Anneliese Dodds MP: speeches

Speeches

• 28 Jan 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising the importance of the lodestar of the two-state solution, which we must always aim at. Israelis and Palestinians rightly deserve a state of security, and the sovereignty that he is committed to. On the role of UNRWA, we have had many discussions with its leadership and other international partners. Ultimately, a two-state solution would enable the normalisation of the economy that is needed, and hopefully a shift away from the humanitarian problems there have been for so many years. My hon. Friend mentioned reconstruction, and we are discussing that with a number of UN partners, but I would again mention the World Bank, which has been doing so much work, particularly on how finance can be accessed. Of course, a precondition for that is the ceasefire holding, which we continue to push for.

• 28 Jan 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to my hon. Friend for underlining the role of Jordan. On both my visits to Jordan, I saw for myself how committed the Jordanians have been to ensuring that aid gets into Gaza. We are really grateful to them for that, and for the partnership that they have shown with the UK. When it comes to the legislation on UNRWA, the UK Government have been very clear that the decision by the Knesset was wrong. It will undermine the ceasefire and prevent the delivery of much-needed humanitarian aid, and prevent the delivery of education and healthcare. That is why, once again, we call on Israel to change tack and not implement the legislation.

• 28 Jan 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman asks about the UK Government’s representations in relation to the west bank, and we have been very clear that the risk of instability is serious and the need for de-escalation is urgent. We continue to call on Israeli authorities to exercise restraint, to adhere to international law and to clamp down on the actions of those who seek to inflame tensions.

• 28 Jan 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  As my right hon. Friend rightly says, stability in the west bank is crucial to ensuring that the fragile ceasefire in Gaza can last. All sides must work to ensure a lowering of tension in the west bank at this time. I can reassure him that we have continued to call on the Israeli authorities to exercise restraint, adhere to international law, and clamp down on the actions of those who seek to inflame tensions, which is in no one’s interest.

• 28 Jan 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  I have discussed many of those matters directly with Israeli Government counterparts. I have also been to the west bank so that I could understand the situation with illegal settlements more directly. The UK Government’s position is very clear: illegal settlements are illegal. They are not allowed under international law and we remain determined to make that very clear, not just to the Israeli Government but to all our other partners and multilaterally as well.

• 28 Jan 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the right hon. Member for asking that critical question. He is right to suggest that a key enabler of Gaza’s recovery will be the ability to get goods and materials in at the required pace and scale. Our position is that the enabling conditions for early recovery must be provided in the coming weeks, including secure access corridors, which are really important, and the resumption of basic services.

• 28 Jan 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  I agree with the hon. Member on those scenes. The Foreign Secretary has been very clear about this, including from this Dispatch Box. The UK Government’s position could not be clearer: Hamas is a terrorist organisation. It must not play a role in future arrangements for Gaza, and we will seek to work with all our international partners, and indeed with the UN, towards that end.

• 23 Jan 2025 · International Day of Education · Hansard source

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  It is a real pleasure to speak in this debate with you in the Chair, Sir Desmond. I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Southgate and Wood Green (Bambos Charalambous) for securing this important debate on the eve of the UN International Day of Education. I am grateful to all hon. Members for the important points that they have raised during our relatively short debate. We have heard some illuminating speeches and I will do my best to respond to the many important points raised. As many hon. Members have said, although there have been many improvements, such as in the absolute number of children able to access education, we know that education overall is in crisis. Globally, 250 million children and counting are not in school. As we have heard, poverty, gender, disability and lack of schools or teachers, particularly trained teachers, all play a part in that. The climate crisis and conflict are now disrupting the education of more than 220 million children and counting every single year. Last year alone, extreme weather events meant that children in low-income countries missed out on 18 days of school. As I discussed with some young people in South Sudan, the children who are flooded out of their schools during the rainy season are the same children who are not able to learn because it is too hot during the dry season. That means that in many of those countries, some children are missing up to a whole month of school. Millions of the children who are in school are not learning effectively, including the 70% of children in school in low and middle-income countries who are still unable to read a basic text by the age of 10. Young women and girls are disproportionately affected by all that, so I am grateful to the Opposition spokesperson, the right hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Wendy Morton), for raising the situation for women and girls, as she has done frequently. That particularly applies when it comes to access to higher and further education. If we look at sub-Saharan Africa, for example, only 7% of eligible women are enrolled in universities and colleges, compared with the global average of 42%. I am pleased that the right hon. Lady also mentioned the role of the UK’s higher education sector in this context, because it is incredibly important to bring in that expertise. We are seeking to build that; I recently met Baroness Smith and other experts to talk about the UK’s international education efforts. When we consider that every additional year of learning provides a 10% increase in later earnings annually, it is clear that education has a key role to play in tackling poverty and supporting resilient, long-term growth. The hon. Member for Esher and Walton (Monica Harding) ably set out how important education is not just economically, but for so many other things, such as stability, security, healthcare and other outcomes that we need to see. She has considerable expertise in this area, given her previous roles with the British Council. However, we know that the financing gap for education in low and middle-income countries is an estimated $97 billion every year. More than 60% of that gap is finance that would be provided by the Governments of those countries. When we look at the overall contribution of official development assistance to education, we see that it makes up 3% of education budgets. As was mentioned rightly by my hon. Friend the Member for Southgate and Wood Green, who is really passionate about this issue, some 3.3 billion people are now living in countries that are spending more on servicing their debt than they are on the health or education that would underpin long-term, resilient and inclusive growth. All of that comes at a time when populations are on the rise in sub-Saharan Africa. In short, we need the kind of massive global effort that many Members have said is necessary during this debate, to ensure that people are provided with a quality education. Over the last six months, I have been making the case for action around the world, from South Sudan to the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, and at the World Bank in Washington and the COP29 climate summit in Baku. I also met the young people from across our country who have been championing global education in schools when they came to Parliament —perhaps other Members also met them; they were incredibly powerful advocates. The UK is determined to work in genuine partnership with like-minded donors, multilateral organisations and countries and communities across the global south, so that we address the global learning crisis effectively and efficiently. Consequently, today I will highlight four areas that correspond to points raised by hon. Members. First, we are making foundational learning for all a priority. That means using the best available evidence to support reforms and helping Governments to provide all children with the building blocks for their future. That work uses UK expertise to focus on foundational mathematics, and I saw how it made a huge difference when I was in Malawi. It involved moving away from rote learning, which often does not teach children the skills they need. Such work is important not just for numeracy, which I mentioned, and literacy; it is also important for the development of social and emotional skills, so that we can prepare children and young people to navigate a rapidly changing world. Of course, we also need to target the most marginalised groups, including those living in poverty or conflict, refugees, those caught up in crisis, and girls; we seek to do that. The Opposition spokesperson, the right hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills, mentioned the international women and girls strategy. She will know that where the previous Government aimed to make sensible reforms, my approach and the Government’s approach is not to put those plans in a drawer and not enact them. We are determined to make progress speedily. Of course, we must ensure that the strategy is up to date. However, we will not say that the main tenets of those reforms—especially those around education for girls, which we have been discussing—should not be held to in the future. We really want to enact those reforms—it is the key thing for us—and to embed long-term progress. My hon. Friend the Member for Southgate and Wood Green rightly mentioned disabled children, and Myanmar was equally rightly mentioned by the Opposition spokes-person. This morning, I met—virtually, obviously—some education specialists based in Myanmar. As the Opposition spokesperson rightly said earlier, given the regime in Myanmar and how it operates, I cannot go into a huge amount of detail about exactly which organisations are involved. However, I am really proud of the fact that the UK is working directly with local communities and local experts, so that children, including disabled children and children who have had limbs amputated because of landmines or because other problems have befallen them, can access education. That is really a case where, as my hon. Friend said, education is not just a privilege but a right for children, including disabled children. I should also inform the Chamber that in October, we announced that the UK will launch a global taskforce to tackle sexual and physical violence, and psychological harm, in and around schools. Horrific abuse, both within schools and outside them, devastates lives, and it accounts for about 5% of school drop-outs and lower attainment worldwide. My hon. Friend the Member for Southgate and Wood Green rightly raised that issue. We have to make sure that schools are safe. We are determined to advocate for that, which is in line with the fact that the UK is of course a signatory to the safe schools declaration. I am grateful to the previous Government for signing up to that declaration; it was right that they did so. Of course, safety also has to be provided when it comes to freedom of religion and belief. I was grateful to the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for raising that issue, which he always champions, and I thank him for his kind words. It is absolutely right, as he said, that education provides dignity, and that a lack of literacy, numeracy and other skills disempowers people and prevents them from being able to make the choices that they might need to make for themselves and their families. The hon. Gentleman also talked about the schoolgirls abducted in Nigeria. I have talked to schoolgirls in Zambia and I remember that they get up at 5.30 am to clean the place where they live. They were young—some as young as 13—but they do all the cooking for the household. They get ready to learn and they learn all day. They are thirsty to learn; they are determined to learn. We must always ensure that they have the safety that is surely their right, wherever they are in the world. Secondly, we are scaling up finance for education around the world and seeking to make it smarter. We are sharing our trusted research and evidence to encourage philanthropic organisations to collaborate more and maximise our impact. We are pivoting away from funding education directly and towards helping Governments improve the way they support the sector for the long term, particularly with partners across the global south. We are making the most of UK expertise and our diplomatic reach to champion innovative new ways to mobilise finance. The UK plays an important role in developing the international finance facility for education, which provides a sevenfold return on investment—it really is an incredible instrument and provides exactly the kind of multiplying effect we need to have on the funding available. We are now calling on others to join us in backing it. Together, we can unlock $1 billion in additional affordable finance for lower and middle-income countries’ Governments. Thirdly, we are determined to ensure that more children are safe and able to learn; that includes those, mentioned by many hon. Members, who live through conflict and in communities affected by the climate and nature crisis. As Members have also mentioned, even with the welcome ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the impacts of that conflict remain devastating for education. In Gaza, 95% of schools have been damaged or destroyed. So in addition to our funding for the UNRWA core budget, the UK is contributing £2 million to Education Cannot Wait and £5.6 million to the Global Partnership for Education, to improve access to education for hundreds of thousands of children across Gaza and the west bank as they start to rebuild. I was pleased that the hon. Member for Esher and Walton and many others mentioned that. The case of Afghanistan was also rightly mentioned. Appalling measures have been adopted by the Taliban—particularly in relation to girls’ secondary education, but also medical education and so many other areas in that country where women and girls are seeing their rights systematically stripped away. The UK Government are determined to play our part. To support girls in Afghanistan, we are ensuring that at least 50% of our education funding is going to support their education; we are determined to ensure that. We are also advocating more generally for girls and women in Afghanistan. I was recently pleased to announce in this Chamber that the UK is now one of the countries that is politically supporting the case when it comes to Afghanistan on the basis of the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. In November, we announced £14 million for education programmes in Sudan and for Sudanese refugees, where, as has been mentioned, 17 million children have had no access to education since April 2023. I was grateful for the words of the hon. Member for Honiton and Sidmouth (Richard Foord) in that regard. In some areas 90% of children are now out of formal schooling in Sudan. The hon. Member, like the Government, has been determined to not just raise the profile of that appalling conflict, which is the worst displacement crisis in the world, but also to advocate for measures that will directly support Sudanese people; he knows that we have doubled the UK’s support to Sudan and to Sudanese people who have been displaced. We are using every avenue to push for an end to the hostilities and to ensure that international humanitarian law is upheld. Like him, I pay tribute to organisations such as the Windle Trust that are so critical for the education of children in Sudan. I am very proud that it is based in my constituency. It really does impress me that an organisation based in Oxford is having such an impact all around the world. The role of faith-based organisations was rightly mentioned by the hon. Member for Strangford, because they so often have a huge impact for communities all around the world. I thank him for mentioning that. The use of schools as shelters, which was mentioned in relation to Sudan, was also a problem in Lebanon when there was the crisis there. The UK was determined to ensure that we were playing our part for the children no longer able to go to the schools being used as shelters, and that they would get the emergency education that they needed. A number of Members raised the issue of funding, including my hon. Friend the Member for Southgate and Wood Green, who asked about overall funding. I confirm that, as well as supporting Education Cannot Wait and the Global Partnership for Education, we have a number of bilateral programmes that focus on promoting learning. We are currently the top bilateral donor to the Global Partnership for Education, and the second largest bilateral donor to Education Cannot Wait. I had the privilege of being at Education Cannot Wait’s annual general meeting. Gordon Brown, the former Prime Minister, is a strong advocate for the organisation and is achieving incredible things with it. We are in the middle of a spending review process and we will, of course, bear in mind hon. Members’ powerful comments about the importance of education as we develop our allocations and decisions for that spending review, both for the immediate future and the longer term. We will update the House on that as soon as is practicably possible. There are three reviews at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, one of which, being undertaken by Baroness Minouche Shafik, is specifically focused on development capability and capacity in the FCDO. It comes after many years of a lot of turbulence around the UK’s approach to international development—in particular a huge amount of financial turbulence, which was not helped by the untrammelled growth of in-donor refugee costs in ODA. There was not a consistent approach but we are determined to have a consistent approach for the future. I hope that Members see that in the way that we are facing up to these issues. On the point about teachers, I am sure that the National Education Union is keen to link its important work with work by Education Cannot Wait and the Global Partnership for Education. Education Cannot Wait provides a lot of support for teachers, including direct financial support, support around recruitment and psychosocial support when teachers are operating in dangerous environments. There is an over-representation of fragile and conflict-affected states in the countries that receive the UK’s contribution to the Global Partnership for Education—60% of our funding to GPE goes to such states. There is a lot of work in this area and I am sure that the NEU will want to engage with it. I would, of course, be very happy to discuss that with the union if that would be useful. Finally, we are investing to make education systems more resilient to the climate crisis and better able to help students thrive beyond their school years.

• 23 Jan 2025 · International Day of Education · Hansard source

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  I have enormous respect for the Chair of the International Development Committee and I have had a lot of discussions with her and other members of the Committee on this subject. The decision to count in-donor refugee costs within the overall category of overseas development assistance is, of course, a statistical decision taken by the OECD. Different countries have had far lower levels of overseas development assistance going into those in-donor refugee costs. They have not seen the untrammelled increases that we saw under previous Governments. As I said, the current UK Government are determined to have a longer-term approach to the issue, and to get the costs down. In fact we have been doing so, as has been reflected in the decision taken by the Chief Secretary of the Treasury to increase the yearly ODA just after the new year. Part of that was from the reduction in in-donor refugee costs. It is a priority for the Home Secretary and the whole Government to ensure that we are dealing with those issues, so I am grateful to him for raising that point. We are investing to make systems for education more resilient. At COP28 in Dubai, the UK helped to launch a new global declaration on the common agenda for education and climate change, through which 90 countries have now committed to action on climate that helps protect education. Ahead of COP30 in Brazil this year, we are working with our partners to prioritise the role of education in combating the climate and nature crises and to secure further action to protect children, including when they are learning, from extreme weather. In response to the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich North (Alice Macdonald), who is no longer in her place, I should say that she is right to underline the relationship between education, water and sanitation. That is important because children should be able to do something as basic as go to the toilet when they are at school; it is particularly important when it comes to girls’ education, because when there is not access to water that poses a particular problem for menstruating girls. When it comes to resilience, we must ensure that we join up the UK’s strength in artificial intelligence and education technology, and harness their power responsibly so we can support marginalised children, tailor learning to students’ needs and boost the capacity of teachers, enabling them to reach children who cannot join them in the classroom. We are determined to ensure that more children can gain the skills they need to make the leap into higher and further education and employment. Once again, many thanks to all Members who have taken part in the debate. It has been an incredibly important one, and I look forward to the closing remarks.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  The scale of humanitarian suffering in Gaza is catastrophic and unacceptable. The UK condemns Israel’s restrictions on aid in the strongest terms. This is a man-made crisis, and Israel must act immediately to address it.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  The UK Government’s position is, indeed, that there must be a two-state solution. The new Government have been determined to do all we can towards that end. That will include advocating for that solution at every juncture, including with embassies and, as would be expected, with the Israeli embassy.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is right to raise this critically important issue. We have raised the protection of healthcare facilities and the detention of healthcare workers directly with the Israeli Government. The Minister for the middle east, my hon. Friend the Member for Lincoln (Mr Falconer), has specifically raised the detention of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya with both Israel’s deputy Foreign Minister and its ambassador to the UK.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  There absolutely must be a surge of aid into Gaza; that will be critical after a ceasefire. However, impediments to aid that remain must also be removed. The issue of UNRWA has been previously discussed in the House. The UK Government’s position is that UNRWA must be able to continue to operate. It is the only organisation with the scale and depth necessary to get that lifesaving aid to people who need it.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  The UK has the most robust arms control regime in any global comparison. This Government were determined to ensure that we fulfilled our legal responsibilities and that we assessed, fully and legally, arms exportation licences. I can confirm to the House that since 2 September there have been no extant UK export licences for items to Israel that we assess are for use in military operations in Gaza.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising this incredibly important issue. In December, I saw for myself in Jordan how medical aid had been blocked from entering Gaza. As I have said before, the position that the UK Government have articulated at every possible juncture is that restrictions on lifesaving aid must end. The UK continues to provide core healthcare relief items, and has provided 76,000 wound care kits, 1.3 million items of medicine, and critical funding for UK-Med to run its field hospitals in Gaza.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  We remain directly in contact with Israel, with UN agencies and with other partners in the region. That is obviously at ministerial level and also with our special representative for humanitarian issues in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The issues of crossings and their openness and safety have been raised repeatedly by the special representative and by members of this Government. That also covers attacks by the terrorists Hamas on those crossings.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Climate Change: UK Leadership · Hansard source

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  The Foreign Secretary made clear at his Kew lecture that the climate must be at the heart of all that the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office does. When we have that focus on climate adaptation and mitigation, we see economic growth globally and in our country.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Climate Change: UK Leadership · Hansard source

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  Our thoughts are with all those hit by the dreadful crises that my hon. Friend mentions. At COP29, the UK showed leadership in setting an ambitious nationally determined contribution to cut emissions by 81% by 2035. We are championing clean energy at home and abroad, including through the launch of GB Energy and the global clean power alliance.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Climate Change: UK Leadership · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the right hon. Lady for her question, but she will surely understand that the COP agreement was about the global goal. The precise share for individual countries is worked out through the normal processes. It was her Government—a Conservative Government—who committed to the £11.6 billion climate finance goal. Unlike the previous Government, however, we are determined to fit that within our responsibilities and deliver on it for the sake of our climate and our economy.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Climate Change: UK Leadership · Hansard source

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  This Government are determined to have a consistent and clear-eyed approach to China and to avoid the oscillation that we saw under previous Governments; as a result, we are conducting a China audit that will look thoroughly at all our relationships with China. We will compete where we must, challenge where we need to and co-operate where that is necessary.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Sudan: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to my hon. Friend for being so clear about the challenges around aid coming into Sudan and then being delivered to those who so desperately need it. We will keep pushing on the need for the Adre crossing to remain open. We will also keep pushing on the need for aid workers to be protected within Sudan and for UN staff to be able to access Sudan. Of course, we will work with those on the ground, particularly the emergency response rooms, which are delivering essential mutual aid.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Sudan: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  I am grateful for the hon. Lady’s support for the measures the UK Government have been taking. Clearly, there are dreadful problems when it comes to civilian protection in Sudan. The UK put forward a resolution to the Security Council, with Sierra Leone, focused on the protection of civilians. It was appalling that Russia vetoed that resolution. We will continue to use every avenue available to us to promote their safety.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Sudan: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to my hon. Friend for mentioning the extreme need to act on what is the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. The UK has doubled its aid to Sudan. We have sought to use the UN Security Council, as I mentioned. We ensured through the Foreign Secretary that there was a Sudan session with G7 and Arab Quint Foreign Ministers, and the UK special representative to Sudan has visited Sudan; that occurred in December for the first time since the conflict.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Sudan: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  The UK will continue to use all diplomatic avenues to press the warring parties in Sudan into a permanent ceasefire, to enable unrestricted humanitarian access and to protect civilians.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Sudan: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for raising that. I know he shares our deep concern about the impact of restrictions on aid, which we have particularly seen feeding through into the famine assessment from the IPC—integrated food security phase classification—that came out at the end of last year. There must be, above all, a permanent opening of crossings. We were, of course, pleased to see the Adre crossing open for three months, but it must be opened permanently. We also need to see cross-line availability of aid. We need to have the warring parties focused on humanitarian need, not on pursuing a war that they both appear to think they can win but as a result of which civilians are suffering appallingly.