Asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had
with international counterparts ahead of the Nutrition for Growth
Summit in Paris in 2024.
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs, and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office () (Con)
My Lords, the UK works closely with France and other partners to
promote the integration of nutrition across multiple sectors and
into multilateral programmes to increase financing for nutrition
and build momentum ahead of the next nutrition for growth summit.
Last week’s global food security summit and last month’s
UK-France development dialogue are examples of our continued
partnership on global development. We will continue to work with
France to ensure that it is a success.
(Lab)
My Lords, I welcome the Minister’s response, and I agree that we
have got some positive action here with the summit, which I
attended. But the International Coalition for Advocacy on
Nutrition has published its stock-take report on nutrition, which
showed that the cuts to ODA disproportionately affected our
spending on nutrition. Of course, we know that nutrition is a
multiplier in addressing all the SDGs. So I hope the Minister can
reassure us that we will be sticking to our £1.5 billion pledge
over eight years. Can he tell us how much of that will be spent
on nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive programming?
Finally, can he reassure us that, in advance of Paris, he will
work with civil society and NGOs in preparation for that success?
The UK has been a leader in this field and I hope we can return
to that situation pretty soon.
(Con)
On the latter point, I can absolutely assure the noble Lord that
we are working very closely with civil society—the International
Coalition for Advocacy on Nutrition is just one example. I can
also reassure him that, as a proportion of our various objectives
and interventions, we are seeing an increase in health programmes
that are nutrition-sensitive and an increase in humanitarian aid
that is nutrition-sensitive. Also, in water, sanitation and
health, we are increasing the proportion that we give in ODA
money to nutrition and also to climate: we have recently doubled
our international climate fund spending, and an increased
proportion of that is on nutrition. The £1.5 billion is a floor,
not a ceiling, and I hope that, when we can return to the higher
levels of spending on ODA, the noble Lord will see yet more
increases in this important area.
(LD)
The Minister will be well aware that millions of children still
die of acute malnutrition every year. I come back to a specific
figure here. When will the Government restore the funding to the
global nutrition budget, which they cut by 60% in 2021? When will
they do that?
(Con)
We are reviewing the £1.5 billion next year and we may see
increases as a result of that review. Funding for child wasting,
the deadliest form of malnutrition, is insufficient across the
whole world, and unsustainable. Only a quarter of wasted children
receive treatment and, while 75% of cases are outside of
emergencies, 60% of funding is through unpredictable, short-term
humanitarian channels. We have focused a lot of our spending on
recent crises and want to make sure that we are also integrating
it right across our donor funding streams.
(LD)
My Lords, the Minister will know that nutrition-sensitive funding
is extremely broad. The noble Lord, Lord Collins, asked what
proportion was nutrition-specific funding, which is the most
impactful element that will have the most meaningful effect. What
proportion of the funding that the Minister outlined is actually
nutrition-specific funding on nutrition programmes, rather than
the very general funding that is nutrition-sensitive?
(Con)
I tried to address the point when I responded to the noble Lord
who asked the Question. I can give the noble Lord more specific
details if he wishes. From 2020 to 2021, the proportion of health
programmes that were nutrition-sensitive and nutrition-specific
rose respectively from 20% to 23% and from 23% to 24%. Other
areas, for example water, sanitation and hygiene, are crucial,
because if children are suffering from other ailments, they
cannot possibly start to recover the body weight that they need.
That proportion has increased from 17% to 37%, and I am very
happy to give the noble Lord more details if he wishes.
(Con)
Following on from the question from the noble Lord, , about overseas aid,
is it not better, when considering reinstatement of the 0.7%
target, that we look, as the Canadians do, at a project-based
system that focuses on the most acute need, which will deliver
the best value for our taxpayer funding and will retain strong
public support?
(Con)
I understand the point made by my noble friend and I would refer
him to the White Paper that we published last week, which has
been widely accepted by those who really understand these issues
as a good attempt to try to integrate issues such as nutrition in
so many different areas. We have to carry the public with us.
Very often, when you ask in a public meeting what percentage
people think that we spend on overseas aid, they give you a
vastly greater amount than we actually do. We need to explain
that it is going to change people’s lives and, hopefully, make
economies better, reduce the need for people to migrate and keep
stability. There are so many different strands to this, and we
need to make that case, which was eloquently made in the White
Paper.
(Con)
My Lords, to coincide with last year’s Commonwealth Games, there
was also the Commonwealth food futures 2022 summit, to discuss
exactly these issues. Can the Minister tell us what other
international organisations the Government are working with to
ensure that we really improve the nutrition of the very poorest
and most needy on this planet?
(Con)
We think that the nutrition for growth dialogue on an annual
basis, holding ourselves to account, is really important. We
co-hosted the global food security summit, which was held last
week in Lancaster House, with Somalia and the United Arab
Emirates. The nutrition for growth proposal is that the next
meeting should take place in Paris. We are working very closely
with the French on this. My colleague, , has met with them and with
the director general, Melinda Bohannon, to try to work out how we
can make this next phase really effective. In the short time that
I have been in the department, I have seen how transparent we are
in the quantities that we give and how we explain it. I hope that
noble Lords will look at the White Paper and see how we are
working with so many other different parties, particularly civil
society, in achieving this.
(LD)
My Lords, the Minister will be aware of the good work being done
by Gavi on vaccination across the world. However, is he aware
that Gavi is now aware of the link between vaccination
effectiveness and nutrition in children? Undernourished children
do not have as beneficial a response to the vaccination as they
should. That is why Gavi has now linked the two things in its
campaigning. Will the Government support that?
(Con)
The noble Baroness says much more eloquently what I was trying to
say earlier. If you deal with various other health outcomes, you
have a much better chance of getting a sustained improvement, for
children in particular. I absolutely agree with what she says and
I am very happy to work with Gavi on this.
(Lab)
My Lords, following on from the previous question, can the
Minister tell the House how the Government do the metrics to
ensure that the impacts of the nutrition programmes are as
effective as they could be, particularly, for example, in areas
of health? Can he give us some indication of how that is done? I
have not read the White Paper, admittedly.
(Con)
The White Paper seeks to set out how we hold ourselves
accountable to the amounts of ODA that we give and to which
areas. I cannot, particularly in a short moment here—even if I
knew it—give the noble Lord the details of the metrics, but I
urge him to look at the White Paper and, if he still requires
information, I would be very happy to arrange for him to meet
officials or to write to him.
(Con)
My Lords, will the Minister look favourably on the work—and
applaud the work—done by non-governmental organisations in the
third world in this regard? I had the privilege, with a number of
colleagues more than 10 years ago, to travel with Nestlé to see
the work it was doing in Africa in regard to the provision of
nutrition, water and sanitation. Will he applaud the work that it
does, together with Governments, in this regard?
(Con)
Non-governmental organisations and those who work for them do
heroic work in some of the most difficult parts of the world. We
recently debated in this House the situation in Sudan and South
Sudan. One of the difficulties that we have is getting people on
to the ground, getting them visas and getting them safely to
places where they can deliver aid. NGOs, faith-based
organisations and civil society are absolutely vital for the
effective implementation of overseas development aid.
