This year, the UK has contributed up to £250 million of UK aid to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to develop vaccines against emerging epidemic diseases, including COVID-19. We expect this to deliver a portfolio of promising vaccine candidates that take into account the particular contexts, systems, and population needs of people in developing countries, and that people in ODA-eligible countries have access to them as soon as possible.

FCDO-funded programmes are subject to rigorous programme management procedures to monitor progress against expected outcomes, including routine financial and results reporting, audits, and annual reviews. For multi-donor funded organisations, including CEPI, the UK is an active participant in governance boards and committees, and works with other donors to set objectives, monitor performance, and ensure strong financial management and reporting.

The UK has contributed a total of up to £813 million to the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator. This includes up to £250 million of UK Aid to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), an organisation that is supporting the development and manufacturing scale-up of promising COVID-19 vaccines for global use. The UK has committed up to £548 million for the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, which will support access to COVID-19 vaccines for 92 developing countries by contributing to the supply of 1 billion doses in 2021 (subject to vaccines successfully securing stringent regulatory approvals). The UK has also committed £71 million of non-ODA funds to participate in the COVAX Facility for self-financing countries to secure options to vaccines for UK domestic use.

Up to £40 million has been contributed to the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator to support the rapid development of, and access to, treatments for COVID-19. Up to £23 million has been committed to the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) to drive innovation in the development and delivery of tests to combat major diseases affecting the poorest populations, including COVID-19.

The UK is proud to be a global champion for sexual and reproductive health and rights. We promote funding for quality contraception services in national budget planning, a key way to ensure the sustainability of family planning services in the long term.

We do not centrally track every country where we have had these discussions, but can confirm that we strive to support the countries we work in to have a dedicated budget line for contraception in their national strategies, through multilateral dialogue or bilateral dialogue. For example, we support 12 countries (Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, DRC, Ghana, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia) to provide SRHR services and increase national budgets for contraceptives through the UK's Women’s Integrated Sexual Health (WISH) programme. Our support to the Global Financing Facility helps assist in the implementation of plans and budgets for women and children's health, including contraception in 36 countries. Finally, in 69 countries our support to FP2020 helps to promote and support family planning.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a severe impact on those who work in and supply global value chains. 292 million jobs in manufacturing supply chains are at high risk globally due to the COVID-19-related drop in consumer demand. These include 73 million in textiles and garment supply chains – a critical source of labour demand for many of the poorest and most vulnerable workers globally.

Multinational corporations have significant reach and can have a positive impact on their supply chains. DFID is partnering with Unilever to deploy a Hygiene and Behaviour Change Coalition to combat COVID-19 where our support is matched in-kind from Unilever. DFID is also supportive of initiatives such as the ILO/IUTC Action in the Global Garment Industry that encourages good practice. We also support the efforts of organisations like the Ethical Trading Initiative and Fairtrade Foundation, who work with companies to ensure good working conditions in their supply chains. Finally, DFID has provided funding to the Business and COVID-19 Response Centre, which is working to accelerate global learning and action to support the most vulnerable people in companies’ supply chains.

The United Kingdom remains committed to protecting and promoting human rights in Colombia, which the FCO has designated a Human Rights Priority Country. Since 2016, UK support to a network of survivors of sexual violence has helped document 1200 new cases which are now before the transitional justice system. The UK has also funded work to train rural medical professionals in how to attend cases of sexual violence, including with a view to preserving evidence to facilitate convictions. More broadly, the UK has led efforts to strengthen action on conflict-related sexual violence through UN Security Council Peacekeeping Mandates and Resolutions. In April 2019, we advocated and voted for UN Security Council Resolution 2467 on sexual violence in conflict. This specified the importance of a survivor-centric approach in response to conflict-related sexual violence, which is the approach that underpins our programme work in Colombia. The UK remains committed to providing support to help Colombia tackle the legacy of sexual violence from its long conflict, and, as part of the FCO-DFID merger discussions, we will take the opportunity to review, refresh, and build on all existing strategies, as well as developing new approaches where appropriate.

We are aware of increasing needs in the region due to the impact COVID-19, including in Palestinian refugee camps and continue to monitor the situation closely. We are currently reviewing options for support to UNRWA and recognise the central role it plays in the region until a just solution is found for refugees. Until that time, we support all efforts to increase funding to UNRWA, including from key partners such as Germany and Italy.

The UK exercises oversight of UK funding directed through the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa through the Fund’s governance mechanisms. Individual projects such as roadbuilding are assessed for project and contextual risks and in relation to essential standards, including those for health and safety.

We are aware of allegations that Colombian state actors have been illegally gathering surveillance on civil society organisations. We expect state authorities to comply fully with their human rights obligations, and our Embassy in Bogotá regularly raises human rights issues. The United Kingdom is committed to protecting and promoting human rights in Colombia, which is a Human Rights Priority Country.

We work with the Colombian Government, civil society and multilateral partners to support full compliance with human rights obligations in Colombia. Neither the UN nor the IACHR has invited us to support the creation of a commission.

The British Government undertakes extensive risk assessments when designing projects in Colombia and deciding which to fund, including any potential negative impact on human rights. This includes the overseas security and justice assistance (OSJA) process, which is intended to ensure any United Kingdom projects meet our human rights obligations and our values. We continually monitor the effects of our programme work in consultation with colleagues working in Colombia, and make thorough assessments of the impact of our projects.

How the US manages its domestic COVID response is a matter for the US authorities. However, the UK remains in regular contact at the highest levels with our US partners on our joint response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, including discussions on how to deliver a global health response that provides support for the most vulnerable.

1) Since 2011, DFID contributed a total of £52 million core funding to the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

2) Since 2011, DFID contributed £8.5 million non-core funding to the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

Comparable figures beyond December 2018 are not yet available.

DFID has provided no core funding to Women and Children First UK in the years referenced. DFID provided £110,983 non-core funding to Women and Children First UK through the Global Poverty Action Fund during 2016/17. Indirect funding through sub agreements with tier one partners is not centrally held and could only be collated at disproportionate cost.

My Lords, what do the Government want to achieve at the summit in practical terms? Is this about securing offers of money or technical advice? What steps will the Government take to ensure that any pledges are met?

My Lords, Gavi does an excellent job, as I have seen for myself, but if it is to make the impact that it deserves to make, African Governments must act to bridge the $66 billion per year gap in fund- raising. There is a great need for better internal resource mobilisation and enhanced investment in healthcare systems, research, laboratories and the local health industry. Will the Government look at how they can support UK academic research and financial institutions to help bridge that gap?

I note that, as well as giving money to Gavi, the Government are also funding UK-based efforts such as that at the University of Oxford. Given the multiplier advantages of combining funds with others—the fact that there is no way of knowing which of the hundreds of vaccine efforts around the world will be successful and that no one is safe until all are safe—how are the Government deciding the division of funds between national efforts and international efforts such as Gavi?

My Lords, while we commend all the efforts to try to find a vaccine, what steps are the Government taking to work with others on not just finding a vaccine but the supply and, later, the distribution of it? How can we use our role in Gavi to make that work?

My Lords, health systems in the countries where Gavi operates programmes are very stretched, and routine vaccination programmes are suffering from movement restrictions. What assessment have the Government made of the risk of a re-emergence of the diseases which have been suppressed or even eliminated through Gavi’s work?

My Lords, in the forthcoming virtual summit, will my noble friend emphasise that a multilateral approach is far preferable than each Government seeking to go their own way and that those Governments who seek to put their own country first are likely to be the losers? It is in all our interests to stamp out this deadly disease, wherever it is.

My Lords, experts have stressed the importance of nutrition as part of the pandemic response, likening good nutrition in infants to a vaccine against the secondary effects of the pandemic, as it is essential to building strong immune systems. Can the Minister expand on her previous Answers to the House and commit to ensuring that, whatever delays there are to the Nutrition for Growth Summit, there will be no cliff-edge in nutrition financing at the end of this year?

My Lords, I see two challenges to developing the vaccine. It is no less challenging for us to ensure that, once the vaccine is available, everyone has access, with equal distribution, and that it is not too expensive for developing countries, such as Afghanistan, and for refugee camps. Gavi’s advance market commitment is required. I hope that no country has priority before other countries. I would like the Minister to assure me that we will encourage every country that can afford to give more money to Gavi to do so and that, at every bilateral meeting that our Ministers have or the Prime Minister has, they raise this among the other key issues that are affecting the global community now.