Building Stability Overseas Strategy

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon Excerpts

Tuesday 30th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have welcomed me to the Dispatch Box. It is a great honour to speak in this debate because I feel very strongly and passionately about this issue. This passion has been shown in the comments and speeches we have heard and is reflected in the experience and deep wisdom possessed within your Lordships’ House on this extremely important issue. Like other noble Lords, I am deeply thankful to the noble Lord, Lord McConnell, for initiating the debate and I am grateful to all noble Lords who have participated. I pay tribute, in particular, to the personal commitment of the noble Lord, Lord McConnell, in this field. I know he is engaged very much in parts of Africa and I wish him well in his endeavours in his new foundation. It is important that we take responsibility and it is right that the United Kingdom should lead in this field.

We have made good progress in implementing the Building Stability Overseas Strategy since its publication in July 2011 and noble Lords will have seen the summary of progress set out in the recent ministerial Statement issued in July of this year.

The National Security Council periodically reviews wider implementation of the Government’s strategic defence and security review, including work on building stability overseas. Noble Lords may wish to note that the Government will issue their next annual update by the end of November this year.

Noble Lords will recall that the Government launched the Building Stability Overseas Strategy during the tumult of the Arab spring, as my noble friend Lord Patten noted. I agree with his sentiment that we cannot afford the Arab spring turning into an Arab winter and it is important that we take direct leadership and responsibility in these areas. I hope that the comments I will be making will assure noble Lords of the Government’s commitment in this field.

The UK approach brings together our development programmes, diplomatic network and defence and intelligence assets in an integrated way. Many a time the Government are criticised for their lack of joined-up thinking. In this field the bringing-together of the FCO, the Ministry of Defence and DfID illustrates how departments can work together not only for the good of the country but for the good of the world. For example, the Defence Engagement Strategy will help to ensure that defence assets contribute to a wide range of Her Majesty’s Government’s objectives, including, as several noble Lords have mentioned, conflict prevention.

There are positive stories in what the Government have done and, indeed, I pay tribute to the previous Government for their efforts in this area. The experiences of Ghana, which I visited recently, Mozambique, Nepal and Sierra Leone show that those countries can put conflict behind them and embark on a more stable path. The Government remain committed to helping these countries stay on that stable path.

In Ghana, for example, two decades of sustained economic growth, five elections, political stability and relatively strong institutions have led to significant poverty reduction. Indeed, I was amused when I was in Ghana and saw people adhering to traffic signals. That may seem a small matter but when one considers the logistics involved in getting from one place to another in Accra it assists inward investment.

The DfID programme will continue to focus on helping Ghana to tackle inequality and especially, as many noble Lords have mentioned, on the need to help in the education of women and girls.

The noble Lord, Lord Hunt, mentioned issues of data. I take that fully on board, as does the department, and I shall return to that issue in a moment or two.

Reference was made to conflict assistance. I can report that DfID is on track to direct 30% of its official development assistance to fragile and conflict-affected states by 2014-15.

Reference was made by my noble friends Lord Chidgey and Lord Bates to early warning. Prevention is better than cure in all fields and that is certainly applicable here. Senior officials from across government meet regularly to systematically review the Government’s approach in selected countries.

We have also undertaken an internal review of the Government’s stabilisation unit. The review concluded that there continues to be a clear need for the stabilisation unit and it will remain an important tool in helping to integrate the Government’s approach to conflict and to help build more stable states.

As part of the strategic defence and security review, we have also increased the level of overall resourcing for conflict prevention in the tri-departmental Conflict Pool, a point mentioned by several noble Lords. The National Audit Office and the Independent Commission for Aid Impact have reviewed the Conflict Pool over recent months and both have offered some timely and helpful insights. The ICAI report, referred to by my noble friend Lord Bates, made a number of recommendations, many of which have already been addressed as part of our work to better align the Conflict Pool with the Building Stability Overseas Strategy, and the three departments concerned are all implementing these.

In the time available I will seek to answer some of the specific questions raised by noble Lords, but if it runs out—the seeds of time are catching up fast—I shall write to those noble Lords whose points I do not cover. First and foremost, I shall take in turn the series of questions raised by the noble Lord, Lord McConnell. He asked about the Early Action Funding Facility. It is already up and running and is supporting a range of initiatives in Somalia, Niger, Syria and Libya. He asked whether the internal watch list of fragile countries had made a difference. It has helped to focus senior-level attention on those countries where the risks of conflict are particularly high and where the UK has significant interests at stake. He also asked about the independent assessment of conflict prevention work. I have already mentioned the ICAI review of the Conflict Pool as a given example. However, we continue to work with our partners on a methodology covering conflict prevention more broadly, which has wider applications to other donor countries. He asked about building capacity in regional institutions and made strongly the point that regional solutions work better. I agree with that sentiment totally. We have held discussions on the Building Stability Overseas Strategy with a range of emerging and established partners across the world, including South Africa, Brazil, China, South Korea, India and Japan.

Through the Conflict Pool we are strengthening the African Union’s peace and security architectural activities. Our support includes a financing agreement to assist the AU’s peace and security department as well. Finally, the noble Lord talked about the role of women in peace-building, and indeed the noble Baroness, Lady Royall, also mentioned it. Women have a key role to play, and of course the noble Baroness mentioned the issue of Malala Yousafzai. I totally align myself with the comments made by the noble Baroness, and would repeat that the Government are fully committed to ensuring better education for women across the world, and Pakistan is no exception. We join in with the applause for the resilience of this young lady, but let us not forget that she is just one of many. We need to continue to be a strong voice to ensure the effective education and development of women across the world, particularly in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

My noble friend Lord Chidgey referenced Libya and talked about cross-government working. We continue to work on this and my noble friend may have seen the national security adviser’s review of central co-ordination and the lessons learnt from the Libya crisis. The crisis itself predated the publication of the strategy by a few months. The national security adviser concluded that NSC structures were effective in delivering a well co-ordinated UK contribution, but of course we continue to watch the situation in Libya very carefully, as we do other parts of north-east Africa and the Middle East.

Mention was made by the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, of the Sahel region and of Mali in particular. We are deeply concerned about the current situation in Mali, particularly where Islamist groups have taken advantage of the recent political instability. However, on a more general theme, my noble friend Lord Patten made a point about religious freedoms. Let us be absolutely clear: religious freedoms, freedom of speech and expression to allow someone to follow their faith is an important part of our strategy. I am reminded that when my right honourable friend the Prime Minister was in Indonesia, a country that is progressive and showing itself to be a beacon to many people that democracy and Islam are compatible, he demonstrated through his words that religious freedoms, be they for Christians or for Muslim minorities, are a key part of a particular country’s standing.

My noble friend Lord Bates mentioned the ICAI report and talked about the need for further rapid support in emerging crises. He also raised specifically the issue of Iran. All channels, including those of diplomacy through the back door, should always be maintained in all conflict areas so as to ensure effective resolution. The noble Lord, Lord Hunt, talked about scientific research. Perhaps I may dwell briefly on the example of Pakistan. Of course, many will know that had Pakistan recognised the achievements of her only Nobel laureate, Dr Abdus Salam, science would have played a much more structured and constructive role in the development of that country, but we continue to work with Pakistan as a key partner.

I am mindful of the time so will move forward. My noble friend Lord Patten raised issues about the roles of NGOs. As my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary has pointed out, we recognise that we do not have all the answers. It takes a lot for a Government to admit that, but we do not and debates such as this certainly assist. We continue actively to seek views from outside the Government to ensure input from challenging and fresh perspectives. I am therefore delighted to welcome noble Lords to participate in an event that we are planning at the FCO on 26 November. I extend that invitation to all noble Lords and assure my noble friend Lord Patten that NGOs are also being included in such an outreach programme. We will continue to seek views from all informed parliamentarians, whether it concerns the Conflict Pool, the stabilisation unit or of course the important issue of women, peace and security.

Several noble Lords mentioned the UN high-level panel meeting and the post-2015 framework. My right honourable friend the Prime Minister is hosting those meetings. When asking other people within the UN to wake up, he said:

“So to those who say we can't afford to act I say: we can't afford to wait”.

Those words resonate and are testament to the view of the Government. My right honourable friend the Secretary of State, Justine Greening, has also recently met with various Ministers visiting London

I am conscious that time has caught up with me. In conclusion, I assure your Lordships’ House that this Government continue to take this particular issue very seriously. However, we also recognise that we need to work with all interested parties in developing this strategy to the next level. I will continue to listen and work, and I am delighted that we continue to put issues of international development at the centre of our thinking. No one underestimates the scale of the challenge ahead and the surprises in store for us. However, I am confident that we have a range of tools and mechanisms in place and will continue to refine and develop our approach as we implement strategies for building stability overseas. The wisdom, experience and great knowledge that is in your Lordships’ House will of course always be welcome.

House adjourned at 9.03 pm.