Commonwealth Heads of Government

Baroness Hayman Excerpts

Thursday 27th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

I can certainly say yes to my noble friend on the commitment and prioritisation that we need to give and assure her that I will raise this issue directly with Rwanda and press for the inclusion of SRHR in the CHOGM communiqué.

[Baroness Hayman (CB) [V]]

My Lords, I declare my interests as set out in the register. Will the Minister tell me what specific action the Government are undertaking to mobilise delivery of the commitment made in 2018 at CHOGM to halve malaria in the Commonwealth by 2023? Are not that commitment and our credibility undermined by the cuts in bilateral malaria programmes —for example, in Nigeria—occasioned by the abandonment of our 0.7% spending commitment?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, I clearly recall working with the noble Baroness on prioritising fighting malaria in the run-up to and through CHOGM 2018. We have made some real progress on deliverables across the Commonwealth in raising awareness and on vaccinations. The noble Baroness raises specific questions within country programmes. Those are being finalised, but I can assure her that we are seeking to prioritise health and particularly vaccination.

COP 26

Baroness Hayman Excerpts

Tuesday 25th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con) [V]]

The noble Lord is right. Of course, developed countries need to make good on their promise to mobilise at least $100 billion in public finance to tackle climate change and a big chunk of that needs to be spent on nature-based solutions, but we need international financial institutions to play a part as well. We need to unleash trillions in addition to that in private sector finance. As part of this, we are doing what we can to complete negotiations successfully around Article 6, which would pave the way to functioning, high-integrity carbon markets as just one solution. Finally, Governments need to shift the subsidies, which dwarf anything that is available via aid agencies, and ensure that instead of funding destruction, as most of them currently do, they fund renewal and sustainability.

[Baroness Hayman (CB) [V]]

My Lords, continuing the financial theme, I declare my interest as co-chair of Peers for the Planet. Has the Minister seen the report published today showing that, if the UK banking and investment sector were ranked as a country, it would be ninth in the world for carbon emissions? In the light of that information, will the Government show leadership before COP 26 by bringing forward a UK strategy to green our financial and taxation systems, as recommended in the recent report of the Public Accounts Committee?

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con) [V]]

My Lords, no, I have not seen that report, but I will, of course, look it up. I am not surprised by this, given the size and importance of London with respect to its financial sector. As a Government, we are supporting a crucially important new initiative called the TNFD—the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosure—which aims to do what has been achieved in relation to carbon disclosure and make sure that, between those two initiatives, businesses are able to identify and avoid exposure to the risks of both climate change and nature destruction. We feel that this initiative has the capacity to shift the dynamic in the financial sector and we are supporting it in every way we possibly can.

Integrated Review: Development Aid

Baroness Hayman Excerpts

Wednesday 28th April 2021 Grand Committee

[Baroness Hayman (CB) [V]]

My Lords, I declare the interests that I have set out in the register. The devastating human costs of the Government’s decision to renege on their manifesto commitment to maintain ODA spending at 0.7% of GDP have been clearly articulated throughout the week in your Lordships’ House, and already today in this debate. But my noble friend Lord Alton asks us to examine those cuts in relation to the Government’s strategic review and their stated aims. I shall focus on two of those: the aim to be a science superpower and the aim to be “a soft power superpower”.

Covid and global health are the crises of our times. Climate change is the crisis of our age. Yet these cuts threaten our ability to influence either. In particular, the cuts to UKRI from ODA funds are undermining our efforts in both areas. UK research organisations are seeing cuts in the exact areas where spending in previous years built the capacity in Oxford and elsewhere to produce Covid vaccines at speed. The Royal Society said:

“These are programmes, and relationships, that have taken years to build, and such deep cuts send a message that the UK is a not a reliable partner in long-term science advancement”.


The way in which the cuts are focused on bilateral funding means that the sense of our not being a reliable partner will be felt in many countries, including those worst affected by climate change and those we most need to influence to join our efforts to combat climate change in the year in which we host both the G7 and COP 26. As one commentator put it:

“This decision is the single worst self-inflicted injury in this kind of diplomacy … for a very long time.”

Overseas Development Assistance: Budget

Baroness Hayman Excerpts

Tuesday 27th April 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman (CB) [V]]

My Lords, I declare my interest on malaria and neglected tropical diseases as set out in the register. Does the Minister accept that in-year cuts are particularly damaging and wasteful of public money already spent? Yet NTD programmes look to be facing total and immediate devastation and deep cuts are in train for crucial ongoing malaria work, notably in Nigeria. Given the disproportionate burden of malaria on that country, what assessment have the Government made of the effects of such cuts on the CHOGM commitment made in London in 2018 to halve malaria in the Commonwealth by 2023?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, on the final point, the challenges of the last year have of course quite severely impacted the fight against not just malaria but other diseases. That is why the Government have stood firm in our support of multilateral organisations and initiatives such as Gavi and CEPI. We continue to invest in research and development on malaria specifically; as I am sure the noble Baroness will acknowledge, that was primarily responsible for the world’s first antimalarial drug, which has saved more than 1 million lives. However, I fully accept that the challenges to programmes are severe—I do not shy away from that. We will work with organisations and countries to see how we can manage the impact of the cuts being made.

Overseas Development Assistance: Budgets and Awards

Baroness Hayman Excerpts

Thursday 22nd April 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman (CB) [V]]

My Lords, I declare my registered interests in malaria and neglected tropical diseases. Both these areas are already feeling the devastating effects of cuts in UK funding, for example the cessation of drug treatments as part of the highly successful Ascend NTD programme and the cut to UKRI funding for research at Imperial College into infectious diseases such as malaria. Where exactly does this leave the Government’s other manifesto commitment to

“lead the way in eradicating … malaria”?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, first, I know how much work the noble Baroness has put into fighting malaria. The noble Baroness and I have worked together, particularly on issues in this area that relate to the Commonwealth. We remain very much committed to research and technology. Indeed, there are specific allocations as well as allocations across the piece. On the issue of fighting various diseases, we remain very much committed to Gavi, CEPI and supporting the work of the World Health Organization in fighting any kind of disease, anywhere around the world.

Official Development Assistance

Baroness Hayman Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd December 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, my noble friend raises two points. Respecting his insights and his own experience as a Minister, I say to him that I have seen myself the direct benefit that our development spend has brought in the field and the opportunities that it has brought to communities in different parts of the world. I am proud of the fact that our development spending has lent itself to strengthening the opportunities for different communities, but that also has a knock-on positive impact on what we as the UK are trying to achieve in the international arena. Our development spend and our commitment to it, our commitment to the SDGs and our commitments to alleviating poverty, providing support for famine relief and ensuring that girls are educated wherever they might be in the world are things that we can proudly stand up and say the UK has supported and will continue to support.

I agree with my noble friend in as much as I accept that the British people are among the most generous in the world—we see that in the pandemic that we are currently facing—but equally we as the Government are trustees of public spending to ensure that, as we look at our priorities domestically, we also look to invest wisely internationally, including in supporting the most vulnerable communities and people around the world.

[Baroness Hayman (CB) [V]]

My Lords, I declare my interests as set out in the register, and I echo the comments made about the much-respected noble Baroness, Lady Sugg.

The scale of these cuts will be brutal for those affected but also, I believe, damaging in the long term to this country and its interests. The Statement gives priorities in general and I welcome the commitments on climate change, girls’ education and health, but it is very short on detail. So I have a specific question: will the Government be honouring their other commitment made in their manifesto—namely, to lead the fight against malaria? Will they do so by maintaining investment in malaria at its present level?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, I commend the work of the noble Baroness’s campaign to eradicate malaria. We have worked together on this, particularly in relation to the last CHOGM. She asks for quite specific details on the programmes and prioritisation. My right honourable friend has laid out the framework for how we will look at those priorities. I cannot give her a specific commitment on a particular programme on a particular issue, but I can say, where we have given commitments in the past, we will ensure that we look at how we can sustain our support, whether technical or financial. In due course, as decisions are made on how we prioritise our aid spend specifically, I am sure that we will return to these questions. I regret that I cannot give her a specific commitment on the issue of malaria at this time.

Aid Spending

Baroness Hayman Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman (CB)]

My Lords, our overseas aid programme is under a triple threat: the questioning of the commitment to 0.7%; the reduced value of the 0.7% because of the post-Covid recession; and the subverting of aid spending into quite different areas, such as defence. Does the Minister accept that an effective aid programme is, in fact, firmly in the UK’s national interest and enhances our reputation globally? Will she reassure me that spending in areas where we are acknowledged world leaders, such as malaria—I declare my interest—which was also specifically mentioned in the Conservative Party manifesto, will be safeguarded going forward?

[Baroness Sugg (Con)]

I completely agree with the noble Baroness that our work in international development is firmly in the national interest and absolutely enhances our global reputation abroad. We have been a world leader in many things, including malaria. We need to focus, rightly, on the Covid-19 response, but we must not forget or reverse the significant gains that have been made over the years. We have many proud achievements on malaria, and the UK will continue to lead the way on eradicating malaria as part of our work on ending preventable deaths.

Air Quality and Emissions

Baroness Hayman Excerpts

Tuesday 19th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park]

This is a huge question and one not just for the Department for the Environment but across the whole of government. We have to ensure that in many respects we are able bank some of the improvements that we have seen in air pollution. To support the expansion of alternatives to public transport, particularly for the 40% or so of commuters whose journey is less than three miles, we have announced a wide package of measures, including £2 billion for cycling and walking, accelerated work on the introduction of e-scooters—which is very good news—and the deployment of tech expertise to help people avoid congested travel routes. We will provide £2 billion of funding for active travel, which I believe is the largest-ever commitment by any Government to help transform the manner in which we travel.

[Baroness Hayman (CB)]

My Lords, these improvements in air quality have come at a terrible cost. Does the Minister agree that, post-Covid, it is possible both to embed environmental gains and to provide the essential economic stimulus the country will need through the sorts of measures that he has just been talking about—such as investment in sustainable infrastructure, in transport and in training for the green economy—so that we really do build back better?

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park]

It is essential that decisions we make today have at their heart a commitment to long-term sustainability and resilience, both in our domestic actions and in our global outreach—through, for example, the Department for International Development. That thread should run through all government decisions in all departments. That is why we are so pleased to hear the commitments by the Department for Transport, the Secretary of State for BEIS—who is also the president of COP—and other departments of government. There is no doubt in my mind that this Government recognise that out of the ashes of this appalling disaster we have an opportunity to make decisions which will pass the test of the time. The Prime Minister himself—[inaudible.]

Yemen: Women and Girls

Baroness Hayman Excerpts

Thursday 7th March 2019 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Hayman]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the case for urgent humanitarian assistance for women and girls in Yemen was discussed during the Foreign Secretary’s recent visit to that country.

[The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon) (Con)]

My Lords, last weekend, my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary visited Yemen to push for progress, becoming the first western Foreign Minister to visit since the conflict began. The conflict has exacerbated the vulnerabilities faced by women and girls. Gender-based violence has increased and gender inequality has become further entrenched. Since 2017, the United Kingdom has provided support to more than 1,700 victims of gender-based violence. However, it is only by securing peace—an opinion shared by all in this House—that the position of women and girls can be substantively improved.

[Baroness Hayman (CB)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for that response and his recognition of the situation of women in Yemen. I draw the House’s attention to my interests as set out in the register. Even before the war, Yemen was rated as the worst place in the world to be a woman. Since then, in the desperate humanitarian crisis that has occurred, women and girls, and of course their children, have suffered disproportionately, with the latest report from the International Rescue Committee showing a 63% increase in the past four years in the number of incidents of rape, gender-based violence, and forced and early marriage. Does the Minister accept that humanitarian efforts must prioritise the needs of women and girls and their children to look to protect them, and that women need to be involved as equal partners in discussions on peace?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

The short answer to both questions is yes. Through some of our programmes in Yemen, particularly those led by DfID, £39 million has been allocated to address issues such as forced marriage, on which Yemen is a priority country; 6,000 girls directly impacted by forced marriage have been assisted with counselling and health provision. A further £65,000 has been allocated for outreach work as far as is possible to ensure that early marriage is also addressed. I absolutely accept the noble Baroness’s point on peacekeeping. That is why the Government have committed internationally, more recently in the context of the Commonwealth, to women’s peacemaking networks. As we approach International Women’s Day, it is important that, at the UN, here and elsewhere in the world, emphasis is placed on the importance of women in conflict resolution.

Forced Marriages: Repatriation Charges

Baroness Hayman Excerpts

Wednesday 9th January 2019 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Hayman]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will reverse the policy of charging the victims of forced marriages the cost of their return to the United Kingdom.

[The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon) (Con)]

My Lords, today my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary has announced that victims of forced marriage who are helped to return to the United Kingdom by the Forced Marriage Unit will no longer be asked to take out a loan for their repatriation costs. Furthermore, no individual assisted by the Forced Marriage Unit who would previously have been offered a loan will have to cover the costs of their repatriation.

[Baroness Hayman (CB)]

My Lords, I am extremely grateful for that Answer. I am very glad that I do not have to berate the Minister—for whom I have the greatest respect—on an issue which, frankly, was a disgrace, and which the Times did us all a service by highlighting. I am also glad to understand that the debts that are still around the necks of some of these very vulnerable women who have been repatriated to this country will be wiped out. Will the Minister reassure me that their passports, which were confiscated, will also be returned to them? Will he look very carefully at whether other such practices go on when British citizens abroad need consular help in order to come home after a crime has been committed against them?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

My Lords, I reassure the noble Baroness and your Lordships’ House that we are not just waiting in respect of those with outstanding loans but are proactively reaching out to anyone who has been impacted. Those loans will no longer apply, and those who have had passports blocked will have them returned; I can provide those reassurances. On the third point, I think the noble Baroness may well have been listening in to my briefing with officials earlier today because I raised that exact point, particularly with regard to FGM, to ensure that no one who suffers as a victim of this crime abroad has to bear the cost of repatriation.