Department for International Development<p>The UK is clear that no health workers or aid workers should be at risk of violence, that they must have the protection they need from the responsible authorities to allow them to do their jobs in safety, and that the rule of law must prevail to deal with perpetrators.</p>South West WiltshireDr Andrew Murrison2019-07-16false2019-07-16T15:53:03.44Z20International DevelopmentInternational Development2019-07-11Occupied Territories: Health Services1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps he is taking to help ensure that (a) health workers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are protected from attack and (b) perpetrators of such attacks are held accountable.falseCarshalton and WallingtonTom Brake276132Department for International Development<p>Restrictions on movement and access imposed by the Israeli authorities on Gaza have resulted in a worsening of the already poor humanitarian situation. In May, 2,206 permit applications were made to the Government of Israel to enter Israel at the Erez crossing for healthcare, with 61% approved, 8% denied and 31% delayed. In the same month, 2,426 patient companion applications were made with 47% approved, 13% denied and 40% pending. The UK regularly raises and will continue to call on the Israeli government to ease access restrictions further and for Israel and the Palestinian Authority to work together to ensure a durable solution for Gaza. In addition to our diplomatic efforts, we have recently announced a new £1.6 million package of support to be delivered through the World Health Organisation which will help to provide life-saving treatment to more than 380,000 people in Gaza, including a new limb unit.</p>South West WiltshireDr Andrew Murrison2019-07-16false2019-07-16T16:50:28.127Z20International DevelopmentInternational Development2019-07-11Gaza: Patients1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effect of permit restrictions imposed by the Government of Israel on (a) medical patients and (b) companions of those medical patients seeking to exit Gaza.falseCarshalton and WallingtonTom Brake276133Department for International Development<p>The UK is a world leader in championing prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls through research, programmes and partnerships. Our £25million What Works to Prevent Violence programme is the largest global investment in research into prevention of violence against women and girls and I am committed to maintaining the UK’s global leadership in this area.</p><p> </p><p>At the Ending Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in Humanitarian Crises Conference the UK committed £7 million of support to tackle SGBV in Syria through our partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and reaffirmed our commitments made under the Call to Action on Protection from Gender Based Violence in Emergencies.</p><p> </p><p>Work to prevent and respond to GBV in emergencies in DFID consists of standalone programmes and GBV prevention and response integrated into broader conflict prevention, humanitarian and sector wide interventions in education, women’s economic empowerment and social protection. This complexity means that we do not specifically track all this spend as gender-based violence programming.</p>South West WiltshireDr Andrew Murrison2019-06-20false2019-06-20T16:23:02.603Z20International DevelopmentInternational Development2019-06-17Emergencies: Crimes of Violence1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of his Department’s spending is currently allocated to gender-based violence services in emergencies.falseLiverpool, West DerbyStephen Twigg265409Department for International Development<p>Far more needs to be done to combat the appalling levels of violence that women and girls experience every day around the world. During humanitarian emergencies, violence against women and girls can increase in both frequency and severity. DFID funded ‘What Works to Prevent Violence’ research in South Sudan revealed that over 73% of girls and women experienced intimate partner violence.</p><p> </p><p>The UK is an active member of the Call to Action on Protection from Gender-based Violence in Emergencies, which brings together governments, UN agencies, international NGOs and civil society organisations to share best practice and report on progress against shared commitments on preventing and responding to GBV. The UK co-chairs the States and Donors Working Group.</p><p> </p><p>DFID’s ground-breaking research into violence against women and girls has demonstrated that violence is preventable, and we are committed to using this evidence to scale up our work to prevent violence and to influence our international partners to do the same.</p>South West WiltshireDr Andrew Murrison2019-06-20false2019-06-20T16:23:46.827Z20International DevelopmentInternational Development2019-06-17Emergencies: Crimes of Violence1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps his Department is taking to close the funding gap, estimated by the International Rescue Committee at US $ 104.2 million, for gender-based violence services in emergencies.falseLiverpool, West DerbyStephen Twigg265410Department for International Development<p>Participants at the Ending Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in Humanitarian Crises Conference agreed that strengthening SGBV prevention and response must be a humanitarian priority. Baroness Sugg represented the UK at the conference and reiterated the UK’s strong leadership on ending all forms of SGBV, announcing UK political commitments which included ensuring access to life-saving sexual and reproductive health services for women and girls in humanitarian crises and £7 million of support to tackle SGBV in Syria through our partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).</p><p> </p><p>The UK reaffirmed our commitments made under the Call to Action on Protection from Gender Based Violence in Emergencies. These commitments are in line with DFID policy.</p>South West WiltshireDr Andrew Murrison2019-06-20false2019-06-20T16:21:43.617Z20International DevelopmentInternational Development2019-06-17Emergencies: Crimes of Violence1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for its policies of the recent Ending Sexual and Gender-based Violence in Humanitarian Crises Conference.falseLiverpool, West DerbyStephen Twigg265411Department for International Development<p>There is more the UK can do to prevent all forms of violence, including sexual violence in conflict. Through initiatives such as Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict (PSVI) and the Ending Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Humanitarian Crises Conference (Oslo Conference) we are continually challenging ourselves and others to step up and do more to tackle the problem.</p><p> </p><p>At the Oslo Conference the UK announced an additional £7 million in funding for GBV in Syria. We are committed to continuing to step up our GBV prevention and response but these efforts are not limited to DFID funding. UK leadership includes advocating for all humanitarian actors to recognise SGBV as a shared priority and investing in evidence that demonstrates both the scale of the problem and effective interventions to address SGBV. We are committed to continuing to invest in ground-breaking programmes such as DFID’s ‘What Works to Prevent Violence’ that provide vital support to women and girls and inform global evidence on the prevalence, severity and effective interventions to prevent violence.</p>South West WiltshireDr Andrew Murrison2019-06-20false2019-06-20T16:19:40.183Z20International DevelopmentInternational Development2019-06-17Emergencies: Crimes of Violence1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if his Department will commit to increasing funding for gender-based violence services at the Preventing sexual violence initiative conference in November.falseLiverpool, West DerbyStephen Twigg265412Department for International Development<p>The UK is playing its part to ending hunger and undernutrition through a substantial portfolio of agricultural and other economic development programmes, social safety nets, and humanitarian response interventions; through its bilateral programmes as well as support to multilateral institutions. But more needs to be done if we are to end hunger by 2030. We are discussing with Germany and other leading development partners how we can achieve a step change including the potential value of a possible major global moment on SDG2 in 2020. We are also engaging with international actors to consider how such a moment could work alongside the planned summit hosted by Japan to accelerate progress to reduce malnutrition as one part of SDG2.</p>South West WiltshireDr Andrew Murrison2019-06-27false2019-06-27T16:16:14.79Z20International DevelopmentInternational Development2019-06-20Food: Sustainable Development1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of the international alliance on Sustainable Development Goal 2 proposed by Germany at the World Bank Spring Meeting.falseLiverpool, West DerbyStephen Twigg267160Department for International Development<p>In Idlib and surrounding areas, the current offensive by Assad’s regime and Russian forces is compounding an already dire humanitarian situation, with 2.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. We are alarmed by UN reports that over 327,500 people have been displaced between 1 May and 13 June and more than 37 schools and 26 health facilities have been damaged or destroyed by airstrikes. DFID is committed to alleviating the suffering among those affected and is working with our partners to scale up our response to meet the growing needs among displaced people, including through the distribution of food, shelter and other essential items.</p><p> </p><p>In Yemen, nearly 80 per cent of the entire population – over 24 million people – require some form of humanitarian assistance and almost 10 million people face extreme food shortages. In response to the crisis in Yemen, the UK has allocated £200 million this financial year alone. This funding will provide food for over a million Yemenis each month, screen 660,000 children under the age of five for malnutrition and provide urgent treatment for 30,000 of the most vulnerable children.</p>South West WiltshireDr Andrew Murrison2019-07-01false2019-07-01T16:00:58.73Z20International DevelopmentInternational Development2019-06-25Syria and Yemen: Humanitarian Situation1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment his Department has made of the humanitarian situation in (a) Idlib and (b) Yemen.falseStevenageStephen McPartland269052Department for International Development<p>My Department has provided funding to Marie Stopes International through central and bilateral programming in support of comprehensive sexual and reproductive health. This includes a wide range of activities such as health service delivery, outreach, contraceptive supply, policy support and advocacy.</p><p> </p><p>As part of this support, the Department allocated funding to Marie Stopes International and its partners through the Preventing Maternal Deaths from Unwanted Pregnancy Programme, from 2011 to 2018 across 20 countries, including South Sudan (until 2015) and Malawi. Our programmes take an integrated approach and the budget does not include figures specifically for advocacy on laws on abortion.</p>South West WiltshireDr Andrew Murrison2019-06-25false2019-06-25T15:44:33.477Z20International DevelopmentInternational Development2019-06-19Marie Stopes International: Expenditure1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether his Department has allocated funding to Marie Stopes International for advocacy on laws on abortion in (a) Malawi, (b) South Sudan and (c) other countries in the last ten years.falseStoneSir William Cash266637Department for International Development<p>The UK government has long used a range of data sources and publications to inform our policy on unsafe abortion, as cited in our published position – notably the World Health Organisation and the Guttmacher Institute, whose expertise in this area is longstanding. This was the case prior to July 2018, when our sector results page was published.</p>South West WiltshireDr Andrew Murrison2019-06-25false2019-06-25T15:45:30.427Z20International DevelopmentInternational Development2019-06-19Developing Countries: Abortion1House of CommonsTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 16 May 2019 to Question 252496, which institutions his Department relied on for estimates of illegal abortions before July 2018.falseStoneSir William Cash266638100194