International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Bill

Debate between Viscount Astor and Baroness Northover

Friday 6th February 2015 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Astor]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, for his response. Obviously I do not have Section 6 of the International Development Act at hand but I will look at it carefully and read what he said in Hansard. He certainly gave a considered response, for which I am grateful.

I am also grateful to the Minister. She said, importantly, that there was flexibility in the department, and we are all grateful for that. I would have been happier if she had been able to say that, should the Bill go through, there will still be flexibility in the department. That is the important thing that we all want and are trying to achieve.

[Baroness Northover]

I can assure my noble friend that that will still be the case: there will be flexibility.

[Viscount Astor]

I am pleased to hear that. It certainly satisfies one of my concerns. I still think that the department will have a difficult time with its two year ends. The working out will be one of the games for the accountants, if nothing else.

I am grateful to my noble friend Lord Forsyth for joining in the debate. He did something that even Lloyd George was not able to do for my great-grandfather, when he referred to me as a noble Earl as opposed to a mere Viscount. I am grateful for his support for that. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.