Live International Development Questions House of Commons

Order, order. Holly Lynch. Question number one. We are doing climate

smart development, and through the international climate fund we are

helping millions of people cope with the effects of climate change and

giving 6.2 million people access to clean energy. The Prime Minister

recently announced that over the next five years the UK climate

funding will increase by at least 50%. 2015 is a once in a generation

opportunity to make progress on both international development and

climate change. In countries like Bangladesh and regions of Africa,

connection between climate change and issues like child marriage is

stark. The impact on livelihood of their homes, they are taking the

decision to see their daughters married earlier and earlier in the

hope that at least she will have a roof over her head and enough to

eat. Too often this gamble is leaving girls at risk. We need a

question. I hope that we will resolve climate change in order to

deal with international department. She is right to point out that

climate change has a number of different impacts that go well

beyond simply the environment and impact people, too. She will know

that last year we hold that Girls' On it. This was about harnessing and

increasing the momentum to tackle child marriage worldwide. That is a

flagship programme to do just that -- girls summit. 660 million

Africans currently have no access to power at all. Can Mike honourable

friend explain what she is doing to make sure that the global goals are

met, but being careful and cautious about climate change. She will be

pleased to hear that last week my honourable friend, the member for a

while when garden city, announced a brand-new programme but the UK will

be leading called Energy Africa, it is aborted by Kofi Annan meaning

that we can get energy two people who are least likely to afford it. I

wonder if she is concerned in anyway of the signals that the Department

of energy and climate have been given from this country in the lack

of support for renewable energy on the change in the regime and what

that might mean for lessons in other countries? There are two aspects to

tackling climate change. One is mitigation, many developed countries

like the UK have significant plans to transition to becoming low carbon

economies, but for many others, critically off in developing

countries, the challenge is really about adaptation to how they are

able to read that the climate change, which often hits them first,

but also sustainable growth and development of the less. Could I

congratulate her department on the excellent work that they have done

with the Nepal the government on the community through forestry

programme. It has seen the forest station increase in the poll. Have

we got lessons to learn for other areas in which her department

operates -- Nepal Matt when you work with a grain of nature

and put in place programmes which allowed livelihoods to be sick

successful and profitable, that can go hand-in-hand with preserving the

environment. That is one of the number the department has in place

to tackle reforestation and ensure that it happens. Question number

two. We are supporting 11 partners with ?221 billion for the onset of

winter. Vulnerable refugees will receive warm clothes, thermal

blankets, fuel and cash. The Minister will be aware that in

Lebanon, around 190,000 refugee families do not live in formal

camps. Those who cannot afford to rent accommodation are often forced

to live in tented settlements in rural areas or unfurnished buildings

in urban areas. What steps are the department taking to support those

who live outside as well as inside the refugee camps? As the honourable

gentleman observes, there are no refugee camps in Lebanon. I visited

the settlement to which he refers, and it is precisely for that reason

that we support Unicef and the UNHCR to make the provision that we are

paying for. Code the Minister told a House whether the persecuted

Christians and other religious minorities are able to get into the

camps, and whether they will be able to remain within them and take

winter refuge? Mr Speaker, I have visited camps that are specifically

for Christians. But I would be reluctant to make any kind of aid

provision specific to a religious conversion, because that would be to

port combustible on a conflict which is already in process. Mr Speaker,

refugee children in Europe also face a tough winter. Last week, the UNHCR

expressed concern that unaccompanied children moving in Europe are at a

heightened risk of violence and abuse, especially in reception

centres. Save the children operates in Italy and Greece, they identified

that these children are operating a high level of psychological

distress. Does the Minister agree that is because these children have

arrived in Europe, it does not mean that they are safe, and can he

remind the Prime Minister that I wrote to him on the 11th of

September and I am still awaiting an answer? I don't dig that the Prime

Minister will be needing any reminder about the nature of the

crisis. It is precisely for these reasons that we provide core funding

to the UNHCR and Unicef. The United Kingdom is rightly, in my view,

taking 20,000 refugees. Their right eight categories of profiles of

resettlement under the UNHCR guidelines -- there. Will the

Government be using those guidelines, or will we be

introducing our own guidelines, given that the eight categories do

not include widows orphans? Mr Speaker, we will be using the UNHCR

guidelines. Thank you, Mr Speaker, can I pre-emptively welcome the new

Labour front bench team and look forward to working with them on

these important matters. Does the onset of winter and the challenges

it brings not highlight the importance of the UK playing a

diplomatic role in resolving the crisis in Syria, and does the

Minister agree that as the winter sets in and family start to freeze,

this is what the government migration be prioritising? I agree

in Tiley that we must bend every muscle to providing a settlement --

entirely. In supporting preparation for winter, can Mike honourable

friend confirmed that it is the UK that is taking the lead in Europe in

providing more resources than any of other of our European allies. He is

quite right. This is the greatest humanitarian response that we have

made to any emergency ever. Diane Abbott. There are terrible reports

of the conditions in the Syrian refugee camps on the Greek islands

like Lesbos. No shelter, no food, children's sleeping in bin bags, and

conditions can only get worse as winter approaches. Is the Government

really prepared to turn its back on people like these? We have already

done work and are doing work with the UNHCR and the Red Cross. Chris

Davies. Question three, Mr Speaker. Thank you, Mr Speaker. I should take

the opportunity to welcome the shadow front bench team into their

roles, I look forward to debate but also hopefully constructively

working with them on the common cause on this agenda. Mr Speaker,

the root causes of migration are diverse, they include conflict, lack

of security, and also lack of opportunity and jobs. That is why we

are providing help and security for refugees are affected by the Syrian

prizes, and when we are doubling our jobs and growth it is not only did

for the people in the country, it is in our national interest. The focus

in recent weeks has been on migrants from the Syrian conflict, but what

is her department doing to tackle migration from Africa? Two things,

in short, working to create jobs. We doubled our economic development

work across the department. Also helping African countries cope with

refugees and displaced people that they themselves have, for example in

Ethiopian, Sudan and Kenya. Thank you. Can the Minister confirm that

migrants