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 consult children on ways to address barriers to education.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The FCDO is committed to addressing barriers to education. A key part of this is engaging with children, particularly girls, on the issues that affect them. In May 2023, officials met with adolescent girls to hear about the barriers to education they are facing, including early and forced marriage, gender-based violence, poverty and conflict. Girls' Clubs, implemented through the UK's Girls' Education Challenge projects, consult students on the barriers they face to education and how best to overcome them. Club members in the Adolescent Girls' Education in Somalia project, were 12.5% more likely to remain in school, compared to their peers.
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 help ensure that the psychosocial needs of children in (a) fragile, (b) conflict-affected and (c) humanitarian contexts are met appropriately.
Answered by Leo Docherty
As part of our role on the UN Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC), we call for access to non-discriminatory and comprehensive specialised services, including psychosocial support for children affected by conflict.
The FCDO has recently funded a project to provide protection services for children in Yemen; over 1300 children accessed high quality and safe psychosocial support.
Our UNICEF funding supports children in humanitarian situations who experience or are at risk of sexual violence including projects like the Blue Dot Shelters, which provide a safe space for families and children on the move in emergencies.
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 special envoy on ending violence against children to help champion that issue and sustain high-level attention.
Answered by Leo Docherty
The FCDO is committed to protecting vulnerable children and helping them to grow up free from violence. Ending violence is a core strand of our International Women and Girls Strategy. Alicia Herbert OBE is the UK's Special Envoy for Gender Equality and her role includes championing an end to violence against women and children. Helen Grant OBE MP is the Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Girls Education and her advocacy includes tackling violence as a barrier to education. We also continue to make leading contributions to the global evidence base through our What Works to Prevent Violence programme, including interventions to prevent violence against children.
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, whether he plans to attend the Council of Europe summit in Iceland in May 2023.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK looks forward to the upcoming Council of Europe Heads of State Summit in May this year. The Summit is an opportunity to re-affirm the importance the UK places in its work with European Partners, fortifying the Council of Europe to play a stronger role in Europe when strengthening and securing democracy. The UK attaches great importance to this Summit and the Prime Minister's Office is closely considering the invitation.
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 he is taking to support the mission of the Council of Europe to promote human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK is committed to continuing to work with the Council of Europe to promote our shared values of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. We take a proactive role within Council of Europe forums to contribute to the development of standards to further protect human rights and the rule of law across Europe, including in emerging areas such as hate crime and AI. As the Prime Minister confirmed in a debate on Northern Ireland Protocol (27 February 2023), "the UK is and will remain a member of the ECHR".
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, how much funding his Department provided for sexual and reproductive health and rights through (a) bilateral and (b) multilateral aid in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
Based on the "Statistics on International Development: final UK aid spend 2021", and the Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) spend methodology laid out in the "Donor Delivering for SRHR" 2022 report:
a/ The total amount of UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) SRHR funding disbursed by bilateral aid was:
i/ £372 million in 2020,
ii/ £242 million in 2021
iii/ UK ODA figures beyond December 2021 are not yet available, estimates for 2022 spending will be available in autumn 2023.
b/ The total amount of UK ODA SRHR funding disbursed by core multilateral aid was:
i/ £185 million in 2020. Please note we previously provided a lower figure of £142 million; 2019 SRHR attribution coefficients were applied erroneously to 2020 spend figures. This has now been corrected.
ii/ SRHR attribution coefficient for multilateral aid beyond 2020 are not available yet, they will be published in the next "Donor Delivering for SRHR" 2023 report.
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 assessment he has made of reports of an alleged chemical attack on Iranian schoolgirls on 5 March 2023; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Rutley
We are aware of reports of mass poisonings of school girls across Iran since November and continue to monitor developments closely. On 3 March, the Minister for the Middle East, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon urged the Iranian authorities to investigate these incidents urgently and with transparency. The Minister underlined that it is essential that all girls can exercise their human right to education without fear.
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 his Department has had with the Bangladesh government on violence against Ahmadiyya Muslims; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Preventing religious violence and upholding Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) in Bangladesh remains a UK priority. During the UK-hosted Freedom of Religious Belief Conference in July, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon raised the importance of FoRB with the Bangladesh Minister for Religious Affairs. Our support in Bangladesh aims to ensure that the rights of religious minorities, including the Ahmadiyya community, are respected and that these communities are protected from discrimination. We regularly engage with a wide range of civil society and NGO partners to understand the causes and effects of inter-religious conflict. The UK will continue to support FoRB through regular dialogue with the Government of Bangladesh and our development programme funding.
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, whether he has made an estimate of the proportion of humanitarian aid supplied by the UK that is distributed directly by local actors in the recipient regions.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
UK humanitarian aid is distributed through a range of delivery partners, including directly via local organisations; or through international organisations who themselves work through local actors. The exact proportion of local versus international partners shifts regularly according to need and context. We do not hold precise figures centrally. However, the UK strongly supports the role of national and local organisations in meeting humanitarian needs and building resilience. Strengthening local actors is an important part of the UK approach including through our contributions to Country-based Pooled Funds (CBPFs), to which the UK was the second largest donor in 2022; the START Network, an NGO-Managed rapid financing mechanism for humanitarian response which the UK helped establish in 2014 and remains a major donor to; and our support for the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) which is the worlds largest humanitarian network.
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, how much funding his Department provided to the UNFPA Supplies Partnership in each year since 2013.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
Our funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Supplies is as follows:
Calendar Year | Total Funding |
2013 | £0 |
2014 | £66,300,000 |
2015 | £48,500,000 |
2016 | £48,500,000 |
2017 | £48,500,000 |
2018 | £63,387,860 |
2019 | £117,537,454 |
2020 | £4,639,835 |
2021 | £26,645,907 |
2022 | £60,000,000 |
Sources:
2022 - DevTracker Programme GB-GOV-1-300713 Transactions (fcdo.gov.uk)
2021 to 2017 - Statistics on International Development: final UK aid spend 2021
2016 to 2013 Statistics on International Development: final UK aid spend 2017