PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Development Aid: Coronavirus (2 June 2020)

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what additional budget allocations her Department has made to individual country offices since March 2020 to support the covid-19 response; and what proportion of that additional funding has been allocated to (a) local and (b) international NGOs, by country.

Asked by:
Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat)

Since March 2020 there have been no additional budget allocations to individual country offices, but we have adapted over one hundred existing bilateral health and humanitarian programmes, and close to two hundred existing social protection, economic, governance, conflict and other programmes, across 35 countries and regions relevant to the COVID-19 response. For some programmes this included moving funding from programme components less relevant to the COVID-19 response to increase funding to those that are most in need. Many of these programmes are delivered in part or wholly through NGOs.

We have committed up to £764 million of UK aid to combat COVID-19 and to reinforce the global effort to find a vaccine. £296 million of this has been provided to support the global health response and vulnerable countries. This includes support to UK charities and international organisations to help reduce mass infections in developing countries.

Answered by:
Wendy Morton (Conservative)
9 June 2020