Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to reach the public sector apprenticeship target.
Answered by Nigel Adams
DFID is committed to offering a range of apprenticeships to meet the public sector apprenticeship target.
Plans for our 2020 intake have been delayed whilst we respond to Covid-19, and establish the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office but we do expect to recruit a range of apprentices by the end of 2020.
Our apprenticeship schemes have been designed to be as inclusive as possible and encourage individuals from diverse backgrounds to apply.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether his Department plans to supply medical equipment to the Kurdistan Regional Government to help tackle the covid-19 pandemic; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK has announced up to £744 million of aid funding to support the global efforts to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, including support to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and to the UN system to protect the most vulnerable.
Through the UN Supply Chain Taskforce, WHO is leading efforts to understand the availability, distribution and forecasting of crucial response commodities throughout the world. We are supporting these efforts to assess the levels of needs and preparedness across Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and working with multilateral partners including the UN, World Bank and International Monetary Fund to support the response.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate she has made of the total amount of funding from the public purse given by her Department to (a) civil society and (b) campaigning bodies in each of the last five years.
Answered by Wendy Morton
UK-based charitable organisations are critical policy and programme partners for DFID. They are vital to DFID’s delivery capability, humanitarian response and research effort, and they actively engage with DFID on the international agenda for development, across a range of policy and technical issues. Funding opportunities include the Small Charities Challenge Fund, UK Aid Direct and UK Aid Match. However, a full answer to how much public funding has been given to civil society organisations could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
DFID does not fund campaigning, fundraising, or advocacy activities. These are listed as ineligible costs in our cost eligibility guidance for grants and contracts.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the Government's policy is on supporting education throughout the world.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Supporting delivery of Sustainable Development Goal 4 by promoting 12 years of quality education for all children, especially girls, by 2030 is a top priority for the Prime Minister, and was a commitment in the Conservative Manifesto.
Girls’ education is central to the UK’s drive to tackle poverty, boost economic growth, improve stability, reduce conflict and to address climate change.
The UK is a leading donor and between 2015 and 2019 UK Aid supported 14.3 million children to gain a decent education.
DFID’s 2018 education policy sets UK priorities for global education to:
- Improve teaching: develop teacher’s skills and knowledge, boost motivation, retain and monitor performance,
- Back education reforms which deliver results in the classroom, to make systems more accountable, inclusive and effective,
- Step up targeted support for the most marginalised children (focusing on hard to reach girls, children affected by crises, children with disabilities).
We are delivering this by providing focused support in 20 countries and supporting education in a further 50 through global programmes such as the Girls’ Education Challenge and support to the Global Partnership for Education.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans she has to reallocate Official Development Assistance previously allocated to the European Union following the UK's withdrawal from the EU.
Answered by Wendy Morton
As a Member State, the UK spent approximately 10% of our Official Development Assistance (ODA) through the EU each year. Going forward we will be able to make our own decisions about where, when and how we invest that money. The UK will continue to play a leading role in tackling global development challenges in support of the national interest.
Under the Withdrawal Agreement the UK will honour its share of commitments made to the EU budget and off-budget funds during the period of our membership. For DFID, this means that we will meet our commitments to EU development programmes approved by 31 December 2020 until their closure. As these are multi-year programmes, this will result in a declining spending tail of ODA contributions that we expect to run until 2027.
Ministers will take decisions on reallocating ODA funding through normal departmental processes and DFID’s bid to the Spending Review, in line with the conclusions of the Integrated Review.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what her priorities are for her Department.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This Government is proud to maintain the UK’s commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of GNI on development and will do more to help countries receiving aid to become self-sufficient. The UK will continue to lead on promoting girls’ education around the world, tackling climate change, ending the preventable deaths of mothers, new-born babies and children by 2030, and also lead the way in eradicating Ebola and malaria. This will transform the lives of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable; and we are clear that a world in which free societies and liberal values are able to flourish is firmly in our own interests. The Integrated Security, Defence and Foreign Policy Review will be a wholesale reassessment of our foreign, defence, security and development policy.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much and what proportion of UK funding for the Iraq Humanitarian Fund is allocated to projects in the Kurdistan Region; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The UK has committed approximately £94 million to the Iraq Humanitarian Pooled Fund since 2015. In 2018, the UK contributed £13 million to the Iraq Humanitarian Pooled Fund. That year, the Iraq Humanitarian Pooled Fund allocated $3.2 million to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq of a total of $36.6 million (including other donor funding). This equates to roughly 9% of Pooled Fund allocations to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
DFID has committed £261m in humanitarian support to Iraq since 2014, providing a vital lifeline to millions with shelter, medical care and clean water.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, how much funding from the apprenticeship levy the House of Commons has yet to spend in the 2018-19 financial year.
Answered by Tom Brake
The expansion of the programme began in late 2018 due to procuring new training providers to fully meet the requirements of the House and, following their appointment, the programme has expanded quickly and will continue to do so. As a result for the financial year 2018–2019 the House has spent just £38,452 (9%) of its Levy, all of it on training apprentices.
The House has approximately £383,500 of the Levy remaining to the end of the 2018–19 financial year. The House is already using this amount for the full expansion of its apprenticeship programme and the ongoing enrolment of apprentices onto training. This includes the portion of the Levy funds allocated to be spent by Parliamentary Digital Services, who are planning their apprenticeships for 2019.
Of the 2018/2019 funds remaining the House will continue to spend these on apprenticeships for the coming year. These funds are not constrained by the financial years and are available on a rolling basis.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, what outreach work is being carried out to encourage women to become an apprentice in the House of Commons.
Answered by Tom Brake
Throughout the tender process for new training providers, diversity was a key element and continues to be a strong focus for the apprenticeship programmes. We work closely with both our providers and the House of Commons recruitment team to ensure vacancies are published to as broad an audience as possible.
We are working alongside Amazing Apprenticeships who work with over 3,500 schools and colleges nationally to reach those who may not instantly think the House of Commons is for them by creating a short film which will tour schools this year.
We work with Newham College, which is based in one of the most diverse boroughs in London. The College works extensively with parents and local community groups. Where we are not seeing diverse pools of candidates we are continually reviewing where we are advertising and engaging with potential applicants to aim to reach these candidates and improve our approach.
A female apprentice ambassador has been appointed. She will be speaking at school events across London about her experience as an apprentice at the House of Commons and career with the House since. We are also working with our providers and in-House recruitment team to continue their work of female only recruitment and information sessions to encourage women to feel more comfortable about attending these sessions to find out more.
The House will also be represented at an event for teachers and careers advisors to engage them with the work of Parliament and the opportunities for their students.
Our work with Amazing Apprenticeships will be shown across Special Education Need schools as well as schools with a high proportion of students with a disability.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, what outreach work is being carried out to encourage school leavers to become an apprentice in the House of Commons.
Answered by Tom Brake
Throughout the tender process for new training providers, diversity was a key element and continues to be a strong focus for the apprenticeship programmes. We work closely with both our providers and the House of Commons recruitment team to ensure vacancies are published to as broad an audience as possible.
We are working alongside Amazing Apprenticeships who work with over 3,500 schools and colleges nationally to reach those who may not instantly think the House of Commons is for them by creating a short film which will tour schools this year.
We work with Newham College, which is based in one of the most diverse boroughs in London. The College works extensively with parents and local community groups. Where we are not seeing diverse pools of candidates we are continually reviewing where we are advertising and engaging with potential applicants to aim to reach these candidates and improve our approach.
A female apprentice ambassador has been appointed. She will be speaking at school events across London about her experience as an apprentice at the House of Commons and career with the House since. We are also working with our providers and in-House recruitment team to continue their work of female only recruitment and information sessions to encourage women to feel more comfortable about attending these sessions to find out more.
The House will also be represented at an event for teachers and careers advisors to engage them with the work of Parliament and the opportunities for their students.
Our work with Amazing Apprenticeships will be shown across Special Education Need schools as well as schools with a high proportion of students with a disability.