Syria’s neighbours are taking steps to ensure the safety and security of Syrian refugees, most importantly by continuing to provide protection within their borders to those fleeing violence. The UK is assisting the Lebanese and Jordanian governments with the management of their borders, and is funding the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, to provide guidance on best practice and to advocate for the safety and security needs of refugees. The UK also supports a number of specialised partners to help meet the needs of the most vulnerable individuals, including those with urgent medical needs, victims of torture, and sexual and gender-based violence.

DFID engages with both the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education, Science and Technology on how to best ensure all poor Malawians can access good quality education and health care.

General budget support to Malawi was suspended in 2011 due to concerns relating to human rights and public financial management. Tightly managed sector budget support for health and education was continued by all donors but following the Cashgate scandal in November 2013 this too was suspended. There can be no consideration of putting UK funding through Malawi government systems until the integrity of the Government’s financial management systems has been restored and independently verified. However, the UK is still committed to poverty reduction and supporting poor people in Malawi, through a large programme of ongoing investments delivered outside of government systems, in health, education, agriculture, water and sanitation, economic development and governance.

Since November 2013 to date the DFID bilateral programme in Malawi has disbursed £ 70.4 million to NGOs, Multilaterals and other non-state channels outside of government systems. Expected outcomes include:

- An important contribution to meeting contraception needs in a country with a high total fertility rate and increasing population pressure. By 2016, the UK’s Malawi Family Planning Programme is expected to support 800,000 additional women to access and use modern methods of family planning.

- Improved access to Water and Sanitation. 750,000 people will have access to clean drinking water sources by 2016.

- Supporting 15,000 girls to benefit from secondary school bursaries by 2016.

- Supporting improved health outcomes. DFID support is currently supplying the bulk of emergency drugs and medical supplies to Malawi’s hospitals.

- Helping to strengthen civil society in Malawi to hold their government accountable for the provision of basic services.

- Supporting 370,000 people to access relief food supplies; provision of emergency water, sanitation and hygiene facilities for 34,000 people; and assisting 54,000 people with seeds and tools to rebuild their lives after recent floods washed their crops away.

Full details of these outcomes and others are available in DFID’s Operational Plan 2011-2016 accessible online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/389289/Malawi.pdf .

General budget support to Malawi was suspended in 2011 due to concerns relating to human rights and public financial management. Tightly managed sector budget support for health and education was continued by all donors but following the Cash-gate scandal in November 2013 this too was suspended. There can be no consideration of putting UK funding through Malawi government systems until the integrity of the Government’s financial management systems has been restored and independently verified. However, the UK is still committed to poverty reduction and supporting poor people in Malawi, through a large programme of ongoing investments delivered, in health, education, agriculture, water and sanitation, economic development and governance.

In the wake of the Cash-gate corruption scandal in 2013, we have funded a forensic audit as well as technical assistance to the investigation agencies to help bring the culprits to court and continue to support public financial management reforms.

The UK is in regular dialogue with the Government of Nigeria about support to victims of Boko Haram. This includes discussing the importance of the Government of Nigeria’s continued support to international aid agencies.

We do not currently record tax programmes under a separate spend code but we have been expanding our work on tax and transparency over the Parliament. This includes the establishment of a specialist Developing Country Capacity Building Unit in HMRC, to deploy HMRC staff to provide technical expertise in support of these efforts.

Statistics on Overseas Development Assistance are published by calendar year in line with international best practice. Information on country of spend is available from the National Statistics publication ‘Statistics on International Development’ https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistics-on-international-development-2014 . Information on spend by specific project is available from the Development Tracker http://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/

We do not currently record tax programmes under a separate spend code but we have been expanding our work on tax and transparency over the Parliament. This includes the establishment of a specialist Developing Country Capacity Building Unit in HMRC, to deploy HMRC staff to provide technical expertise in support of these efforts.

Statistics on Overseas Development Assistance are published by calendar year in line with international best practice. Information on country of spend is available from the National Statistics publication ‘Statistics on International Development’ https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistics-on-international-development-2014 . Information on spend by specific project is available from the Development Tracker http://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/

We do not currently record tax programmes under a separate spend code but we have been expanding our work on tax and transparency over the Parliament. This includes the establishment of a specialist Developing Country Capacity Building Unit in HMRC, to deploy HMRC staff to provide technical expertise in support of these efforts.

Statistics on Overseas Development Assistance are published by calendar year in line with international best practice. Information on country of spend is available from the National Statistics publication ‘Statistics on International Development’ https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistics-on-international-development-2014 . Information on spend by specific project is available from the Development Tracker http://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/

The UK Government is clear that Lebanon must meet its international obligations to permit humanitarian entry to refugees fleeing conflict in Syria.

The estimated numbers of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff members are one FTE in 2008/09 and 2009/10, two in 2010/11 and four in 2011/12 and 2013/14. These are staff based in the UK working specifically on tax and do not include the wide range of staff across the Department, including policy, financial, corporate advisers and staff in country offices, who also work on tax. This does not include HMRC staff providing tax capacity technical assistance in DFID partner countries.

The UK has provided £1 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to deliver food, safe water, clothes, shelter material and other basic necessities to those people displaced following attacks by Boko Haram.

A further £1 million of UK funding is committed to the Nigerian Government’s “Safe Schools Initiative” to help protect children at school in North East Nigeria and provide schooling to children displaced by the violence. The UK has also contributed £1.7 million to the UN’s and EU’s relief efforts.

The humanitarian response needs to be led by the Government of Nigeria and supported by the UN. DFID is working closely with the UN and other international partners both in Nigeria and in the region to ensure that humanitarian needs are met.

DFID is in regular contact with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) at country, regional and headquarter levels about all aspects of their mandate, including the protection, safety and security of refugees.

The standard terms of contract for DFID are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-international-development/about/procurement .

2 UK accountancy institutes have completed deployments in Zambia and Ethiopia since April 2014. A further 3 deployments are scheduled to take place in the first quarter of next year, with future deployments thereafter.

This work was taken forward under the auspices of the MENA-OECD project “Supporting women as economic actors during the transition period”, which analyses to what extent legal provisions influence women’s economic participation. The project is expected to complete in May 2015, providing concrete recommendations to improve legal frameworks.

The Department for International Development did not utilise any future year budget to deliver its contribution to Officials Development Assistance in 2013.

The UK is a strong supporter of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The International Development Secretary recently confirmed the UK commitment of up to £1 billion to Gavi for 2016 to 2020, two months ahead of the pledging conference, to encourage other donors to step up and support Gavi to save over 5 million lives. I am, along with Ministerial colleagues, actively approaching Ministers in other governments to encourage them to commit further funding to ensure the full $7.5 billion is achieved.

DFID Ministers and officials regularly meet representatives from Medecins sans Frontieres, ActionAid, CARE, Concern, International Rescue Committee, Save the Children, UNICEF and World Vision to discuss Ebola.