World Hunger and the effects of Covid. Government quizzed about how many people they estimate are beneficiaries of UK contributions to World Food Programme projects; what assessment they have made of the impact of the reduction in global economies on those programmes; and what assessment they have made of the likelihood that current contribution levels will be maintained; and Minister Ahmad gives a welcome promise “of our commitment to preventing famine and eradicating hunger and we will work closely with WFP to ensure that the organisation receives the financial support needed to tackle the current and future challenge.”

Sep 21, 2020 | News

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, has provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (HL7843):

Question by Lord Alton of Liverpool:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people they estimate are beneficiaries of UK contributions to World Food Programme projects; what assessment they have made of the impact of the reduction in global economies on those programmes; and what assessment they have made of the likelihood that current contribution levels will be maintained. (HL7843)

Tabled on: 07 September 2020

Answer:
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon:

UK contributions constitute 8.7% of the overall contributions and proportionally, UK has supported 7.5 million people (in 2019).

World Food Programme (WFP) is raising awareness on the secondary impacts and economic implications of COVID-19, likely to result in a massive reduction of vulnerable households’ purchasing power, compromising their access to food.

So far WFP has not seen any reduction in contributions due to COVID-19. Their global forecast for 2020 remains at 7.7 billion USD, down just slightly from the 8 billion in USD received in 2019. If there is an impact, it might be seen in 2021. As of 30 August 2020, the UK was the third largest Government donor to the WFP, with total contributions of 274.5 million USD.

The UK will be making further contributions to WFP during the remainder of the year, with these decisions being taken in consideration of country needs and available resources. The appointment of the UK famine envoy is a further sign of our commitment to preventing famine and eradicating hunger and we will work closely with WFP to ensure that the organisation receives the financial support needed to tackle the current and future challenge.

Date and time of answer: 21 Sep 2020 at 15:58.

Lord David Alton

For 18 years David Alton was a Member of the House of Commons and today he is an Independent Crossbench Life Peer in the UK House of Lords.

Social Media

Subscribe to Blog

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Site Search

Recent Posts

Share This