Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the eligibility of Anguilla to receive aid and assistance following recent hurricane damage.

The UK has argued for flexibility in the Official Development Assistance (ODA) rules for how donors respond to catastrophic humanitarian crises, such as the recent hurricanes in the Caribbean, and recognition of the vulnerabilities of Small Island Developing States. As a result, in October 2017 the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) agreed on the need to create a new mechanism to re-admit countries that had graduated from ODA eligibility back to the list of ODA-eligible countries if their Gross National Income per capita falls below the High Income Country threshold. In addition, members of the DAC have agreed to establish a process which could allow previous ODA recipients to receive short-term ODA support in the event of catastrophic humanitarian crises. Anguilla was an ODA recipient until 2014 and is assessed by the World Bank to be a High Income Country.

The destructive force of hurricane Irma was unprecedented, leaving Anguilla damaged extensively. As part of our response the UK has delivered more than 220 tonnes of aid to the island. To support the reconstruction effort the UK has launched a Private Sector Task Force, headed by William Bullard, to identify private sector support and investment, and provide a public-private forum for engagement on building back better in Anguilla as well as other Caribbean Overseas Territories.