Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much funding the UK pledged to Unitaid in the period from 2006 to 2026; how much and what proportion of that funding has been disbursed; and whether he plans to disburse the full amount of the pledged funding by the end of 2026.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK has been a strong supporter and partner of Unitaid for over 17 years. We continue to highly value Unitaid's work to drive access to life-saving new health technologies for those who need them most.
The UK has a 20-year donor arrangement with Unitaid from 2007-2026, for a total commitment of €1.1 billion converted to £789 million at the outset. The UK has contributed £574 million to date. Allocations for 2025-26 and beyond will form part of the next Spending Review process.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to increase the value available of the (a) Community Recovery Grant and (b) Business Recovery Grant for those who are eligible to receive it under the flood recovery framework.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
We work closely with local authorities to ensure recovery support is provided when appropriate. The current guidance is regularly reviewed and updated as required.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the £785 million pledged by his Department to the United Nations Population Fund Supplies Partnership from 2020-25, what the planned schedule of payments was for that funding; and how much of that funding has been disbursed and on what dates as of 23 October 2023.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
In 2019, the UK pledged £425 million to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Supplies Partnership (not £785 million)
Following the signing of its first agreement, the UK disbursed £65 million in 2020 as planned. The UK signed a second agreement in 2020 to provide the remaining £360 million from 2020-2025 but this was reduced in 2021 following reductions in ODA spending. We are currently providing £60 million a year to UNFPA Supplies Programme.
Payments can be found on DevTracker: https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/projects/GB-GOV-1-300713/documents.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much official development assistance his Department has spent on disability-specific projects in each year since 2010; and what proportion of total official development assistance spending in those years was spent on disability-specific projects.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) tracks spending on disability-specific official development assistance (ODA) programmes through the OECD-DAC disability policy marker.
The UK was one of the first countries to adopt a disability policy marker, introducing it in 2018, and was central to the OECD-DAC adopting it in 2019. The marker has been used throughout FCDO since 2021.
The table below provides FCDO spending on disability-specific ODA programmes and total bilateral ODA spending from 2016 onwards.
Department | Total bilateral1 ODA (£ million) (a) | Bilateral ODA spent on disability-specific programmes (£ million) (b) | Percentage of bilateral ODA spent through disability-specific programmes (c) |
20162 | |||
Department for International Development | 6,369.7 | 2.0 | 0.0% |
Foreign & Commonwealth Office | 479.6 | 0.0 | 0.0% |
Total | 6,849.3 | 2.0 | 0.0% |
20172 | |||
Department for International Development | 6,312.8 | 6.3 | 0.1% |
Foreign & Commonwealth Office | 594.6 | 0.0 | 0.0% |
Total | 6,907.4 | 6.3 | 0.1% |
2018 | |||
Department for International Development | 6,352.9 | 6.7 | 0.1% |
Foreign & Commonwealth Office | 603.4 | 0.0 | 0.0% |
Total | 6,956.3 | 6.7 | 0.1% |
2019 | |||
Department for International Development | 7,063.5 | 19.6 | 0.3% |
Foreign & Commonwealth Office | 642.3 | 0.0 | 0.0% |
Total | 7,705.7 | 19.6 | 0.3% |
2020 | |||
Department for International Development | 6,362.9 | 22.4 | 0.4% |
Foreign & Commonwealth Office | 559.6 | 0.0 | 0.0% |
Total | 6,922.5 | 22.4 | 0.3% |
2021 | |||
Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office | 4,485.3 | 16.2 | 0.4% |
2022 | |||
Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office | 4,607.5 | 19.0 | 0.4% |
Footnotes
1. Following the OECD-DAC guidelines, the disability policy marker cannot be applied to core multilateral ODA. Core multilateral ODA has, therefore, been omitted from the table.
2. DFID introduced the disability inclusion marker in 2018. Figures for disability-specific ODA spending in 2016 and 2017 have been estimated by retrospectively applying the marker to programmes that were running prior to 2018 and marked as being disability-specific in 2018.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many and what proportion of company registrations with Companies House were reported as fraudulent in 2022.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Companies House currently does not have a dedicated fraud allegation reporting route and does not hold data on alleged fraudulent company registrations.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the resources that will be required to implement the proposed ban on American Bully XLs; and whether her Department plans to take steps to help support (a) animal welfare charities, (b) local authorities and (c) the police when the proposed ban comes into effect.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We are working with animal welfare charities, local authority representatives and the police to identify the resources that will be required to implement the ban on American XL Bully breed type dogs. We will continue to work closely as the ban comes into effect
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will have discussions with LGBT (a) community organisations and (b) charities on steps to help prevent homophobic and transphobic hate crimes.
Answered by Sarah Dines
The Government is clear that all forms of hate crime - including homophobic, biphobic and transphobic hate crime - are completely unacceptable.
We have a robust legislative framework in place and expect the police fully to investigate these abhorrent offences and make sure those who commit them feel the full force of the law.
Whilst part of the increase in transgender hate crime may be due to a genuine rise, the biggest driver is likely to be general improvement in police recording and identification of a hate crime, along with increased victim willingness to come forward. This is positive and reflects the hard work that has gone in to ensuring that police can target their resources, understand the scale of the challenge and ensure that victims get the support they need.
Our absolute priority is to get more police into our streets, cut crime, protect the public and bring more criminals to justice. We are supporting police by providing them with the resources they need, including having recruited 20,000 additional police officers by March 2023. We also engage with relevant stakeholders when appropriate to do so.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to reinstate capital grants for police forces in England.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
From 2022/23 all forces received their core funding as resource grant. This provides maximum flexibility and options for investing in critical infrastructure and is in line with funding for local authorities as set out at the Local Government Finance Settlement.
We will consider these funding arrangements at the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential implications of levels of independent prescribing responsibilities for (a) the retention of (i) dietitians, (ii) occupational therapists, (iii) orthoptists, (iv) prosthetists and orthotists, (v) diagnostic radiographers and (vi) speech and language therapists and (b) the patients of those professions.
Answered by Will Quince
No assessment has been made. Members of these professional groups are all able to supply or administer medicines to their patients via Patient Group Directions.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with President Kagame and Foreign Minister Biruta in Rwanda on the human rights abuses committed by the M23 armed group in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK Government has a long-standing commitment to supporting prosperity, development, and stability in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). We regularly raise the conflict in eastern DRC with the governments of DRC and Rwanda, where we urge all parties to deliver on their commitments, agreed through the Nairobi and Luanda processes, including the withdrawal by armed groups including M23. We will continue to work with members of the international community to bring an end to the violence, human rights abuses and the violations of international humanitarian law documented by armed groups including M23. I met with President Kagame and Foreign Minister Biruta during my visit to Rwanda in late August, where I encouraged de-escalation and emphasised the need for a peaceful political solution.