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  • Gareth Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Gareth Thomas – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, which funding proposals developed by multilateral development banks her Department voted against in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    Multilateral development banks consider many hundreds of funding proposals each year. The UK decides on its voting position taking account of development impact and value for money. We are ready to vote against projects where they do not meet the required standards.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent progress the Government has made on providing humanitarian assistance to Yemen.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    On 27 September 2015, the Secretary of State announced an additional £20 million for humanitarian assistance to Yemen, bringing our overall contribution for 2015-16 to £75 million and making the UK the 4th largest bilateral donor to Yemen crisis.

    UK aid is providing vital medical supplies, water, food and emergency shelter, as well as supporting UN work to co-ordinate the international humanitarian response.

  • Stephen Gethins – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Stephen Gethins – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Gethins on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what her Department’s policy is on aid graduation when a country transitions from low to middle income status.

    Justine Greening

    DFID’s allocation of aid to countries is based on a range of criteria, including for example whether a country is classified as low income by the World Bank, current and future poverty levels, the opportunities available to us to reduce these levels through aid spending, and the country’s ability to finance its own development needs. Ministers regularly review which countries receive DFID funding.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what provisions her Department makes for long-term humanitarian funding for children in protracted crises (a) in Central African Republic and (b) elsewhere where aid organisations are inhibited in providing psycho-social support for children affected by armed conflict because of short-term funding cycles.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    Since 2013, the UK has committed £58 million to address the needs of Central Africans, Central African children and of CAR refugees. This funding has enabled agencies to support children who have been separated from their families, provide services for girls and boys who have suffered sexual and gender-based violence, to reduce malnutrition, and give children access to education and training. The UK monitors need in CAR and reviews regularly the strategy and level of support it provides.

    In many other conflict affected countries DFID is providing multi-year funding to help humanitarian agencies with strategic longer term plans to assist conflict affected populations, including children.

    In the Syria region for example, the UK has allocated £111 million to provide protection, psychosocial support and education for children affected by the crisis in Syria and the region. In Iraq, this includes funding to establish women and children’s centres, which provide counselling and support for women, and safe spaces for children to play and learn. In Syria, the UK is supporting children with food, shelter and health. The UK also helped launch, and mobilise international support for, the ‘No Lost Generation’ Initiative (NLGI), which aims to prevent a whole generation being lost to the Syria conflict through physical and psychological trauma and lack of access to quality education and other basic services.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what provisions her Department has made for (a) child and adolescent friendly spaces and (b) other psycho-social support for children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    The UK is the third largest donor to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which is providing basic education and protection for over 230,000 children in Gaza.

    As part of the UK’s humanitarian response to the 2014 conflict, DFID activated its £3 million Rapid Response Facility which included support to Handicap International, Plan International and International Medical Corps to provide psycho-social support, child protection and mental health support to children in Gaza.

    DFID also provided support to the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) who have cleared all UNRWA and 21 Palestinian Authority schools of unexploded ordnance allowing 250,000 students to return to school.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much of the money pledged by the UK at the donor conference for Palestinians in Cairo in October 2014 has reached beneficiaries in the Gaza Strip; and what that money has been spent on.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    In October 2014, the UK pledged £20 million in early recovery assistance at the Gaza Reconstruction Conference in Cairo. We have fully disbursed our pledge and will exceed it over the coming months, as we disburse residual funds on getting businesses back to work in Gaza.

    DFID’s support has included reconstructive surgery and rehabilitation for those injured in the conflict, clearance of unexploded ordnance, short-term employment schemes, shelter and basic services, support to the private sector, funding for the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism (GRM), and direct support and technical assistance to the Palestinian Authority.

  • Alistair Carmichael – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Alistair Carmichael – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alistair Carmichael on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect on students in Orkney and Shetland of reducing the accredited English language courses available to students in the highlands and islands of Scotland.

    James Brokenshire

    The Home Office has not reduced accredited English language courses in the highlands and islands of Scotland, including Orkney & Shetland.

    Following a procurement exercise, the Home Office has reduced the number of test centres in the UK that are able to provide Secure English Language Testing for immigration purposes, but this should not affect the availability of English language courses in Scotland or in any other part of the UK.

  • Hilary Benn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Hilary Benn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been identified for resettlement in the UK as part of the vulnerable Syrian refugee resettlement programme since 20 September 2015.

    Richard Harrington

    UNHCR identifies and proposes Syrian refugees for the VPR scheme from among the whole of the registered refugee population in the region, over 4 million people. This includes people in formal refugee camps, informal settlements and host communities. Approximately 430,000 registered refugees meet UNHCR’s vulnerability criteria.

    We will not be giving a running commentary on how many people have been identified for resettlement in the UK. Not all referrals translate into arrivals for a variety of reasons. We therefore do not consider it would be appropriate to provide this figure.

    Notwithstanding this the Home Office is committed to publishing data on arrivals through the resettlement programme in an orderly way as part of the regular quarterly Immigration Statistics, in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. The next set of figures will be in the quarterly release on 26 November 2015 and will cover the period July-September 2015. These numbers will be updated each quarter.

  • Bill Wiggin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Bill Wiggin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Wiggin on 2015-11-02.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to reduce red tape affecting estate agents subject to the Money Laundering Regulations 2007.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Government’s Anti-Money Laundering regime has a clear aim: to make the UK financial system a hostile environment for illicit finances, whilst minimising the burden on legitimate businesses and reducing the overall burden of regulation.

    With this in mind, the Government has launched a review of the impact on business of the current anti-money laundering and terrorist finance regime as part of the Cutting Red Tape Review programme. The call for evidence from all parties closes on 6th November and the Review is specifically seeking evidence on the role of supervisors in that regime, so that regulatory activity can be made as efficient as possible. The Review will examine the potential to improve compliance and efficiency, by identifying aspects of the supervisory regime that appear to businesses in the regulated sector to be unclear or unnecessarily cumbersome.

  • Bill Wiggin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Bill Wiggin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Wiggin on 2015-11-02.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 29 October 2015 to Question 12970, for what reasons estate agents that do not hold client money fall within the scope of the Money Laundering Regulations 2007.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Money Laundering Regulations 2007 sets out what regulated sectors (includes businesses such as estate agents) must do to prevent their services being used for money laundering and terrorist financing purposes. Money laundering can take many forms and in the property sector it often involves: (i) buying property using the proceeds of crime and selling it on; (ii) criminals hiding behind complex structures to disguise the true purpose of the transaction; (iii) paying an estate agent or auctioneer a significant deposit and reclaiming it later; and (iv) using purchase monies from a mortgage fraud.

    Estate agents that do not hold client money fall within the scope of the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 in accordance with the requirements of article 2 1. (3) (d) of European directive 2005/60/EC of 26 October 2005 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing.

    The Directive requires estate agents to exercise due diligence and to report suspicious transactions. Suspicious transactions, and preventing the inappropriate use of services, may arise in a variety of ways that do not involve handling funds. Estate agency businesses are well placed as they encounter both parties to the transaction at an early stage.