Syria

Baroness Northover Excerpts

Monday 8th February 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for welcoming the work that was done at the Syria conference last week. I think he will agree that many of the NGOs and civil society organisations that were present demonstrated their gratitude for the opportunity to establish a response on the ground that suits the needs and challenges of the people in Syria and in the region.

I agree with the noble Lord when he says that we must go beyond providing basic aid. That is why I was so pleased that the UK stepped up to the mark and doubled its pledge to £2.3 billion and other countries also demonstrated that they were keen to go beyond the basic needs and assist with livelihoods so that people could contribute to the economies of the host countries.

I agree with the noble Lord that we must not lose a generation of children who will not have the education and skills that will be really needed to rebuild Syria when peace comes—sooner rather than later, we all hope. Of course, these are complex and difficult crises, and we must respond to them.

I am pleased that the action that the UK Government have taken has encouraged others to raise their ambitions. But as the noble Lord rightly says, we can give hope only when genuine peace negotiations are going on. That is why we will push hard for those who are involved to press the Assad Government to deliver a successful peace negotiation as well as deliver support while the crisis continues.

[Baroness Northover (LD)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for repeating the Statement and for the Government’s continuing and massive commitment to Syrians in the region.

How will the Government seek to ensure that others who have pledged at this conference will in fact deliver? For those who are now besieged in Syria, will there be systematic air drops? For those who are on the border with Turkey—they are, apparently, not being let through that border—how will we guarantee their security if they are not allowed to cross that border?

[Baroness Verma]

I thank the noble Baroness for welcoming the conference and the commitments made by all those present. She is absolutely right to say that we need to press hard for others to make sure that they fulfil their commitments. It is right that, once we have made commitments, we deliver on them. The people who expect us to support them depend on all our commitments.

The noble Baroness is also right to say that in some areas it will be incredibly difficult to deliver aid. She asked whether we would try to use air drops. We do not believe that is an effective way to get food and other essential aid to people. We believe that using UN agencies and others delivering aid by road, and others who are respected and understand the situation on the ground, is probably the best way to ensure that the aid gets through to the people who most require it. But we do not rule anything out. We have to keep everything under check, as the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, will be aware from when she did my job in government.

However, what is really important is to recognise that we cannot allow starvation to be used as a weapon. We must press hard those who have influence on the Assad regime to make them understand that it is criminal to use food starvation sieges as weapons of war.

Female Genital Mutilation: International Action

Baroness Northover Excerpts

Thursday 4th February 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

The UK fought hard for the universal acceptance of human rights—that they are for everyone—and this is a human right. The noble Baroness will therefore be aware that we will continue to ensure that there are indicators to reflect FGM.

[Baroness Northover (LD)]

My Lords, as the Minister will know, the Girl Generation was set up in 2014 by my noble friend Lady Featherstone, when she was a DfID Minister, to combat FGM in 17 countries—initially in Kenya, Zambia and Nigeria. What targets have now been set for the Girl Generation and how is DfID supporting them? What is DfID now doing to ensure that the targets are achieved given how important it is to protect these girls?

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, I pay tribute to the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, for her work as a Minister to champion the issue of violence against women and girls. It is absolutely right that we continue to pursue this hard by monitoring, evaluating and finding ways of working to help Governments to enforce and put in place legislation, frameworks and policies. That will assist the work that was done by the noble Baronesses, Lady Featherstone and Lady Northover.

Bilateral Aid Review

Baroness Northover Excerpts

Wednesday 27th January 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, the noble Lord is of course aware that most of the work is delivered through DfID staff and DfID programmes on the ground in the countries concerned. Of course, we also work with multilaterals where they have a specialism that enables them to deliver better as a multilateral force rather than individually, on bilateral terms. However, where we do need specialist advice or information, we reach out to consultants, and that is right and proper. But it would be discourteous to say to all DfID members of staff that they did not have the right capacities. We of course need to build on those, but we should not be discourteous about their actual strengths.

[Baroness Northover (LD)]

My Lords, do the Government recognise that many of the poorest people in the world are in some of the fragile lower-middle income countries? They, too—especially if they are going to stay where they are—need to have hope and help.

[Baroness Verma]

Yes, my Lords, and the noble Baroness is absolutely right to say that, when we are working in places where there is conflict—and they are incredibly fragile places—we should work to ensure that people living in those circumstances are seeing signs of hope. That is why we took the decision to work very closely in the region when we were dealing with the Syrian crises. I am really pleased that the Syrian conference is coming up on 4 February, where countries such as Kuwait and the UK are coming together to make sure that we actually address the needs of the people, particularly in the region.

Syria: Refugees

Baroness Northover Excerpts

Wednesday 20th January 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, the Government have been consistent in trying to support people within the region, where we think they are best placed to be looked after, and to encourage them not to become victims of smugglers and people traffickers by trying to get across to Europe. We are also encouraging our donor partners to contribute so that we can work better within the region. We have a conference coming up in February. Ultimately, what we need is a long-term political solution.

[Baroness Northover (LD)]

My Lords, I am sure that the Minister has noted how vulnerable unaccompanied refugee children are. For example, of those seen in an Italian clinic, half were suffering from sexually transmitted diseases. Will the Government urgently address the request from Save the Children that we should take in 3,000 of these children?

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, the Prime Minister has committed to looking again at this issue but we have been consistently clear that the relocation of asylum seekers between member states is the wrong thing to do. It will act as a pull factor and does not address the cause of the problem but simply moves it around the EU, so making an exception for children makes little sense. However, as I have said, the Prime Minister is committed to looking at the issue again.

Ebola: Sierra Leone

Baroness Northover Excerpts

Tuesday 19th January 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, the noble Lord raises some very important issues about the recovery plan. The UK has committed to £54 million in support of President Koroma’s nine-month early recovery and transition plan, which will focus on health, education and social protection—and, of course, economic recovery. We will be standing shoulder to shoulder with our friends in Sierra Leone; we think that that is the right thing to do. The noble Lord is absolutely right that we also need to ensure that, as we gear up to help build resilience, we get others on board to give that support.

[Baroness Northover (LD)]

My Lords, I pay tribute to DfID, NHS staff and others, including Save the Children, for their amazing efforts in Sierra Leone since 2014. As unsafe practices were tackled, one upside was the decline in FGM. How is DfID ensuring that that decline is maintained? What is being done to counter other diseases which are a global threat? I am thinking here, for example, of Lassa fever, which has broken out across Nigeria.

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, as the noble Baroness knows well from the work that she did in her former role as a DfID Minister, part of our wider strategy is to ensure that we build resilience, first and foremost, into the health systems. She touches on a very important issue about FGM: ensuring that those practices do not recur once the recovery is in place. We will work very closely with the president on his plan, but also through the wider work that we are going to do through the community-led organisations on the ground to ensure that the work that we did from the Girl Summit going forward does not get lost in the rebuilding of Sierra Leone. As always, with all these issues, it is really about continuing our dialogue with the Government of Sierra Leone to see how we can help them in strengthening their health systems first of all, but also ensuring that we assist them in tackling issues such as FGM at community level.

Women and Girls: HIV

Baroness Northover Excerpts

Tuesday 1st December 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, yes, I can reassure the noble Lord that integration is at the core of DfID’s approach. Our bilateral programmes work with Governments and civil society to ensure that HIV programmes are delivered within an integrated health service for women, girls and beyond. I am sure the noble Lord will be pleased that, with UK support, we have reached 3.1 million women with services to prevent transmission of HIV to their babies. A lot is going on within the programming.

[Baroness Northover (LD)]

My Lords, does the noble Baroness recognise—I am sure she does—that the Global Fund has been transformative in tackling HIV/AIDS? If she recognises that, how will the Government ensure that their Ross fund on infectious disease, which they announced last week, will complement rather than compete with the Global Fund?

[Baroness Verma]

Of course we recognise the great strength of the Global Fund, but we are also excited about the Ross fund, a £1 billion research initiative that will focus on malaria and other infectious diseases. At this moment, I do not have enough detail of the initiative to tell the noble Baroness more but, as always, I am open to her speaking to me about it once I have more details.

International Development Policies

Baroness Northover Excerpts

Thursday 19th November 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover (LD)]

My Lords, I, too, thank the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, for securing this debate and challenging us all so effectively. I have hugely valued his expertise over the years. I also commend the noble Lord, Lord Barker, for his maiden speech, and I look forward to hearing more from him.

As a former DfID Minister, I feel very proud of what DfID has achieved. The department is indeed renowned throughout the world for its work, as my noble friend Lord Chidgey made clear. As a Lib Dem, I am delighted that my colleagues Michael Moore and Jeremy Purvis—now, my noble friend Lord Purvis—took through Parliament the Bill to enshrine in law the UK’s commitment to spend 0.7% of GNI on aid. I am extremely grateful for so much cross-party support, not least from many—although not all—who have spoken today. Therefore, it is vital for me to ensure that this aid is indeed spent wisely and well. It must be effective.

We are coming up to the comprehensive spending review next week and the strategic defence and security review. The SDSR was due to be published on Monday but it may, as I understand it, be postponed. So this debate is also very well timed because of the key agreements of this year.

As the noble Lord, Lord McConnell, and others pointed out, in September, after worldwide involvement, we agreed the new sustainable development goals. We hope that the climate change conference will take place shortly in Paris, despite the terrible events of the last few days. There could not be a more stark contrast between that appalling series of attacks and the need to work collectively to tackle global climate change. Right now, as we have heard, DfID is conducting a number of its own reviews. As the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, mentioned, aid is scrutinised by the Commons Select Committee and by ICAI, as well as through transparency and public scrutiny. That scrutiny is vital because of all that we need and must achieve in an unstable world.

DfID’s work takes place in very challenging circumstances, as the noble Lord, Lord Cromwell, pointed out. However, if we look at the wider changes that we seek, we can see major progress. The MDGs aimed to halve extreme poverty. Clearly assisted by economic growth in China, India, Brazil, Mexico and other key economies, the world achieved that, even if half the world’s population—women—remain worldwide less well off than men.

However, the newly-agreed SDGs now aim to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030, thus finishing what the MDGs started, and they aim to leave no one behind. That must mean a continued concentration on women and girls, as the noble Baronesses, Lady Hodgson and Lady Flather, the noble Lord, Lord Desai, the noble Viscount, Lord Craigavon, and others have made clear. It also means that we must focus, as the noble Lord, Lord Alton, emphasised, on those from ethnic minorities in particular countries where they are excluded, and, as the noble Lord, Lord Black, pointed out, on members of the LGBT community, those with disabilities, the elderly and so on. I look forward to the Minister’s response on these points.

In tackling fragile states, as Save the Children points out and as was emphasised by the noble Lord, Lord Judd, an over-focus on short-term results can deflect from longer-term aims. Building systems, capacity and institutions takes time. The Prime Minister’s recent announcement, which the noble Lord, Lord McConnell, referred to, that the UK may be focusing half its aid budget in fragile states must surely mean that long-term development strategies are vital; for example, across the Middle East and north Africa. Perhaps the Minister could clarify that. Here, echoing the noble Baroness, Lady Chalker, I note CDCs very interesting support in frontier economies.

We also hear that DfID will emphasise humanitarian emergencies. Again, we must make sure that we invest in longer-term development to reduce the impact of natural disasters. Earthquakes striking the west coast of the US do not cause the death rates that we see in developing countries—for example, around the Himalayan ring—where the challenge of poor housing lies at the root of many casualties. We know from tsunamis that building key public structures in a way that can withstand such floods is crucial. We also know that warning systems can save many lives.

In building resilience, we need to implement the advice from the expert panel on disasters, chaired by my noble friend Lord Ashdown.

Many noble Lords have made reference to the fact that more ODA money may be assigned to other departments. Cross-departmental working is absolutely right; after all, trade policies from BIS—

[The Earl of Courtown (Con)]

Will the noble Baroness give way?

[Baroness Northover]

If the noble Earl will look at his piece of paper, I am allowed eight minutes.

[The Earl of Courtown]

I do apologise to the noble Baroness, but it is four minutes.

[Baroness Northover]

I apologise on behalf of my Whips’ Office, which told me last night that, whereas everybody else had four minutes, I had eight minutes in which to respond for the Lib Dems.

I will conclude by arguing that it is important that DfID and DECC work closely together. Removing renewables in the United Kingdom helps to undermine what we are doing overseas.

It is important that the FCO, MoD and DfID work together; that was surely and sorely missing in the early days in Afghanistan and Iraq, with long-term consequences.

This has been a very thoughtful debate—

[The Earl of Courtown]

My Lords, I am sorry, but will the noble Baroness give way, please?

[Baroness Northover]

I now conclude and look forward to the Minister’s reply.

UN: Global Goals

Baroness Northover Excerpts

Thursday 29th October 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, the noble Lord raises a really important point. But we will not be able to put the plans into action until we have the indicators. I know that the noble Lord is very interested in this area, so he will be aware that they are not expected to be finalised until March or April next year. We look forward to working closely together on this issue because I absolutely agree with the noble Lord that goal 16 is equally as important as the other millennium development goals to ensuring that we deliver good governance and justice to the poorest in the world.

[Baroness Northover (LD)]

My Lords, of course the SDGs apply to all countries in the world, including our own. Does the Minister remember that when we were both Ministers in the Government Equalities Office how difficult it was to persuade the Treasury to work out the impact of policies by gender? Have her colleagues managed to persuade the Treasury that they must now do this?

Developing Nations: Technical and Vocational Education

Baroness Northover Excerpts

Wednesday 21st October 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, the noble Lord asks a really important question. However, we have made sure that women and girls remain at the heart of each DfID programme in each country in which we are working, so we have not disaggregated that amount. I can assure the noble Lord that, with the agreement of the new SDGs, we continue to place girls and women at the heart of those programmes. We are really pleased that we got the stand-alone women SDG within the agreed SDG goals this September. However, there is a lot of work to be done and we are encouraging our partners to step up to the mark, just as the UK is doing.

[Baroness Northover (LD)]

My Lords, what is DfID doing to ensure that women with disabilities are included in any training? She just referred to the SDGs, which make the point that extreme poverty will not be eradicated unless we leave no one behind.

[Baroness Verma]

Absolutely. Again, the UK should be congratulated on the work that we are doing as a Government to ensure that disability features strongly in all our programmes. On disability in schools, we made a commitment in 2013, as the noble Baroness will be aware, that we will directly fund schools only where there is disability access. The disability review is coming up on 3 December, and, if the noble Baroness is interested, I would be very happy to share the outcome of that with her.

Sustainable Development Goals

Baroness Northover Excerpts

Thursday 17th September 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover (LD)]

I thank my noble friend Lord Chidgey for securing this debate and for opening it so effectively. I also thank the many NGOs, including Save the Children, RESULTS, WWF, Safer World and others for their engagement. I am proud of the fact that, under the coalition Government, we reached 0.7% of GNI on aid. As my noble friend Lord Purvis reminded us, it was he and my other Lib Dem colleague, Michael Moore, who took through the Bill that placed that in law. Now we must make sure that this aid is used effectively. Our debate yesterday on the refugee crisis, as people flee from war-torn and unstable regimes, underlined the importance of the global commitment to development. As my noble friend Lord Chidgey pointed out, conflict is the more significant cause of poverty. Therefore, development is something in which we all have an interest—not only moral but for global prosperity and stability. The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Sheffield is right to remind us that we have to get across, not least in the United Kingdom, this sense of the global community and responsibility.

When the MDGs were first drawn up for the year 2000, it was largely the hand of one man, the noble Lord, Lord Malloch-Brown. He did a pretty good job. There was clarity and purpose about the MDGs. That is why they have been so influential. Huge progress has been achieved in a number of areas as my noble friend Lord Chidgey and others have pointed out. Extreme poverty has been cut by more than a half; the number of people who experience extreme hunger has also been cut by almost a half. Primary school enrolment for children is now well over 90%. Hugely importantly, MDG3, the gender goal, has been successful in galvanising resources and political will for girls’ and women’s empowerment and gender equality. Progress has been made. Globally, more girls go to school, women are living longer, they are having fewer children, and participating in the economy more.

The UK, both under the Labour Government and the coalition Government, has been at the forefront of taking action to ensure that these goals are implemented. The UK has used its expertise across health, education, nutrition, women’s rights and many other areas for the benefit of the poorest and most vulnerable, as the noble Lord, Lord McConnell, indicated. We should be proud of that record. I certainly am. But the very success of the MDGs has brought international engagement in their replacements. I understand why the noble Lord, Lord Malloch-Brown, wondered whether the best thing would be to continue and simply tweak the MDGs. People had learnt that money and effort followed the MDGs, so this time it has not been the hand of one person. Everyone has wanted to make sure that their area, their perspective, their country, their region, their NGO might come within the new aims. It will be the new sustainable development goals that will help to determine where the money goes. So the danger was producing a Christmas tree.

The high-level panel to which my noble friend Lord Loomba referred was ably supported by Michael Anderson from DfID as it sought to come up with something effective and streamlined. Out of this came the proposal, still retained, to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030 and to leave no one behind. That is a brilliant encapsulation. After the report was given to the UN, it went out to regional groups with the danger that various aspects, especially the need to prioritise women or political accountability, would be knocked out as being culturally unacceptable, while pressures to add things in would also serve to dilute. Clearly, there are lessons that we needed to try to address, such as focusing on outcomes as well as access. It is one thing to get children into schools, for example, but ensuring that they receive a good quality education is a different matter.

It is also clear, as the noble Lord, Lord McConnell, and my noble friend Lord Purvis said, that the SDGs needed to address issues such as the rule of law and the vital importance of peace and stability. I note what my noble friend Lord Chidgey has said about money laundering and corruption. He is surely right. Can the Minister reassure us that in the United Kingdom the Serious Fraud Office, now investigating, for example, the role of Soma Oil in Somalia, will not be weakened? Will she dispel rumours that the Bribery Act 2012 will be weakened and confirm that the Freedom of Information Act 2000 will likewise not be weakened? DfID should be commended for its work with the Metropolitan Police in combating corruption. This good work could be countered by these other moves.

We also know that treating the environment and development as separate issues does not work; they are interrelated. The noble Lord, Lord Rees, is right about that, and we must surely harness new technology for sustainable economic growth, especially as we know that the poorest will be the first and the worst to be affected by climate change. Again I note that the right reverend Prelate said that we cannot advocate one thing internationally while doing something else at home, and the move away from leading on tackling climate change in the UK is of deep concern. I look forward to the Minister’s replies to these points.

The millennium development goals have been criticised for their focus on averages, and noble Lords have made reference to that. Countries have reported successes on many targets according to average figures while many of those who are hardest to reach have been left behind. These people are often the most vulnerable and marginalised: women, children, ethnic or religious minorities, the elderly and the disabled. It is right that we put a new focus on being inclusive.

Where are we now? We have 17 goals and, I think, 169 targets. The noble Baroness, Lady Mobarik, rightly identified how difficult it has been to keep the goals even to this long list, and that it is indeed unwieldy. Like the noble Lord, Lord McConnell, I also pay tribute to Amina Mohammed for her efforts to ensure that the goals and targets are as focused as possible. For me, the critical elements of the new SDGs remain these: to eliminate extreme poverty by 2030 and to leave no one behind. This is about as comprehensive as it could get. However, I have heard it said that the SDGs themselves leave no targets behind, they are so long. I share the concern of my noble friend Lady Tonge that I will never remember them. I had a list of the MDGs stuck up on my fridge, and I had difficulty remembering those ones. All these goals and targets mean that the focus over the next few months must be on the technical details of how things will be measured and delivered. This is the key stage, and I look forward to hearing from the Minister about the details of what is being done here.

Most importantly, can the noble Baroness fill us in on gender? This issue has come up several times in the debate. I have mentioned the progress we have made on gender, but significant challenges remain. Some two-thirds of people who are currently living in extreme poverty are girls and women. Across 63 developing countries, girls are more likely to be out of school than boys among both the primary and lower secondary age groups. My noble friend Lady Brinton also made reference to this. Globally, at least one in three women is beaten or sexually abused by an intimate partner in her lifetime, although actually, evidence from the South African Medical Research Council shows that the percentage is much higher. Moreover, like my noble friend Lady Brinton, I urge a continued concentration on combating FGM. Gender equality is vital if we are to end poverty.

Evidence shows that where girls and women are “locked out”, economies and societies underachieve. We know that gender equality is essential to help economies grow. As my noble friend Lord Loomba so rightly emphasised, widows can suffer the double discrimination of being widows as well as women, and they must have the focus on them.

I turn to family planning and pay tribute to Andrew Mitchell MP for his brave and sterling work in this vital field, a point rightly made by my noble friend Lady Tonge. Women should be able to choose how many children they have. When a girl in the developing world receives seven or more years of education, she marries four years later and has fewer children, and her children are more educated and healthier. She, her family, her community and her country all benefit.

What we aim to do now is in many ways even more difficult than it was before. Addressing political structures, as the noble Lord, Lord McConnell, and my noble friend Lord Chidgey have outlined, is very challenging. Reaching out to the most marginal can be socially challenging. Later we will come on to a debate tabled by my noble friend Lord Scriven on the rights of LGBTI people worldwide. Further, as my noble friend Lady Brinton has flagged, disability can render people invisible. When she was at DfID, Lynne Featherstone—shortly to be my noble friend—rightly sought to shift the focus to ensure that those who were previously excluded and under the radar would receive the support that inclusive development demands should be the case. Perhaps the noble Baroness can update us on what is happening in regard to the emphasis on inclusive societies.

I should point out that the SDGs are applicable here, which is different from the MDGs, so how are we ensuring that the Treasury recognises its responsibility? When I was the Government equalities spokesperson and the spokesperson for DfID, I realised the read-across—I tried to get the Treasury to disaggregate data on policies affecting women, but it said that that would be too difficult. If we hold that view here, how can we expect developing countries to do so? Can the Minister tell me what progress we in the United Kingdom have made?

This has been an excellent debate and I thank my noble friend Lord Chidgey once again for tabling it. We should all be proud of the United Kingdom’s record. DfID is an outstanding department, making a huge difference globally. I know that the department will be working constantly to make sure that the new SDGs transform the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable around the world. I look forward to the noble Baroness’s update on how this will be taken forward.