Tag: Lord Boateng

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2015-11-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the resources allocated by the EU to address the root causes of informal migration in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The UK welcomes the EU’s ongoing, and growing, commitment to supporting development in Africa. At the Valletta Summit, EU and African leaders made clear their shared determination to provide a comprehensive solution to irregular migration that deals with the root causes as well as responds to the consequences. To support these efforts the EU launched a £1.3billion Trust Fund to improve stability in Africa and tackle the drivers of migration, to which the UK announced a £2million direct contribution. Factoring in our contribution via other EU funds, the UK’s total contribution to the overall fund is approximately £187million. In total the EU will spend around €10billion in Africa between now and 2020 to help create jobs, security, better living standards and better governance. We believe that this increased assistance will play an important role in helping tackle the root causes of irregular migration.

Member States also contribute through bilateral funding, and the UK alone provides £4billion a year in aid to Africa. At Valletta the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), announced an additional £200 million package for Africa, which will help build more resilience to economic and environmental pressures; support those displaced by recent crises; and provide greater access to services, education and economic development programmes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-04-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the level of investment in public mental health intervention in each of the last three years.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Previously, spend on public mental health has been a sub-category of the miscellaneous reporting category and most councils would have captured this spend locally. From 2016-17, mental health spend from the public health grant has its own dedicated reporting category and the information will be available nationally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-01-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of recent civil disturbances in Burundi on livelihoods and resilience and the role of the African Union and the East African Community in providing peace, reconciliation and economic growth in Burundi.

Earl of Courtown

The UK is deeply concerned by the situation in Burundi. The recent civil disturbances have led to the flight of over 234,000 refugees to neighbouring countries. There are an additional 15,000 internally displaced people. The UN reports that 36 per cent of houses are now food insecure, with 7 per cent severely food insecure. This has a devastating impact on the livelihoods of those individuals and the resilience of those left behind to further confrontation and economic hardship.

The East African Community (EAC) has mandated Uganda to facilitate a dialogue between the various parties in Burundi. Leadership from the EAC is important in securing peace and reconciliation. The UK strongly supports the EAC-led dialogue but insufficient progress has been made so far. The parties met for the first time on 28 December, but the Government of Burundi is refusing to engage with the opposition so no date can be set for a second round of talks. We continue to press the Government of Burundi to engage fully in talks.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge), visited Burundi in mid-December 2015 where he pressed the government to engage in inclusive dialogue to end the violence. He again pressed the Foreign Minister for action when they met at the recent African Union (AU) Summit. The summit also provided an opportunity to lobby a range of AU members on the importance of regional leadership in resolving the situation in Burundi. Until there is peace and reconciliation, there will be limited opportunity to successfully support economic growth in Burundi, which has collapsed since the start of the crisis.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-04-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the guidance for commissioners of mental health services to people from black and minority ethnic communities on inequalities in access, experience and outcomes in mental health care.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Department is committed to involving patients and service users in the development of national mental health policy. It does not monitor this engagement centrally.

The Department commissioned the Mental Health Providers’ Forum and the Race Equality Foundation to gather and review evidence of effective mental health service for Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups. The review Better practice in mental health for black and minority ethnic communities was published in May 2015.

The report found that organisations that were successful in providing mental health services that meet the needs of BME groups had developed local community-based approaches to service delivery which addressed cultural and linguistic differences and sought to actively engage hard to reach groups.

The Department has also supported guidance published by the Joint Commissioning Panel in 2014 A guide for commissioners of mental health services for people from black and minority ethnic communities. http://www.jcpmh.info/good-services/black-minority-ethnic-communities/

The guide set out 10 key messages for commissioners to improve services. These included: commissioning equitable access to mental health services for people regardless of ethnicity and identify and taking action to reduce ethnic inequalities; better local data collection to build understanding and competencies in commissioning services that meet the needs of BME groups; clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and health and wellbeing board developing strategies for BME groups; and involving and engaging service users in commissioning decisions.

Copies of these reports are attached.

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-01-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the need for humanitarian assistance in Burundi and the potential role of the churches in meeting the needs of Burundian refugees and internally displaced persons.

Baroness Verma

The UK is gravely concerned about the ongoing political and human rights crisis in Burundi. Reported abuses by security forces against civilians are deplorable. All allegations should be investigated and those responsible held accountable. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights pointed at increasing signs of ethnic targeting which is very concerning and is being monitored. DFID is coordinating closely with the Foreign Office on the situation as well as with international partners including the African Union.

The humanitarian situation in Burundi itself is not critical at this stage, but it remains fragile and will deteriorate as long as the political crisis continues. DFID will continue to assess whether humanitarian assistance is required within the country. At the same time, our teams in Tanzania, Rwanda, the DRC and Uganda, are working hard providing humanitarian support to Burundian refugees. The UK has committed £18.15 million for the refugee response being led by UN agencies, such as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP), and international NGOs. This funding includes £14.25 million to support refugees in Tanzania, and £3.9 million to support refugees in Rwanda. We are keeping our funding levels under constant review according to need. We have deployed a humanitarian adviser to the region to support the regional refugee response and we have provided technical support, in the form of secondment of experts, to support UN agencies working in Burundi. This includes support to the UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) to strengthen humanitarian coordination in Burundi.

DFID recognises that churches and faith groups can have great legitimacy and a wide reach, and therefore can make an important contribution to both refugees and internally displaced persons.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-06-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the contribution of the Global Fund in the fight against Malaria.

Baroness Verma

The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has played a critical role in the fight against malaria. To date, it has invested $7 billion to prevent, diagnose and treat the disease. Between 2002 and 2015, this support has helped distribute approximately 600 million mosquito nets and treated over 515 million cases of malaria. Given that the Global Fund contributes 58% of all international finance for malaria, it has played an important role in helping reduce deaths from the disease by 48% between 2000-2014.

With 1 in 10 child deaths in Africa still caused by malaria, the UK recognises that more needs to be done to tackle this deadly, but preventable disease. That is why earlier this year, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Secretary of State committed that the UK would spend £500 million a year to help tackle malaria. This support will contribute towards reducing the death rate from malaria by 90% by 2030.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-01-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the state of the rule of law in Burundi, the need for security sector reform and the role of development assistance in addressing any deficits in this regard.

Earl of Courtown

The UK is deeply concerned by the situation in Burundi. At least 130 people were killed in December 2015 alone. We are aware of 250 cases of torture/ill treatment and 13 documented cases of sexual violence. The UK has also been deeply concerned to hear of allegations that the police and the Burundian ruling party’s youth league are involved in the violence, including sexual violence. These reports demonstrate that the rule of law is in a fragile state in Burundi.

Given this, there is a critical need for security sector reform (SSR) in Burundi. The African Union (AU) has authorised a protection mission to Burundi if Burundian consent is obtained. If the mission is deployed the UK will provide financial and logistical support. However, the UK’s current focus is to see progress in the Ugandan-mediated East African Community dialogue. Without dialogue, SSR will bear little fruit.

The UK does not currently have a bilateral aid programme with Burundi; however, the Department for International Development is providing £18.15 million to support Burundian refugees in the region, making the UK the second largest contributor to the humanitarian effort after the US.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge), visited Burundi in mid-December 2015 where he pressed the Government to engage in inclusive dialogue to end the violence. He again pressed the Foreign Minister for action when they met at the recent AU Summit. The summit also provided an opportunity to lobby a range of AU members on the importance of regional leadership in resolving the situation in Burundi.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-06-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what level of resourcing from the international community needs to be applied to meet the Global Fund’s target of saving an additional eight million people at risk of dying from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

Baroness Verma

The investment case for the Fifth Replenishment of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund) projects that a successful replenishment of $13bn will enable the Global Fund to save 8 million lives and avert up to 300 million new infections over the period 2017-2019.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-01-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their contribution to multilateral development assistance to Burundi; and what is their assessment of the impact of this funding.

Baroness Verma

The UK’s imputed share of multilateral net ODA to Burundi was £28.7 million in 2013, the latest year for which figures are available. DFID selects its partners on the basis of their ability to spend funds where they will have the greatest impact and DFID has rigorous systems in place to ensure that funds are spent effectively. The World Bank, for example, has a country-level results framework to track and manage progress and impact; currently over two-thirds of the outcome indicators for Burundi have already been achieved or are on-track to being achieved.

In addition to core funding to multilaterals, DFID also provides resources for multilateral organisations through bilateral and central programmes. A preparedness programme has enabled the UN and World Food Programme to assist up to 10,000 people in Burundi and to strengthen humanitarian coordination. Since the start of the crisis DFID has contributed £21 million to support the regional refugee response and DFID’s contribution to the Central Emergency Response Fund in Burundi is in excess of £2 million in 2016.

DFID is working with the EU, international financial institutions, UN Agencies and NGO community to review their support to Burundi and to ensure that humanitarian needs are met. DFID has a humanitarian adviser based in the region as well as advisers in the UK monitoring the situation in Burundi and ensuring that DFID funds are being spent in a way that achieves value for money for the UK taxpayer

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2016-07-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the economies of the Caribbean and British Overseas Territories of the result of the referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU.

Earl of Courtown

We are already engaged with the Overseas Territories to capture the full range of interests they have in the EU, including the potential economic impact of any change in their relations with the EU. We will fully involve the devolved administrations, Gibraltar, the Crown Dependencies, the other UK Overseas Territories and all other regional centres of power, in accordance with their various constitutional relationships with the UK, to ensure that all of their interests are taken properly into account. In the meantime, the UK remains a member of the EU, and the full range of rights and obligations afforded under the Treaties still apply.