Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what his Department’s 10 largest bilateral Official Development Assistance programmes (a) were in financial year 2020-21 and (b) will be in financial year 2021-22.
Answered by Nigel Adams
(a) Please refer to annex B in the latest DFID annual report (DFID Annual Report and Accounts 2019 to 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) which shows the indicative budget allocation of bilateral spend by organisational unit. Final outturn for financial year will 2020-21 will be published in our annual report later this year.
(b) The Foreign Secretary has set out seven core priorities for the UK's aid budget in the overarching pursuit of poverty reduction: climate and biodiversity; Covid and global health security; girls' education; science and research; defending open societies and resolving conflict; humanitarian assistance; and promoting trade and economic growth. We are working through our internal business planning process which will allocate the ODA budget across these priorities and geographies. No decisions have yet been made on individual country or sectoral budget allocations for 2020/21.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much his Department has committed to spend on (a) the Commonwealth Development Corporation, (b) the Global Fund, (c) European Union international development spending, (d) the GAVI Alliance, (e) Official Development Assistance (ODA)-eligible in-country refugee costs, (f) ODA-eligible climate changed related work, in 2021-22.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The Foreign Secretary has set out seven core priorities for the UK's aid budget in the overarching pursuit of poverty reduction: climate and biodiversity; COVID-19 and global health security; girls' education; science and research; defending open societies and resolving conflict; humanitarian assistance; and promoting trade and economic growth. We are working through our internal business planning process which will allocate the ODA budget across these priorities and geographies.
No decisions have yet been made on budget allocations for 2021/22.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of the capacity of natural systems in (a) the UK and (b) globally to deliver the objectives of the Paris Agreement through permanently absorbing CO2 emissions while (i) enhancing biodiversity and (ii) respecting land rights.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Land use is a devolved matter and the information on nature, land and biodiversity policy relates to England only. Trade and overseas aid are not devolved.
The UK Government’s environmental strategy is defined in a set of goals within the 25 Year Environment Plan (YEP). Mitigating and adapting to climate change are one of the ten goals in the 25 YEP, and are embedded into other goals, such as thriving plants and wildlife. The Government also committed to climate change mitigation and adaptation through its 2050 Net Zero Target, Clean Growth strategy, and the National Adaptation Programme within the UK Climate Change Act.
The Convention on Biological Diversity COP15 and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change COP26 provide excellent opportunities to drive ambition on taking an integrated approach to tackling the interlinked crises of biodiversity loss and climate change. This will be hugely important if we are to deliver the step-change needed to tackle these global issues. By making ‘nature’ a key focus of COP26 in Glasgow, we hope to demonstrate that Nature Based Solutions (NBS) can deliver multiple benefits for climate, biodiversity, and people, and can therefore play a critical role in tackling these interrelated crises in an integrated way.
The UK is also a member of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)
Domestic NBS
NBS can also play a role domestically in achieving our carbon reduction targets and in helping us adapt to climate change. Our assessment is that on land: restoring degraded peatlands; appropriately implementing multi-purpose woodlands and protecting them; and restoring or recreating wetland and coastal habitats will offer the greatest benefits for tackling climate change, whilst also benefitting biodiversity and livelihoods. More information can be found in the report titled ‘Implementation of an Emissions Inventory for UK Peatlands’ (2017) and in the package of measures to protect England's landscapes and nature-based solutions the Government will be setting out this year.
The Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) projections for the UK and England (UK National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory) provide estimates of LULUCF greenhouse gas (GHG) removals to 2050 from existing policy and alternative, stretching scenarios. The assumptions underlying the scenarios were developed by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) with input from the Forestry Commission, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Devolved Administrations (DAs) and LULUCF experts. The scenarios are designed to explore the magnitude of the changes in net emissions that could potentially be produced by LULUCF activities in the future, taking into account current land use policies and/or aspirations.
In December, the Government issued a call for evidence to strengthen the evidence base on the role of greenhouse gas removal (GGR) methods, including NBS, in meeting net zero. This call for evidence closes on 26 February 2021.
.
NBS globally
NBS offer a mechanism by which biodiversity loss, climate change and poverty can be addressed in a sustainable way and are therefore central to the delivery of the global Sustainable Development Goals.
The UK recognises the crucial role of NBS for climate mitigation and adaptation. They have the potential to cost-effectively deliver up to one third of global climate mitigation required by 2030 to meet the Paris Agreement’s goals, while also providing adaptation benefits and delivering wins for biodiversity and sustainable development.
The UK is already contributing to NBS internationally through its Official Development Assistance, including through its International Climate Finance. The Prime Minister committed in 2019 to double the UK’s public ICF to at least £11.6 billion between 2021 and 2025 to help developing countries tackle climate change.
The UK committed to spending at least £3bn of our International Climate Finance on climate change solutions that protect and restore nature and biodiversity over the next five years.
The Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Regulation establishes a licensing scheme to improve the supply of legal timber. The regulation is underpinned by Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs), which are bilateral trade agreements between the UK and a timber-exporting country. The benefits of a VPA can include reduced corruption, strengthened forest sector governance, support for forest-dependent people’s livelihoods, avoided deforestation and associated greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss, and avoided loss of Government revenues through illegal activity. Whilst VPAs are voluntary for timber-exporting countries, a VPA is legally binding on both sides once it has entered into force.
Permanence
Due to the reversibility of carbon stored within growing and harvested biomass, Defra notes that NBS for climate mitigation purposes are not a replacement for reducing carbon emissions at source and that both carbon emissions reductions and nature-based solutions for climate change should be pursued. This is because carbon in natural systems can be released either purposefully or through unplanned disturbances such as fire, flooding and disease. As such, Defra is particularly interested in developing policies which look to protect existing carbon stocks and prevent reversal of stored carbon.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the Official Development Assistance budgets for 2021 will be for (a) climate and biodiversity, (b) covid and global health security, (c) girls’ education, (d) science and research, (e) defending open societies and resolving conflict, (f) humanitarian assistance and g) promoting trade.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The Foreign Secretary set out to the House of Commons on 26 November how a new strategic approach will allow us to drive greater impact from our £10 billion of ODA spending next year, notwithstanding the difficult financial pressures faced.
Budgets will be allocated based on this strategy as well as considerations of need including levels of poverty, ability of countries to fund themselves and to ensure that every pound we spend on ODA goes as far as possible and has greatest impact the UK could help achieve. Internal planning is underway to deliver these objectives.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of cross-departmental collaboration on the obesity strategy.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Government departments work very closely on reducing obesity and share responsibility for delivering the measures set out in ‘Tackling obesity: empowering adults and children to live healthier lives’.
Areas of collaboration include the Department working with:
- HM Treasury on fiscal measures including the soft drink industry levy;
- the Department for Education on early years, school food and sports in schools;
- the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on advertising restrictions, the Nutrient Profiling Model, and broader sport and physical activity policy;
- the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government on planning;
- the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on food labelling including the marketing and labelling of infant foods, the National Food Strategy and the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services;
- the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on regulatory measures impacting businesses;
- the Department for Transport on promoting active travel and the living streets project;
- the Department for Work and Pensions on food poverty; and
- the Department for International Trade on front-of-pack nutrition labelling.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 15 September to Question 82393, which (a) Ministers and (b) officials his Department is engaging with on the implementation of the Government's obesity reduction strategy, and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Ministers and officials across Government work very closely on reducing obesity and implementing the measures set out in ‘Tackling obesity: empowering adults and children to live healthier lives’. Areas of collaboration include the Department working with:
- HM Treasury on fiscal measures including the soft drink industry levy;
- the Department for Education on early years, school food and sports in schools;
- the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on advertising restrictions, the Nutrient Profiling Model, and broader sport and physical activity policy;
- the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government on planning;
- the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on food labelling including the marketing and labelling of infant foods, the National Food Strategy and the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services;
- the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on regulatory measures impacting businesses;
- the Department for Transport on promoting active travel and the living streets project;
- the Department for Work and Pensions on food poverty; and
- the Department for International Trade on front-of-pack nutrition labelling.
We will continue to consider the views of a wide range of stakeholders and experts as we implement the obesity strategy and will continue to listen going forwards.
Asked by: Lord Judd (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures are in place to ensure that Parliament and relevant sectors of civil society, including the charitable sector, are able to scrutinise all current and future trade negotiations with the United States, with particular reference to their direct or indirect implications for (1) economies, (2) trade, and (3) vulnerable people, in the least developed countries.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
This Government is committed to transparency and will ensure that parliamentarians, UK citizens, businesses and charities have access to the information they need on our trade negotiations. For the UK-USA Free Trade Agreement, the Government has set out its negotiating objectives, alongside a response to the public consultation as well as an initial economic assessment.
We engage with businesses, civil society, academics and consumer groups through the Strategic Advisory Group (STAG) and Expert Trade Advisory Groups (ETAGs), as well as through regular conversations outside of these formal channels.
The UK also remains committed to ensuring developing countries can reduce poverty through trading opportunities.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the October 2019 report of The Independent Commission for Aid Impact on mutual prosperity, what steps he is taking to ensure that Official Development Assistance spending across all Departments (a) remains focused on (i) poverty alleviation, (ii) developing and least developed countries and (iii) and leaving no one behind and (b) is fully transparent and accountable.
Answered by James Duddridge
The UK is a global champion for aid spending and humanitarian relief. As the Independent Commission for Aid Impact report highlights, this Government is building mutually beneficial partnerships that go wider than aid, towards the trade and business relationships that can deliver quality investment, drive growth and create the jobs that developing countries need to lift millions out of poverty. The aim is to build self-sustaining economies that can generate their own financing through increased tax revenue and private investment.
This approach to international development is a key example of how the government is bringing together all our capabilities to end extreme poverty. To support this, DFID is working with other government departments to ensure all Official Development Assistance meets the requirements of the International Development Act and the Government’s transparency commitment.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, with reference to the Prosperity Fund's Global Trade Programme, what steps he is taking to ensure that aid funding allocated under this programme reaches the poorest people in the countries involved.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
No country can defeat poverty without sustained economic growth. Middle income countries are home to around two thirds of the world's poor, and therefore need to not only generate new investment, growth and jobs, but also need to ensure that economic growth resulting from trade is inclusive and genuinely helps to reduce poverty, support gender equality and women's economic empowerment. It is in the UK's interest to support middle income countries to tackle these challenges.
Through the Prosperity Fund Global Trade Programme we are providing technical assistance to facilitate free trade and open markets for Official Development Assistance eligible middle income countries, in turn enabling greater investment with global value chains to create jobs and prosperity and lift the poorest sectors of society out of poverty.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the UK leaving the EU on potential opportunities to help grow the economies of developing countries through free trade.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Trade is a key driver of economic growth that can trigger positive changes in a country’s economy, helping to raise incomes, create jobs and lift people out of poverty.
Our first priority is to deliver continuity in our trading arrangements with developing countries in order to minimise trade disruption as we leave the EU. Once we leave the EU, the UK will be able to offer a fully integrated trade and development package, which will encompass preferential market access for developing country partners alongside our aid spending that helps developing countries to take advantage of trading opportunities.