Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, has provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (HL250):
Question by Lord Alton of Liverpool
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 15 February (HL12985), what developments have been made following the call to action ‘Remittances in Crisis: How to Keep them Flowing’, which the UK co-launched with Switzerland in May 2020; and how do they intend to measure progress. (HL250)
Tabled on: 17 May 2021
Answer:
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon:
The Call to Action has achieved its key objective of raising awareness on the potentially devastating impact of COVID-19 on remittances. Over 40 countries took actions to improve access to remittances and financial services. Remittance companies also responded by waiving their transfer fees and offering incentives to senders and receivers of remittances. A stocktake report is currently being written to understand the key factors and measures taken that have contributed to changes in remittances flows since the start of COVID-19. The UK and Swiss Governments are leveraging the unique composition and convening power of the Call to Action coalition to transition it to a “Peerto-Peer Learning platform”, which will facilitate dialogue, share experiences and best practices, and facilitate learning between remitting countries and key stakeholders.
The Call to Action monitors developments at national levels through the World Bank and updates a tracker on the Call to Action website.
Date and time of answer: 28 May 2021 at 12:04.
