UK Government aid is delivered impartially and based on need. We focus our aid investment and expertise on the highest priority issues where we can make the most difference and achieve maximum impact in Nigeria. Everyone has an equal right to UK Government aid regardless of their beliefs. In Nigeria, our humanitarian assistance programme is aligned with the UN Humanitarian Response Plan, which is focused primarily on North East Nigeria, due to the extremely large scale and deep severity of humanitarian needs there.

The deteriorating humanitarian situation in Nigeria, particularly in the North East, has resulted in 8.3 million people requiring some form of humanitarian assistance. However, growing insecurity presents a high-risk environment for all aid workers as impediments to humanitarian access have increased. As enshrined in International Humanitarian Law, aid workers must never be a target of violence. Our aid programmes in Nigeria support partners to advise on safety and facilitate sustained and unhindered humanitarian access for aid workers, including through our funding for the UN Humanitarian Air Service and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The value for money and performance of multilateral organisations receiving Official Development Assistance (ODA) is continually assessed in FCDO annual reviews and business cases, as well as by the independent Multilateral Organisation Performance Assessment Network (MOPAN), which the UK is a member of. Multilateral ODA offers value for money by providing economies of scale and leveraging private sector investment. The UK's funding to multilateral organisations was reviewed for alignment to UK objectives and organisational effectiveness through the Multilateral Development Review (MDR) in 2016. The Independent Commission for Aid Impact also independently scrutinises the impact of UK ODA to multilaterals, for example reviews of 'The UK support to the World Bank's International Development Association' and 'Tackling fraud in UK aid through multilateral organisations' were completed this year.

In 2021 UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) was £11,496 million. Of this, 38.4 percent was delivered through core contributions to multilateral organisations (£4,411 million).

Source: Statistics on International Development: Provisional UK Aid Spend 2021.

In 2022, the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) scored UK's support to the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) as green/amber. This view is supported by FCDO which monitors and shapes Bank operations at the World Bank Board and in borrower countries.

In 2021, during IDA20 replenishment negotiations, FCDO ensured IDA priorities are well-aligned with UK's aims for its Official Development Assistance (ODA) including on gender, disability and fragility. IDA and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development were judged as value for money for UK ODA in business cases (IDA 2021, IBRD 2018).

In internal 2021 IDA19 and 2020 IBRD Annual Reviews both programmes met expectation.

The Somerset Levels and Moors remains prone to flooding, due to its low-lying nature and a rapidly changing climate. £80 million of public investment has been made in this landscape following the floods of 2013-14 to help it adapt. This significant investment has allowed improved physical infrastructure that allows pre-emptive action to be taken to delay the onset of flooding and to evacuate water more effectively from this low-lying area. This enables communities to be more resilient and to recover more rapidly from flooding.

The Environment Agency is implementing nature-based solutions at a landscape scale and working with individual landowners to support this, enhance biodiversity and increase the capacity of the landscape to absorb water and slow flooding whilst creating carbon storage.

Construction work will start next year on the £100 million Bridgwater Barrier, one of the largest flood defence schemes in the country, which was identified as an action in the 20-year Flood Action Plan for Somerset. This will reduce tidal flood risk to over 13,000 residential homes and businesses and ensure that high tide levels do not adversely impact on the Somerset Levels and Moors.

Nigeria's Constitution guarantees freedom of religion or belief. The security situation in Nigeria, and its impact on Christians and other religious or belief minorities is complex.

In the North East, terrorist groups such as Islamic State West Africa (ISWA) and Boko Haram have caused immense suffering to both Christian and Muslim communities. These groups seek to undermine the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) by indiscriminately attacking those of all faiths or beliefs who do not subscribe to their extremist views.

Elsewhere in Nigeria, intercommunal violence has had a devastating impact on both Christian and Muslim communities. Our assessment is that religious identity can be a factor in incidents of intercommunal violence, but the underlying drivers are more complex. These include competition over land and natural resources, which has been exacerbated by climate change, historical grievances, and criminality.

We will continue to make clear to the Nigerian authorities at the highest levels the importance of protecting civilians, including religious or belief minorities, and human rights for all Nigerians.

Under section 94 of the Water Industry Act 1991, sewerage undertakers have duties requiring them to provide, improve and extend their networks to ensure their area is properly drained.

Recognising the importance of having a robust drainage system both now and for future demands, a new statutory duty through the Environment Act 2021 will require water companies to produce comprehensive Drainage and Sewerage Management Plans from spring 2023. The first cycle of non-statutory planning is underway with draft plans being consulted on this summer, and final plans due spring 2023.

Sewerage companies are working with other risk management authorities to produce these plans, which will provide a full assessment of the condition and capacity of their networks and enable development of collaborative solutions. Statutory duties will better ensure companies identify long-term infrastructure needs and set out how they will manage and develop their sewerage networks.

Under the Water Industry Act, Ofwat has a statutory duty to ensure that companies can finance their functions, including those related to their statutory obligations.

The UK and Eritrea have diplomatic relations. We use that to pursue areas of agreement and disagreement. We see human rights, development, regional issues and Ukraine on very different terms, which we make very clear.

No UK-based humanitarian organisations are operating in Eritrea due to the restrictions imposed by the Eritrean Government in the early 2000s. These restrictions apply to all international NGOs.

The UK has committed £500,000 of targeted humanitarian assistance through UNICEF in 2021/22, mainly to treat and prevent acute malnutrition of children and women, and mitigate the risk of communicable diseases.

Russia has long sought to pursue interests on the Red Sea. We continually monitor developments in the region.

Natural England is not aware of, or currently investigating, any recent incidences on the Blackmore Vale Commons and Moors SSSIs.

Local authorities are responsible for keeping relevant land (land, which is open to the air, under the direct control of the authority, and accessible to the public with or without payment, as defined in the Environmental Protection Act 1990) clear of litter and refuse. Landowners are responsible for the land that they own.

Local and national park authorities (authorities) must remove abandoned vehicles from any land in the open air (including private land) and roads (including private roads). Authorities do not have to remove an abandoned vehicle if the cost of moving it from open land to the nearest convenient road is determined to be unreasonably high (for example, if special machinery is needed).

The Environment Agency has a role in circumstances where an incident may affect a watercourse and could potentially cause flooding or pollution. Both local authorities and the Environment Agency carry out investigations and can take enforcement action against fly-tipping.

If fly-tipping occurs on an SSSI, this would be investigated by Natural England and enforcement action taken if SSSI features have been damaged. Natural England can take enforcement action on the owner/occupier or third party who:

• Intentionally or recklessly damages the SSSI
• Destroys any of the features of special interest
• Disturbs wildlife for which the site was notified
• Carries out list operation without consent.

We are extremely concerned by reports of widespread human rights violations and abuses in Ethiopia committed by all sides in the conflict. The Foreign Secretary spoke to Deputy Prime Minister Demeke on 5 November. Our Ambassador in Addis Ababa spoke to Prime Minister Abiy on 28 October. The Minister for Africa spoke at a Westminster Hall Debate on 3 November and highlighted the horrific scale and nature of human rights abuses against civilians as reported by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. It is essential that all those responsible for human rights violations and abuses be held to account. All parties must implement the report's recommendations and ensure that victims have access to support. We have stressed the need for Ethiopia to safeguard its incredible diversity of faith and identity in order to uphold freedom of religion and belief.

The Foreign Secretary, our Ambassador in Addis Ababa and the Minister for Africa continue to raise human rights issues in our discussions with the Ethiopian Government and more broadly we have reminded all warring parties of their obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law. The Minister for Africa raised our concerns about ethnic profiling and detentions with Ethiopian State Minister Redwan on 18 November, and made clear our concerns about hate speech in her tweet of 30 November. Our priority is to ensure that Ethiopians, irrespective of ethnicity, religion and political affiliation, receive life-saving aid and that humanitarian access to areas affected by conflict and insecurity is restored.

The UK Government frequently voices our concern about arbitrary arrests and detentions in Eritrea, including on the basis of religion or belief. We have called for release of such worshippers, directly with the Government of Eritrea, and publicly - through our annual reporting on human rights, at the UN Human Rights Council, and on 25 October through our statement at the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Eritrea during the third committee of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly. There has been no progress with Eritrea's implementation of its 2019 Universal Periodic Review recommendations, including those promoting Freedom of Religion or Belief.

The Environment Agency (EA) is acutely conscious of the impacts that flooding has on local communities in the Somerset Levels and Moors and is spending around £3 million each year on flood risk management asset operation and maintenance in the Levels and Moors. This financial year, the EA is forecasted to spend £1.3 million on repairing 20 assets in the area and will continue to collaborate with partners through the Somerset Prepared initiative to train community flood wardens and improve local resilience to flooding.

The EA has a sizeable fleet of plant and equipment at the centrally located Bradney Depot, including Ultra High Volume Pumps, sandbags, flood barriers, excavators, and other specialist plant and equipment. It also operates a ‘trigger point’ early warning system on a number of the moors, where incident response activity kicks in well before actual risk to property. This allows the use of permanent pumping stations to be maximised and gives the option of bringing in extra temporary pumping capacity if required, especially at key locations like Currymoor Flood Storage Reservoir.

In addition, construction works are underway to enhance the capacity of the River Sowy/Kings Sedgemoor Drain. These works are being delivered by the EA but funded by the Somerset Rivers Authority and will help reduce the flood risk to a number of communities. This work will be completed before winter.

The concept of ‘rewilding’ is a relatively new and evolving concept and as such, it is currently defined and approached in different ways. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is developing a conceptual and methodological framework for rewilding with the goal of restoring functional native ecosystems, which - where possible - are self-sustaining. We will continue to develop our definition and approach to rewilding working with the IUCN and other expert stakeholders.

Environment Agency monitoring data show dramatic reductions in phosphorus concentrations in English rivers over the last 25 years. Average concentrations now are about one-fifth of those in the mid-1990s.

The Environment Agency has also assessed the loadings of phosphorus entering rivers from water company sewage treatment works nationally. From 1995 to 2020 the phosphorus loadings were reduced by 66 percent.

The amounts of phosphorus applied to land as fertiliser have also reduced significantly over the last 25 years and livestock numbers have fallen leading to less manure production.

The overall largest source of phosphorus entering English rivers is effluent from water industry sewage treatment works, contributing about 70% of the total phosphorus loading. 25-30% of phosphorus entering rivers comes from agriculture. For lakes, agriculture tends to be the largest contributor.

Other sources of phosphate are relatively small (less than 5%) at a national scale but can sometimes be important at a local level. These include effluent from septic tanks, road/urban runoff, leaking sewers and storm overflows.

As the Government’s conservation advisory body, condition assessments of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) are carried out by Natural England. Natural England’s assessment of the Somerset Levels and Moors SSSIs is based on the latest available evidence including monitoring and modelling work carried out by Wessex Water and agreed with the Environment Agency.

A full assessment of Natural England’s evaluation has been set out in their SSSI condition change briefing note. This was published in May 2021 and is attached here.

In 2019 Defra published an evidence review of the status and risks to UK pollinating insects, developed with leading academics supporting our National Pollinator Strategy.

This review did not identify artificial light as a driver of insect trends. However, we are aware of recent scientific studies that have identified impacts of artificial light on the behaviour and physiology of some insect species. Generally, these studies highlight the need for further research to understand the significance of these impacts.

Defra has published or contributed to a range of assessments of the impact of artificial light on insects and wider biodiversity, as well as global and national assessments of the drivers of biodiversity loss more generally, and will continue to work with our academic partners so that emerging evidence is kept under review.

We have measures in place to mitigate the impacts of artificial light, through the planning system, the statutory nuisance regime, and where possible with improvements to street lighting.

Additionally, we are investing in pollinator monitoring to better understand populations trends and continue to take the right action to support recovery.