Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2017 to Question 63588, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of providing support to the Middle East Desalination Research Centre in Oman.
Answered by Rory Stewart
DFID has not specifically assessed the value of providing support to the Middle East Desalination Research Centre. Desalination is not a focus area for DFID’s water, health and sanitation portfolio and given the scale of private sector investment in this area, we do not have a strong comparative advantage that would support our involvement.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support and cooperation her Department is providing to the Middle East Desalination Research Centre in Oman.
Answered by Rory Stewart
DFID does not provide any support to the Middle East Desalination Research Centre in Oman.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the provision of cranes in Yemen's ports for the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The UN logistics cluster has publically available information on Yemen’s wider port capacity.
The largest cranes in the port of Hodeidah, Yemen’s largest port, have been severely damaged by the conflict in Yemen which is restricting humanitarian and commercial access. The World Food Programme is procuring mobile cranes for Hodeidah port to improve capacity and we expect these to arrive imminently. Furthermore, ships chartered by humanitarian actors tend to have on-board cranes meaning some cargo can be unloaded onto the port.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support she plans to offer to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to help it hold the presidential elections in that country planned for 2017.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
The UK currently provides support to increase the democratic representation of women and youth, protect human rights defenders and broaden electoral observation activities.
Last year, we announced that additional funding would be made available to update the national electoral roll, if all parties were prepared to hold free, fair and timely elections. That offer remains on the table, and the recent political accord signed in the DRC is a marker of growing commitment to hold elections.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support her Department is providing to the African Union to assist it in its work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
DFID’s funding to the African Union (AU) includes support for election monitoring, strengthening governance and building the AU’s capacity for early warning in countries at risk of instability, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Through the cross-government Conflict, Security and Stabilisation Fund, the UK supports wider AU work on prevention, management and resolution of conflict including AU mediation efforts in DRC via its Liaison Office in Kinshasa. This is fundamental to promoting poverty reduction as well as strengthening the UK’s national security.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support her Department is providing to civil society in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
DFID DRC provides civil society organisations with practical and technical support to educate some 5.8 million citizens on their civic rights and responsibilities, to eliminate illegal school fees, to empower young women and, indirectly, in health, water and sanitation.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what reports she has recently received of child malnutrition and starvation in Yemen.
Answered by Rory Stewart
According to the recently published UN Humanitarian Needs Overview for Yemen, almost half a million children under 5 suffer from severe acute malnutrition, and 2.8 million children and pregnant or lactating women are affected by moderate acute malnutrition.
In 2016/17, the UK is providing £19 million to UNICEF to treat children with severe acute malnutrition and support mobile health clinics. Last year, we helped treat over 150,000 children under 5 for severe acute malnutrition.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether the Government plans to undertake additional environmental impact assessments ahead of any further construction works required at St Helena airport.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
The main construction phase of the St Helena Airport is now complete. There are no plans currently for further construction works. Should that situation change, we would expect the environmental impact of any future works to be fully considered.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of the use of aid bridges to deliver aid to civilians in Syria.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
We continue to look at all options, compliant with international law, to alleviate the suffering of millions of Syrians. A pre-requisite for successful aid bridges is consent from all parties controlling the air space. The Assad regime and Russia have systematically denied humanitarian access to besieged populations by land and have refused consent for air bridges of supplies to opposition-held besieged areas.
Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment her Department has made of the humanitarian assistance required in Aleppo.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
The UN estimates that 10,000 to 15,000 people are awaiting evacuation from besieged East Aleppo, where food and medical supplies are exhausted; shelter is scarce, and access to water is severely restricted. Our priority for these people is safe evacuation in full compliance with international humanitarian law, so that our humanitarian partners along the evacuation route may deliver the life-saving aid these people urgently need.