Select committee: International Development Committee
Fifth Special Report - Humanitarian crises monitoring: impact of coronavirus (interim findings): Government Response to the Committee’s Fifth Report of Session 2019–21
Published 26 January 2021
International Development Committee Humanitarian crises monitoring: coronavirus in developing countries: secondary impacts Report on parliament.uk ↗
At a glance
The government's response
This document responds to Fifth Report - Humanitarian crises monitoring: impact of coronavirus (interim findings).
This is the government's response, published 26 January 2021.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government sets out continued commitment to existing health and gender-based violence programmes, but states that it "disagrees" with the Committee's view that ODA funding should be switched away from COVID-19 research and development.
- On existing disease programmes, it says it will "continue to fund existing programmes which tackle previously identified diseases", including through Gavi and the Global Fund.
- It does not accept that COVID-19 research and development should move from ODA to other budgets, stating that such investment "qualify as ODA" under OECD DAC rules and that moving it "risks underfunding" research suited to developing countries.
- On gender-based violence, it says it "remains committed to eliminating all forms of gender-based violence" and is launching a successor programme, What Works to Prevent Violence: Impact at Scale.
- On a wider global health strategy, it describes the 2021 G7 Presidency as an "opportunity" and says it will work to implement the Prime Minister's five-point plan, without committing to the strategy the Committee proposed.
What the committee recommended
This is a government response document, so it has no recommendations of its own.