Written questions by Naish.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will include Women, Peace and Security as a core theme of the UK's Presidency of the UN Security Council.

Details of our plans for the UK's Presidency of the UN Security Council will be set out in the usual way in due course. In the interim, I refer the Hon Member to the Foreign Secretary's speech on 24 November 2025 confirming the importance that this Government attaches to the Women, Peace and Security agenda, which is available at this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/twenty-five-years-of-women-peace-and-security

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the UK will contribute £1 billion to the Eighth Replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 10 September 2025 to Questions 72852 and 72853.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with her US counterpart on (a) lifting restrictions on crossings and (b) restoring UN-led, coordinated humanitarian operations in Gaza.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer of 15 September to Question 77707.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with her Israeli counterparts on opening secure humanitarian corridors across Gaza.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer of 15 September to Question 77707.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent representations she has made to her Israeli counterpart on (a) humanitarian access being limited to (i) Kerem Shalom and (ii) Kissufim and (b) the closure of Zikim.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer of 15 September to Question 77707.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of Israel’s evacuation order from Gaza City on the adequacy of (a) food, (b) medical supplies and (c) space in humanitarian zones.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer of 17 September to Question 71870.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he is having with the government of Israel on removing its new registration requirements for INGOs in Gaza.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer of 15 September to Question 77707.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to continue the Healthy Women, Children and Newborns approach in (a) 2026 and (b) 2027.

The UK is committed to supporting global efforts to end preventable maternal, child and newborn deaths by 2030, in line with Sustainable Development Goal targets through the Healthy Women, Children and Newborn approach.Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocations and the impact on programmes are being worked through. We will be taking a rigorous approach to ensure all ODA delivers value for money. We will set out our spending plans following the completion of resource allocation processes.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether any nutrition programmes have had their budget reduced in 2025-26.

The 2025 Spending Review has confirmed the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office's (FCDO) Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget for 2025-26. With the overall reductions to ODA budgets across the Department, there has been some impact to the central nutrition budget but decisions across Posts are yet to be finalised. The FCDO will be able to assess the financial impact of this spending review on nutrition-related spend in 2027 once nutrition-related spend data is consolidated.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps he is taking with his counterparts in multilateral organisations to (a) defend and (b) advance sexual and reproductive (i) health and (ii) rights.

The UK works with multilateral organisations including the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), World Health Organisation and the Global Financing Facility, alongside governments and civil society and provides targeted funding, technical partnership and diplomatic engagement to defend and advance sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).Earlier this year on International Women's Day, the Foreign Secretary appointed Baroness Harman as Special Envoy for Women and Girls, progressing our foreign policy and development objectives to protect women and girls' rights, including SRHR. In June 2026, she met with international counterparts and programme partners at Wilton Park, expressing the UK's commitment to defending and advancing SRHR.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what plans he has to help (a) advance gender equality and (b) protect women’s and girls’ rights through multilateral negotiations.

I refer my Hon Friend to the answer I gave him on 9 September to Question 71594.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what information his Department holds on the number of children expected to be impacted by planned reductions to Official Development Assistance spending on nutrition programmes in 2025-26.

Our 2025/26 Official Development Assistance (ODA) programme allocations reflect the first step as we begin to pivot to a lower ODA budget. An Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) - which considers impacts on women and girls and wider equalities - was an essential part of how the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) made these decisions. Final 2025/26 ODA programme allocations were published in the FCDO Annual Report & Accounts on 22 July alongside the EIA. As confirmed by the EIA, the allocations process for 2025/26 has protected against disproportionate impacts on women and girls and people living with disabilities.The UK remains committed to tackling gender inequality around the world and we are placing women and girls at the heart of our international work.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has specified (a) targets and (b) benchmarks for gender equality spending from the ODA budget as a (i) principal and (ii) significant objective.

As we transition to spending 0.3 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) on Official Development Assistance (ODA), the Government is reviewing existing commitments. Detailed decisions on how the ODA budget will be used from 2026/27 to 2028/29 will be informed by impact assessments, ahead of publishing multi-year allocations.Data on ODA spend is available in the Statistics on International Development publications, which are available for 2023 and provisionally for 2024. Data is available broken down by sector for the 2023 publication, including social sector spending on health and education, and humanitarian aid. Further information and annual reviews on specific programmes, including those with a specific focus on equalities, can be found on GOV.UK's Development Tracker.The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office remains steadfast in its commitment to promoting gender equality around the world, and is taking steps to strengthen the integration of gender equality across the Department's work.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of reductions in ODA on levels of funding for programmes with gender equality objectives.

Our 2025/26 Official Development Assistance (ODA) programme allocations reflect the first step as we begin to pivot to a lower ODA budget. An Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) - which considers impacts on women and girls and wider equalities - was an essential part of how the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) made these decisions. Final 2025/26 ODA programme allocations were published in the FCDO Annual Report & Accounts on 22 July alongside the EIA. As confirmed by the EIA, the allocations process for 2025/26 has protected against disproportionate impacts on women and girls and people living with disabilities.The UK remains committed to tackling gender inequality around the world and we are placing women and girls at the heart of our international work.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department plans to publish annual reports on the outcomes of ODA spending on (a) gender equality initiatives and (b) whether the (i) principal and (ii) significant objectives of that spending has been achieved.

As we transition to spending 0.3 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) on Official Development Assistance (ODA), the Government is reviewing existing commitments. Detailed decisions on how the ODA budget will be used from 2026/27 to 2028/29 will be informed by impact assessments, ahead of publishing multi-year allocations.Data on ODA spend is available in the Statistics on International Development publications, which are available for 2023 and provisionally for 2024. Data is available broken down by sector for the 2023 publication, including social sector spending on health and education, and humanitarian aid. Further information and annual reviews on specific programmes, including those with a specific focus on equalities, can be found on GOV.UK's Development Tracker.The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office remains steadfast in its commitment to promoting gender equality around the world, and is taking steps to strengthen the integration of gender equality across the Department's work.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment the Department has made of the potential merits of funding more programmes that support gender equality as their main objective.

The UK remains steadfast in its commitment to promoting gender equality around the world, and stands in solidarity with women's rights organisations who are on the frontline of that fight. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) recognises that advancing gender equality and breaking down the barriers faced by women and girls is essential to development and to delivering the missions of this government overseas.The FCDO is taking steps to strengthen the integration of gender equality across the Department's work. This will ensure we maximise the impacts for women, girls, and marginalised groups across all our spend and through our diplomatic levers, including by driving innovation to generate sustainable funding flows for women's rights.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what information his Department holds on the number of children expected to be impacted by the planned reductions to Official Development Assistance spending on health programmes in 2025-26 in (a) Democratic Republic of Congo, (b) Mozambique, (c) Zimbabwe and (d) Ethiopia.

To assess the impact of decisions on Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocations in 2025/26, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) conducted an equality impact assessment (EIA). While this did not capture the requested information and the data cannot readily be obtained for the purposes of answering this question, the EIA we have published confirmed we have avoided disproportionate negative impacts on women and girls and people living with disabilities in our 2025/26 ODA allocations.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much funding he plans to provide for programmes supporting (a) nutrition and (b) primary health care services in each of the next three financial years; and if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of that funding on levels of immunisation in affected countries.

We remain committed to strengthening health systems through a Primary Health Care approach that includes nutrition. We continue to support integrating nutrition into other sector investments, with the Global Compact on Nutrition Integration an important mechanism in achieving this. Over the coming months, we will work through detailed decisions on how the Official Development Assistance budget will be used from 26/27 onwards, informed by internal and external consultation and impact assessments, ahead of publishing indicative multi-year allocations in the autumn.At the Gavi Summit on 25 June 2025, the Foreign Secretary announced an additional £1.25 billion investment in Gavi for 2026 - 2030. This commitment will help support Gavi to partner with countries to immunise up to 500 million more children and save up to 8 million more lives through a primary health care approach. We are currently working through how best to allocate our new funding across the 5-year period.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to retain civil servants in his Department with expertise in (a) maternal, (b) new born and (c) child health policy.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has a well established and highly skilled health profession made up of 61 health advisers who have been tested and accredited against a set of technical standards. These include specialist skill sets in strengthening health systems for maternal, newborn and child health. Advisers are assessed during formal accreditation exercises at either the affiliate, practitioner or expert level and deployed throughout the FCDO technical and geographical departments. For example, the FCDO deploys health advisers in Nigeria, Somalia, Malawi, and Ethiopia, to help reduce maternal and child mortality.A robust learning and professional development framework is in place and includes a comprehensive Global Health toolkit, the Global Health hub, monthly bulletins, and a dedicated communications and engagement distribution list with over 400 members. The recent Health Advisers' Professional Development Conference held 3-5 June 2025 in London provided a platform for knowledge exchange and upskilling for 85 FCDO health advisers and affiliates.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent diplomatic steps he has taken to help support the (a) repair of damaged water pipelines and (b) continued operation of desalination plants in Gaza.

Gaza's desalination plants rely on fuel and hardly any fuel has been allowed to enter Gaza for over 4 months. The acute shortage is threatening to shut down water supply, hospitals and ambulances. The UK continues to demand a full and unhindered resumption of aid, including fuel, into Gaza immediately, and for the repair and protection of essential civilian infrastructure. We continue to raise this issue as a matter of priority with our Israeli counterparts.Recognising the vital role that desalination plants play in providing clean drinking water to civilians in Gaza, the UK supported efforts to establish a Gaza Central Desalination Programme through the World Bank. This work is currently on hold due to the conflict, and the programme has been restructured to meet urgent, short-term water needs in Gaza.