Philippines: Typhoon Haiyan

Lord Hylton Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd February 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth]

Clearly, the area affected has been extremely poor, even by Philippine standards—the Philippines being a relatively poor country. We have sought to use the aid to meet the immediate need but also to provide resilience against future events of this nature. Indeed, all the housing that was put up in response to Haiyan withstood the more recent, dreadful typhoon, Hagupit, at the end of last year. In addition, money is being spent on ensuring that there is insurance and on getting better advice on meteorological events. As I said, we are very keen that climate change features in the 2015 millennium development goals.

[Lord Hylton (CB)]

My Lords, there have been reports of moneys that had been made available standing idle in bank accounts. Will the Government ensure that what is available is spent promptly and effectively and that there are proper safeguards against corruption?

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth]

It remains very much at the forefront of the thinking of the Secretary of State and the department to ensure that the money is got out and used very quickly, and that is happening. I come back to the independent assessment of ICAI, which gave us green lights on all but one factor—which was in relation to medium-term goals, and we have sought to assess that—so our response has been exemplary, not least in making sure that the money is usefully spent.