Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent progress the Government has made on providing humanitarian assistance to Yemen.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
On 27 September 2015, the Secretary of State announced an additional £20 million for humanitarian assistance to Yemen, bringing our overall contribution for 2015-16 to £75 million and making the UK the 4th largest bilateral donor to Yemen crisis.
UK aid is providing vital medical supplies, water, food and emergency shelter, as well as supporting UN work to co-ordinate the international humanitarian response.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 16 September 2015 to Question 9671, what estimate the Government has made of the proportion of UK companies which have joined the 2013 Accord on Fire and Safety in Bangladesh.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
30 UK companies have signed the 2013 Accord on Fire and Safety in Bangladesh. We do not have comprehensive information on the total number of UK brands purchasing Garments from Bangladesh.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 16 September 2015 to Question 9671, for what reasons the Government cannot mandate companies to join the 2013 Accord on Fire and Safety in Bangladesh.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The Rana Plaza disaster demonstrated the need for a concerted effort by all stakeholders to address the challenges facing the garments industry in Bangladesh. As well as establishing 2 international initiatives (the Accord and the Alliance), The International Labour Organisation (ILO) worked with the Government of Bangladesh (GoB), employer organisations, and trade union representatives to develop the Tripartite National Plan of Action on Fire Safety and Structural Integrity (NTPA) and in 2014 the Government raised the minimum wage for the country’s garment workers by 77%.
The Accord has been established as a voluntary, independent, legally binding agreement between Trade Unions and brands: we, and the many stakeholders involved, believe this is a more effective mechanism than making it mandatory. We actively encourage UK companies to join the Accord.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, when her Department plans to publish its health system strengthening framework.
Answered by Grant Shapps - Secretary of State for Defence
In the government response to the International Development Committee’s report on Strengthening Health Systems in Developing Countries, DFID proposed to develop a framework for future work on health systems. DFID is developing the framework in consultation with the Department of Health and other UK institutions. DFID is due to update the Committee on progress against its recommendations, including the health systems strengthening framework, in November 2015.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to make it compulsory for companies to comply with the 2013 Accord on Fire and Safety in Bangladesh.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The 2013 Accord on Fire and Safety in Bangladesh is a voluntary, independent, legally binding agreement between Trade unions and Brands. The UK Government is not able to mandate companies to join but all UK companies have been encouraged to do so.
The UK supports a programme which, amongst other activities, conducts structural and fire assessments of those factories not covered by the Accord or the Alliance and ensures that they are closed down or remedied if found to be at risk of fire or collapse.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will respond to the Independent Commission for Aid Impact's Report on the Department for International Development's Contribution to Improving Nutrition published July 2014.
Answered by Grant Shapps - Secretary of State for Defence
DFID provided a management response to the report on 30 July 2014 which can be seen at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dfid-management-response-to-independent-commission-for-aid-impact-recommendation-on-dfids-contribution-to-improving-nutrition-june-2014.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what progress has been made on obtaining debt relief for Nepal following the recent earthquake in that country.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
Nepal’s overall public debt stood at USD 5.36 billion or 25.6% of GDP (with external debt at 16.1%) in FY 2014-15 (Ministry of Finance, 2015), following a steady decline over nearly a decade. This is comparatively a low level of debt and is due to:
i) Government savings contributing to debt payback each year due to low budget execution and healthy growth in import-based revenues,
ii) Low request for borrowing, and
iii) Debt relief by the UK under Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) totalling GBP19.42 million between 2006/07 and 2012/13.
As a result of the low and reducing levels of debt in Nepal, there has been no request from the Government for debt relief for the post-disaster reconstruction.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether the Government plans to support the target on ending violence against women and girls at the UN General Assembly in September 2015.
Answered by Justine Greening
The UK Government has played a leading role in pressing for the standalone gender goal included within the UN Open Working Group outcome document and the target to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls. We will continue to push, at every opportunity, for a strong and explicit commitment to this in the Sustainable Development Goals that will be agreed later this year.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent reports she has received on the work of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition; what steps she is taking to ensure that the Alliance's work does not contribute to the takeover of land belonging to small farmers by multinational corporations; and what steps she is taking to ensure that the Alliance does not prioritise growing food for export over producing food to feed local people.
Answered by Grant Shapps - Secretary of State for Defence
The New Alliance Leadership Council met on 2nd of June 2015. The UK attended this meeting and a progress report was discussed, agreed and will be published shortly on the New Alliance website.
All parties investing under the New Alliance commit to support implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of land, fisheries and forests, which are international guidelines to make land investments transparent and accountable.
Most of the investment commitments made under the New Alliance involve agribusiness investments downstream from the farm and are therefore not competing with small-scale farmers. Such investments are critical to create jobs and new markets for small-scale farmers, and to help African countries diversify out of primary commodity production. This will require investment and growth along the agricultural value chain rather than just investment in small-scale farmers’ food production.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the total value of contracts her Department has with private sector providers was in each of the last five years for which records are available.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
We do not hold information in the form requested.