Job Creation: Developing Countries

Baroness Featherstone Excerpts

Tuesday 24th June 2014 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Lynne Featherstone)]

What a pleasure it is to serve under your unexpected chairmanship this afternoon, Mr Hollobone. You are a very welcome replacement. Thank you for enabling us to continue with the debate.

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Jeremy Lefroy) for securing such an important debate. In his opening remarks, he said he had just returned from Liberia and Sierra Leone, which listed unemployment as their biggest challenge, and DFID also believes that is the case. Jobs are at the core of international development, and I very much welcome the opportunity to discuss the issue. I am aware of my hon. Friend’s vast experience and great knowledge in this field—it is much greater than my own—which comes from his personal experience of living in Africa and being involved in business for many years.

I hope many of the points in my speech will address some of the issues that have been raised. If we have time, I will try to address some of the more specific points that have been raised. When we ask people in the UK or in a developing country what they want, the desire for a good job is normally one of the top things on their list—that is not rocket science. A job will allow them to work their way out of poverty, to provide opportunities for their families and to build for a better future. I always think that having something to do and somewhere to go every day is also good for keeping a person whole in mind and body.

Since I became a DFID Minister, there is something that has struck me about virtually all the African countries I have visited—and I have been to Africa perhaps 20 times now. Driving up the road—if there is one—at certain times of day, one can see that many young men are sitting at the roadside without anything to do. That is a reminder of something that has already been raised in the debate: how important and necessary work is and how much work is missing.

I want to highlight the scale of the challenge in developing countries. Most of the 600 million new jobs needed globally by 2020 for the growing working-age population are needed in developing countries, but at the moment only 15% of people in low-income countries in Africa have what we would call a proper job. There are 900 million people in developing countries who are working but who, as my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford said, are doing vulnerable self-employed work and living in poverty. They engage in subsistence farming and so on. Most people in developing countries have a job of some sort, but it is mostly in unproductive subsistence work that may even be unsafe.

To address those issues in the terms in which DFID thinks about jobs, we need modern, formal sectors to grow and to create better jobs. We need people who work in subsistence agriculture or unproductive household businesses to be able to earn a better living. I have visited some impressive projects to intensify and maximise the produce of small agricultural plots. Avoiding the loss of produce in getting it to market is one way to do that, but I also remember a market in Zambia where we had arranged for people selling seeds and market produce to meet small subsistence farmers to exchange knowledge of the best seeds and how to plant. There was a product to make cows grow, so that people could get them to market in two and a half years instead of seven. I did not ask what was in it; nevertheless, someone with one cow could triple their income with that product. Many of these people are in marginalised rural areas or cities, poorly connected to markets for their labour. They lack the right mix of skills, finance, land and information to enable them to find a job. My hon. Friend the Member for Stafford also talked about getting goods to market, the skills needed to get a job, access to finance, surety of land tenure and information about how to maximise produce.

We also need to address serious inequality in who gets job opportunities. Women are less likely to participate in the labour force and are more likely to be in unpaid or vulnerable work. Young people—and there are many in developing countries—also fare badly, which often poses a risk to social cohesion. That is not just unfair and dangerous; it is inefficient and represents a huge potential loss to developing economies. Changing this jobs picture requires economic development and transformation, much of which will be led by the private sector. People need the opportunity to earn more. For many, that will mean getting better incomes in agriculture, but over time—indeed, already and increasingly— the bulk of new jobs will come from higher-income opportunities in services and manufacturing, as has happened in every country that has successfully developed.

DFID’s work on economic development and jobs involves, first, getting the international system right; secondly, getting private sector growth going; and, thirdly—an absolute priority for me—ensuring that growth is broad-based and inclusive, in particular for girls and women. One example is the recent trade facilitation agreement reached in Bali, which will be instrumental in reducing the barriers to trade, helping to integrate developing countries into global trade flows and promoting jobs and investment. We are also pushing for productive jobs to feature prominently in the goals and targets of the post-2015 agenda, which is essential if we are to reach zero poverty by 2030. Our multilateral partners are also well placed to deliver on the jobs agenda and are upping their game. The UK-backed International Finance Corporation global SME finance initiative aims to provide at least 1 million new jobs and financing to 200,000 small and medium-sized enterprises. Access to finance is crucial, and I have just been in Mozambique, where I launched access to finance for women in SMEs. It is a crucial stage.

The World Bank Group has put job creation and economic development at the centre of its plans to achieve its goal of increasing shared prosperity and the income that accrues to the poorest 40% in each country. We are engaging closely with the bank on that. Across Government, the UK is also working to improve economic and trade relations. Our recently launched high-level partnerships for prosperity will improve trade between the UK and Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mozambique and Tanzania—indeed, my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford mentioned the recent trip there by the Secretary of State.

Driving economic development and jobs is not only the most effective way to reduce poverty in developing countries; it is also in the interest of the UK. The hon. Member for Wirral South (Alison McGovern) raised the question of tied aid, and I assure her that there is no question of that. It is against the law and not appropriate. However, when we let contracts in open competition, a UK business will often win. That, however, can only be a compliment to British business and its ability to make the successful bid. There is no favouritism: the process happens on the open market and such contracts are always let competitively.

It is in the interest of the UK to build our future trading partners. Africa has a growth rate that we in the UK can only envy and there is phenomenal wealth lying beneath its ground. The challenge with extractive industries is to spread the benefits widely, as my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford said. One reason for the work we do on value chains and supply chains in extractives, and in the surrounding geographical area, is to try to link the economic benefit to the country. We also give technical support and assistance with the original contract negotiations, so that the country benefits from its own wealth, rather than other countries or the elites of that country.

Improving job prospects in developing countries, particularly for young people, reduces the chance of conflict. The recent awful case of the abduction of girls in northern Nigeria seems to have gone from the media pages, but it has not stopped being on our mind at DFID or the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Part of the issue in the area where Boko Haram flourishes is that young men have nothing to do. I am looking at programmes to develop skills and jobs in that area, as possible diversionary tactics, which would also be very beneficial.

Many businesses in the UK are looking to Africa and Asia and seeing the markets of the future. Businesses see value in engaging with DFID and the rest of Government and they in turn have much to offer the countries that they choose to invest in. Interestingly enough, the business advisers to DFID’s advisory board have strongly called for exactly what my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford was talking about: the development of appropriate skills and education. There is a willingness to invest in countries and create jobs where the climate is stable enough, but there is also a need for skills, so that businesses do not have to import their own staff. A company that wants to open in many parts of a country needs to be able to use staff from the country in question to run branches, co-ordinate things and see to the logistics.

Our spending programmes create jobs in developing countries in a number of ways. The Commonwealth Development Corporation, the UK’s development finance institution, is having a huge impact on job creation in Africa and Asia. It is remarkable. In 2013, CDC’s 1,300 investee companies directly employed over 1 million people. That is a hugely successful rate.

[Jeremy Lefroy]

The Minister is absolutely right to point that out. I would further like to congratulate CDC; I understand that last year saw the highest level of investment by CDC in its history. That is a welcome sign of the success of the Government’s opening of CDC’s mandate, to include direct investment in businesses again, as well as investment in funds, and concentrating on low-income countries rather than spreading out through middle-income countries.

[Lynne Featherstone]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent intervention. CDC has gone from strength to strength. Not that long ago there were some question marks over it, but it has moved well away from that. As he says, because it works in the most fragile, conflict-affected and poorest of countries, its success is all the more remarkable. It has created more than 68,000 new jobs.

[Alison McGovern]

On that point, would the Minister be so good as to respond to my question about deadweight loss and what research DFID is undertaking to ensure that none of those new jobs represents such loss?

[Lynne Featherstone]

I will respond to the hon. Lady in a moment on the issue of deadweight loss.

Moving on from CDC, in the long term, the key to mass job creation is improving the environment for domestic and other businesses to invest and grow. DFID is focused on these long-term determinants of job growth.

[David Simpson]

As we believe that these projects and job creation are very important, does the Minister agree that we cannot overestimate the number of jobs that need to be created? I believe the figure is 95 million over the remainder of this decade, so time is of the essence. We need to move on this issue.

[Lynne Featherstone]

The hon. Gentleman is obviously right. We work in that direction and we are working as fast as we can to enable job creation to happen. I have covered a number of things, but part of what DFID does is on the enabling environment for investment and therefore job creation, whether that means cutting the time it takes to get goods across a border from four weeks to one day, or help with filling in forms or how long it takes to start a business—all the things that are very off-putting to investors. We are working on all fronts.

I do not know whether those hon. Members present have ever eaten in Nando’s, for example, but I was in Mozambique, where Nando’s exclusively grows its peri-peri peppers. It is a labour-intensive process, with massive work for smallholdings, done to a very high standard—because the standards, both of the product and how people work, are very important to DFID and the British Government—which means huge job creation. It is a win-win for the country, the company and the individuals who are being taught and looked after while they grow peri-peri peppers—and I can highly recommend peri-peri chicken.

DFID currently supports more than 60 programmes with specific targets to provide economic assets to girls and women in developing countries. We have set ourselves a target of helping 18 million women to access financial services and 4.5 million women to strengthen their property rights by 2015. Both will have a fundamental impact on the job prospects of the women involved by improving their control over assets and finance.

For some women in work, the conditions remain unacceptable. The UK is supporting the International Trade Centre to work with Governments and customs authorities in east Africa to improve conditions for female informal traders, who face harassment and extortion at borders—the example often given is someone who starts with 12 eggs and, by the time they pay off all the people who have to be paid off, has about three eggs left to sell. That is a common, everyday kind of factor.

The Department is also scaling up its work on education and skills—an important point that my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford raised—to make sure that skills are relevant to people’s changing opportunities and that the private sector is involved in designing, delivering and financing them. We are also increasing our work on infrastructure—my hon. Friend talked about power and transport—and thinking afresh about urbanisation, in order to create more and more productive jobs.

[Jeremy Lefroy]

My hon. Friend is making some extremely important points. One issue that I did not refer to directly in my speech—but which relates specifically to skills—is the great need for additional skills in, for instance, the health and education sectors, which are themselves financed through the development of the economy, the payment of taxes and so on. The hon. Member for Wirral South, who speaks for the Opposition, and I were both keen to see the International Development Committee look into health system strengthening. I am glad to see that that inquiry has now taken place. One of the things that I think will emerge from it is the enormous number of job opportunities for people at all skill levels in the health and education sectors, but of course those sectors have to be financed and the finance comes from the growth of the private sector.

[Lynne Featherstone]

That is absolutely the case. There are some benign circles that we need to get going in, for example, higher education in developing countries, because skills in health and education need to be supplied locally. We need to up the quality of teaching and professionals in the health service. Indeed, that is how we are moving forward, and I believe I will be giving evidence to the IDC on health system strengthening. The need is great, because the numbers are enormous and those jobs must be filled by training individuals within countries and not “borrowing” them, as has happened in the past.

As for monitoring and evaluating DFID’s work, we are scaling up efforts to monitor and evaluate the impact of our work on economic development. Some areas of this agenda, such as job creation, investment and trade, are quite complex to measure. The International Finance Corporation’s “Let’s Work” initiative, which DFID, CDC and the Private Infrastructure Development Group engage with, is working to develop an agreed approach to estimating the impact of private sector infrastructure interventions on job creation. DFID funded the IFC’s study in 2013 of the private sector and jobs, and a whole chapter is devoted to the difficult issue of measuring net additional job creation. Measuring it exactly is one of the challenges, but it is our ambition both to measure it and to ensure that the jobs being created are additional and would not have been created in any case.

Under the economic development scale-up, we are looking to increase the relevance of education and skills for the changing job market, as I have said. That goes for foundational skills and technical skills, so that skills taught in school and technical training institutes have to be right and join up what is needed for industry in the country with the skills that are available. New interventions for marginalised groups in rural and urban areas provide combinations of interventions, such as entrepreneurship skills and finance and innovative business models—we are trying to create another benign circle. I have visited some of the larger pilot entrepreneur skills awareness training projects, where an inspirational speaker talks to 700 or 800 young people at a time, who all seem absolutely fired up and up for going out and becoming entrepreneurs in their own right. It is very exciting work.

My hon. Friend the Member for Stafford mentioned power. The Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility is delivering technical assistance to unlock private investment in developing countries and the EU is investing in the EU-Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund.

As for ports, in Mombasa in Kenya we are helping to tackle problems with port management to improve trade and regional integration. Most importantly, of course, as Mozambique’s ports develop, the corridors that will open up to neighbouring landlocked countries will be incredibly valuable, both to those countries and the ports themselves.

As for work, I hear what the hon. Member for Wirral South, my opposite number, was saying. I can assure her that I go to the International Labour Organisation every three months and I work closely with the unions. They have raised the issue of our stopping their funding many times with me. However, as I have explained, we work in different ways. We are working with them on a project on trafficking in Asia and we have given £4.8 million to an ILO programme to improve working conditions in the readymade garment sector in Bangladesh. That was launched in October to help to conduct safety inspections of the 1,500 factories that are not covered by existing initiatives and to help the victims of the disaster.

In a similar field, the trade and global value chains initiative encourages buyers, factories and workers to work together to improve productivity and working conditions. Our overarching message and narrative on working conditions—in all businesses and in all ways, and with Governments—is that they should be good and professional. It is no good a Department such as DFID not caring about standards; we care very much about standards and responsible business. We encourage companies to respect voluntary global standards, which improve labour standards and reduce harmful working practices. We provide funding and support that strengthens mechanisms that ensure that companies comply with their commitments on labour standards and working practices, such as the ethical trading initiative. We have also funded and supported the extension to the global fair trade system and are building evidence about its impact on wages and working conditions.

As for ensuring that poor people are not being excluded from any newly developed markets, which obviously is important, we support inclusive growth, benefiting women and girls in particular. That is an essential pillar of DFID’s economic development strategic framework. Although occasionally one sees “economic development” written in a report, it is always meant to read “inclusive economic development”. There is no point developing a country if the process is not inclusive, because if it leaves people behind, it will simply repeat the worst mistakes that have been made in other parts of the world. I am pleased that the overarching principle of the high-level panel report on the post-2015 agenda is exactly that. “Leave no one behind” is the most important message.

In conclusion, I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford, who covered the issues and subjects in better detail, perhaps, even than myself. I think all hon. Members would say that we are all committed to the creation of useful employment and work and the improvement of subsistence work and agriculture. That is important, right across the developing world, because if we do not do it right, we will be guilty of leaving many people behind. Ultimately, it is in our own interests—in the country’s and everyone’s interests—that we get this right and support the developing world in the creation of the right sort of jobs, the right environment and the right economy.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (in the Chair)]

I thank all hon. Members who contributed to this important debate. I now suspend the sitting until 4 pm, or earlier if both the Member whose debate it is and the Minister responding arrive earlier.

Oral Answers to Questions

Baroness Featherstone Excerpts

Wednesday 18th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

4. If she will make it her policy to provide targeted aid for residents of Cuba.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Lynne Featherstone)]

DFID has no plans to establish a bilateral aid programme with Cuba. We provide assistance through our share of contributions to multilateral agencies, and the British embassy provides some funding to promote economic development.

[Michael Fabricant]

Look, I understand why we do not wish to aid Cuba generally—it still has many political prisoners, for instance—but the Minister knows as well as I do that it has a good national health service for its citizens, which, because of a lack of foreign exchange, is unable to buy modern drugs. Surely we can target aid in that area without actually assisting the Cuban Government.

[Lynne Featherstone]

I am afraid that we cannot do as my hon. Friend wishes. We carried out bilateral and multilateral aid reviews to help us to determine where our aid was best focused, and the results did not include Cuba, so we have no plans to give it any bilateral aid.

[Mr Dominic Raab (Esher and Walton) (Con)]

5. What programmes are sponsored by her Department in Thailand to reintroduce democracy and support the rule of law.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Lynne Featherstone)]

The United Kingdom has been encouraging commitment to democracy and rule of law in Thailand following the coup. The Government are liaising closely with EU partners and others on a united response. DFID does not have a programme in Thailand, because it is an upper middle-income country.

[Mr Raab]

The Oxford development economist Paul Collier has charted the way in which aid can, in fact, increase the risk of a military coup. What action is DFID taking, bilaterally or through multilateral engagement with Thailand, to send the unequivocal message that democratic governance must be restored?

[Lynne Featherstone]

As I have said, DFID does not have a bilateral aid programme in Thailand, but the UK is working closely with EU and others in the international community, including our ambassador in Thailand, to secure commitment to the values of democracy and the rule of law in the interests of Thailand’s peace and stability.

[Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)]

As the Minister will know, much concern has been expressed about arbitrary detentions and restrictions on the media and the right to protest in Thailand. While I appreciate that DFID does not fund Thailand directly and has no aid programme in the country, the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the right hon. Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), said on 25 May that owing to the current political situation there, the Government would have to review the scope of their co-operation with it. Was DFID involved in those discussions?

[Lynne Featherstone]

The hon. Member is absolutely right. We are particularly concerned by the restrictions on freedom of assembly, association and expression, and by the large number of arbitrary detentions. However, this is an FCO lead, so we do not make those particular representations.

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

The Minister has indicated that we do not have an aid programme with Thailand, but are the Government reviewing aid programmes in the general region, as they may be affected by the coup in Thailand and people moving from Thailand across the border?

[Lynne Featherstone]

We obviously keep a watching brief on the region, and in fact at the moment it is the other way round, because some funding from our Burmese programme is supporting the Burmese refugee camps in Thailand. At the moment, from what we can see the coup does not seem to be having any impact outside the country.

[Dr Julian Huppert (Cambridge) (LD)]

6. What steps she is taking to end female genital mutilation worldwide.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Lynne Featherstone)]

Female genital mutilation is violence against women and girls. The UK has made the largest donor commitment ever to help end FGM, with a flagship programme of £35 million in at least 17 countries. The Prime Minister will host a summit in July that will step up global efforts to end both FGM and child, early and forced marriage within a generation.

[Dr Huppert]

I thank my hon. Friend for her comments and her efforts on this. Does she agree with many of the people who have given evidence to the Select Committee on Home Affairs saying that we should ensure all children in the UK are taught about FGM and the fact that it is not allowed, and that we should not allow parents to take their children out of such classes, because children whose parents would not want them to know are exactly the children we need to target?

[Lynne Featherstone]

I thank my hon. Friend. He raises a critical issue. When I went to Burkina Faso, one of the leading countries in Africa in tackling and reducing FGM, I visited a school to watch an FGM lesson. It is part of the curriculum there, and I do believe that this needs to be a required part of the curriculum here in high-prevalence areas. In a recent speech on development, the Deputy Prime Minister made a commitment both to this and to giving support to the front-line professionals, because we know from the helpline of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children that professionals need support and training.

[Dame Angela Watkinson (Hornchurch and Upminster) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that female genital mutilation is part of a much wider issue of cultures where gender equality is not recognised, and will she take every opportunity possible when contacting countries where this applies to further the cause of gender equality?

[Lynne Featherstone]

I thank my hon. Friend for that question and I can assure her that I do take every opportunity to raise the issue, because these social norms, which oppress and suppress women and have been going for 4,000 years, are really because of women’s low status in the world in terms of rights and of voice, choice and control over their own lives.

[David Morris (Morecambe and Lunesdale) (Con)]

7. What effect the formation of the new Government in Nepal will have on her Department’s programmes in that country.

--- Later in debate ---

[Graham Jones (Hyndburn) (Lab)]

T9. Because of the Government’s inconsistent policies, Britain’s relationships with Rwanda are fraying. What is being done to rebuild those relationships, particularly given the problems in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Lynne Featherstone)]

I returned from Rwanda just over a week ago and I can assure the hon. Gentleman that relations are good. Rwanda is an exemplar in terms of development, but I had to raise the issue of political space and other human rights issues.

The Prime Minister was asked—

Syrian Refugees (Support and Aid)

Baroness Featherstone Excerpts

Tuesday 29th April 2014 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Lynne Featherstone)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Chope. I begin by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Hexham (Guy Opperman) on securing this important debate. As the Syrian conflict enters its fourth year, I genuinely welcome his efforts to bring the plight of Syrian refugees to the House’s attention. I will give a broad description of what we are doing, but I hear loudly and clearly his message on what he feels is impotence in the face of a security resolution that is not being fulfilled on the ground. I will address that point.

We continue to be very concerned about the Syrian refugee situation and the impact that the crisis is having on neighbouring countries. There are more than 2.7 million Syrian refugees in the region. Neighbouring countries have been extremely generous in hosting Syrian refugees, and we urge them to continue showing that generosity by welcoming those seeking safety from violence and by keeping their borders open. Stretched services such as water and health care, however, are under increasing strain. Rents, food prices and unemployment are on the rise. Access to education and protection for refugee children, particularly girls, are major concerns.

As many here today will be aware, the UK has been at the forefront of the humanitarian response in Syria, and I thank my hon. Friend for praising the Government’s actions. The UK’s total funding for Syria and the region is now £600 million—three times the size of its response to any other humanitarian crisis. Of that total, our support for Syrian refugees and host communities in the region amounts to £292 million. That money is reaching hundreds of thousands of people across Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey and Egypt and provides food to 190,000 people, safe drinking water and sanitation services to more than 213,000 people and more than 71,000 medical consultations. The money is also delivering a range of shelter and essential relief items to Syrians displaced by violence.

Food, water and medicine are not enough. More than 1.3 million children—my hon. Friend raised the plight of children—have crossed the border to escape the bloodshed. Some have seen their families split up, and some have seen their parents and friends killed. Away from their homes, many face neglect, exploitation and abuse. Even very young children are being sent out to work or beg, and girls as young as 13 have been sold into early marriage.

[Guy Opperman]

Does my hon. Friend also welcome the fact that this country has approved more than 3,500 asylum applications and that the vulnerable persons relocation programme started approximately a month ago? Will she make the case that we should not be encouraging our young men in particular, but also our women, to go to Syria to try to get involved in the struggle? We should be deprecating and stopping such involvement as much as possible because the situation is well looked after by both the UK Government and individual charitable organisations.

[Lynne Featherstone]

This country has an honourable history of receiving asylum seekers, and I am pleased that the first refugees under the new scheme arrived in March. Our young people are going to fight in Syria with what I hope are misguided good intentions. The Foreign Secretary and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have made it absolutely clear that such activity should not be embarked on, as it is dangerous beyond belief and can lead to no good for those individuals or their families.

A destroyed childhood is a destroyed life, and as the crisis rages on, an entire generation of children is being shaped by this relentlessly brutal war that has ripped away every bit of normality. That will have long-term, profound consequences for Syria, the region and further afield—we cannot afford to let those children become a generation lost to conflict. That is why, right from the start of the crisis, the UK Government have highlighted the plight of vulnerable children and focused on ensuring that they have the basics they need to survive.

In September last year, the Secretary of State for International Development helped launch the “No Lost Generation” initiative, which is designed to galvanise a global co-ordinated effort to provide Syrian children with the education, protection and psycho-social support they so desperately need. Slightly off topic, but not very far off topic, is our work in Sudan. The loss of 20 years of education to the children of Sudan has affected the recovery there. As can be seen from the problems that Sudan is experiencing, a lost generation is something that we cannot afford.

Earlier this month, the Secretary of State convened a high-level summit to underline the critical need for renewed financial and political commitment for the “No Lost Generation” initiative and announced a further £20 million of funding for it, bringing the total UK support to £50 million.

[Anas Sarwar]

The Minister is rightly outlining some of the humanitarian assistance, particularly for children, happening around the Syrian conflict. Will she break down specifically what support there is in Syria? What additional support can go into Syria within the legal framework?

[Lynne Featherstone]

I will come to that. It is important to recognise the impact the refugee crisis is having on the host communities, which is why we are working with partners to ensure that host community needs are incorporated into all programmes. If the host communities are not supported, only the refugees are getting support, which causes all sorts of knock-on problems. The UK also gives £12 million of funding to targeted programmes to meet the specific needs of host communities.

Conditions inside Syria continue to drive the refugee crisis as neighbouring countries’ capacity to support growing numbers of Syrian refugees is limited. We are working hard to ensure that more aid is delivered inside Syria. The UK has allocated £249 million to partners to provide assistance to all 14 governorates of Syria. That is delivering food for approximately 380,000 people and helping to supply drinking water to more than 1.4 million people.

[Guy Opperman]

Will the Minister give way?

[Lynne Featherstone]

I will, but I want to get to my hon. Friend’s point.

[Guy Opperman]

I am sure the Minister does. No one disputes that the UK Government are allocating money, resources, food and all manner of things to individual organisations and on the ground, but the problem is that it is not getting there. The question that the UK Government have to ask themselves is about what they are specifically going to do, whether alone or as part of the United Nations. I assure the Minister that she has more than seven minutes left.

[Lynne Featherstone]

I thank my hon. Friend. I am keeping an eye on the time, because I want to address the specific points raised. Although aid is getting through, it is not enough. Access is extremely unpredictable. Thousands of people in desperate need wait each month for relief that does not arrive because humanitarian agencies are prevented from reaching them.

To address the point more directly, I should say that the UK lobbied strongly for the UN Security Council resolution on access, and it was unanimously agreed. It was the first time that the UN Security Council came together in support of a humanitarian resolution since the start of the conflict. It is vital that the Syrian regime and its backers respond immediately to those demands, which they clearly are not doing.

On the changes we have seen since that resolution was delivered, the report on the implementation makes it clear that the regime continues to obstruct humanitarian operations, in violation of the resolution. We are expecting a further update later today—the one that my hon. Friend said was leaked.

[Guy Opperman]

I have a copy of it here.

[Lynne Featherstone]

Indeed. I do not doubt my hon. Friend’s access to it; I am merely explaining that it was to have been released officially later today.

We need to maintain pressure on the regime and its allies. We need to maintain our dialogue with neighbouring countries, regional partners and the opposition. As the resolution makes clear, we fully intend to take further steps if the demands it sets out are ignored; I accept that they are being ignored. We will return to the UN Security Council to consider further measures. It is vital to the credibility of the Security Council that it acts when its will is so clearly undermined. I have heard loudly and clearly the message that my hon. Friend wants me to take back to my Secretary of State and to the Foreign Secretary about applying more pressure and going back to the UN Security Council to say, “This is urgent. These people are in desperate need. We cannot wait for things somehow to resolve.”

Obviously, things such as humanitarian corridors have been looked at, but they are simply not feasible at the moment. It therefore behoves us to press the UN Security Council to take further steps to put pressure on the Syrian authorities and on the opposition. The Syrian authorities could certainly be seen to be arbitrarily blocking access to refugees, particularly in opposition-surrounded areas.

[Anas Sarwar]

Would the Minister support UN cross-border humanitarian operations?

[Lynne Featherstone]

There is a legal discussion going on at the moment. The UK Government agree that providing partial humanitarian aid cross-border without explicit regime consent is not unlawful in circumstances in which the regime is arbitrarily denying consent for humanitarian access across borders over which it has no control and in the light of the fact that the regime is employing starvation as a method of warfare, which is against international law, against its own people. Such aid, however, must fulfil the requirements of humanity and impartiality.

On whether the UN should give cross-border aid, humanitarian agencies should deliver aid by the most effective route possible to get aid to those who need it. A decision on the UN going across borders without regime consent must be taken after consideration of not only the legal arguments, which we are having now, but the security risks and the risks of regime retaliation against humanitarian operations in other parts of the country where we are getting access to those who are in need. There could be reprisals and then more difficulties created, so worsening the situation.

We continue to urge the United Nations to do all that it can to ensure that aid reaches those who need it. It is indeed a hugely frustrating and dangerous situation, and a desperate one. Although there has been an important step forward, the UN report to the Security Council on 28 March made it clear that obstruction of humanitarian operations is going on in violation of the UN resolution. That is why, as I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Hexham, I will take the message back loud and clear that the UK Government need to consider what our next steps will be to press the United Nations on what further actions it might take. Baroness Amos will provide further details later today, although my hon. Friend already has the details of her proposals—I cannot comment on why his information is better than mine. I assure him, however, that the UK will do everything possible to provide humanitarian assistance to Syrian refugees in the region and outside Syria. We call upon other nations to contribute their fair share in this humanitarian crisis.

I thank hon. Members for their interest and concern about such a desperate situation. The Department for International Development, working hand in hand with the Foreign Office, will continue to focus efforts on ensuring that humanitarian needs are being met, while working hard to find a political resolution to the Syria crisis—although seemingly not in the offing, that is ultimately the only way in which the region will find peace.

Question put and agreed to.

Oral Answers to Questions

Baroness Featherstone Excerpts

Wednesday 9th April 2014 Commons Chamber

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

3. What recent steps she has taken to ensure the future funding and effectiveness of the GAVI Alliance. [R]

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Lynne Featherstone)]

The UK is the largest donor to GAVI. Our support will help fully immunise nearly 80 million children and save around 1.3 million lives during 2011-15. We are working closely with GAVI and partners to ensure that their 2016-20 strategy, currently being developed, provides a sound and cost-effective basis for delivering their mission and saving children’s lives.

[Nic Dakin]

May I draw attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests? To reach every child with immunisation requires not only vaccines but staff. Do the Government support the GAVI 15% to 25% spending target on health strengthening in the international community?

[Lynne Featherstone]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that, because strengthening health systems and the capacity of health workers is a key answer in addressing the immunisation deficit.

[Martin Horwood (Cheltenham) (LD)]

I proudly congratulate the Government on spending 0.7% of national income on eradicating poverty worldwide, much of it on polio eradication. The last three countries with endemic polio all have significant Islamic populations. Is the Department committed to working with religious and Islamic leaders to try to build community support for polio eradication and to protect health workers in those countries?

[Lynne Featherstone]

My hon. Friend raises the issue of the frustrating endgame on polio. GAVI will play a major role in delivering that endgame, but we are working with everyone to try to ensure that vaccinations are seen as good and not some kind of problem.

[Michael Connarty (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (Lab)]

I declare an arrangement, as I went to Cambodia with Results UK to see the GAVI-funded programme there. I am told that the Government put in £860 million, which raises questions about the future. Will the Government make a commitment to maintaining that level of funding in future for GAVI, which runs a wonderful project?

[Lynne Featherstone]

Right now, GAVI has not stated what its actual target is. We are the largest donor at 33%, and we will continue to support it. We will make a decision in the next few months.

[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

Does the Minister agree that vaccination assistance and the partnership with the Gates Foundation is not only the right thing to do but one of the best ways to help developing economies? It is also something we should sell and explain to the general public.

[Lynne Featherstone]

My hon. Friend is entirely right. The economic benefits are huge, and vaccination is considered a development “best buy”. The Gates Foundation is at the forefront of that, and we work very closely indeed with it.

[Sir Peter Luff (Mid Worcestershire) (Con)]

4. What assessment she has made of the effectiveness of her Department’s support for the Palestinian Authority.

--- Later in debate ---

[Paul Burstow (Sutton and Cheam) (LD)]

6. What steps her Department is taking to support developing countries in tackling the effects of dementia.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Lynne Featherstone)]

The UK Government support the improvement of dementia care through increased provision of basic health services for the poor. In 2012-13, the UK provided about £1 billion in bilateral health aid to support work to strengthen health systems and health services for the poor.

[Paul Burstow]

I thank the Minister for that answer and for the actions the Government are already taking. Given that six out of 10 people living with dementia worldwide live not in developed but in developing countries, that the vast majority of them do not have a diagnosis, and that we know from research by Alzheimer’s Disease International that the burden of dementia is shifting to developing countries, will the Government take further steps to build on the success of the dementia summit held last year to lever action in those developing countries?

[Lynne Featherstone]

I thank my right hon. Friend and pay tribute to him for the work he has done; indeed, I have met with him to discuss this very issue. Of course, dementia is a growing issue in the developing world. Regarding the Prime Minister’s summit, we have contributed to the Department of Health, which is the lead Department on the issue, and we are dealing full out with communicable diseases. We also, as my right hon. Friend knows, have a campaign on mental health issues.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

7. How much international development aid the UK gave in total to Jamaica, Pakistan, Nigeria, Somalia, India and Bangladesh combined in the last year for which figures are available.

Bost Project (Afghanistan)

Baroness Featherstone Excerpts

Tuesday 18th March 2014 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Lynne Featherstone)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this afternoon, Mr Streeter. I am glad to attend this debate and discuss DFID’s involvement in the Bost airfield and agricultural business park project.

I will repeat some of the information that the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Steve McCabe) has already been given and is dissatisfied with, but I hope that the timeline I give him will help to explain why and when decisions were made. He knows that the Bost airfield and agricultural business park project was approved in 2009, under the previous Government, and that Ministers did not authorise the project. At that time, Ministers had delegated authority for routine project spending to officials, up to a maximum value of £40 million. However, approval for the project followed a commitment in March 2009 by the then Secretary of State for International Development to provide £32 million for infrastructure in Helmand over the following four years.

The hon. Gentleman will be aware that DFID was present in Helmand as part of the British-led provincial reconstruction team in Lashkar Gah, the joint civilian-military team working to support the local Afghan government to bring governance and development to the province, alongside the security delivered by NATO and Afghan troops. I am sure the hon. Gentleman would agree that a simple military solution is never the answer; there will always be political considerations, and development and jobs are also required.

The Bost airfield and agricultural business park was approved as part of the provincial reconstruction team’s development plan for Helmand. Both major components of the project—the business park and the airfield—were designed to bolster Helmand’s economy by supporting local businesses and providing secure facilities. Helmand is not the easiest environment in which to work, and the situation was extremely fragile when the project was being planned. The provision of secure facilities was designed to allow local businesses to operate and to increase access to markets and commercial opportunities, which in turn would provide much needed jobs and economic growth for the province.

DFID also agreed to improve infrastructure and provide essential facilities at Bost airfield to connect Helmand businesses to the wider Afghan economy. That included building a fire station, a police station and five security towers, to make the airfield secure and fully operational, as well as an access road and car park. DFID officials met with local businesses to discuss the business park in 2009, in advance of the project being approved. That included regular consultation with the Helmand Business Association—now the Helmand National Investors Association—which represents local businesses. The group confirmed local demand for facilities of the kind planned.

DFID’s financial analysis showed that UK funding would result in a positive return for our investment—at that point. DFID therefore agreed to fund the Bost project in partnership with the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency, which agreed to take on a range of commitments, including finding a regular power supplier, land ownership issues—as the hon. Gentleman has mentioned—and environmental clearance for the park.

In 2011, following some delays in project implementation by our Afghan partners, DFID’s new financial analysis showed a potential negative rate of return on the agricultural business park. DFID’s team in Afghanistan took action based on that evidence. The project was redesigned, separating the business park and the airfield to ensure that progress on the airfield would not be hampered by the problems and setbacks with the business park. It was also agreed that the business park project would be taken forward in phases, meaning that funding could be withdrawn if it became clear that further investment would not be sustainable.

In 2012, DFID—

[Steve McCabe]

Will the Minister give way?

[Lynne Featherstone]

I will, although I might lose my thread.

[Steve McCabe]

My question is very simple. The Minister said earlier that she could give a ballpark figure of £32 million for the project. Can she tell us how much has been spent on the various phases, reshuffles and re-designations? How much British taxpayers’ money has been spent overall?

[Lynne Featherstone]

As I go through, I will set out the sums involved, but the critical point is what sum was not spent because of the non-continuation of the business park, which cost £3.1 million. As the hon. Gentleman rightly said, the plans were then handed over to the Afghan authorities so that the work would not be wasted and the whole thing could be rescheduled. That was not achievable within the original conception, which is why the plan was cancelled. Rather than waste a further £6 million, the Secretary of State decided to stop the project at that point, hand over the plans and let the project continue at a pace that would be more achievable by the Afghan authorities, without involving the British Government or the British taxpayer in further expense.

In 2012, DFID gave our in-country partners a fixed deadline to deliver the commitments that they had previously agreed in relation to the business park. Towards the end of 2012, it became apparent that our Afghan partners would not meet those commitments; they simply were not forthcoming. It was clear, therefore, that the business park could not be completed within the original time frame and that further UK investment in the work would be poor value for money.

On the £32 million, I want to clarify that it was not £32 million for Bost; £32 million was the total commitment to infrastructure in Helmand. Project approval followed the commitment by the then International Development Secretary.

Towards the end of 2012, as I said, it became apparent that the commitments would not be delivered, the business park would not be completed in time and more UK money would be at risk if we pursued it further. The Secretary of State agreed to cancel further investment in the business park in January 2013, to prevent any further waste of taxpayers’ money. However, the completed park designs were handed over to the Afghan authorities to enable them to pursue the project over a revised time frame. Personally, my view is that that was a sensible way to deal with an unfortunate situation, while saying that the project was still a good idea. However, it had to be deliverable in time and on budget, and that is now up to the Afghan authorities.

On the monitoring of projects, Afghanistan is an inherently risky country, as I am sure the hon. Gentleman understands. Development projects, particularly those in insecure and conflict-ridden areas such as Helmand, will always include an element of risk. He might have got hold of a copy of the report to which he referred—as he quoted from it, I think that my assumption is probably correct. As I understand it, the report was unfinished and high-risk, as one would expect for Helmand. That is acknowledged explicitly in the Government’s building stability overseas strategy, which endorses

“taking risks…in order to secure transformational results”.

As a DFID Minister, I am always saying to DFID officials, “I want to know as much as I can about a risk, but I don’t want you not to suggest taking risks if we are to get transformational results.”

[Steve McCabe]

I accept that there is an element of risk, certainly for the money, but now that DFID’s involvement in the project has finished, what is the purpose of keeping all the reports hidden from Members of this House? Would it not be better for us to understand the thinking and the decision-making processes? What is the Minister protecting now?

[Lynne Featherstone]

I am not protecting anything. It is not our practice to publish either unfinished reports or internal reports. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman understands that what is most appropriate is to have checks in place to monitor projects and ensure that they are proceeding as planned. That is what we do with UK taxpayers’ money: we put in milestones so we can check that we are not going off-track. We must ensure that things proceed as planned and take action when that is not the case.

In that respect, the Bost project is a good example of DFID acting on the basis of changing circumstances in Afghanistan. If we saw a project that was beginning to fail, and did not stop it, we would be criticised for not terminating it even though it was not going to provide the return that we expected.

Work continued on the successful upgrades to Bost airfield and was completed in November 2013. There are now two return flights each week from Kabul to Bost, as the hon. Gentleman said, cutting the journey time from two days to one and a half hours.

In recent weeks, the hon. Gentleman has asked a lot of questions. Consequently, I have asked a lot of questions about why he has been asking a lot of questions. As I was responding to this debate, I wanted to understand the basis of the issue. Nothing has been covered up; it was simply that the project was not achievable on the proposed timeline, and the partners involved were not delivering. By separating out the two projects, we ensured that the good part of the project could be finished. He has said that it is a cover-up, but I reject that. There is no cover-up—simply a project, or half a project, that was not going to deliver.

As the hon. Gentleman knows, most of the answers have been set out in departmental responses to his questions. [Interruption.] I am answering one of the questions that he asked. When we responded to his questions in October 2013, a total of £8.42 million had been spent on the Bost airfield and agricultural business park programme, of which, as I said, £3.1 million had been invested in the business park side of the project. The business park was not completed because commitments given by DFID by Afghan partners were not fulfilled. I am sure that he would want us to have Afghan partners. Part of the work that we do on development is growing local business and local capacity.

It was not possible to complete the business park as planned or in a way that would provide value for money for UK taxpayers. As I have said, that part of the programme was cancelled once that became clear. DFID Ministers have taken steps to increase their oversight of programmes approved by the Department—to be frank, we are always doing that. Under the previous Government, Ministers did not approve anything under £40 million. I know, because I now have to go through all the business cases under £40 million with a fine-toothed comb, that Ministers now approve all spending on projects over £5 million.

In conclusion, we have been clear about how much money was spent on the project; how the decision was arrived at; why the decision was made to cancel further funding; the role of Ministers and officials in making those decisions; and what has happened subsequently. That has all been set out in parliamentary answers. I am sorry that the hon. Gentleman thinks that something remains unrevealed after all that I have said. As far as I am aware, we have been completely open and honest about all our decisions and the money that was spent. I hope that he finds those answers sufficient.

Question put and agreed to.

Violence against Women and Girls Overseas

Baroness Featherstone Excerpts

Thursday 6th March 2014 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Lynne Featherstone)]

I am pleased to take this opportunity to update the House for a second time on my role as ministerial champion for tackling violence against women and girls overseas. Since my previous written ministerial statement, I have continued to lead the UK’s work on ending the global pandemic of violence against women and girls.

I am proud to say that the UK Government continue to show considerable leadership on this important issue. On 13 November, the UK co-hosted, with Sweden, the call to action on protecting girls and women in emergencies. This brought together Governments, UN Heads, international NGOs and civil society organisations to agree a new approach to protecting girls and women in emergency situations. The US has now taken on leadership of this initiative and we are working with them to ensure commitments translate to better support on the ground for girls and women.

In December, I hosted a learning event on preventing violence against women and girls for DFID staff and external partners. The seminar brought together members from the gender and development network, DFID staff and cross-Government colleagues to mark international human rights day, which concluded the 16 days of activism against gender violence. The overall objective for the event was to inform and inspire attendees to take action to prevent violence against women and girls.

At the event, I announced that the South African Medical Research Council will lead the main component of our flagship violence against women and girls research and innovation fund. This £25 million fund will pilot new approaches and strengthen the evidence base on what works, with a particular focus on prevention.

I have continued to champion the UK’s efforts to end female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). On international day of zero tolerance to FGM on 6 February, I joined with Ministers from across-Government to sign up to a declaration to end FGM/C in the UK and around the world. On 14 January I met with the Department of Education, the Home Office and representatives from national teachers’ associations and unions to discuss raising awareness of FGM/C.

I have also taken the opportunity to support DFID’s work in developing countries. I recently visited Burkina Faso to see work being funded through DFID’s flagship £35 million FGM/C programme. During my visit I met communities who have abandoned the practice to learn how this change came about and visited a school to hear students’ views about the practice and how young people can help with its eradication. I also met the First Lady, Chantal Compaoré, to find out how the UK can support African leadership on this issue.

Looking forward, 2014 is a critical year for pushing the elimination of violence against women and girls up the international development agenda. My priorities for 2014, which I circulated in my recent Valentine’s day letter to Members of Parliament, build on those I previously highlighted to the House. They are:

Securing and defending the rights of girls and women to live free from violence, through international negotiations such as the Commission on the Status of Women in March and the ongoing negotiations on the framework which will take us beyond the millennium development goals.

Eliminating FGM/C within a generation. The UK Government are working to end this harmful practice in 17 countries through our flagship programme. This programme works at community-level to support changes in social norms, and supports enabling policies and legislation. It also includes a campaign to galvanise a movement to end the practice at local, national and international level. This will complement work already going on in the UK to eliminate the practice here.

Sharing knowledge of what works to prevent violence against girls and women, by investing in research and working with others to ensure that what we do is based on strong evidence.

Forging strategic partnerships in the international system to “lock in” prevention of violence against girls and women, making sure we get the best outcomes for girls and women by working closely with others over the long term.

Linking our international work with the domestic, particularly our work on FGM/C and early and forced marriage and through the UK’s national action plan on violence against women and girls.

In March 2014 I will be representing the UK, alongside the Secretary of State for International Development and the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Minister for Women and Equalities, at the 58th Commission on the Status of Women in New York. I will attend both the event itself and a number of side-events focused on violence against women and girls. This global gathering will serve as an important step in our efforts to secure a strong post-2015 development framework that includes a stand-alone goal on gender equality and empowerment of women and girls and a target on preventing and eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls, and mainstreams gender throughout all the goals.

We are working closely with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Ministry of Defence colleagues to develop a new, more ambitious, national action plan on women, peace and security to launch in June at the “End Sexual Violence in Conflict: London 2014” summit. The aim of the new national action plan will be to ensure a more joined-up approach to our work on women, peace and security that makes best use of UK Government resources. It will set out how we will take forward the women, peace and security agenda, of which violence against women and girls will be a key component, internationally, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1325.

I look forward to updating the House again on my work to achieve my priorities in the coming months.

Oral Answers to Questions

Baroness Featherstone Excerpts

Wednesday 5th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Hugh Bayley (York Central) (Lab)]

4. How much her Department gave in aid to Mali in 2013; and how much it plans to give to that country in 2014.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Lynne Featherstone)]

The UK gave £23 million of bilateral aid to Mali in 2013, supporting some 650,000 people. We also pledged £110 million over four years for long-term resilience work in the Sahel region. The UK provides assistance through multilateral contributions, and we are considering additional bilateral funding for 2014.

[Hugh Bayley]

I welcome the fact that the Government are considering additional funding. To date, most of the money has been used for humanitarian relief because of the political weakness and the terrorist threat not just in Mali but across the region. Should we not now put money into development to provide livelihoods for young people, so that they do not turn to the terrorists and can make a future for themselves in their own countries?

[Lynne Featherstone]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. Livelihoods and jobs are a key focus for DFID, and we are doing a great deal of work on them. Some of the money that we are providing is built into resilience work, because the problems in the Sahel are about drought and climate change. It is what we can do for the long term that matters most.

[Mr Henry Bellingham (North West Norfolk) (Con)]

Does the Minister agree that although Mali is not within our normal sphere of influence, it is critical to the future stability of the Sahel? Is she aware that there was a lot of devastation to agriculture during the recent civil war? What can DFID do to help multilateral organisations that are working to help communities there?

[Lynne Featherstone]

We put a great deal of our money through multilaterals right across the Sahel, and we have committed £83 million in humanitarian support through the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross and international non-governmental organisations across five countries—Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania and Niger.

[Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)]

5. What consideration she has given to making funds from her Department’s budget available to people in the UK affected by flooding.

Gaza (Humanitarian Situation)

Baroness Featherstone Excerpts

Wednesday 5th February 2014 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Lynne Featherstone)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hood. I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Banbury (Sir Tony Baldry) on securing this debate and on his incredibly powerful speech. Indeed, I congratulate all Members who have contributed today. Passions clearly run high, but I doubt whether there is anyone in this Chamber who does not want peace and security for Gaza, the west bank and Israel.

The situation in Gaza is untenable. Indeed, the UN has predicted that by 2020, unless we see major changes Gaza will have become unliveable. Obviously, the UK Government are concerned about the crisis, so I welcome today’s debate. A great many points and questions have been raised, and I am undecided as to whether to tell Members what I was going to tell them or to try to answer their questions. I will try to address some of the points first, which may mean that I do not address all the issues that one might expect.

On the points that have been raised, we welcome the modest extension of the opening hours at Kerem Shalom during recent storms. We continue to push for exports, and there is no security argument against exports that we can understand. The Dutch recently funded a scanner at Kerem Shalom that remains unused, so there is currently no case for the UK to provide another scanner, although we understand the frustration. Only the easing of Israeli restrictions will relieve the situation. Conversations are currently ongoing with EU partners on possible border assistance. Exports to the west bank via a land bridge—something that was raised by the hon. Member for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock (Sandra Osborne)—would only be possible with peace and better movement and access. Those points are all symptoms of the same problem.

My hon. and learned Friend the Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Stephen Phillips), who is no longer in his place, mentioned the Foreign Secretary, who has been most clear that there is “no more urgent” priority than the middle east peace process. He continues to support US-led efforts. There is huge frustration with the lack of progress, but at least talks are taking place.

The hon. Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn) mentioned drinking water, desalination and the environment. Restrictions on construction materials mean that it is not possible to build the necessary infrastructure. The EU is doing important work on water and sanitation in the area. Water scarcity is a serious problem across the region. There has been a lack of rain and, as well as the political situation, a series of things have led to a water shortage. A division of the water supply is crucial for both countries in any two-state solution.

My hon. Friend the Member for Brent Central (Sarah Teather) mentioned burns acquired from trying to access the power supply, thereby highlighting the need for a long-term power solution. The present situation is unsustainable and extremely dangerous. The right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton (Sir Gerald Kaufman) and the hon. Member for Walsall North (Mr Winnick) mentioned sewage, the lack of medical care and the lack of power. The serious sewage spills in December 2013 were due to the severe weather, but the underlying problem is actually the lack of power for sewage pumps. DFID supports the UN access co-ordination unit’s work with the World Health Organisation, Israel, the Palestinian Authority and aid agencies to transfer medical supplies, but obviously restrictions mean that patients cannot always access specialist treatment.

The hon. Member for Hertsmere (Mr Clappison), who chairs the Conservative Friends of Israel, raised the role of Hamas, which has been condemned by both sides of the House as an awful organisation. As hon. and right hon. Members know, Hamas is designated a terrorist organisation, and it has to renounce violence, recognise Israel, prove that it has changed and be willing to make peace, without which it is very difficult to move forward.

[Mr Slaughter]

Will the Minister give way?

[Lynne Featherstone]

No, I will not.

The hon. Member for Easington (Grahame M. Morris) mentioned that a high proportion of correspondence to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is on the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The UK public are hugely interested in the peace process, which must make progress. DFID receives similarly high levels of parliamentary and public interest in that subject.

I hope I have answered some of the points that have been raised. As we have heard today, this is a dark time for the people of Gaza, and I do not exaggerate when I say that they are struggling to survive. The UN has assessed the situation as close to breaking point, and a return to violence is increasingly likely. As hon. Members know, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is not a new problem. Poverty, unemployment and shortages of food, water, fuel and medical supplies have made life a daily struggle for too long.

Things that we take for granted, such as clean water and jobs, are not a norm for people living in Gaza, and we are concerned about that. Gaza has a chronic and devastating power shortage, and the latest crisis caused by the storms has all too clearly revealed the fundamental weakness of relying on imported fuel, as well as the dangers of using interim measures such as cooking oil. The root of those problems is Israeli movement and access restrictions. We understand Israel’s legitimate security concerns, and we have recently seen increases in the number of rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. We condemn such actions wholeheartedly, but they are the actions of a few and should not automatically mean increased suffering for the many. We continue to push Israel to ease those restrictions.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

[Lynne Featherstone]

Forgive me if I do not give way, as I have only two minutes left to conclude my remarks.

A stifled Palestinian economy is not in Israel’s security interests. Poverty and hopelessness drive radicalisation. The restrictions on legitimate trade drove transactions through the tunnels, which benefited Hamas to the tune of some £90 million a year in taxation. The Israeli restrictions on fuel and construction material imports are the root of many problems in the area. Actions by Egypt to close the illegal smuggling tunnels have undoubtedly made the situation worse, but ultimately the responsibility lies with Israel, as the occupying power, to ease the restrictions that make life for Gazans so difficult. We make that point to Israel strongly and regularly.

This is a humanitarian debate, for which DFID is responsible. The UK takes the problem extremely seriously. DFID provides substantial support to Gaza: by supporting UNRWA’s job creation scheme, which provides 52,000 jobs; by contributing to the World Food Programme, which provides food vouchers to 285,000 people; by supporting UNRWA to build 22 schools; and by helping to develop the private sector by supporting more than 340 small companies in Gaza.

To sum up, the humanitarian situation in Gaza is increasingly precarious. Our partners tell us that the situation is close to breaking point, and we need to see peace negotiations and a two-state solution that includes Gaza. We need to see Israel—

[Mr Jim Hood (in the Chair)]

Order.

It looks as though there is not going to be a Division at 4 o’clock, but I suspect that as soon as I call the hon. Member for Newbury (Richard Benyon), there will be one.

Violence Against Women and Girls

Baroness Featherstone Excerpts

Thursday 23rd January 2014 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Lynne Featherstone)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Brooke. I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Gordon (Sir Malcolm Bruce) on securing this important debate, and I thank the International Development Committee for providing a wide-ranging and thought-provoking report on the critical issues that we have discussed, to which my Department has formally replied. I thank all those who provided evidence to that Committee, and I thank the hon. Members for Stafford (Jeremy Lefroy), for Mid Derbyshire (Pauline Latham), for Congleton (Fiona Bruce), for Hornchurch and Upminster (Dame Angela Watkinson), for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock (Sandra Osborne), for Ealing, Southall (Mr Sharma) and for Luton South (Gavin Shuker)—my opposite number—for their contributions. We are discussing an issue about which everyone is concerned, and on which everyone is committed to moving forward.

Tackling violence is a human rights and development necessity, and it is a priority for the UK Government. Many points have been raised in the debate, and I will address as many as possible in the time that I have. Since the International Development Committee presented its report on the Government’s work in this area, there have been several developments. Following the recommendation in the report, in November I updated the House in my role as ministerial champion for tackling violence against women and girls overseas on progress on tackling violence against women and girls.

I will address the issues on female genital mutilation more fully in a moment, but during the past two weeks, for example, I have organised and attended meetings with other cross-Whitehall Ministries. I met religious leaders—an important part of our armoury in tackling FGM—and representatives of the teachers’ unions. They, and indeed everyone, must be partners in this mission.

On 13 November, the Secretary of State for International Development, my right hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Justine Greening), convened with Sweden the “Keep her safe” event, which brought together UN and NGO leaders and senior Government officials from across the international humanitarian system. They agreed a fundamental new approach to protecting girls and women in emergency situations, which the hon. Member for Luton South raised, to ensure that their needs are addressed as part of the initial response. At the event, £21.6 million in new UK funding was announced to help implement those commitments and protect girls and women in all emergencies.

In line with the Committee’s recommendations, DFID continues to scale up the implementation of programming about violence against women and girls. In Afghanistan, we recently announced a new £18.5 million funding package to help support women, which will strengthen access to justice for women who are victims of violence and raise public awareness of women’s rights.

The hon. Member for Luton South raised access to justice and the balance that had to be struck. That ties in with the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative, which deals with the matter at the sharp end, where rape is used as a weapon of war. If there is impunity, we cannot move forward. Just as with preventing sexual violence in conflict, access to justice must go hand in hand with a change in social norms.

In Somalia, to bring gender issues to the forefront of our work, DFID recently created an internal gender policy group, which is led and chaired by senior management and has representatives from each sector. The scale-up is being supported by robust evidence from sources such as the violence against women and girls help desk, which has provided support to DFID country offices, and further DFID guidance on addressing violence against women and girls through security and justice programming. That note is part of a series of DFID guidance notes on violence against women and girls, and it will further support our scale-up efforts by providing practical advice to staff and other UK Departments.

The £25 million research and innovation fund to address violence against women and girls will support programme implementation and scale-up by generating evidence on what works for the prevention of such violence. Although I share the frustration at the time that some such measures will take, some of them will go into play very soon. When we scale up, we must be sure that we are making an impact on behalf of British taxpayers and doing something that works, not something that we rush into only to discover that it was not what we needed to do.

I have many points to address. My right hon. Friend the Member for Gordon asked about the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Sudan, and whether VAWG would be prioritised. We are currently in the process of a round of resource allocation across all DFID offices, and we are looking in detail at how we can most effectively scale up our VAWG programmes. I have mentioned Somalia, but in Nigeria we have a major programme, “Voices for Change,” to tackle the underlying causes of VAWG and gender inequality. DFID and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are working closely on VAWG programmes in DRC, ensuring preventative action and effective responses to survivors.

I was asked what we are doing about water, sanitation and hygiene, or WASH. DFID has produced a new briefing note on violence against women and girls in emergencies, and over the next year will also produce guidance on how water and sanitation sector programmes can address such violence. Importantly, through the sanitation and hygiene applied research for equity programme—SHARE—DFID has funded development of a violence, gender and WASH practitioner toolkit, which will be available this year.

I was asked how we are ensuring that VAWG is prioritised in multilateral agencies. We are keen to ensure that VAWG is a high priority in multilaterals. UN Women is a key partner in such matters, and DFID helps to fund it. The call to action in November last year that I described secured commitments from a wide range of UN agencies to put women and girls at the heart of their humanitarian response. That includes protecting them from violence. It was a pledge not so much on finance, but on what UN agencies would do under the circumstances.

A lot of right hon. and hon. Members raised the issue of female genital mutilation, an issue about which I am passionate. I think that that comes from frustration, having spent two and a half years at the Home Office. Our diaspora is intrinsically linked with the developing world but there has been a lack of prosecutions. We were challenged on the latter continually, but I must also say that there were no prosecutions under the 13 years of the previous Government.

FGM is a major issue. I am sure that we all recognise how challenging it is for a child to give evidence against their parent. As many Members said, FGM is child abuse and it is illegal, so the inevitable consequences are that the child will be removed from the parents virtually as soon as it is known that something has happened. That has been the great inhibitor. It is important that we have prosecutions, as much as anything because of the message that they send out. The answer is clearly not to send 20,000 sets of parents to jail, but the message that FGM is illegal and unacceptable is very important.

The Minister for Crime Prevention, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (Norman Baker), is champing at the bit on this issue. He is working closely with the Director of Public Prosecutions, who believes that we are very near to the first few prosecutions. Part of the issue has been getting preparatory evidence on computers. That way, the process might not necessarily involve a child victim giving evidence in court—there will be evidence of plans to take a child to a mother country to have them cut. We are optimistic about prosecutions. I could not agree more with those Members who said that we must not tiptoe on cultural eggshells. For a long time, that has been the problem and a challenge. I am clear that that can have no standing. FGM is against our laws.

The hon. Member for Mid Derbyshire asked about what happens in France. They examine every girl every year until the age of six, as part of other examinations. When I met with my opposite number in France, she said, “You know, we just have a little look.” Given that there is no question about 99% of our population—they do not practise FGM—that would not necessarily be the best use of resources for us. There must be continual pressure from the Metropolitan police and the other forces around the country that were mentioned. They are now proactively looking for those who are perpetrating FGM and seeking to prosecute them.

Many Members also raised the point that our work should be much more to do with awareness and getting into and working with communities. The women of our Somali communities are very hidden. When I visited a school in Bristol, the first primary school in the country that has an FGM safeguarding policy and brings in the Somali mothers, that was the first time that they had all met to be able to discuss such things. The issues are not discussed in the way that we might in this country—the women are very isolated. That is why I have been trying to involve religious and community leaders, alongside those agencies that are working in this field and are best able to get into the communities and to deal with awareness.

I have also involved the TUC and the teaching unions, because they have an opportunity to look at teacher training and other such issues. Indeed, I am working with other Ministers on safeguarding, because the issues are hugely important. The Home Office produced guidelines—I am going to run out of time—for front-line workers, but we were shocked to find that eight out of 10 teachers do not even know about the guidelines, so we are working with the Department for Education on raising awareness about such issues.

I could not agree more with the view that we must be flexible with funding. However, the £35 million that was raised is, in a sense, to get things started. We need to find out what is right—part of the money goes on gathering evidence; part of it goes on social change. The funding helps to support the African movement, as well as the UN resolution banning FGM.

Early and forced marriage is very much in the same vein as FGM, inasmuch as both are social norms. That is a terrible indictment, because such norms are the most deep-seated and hardest things to change. That is why I am particularly interested in behavioural change. We continue to work with Girls Not Brides to develop a global theory of change on early and forced marriage, to underpin the new programmes.

[Pauline Latham]

Will the Minister give way?

[Lynne Featherstone]

I have only half a second, so I hope that the hon. Lady will forgive me if I do not.

We are pushing for an ambitious and stand-alone goal on gender for 2015, including strong target language on preventing and eliminating VAWG, as set out in the high-level panel report. It is feasible to have an ultimate target of eliminating VAWG and to measure progress towards that as we do for other ambitious goals, such as that for ending hunger.

I want quickly to address stoning in Afghanistan. Women and girls there continue to face huge issues. The proposal to reinstate stoning is symptomatic of the situation in which women and girls find themselves. In fact, I met the Afghan Minister for Education only yesterday. I raised the issue of violence against women and girls in schools in Afghanistan. He gave me many assurances, but one challenge in Afghanistan is that things are decentralising. Individual communities are going to be far from central control.

I must finish there. I am very sorry, but I will try to write to Members to answer the points that I could not address in such a short time.

Oral Answers to Questions

Baroness Featherstone Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mark Williams (Ceredigion) (LD)]

4. What assessment she has made of the adequacy of UK support to the Global Partnership for Education.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Lynne Featherstone)]

The UK is currently the largest donor to the Global Partnership for Education, providing on average of £50 million per year from 2012 to 2014. GPE estimates that in 2012 its funding supported around 4.5 million children in primary school, 1.3 million of whom with DFID support.

[Mr Williams]

I thank my hon. Friend for that answer and welcome the Government’s leading role in the Global Partnership for Education, which has done so much to fulfil the entitlement of all children to an education and is now turning its sights to the quality of education through teacher training. Given the Government’s strong support for it, what plans does she have to champion the GP’s replenishment this year and to encourage other donors to come forward?

[Lynne Featherstone]

I thank my hon. Friend for that, and I pay tribute to his work and interest in this area. The UK is currently the largest bilateral donor to basic education. That is the sector in which aid is now declining. We strongly encourage other donors to step up to the plate alongside us, as well as mother countries themselves. We will determine our plans for support to the GP based on the case they make for replenishment. We will use that as a basis for—

[Mr Speaker]

We are deeply grateful to the Minister. We are immensely obliged to the Minister, but we have quite a lot to get through.

[Lynne Featherstone]

DFID takes a strong lead in education in conflict areas and we talk with all our partners about how best to deliver. The GPE is particularly important, as it has particular expertise in delivering in such situations.

[David T. C. Davies (Monmouth) (Con)]

7. How much funding her Department provides to Save the Children annually.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Lynne Featherstone)]

In financial year 2012-13, DFID provided £55 million to Save the Children for its international humanitarian and long-term development work. During 2013, additional funding was agreed for Save the Children’s response to humanitarian crisis, including projects in Syria, the Philippines and the Central African Republic.

[David T. C. Davies]

Does the hon. Lady agree that an organisation receiving so much Government money has a duty to remain non-political and that tweeting insults about Lady Thatcher and implied criticisms of Government education policy suggests that Save the Children and its Labour spin doctor chief executive have a lot more work to do in that regard?

[Lynne Featherstone]

I thank my hon. Friend for that contribution, but I do not quite share his position. DFID does not provide funding for political lobbying activities. Save the Children works to save children’s lives and does an extremely good job. It also fights for children’s rights. In pursuing those laudable social aims, of course it engages legitimately with politicians and political processes in the UK and internationally.

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

What progress is being made along with Save the Children in trying to promote literacy skills among young females in many of the nation states where Save the Children operates?

[Lynne Featherstone]

DFID has a number of great literacy programmes across all states. It works very closely with Save the Children and funds a great many of its projects.

[Nick de Bois (Enfield North) (Con)]

8. What assessment her Department has made of the implications for its development programmes of recent elections in Bangladesh.

--- Later in debate ---

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

On Monday, Catherine Samba-Panza was elected as interim President of the Central African Republic, and she has spoken encouragingly of reconciling the different groups in the country, but the threat of serious conflict remains. The new Government will need significant support, so will the Secretary of State say more about what help the UK is planning to help avert conflict and serious humanitarian disaster?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Lynne Featherstone)]

Obviously, the situation remains fragile. We welcome the fact that there is now a leader who wants to take things forward. The UK pledged a total of £15 million—we are one of the largest donors to the Central African Republic—and we stand ready, should more requests be made, to listen to them and provide all possible help that we can give.

[Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)]

T4. South Sudan won independence with great hopes of democracy and freedom, but it has collapsed into near civil war. Will the Minister tell us what steps she has taken to help deal with the humanitarian crisis in that country? [Interruption].

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Ministers can scarcely hear the questions. I appeal to the House to lower the decibel level. The Leader of the House is nodding in assent to my proposition, which is encouraging.

[Lynne Featherstone]

The situation in South Sudan is extremely worrying, and we support the mediation led by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development. We have given £12.5 million, and £60 million in DFID programmes has been switched to humanitarian assistance. We were hopeful earlier in the week that there might be a cessation of hostilities, but that faint hope has now faded.

[Fiona O'Donnell (East Lothian) (Lab)]

T2. Will the Secretary of State tell the House what assessment her Department has made of the health benefits to the poorest people in low and middle-income countries from UK aid to pro-profit health care providers?