Tag: Baroness Northover

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Northover on 2015-12-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of global demographic change in which almost 24 per cent of women globally are aged 50 and over, what steps they are taking to ensure that sustainable development goal indicators on violence against women specifically include women over the age of 49, and to ensure that those women are not excluded from reporting mechanisms in the future.

Baroness Verma

Supporting robust indicators for Sustainable Development Goal 5.2 on violence against women and girls is critical. DFID is working with international partners including the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data to support the development of strong indicators and the development of rigorous, available national data that will enable measurement of progress to end violence against women and girls of all ages.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Northover on 2016-09-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to share the UK’s experience in implementing tobacco control policies with low- and middle-income countries.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The United Kingdom regularly supports other countries to develop tobacco control policies, sharing our expertise and experience. Most recently, the UK has provided support to other countries looking to implement standardised packaging.

In addition, the UK Government is funding a project to strengthen the implementation of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, using official development assistance funds. Through this project, we will share the UK’s experience in tobacco control, thereby supporting low- and middle-income countries to save lives by putting effective measures in place to stop people using tobacco.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Northover on 2016-01-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will nominate a candidate to serve on the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and if not, why not.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The UK strongly supports the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and is committed to advancing women’s rights through the United Nations machinery.

We have not nominated a candidate to the CEDAW Committee and do not intend to do so. Our decision not to nominate a UK expert for election to the Committee is based on a number of considerations, including the need to allow for a reasonable amount of time and substantial resources to mount a campaign.

CEDAW Committee members serve in their personal capacity and do not represent the Member State that nominated them. We have full faith in the independence of the Committee and applaud the high quality of its work.

UK nationals are well represented on other UN treaty monitoring bodies, such as the Human Rights Committee and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Northover on 2016-09-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the potential contribution of addressing childhood cancer to the third Sustainable Development Goal.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The third millennium development goal includes the intention to reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment by 2030: this includes all forms of cancer. Reporting will be based on data from country health information systems.

DFID’s health focus is to improve the provision of basic health services for the poorest by strengthening health systems, improving health worker capacity and increasing access to essential medicines and equipment. Increasing coverage, access and quality will strengthen health services to address all health problems including childhood cancer. DFID also supports some specific efforts to tackle childhood cancer, such as a project through World Child Cancer in Burma, which seeks to improve the diagnosis, treatment and care for children with cancer.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Northover on 2016-01-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of the Department for International Development’s spending currently goes towards water, sanitation and hygiene programmes.

Baroness Verma

Expenditure by sector is reported in Statistics on International Development which I have attached for your convenience.

In 2014, UK bilateral expenditure on water supply and sanitation was £180.8 million. This was 2.6% of the UK’s total bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA).

When DFID or other UK government departments provide core contributions in support of multilateral organisations, we do not break down by sector. However, there are a number of multilateral organisations that are focussed on water and sanitation. Details of the contributions from DFID to each multilateral organisation can be found at Table A8 of the attachment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Northover on 2016-09-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of smoking rates in low- and middle-income countries and how those rates are predicted to evolve over the next century; and how they take such rates into account in awarding development funding.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Government recognises the significant impact of tobacco use in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Tobacco use is the world’s single most preventable cause of disease and the number of tobacco users is increasing in LMICs. If current patterns of use persist, tobacco will kill about 1 billion people in the 21st Century. Evidence indicates that by 2030, over 80% of the world’s tobacco-related mortality will be in LMICs.

Tobacco use is also a major barrier to sustainable development. A major driver of social inequities, tobacco use imposes significant social, economic and environmental harm on individuals, families and national economies.

Given the recognised impact of tobacco on international development, the United Kingdom Government is funding a project to strengthen the implementation of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, using official development assistance funds. Through this project, we will share the UK’s experience in tobacco control to support LMICs to save lives by putting effective measures in place to stop people using tobacco.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Northover on 2016-01-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures the Department for International Development is taking to reach rural communities with water, sanitation and hygiene programmes, as well as urban ones.

Baroness Verma

DFID reached over 62 million people with water, sanitation and/or hygiene in the five years to 2014/15. Approximately 90% of these results were delivered in rural communities.

DFID supports large programmes focussed on basic rural water and sanitation services for the poor. These include programmes with the governments of Ethiopia and Mozambique and a programme implemented by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and WaterAid in Nigeria.

Through partnerships with organisations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP), DFID is supporting the water and sanitation sector in developing better and faster ways of delivering improved urban water and sanitation services in unserved slums and low income communities in towns and cities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Northover on 2016-10-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government to what extent ageing and older people in developing countries remain an issue of concern for the Department for International Development, why this matter no longer forms part of the Department’s ministerial portfolios, and whether ageing still forms part of the Department’s Inclusive Societies work.

Lord Bates

The Department for International Development’s (DFID) Inclusive Societies department leads the Department’s work on ageing. The Minister of State, Rory Stewart, has responsibility for Inclusive Societies department’s work.

Many DFID programmes reach and include older people, for example on health systems strengthening and eye care, or specific programmes for the poorest including supporting slum dwellers in Tanzania or supporting widows resulting from the Genocide in Rwanda.

Ageing also features in DFID country level poverty analyses as a key factor in understanding poverty. In addition to this DFID is taking a global leadership role to push for better quality and use of age disaggregated data to ensure that the Sustainable Development Goals leave no one behind. DFID hosted a series of high profile events on this subject in May and is working towards the publication of an action plan detailing next steps early in 2017.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Northover on 2016-02-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Verma on 1 February (HL5238), what proportion of UK aid spending on water, sanitation and hygiene is targeted at the maintenance and upkeep of existing facilities.

Baroness Verma

Our WASH programmes take an integrated approach to both provision and maintenance of existing facilities, involving building national, local and community capacity and systems to ensure that services continue to function over time. In 2014, total UK bilateral ODA spending on water supply and sanitation was £181 million. UK aid expenditure is reported in Statistics on International Development report at table A6a which I have attached for your convenience.

We do not collect data separately on the amount of funds allocated to installation of facilities and their subsequent maintenance. In most countries responsibility for financing operation and maintenance is passed to the community where services have been installed, after appropriate training has been provided.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Northover on 2016-02-04.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the £536 million spent by the Department for International Development on malaria in 2013–14 was disbursed, and how much of the total committed to malaria in 2014–15 has not yet been spent.

Baroness Verma

The methodology used to monitor UK malaria spend between 2008/09 and 2014/15 was published in the 2010 Framework for Results for Malaria. In 2013/14 the UK provided £536 million to help reduce malaria deaths. The UK is helping to tackle malaria through bilateral and multilateral channels. The UK’s bilateral support includes: malaria-specific bilateral programmes (36% of total malaria spend in 2013/14); support to strengthening health systems (20% of malaria spend in 2013/14); and other bilateral support including the delivery of interventions to reduce malaria in pregnancy and supporting malaria related research (10% of 2013/14 malaria spend).

The main contribution to tackling malaria through multilateral channels is the UK support to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (31% of total malaria spend in 2013/14).All of the Department’s 2014/15 spend on malaria has been disbursed. The UK’s investment on malaria has contributed to saving more than six million lives over the past 15 years.