Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, , with reference to the World Health Organisation's 2023 Global Tuberculosis report, what steps the Government is taking to help reduce the cost of treatment for people with tuberculosis globally.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK is committed to ending the Tuberculosis (TB) epidemic. Through our £1 billion funding to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria's seventh replenishment, the UK will help to provide treatment and care for more than one million people with tuberculosis. In addition we also fund catalytic interventions through Unitaid, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) and MedAccess to bring down the prices of new TB products and tackle barriers to widespread access. We also provide funding to TB Reach to support innovative projects towards finding missing Tuberculosis cases.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 24 April 2023 to Question 181199 on Development Aid: Genito-urinary Medicine, if he will publish updated data on (a) bilateral aid in 2022 and (b) multilateral aid in 2021 for sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
Based on FCDO "Statistics on International Development: final UK aid spend 2022", and the Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) spend methodology laid out in the Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung (DSW) led "Donor Delivering for SRHR" 2023 report:
a/ The total amount of UK ODA Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) funding disbursed by bilateral aid was £297 million in 2022.
b/ The total amount of UK ODA SRHR funding disbursed by core multilateral aid was £279 million in 2021.
Please note the answer given to question 181199 was based on the methodology laid out in the "Donor Delivering for SRHR" 2022 report. The SRHR attribution coefficients have been revised in the 2023 methodology following DSW extensive consultation with relevant experts and stakeholders. Thus, the estimates provided above are not comparable.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will take steps to increase the share of funding allocated to the Global Fund to treat tuberculosis.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK's £1 billion pledge to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria's seventh replenishment will help the Global Fund and its partners provide TB treatment and care for 1.1 million people. The Global Fund allocates funding to countries according to need. The decision on how much of that funding each country allocates to TB rests with the countries themselves.
The UK is working closely with others, including G7 partners, to ensure that the political declaration for the UN High Level Meeting on the fight against tuberculosis includes tangible and ambitious commitments, with quantitative targets and mechanisms for accountability.
We strongly support meaningful civil society participation at the UN General Assembly High Level Week. In preparation for the UN High-level meetings, I attended a roundtable with All Party Parliamentary Groups and civil society to share perspectives and inform the UK's position in the negotiations on the political declarations. The UN has official avenues for civil society participation in the High-level meetings.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to to support the (a) engagement and (b) attendance of civil society groups at the UN High-level Meeting on the fight against tuberculosis on 22 September 2023.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK's £1 billion pledge to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria's seventh replenishment will help the Global Fund and its partners provide TB treatment and care for 1.1 million people. The Global Fund allocates funding to countries according to need. The decision on how much of that funding each country allocates to TB rests with the countries themselves.
The UK is working closely with others, including G7 partners, to ensure that the political declaration for the UN High Level Meeting on the fight against tuberculosis includes tangible and ambitious commitments, with quantitative targets and mechanisms for accountability.
We strongly support meaningful civil society participation at the UN General Assembly High Level Week. In preparation for the UN High-level meetings, I attended a roundtable with All Party Parliamentary Groups and civil society to share perspectives and inform the UK's position in the negotiations on the political declarations. The UN has official avenues for civil society participation in the High-level meetings.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
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 his G7 counterparts on the content of the political declaration for the UN High-level Meeting on the fight against tuberculosis on 22 September 2023.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK's £1 billion pledge to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria's seventh replenishment will help the Global Fund and its partners provide TB treatment and care for 1.1 million people. The Global Fund allocates funding to countries according to need. The decision on how much of that funding each country allocates to TB rests with the countries themselves.
The UK is working closely with others, including G7 partners, to ensure that the political declaration for the UN High Level Meeting on the fight against tuberculosis includes tangible and ambitious commitments, with quantitative targets and mechanisms for accountability.
We strongly support meaningful civil society participation at the UN General Assembly High Level Week. In preparation for the UN High-level meetings, I attended a roundtable with All Party Parliamentary Groups and civil society to share perspectives and inform the UK's position in the negotiations on the political declarations. The UN has official avenues for civil society participation in the High-level meetings.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has held with his Ukrainian counterpart on attracting private investment into Ukraine to provide support for (a) development and (b) the military.
Answered by Leo Docherty
The Foreign Secretary is committed to attracting business investment and mobilising private sector potential to help Ukraine to win the peace and build back a modern, open, green, and resilient country. The Foreign Secretary chaired numerous panels at the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC) in London, which included the Prime Minister of Ukraine, First Deputy President of Ukraine, and Director of Anti-Corruption Bureau. These panels focused on the private sector's role in reconstruction and need for continued progress on reforms as essential for attracting private investment. The Foreign Secretary announced up to £240 million of UK bilateral assistance at the URC for 2023/24 demonstrating our ongoing commitment to Ukraine's recovery and reconstruction.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support the telecommunications sector in Ukraine.
Answered by Leo Docherty
The FCDO is providing short and long-term support to help Ukraine defend itself, secure its free and democratic future, and deter future Russian aggression. Sustaining telecommunication connectivity, especially through space capabilities, is critical to delivering a coordinated response and supporting humanitarian efforts. The UK has supported and will continue to support Ukraine to maintain and rebuild their telecommunications network. The Ukraine Recovery Conference mobilised partners across the international community and the private sector in support of Ukraine, and Ukrainian telecommunication companies attended.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what information his Department holds on the (a) location and (b) status of Matiullah Wesa; and what steps his Department is taking to support Sustainable Development Goal 4 in Afghanistan.
Answered by Leo Docherty
The UK Government has repeatedly condemned the Taliban's decisions to restrict women and girls' education. We continue to support the delivery of education and Sustainable Development Goal 4 in Afghanistan through our bilateral and multilateral contributions and we are committed to upholding the rights of women and girls. We support the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan's call for the Taliban to clarify the reasons for Matiullah Wesa's arrest, and to ensure he has access to legal representation and contact with his family.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make it his policy to (a) scale up the £11.6 billion of climate finance pledged over five years to developing countries and (b) include funding modalities that are accessible to local civil society actors.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The UK is delivering on our commitment to spend £11.6 billion International Climate Finance (ICF) between financial year 2021/2022 and financial year 2025/2026, including £3 billion on development solutions that protect and restore nature. We are fully committed to ensuring that finance flows to the local level and are working on systems to increase local actors' role in development decision making. In addition, we have committed £100 million to delivering the aims and objectives of the Taskforce on Access to Climate Finance which includes bringing together bilateral and multilateral providers, climate funds and recipient countries to ensure that climate finance reaches where it's most urgently needed and supports the most vulnerable populations.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of creating a children and youth advisory council within his Department to help ensure that children and young people are consulted within crisis response and long-term development work.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK Government is committed to the promotion, protection and realisation of children's rights in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). We see meaningfully engaging with children and young people as a core part of this. For example, in 2022, my predecessor, Rt Hon Vicky Ford MP convened a roundtable with young people from conflict-affected countries to hear directly from their experience of crisis response. In May 2023, senior officials met with seven adolescent girls from around the world to discuss a range of key challenges in their contexts and their perspectives on best practice for consulting children.