The Earl of Sandwich – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Earl of Sandwich on 2015-12-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what provision they, acting alongside the United Nations, and the governments of Norway and the United States of America, have made for health and education services in South Sudan in the event of the bankruptcy of the relevant government departments in that country; and what discussions they have had with the authorities in South Sudan on the use of oil revenues in this context.

Baroness Verma

The UK is playing a leading role in the humanitarian response to the current instability in South Sudan. Through the Common Humanitarian Fund, the UK is financing emergency health and education provision for internally displaced persons and returning refugees, together with UN, US and Norway. We continue to monitor the situation closely and alongside our humanitarian support, we are playing an active role in the ongoing peace negotiations.

In terms of our non-humanitarian health and education development programmes, these continue to operate in both the stable and conflict affected states of South Sudan. DFID is providing essential drugs, health worker salaries, and support for girls to complete secondary education as well as a range of other development programmes including skills training for out of school youth, and cash for public works and agricultural production.

Regular dialogue and provision of technical assistance by DFID and other partners has resulted in the South Sudan government providing operational transfers to counties and grants to primary schools and healthcare centres in their 2015/16 budget, largely financed through oil revenues. Through an IMF Trust Fund, the UK, EU and Norway are helping the government to strengthen oil sector transparency, while UK supports South Sudan Customs Department to collect non-oil revenues.