The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-03-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans she has made to ensure that the safeguards on private sector instruments in the 19 February 2016 communiqué of the OECD Development Assistance Committees are implemented in the UK.
Justine Greening
The UK will comply with the agreement reached at the 2016 High Level Meeting (18-19 February 2016) in line with the timetable agreed by the OECD.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-03-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will make an assessment of the financial and humanitarian effect on Turkey of keeping its border with Syria open to refugees while restricting their access to the EU.
Justine Greening
The UK recognises Turkey’s extraordinary generosity in ably hosting so many refugees from Syria and elsewhere. The EU-Turkey Summit on 29 November 2015 highlighted the importance that the EU attaches to its wide-ranging partnership with Turkey and need to support Turkey in its hosting of Syrians. The EU and Turkey have agreed to an Action Plan and a €3 billion Refugee Facility for Turkey to help implement it. We have committed our share to the €3 billion Facility
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-03-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what representations she has received on alleged breaches of international environmental law by UK firm Vedanta Resources in Zambia.
Justine Greening
Vedenta Resources has no formal relationship with our DFID Zambia office.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-03-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of allowing for more security-related expenditure within the definition of Official Development Assistance on maintaining a distinction between development cooperation and policing missions for security.
Justine Greening
The updates to the ODA rules agreed at the 2016 High Level Meeting (18-19 February 2016) mean that ODA can be used to support the military in fragile countries on issues that promote development, such as human rights and the prevention of sexual violence; this means the international community is better equipped to meet Global Goal 16, which calls for the stronger governance in developing countries to prevent violence and combat terrorism and crime.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-03-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what (a) financial and (b) other assistance her Department has contributed to international support for children with microcephaly and their families.
Mr Nick Hurd
The Department for International Development (DFID) has worked with the Department for Heath (who are leading the UK government’s response), Public Health England and the Foreign Commonwealth Office to help develop the UK strategy on Zika and support the World Health Organisation (WHO) galvanise an effective international response. There are four strands of this strategy which are: (a) galvanising effective leadership and international coordination; (b) ensuring a risk-based approach to identify priority regions/countries and likely impact of further spread; (c) shaping and contributing to country and regional responses and (d) playing a lead role in the international research response.
DFID has programmes in a number of countries which will support the Zika response. To date, countries in currently affected regions of Latin America and the Caribbean have not made specific requests for financial and/or other assistance from us to support children with microcephaly. We will continue to carefully assess any requests, offer additional assistance where needed and adapt any existing programmes to the needs required. We have already committed £200,000 of bilateral aid in support of Haiti’s Ministry of Health community mobilisation activities. DFID and Wellcome Trust will contribute £10 million (DFID up to £5million) for Zika research. We will continue to monitor the situation closely, working with other government departments and WHO.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Burrowes on 2016-03-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to tackle child trafficking in Nepal; what assessment she has made of (a) the role of Childreach’s Taught Not Trafficked and (b) other preventative education programmes in such work; and if she will make a statement.
Mr Desmond Swayne
Our Work in Freedom programme tackles human trafficking and promotes safe migration in Nepal and across the region, providing community training, support to victims in destinations and helping to improve laws and policies. In 2015, the programme reached more than 54,000 people in Nepal, including about 40,000 women and children through door to door visits.
Following the devastating earthquake last year, DFID Nepal supported work with the Nepal Police, Women and Children Service Directorate and Ministry of Women and Social Welfare to create women and children safe spaces, and stop trafficking of women and children. We also support wider work that contributes to helping children avoid the risk of being trafficked, including improving livelihoods, providing skills training and helping families to better withstand natural disasters.
DFID is not currently engaged in work directly with Childreach.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Louise Ellman on 2016-03-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many Yazidi refugees have been relocated to the UK under the Vulnerable Person Resettlement Programme to date; and if she will make a statement.
Mr Desmond Swayne
The Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement scheme is based on need; it prioritises the most vulnerable Syrian refugees who cannot be supported effectively in their region of origin. In order to protect the vulnerable refugees selected for resettlement in the UK, we do not release detailed information about arrivals. However, Syrian Yazidis can certainly qualify for resettlement under the scheme if they are assessed as coming under one of the seven UNHCR vulnerability criteria, such as women and girls at risk, survivors of violence and torture and those with physical and legal protection needs.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-03-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the Answer of 24 January 2013 to Question 139167, how many staff in her Department were in receipt of Continuity of Education Allowance in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) 2014-15; and what the cost to her Department was of providing that allowance for staff based (i) in the UK and (ii) overseas in each such year.
Mr Nick Hurd
The amount spent on Education Allowance by DFID and the number of HCS staff who have benefited from education continuity payments is provided in the table below.
|
Year |
2012/13 |
2013/14 |
2014/15 |
|
Total Number of Employees |
43 |
41 |
46 |
|
Employees in UK |
£32,165.55 |
£8,178.80 |
£9,337.45 |
|
Employees Overseas |
£995,609.04 |
£995,852.61 |
£1,042,819.56 |
|
Cost |
£1,027,774.59 |
£1,004,031.41 |
£1,052,157.01 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Bryant on 2016-03-02.
To ask the Rt. hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, how many contracted canteen and hospitality staff worked on the parliamentary estate in each year since 2009.
Tom Brake
The number of Contracted (Agency) staff is difficult to calculate due to the number of different agencies used and the often short term, varied work they are engaged to do. The number of contracted (agency) staff compared to the number of permanent staff is relatively low and accounts for less than 10% of the workforce costs with most contracted (agency) staff covering ad hoc operational requirements.
The percentage of workforce costs that represent agency staff for the years 2009 to 2015 were as follows:
|
2009/10 |
2.84% of staff costs |
|
2010/11 |
2.17% of staff costs |
|
2011/12 |
4.11% of staff costs |
|
2012/13 |
4.34% of staff costs |
|
2013/14 |
6.00 % of staff costs |
|
2014/15 |
8.11% of staff costs |
Along with growing guaranteed hours staff, contracted (Agency) staff have helped with the flexibility of the business needs since the directorate restructured to a smaller core team in 2011 and 2013 and in response to a growing banqueting and events business through income generation initiatives. As a result total staff costs have been much better controlled by being able to have a flexible resource which resources up to peaks in demand rather than having too many staff during quieter periods.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-03-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications to the Disclosure and Barring Service from people in Bristol West constituency have taken more than 60 days to process in the last 12 months.
Karen Bradley
The number of applications to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) from people living in the Bristol West constituency that have taken more than 60 days to process in the last 12 months (for which data is available) is listed in the table below.
|
Month |
Number of certificates issued by DBS to applicants in Bristol West |
Applications that took longer than 60 days |
|
February 2015 – January 2016 |
12,934 |
392 |