Oral Answers to Questions

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Wednesday 30th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Greg Mulholland (Leeds North West) (LD)]

6. What recent representations he has received on the effects of corruption on the economies of developing countries.

[The Minister of State, Department for International Development (Mr Alan Duncan)]

My ministerial colleagues and I have frequent meetings with non-governmental organisations and others who stress the importance of tackling corruption. Corruption threatens economic growth in developing countries, wastes resources and deters investment. The coalition Government will not tolerate corruption and will do their utmost in all their development programmes to eliminate it.

[Helen Jones]

I am grateful to the Minister for that reply. We welcome the publication of guidelines on the Bribery Act, for which organisations such as the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development have campaigned for some time, but will he tell the House how he expects the Act to be properly implemented given that the Serious Fraud Office is facing 50% cuts and many of its members have resigned, including the head of anti-corruption? What discussions has the Minister had with his colleagues in the Ministry of Justice about this?

[Mr Duncan]

I am sure that the hon. Lady appreciates that that is primarily a matter for the Treasury rather than the Department for International Development. We believe that corruption is bad for development, bad for poor people and bad for business, and today’s written ministerial statement lays out concrete guidance for the implementation of the Bribery Act to which we look forward.

[Greg Mulholland]

I, too, welcome the publication of the guidelines on the Bribery Act and wish to pay tribute to the leadership and personal commitment of the Secretary of State on this issue. However, I want to raise the issue of country-by-country reporting. The Government have said they are committed to that but that they will seek to do it through the EU. Can the Minister say how the UK will provide the leadership to ensure that we have the same system as that in the United States?

[Mr Duncan]

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has already been driving this issue very hard and DFID fully supports a process that is designed to reach agreement at EU level. We want such legislation to require, for example, extractive industries to disclose all their payments to the host Government. That is a very important step and the impact of such measures is greatest when applied to the widest range of countries.

[Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow) (Lab)]

We all agree that tackling corruption is vital to ensuring that development delivers for the people who need it most. As the Government are finally publishing the guidelines on the Bribery Act, may I press the Minister again to assure us that the guidelines will not water down that important legislation?

[Mr Duncan]

On the contrary, the guidelines are very strict as the hon. Lady will see when she reads the written ministerial statement that is being published today.

[Mr David Burrowes (Enfield, Southgate) (Con)]

7. What objectives he has set for the outcomes for his Department’s policies of the World Bank spring meetings.

[The Minister of State, Department for International Development (Mr Alan Duncan)]

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will personally attend the spring meetings. Our objective is, on the back of our support for the recent funding round for the World Bank’s operations in poor countries, to take forward the outcome of our multilateral aid review and to ensure that the World Bank delivers more effectively in fragile and conflict-affected countries.

[Mr Burrowes]

I thank the Minister for that reply. The president of the World Bank has said:

“If you think about almost any poverty and development issue, you will find water at the center of it.”

Last week, I, together with the Secretary of State and constituents, joined Tearfund and Water Aid’s Westminster walk for water to highlight the lack of access of hundreds of millions of people to clean water and basic sanitation. Will the Minister stand on the shoulders of those who have walked for this great cause?

[Mr Duncan]

It is often a great advantage for me to stand on someone’s shoulders! Much of the international effort on water and sanitation is indeed led by the World Bank which, over the past 10 years, has provided 113 million people with access to an improved water source, and 5.8 million with improved sanitation facilities. With our support and that of others, the World Bank will over the next three years provide up to 44 million people with improved access to water sources. As part of our partnership, we will press it to be even more effective in what it does.

--- Later in debate ---

[Keith Vaz (Leicester East) (Lab)]

12. What discussions he has had with his EU and UN counterparts on the development implications of the state of emergency in Yemen.

[The Minister of State, Department for International Development (Mr Alan Duncan)]

We are in close contact with EU and UN counterparts. Recent instability is limiting the ability of DFID and other donors to run development programmes in Yemen. DFID is continuing to support the social fund for development which helps low-income groups to secure basic services such as health, education and water. We are also supporting humanitarian contingency plans. We do not provide any money directly to the Government of Yemen.

[Keith Vaz]

I thank the Minister for his answer. As he knows, a state of emergency was declared in Yemen last week. As it remains one of the poorest countries on earth, it is essential that the excellent work that has been undertaken by the Government through the development programme continues. Can the Minister ensure that, subject to the security of people there, this work will continue?

[Mr Duncan]

We share the right hon. Gentleman’s objectives in trying to deliver assistance wherever we possibly can, which we are continuing to do through the social fund for development, which is not Government-run. We have, however, had to withdraw our DFID staff from Sana’a given the security situation, but we remain committed to doing everything we possibly can to help the people of Yemen once the security position and the political position become clearer and appropriate.

[Katy Clark (North Ayrshire and Arran) (Lab)]

14. What recent representations he has received on the effect on the economies of developing countries of the tax avoidance practices of UK companies.