Zimbabwe: Food Security
Debate between Lord Howell of Guildford and Baroness Verma(8 years, 9 months ago)
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Baroness Verma
My Lords, I am aware of the reports that the noble Lord refers to but I assure him that all the assistance given by the UK Government goes through local partners on the ground—we do not do anything through the Government—and we use cash transfers targeted at the households that are in most need. I take the noble Lord’s point but we also need to look the progress being made. Like him, we stand by the Zimbabwean people.
Lord Howell of Guildford (Con)
My Lords, when Zimbabwe gets a better Government, will Her Majesty’s Government encourage the Commonwealth to re-embrace Zimbabwe and bring it back to the prosperity that it deserves, not leaving it all to the Chinese?
Baroness Verma
My noble friend raises an important point about what the Commonwealth can deliver. It is right and proper that when we see progress, we encourage even greater progress, and that we make sure that countries are able to remain, or return to being part of, the Commonwealth family.
Syria
Debate between Lord Howell of Guildford and Baroness Verma(8 years, 9 months ago)
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Baroness Verma
My Lords, on the question of the minority groups within Syria, there have been horrific attacks by violent extremists on Christians and other religious minorities within Syria. As the noble Lord is aware, all our UK-funded humanitarian assistance is distributed on the basis of need alone, to ensure that civilians are not discriminated against on the grounds of race, religion or ethnicity. We prioritise reaching the most vulnerable across Syria, and that includes all groups. Of course, it is a challenging environment; these are incredibly complex, difficult areas to navigate, but I take the noble Lord’s point. Of course, where we can, we will work closely with the NGOs on the ground to get aid to as many people as possible.
The noble Lord mentioned the latest indications about the numbers of people being displaced from Aleppo. We know that many of them are sheltering in the border area, with more people on the move. We are exploring all options on how we can ensure that their humanitarian needs are met.
Lord Howell of Guildford (Con)
My Lords, I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Alton, that with Daesh we are seeing genocide. I know that the word has to be clearly defined, but the sooner that is recognised and settled, the better. The Statement was mostly about the humanitarian side, and it is perfectly clear that very fine work indeed has been done. I am afraid that the challenges will get very much worse in the future.
Does my noble friend accept that we need to be kept well informed and up to date on the apparent breakdown in the talks in Geneva and whether the Russians have almost deliberately undermined the talks by bombing the free Syrians with renewed ferocity? Will she reassure us that she and her colleagues will keep us up to date on that?
Could she just comment on reports that the British Army is now sending 1,600 troops to Jordan as part of some exercise, while the Egyptian troops are moving to Saudi Arabia to ally with them in preparation for possible moves to Jordan? The Jordan authorities have been urging for a long time that this is where we should open a new front, develop a buffer zone in the north and strike into the heart of ISIL territory. Is the war entering an entirely new phase? Could she just bear that in mind? She may not be able to answer that question at the moment, but we need to be kept up to date if things are changing as rapidly as it seems they really are.
Baroness Verma
My noble friend makes an important point about the talks and making sure that they do not stall. They have come to a pause. The UN special envoy decided to pause the talks until 25 February as it was apparent that there was little prospect of progress being made at this time. But my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary will be in Munich on Thursday 11 February and will press the Russians, who I am sure will be attending, too, to ensure that they put pressure on the Assad regime, so that the conditions allow unfettered humanitarian access across Syria and that we have an end to the violations of international humanitarian law, as set out under the UN Security Council Resolution 2254.
My noble friend is absolutely right to ask that we keep the House updated and we absolutely commit to do so. He also mentioned Daesh—and of course our goal is to defeat Daesh so that it no longer presents a threat to the UK or to international stability. As he rightly says, we are dealing with very complex circumstances. He asked about the troops on the ground in the countries that he mentioned. I shall have to write to him, because I do not have that answer at hand—so if he will allow me to, I shall write to him and place a copy in the Library.
Developing Nations: Technical and Vocational Education
Debate between Lord Howell of Guildford and Baroness Verma(9 years, 1 month ago)
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Baroness Verma
My Lords, I will not specifically go into that programme, because we should be proud of our programme across DfID. That is about increasing employment—productive employment—for women. As I said, they start from school, where we give them the opportunity to gain an education and skills. We can then develop to ensure that they are both productive economically and, where they are unpaid, able to use those skills to develop entrepreneurialism outside their workplaces. I read in a recent report that if we give women opportunities, we can add $28 trillion-worth of value to our global GDP.
Lord Howell of Guildford (Con)
Is my noble friend aware that the Commonwealth is giving the highest priority to gender equality and full employability of women? That is based on the simple proposition that countries that do not give absolute equality to half their labour force will simply not develop—growth goes with gender equality. Is she aware that in Malta, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November, there will be a major conference on gender equality lasting four days which will be attended by all 53 nations of the Commonwealth?
Baroness Verma
I absolutely agree with my noble friend, and I will be attending to ensure that we again participate in those important debates. My noble friend makes the poignant point that unless we have everybody involved in economic productivity, we lose the value of 50% of the world’s population.
Oil Prices: Rural Consumers
Debate between Lord Howell of Guildford and Baroness Verma
Baroness Verma
My Lords, the noble Baroness’s party had an opportunity for 13 years to change the regulator but did not. We believe that the regulator has been given enough powers to ensure that energy companies are performing and passing on savings. This Government have brought in greater competition. We believe that competition is what will drive down prices. Today we see 20 independent companies competing with the big six—which, of course, was a creation of the party opposite.
Lord Howell of Guildford (Con)
My Lords, as and when energy and heating bills and so on do fall, because of far lower crude oil and gas prices, will my noble friend reject the idea that additional taxes, charges and green levies should be piled on to push the price up again?
Baroness Verma
My Lords, my noble friend is right to say that we need to look at the impact of all policies, and that is what this Government have done. They have carefully looked at, and responded to, any negative impact of our policies. However, if we are to ensure that we move towards a cleaner environment, then some of those policies have to be met.
Electricity Generation
Debate between Lord Howell of Guildford and Baroness Verma
Baroness Verma
My Lords, the noble Baroness is absolutely aware that we need to ensure that we are also being cost-sensitive to the consumer. Consumers cannot be bearing the brunt of us closing plants down and putting the prices up.
Lord Howell of Guildford (Con)
My Lords, I declare an interest as an adviser to Mitsubishi Electric. My noble friend mentioned interconnectors; does she agree that it is not just a question of the Iceland possibility? We could get electricity from Norway and Denmark, wind electricity from Ireland, or via other interconnectors from France and Belgium. Does she agree that all these prospects are there and could contribute vastly to our electricity supply, and will she confirm that the Government are encouraging all of them?
Baroness Verma
I am extremely grateful for my noble friend’s intervention. Yes, of course those countries are very important to us and, through the cap and floor regime introduced by Ofgem, we have seen five interconnector projects in its first application. There is a lot of good work going on with the interconnectors.
Climate Change: Extreme Weather
Debate between Lord Howell of Guildford and Baroness Verma
Baroness Verma
The noble Lord is of course right. My right honourable friend the Minister Greg Barker is currently in New York, ensuring that negotiations at an international level are very much focused on going forward for 2015 and on the sort of commitments that we want from the international community. Closer to home, the noble Lord is of course aware that we have invested over the course of this Parliament over £3 billion in trying to respond to issues such as floods. We are now protecting 20,000 more houses over the 165,000 houses that were already protected through the measures that we have taken.
Lord Howell of Guildford (Con)
My Lords, what my noble friend says about adaptation is welcome. Would she not agree that now may be the time to consider switching our colossal expenditure on attempted mitigation to adaptation to what is widely believed by many experts to be coming in the way of more extreme weather, in line with the recommendation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s working group? Would the Minister accept that our current mitigation efforts seem to be producing not a vast improvement in carbon emissions but, in fact, an increase in our carbon footprint, more burning of coal, increased fuel poverty, and the driving away of investment from this country to where power is cheaper, raising the prospect of blackouts and general environmental damage? Is it not becoming obvious that some change of direction in our climate and energy policy is overdue if we are to achieve our green goals?
Baroness Verma
My noble friend raises a range of very important issues. Of course, climate is measured in average conditions over the long term, but I agree with my noble friend that it is about both adaptation and mitigation. We cannot have one or the other; we have to have both. It is important that, going forward, we encourage not only ourselves but the international community and our partners to respond to the serious issues of increased carbon emissions.
Energy: Fracking
Debate between Lord Howell of Guildford and Baroness Verma
Baroness Verma
My Lords, the noble Baroness will be fully aware that community engagement is the prime source from where we will get opinions for and against fracking and wind farms. On both issues the Government are working very hard and very closely with operators, developers and communities.
Lord Howell of Guildford
My Lords, does the Minister accept that it could be a mistake to discuss fracking in terms of the whole of the United Kingdom in one go? Obviously, in beautiful rural areas there are worries not just about drilling and fracking, which I think are exaggerated, but about trucks, deliveries, roads and disturbance, which are quite justified. However, there are large, uninhabited and desolate areas, certainly in parts of the north-east, where there is plenty of room for fracking, well away from anybody’s residence, and where it could be conducted without any threat to the rural environment. Does the Minister agree that a distinction should be made between one area and another rather than lumping them together, and that if we can push ahead with this kind of gas production, it will take us fast away from coal burning, which is increasing at the moment because of the delays in authorising gas production that the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, talked about a moment ago?
Energy: Electricity Supply
Debate between Lord Howell of Guildford and Baroness Verma
Baroness Verma
My Lords, the noble Lord is right that we need to make some secure decisions. That is why, through the Energy Bill, we are reforming the electricity market and also making sure that we have a greater diversity in the supply of energy. A key part of balancing the service is the short-term operating reserve that we already have. The National Grid aims to have around 1,800 megawatts of this reserve available every day across a number of contracts, so I can reassure the noble Lord that the lights will stay on.
Lord Howell of Guildford
My Lords, is the Minister aware that in Germany, CO2 emissions are rising very fast, they are burning more coal than ever, their solar industry has collapsed, and, of course, that they have banned any expansion or indeed any use of their nuclear power stations? Does she agree that that is not exactly an example that we want to follow? Is not the right course for us, as she herself has steadfastly urged, to get on and invest as fast as possible in new gas turbines and, in due course, when we can afford it, in new nuclear power?
Baroness Verma
I agree with my noble friend absolutely that we do not want to be a country that will increase CO2 emissions and that the path we have taken is a balanced one.
Atmospheric Carbon
Debate between Lord Howell of Guildford and Baroness Verma
Baroness Verma
My Lords, I can reassure the noble Baroness that it remains very much a commitment for all G8 leaders. This year, under our G8 presidency, the Foreign Ministers will consider the wider security risk presented by changing climate. It has not gone off the agenda. It will be discussed, but in a different forum.
Lord Howell of Guildford
Is my noble friend aware that Mauna Loa, mentioned in the Question, is, measured from the seabed, one of the highest mountains on earth, higher than Mount Everest? The top of it is often in the clouds and I am afraid that some of the discussion about this issue is in the same position. I am sure she is aware that the most rapid reduction in CO2 is being achieved currently in the United States, which has gone very rapidly from coal to gas. If we really want to get our CO2 emissions rapidly down once the recession is over, is there not a case for concentrating in the short and medium term on developing the gas economy as rapidly as possible, thus reducing CO2 emissions, cheapening our power and encouraging economic growth and recovery?
Baroness Verma
My Lords, my noble friend is right that gas will have an important role to play and will continue to make a contribution to our energy mix.
Energy: Prices
Debate between Lord Howell of Guildford and Baroness Verma
Baroness Verma
My Lords, energy prices have been going up over quite a period of time. In fact, the period 2004 to 2010 saw a doubling of gas prices, which was under the previous Administration. We know that global prices are going up and that demand has grown because of emerging economies. That is why this Government are determined that we should have a diverse mixture of energy that we can control in our own country ourselves.
Lord Howell of Guildford
My Lords, the Government are right to focus on every possible means of curbing our horribly high energy bills and costs. However, has the Minister noticed that the United States of America is achieving substantially lower energy costs as well as lower carbon emissions and is attracting a great deal of new investment back into the United States? Will she give us some encouragement that the same kind of policies will be pursued as far as possible in this country?
Baroness Verma
My noble friend is absolutely right, but America is a very different place from the United Kingdom. Through our diverse mix of energy sourcing and our usage of traditional energy supplies, we are determined to give our consumers the best possible deal that they can get. However, to reflect on the point I made earlier, global prices are going up because emerging economies have a greater demand on them.
Energy: Shale Gas
Debate between Lord Howell of Guildford and Baroness Verma(12 years, 1 month ago)
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Baroness Verma
No, my Lords. I think the noble Lord knows from his question that that is not the case. We need to look at a wide range of energy sources and make sure that in the long term we fulfil our commitment to the 2030 target, but also that we utilise new renewable sources .
Lord Howell of Guildford
Further to my noble friend Lord Naseby’s Question, has my noble friend noticed that in the United States domestic gas prices are up to one-third lower than they are here, that its CO2 greenhouse gas emissions are falling and are the lowest for 20 years, and that it is attracting a great deal of new industry and manufacturing back into America and creating new jobs? Is this not the sort of balanced model we should be considering?
Baroness Verma
My noble friend is absolutely right. However, the conditions in the United States are different from those in the United Kingdom. We first need to make sure that we thoroughly explore the ability to develop shale gas safely and securely. However, it is something that we are looking at very constructively.