Humanitarian Aid: Tikrit

Debate between Lord Avebury and Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

Tuesday 10th March 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth]

The noble Lord is right: the surrounding countries are also clearly of importance. He will be aware that Her Majesty’s Government have committed £800 million to Syria and the surrounding countries—to Jordan, Lebanon and so on. Turkey is a key partner in the efforts and the Prime Minister has spoken to Turkey about related issues—the noble Lord will be well aware of the school children from Bethnal Green, for example, going out to join up with ISIL—so there is an existing infrastructure of communication there. We are well aware of the need to ensure that the region as a whole is taken care of in terms of security and humanitarian aid. Anybody who looks at DfID’s record will be well aware of that. The Secretary of State visited Iraq just last year.

[Lord Avebury (LD)]

My Lords, will my noble friend say anything about the co-ordination of our humanitarian operations in the region with those of the Iranians, who are leading the offensive against IS in Tikrit and Mosul?

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth]

My noble friend is absolutely right that the Government of Iraq are key to all of this. With Prime Minister Abadi, the early signs are that they are doing a very good job. They are an inclusive Government. We are committed to ensuring that there is a united Iraq again at the end of this humanitarian crisis. Meanwhile, we are working with the Government of Iraq, the United Nations and other partners to ensure that humanitarian aid and military action, if necessary, are properly co-ordinated.

Mesothelioma Lump Sum Payments (Conditions and Amounts) (Amendment) Regulations 2015

Debate between Lord Avebury and Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

Wednesday 25th February 2015 Grand Committee

[Lord Avebury]

My Lords, I agree with the Minister that you cannot compel the rest of the insurance companies involved to pay money when two companies have voluntarily come forward and made contributions, but perhaps he would write to the 125 other companies asking whether they consider that they are in any way morally obliged to follow the lead which has been set by those two companies and make a voluntary contribution.

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth]

I do not undertake to write to the 125 companies involved, but we will make sure that a copy of the debate and a covering note is sent to the Association of British Insurers so that it can pass it on. The noble Lord made a very fair point.

Equalisation with dependants has been raised. The rules on the status of dependants and the amounts they get are not straightforward because it depends slightly on the nature of the dependency, when the sufferer died and so on. We certainly have not ruled out equalisation but it is not a top priority. The top priority is to get money to sufferers quickly, which we do under the 1979 and 2008 Act schemes. That remains our priority. I am not saying that equalisation will never be looked at. I think that the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, along with other noble Lords, asked about an indicative estimate of the cost. It is about £2 million per annum. We will review the situation in more detail and I will write to noble Lords on that issue.

I acknowledge the work the noble Baroness, Lady Donaghy, has done as a former president of the TUC and, indeed, the role of the TUC in campaigning on this issue. It has certainly done more than its ration in this regard. The noble Baroness usefully highlighted some of the hazardous industries which are not immediately obvious, such as the jewellery repair business, which she mentioned, and gave the example of a warehouseman who was exposed to the substance we are discussing while sweeping up.

The noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock, referred to publicity on this issue and the campaign mentioned by my noble friend Lord Freud on a previous occasion. My honourable friend the Minister for Disabled People helped to launch the current £1.13 million Health and Safety Executive asbestos awareness campaign in October 2014, to which the noble Baroness referred. The campaign aims to help at-risk workers recognise that asbestos is relevant to them and their work, encourages them to seek reliable information on how they can protect themselves and encourages safer working with asbestos through behavioural change. The campaign is not due to end until March 2015, and a full evaluation will be undertaken before any decision is made about a further campaign so that we are able to take that information onboard in framing any future campaign. However, we will, of course, report back after the evaluation has concluded. I do not have a date for that, but I suspect that the evaluation will be completed some time in the spring or early summer of this year.

I think that I have covered the points made by the noble Baroness, Lady Donaghy. I am very grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock, for her comments on, and general support for, the uprating. As I say, we have not ruled out the statutory footing and I have just referred to the awareness campaign. I think that I have dealt with the other points that she raised. Do we think that the low uptake is a communications issue? I do not think so. Specialist health workers and clinicians support sufferers and are fully aware of the nature of asbestos. Our schemes are in addition to that. However, I am not being complacent. Obviously, we will make an assessment of the current campaign. We also make use of social media to ensure that we get messages across.

I think that I have dealt with the points that noble Lords have made. This is a really important issue. I am very pleased that we have been able to bring in uprating at 1.2%. I will write to noble Lords with the points that I have mentioned and any other points that I have missed. In the mean time, I commend the uprating of the payment scales and ask for noble Lords’ approval to implement them.

Philippines: Typhoon Haiyan

Debate between Lord Avebury and Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

Tuesday 3rd February 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth]

I pay tribute, first of all, to what the noble Lord has already been doing in the Philippines; as he has just said, he is going there again, and he has made a significant difference. On the sustainable efforts that he mentioned in relation to millennium goals and continuing development, the United Kingdom is committed to ensuring that climate is fully referenced post-2015 and that natural resource management is up front. Everything that we have been doing with our assistance has been towards supporting continual, sustainable development.

[Lord Avebury (LD)]

My Lords, I understand that less than a third of the $788 million needed by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs programme for the recovery of the Philippines has been received. Has the Disasters Emergency Committee in the UK yet activated the pledge it made of £88 million, and will we encourage other rich states to come up to the plate and contribute, too?

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth]

As I said, the United Kingdom has been the largest single donor, eclipsing even the United States—which, of course, is a far richer country and has far stronger ties with the Philippines. We are committed to ensuring that all the aid that we have contributed is spent on ensuring that this dreadful disaster is met and on trying to provide resilience against future disasters.