that we had an opportunity in 2013 to make a real difference but it was opportunistically rejected, may I say to my right hon. Friend that she should not take any advice from the Labour party? To ask her a specific question, some 500 medical centre and general practice buildings have been destroyed; what is her Department doing—is there anything it can do—to restore medical aid in Syria?

[Penny Mordaunt]

My hon. Friend will know that the most appalling things have happened. Even when co-ordinates have been given over with a view to ensuring that strikes avoid medical centres, they have been used to attack those sites. We saw the report of the surgeon David Nott, who was conducting an operation on an injured Syrian child down the line from London and who found that the signal he was using to perform that operation was used to target a hospital. This is why we have launched these new challenges, calling on people who have expertise, technical know-how and great ideas to enable us to be ahead of individuals who choose to unleash this barbaric behaviour on their own people. We want to do better. We want to have more options in the future to protect people.

[Mike Gapes (Ilford South) (Lab/Co-op)]

Last week, members of the Foreign Affairs Committee were in New York for discussions with the United Nations Secretary-General, members of the Security Council and other UN member states. It is clear that far from ignoring the UN, our ambassador Karen Pierce and her colleagues are making prodigious efforts to get progress on Syria. The Secretary of State referred to the 12 Russian vetoes. Given that there will continue to be Russian vetoes, what are we going to do when Assad carries out mass murder of civilians in Idlib? Are we going to walk by on the other side or will we have another effort, with our coalition partners, France and the United States and others, to stop these atrocities?

[Penny Mordaunt]

The hon. Gentleman will know that one reason why we took action against the use of chemical weapons a few weeks ago—as well as to degrade Assad’s capability—was to deter that kind of action in future. The hon. Gentleman’s support and strong stance on humanitarian issues have strengthened that message. The fact that Members from all parties have condemned not only the chemical weapons attacks but the use of conventional weapons against civilians, and have expressed our resolve that those things should not happen, will have helped that message. The hon. Gentleman will understand why I cannot talk today about specific future action that we or our allies might take, but Assad and his backers should be under no illusions: we will not tolerate such breaches of international norms.

[David Evennett (Bexleyheath and Crayford) (Con)]

I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement and congratulate her on her new ministerial responsibilities. What assessment has she made of the recent levels of religious persecution in Syria? What steps is she taking to ensure that persecuted religious minorities have access to humanitarian aid?

[Penny Mordaunt]

That is an important issue. In the new development offer that I unveiled a couple of weeks ago, I included new programming specifically in respect of the protection of civilians being persecuted for their religious beliefs. A great deal of protection can be afforded to people who are being persecuted—whether it is for their religious beliefs or they are women and children, who are particularly vulnerable—by having good reporting mechanisms in the way we deliver aid. If the recipients of aid know who to go to when, for example, aid is being withheld, we will be able to stop these things much quicker, so we are looking into that.

[Angela Smith (Penistone and Stocksbridge) (Lab)]

I supported the action against the use of chemical weapons the other week, and I consider any failure to take action to be appeasement in the face of the atrocities committed by the Assad regime and the increasing levels of aggression from the Russian state. My question relates to the White Helmets, who have played a significant part in saving tens of thousands of lives in Syria. What support will the Government continue to give to the White Helmets, and in what form?

[Penny Mordaunt]

First, I thank the hon. Lady for the stance that she took. The sentiments I expressed in my response to the hon. Member for Ilford South (Mike Gapes) also apply to her and to many other Opposition Members. The White Helmets have done a phenomenal job, and I very much regret some of the false propaganda that has been put around about their work. We are supplying them with financial assistance, and as I said, we are looking to forward deploy as much protective equipment as we can. It is people like that, along with medical teams, who we really need to ensure are protected in the four areas that I think will be targeted next.

[Bill Grant (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (Con)]

Will the Secretary of State join me in paying tribute to Syria’s neighbours that have taken in refugees? Will she set out what support she is offering to those countries to undertake what must be an enormous humanitarian task?

[Penny Mordaunt]

In addition to the aid that we are supplying and, as I mentioned, the other things we are trying to do to help those countries with the costs that they are having to bear, we need to help them in other ways. That is why we have announced the conference with Jordan—an amazing country with a huge amount to offer. We want to help Jordan to grow its economy, as well as to enable it to continue the tremendous generosity and hospitality that it is showing to refugees.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I thank the Secretary of State for her statement and for highlighting so very well the suffering of millions of Syrians. The Syrian Christian population is estimated by Open Doors to have halved since 2011, down from 2 million to 1 million, and the number of displaced in Syria stands at 6.7 million. Will the Secretary of State confirm that DFID aid has been delivered to where the Christian minorities are now located? Has it reached large numbers of the displaced?

[Penny Mordaunt]

As I have said, we are completely reliant on what access we can get to certain areas. We cannot get aid convoys into some areas into which we wish to get them. I assure the hon. Gentleman that in the mechanisms and partners with which we work to deliver aid on the ground, we are very conscious of these issues and we are strengthening those systems all the time. I have met individuals who are particularly concerned about protecting those who may be being persecuted for their religious beliefs. As I said, I am announcing some new programming to give us more options on that front.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

Last week, like my hon. Friend the Member for North Thanet (Sir Roger Gale), I was at the Council of Europe, where I spoke about Jordan’s effort to educate so many Syrian refugees. What is the Secretary of State going to do to help with the crisis in early years education in that country?

[Penny Mordaunt]

We are doing a range of things. As a general principle, I am keen that, whether in respect of humanitarian or more traditional forms of economic development, we join up the different programmes that we run—that we join up our maternal health provision with our early years provision and our education provision—and that we build systems as we go. There are many things that we can do to strengthen the healthcare and education systems of those countries in the region that are hosting refugees. I hope that one day we will be able to make similar contributions and give similar technical advice to Syria.

[Paul Scully (Sutton and Cheam) (Con)]

As a Government, we should resettle the people who are most vulnerable and those with the most complex needs, but the fact is that to go beyond that risks diverting resources from literally thousands of individuals and driving people towards the human traffickers and the perilous journey across the Mediterranean. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the strategy to support those in the region will allow Syrian refugees to go home safely when it is safe for them to do so?

[Penny Mordaunt]

Yes, and my hon. Friend enables me to make a further point, which is that many of the refugees who are resident in these host countries are not there passively receiving aid, but are actively contributing to those societies. They are running businesses and engaging in economic activity. We need to ensure that people who have been there for many years and may remain for some time have the best possible future. It is right that we in the UK take in those who need additional protections and additional care and support.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

The Syrian civil war is obviously controversial, as is the UK’s international aid budget. What more can the Department do to promote the good aid work that the UK is doing in respect of the Syrian conflict? As the Secretary of State mentioned, we are the second largest bilateral donor, after the United States.

--- Later in debate ---

[Penny Mordaunt]

The public are actually very supportive of humanitarian relief; it is something that they support uncontroversially. I know that because I see how much they give voluntarily through Disasters Emergency Committee appeals and so forth. We have to give the public greater confidence in what we do with their money. It is not that people are ungenerous or that they do not believe that the UK has an actual interest in building trading partners for the future; they are just a bit suspicious about how we have been going about it. That is why a couple of weeks ago I set out a new development offer that not only delivers the global goals better, but explicitly explains why that is in the UK’s interests.

[Victoria Prentis (Banbury) (Con)]

What progress has been made on working with smaller partners in Syria, such as the very brave medics supported by the Hands Up Foundation who are working in Idlib at this very minute? Will the Secretary of State join me in reminding Government and Opposition Members that Singing for Syrians is not just for Christmas and that the money donated now can go straight to Idlib?

[Penny Mordaunt]

May I first pay tribute to my hon. Friend for all that she and other colleagues have done through this amazing organisation? I know how keenly she feels the plight of those on the ground when there has been an attack in an area in which some of her team are working. The Department has made good progress with the launch of the small charities scheme, but I would like us to go further. Other Members have mentioned organisations in their own constituencies. We have tremendous organisations up and down the country that contribute a huge amount not just in financial support and aid, but in friendship to those in the developing world.

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

I welcome the statement by the Secretary of State, not least what she said about the work that we are doing with our allies given the way that, on the one hand, Russia and its apologists across the world have been saying that we should respect the UN, while, on the other, making sure that the UN cannot do anything effective. Can she reassure me and tell me how, in the long term, we can bring to justice some of these people who have committed such appalling crimes, given that Russia is likely to continue to veto any reference to the International Criminal Court?

[Penny Mordaunt]

My hon. Friend raises a very important point. One of the sessions that I took part in at the Brussels conference was with civil society and we looked at how we will collect evidence and hold people to account for their actions. Some of our funding will support an international initiative to do just that, and it is vital that we do so. We should do everything in our power to stop the sorts of things that we have seen over the past eight years happening ever again.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

With respect to promoting our aid effort, as raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Crawley (Henry Smith), is my right hon. Friend aware of anyone who spends 99.3% of their income on themselves?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I can see that I will have to deploy my hon. Friend the Member for Crawley (Henry Smith) to make the case for what we do. We do sometimes focus on that number of 0.7%, but we should actually focus on what that money does. If we can explain this better to the British public, who enable us to help people such as Syria’s children, they would be very proud of what the funding does.

[Chris Skidmore (Kingswood) (Con)]

I congratulate the Secretary of State on her appointment as the Women and Equalities Minister. Does she agree that protecting women and girls in Syria and in the region should be a priority, and will she set out her Department’s specific action in that regard?

[Penny Mordaunt]

The needs of women and girls are at the heart of our approach to humanitarian efforts. We have enshrined that in a tri-departmental policy with the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence. It is vital, particularly in conflict and protracted crises, that we ensure that women and girls are shaping our humanitarian effort and that their needs are absolutely at the centre of what we do, which means that they are at the heart of our doctrine.

[Ross Thomson (Aberdeen South) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree with Haian Dukhan, a PhD student at the University of St Andrews, who left Syria in 2012 because of the two evils of President Assad and Daesh and who described our action in Syria as “necessary and legitimate” because Assad had crossed a red line? Does she share my view that our response to the crisis in Syria also confirms that our aid budget is in our strategic national interest?

[Penny Mordaunt]

Clearly, we are involved in a lot of economic development to produce the trading partners for the UK of the future, but what we do on the humanitarian front is the hallmark of a great nation, and we should be very proud of that. I know that the British public are very proud of our humanitarian work.

[Paul Masterton (East Renfrewshire) (Con)]

I recently met the Reverend Dr Grant Barclay of Orchardhill Parish Church in Giffnock and he said that many of his congregation have felt deeply affected by the humanitarian situation in Syria and want to help. How best can church and indeed community groups support the work that the Secretary of State and her Department are doing in response to this conflict?

[Penny Mordaunt]

There are many ways that they can help. Clearly, many community groups raise funds and give aid directly. There is also a lot we can do to show our support, particularly when groups such as the White Helmets are under attack. We can ensure that the truth is out there; we can confront people who decide to peddle falsehoods about what is actually happening on the ground; and we can show our support. Ultimately, though, it is the practical needs that we must address. I hope that, if we can develop the small charities scheme, groups such as my hon. Friend mentioned will be able to benefit from UK aid money.

Syria: UK Response and Brussels Conference

Penny Mordaunt Excerpts

Friday 27th April 2018 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for International Development (Penny Mordaunt)]

The Syrian regime’s continued and systematic blatant disregard for international humanitarian and human rights law has resulted in an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe. Medical facilities, schools and aid workers appear to have been deliberately targeted, aid has been blocked to starve communities into submission, and rape and sexual violence have been deployed as routine weapons of war.

13.1 million people are now in need of humanitarian assistance, including 5.6 million with acute needs. In addition, over half of Syria’s population has been displaced by the violence, with 5.6 million seeking refuge in neighbouring countries.

Since the conflict began seven years ago, the UK has been at the forefront of the international response. We are the second largest bilateral donor to the crisis. Our support to Syria and the region since 2012 has provided humanitarian assistance to 17 million people, including over 27,000,000 monthly food rations and over 10,000,000 vaccines, and helped over 7.1 million children gain a decent education.

But now, in the eighth year of the conflict, the humanitarian needs of the Syrian people remain as grave as they have ever been. It is clear that the regime has no intention of ending its people’s suffering. The barbaric chemical weapons attack in Douma on innocent civilians, including young children, was yet another example of the regime’s flagrant disregard for its responsibility to protect civilians.

We must not turn our backs on their suffering. That is why at this week’s Brussels conference for Syria and the region, I announced that the UK will provide at least £450 million this year, and £300 million next year to alleviate the extreme suffering in Syria and provide vital support in neighbouring countries. We have now committed £2.71 billion to the Syria crisis since 2012, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis.

Our pledge will help keep medical facilities open so doctors and nurses can save lives, and will help support the millions of Syrian refugees sheltering in neighbouring countries.

Our friends in the region, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey in particular, continue to demonstrate extraordinary generosity in opening their doors and communities to millions fleeing the conflict in Syria.

We must continue to offer them our fullest support. Not least because as the trajectory of the Syrian war has worsened, our collective interests in a stable and prosperous region have increased. Jordan’s resilience and prosperity are critical to the long-run interests of the region. That is why, in addition to the support to the region provided in our pledge, I announced that the UK will host an international conference with Jordan in London later this year: to showcase Jordan’s economic reform plans, its aspiration to build/enable a thriving private sector, and to mobilise support from international investors and donors.

But money alone is not enough. We continue to support the UN-mediated process as the surest path to peace. But while we work towards a political solution in the future that can end this suffering once and for all, we must not give up on improving conditions in the present. In this spirit, I called upon those present at the conference to join the UK in calling for concrete actions to enable greater protection for civilians and aid workers now. That means an immediate ceasefire and immediate safe access so that brave aid workers and medical staff can do their jobs and help the most vulnerable and the most desperate without fear of attack.

The UK is a global leader within the Syria response. I am proud that at this week’s conference, we demonstrated clearly that we will not turn away from the suffering of the Syrian people—we will continue to lead the response in working with others to call out atrocities, mobilise funding, demand access for aid, protect civilians and ultimately, work towards a solution that can put Syria on a path to peace.

[HCWS654]

World Bank Group Capital Increases and Reform

Penny Mordaunt Excerpts

Wednesday 25th April 2018 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for International Development (Penny Mordaunt)]

I am pleased to confirm that on Saturday 21 April, World Bank governors welcomed the package of additional financing for, and reforms to, the World Bank Group (WBG). As a shareholder to the WBG, the UK is expected to contribute. The UK contribution of around $550 million (around £390 million based on current exchange rates¹) over an expected five years would support a package that is expected to enable US$315 billion of additional global development financing by June 2030, delivering life-changing development impacts globally.

This package is firmly in UK national interests and represents good value for money for UK taxpayers. The WBG is the largest development actor globally with the scale, expertise and experience to deliver life-changing development projects. It shares UK values and projects these globally. This package will further enable the WBG to support global development, prosperity and security, including through its work to reduce poverty; support an open, rules-based, and predictable international trading system; mobilise private finance; and address sources of instability. This will support our prosperity and security at home, while maintaining the relevance of the WBG in the eyes of all its shareholders.

As a leading shareholder, the UK Government played a central role in supporting this package helping to shape important reforms that will further enhance WBG effectiveness and efficiency and support UK national interests. These included ensuring that the share of lending going to the poorest countries will increase and that wealthier countries, such as China, will pay more to borrow. This will support wealthier borrowers in their transition from being aid recipients to aid donors. Given the WBG’s impressive track record of supporting UK national interests and delivering results, and the further reforms that have been agreed, the UK Government support the package.

Governors will be asked formally to agree the package by the annual meetings 12 to 14 October 2018. DFID will lay an order before Parliament and a departmental minute relating to the increase in contingent liabilities, before making any payments towards this package (expected in 2019).

Shareholder support

The package will involve a total of US$13.0 billion of paid-in capital from shareholders. It will also involve shareholders accepting an additional contingent liability of US$52.6 billion, the UK share of which is estimated to be around $1.9 billion (or around £1.4 billion²).

This would comprise:

US$7.5 billion of paid-in and US$52.6 billion of callable capital for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the WBG institution that provides financial support and advice to middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries;

US$5.5 billion of paid-in capital for the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the WBG institution that provides financial support and advisory services the private sector in developing countries for projects with development impact; and

an adjustment in relative shareholding in the IBRD to more closely reflect changes to the economic weight of its shareholders and their contributions to the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s fund for the poorest countries, while maintaining UK’s joint fifth single seat on the IBRD board with France. IFC shareholding would also be adjusted to ensure that it is more closely aligned with IBRD shareholding while retaining the veto of the largest shareholder, the US.

Russia was isolated in indicating that it would not participate in the package. This intransigence occurs against a wider backdrop of continued Russian efforts to undermine multilateral co-operation.

Impact

The WBG has a proven track record in delivering life-changing development results, for example, between 2015 and 2017 it supported:

286.5 million people receive essential health, nutrition and population services;

81.2 million people get new or improved electricity services;

73.2 million people, microenterprises and SMEs receive financial services; and

53.9 million and 44.5 million people gain access to an improved water source and improved sanitation facilities respectively.

The IBRD and IFC’s financing models allow them to deliver many multiples of shareholder contributions in development finance. Each $1 of capital paid in by shareholders has delivered almost $50 in development finance. This package, and the UK contribution within it, would enable the IBRD and IFC to deliver a further US$315 billion of global development financing by June 2030. This additional financing and the reforms secured will support the WBG in delivering further life-changing development outcomes.

Reforms

As a leading shareholder in the WBG, UK Government engaged with the WBG management and other shareholders to support the package, while securing important reforms to further enhance the WBG’s efficiency and effectiveness. These included:

Strengthening global peace, security and governance—Increased WBG investment in fragile and conflict affected states, with IFC increasing its support for the poorest and most fragile countries to 40% of its total support by 2030 (from around 24% currently).

Strengthening resilience and response to crises—A new crisis buffer for the IBRD, which would allow it to surge lending in crises. Investment in projects with climate change benefits increased to 30% of IBRD support by June 2023 and 35% of IFC support by June 2030.

Promoting global prosperity—An increase in the mobilisation of private finance and further support for economic development and market creation through regulatory reform and infrastructure investment.

Tackling extreme poverty and helping the world’s most vulnerable—IBRD support to its poorer clients will increase to 70% (from around 63% historically) of its total lending and the proportion of its projects that narrow gender gaps will increase to 55% by June 2023.

Delivering value for money and efficiency—Further efficiencies. A new “financial sustainability framework” to help ensure that IBRD lending levels remain sustainable. Higher prices for wealthier countries, such as China, borrowing from IBRD.

¹ This and all further GBP figures in the written ministerial statement are converted from USD using HMRC average exchange rate of April 2018 of £1 = $1.4,065.

² See previous footnote.

[HCWS644]

Rohingya Crisis: Flood and Cyclone Preparedness

Penny Mordaunt Excerpts

Thursday 29th March 2018 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for International Development (Penny Mordaunt)]

We have all been appalled by the terrible violence and ethnic cleansing that have taken place in Burma’s Rakhine State. Nearly a million Rohingya have now fled to Bangladesh from Burma. I visited the camps where most of them are living last year and witnessed for myself the precarious conditions there.

The annual monsoon and cyclone season begins imminently, and heavy rainfall is expected over the coming months. The Rohingya refugee camps are extremely vulnerable; the latest humanitarian response plan estimates that up to 200,000 Rohingya are living in areas at risk of flooding and collapse with the rainy season. I would like to assure the House that the UK Government are doing everything they can to press for and support preparedness.

We have been struck by the magnitude of the generosity of the Government of Bangladesh in providing refuge for so many people in desperate need. It has an excellent track record in disaster preparedness and protecting the vulnerable from the impacts of floods and cyclones. It is important that such preparedness is extended to Rohingya people currently hosted in Bangladesh. We are encouraging Bangladesh to take as many measures to save lives as possible, such as allocating additional land that is at lower risk of flooding and landslides, reducing density in the existing camps and having evacuation plans in place including to safe places such as cyclone shelters.

We and Bangladesh’s other friends are committed to supporting them with this. UK Government Ministers and officials have been in close contact with their Government of Bangladesh counterparts on this issue. Most recently, the Foreign Secretary and I wrote jointly to Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on 20 March, urging the government of Bangladesh to fully harness their expertise in this area and reaffirming our strong support.

I am proud of the role the UK is playing in response to the Rohingya crisis. The UK is a leading donor to the humanitarian effort in Bangladesh. We have committed an additional £59 million since last August, including matching £5 million of public donations to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal. We will remain a leading donor going forward. As part of our response, we are taking a wide range of measures to improve flood and cyclone preparedness, including:

Water, sanitation and hygiene—DFID is working with a range of agencies to ensure that up to 250,000 people continue to have access to safe drinking water throughout the rainy season, and that latrines are constructed, maintained and relocated if necessary. More than 5,000 new latrines are being constructed and will be strategically placed throughout the camps on safe ground, and more than 6,700 unsafe latrines will be decommissioned.

Health—UK-supported cholera, measles and diphtheria vaccination campaigns will provide protection against some of the most common diseases in the camps, and healthcare workers are being trained and provided with technical support to ensure better coverage is in place ahead of the rainy season. Some 791,000 children under the age of seven will have been vaccinated by the end of March.

Infrastructure and access—UN agencies, with UK support, have started mitigation works, including site improvements. Given the topography and recent deforestation of the land, this will not be sufficient to guard against all landslide risk or prevent flooding everywhere in the camps. The focus is on ensuring sustained access for the delivery of aid throughout the rainy season by improving drainage, maintaining access roads, and reinforcing embankments and walkways.

Shelter improvements—the UK is working with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to ensure that the most at-risk households—more than 158,000 people—are provided with reinforced shelter materials and sandbags, to protect from high winds and flood water.

Pre-positioning of relief supplies—DFID made use of contingency stockpiles in the early stages of this humanitarian response. DFID has successfully supported previous cyclone responses in Bangladesh using prepositioned supplies and maintains humanitarian stockpiles with ready access to Bangladesh in both India and Dubai.

Rohingya women and children are also vulnerable to gender-based violence and sexual exploitation. The UK is leading the way in supporting a range of organisations providing specialised help to survivors of sexual violence in Bangladesh. This includes 19 women’s centres offering a safe space, psycho-social support and activities to women and girls, 30 Child Friendly Spaces supporting children with protective services and psychological support, case management for nearly 2,200 survivors of sexual violence and 13 sexual and reproductive health clinics.

[HCWS608]

Counter-Daesh Update

Penny Mordaunt Excerpts

Thursday 29th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for International Development (Penny Mordaunt)]

With permission, Mr Deputy Speaker, I would like to update the House on the campaign against Daesh in Iraq and Syria.

When my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary updated the House in November, he announced the liberation of the city of Raqqa from Daesh. Today, I can inform the House that Daesh has been all but destroyed as a territorial entity in Iraq and Syria, having lost over 98% of the territory it once held across both countries. The United Kingdom has led the way, alongside our allies the United States and the Government of Iraq, in creating the global coalition against Daesh, which has enabled this progress. I pay tribute to the dedication and professionalism of our armed forces, who have trained over 71,000 members of the Iraqi security forces, including the peshmerga. The RAF has launched over 1,680 airstrikes in Iraq and Syria to support counter-Daesh operations.

We must also recognise the sacrifices of our partner forces on the ground, which have sustained significant losses as they have taken back territory from Daesh, but our work is not yet done. Daesh still holds pockets of territory in Syria, and we encourage all partners, including Turkey, to remain focused on the counter-Daesh campaign and avoid actions that undermine our shared efforts. With its loss of territory, Daesh will still pose a threat as an insurgency and will continue to try to direct and inspire terrorist attacks around the world. That is why we will remain a leading member of the global coalition. We want to ensure that the international focus on Daesh the coalition has generated continues to help prevent Daesh from re-emerging elsewhere.

We will keep playing our part. In Iraq and Syria, the lasting defeat of Daesh is reliant on addressing the conditions that allowed Daesh to hold territory. We are providing humanitarian support to address basic needs in Syria and to help to rebuild communities in Iraq. In north-east Syria, in areas recently liberated from Daesh, we provide a range of life-saving assistance, where access allows. This includes restocking health facilities and providing food, shelter and water. Last October, my Department announced an additional £10 million, including funding to remove mines, provide medical consultations, improve access to clean water and provide delivery kits to ensure safety for mothers during childbirth.

We must, however, look to other areas of Syria to ensure that Daesh does not find support where Assad’s brutal regime, backed by Russia, continues to wage war on its own people and deny humanitarian access to those who desperately need it. We are clear that Russia’s military support of Assad has worsened the suffering of Syrians. In eastern Ghouta, it has supported regime military action, despite having declared it to be a de-escalation zone. The regime, with Russian support, has relentlessly bombarded and besieged the population of eastern Ghouta into submission, and humanitarian access and medical evacuations remain blocked. Only two aid convoys have entered eastern Ghouta in the past month, both facing delays and disruption due to ongoing shelling and attacks. Such activity is in clear violation of UN Security Council resolution 2401, which demands that hostilities cease and allows the delivery of humanitarian aid and medical evacuations. Having voted for the resolution, Russia must use its influence to ensure compliance by the regime.

This year has seen little easing of the suffering of the Syrian population. The regime and its backers continue their devastating attacks on civilians, hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure, despite the best efforts of the international community. Even where hospitals’ co-ordinates have been passed to the Russians by the UN, they have not been spared from attack. There have been yet more reports of alleged chemical weapons use, and by blocking the extension of the UN’s joint investigative mechanism, Russia is shielding the regime from accountability.

Humanitarians, health workers and first responders all report their deliberate targeting by the regime and its backers. It is sickening that over 167 White Helmet volunteers have lost their lives as they try to rescue survivors as a result of being deliberately targeted by pro-regime forces in double-tap strikes. I commend their bravery and all that the White Helmets do to support the people of Syria. The attacks must stop.

We are doing what we can to alleviate the suffering and are focused on helping those most in need, regardless of who holds the territory. We will continue to keep that policy under review. We have committed £2.46 billion since the start of the conflict—our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis—and the UK was the third largest donor to the UN Syria appeal in 2017. By contrast, Russia gave $5.5 million. Through the UN Security Council and the International Syria Support Group, we continue to call on all parties to uphold resolution 2401 and take all feasible precautions to protect civilians, as required under international humanitarian law.

As the conflict enters its eighth year, however, it is abundantly clear that only a lasting political settlement can end the suffering of the Syrian people and remove the root causes of extremism. The Syrian opposition have shown that they are ready for negotiations without preconditions. The regime must now stop stalling and negotiate seriously. We call upon those with influence over Assad to use it to bring him to the negotiation table and meet the Syrian opposition who have shown they are ready to negotiate. Only in that way will the conflict finally end.

In Iraq, the liberation by Iraqi forces, with coalition support, of the majority of Daesh-held territory signals a move towards a more peaceful, prosperous country. It can now begin the painstaking task of reconciling all Iraqi communities to bring a lasting peace that delivers a unified Iraq. In support, the UK has committed £237.5 million in humanitarian aid and £100 million in stabilisation support to Iraq. That includes £50 million announced by the Prime Minister during her visit last November, as well as £10 million to rebuild Iraq’s counter-terrorist capacity. The UK will continue to train Iraq’s security forces, enhancing their ability to respond to terrorist threats and support security sector reform. We have helped provide food to a quarter of a million people and have provided shelter to 325,000. Helping families to return to some semblance of a normal life is something the UK can be proud of. Last month, the Kuwait-hosted conference on reconstruction raised an impressive $30 billion in pledges. Central to helping Iraq is the implementation of business environment reforms to stabilise Iraq’s economy and show that it is open for business. We will keep up the pressure for Iraqi leadership in such areas.

Clear challenges remain if Daesh is to be defeated for good, and we cannot be complacent. The public can rest assured that we are taking every necessary action to keep this country safe from Daesh and the terrorist threat, and we must not forget the danger posed to the UK from its returning fighters. As we have made clear, anyone returning from the conflict in Iraq or Syria will be investigated; where there is evidence that crimes have been committed, they must be brought to justice. Policy discussions are ongoing to ensure that happens in accordance with domestic and international frameworks, but the appropriate process will depend on individual circumstances. As a leading member of the coalition, the UK will remain unflinching in our commitment to confront, degrade and defeat Daesh. I commend this statement to the House.

[Dan Carden (Liverpool, Walton) (Lab)]

I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement and thank her for advance sight of it. I am sure the whole House will welcome her update that Daesh has been “all but destroyed as a territorial entity” and that it has lost 98% of the territory it once held. That is testament to the bravery and commitment of those on the ground, including our Kurdish allies, who have fought so hard to expel Daesh from their homelands in northern Syria and to recapture towns such as Manbij.

I welcome the continued humanitarian support that the UK provides through the Department for International Development. Given the scale of the humanitarian crisis in the conflict in Syria, it is right that the UK has played its part by getting humanitarian aid as quickly as possible to affected areas and by channelling substantial financial resources into helping to save lives in the years since the conflict began. I join the Secretary of State in condemning the appalling attacks on humanitarian workers across Syria, including on the 167 White Helmet volunteers who have lost their lives. Humanitarian workers must never be a target in conflict. Will the Secretary of State update the House on what steps she is taking to ensure full humanitarian access, especially in those parts of Syria that are now changing territorial control, both around Afrin and Ghouta?

I note that the Secretary of State warned Turkey that it must avoid “actions that undermine our shared efforts”, but is that really the strongest language that the Government will use to condemn Turkey’s incursion into northern Syria? That incursion is neither legitimate nor justified, has no basis in international law and should never have been allowed in the first place. This Government have stood by while Turkey and its band of rebel militias have marched into another country on the pretext of combating terrorism, while they have seized Afrin, while they have forced thousands to flee and while they have pulled down Kurdish statues. Does the Secretary of State agree that it cannot be right that this Government have not offered even a word of real criticism or condemnation, even as those same Turkish forces now advance and threaten to attack towns such as Manbij and seize those same Kurdish homelands? The Government must not abandon our Kurdish allies, who have given so much in the fight against Daesh. Will she condemn Turkey’s aggression unreservedly today?

One particularly sad story to emerge from the Turkish assault on Afrin is the death of UK national, Anna Campbell, who went to Syria last year to volunteer to fight with Kurdish forces against Daesh and insisted on being sent to the Afrin front at the outset of the Turkish assault. She was killed by a Turkish airstrike on 15 March, shortly before the fall of Afrin. She is one of eight British volunteers killed serving with the YPJ, the Kurdish women’s protection unit, and the first woman. While her father, Dirk, has expressed pride in her bravery and sacrifice, he has been angered in recent days by the Government’s inability to help repatriate her body for burial. Will the Secretary of State tell us what the Government are doing to help retrieve the body of this young woman who did her part in the fight against Daesh?

The United States has made it clear that the objective of coalition forces in Syria is to carry out what it calls “stabilisation activities” in “liberated areas” in the north of the country and to use those areas as a base to achieve the eventual transition of Syria from the Assad regime. Whatever one thinks of those activities, one thing is clear: they are a million miles away from the mandate for military action given to the Government by this House in 2015, which was exclusively to stop Syria becoming a safe haven for Daesh. Is it not time for the Government to come back to this House, set out their new strategy in Syria and seek a fresh mandate?

[Penny Mordaunt]

On behalf of all in this House, may I say that our thoughts are very much with Ms Campbell’s family at this incredibly difficult time. I am sure hon. Members will have heard her father’s incredibly moving tribute to her—she was an inspirational young woman. Obviously, we cannot provide consular support in Syria, but we are in touch with the family and will do everything we can to be of service to them, including in trying to repatriate Anna’s body. This is a very difficult situation, but I reassure all hon. Members that we are in touch and will do everything we can to bring her home.

On the wider issue of Afrin, we recognise Turkey’s legitimate security concerns, but we would support de-escalation of the situation. It is vital that we continue to defeat Daesh and that we continue to have greater stability in the area so that we can move to a political process, which is the only way this horrendous war will end. The indirect effect of what Turkey is doing is to remove fighting resource from the Euphrates valley area, which is clearly not beneficial to the coalition’s efforts in defeating Daesh.

I apologise to the House for the length of my statement, but I wanted to get on record some of the humanitarian atrocities that have taken place since the Foreign Secretary’s statement last year. The activities in eastern Ghouta are particularly shocking. The Foreign Office and DFID have made a continual combined effort to get access, whether it be for aid convoys or for the medical evacuation of casualties, particularly to remove children from the area. Despite the agreements, and despite the opportunities we were told they would be given, the partners we are working with on the ground have found it incredibly difficult to do that—one aid convoy was shelled after being given permission to go in.

We will continue to press for full humanitarian access to eastern Ghouta, and we are also looking at other areas of Syria that may be about to suffer a similar fate. We are trying to ensure that we do everything we can to protect civilians.

[Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)]

The Secretary of State is a personal friend of mine, so I do not mean this in any way to reflect on her abilities, but I am surprised that a statement with so much military content is not being made by a Defence Minister and that we do not appear to have a Defence Minister present on the Front Bench. She will forgive me if I ask some defence-oriented questions.

First, can the Secretary of State confirm that the vast majority of the large number of RAF sorties have been in Iraq, rather than Syria, because there were few forces on the ground in Syria, other than the Kurds, whom we felt we could support? Secondly, does she recognise that the opposition in Syria, with the exception of the Kurds, has been dominated from beginning to end by Islamists, although they are not all from Daesh? Finally, will she acknowledge that we need a realistic strategy whereby we get away from demanding a political settlement when, in reality, our only allies in Syria—the Kurds—are now being attacked by a fellow member of NATO, namely Turkey?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I will do my best to answer the defence matters raised by my right hon. Friend. The key Departments involved in our efforts take it in turns to deliver an update to the House. No disrespect is meant to him or to the House by there not being a Defence Minister at the Dispatch Box. As the Government’s humanitarian lead, I am taking this opportunity to focus on the humanitarian atrocities that have been committed.

I can confirm to my right hon. Friend that the vast majority of airstrikes have been in Iraq—1,362 airstrikes have taken place—which is largely due to the nature of the campaign. The campaign has differed at different stages, from having a named target when an aircraft takes off to carrying out more opportunist surveillance and not having a target as the aircraft gets airborne—that is how the campaign unfolded, as opposed to the factor he mentioned.

We remain concerned that Afrin is indirectly diverting resource away from the main effort against Daesh, and I confirm that we still believe that a political settlement is the only way forward.

[Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP)]

I thank the Minister for advance sight of her statement. We join the tributes to Anna Campbell and offer our condolences to her family.

This is a helpful statement, and I recognise the Government’s contribution. Does the Minister believe that the liberation of Raqqa means the head of the snake has finally been cut off? If so, how much longer will UK military involvement continue? I agree that a negotiated settlement is ultimately needed, so what contribution does continued UK military presence make to that?

I welcome DFID’s contribution. Supporting refugee camps is particularly important, but so is support for refugees who make their way here. How many more refugees are the UK Government willing to accept here in the UK, and will they support the Refugees (Family Reunion) (No. 2) Bill promoted by my hon. Friend the Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Angus Brendan MacNeil)?

How are the Department’s resources being used to support long-term rebuilding, and what kind of strategy is in place for that? Finally, is the Minister making sure that any UK spending that is counted towards the 0.7% aid target is not also counted towards the 2% defence spending target or otherwise appropriated by her colleagues in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence?

[Penny Mordaunt]

Raqqa was always described as the head of the snake but, as I said in my statement, the job is not yet done. We need to complete the job there, and we also need to ensure that Daesh is not emerging elsewhere. Our commitment will be driven by our progress in the campaign, and any further action will be done on a case-by-case basis. Our armed forces are making an enormous difference, not just through the airstrikes but through surveillance, and we have saved an enormous number of lives with our contribution.

It is our policy to try to support refugees as close to their country of origin as possible. We are doing a tremendous amount in neighbouring countries, and we are grateful to the likes of Jordan and Lebanon for their huge efforts. I am aware of the Refugees (Family Reunion) (No. 2) Bill, and I have had lengthy discussions with the Home Office and other parts of government. I am keen to see whether the existing rules are in any way not fit for any of the cases we have. I have asked for detail of all the cases, including the numbers.

Although I continue to have meetings with the Home Office, the Bill’s intention is that a child, say, who has been injured or is undergoing medical treatment, and where it would not be appropriate for them to be anywhere other than here, can be reunited with their family. We have had cases in which that has happened, so the existing rules are not inadequate, but I will thoroughly look at this with the Home Office to see whether there is anything else we can do. It is our policy not to contribute towards reconstruction unless progress is made on a political process. On the double counting that the hon. Gentleman talks about, different bodies mark our homework on our NATO contribution and our 0.7%, so there are no shenanigans as to what is counting towards one thing or the other. He will know that there are clear rules on what constitutes the 0.7%, and that cannot be anything to do with the military.

[Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)]

I thank my right hon. Friend for her statement. Given the incredible role that the Kurds in the autonomous Kurdish region played in trying to defeat Daesh, will she do more, on behalf of the Government, to recognise the genocide of the Kurdish people, to recognise their demands for independence and to stop the bullying by the Iraqi Government of the Kurds in the autonomous region?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that—

[Robert Halfon]

Friend.

--- Later in debate ---

[Penny Mordaunt]

Yes, sorry. My right hon. Friend the Minister for the Middle East has been in discussions with both Turkey and, yesterday, with two members of the Kurdish opposition. We are very much pressing for a de-escalation of what is happening in Afrin, in part because it is distracting from the effort in fighting Daesh.

[Hilary Benn (Leeds Central) (Lab)]

I join the Secretary of State in paying tribute to the bravery and dedication of all those who have helped to defeat Daesh on the ground and to liberate those whom it enslaved. Evidence of that is to be found in an exhibition in the Upper Waiting Hall this week, where the stories of Yazidi women who survived Daesh’s attempts at genocide, and who suffered sexual enslavement and rape, are told in the form of their words and art, as they seek to come to terms with the harrowing experience they went through. Will the Secretary of State tell the House what further efforts are being made to collect evidence of the genocide and crimes against humanity that Daesh committed, so that those responsible can finally all be brought to justice?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for publicising that amazing exhibition. I know that many colleagues from both sides of the House have visited it, and it was incredibly moving. It is absolutely right that we capture and record the immense suffering and cruelty that has taken place across both countries throughout the duration of this conflict. Clear processes are in place for that to be done. It is also vital that we are monitoring the existing humanitarian atrocities that are being perpetrated, not only by Daesh but by other groups, which I have alluded to in my statement. In future updates to this House, we may be able to share more information about the evidence that has managed to be collected, both photographic and forensic.

[Bob Stewart (Beckenham) (Con)]

On 17 September last year, the threat level for our country was reduced from “critical”, which meant that an attack was imminent, to “severe”, which means that an attack by terrorists is highly likely. The senior Metropolitan police counter-terrorism officer in our country has said that that threat is likely to last for five years. We all see the threat level on the Annunciators, but we get very complacent. How can the Government help the public not to become complacent about the threat we face over such a long time?

[Penny Mordaunt]

Let me take this opportunity, as I am sure the whole House would want me to, to pay tribute to the work of our security services, our police, the support services that work with them and our military in keeping the UK safe. They do a tremendous job; we know that they foil an enormous number of threats against this country. We all, as a nation, need to remain vigilant. I commend and point out to hon. Members the social media campaign that the Home Office has been running in order to ask people to report things that they find suspicious and to ensure that people are remaining vigilant all the time. When these information campaigns come out, all Members of this House, through their media channels, can help to promote them. We must all stay alert and resilient, while not letting this affect our way of life.

[John Woodcock (Barrow and Furness) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is good to hear the Secretary of State set out the difficulty in getting aid through to the people of eastern Ghouta that is caused by the crimes committed daily by Russia and Syria, but simply publicising it and arguing against it is not proving sufficient, and nor can anyone believe that it will. So are the Government prepared to consider working with allies in the region to guarantee the safety of aid convoys to Ghouta—or to wherever Syria and Russia target next—in order to say to the regime, “This will get through. We are giving it military protection. You must not shoot those convoys down”?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I have looked at this, both in my current role and when I was a Defence Minister. One of the incredibly frustrating things is the limitation in our ability to offer protection to humanitarian workers and aid convoys and, in certain cases, to civilians on the ground. We need new things in our toolbox if we are not to be faced with these situations again. A few weeks ago, I launched, along with my US counterpart, a new fund designed to bring forward technology that will help us to protect people in conflict situations, and to help us do the things that I know this House gets frustrated that we cannot do. This fund is a call-out for technology innovations and other things that will help us to protect civilians in conflict. It is called “Creating Hope in Conflict”, and I urge all Members who may know organisations, entrepreneurs, and tech specialists who work in this field to look at that to see whether they can help us on some of these issues.

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

It is very encouraging to hear this statement and it is quite a vindication for those of us who accepted the reasoning put forward for the UK to be involved in military action back in 2015, which was so eloquently set out at that time by the right hon. Member for Leeds Central (Hilary Benn). It is right that we are now moving the focus on to reconstruction and therefore that this statement is being made by the Department for International Development. Will my right hon. Friend outline to the House what role she sees her Department playing in trying to rebuild communities, as the long-term strategy of dealing with Daesh is to rebuild civil society and better states within both Syria and Iraq that prevent the issues that led us to this point?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank my hon. Friend for that. We made the argument in this House, and the House agreed, that this campaign was taking place across both countries and that it made no sense that we could not use the nearest asset, if it was a British one, to protect civilians in Syria. I was very grateful to the House when it allowed us to cross that border. That decision has saved lives, and helped us to protect civilians and make the best use of the assets that the coalition has. On Iraq, we are doing a huge amount to support the goal of a unified Iraq. I mentioned in my statement some of the resource we are levering to enable communities to come together to support civil society and some of those practical things we are doing. On Syria, we will not be involved in any reconstruction there until there is a political settlement to that situation, but, obviously, we are trying to get humanitarian relief through to those people who are in need.

[Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD)]

May I echo the tributes to Anna Campbell and the condolences to her family expressed by others in this debate? May I also welcome the regular updates that the Secretary of State and other Ministers have given to this House? It is essential that Members should have an understanding of the role British forces are playing abroad and of what British aid is contributing.

Will the Secretary of State confirm more clearly what I think she has already said, which is that she believes that Turkish action in Afrin is damaging the fight against Daesh? Is she able to say whether the International Committee of the Red Cross is able to gain access? There are concerns that the Turkish Red Crescent is not able to do that in a credible way. Would she like to use this opportunity to confirm that, notwithstanding the serious issues that Oxfam and other agencies of that sort have, this is a good example of where they are making an outstanding contribution to dealing with a real humanitarian crisis?

[Penny Mordaunt]

It is absolutely indirectly affecting the campaign against Daesh, particularly in respect of removing resource from the Euphrates valley area. The ICRC does not yet have access, in large part because improvised explosive devices have been laid in the area. My right hon. Friend the Minister for the Middle East has requested that the ICRC be granted access. The right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Tom Brake) is right to say that we work with an enormous number of partner organisations. Indeed, although Oxfam is not directly funded by us, it is doing incredibly important work in the region and helping to save lives. We owe the people who are working in very dangerous situations an enormous debt of gratitude.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

Nearly two years ago, in April 2016, the House, including Government and Opposition Members, voted for the treatment of the Yazidis and Christians to be classified as genocide. Will the Secretary of State update the House on when she thinks the British Government will recognise that treatment as genocide?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I share the hon. Lady’s concern. The atrocities that have been committed against those people are horrific. As she will know, to classify something as genocide is not something that the Government can do—there is an international process to classify something as genocide—but I would be happy to update her, perhaps by letter, on what the timetable for that process might look like.

[Mr Paul Sweeney (Glasgow North East) (Lab/Co-op)]

I raised the issue of Afrin with the Foreign Secretary some weeks ago and sought his assurance about what discussions he has had with the Turkish Government and our NATO allies about how they are safeguarding the law of armed conflict in relation to civilians in Afrin. Will the Secretary of State update the House on what discussions the Government have had with their Turkish counterparts on upholding the cornerstone of NATO policy and the law of armed conflict, and on securing civilians?

[Penny Mordaunt]

The Foreign Office has ongoing discussions. Most recently, my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Middle East was in Turkey last week and spoke to the Deputy Prime Minister.

[Alex Norris (Nottingham North) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Secretary of State mentions the suffering of the Syrian people; does she agree with the constituents who came to see me at my surgery last Friday that that suffering has been compounded by the British Government’s shameful timidity regarding Turkish aggression in northern Syria?

[The Minister for the Middle East (Alistair Burt)]

Perhaps the vote in 2013 had something to do with it.

[Penny Mordaunt]

Yes; my right hon. Friend points to the answer. I think hon. Members on both sides of the Chamber regret that we took military action off the table in the vote in 2013. It was not a vote on taking military action; indeed, there was an undertaking that if military action was sought, the Government would come back to the House and ask it to vote on that. What we did that day was remove the option for this country to take military action. That is a lesson that sometimes inaction is not the right answer.

[Jonathan Edwards (Carmarthen East and Dinefwr) (PC)]

Pasg hapus iawn i chi—a very happy Easter to you, Mr Deputy Speaker.

[Jonathan Edwards]

Thank you.

After turning a blind eye to Turkey’s disgraceful offensive against the Kurds in Afrin province, will the British Government now unreservedly condemn the Turkish army’s intention to extend the offensive into Idlib, Manbij and Kobane, and all the way to the Iraq border? As Turkey is now directly undermining a counter-Daesh operation, should not the British Government at least stop selling arms to that country?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I have already said a great deal about Afrin. I take issue with the hon. Gentleman’s characterisation of the Government as turning a blind eye to this—far from it. Just last week my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Middle East spoke with members of the Turkish Government about these matters.

Safeguarding in the Aid Sector: Update

Penny Mordaunt Excerpts

Tuesday 20th March 2018 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for International Development (Penny Mordaunt)]

Following the safeguarding issues exposed through the case of Oxfam in Haiti, I am updating the House on three key areas of work DFID has undertaken.

Statements of assurance from UK charities and follow up on cases

All UK charities that I wrote to on 12 February have replied and provided me with a clear statement of their assurance on their organisations’ safeguarding environment and policies, organisational culture, transparency and their handling of allegations and incidents.

This exercise has delivered results in terms of increasing reporting of live and historic cases to the relevant authorities. As of 5 March, 26 charities funded by DFID had made serious incident reports to the Charity Commission, concerning some 80 incidents. There has also been an increased level of reporting of safeguarding concerns into DFID’s “Reporting Concerns” hotline and inbox.

I cannot provide information on live investigations, but will keep the House informed on developments with partners and with regard to DFID’s internal case review.

Writing to UK charities was the first stage in a broader process, which also includes requesting assurances from our top 30 suppliers, 43 multilateral organisations and other partners. Assurances received are a first step, but do not constitute a final conclusion by my Department on the quality of safeguarding. We will test this further through the measures I announced at the safeguarding summit held on 5 March and set out below.

A high-level summary of the returns from UK charities and a list of organisations we have written to will be published on gov.uk today. It can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-level-summary-safeguarding-assurance-returns-from-uk-charities.

Safeguarding summit follow up

On 5 March, DFID co-hosted a safeguarding summit with the Charity Commission where I challenged UK charities to drive up standards and ensure that the aid sector protects the people it serves. As a result a number of actions were agreed. These include immediate short-term measures and longer term initiatives.

Four working groups, including civil society and independent experts, have been established and are meeting this week to refine and test ideas further. They will report back on concrete actions in time for the international safeguarding conference that the UK will host this autumn. The working groups are taking forward the following areas:

Accountability to beneficiaries and survivors—prioritising those who have suffered and survived exploitation, abuse and violence, and designing systems of accountability and transparency that have beneficiaries at their centre;

How the aid sector can demonstrate a step change in shifting organisational culture to tackle power imbalances and gender inequality;

Ensuring that safeguards are integrated throughout the employment cycle, including work on the proposal for a global register/passport; and

Ensuring full accountability through rigorous reporting and complaints mechanisms, and make sure that concerns are heard and acted upon.

At the summit, I announced new, enhanced and specific safeguarding due diligence standards for all organisations that work with DFID. A pilot of these new standards starts this week and they will be rolled out shortly. No new funds will be approved to organisations unless they pass these new standards, which will be integrated into DFID’s due diligence assessments, supply partner code of conduct and ongoing programme management and compliance checking processes.

Major UK charities, the Charity Commission and DFID agreed on initiatives to be taken forward to improve safeguarding standards—including immediate short-term measures, and longer term initiatives to be developed in the coming weeks and months. These include:

Exploring options for an international safeguarding centre to support organisations to implement best practice on safeguarding and maximise transparency in the sector. This work could include conducting safeguarding reviews, offering guidance and support to organisations, and a deployable team of experts on sexual exploitation and abuse who can advise organisations on the ground.

Carrying out an urgent review of referencing in the sector. At the summit, it was agreed that vetting and referencing standards are required for: UK-based staff; international staff and locally employed staff—to ensure no offender can fall through the cracks.

Planning for a systematic audit of whistleblowing practices across the sector to ensure individuals feel able to report offences, and developing and implementing mandatory standards which would make organisations accountable to beneficiaries—ensuring those receiving aid are able to identify and raise concerns.

Making annual reports more transparent, with specific information published on safeguarding including the number of cases. Also carrying out mandatory inductions on safeguarding for all staff to ensure any issues are identified and acted upon.

Establishing clear guidelines for referring incidents, allegations and offenders to relevant authorities—including the National Crime Agency.

Those in attendance at the summit agreed a joint statement which has been published on the Bond and gov.uk websites.

DFID is now building on the 5 March summit outcomes and working with a wide range of stakeholders, including other nations, to shape and deliver an ambitious agenda for the safeguarding conference to be held later this year.

Driving up standards in the UN and multilateral organisations

I have written jointly with the Foreign Secretary and with the support of other donor countries to the UN Secretary-General.

Last week, I was in New York to speak at the Commission on the Status of Women to highlight that we will only prevent sexual exploitation and abuse and achieve the sustainable development goals, if we deliver our commitments on gender equality.

I hosted a roundtable and held meetings with senior UN partners, calling for a step change across all constituent parts of the UN to ensure they put beneficiaries first, shift their organisational culture, integrate safeguards throughout the employment cycle and ensure that there are robust systems for reporting, complaints and whistleblowing. I challenged the UN to set out concrete actions to take this forward.

I will take this message to other multilateral organisations at the spring meetings next month.

A donor group has been established to capitalise on our collective leverage to deliver changes across the international aid sector at the safeguarding conference.

I am determined that the UK will continue to lead this agenda to drive up safeguarding standards across the sector and keep people safe from harm.

[HCWS568]

International Development

Penny Mordaunt Excerpts

Wednesday 21st February 2018 Ministerial Corrections

The following is an extract from the statement entitled Aid Sector: Safeguarding on Tuesday 20 February 2018.

[Penny Mordaunt]

DFID, other Government Departments and the National Crime Agency work closely together when serious allegations of potentially criminal activity in partner organisations are brought to our attention. We are strengthening this work, as the new strategy director at the NCA will take on a lead role for the aid sector. [Official Report, 20 February 2018, Vol. 636, c. 47.]

Letter of correction from Penny Mordaunt:

An error has been identified in my statement.

The correct wording should have been:

[Penny Mordaunt]

DFID, other Government Departments and the National Crime Agency work closely together when serious allegations of potentially criminal activity in partner organisations are brought to our attention. We are strengthening this work.