Tigray

Debate between Sarah Champion and James Duddridge

Wednesday 8th September 2021 Westminster Hall

[Sarah Champion]

The director of Oxfam in Ethiopia yesterday raised the fact that because the internet is down—deliberately—it was almost impossible to get money transfers, which deeply hampers its process. May I echo his plea for the Minister to try to get at least a window of the internet up so that money transfers can occur?

[James Duddridge]

I will investigate the specific issue of internationals working together to make sure that money comes through. I am in touch with Ethiopian Ministers, including the Finance Minister, and I will raise that issue with him. That is a slightly separate problem from the one that we are discussing.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sarah Champion]

I thank every Member who has spoken, for both the tone and the content. I thank the Minister, who I know is deeply committed to this area. The problem is that this is not going to go away. It is important for us all to keep it on the agenda of the Minister and of the international community. The risks we have highlighted are dire. I cannot see an easy way for them to be resolved without international intervention, to get all the parties round the table and discuss a long-term solution. The threats to the broader region are profound.

I would like to raise one thing with the Minister that came up in the debate: atrocity prevention. It was the one thing in the Committee’s report that the Government pushed back on. I would like to request a meeting with the Minister to discuss that.

[James Duddridge]

I agree. I note the work that has been done on that, but there is still more to be done, and a more nuanced solution. I will arrange a meeting with officials to work out a better way forward following the Committee’s report.

[Sarah Champion]

Thank you.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered the humanitarian situation in Tigray.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sarah Champion and James Duddridge

Tuesday 20th July 2021 Commons Chamber

[James Duddridge]

That is something that we have worked and delivered on both in Sudan and Somalia recently. We also had a focus on suspending debt initially during this crisis. However, we need to look at all options going forward as we build back better, sorting the debt issue, but doing so in a climate-sensitive way.

[Sarah Champion (Rotherham) (Lab) [V]]

It is clear that low and middle-income countries are disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change. Wealthier countries, including the UK, have so far failed to commit to the agreed £100 billion climate finance promise made in Paris to address this. Evidence submitted to my International Development Committee inquiry suggests that only 10% to 15% of the current climate finance available actually reaches the local communities that bear the brunt of this emergency. What steps are the Government taking to secure the £100 billion before COP26 and what is the Minister doing to ensure that local communities in the areas worst affected by climate change are consulted, including in designing programmes, and can actually access the climate financing themselves?

[James Duddridge]

On the numbers, the hon. Lady is wrong. We have doubled our commitment to international climate finance to take it up to £11.6 billion. That is a big commitment to the global number, but we are asking other partners to step up, and we will use events such as COP26 in Glasgow and the G7 to encourage others to step up as we have done.

Official Development Assistance and the British Council

Debate between Sarah Champion and James Duddridge

Wednesday 30th June 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (James Duddridge)]

This has been a passionate and informed debate with more than 38 Members speaking. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Rotherham (Sarah Champion) for introducing the debate and for her work with the Backbench Business Committee and the Liaison Committee to attach all the right documents. I know that many Members of the House are passionate about development and passionate about 0.7%—myself included, which Members may find surprising, given the defence that I will go on to make. I think we are all extremely proud of the UK’s leadership historically on development and on everything we have done.

I started my career as a lending banker in the developing world. I have done two tours of duty, if we can call them that, on the DFID Committee, coming back for more. I have served on these issues in a non-integrated FCO across a number of areas, and in an integrated FCO-DFID, where I had an office at one end of Whitehall to do part of the job and another at the other end of Whitehall to do the other part of the job, and spent most of the time wandering between the two or in the House of Commons for votes. Now I have seen the FCDO together, and it is a model I prefer, because I can draw on all the issues and complexity and make the tough decisions. They are incredibly tough and serious decisions that are not taken lightly and take an immense amount of time. A number of colleagues mentioned the time process being too small or too quick. None of the timescales I saw, or the flippancy with which they indicated decisions were taken, reflects the way we took decisions in Whitehall, let alone in-country and thematically.

The UK, looking back, has met the target of 0.7% of GNI on ODA every year since 2013, so it is with great caution that we fall short of that target now, but no other country can match that record. I am proud of that. I know there has been some debate over whether 0.7% or 0.5% is right, what is ODA-able or what is DAC-able, but the Government are committed to getting back to 0.7%. There has been debate over how many times one can have hypothecated expenditure or a percentage limit. The default, clearly, should be not to run everything on a percentage basis, but we have made a commitment that helps to encourage our compatriots around the world to get to that point. We should be proud of the fact that in the G7, comparing GNI, we are in the top three. We are doing much better than our American colleagues, by way of example.

Right at the outset, before I get into the meat of my speech, I would like to talk about when more information is on the way. There has been some criticism of the Government for not giving more information, although recognition that it is good that we are now debating estimates on estimates day. The annual report for the integrated Department will come out in September. That will have all the financial information up to the end of March. In addition, it will give a forward look to 2021-22. I was a little disappointed that the hon. Member for Rotherham felt that we had not given her all the information in her Committee. I am more than happy to come to the Committee again. I know the Foreign Secretary and a number of other Ministers have been at the Committee.

[Sarah Champion]

It is always a delight to have the Minister at the Committee, but what we are actually looking for is the hard data. We want a proper breakdown of where the money is being spent: the countries, the projects, the priorities. Can he give me assurances that the document coming out in September will have that very granular detail? We are all charged to scrutinise it, but we are unable to do that with the data that is being given.

[James Duddridge]

I will look over that document carefully. Clearly, I am not writing it myself. I always find the annual report to be very fulsome and would intend that it is fulsome, if not more fulsome, given the transition of the two Departments. I am very open to that.

We should also remember the numbers. A couple of Members referred to £4.5 billion as a rounding error. I understand the point they are making in relation to the deficit of £300 billion that we are running. It is a smaller number, but it is a massively significant number.

There have been a number of comments on polling. We are not led by polling. I was unaware of some of the polling that Members have talked about. Governments should not be led by polling, but I am conscious that as Members of Parliament we should be in touch with our constituents. A number of Members have said unpopular things on both sides of the argument, although surprisingly one said we should not be populist. I thought that was rather electorally successful, but people on both sides of the argument described their points of view as being populist. We are ahead of the US, Japan, Canada and Italy, so we should hold our head high, although I appreciate that most speakers in the House want us to do even more.

As Minister for Africa, I am glad to say we will be spending over half our bilateral aid budget in the African continent, focusing on key issues. Rather than going to just Africa, I thought it would be useful to explain the process the Foreign Secretary and his Ministers took. The Foreign Secretary outlined seven priorities to the House on 26 November. Underlying all of them—or overarching them—is the aim of reducing poverty. First, there is a focus on climate and biodiversity, particularly because of COP26. There was a focus on a flagship target of £11.6 billion of international aid on international climate finance. Our second priority is global health security, for obvious reasons, given the pandemic. A lot of our programmes have been repurposed towards covid, although we focus on a number of other areas, preventable deaths of mothers, newborn babies and children—

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sarah Champion and James Duddridge

Tuesday 2nd March 2021 Commons Chamber

[James Duddridge]

As the Foreign Secretary said earlier, we will look carefully at what is required by law, but the law envisages that 0.7% target potentially not being met in any given year, in view of the specific fiscal and economic circumstances. We will abide by that law. Furthermore, the legislation allows us to report to Parliament on what we are doing, and we will stick to that.

[Sarah Champion (Rotherham) (Lab) [V]]

I was ashamed yesterday when this Government more than halved their contribution to the humanitarian support in Yemen—the worst humanitarian disaster on the planet. I hope that is not the global Britain we want. What consultation has the Minister had with non-governmental organisations, recipients, and partners in the global south, to minimise the impact of changes to the UK aid budget? When will the Government publish their forthcoming country allocations for official development assistance spending?

[James Duddridge]

The process the hon. Lady mentions regarding the decisions on publication has not yet been met. Our focus has been on looking at country plans and the programmes centrally, and on doing that through countries. By extension, part of that will be looking through delivery partners, including the NGOs that play an excellent role. We are engaging with them as early as possible, including through embassies to where a lot of this relationship is devolved. That is essential, and we remain committed to doing that.