Speeches by Macdonald.

“I was asking more historically, because we had seen that under the previous Government, with that aid really falling. Were people saying that we should be investing more in this area and it just was not happening?”

“Sometimes it makes you question, because it is mainstreamed gender, whether anyone is actually looking at aggregate impact on women and girls across all the cuts. We can leave it there for now.”

“Just to go back to the question of multilateral and bilateral spending and your priorities, obviously we make our decisions as a country, but we are going to see a change of Administration in the US, which is the largest donor by volume. Admittedly, less of its aid goes to multilateral aid, but President-elect Trump ha…”

“Going back to women and girls, we obviously know that, when development is focused on women and girls, it is more effective. There is a statutory obligation to consider gender equality, and I emphasise the word “consider” because I want to come on to that. You said it was one of your priorities. When I asked the offici…”

“I am just conscious of the time. Can I just push a little bit on the consideration versus the primary objective? My understanding at the moment is that ODA spending on gender equality is where it has a focus, but not necessarily the primary objective. Are you considering changing that so actually there is a target for …”

“I have just one more point before I move quickly to Afghanistan. In terms of the empowerment of women and girls, is this still going to be funded through individual programmes rather than having a general goal 5 empowerment fund in the Department? Is the funding and prioritisation mainstreamed through individual progra…”

“I am going to come on to that in a minute.”

“Just on Afghanistan, obviously you mentioned it at the beginning. I think it has been described as the worst abuse of women’s rights in the world. There are calls for what is happening there to be recognised as gender apartheid and a push for that to be codified within international law. Would you describe it as gender…”

“Just on the specifics, and we might need to follow up, it feels to me that it is very difficult to do lots of things. There is this real push around using international humanitarian law. There was the draft global treaty on targeting crimes against humanity. I suppose I am trying to understand whether the UK supports m…”

“Going back to women and girls, we obviously know that, when development is focused on women and girls, it is more effective. There is a statutory obligation to consider gender equality, and I emphasise the word “consider” because I want to come on to that. You said it was one of your priorities. When I asked the offici…”

“I have two specific questions on two areas of funding. I will do them together just for time. The 2023 statistics show that the bilateral ODA for humanitarian support fell by roughly 20% from 2022. That is where we have seen big cuts. What was the justification for that cut? Also, we know that gender equality is meant …”

“There are an estimated 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza, with more than 180 births taking place every day. None of us can imagine the hell of Gaza, let alone being pregnant in it. Ultimately, we need a ceasefire, but the health system is on its knees. Will the Minister expand on whether he has specifically raised the issu…”

“I am just conscious of the time. Can I just push a little bit on the consideration versus the primary objective? My understanding at the moment is that ODA spending on gender equality is where it has a focus, but not necessarily the primary objective. Are you considering changing that so actually there is a target for …”

“I am going to come on to that in a minute.”

“Just on Afghanistan, obviously you mentioned it at the beginning. I think it has been described as the worst abuse of women’s rights in the world. There are calls for what is happening there to be recognised as gender apartheid and a push for that to be codified within international law. Would you describe it as gender…”

“Just on the specifics, and we might need to follow up, it feels to me that it is very difficult to do lots of things. There is this real push around using international humanitarian law. There was the draft global treaty on targeting crimes against humanity. I suppose I am trying to understand whether the UK supports m…”

“Expanding on some specific areas of spend—humanitarian and gender equality, I wanted to ask about—you spoke about some areas where there is some predictability, but obviously in humanitarian assistance that is not so clear. How do you anticipate what might happen and allocate contingency? For example, where does the £5…”

“Given how many conflicts there are in the world and how much need there is for spending, do you think that you are going to have similar levels of underspend this year?”

“I have just one more point before I move quickly to Afghanistan. In terms of the empowerment of women and girls, is this still going to be funded through individual programmes rather than having a general goal 5 empowerment fund in the Department? Is the funding and prioritisation mainstreamed through individual progra…”

“Expanding on some specific areas of spend—humanitarian and gender equality, I wanted to ask about—you spoke about some areas where there is some predictability, but obviously in humanitarian assistance that is not so clear. How do you anticipate what might happen and allocate contingency? For example, where does the £5…”