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449157

registered interest
date	01/02/2016
answering body	Department for International Development
answering dept id	20
answering dept short name	International Development
answering dept sort name	International Development
hansard heading	Syria: Food Supply
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of eyewitness accounts of starvation from across Syria; what action they have taken following that assessment; and in particular whether they will discuss with the government of Russia the provision of supplies by land and by air.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL5667
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/02/2016 answer text <p>No one who has seen the images coming out of Madaya and other besieged towns can say this situation is anything other than utterly appalling. Across Syria, Assad and other parties to the conflict are wilfully impeding humanitarian access on a day-by-day basis. It is unacceptable and illegal to use starvation as a weapon of war. We are deeply concerned about the 4.6 million people who live in hard to reach areas, including almost 486,700 who live under siege conditions.</p><p>We have given support to the UN and international NGOs since the start of the conflict to deliver aid to besieged and hard to reach areas. On 11 January, the UN, Red Cross and Syrian Arab Red Crescent confirmed aid convoys had arrived in the hard to reach towns of Madaya, Foah and Kefraya. Further convoys have since arrived. These convoys are expected to enable 40,000 people inside Madaya, and 20,000 people inside Foah and Kefraya, to survive. UK funding to UN agencies directly supported these convoys with food parcels and medicine.</p><p>However, humanitarian access to those in need continues to shrink. In the past year, only 10% of all requests submitted by the UN to the regime to access besieged and hard-to-reach areas have been approved and delivered. That’s why it is vital we keep up the pressure on the regime and other conflict parties to let aid convoys in and to provide sustained, permanent and safe humanitarian access. Russia, in particular, has a special obligation to confront and condemn the atrocities being carried out against Syrian civilians.</p><p>When it comes to helping Syrians in besieged and hard-to-reach areas, we do not rule anything out but, right now, air drops are not a viable way of getting help to those in need. Use of air drops to deliver aid is high risk and should only be considered as a last resort when all other means have failed, and it is an effective way of getting humanitarian supplies to people. Critically, the UN is not currently calling for their use.</p><p>We are aware of reports of Russian airdrops into Deir Ez Zour. We are working to verify these claims and understand the nature and impact of any such airdrops, including the extent to which they may be effectively addressing needs. Unlike Madaya, Deir Ez Zour city is under regime control and is surrounded by Daesh.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Verma question first answered 11/02/2016 17:14:55 answering member 3790 label Biography information for Baroness Verma
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

449214

registered interest
date	01/02/2016
answering body	Department for International Development
answering dept id	20
answering dept short name	International Development
answering dept sort name	International Development
hansard heading	Development Aid: Mental Health Services
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much the Department for International Development spent on mental health in low- and middle-income countries in 2015.
tabling member printed	Lord Crisp
uin	HL5724
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/02/2016 answer text <p>Tracking of inputs, allocations and expenditure is based on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC) codes, which are used for reporting official development assistance.</p><p>The UK’s health focus in developing countries is on improving the provision of basic health services for the poor by strengthening and supporting health systems, health worker capacity and access to essential medicines. Increasing coverage, equity, access and quality will strengthen health services to address all health problems including non-communicable diseases, like mental disorders and dementia.</p><p>DFID is helping countries to make fairer, transparent and evidence-based decisions about how to set priorities and allocate resources in health. We support research on mental health through our PRIME (Programme for Improving Mental Health Care) programme. This research is providing world class evidence on implementation and scaling up for treatment programmes and having this adopted by policy makers.</p> answering member printed Baroness Verma grouped question UIN HL5725 question first answered 11/02/2016 17:35:46 answering member 3790 label Biography information for Baroness Verma
tabling member	3783 label Biography information for Lord Crisp

449215

registered interest
date	01/02/2016
answering body	Department for International Development
answering dept id	20
answering dept short name	International Development
answering dept sort name	International Development
hansard heading	Development Aid: Mental Health Services
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the proportion of the Department for International Development funding for mental health in low- and middle-income countries has increased or decreased in the last year for which figures are available.
tabling member printed	Lord Crisp
uin	HL5725
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/02/2016 answer text <p>Tracking of inputs, allocations and expenditure is based on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC) codes, which are used for reporting official development assistance.</p><p>The UK’s health focus in developing countries is on improving the provision of basic health services for the poor by strengthening and supporting health systems, health worker capacity and access to essential medicines. Increasing coverage, equity, access and quality will strengthen health services to address all health problems including non-communicable diseases, like mental disorders and dementia.</p><p>DFID is helping countries to make fairer, transparent and evidence-based decisions about how to set priorities and allocate resources in health. We support research on mental health through our PRIME (Programme for Improving Mental Health Care) programme. This research is providing world class evidence on implementation and scaling up for treatment programmes and having this adopted by policy makers.</p> answering member printed Baroness Verma grouped question UIN HL5724 question first answered 11/02/2016 17:35:46 answering member 3790 label Biography information for Baroness Verma
tabling member	3783 label Biography information for Lord Crisp

449216

registered interest
date	01/02/2016
answering body	Department for International Development
answering dept id	20
answering dept short name	International Development
answering dept sort name	International Development
hansard heading	Developing Countries: Mental Health Services
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Department for International Development will value mental health equally with physical health in its funding decisions.
tabling member printed	Lord Crisp
uin	HL5726
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/02/2016 answer text <p>The UK has lobbied hard to make sure the Global Goals cover the areas not covered by the Millennium Development Goals, to make sure nobody is left behind, including in health, which is a significant step forward. DFID’s principal approach to supporting the Global Goal for health is to strengthen health services, improving coverage, access and quality so that services better address all major causes of ill health including mental health. The UK has played a key role in creating a set of goals that are universal and inclusive and focused on ending chronic poverty forever, for everyone, everywhere. The UK has been a strong and consistent supporter of the need to achieve Universal Health Coverage.</p><p>We also support research, together with specific work on mental health. For example, in Ghana, addressing mental health is a specific focus within DFID’s health sector support programme as well as under the Health Partnership Scheme, DFID is helping to establish a community-based programme of mental health care in Malawi to improve care of people with common and severe mental health illnesses. DFID is also providing support for mental health services for Syrian refugees, including those traumatised by the conflict.</p> answering member printed Baroness Verma question first answered 11/02/2016 17:13:41 answering member 3790 label Biography information for Baroness Verma
tabling member	3783 label Biography information for Lord Crisp

449217

registered interest
date	01/02/2016
answering body	Department for International Development
answering dept id	20
answering dept short name	International Development
answering dept sort name	International Development
hansard heading	Developing Countries: Mental Health Services
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government in the light of the recent inclusion of mental health targets under Sustainable Development Goal 3, whether the Department for International Development plans to review its strategy for funding mental health in low- and middle-income countries.
tabling member printed	Lord Crisp
uin	HL5727
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/02/2016 answer text <p>The UK’s health focus in developing countries is on improving the provision of basic health services for the poor by supporting and strengthening health systems, health worker capacity and access to essential medicines. Increasing coverage, equity, access and quality will strengthen health services to address all health problems including non-communicable diseases, like mental disorders and dementia.</p><p>The Global Goals are a major landmark in our fight against poverty. The UK has lobbied hard to make sure the Global Goals cover the areas not covered by the Millennium Development Goals, to make sure nobody is left behind including those most marginalized. DFID’s principal approach to supporting the Global Goal for health is to strengthen health services, improving coverage, access and quality so that services better address all major causes of ill health including mental health. The UK has played a key role in creating a set of goals that are universal and inclusive and focused on ending chronic poverty forever, for everyone, everywhere. The UK has been a strong and consistent supporter of the need to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC).</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Verma question first answered 11/02/2016 17:12:52 answering member 3790 label Biography information for Baroness Verma
tabling member	3783 label Biography information for Lord Crisp

449239

registered interest
date	01/02/2016
answering body	Department for International Development
answering dept id	20
answering dept short name	International Development
answering dept sort name	International Development
hansard heading	Syria: Refugees
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to encourage countries hosting Syrian refugees in the region to allow non-governmental organisations to provide non-formal education opportunities.
tabling member printed	Baroness Uddin
uin	HL5749
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2016 answer text <p>The UK remains at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have doubled our commitment and have now pledged a total of more than £2.3 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. The UK is funding Non-Formal Education via UNICEF in Jordan and Lebanon which is implemented by national non-governmental organisations.</p><p>We helped launch and mobilise international support for the No Lost Generation Initiative. The aim of Initiative is to improve quality formal and non-formal learning opportunities for children that are out of school. As part of this support, the UK has allocated £115 million to provide protection, psychosocial support and education for children affected by the crisis in Syria and the region. As a result over 251,000 children have received formal and informal education inside Syria and in the region.</p><p>At the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference in London on 4 February, leaders came together to pledge more than $11 billion, the largest amount raised in one day for a humanitarian crisis. On education, leaders committed that by the end of the 2016/17 school year, 1.7 million children – all refugee children and vulnerable children in host communities – will be in quality education with equal access for girls and boys. This includes enrolment in either a formal school or a non-formal, informal or other alternative education programme that meets national or international standards.</p> answering member printed Baroness Verma question first answered 10/02/2016 13:22:30 answering member 3790 label Biography information for Baroness Verma
tabling member	1827 label Biography information for Baroness Uddin

449240

registered interest
date	01/02/2016
answering body	Department for International Development
answering dept id	20
answering dept short name	International Development
answering dept sort name	International Development
hansard heading	Syria: Refugees
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that teachers, including refugee teachers, are paid appropriate wages and receive appropriate training and support in countries hosting Syrian refugees in the region.
tabling member printed	Baroness Uddin
uin	HL5750
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2016 answer text <p>The UK remains at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have doubled our commitment and have now pledged a total of over £2.3 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis.</p><p>DFID is not currently financing public sector teachers’ salaries directly in Lebanon or Jordan. However, we helped launch and mobilise international support for the No Lost Generation Initiative. As part of this support, the UK has allocated £115 million to provide protection, psychosocial support and education for children affected by the crisis in Syria and the region. As a result over 251,000 children have received formal and informal education inside Syria and in the region. We are working to ensure that each host government considers where and when they can employ and fairly compensate Syrian teachers under their national legal and policy frameworks for both education and jobs.</p><p>In Lebanon, DFID is investing £21 million in the World Bank managed Emergency Education System Stabilisation Programme and an additional £1.3 million for the Research for Results: Lebanon Education System Improvement Programme. These programmes support the Government of Lebanon to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its education system including their public expenditure on teachers.</p><p>At the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference we co-hosted in London, leaders came together to pledge more than $11 billion, the largest amount raised in one day for a humanitarian crisis. On education, the UK and co-hosts worked with donors and other partners to secure increased funding for education under the UN-led appeals for 2016 and longer term, multi-year education funding commitments to ensure sustainability. Commitments made at the Conference will help to create 1.1 million jobs and provide education to an additional 1 million children.</p><p>We continue to work with refugee hosting governments, in particular, to agree the policy commitments necessary to turn increased funding into delivery on the ground. This includes a regional policy dialogue on integrating refugee teachers into national education systems, where possible.</p> answering member printed Baroness Verma question first answered 10/02/2016 15:05:07 answering member 3790 label Biography information for Baroness Verma
tabling member	1827 label Biography information for Baroness Uddin

449466

registered interest
date	01/02/2016
answering body	Department for International Development
answering dept id	20
answering dept short name	International Development
answering dept sort name	International Development
hansard heading	Syria: Malnutrition
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to tackle starvation and malnourishment in Syria.
tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
uin	25045
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/02/2016 answer text <p>The &quot;Supporting Syria and the Region London 2016&quot; Conference was held on 4 February last week, and more than US$11 billion was pledged to support people in Syria and the region affected by the conflict, the largest amount raised in one day for a humanitarian crisis. Commitments made at the Conference will help to create 1.1 million jobs and provide education to an additional 1 million children. The UK remains at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have doubled our commitment and have now pledged a total of over £2.3 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. The outcomes of the conference are reflected in the Co-hosts' statement available on the Conference website <a href="http://www.supportingsyria2016.com/" target="_blank">www.supportingsyria2016.com</a>.</p><p> </p><p>Inside Syria we continue to support the United Nations’ World Food Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, UNICEF and non-governmental organisations, to provide emergency food rations and nutrition interventions and to assist Syrians in growing their own food. Since the beginning of the crisis, UK support has, for instance, provided over 15 million food rations, access to clean water for over 1.6 million people and supported almost 500,000 people with agriculture and livelihoods interventions.</p><p> </p><p>There are 486,700 people living in besieged areas and around 4.6 million in hard-to-reach areas in Syria. Across Syria, Assad and other parties to the conflict are wilfully impeding humanitarian access on a daily basis. It is outrageous, unacceptable and illegal to use starvation as a weapon of war.</p><p> </p><p>On 11 January 2016, the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent confirmed that aid convoys of humanitarian assistance had arrived in the besieged and hard-to-reach towns of Madaya, Foah and Kefraya. Further convoys have since arrived. DFID funding to UN agencies directly supported these convoys with food parcels, nutritional supplements, essential drugs and non-food items including winterisation kits. This is part of the UK’s ongoing support to the UN and international NGOs since the start of the conflict to deliver aid in hard to reach and besieged areas of Syria.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The most effective way to get food to people who are starving and stop these needless and horrific deaths is for Assad and all parties to the conflict to adhere to international humanitarian law. That is why the UK Government continues to call on the Assad regime and all parties to the conflict to allow immediate and unfettered access to all areas of Syria. On 4 February, the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference also brought leaders together to demand an end to these abuses and obstruction of humanitarian aid.</p> answering member constituency New Forest West answering member printed Mr Desmond Swayne question first answered 08/02/2016 14:13:57 answering member 55 label Biography information for Sir Desmond Swayne
tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

449467

registered interest
date	01/02/2016
answering body	Department for International Development
answering dept id	20
answering dept short name	International Development
answering dept sort name	International Development
hansard heading	Syria: Overseas Aid
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of aid disposed in Syria in protecting people from disease and starvation.
tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
uin	25046
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/02/2016 answer text <p>UK support has reached hundreds of thousands of people in Syria, enabling vulnerable Syrians to survive. By the end of June 2015, UK support inside Syria had provided over 15.1 million food rations, access to clean water for over 1.6 million people, 2 million medical consultations and resulted in over 6.9 million instances when people benefited from sanitation and hygiene activities.</p><p> </p><p>We are concerned that the 2015 UN appeals for the Syria crisis were severely underfunded, meaning Syrian people did not receive the food, shelter and medical treatment they needed so desperately. The UK is playing its part. The &quot;Supporting Syria and the Region London 2016)&quot; Conference was held on 4 February last week, and more than US$11 billion was pledged to support people in Syria and the region affected by the conflict, the largest amount raised in one day for a humanitarian crisis. Commitments made at the Conference will help to create 1.1 million jobs and provide education to an additional 1 million children. The UK remains at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have doubled our commitment and have now pledged a total of over £2.3 billion, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis.</p><p> </p><p>Across Syria, Assad and other parties to the conflict are wilfully impeding humanitarian access on a daily basis. It is outrageous, unacceptable and illegal to use starvation as a weapon of war.</p><p> </p><p>The UN, the Red Cross Movement and NGO partners are best placed to deliver aid to people who are starving. They have the mandate, expertise and capacity to assess needs and deliver an appropriate, timely response. We continue to press for them to be granted full access to all areas in need. We also lobbied hard for UN Security Council resolutions 2165, 2191 and 2258, enabling the UN to deliver aid across borders without the consent of the regime. As a result, 240 shipments of cross-border aid have been delivered by road to Syrians in need.</p><p> </p><p>The most effective way to get food and medical assistance to vulnerable Syrians is for Assad and all parties to the conflict to adhere to international humanitarian law. That is why the UK Government is calling on the Assad regime and all parties to the conflict to allow immediate and unfettered access to all areas of Syria.</p> answering member constituency New Forest West answering member printed Mr Desmond Swayne question first answered 08/02/2016 14:03:28 answering member 55 label Biography information for Sir Desmond Swayne
tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

449468

registered interest
date	01/02/2016
answering body	Department for International Development
answering dept id	20
answering dept short name	International Development
answering dept sort name	International Development
hansard heading	Syria: Education
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the effect of attacks on schools in Syria on children's education in that country.
tabling member constituency	Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath
tabling member printed	Roger Mullin
uin	25033
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/02/2016 answer text <p>We are deeply concerned about the impact of the conflict on Syrian children and young people. Children continue to be killed, injured and recruited by parties to the conflict. According to the UN, 35 schools were attacked in 2015 alone, with one quarter of all Syrian schools now closed, damaged or destroyed. Consequently 2.1 million children inside Syria are out of school. This will have profound implications for years to come if it is not urgently addressed.</p><p> </p><p>That is why the UK helped to launch and mobilise international support for the No Lost Generation Initiative (NLGI). As part of this support, we have allocated £115 million to provide protection, psychosocial support and education for children affected by the crisis in Syria and the region. As a result, more than 308,000 children have been reached with child protection initiatives inside Syria, mainly in the form of psychosocial consultations and child-friendly spaces. In addition, almost 228,000 children have received formal and informal education inside Syria, allowing them to catch up on lost learning time.</p><p> </p><p>The &quot;Supporting Syria and the Region London 2016&quot; Conference was held on 4 February last week, and more than US$11 billion was pledged to support people in Syria and the region affected by the conflict, the largest amount raised in one day for a humanitarian crisis. Commitments made at the Conference include education for an additional 1 million children.</p> answering member constituency New Forest West answering member printed Mr Desmond Swayne question first answered 08/02/2016 16:48:09 answering member 55 label Biography information for Sir Desmond Swayne
tabling member	4468 label Biography information for Roger Mullin