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Written Question
Medicine: Research
Monday 13th July 2020

Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans her Department has to develop guidelines on how to ensure a public return on public investment on biomedical Research & Development investments in advance of the merger of her Department with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Answered by James Duddridge

DFID routes ODA funding for research into the development of drugs, vaccines and other medical tools, through Product Development Partnerships and other not-for-profit organisations. Product Development Partnerships are not for profit organisations that are jointly created and funded by international institutions, national governments, private foundations and industry. These act as platforms to bring together the best scientific expertise alongside resources, to prevent and address diseases that affect low and middle-income countries. Whereas industrial Research and Development is mostly driven by profit - Product Development Partnerships are primarily driven by patient needs and de-link the cost of a new product from the cost of its development. These third-party organisations have the expertise to ensure that, once developed, products are affordable and accessible to provide low and middle-income countries with the tools they need to tackle diseases in their country, maximising the public return on our health Research and Development investments. No additional guidelines are considered necessary.

Merging the Departments will bring together the best of what we do in aid and diplomacy and ensure that all of our national efforts including our aid budget and expertise are used to make the UK a force for good in the world. The work of UK Aid to reduce poverty will remain central to the new department’s mission.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Food
Thursday 9th July 2020

Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether it remains the Government's policy to maintain the UK's funding for the replenishment of the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program in 2020.

Answered by James Duddridge

The UK plays a leading role in the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP). We keep all our aid spending under constant review. Because of the likely drop in Gross National Income we are assessing across the board how we will manage the resulting fall in ODA in the coming year.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Coronavirus
Thursday 9th July 2020

Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, what steps she is taking to help prevent a (a) health and (b) global food security crisis in developing countries as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.

Answered by James Duddridge

The UK contributes financially and plays a leading role in the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), It addresses the key dimensions of agriculture and food security in the poorest and most vulnerable countries and has already adapted all its active programmes to respond to COVID-19. GAFSP is improving the food and nutrition security of 13.4 million smallholder farmers and their families. By doing so, it is helping build resilience and prepare the ground for a sustainable recovery from the negative health and food security impacts of the pandemic.


Written Question
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Nutrition
Monday 6th July 2020

Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she has had with the Foreign Secretary on the maintenance of existing levels of support for nutrition programmes after the merger of her Department with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Answered by Wendy Morton

The UK remains committed to preventing and treating malnutrition as part of our commitment to end the preventable deaths of mothers, new-borns and children. Addressing poor nutrition is also critical in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Decisions on how UK aid is spent will be for the new department to make, informed by the outcomes of the Integrated Review, expected to conclude later in the year. The Review will define our ambition for the UK’s role in the world, including delivery of the manifesto commitments.


Written Question
Nutrition: Finance
Monday 6th July 2020

Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, for what reason the funding allocated to nutrition-specific investments in 2018 was 20 per cent lower than in 2017.

Answered by Wendy Morton

The reduction in nutrition-specific spend between 2017 and 2018 is the result of several standalone nutrition programmes coming to an end, with nutrition activities integrated into broader health investments.

Donor investments in nutrition-specific activities are currently tracked through the OECD DAC Creditor Reporting System using a single code: ‘basic nutrition’. Only programmes that are solely focused on nutrition appear in the Creditor Reporting System under the basic nutrition code. Over the past few years, we have actively promoted integration of nutrition services into health investments. However, this has meant that spend on nutrition-specific activities is reported against other health codes rather than basic nutrition.

Independent analysis of donor nutrition financing noted that – relative to other donors – DFID disburses a greater proportion of nutrition-specific aid through health codes other than basic nutrition. This was ascribed to us having a greater emphasis on addressing nutrition through integrated health programmes.

We remain committed to supporting the scale up of high-impact nutrition-specific services – including through our investments in the Power of Nutrition and through a new partnership with UNICEF.

We will also be applying the new OECD DAC policy marker for nutrition from 2020 onwards. This should help strengthen monitoring of the UK’s investments to prevent and treat malnutrition.


Written Question
Children: Nutrition
Monday 6th July 2020

Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effect of the covid-19 pandemic on progress in tackling child (a) wasting and (b) stunting.

Answered by Wendy Morton

We are deeply concerned about the indirect impacts COVID-19 could have on people’s nutrition, the implications for loss of life and for long term deficits to children’s growth and development. Early estimates suggested that every percentage point drop in global GDP could result in an additional 0.7 million stunted children.

Since the early stages of the pandemic, we have been closely engaged in detailed modelling being carried out by academic and operational partners. This modelling assesses the likely increases in child wasting and stunting as a result of disruptions to health and nutrition services and to people’s ability to access nutritious foods. These estimates are due to be published in the Lancet journal shortly and will represent an evidence-based and collective view from global experts of the impact the pandemic will have on nutrition.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Nutrition
Monday 6th July 2020

Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government plans to take to end preventable deaths of mothers, newborns and children under five through investments in global nutrition.

Answered by Wendy Morton

The UK remains committed to preventing and treating malnutrition as part of our pledge to end the preventable deaths of mothers, newborns and children. Continued investment to protect the nutrition of the poorest people in the world is even more important as countries face worsening levels of malnutrition in the face of COVID-19. We will continue to support programmes to address malnutrition beyond 2020 and will work with the Government of Japan to ensure the 2021 Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit is a success.


Written Question
Overseas Aid: Genito-urinary Medicine
Wednesday 17th June 2020

Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of the covid-19 outbreak on levels of Official Development Assistance; and if she will maintain a existing levels of support for sexual and reproductive health and rights and family planning services in (a) 2020 and (b) future budgets.

Answered by Wendy Morton

Our aid spending is linked to the growth of our economy.

We are working closely with the Treasury to understand the likely forecasts and to ensure that we can meet our 0.7% commitment.

The UK is committed to advancing and defending comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights and, as a leading global donor, we will continue to be a progressive voice on this issue to give women in developing countries the reproductive health choices they want and need.

We are working across Departments to ensure that we continue to drive UK aid spending and commit our Official Development Assistance to the world’s most vulnerable and poorest people.


Written Question
Remittances: Africa
Monday 8th June 2020

Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she has had with UK banks on encouraging support for remittance companies operating in Africa to help tackle humanitarian disasters in (a) Somalia and (b) other African countries.

Answered by James Duddridge

The Government recognises the vital role remittances play in supporting the incomes of millions of people around the world – including in Africa, where remittances can represent a significant proportion of GDP. In Somalia remittances represented more than one quarter of its GDP in 2019, and on average made up a third of total income for households that received them.

We are deeply concerned about the impact of COVID-19 in Somalia and other African countries, where millions of people already face food insecurity caused by humanitarian disasters and conflict. This situation will be compounded by a reduction in remittances. Recent projections by the World Bank’s indicate that remittances to sub-Saharan Africa will fall by around 23% – USD 11 billion – in 2020.

We are therefore working closely with our international partners to monitor and mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on remittance flows. The UK-Somalia Safer Corridor Initiative brought together stakeholders including banks, remittance service providers, regulators and community representatives to tackle barriers in the UK-Somalia remittance corridor. The Government continues to engage regularly with these stakeholders to address the impact of COVID-19 on remittance flows.

The Government understands that UK banks play an important role in maintaining the flow of remittances from the UK to Africa. The Government and the UK’s regulatory authorities have regular engagement with the banking sector in the UK on a wide range of issues, including on the provision of banking services to remittance service providers. The decision to offer banking services is ultimately a commercial decision for banks, which are required by legislation to make these decisions in a proportionate and non-discriminatory way.

On Friday 22 May, the UK and Swiss Governments, with the support of the World Bank and other partners, launched a global Call to Action on remittances. This called on policymakers, regulators and remittance service providers to take action to keep remittances flowing during the crisis

The Government has already taken steps to support remittance service providers in the UK, including by enabling them to remain open through lockdown by including them on the list of essential businesses.


Written Question
Remittances: Africa
Monday 8th June 2020

Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will take steps to encourage UK banks to provide further support to remittance companies working to provide humanitarian support from the UK to Africa.

Answered by James Duddridge

The Government recognises the vital role remittances play in supporting the incomes of millions of people around the world – including in Africa, where remittances can represent a significant proportion of GDP. In Somalia remittances represented more than one quarter of its GDP in 2019, and on average made up a third of total income for households that received them.

We are deeply concerned about the impact of COVID-19 in Somalia and other African countries, where millions of people already face food insecurity caused by humanitarian disasters and conflict. This situation will be compounded by a reduction in remittances. Recent projections by the World Bank’s indicate that remittances to sub-Saharan Africa will fall by around 23% – USD 11 billion – in 2020.

We are therefore working closely with our international partners to monitor and mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on remittance flows. The UK-Somalia Safer Corridor Initiative brought together stakeholders including banks, remittance service providers, regulators and community representatives to tackle barriers in the UK-Somalia remittance corridor. The Government continues to engage regularly with these stakeholders to address the impact of COVID-19 on remittance flows.

The Government understands that UK banks play an important role in maintaining the flow of remittances from the UK to Africa. The Government and the UK’s regulatory authorities have regular engagement with the banking sector in the UK on a wide range of issues, including on the provision of banking services to remittance service providers. The decision to offer banking services is ultimately a commercial decision for banks, which are required by legislation to make these decisions in a proportionate and non-discriminatory way.

On Friday 22 May, the UK and Swiss Governments, with the support of the World Bank and other partners, launched a global Call to Action on remittances. This called on policymakers, regulators and remittance service providers to take action to keep remittances flowing during the crisis

The Government has already taken steps to support remittance service providers in the UK, including by enabling them to remain open through lockdown by including them on the list of essential businesses.