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 representations his Department has made to the Government of Pakistan on removing derogatory references to (a) Ahmadis and (b) other minorities from the education curricula in that country.
Answered by Alistair Burt
HMG regularly raises freedom of religious belief issues at the highest levels with Pakistan government counterparts. In January, I met the Hon Shafqat Mahmood, Pakistan Federal Minister for Education, and his provincial counterparts. The agenda for this meeting included ending discrimination and improving the inclusion of all children in Pakistan through education.
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 steps her Department is taking to help reform the education curricula in Pakistan to remove derogatory references to Ahmadis and other minorities.
Answered by Alistair Burt
Working with the provincial governments of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) DFID has supported improvements to primary English, Urdu, mathematics and general knowledge textbooks. In Punjab DFID has also supported the government to revise the primary curriculum in core subjects. HMG regularly raises freedom of religious belief issues at the highest levels with Pakistan government counterparts. DFID’s investments in education in Punjab and KP have supported 10 million primary and nearly 6 million secondary children.
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 her Department will stop providing funding to migrant detention centres in Libya where people are subject to abuse.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK government is not funding migrant detention centres in Libya. They are the responsibility of the Libyan authorities and we regularly raise with them the need to respect the human rights of migrants, to ensure the provision of basic services, and to explore alternatives to detention centres. UK Aid funds basic humanitarian provisions where it is possible to do so in detention centres whilst upholding humanitarian principles.
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 steps the Government is taking to facilitate aid deliveries to Rukban camp in Syria; and what representations have been made to his counterparts in (a) Syria and (b) Jordan on conditions in that camp.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK has been a leading voice among donors highlighting the plight of displaced Syrians at the Rukban camp. In particular, we continue to lobby all parties for full humanitarian access to the camp, to enable regular aid deliveries. We understand that a humanitarian convoy from Damascus to Rukban has now been approved to deliver life-saving aid to people in need at Rukban Camp over the coming weeks. We call on all parties to ensure this takes place and provides the assistance these people badly need. We will continue to monitor the situation closely.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to recent legislation passed by the US administration on funding for the reconstruction of Syria, what assessment he has made of the merits of bringing forward similar legislative proposals.
Answered by Alistair Burt
While the conflict is ongoing, our priority is to deliver life-saving humanitarian aid to those affected. We will not provide support for reconstruction until a credible, genuine and inclusive political transition is firmly underway. This is in agreement with other countries, including the US. We continue to champion this position internationally.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, for what reason her Department has allocated to the Global Partnership for Education less than the £381 million over the next three years recommended in the First Report of the International Development Committee, DFID's work on education: Leaving no one behind?, HC 367, published on 21 November 2017.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
I refer the Hon Gentleman to the Written Answer I provided on 28 February 2018 to PQ 128969.
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 assistance the Government is providing to Gaza in response to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs' July 2017 call for the funding of essential services including health, water and sanitation.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK is providing £1.9 million to support the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Gaza urgent funding appeal. This is being delivered through the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to support critical water, sanitation and hygiene needs identified by the appeal. UK funding is helping to provide clean water and rehabilitate sanitation facilities to stop the spread of disease, benefitting approximately 1 million Gazans. We remain concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and are monitoring the situation closely including tracking the UN’s emergency indicators.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much funding the UK has provided to (a) UK organisations, (b) UN agencies, and (c) international and non-governmental organisations in Syria (i) in total and (ii) by organisation in each of the last five years.
Answered by Alistair Burt
Between financial years 2012/2013 and 2017/2018, DFID has provided £876 million to a range of partners implementing humanitarian projects in Syria. This figure excludes funding under the cross-government Conflict, Stability and Security Fund. During this period, DFID has provided £53.4 million to UK organisations, £487 million to UN agencies, £37.3 million to international organisations, and £280.4 million to international NGOs. In addition, £17.8 million has been provided for technical and in-kind assistance, and monitoring and evaluation activities. A breakdown by financial year is provided below.
By financial year
Agency Type | FY 2012/13 | FY 2013/14 | FY 2014/15 | FY 2015/16 | FY 2016/17 | FY 2017/18 | Total |
UN agencies | £28.2m | £79.5m | £70.5m | £110.7m | £119.7m | £78.5m | £487.0m |
International organisations | £3m | £5m | - | £5m | £23.4m | £1m | £37.3m |
International NGOs | £5.1m | £35.5m | £64.1m | £59m | £51.6m | £65.1m | £280.4m |
UK organisations | £2.5m | £9.7m | £14.8m | £14.2m | £12.2m | - | £53.4m |
Other funding | £1.7m | £3.9m | £2.0m | £4.3m | £2.5m | £3.2m | £17.8m |
Total | £40m | £134m | £152m | £193m | £209m | £148m | £876m |
Aside from the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross, we have agreed with our NGO partners not to disclose publicly their identity because doing so could put their staff at risk.
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 planned allocation of funding from her Department in respect of the Syrian crisis is for (a) 2018 and (b) 2019; and what proportion of that funding will be spent (i) inside and (ii) outside Syria.
Answered by Alistair Burt
DFID country allocations for 2018 and 2019 are yet to be determined. In 2017, we spent £508 million – 102% of our pledge at the April 2017 Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region conference.
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 proportion of her Department's funding in response to the Syrian crisis to date was delivered by means of (a) UK organisations, (b) UN agencies, (c) international NGOs and (d) Syrian NGOs.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK has pledged £2.46 billion to the Syria crisis, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. Of this, £2.2 billion has already been allocated by DFID to its partners to provide lifesaving support to millions of Syrians, support refugees to remain in countries in the region, and enable their host communities to accommodate them.
A breakdown of funding allocated to date by agency type is shown in the table below. This excludes projects under the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund.
Organisation type | Allocated |
UN agencies | £1,029m |
International organisations | £602m |
International NGOs | £484m |
(of which UK NGOs) | £33m |
Other funding | £101m |
DFID has not allocated funding directly to Syrian NGOs. As many of our partners work with such groups on the ground, we classify them as downstream partners.