Oral Answers to Questions

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Wednesday 5th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gary Streeter (South West Devon) (Con)]

3. What assistance her Department is giving to support democracy in Tunisia.

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

The Department for International Development is working closely with the Foreign Office to support the democratic process in Tunisia. Through the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, UK funding is being used to train parliamentarians to better represent their constituents, and to support civil society in holding its Government to account.

[Mr Streeter]

Although the Arab spring has, in part, been disappointing, does my right hon. Friend agree that there are signs of hope and encouragement in north Africa, not least in Tunisia, where, as he has just said, democratic development is taking root and progressing? Is not reinforcing such success the sort of thing that this country should be doing?

[Mr Duncan]

Yes. May I acknowledge all the work that my hon. Friend has done over the years for the Westminster Foundation for Democracy? Through the WFD, we supported the drafting of the new Tunisian constitution, which was adopted on 26 January. The constitution protects freedom of expression and the rights of women, and is considered to be one of the most progressive in the Arab world.

[Ian Lucas (Wrexham) (Lab)]

In a bleak region, will the Minister commend the work of Mr Mustapha Ben Jafar in securing the constitution to which he just referred? Does he accept that Tunisia can be a beacon across the region as a broad, inclusive democracy that can achieve real progress?

[Mr Duncan]

I fully agree with the good sense expressed by the hon. Gentleman. Tunisia is a beacon and is well ahead of many other countries. I am delighted that DFID and Her Majesty’s Government have played a strong part in helping it on that journey.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

The Arab spring started in Tunisia, so what can my right hon. Friend do, in conjunction with the Foreign Office, to embed democracy through local elections, as well as through national elections, in such countries?

[Mr Duncan]

We are actively working on the electoral processes, primarily through the United Nations Development Programme and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, to support the independent electoral commission and the Government of Tunisia to implement free and fair elections this year.

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

The Minister will be aware of the massive displacement, disadvantage and persecution of Christians in the north African region. In his discussions with the Tunisian authorities, will he ensure that that country’s role as a beacon extends to fair play and democracy for Christians to encourage their liberation in other countries that are close to the Tunisian people?

[Mr Duncan]

The hon. Gentleman is right that in a proper liberal democracy everyone should be treated equally and fairly. That includes people of different religions, including the Christian communities to which he refers.

[Hugh Bayley (York Central) (Lab)]

4. How much her Department gave in aid to Mali in 2013; and how much it plans to give to that country in 2014.

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[Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)]

5. What consideration she has given to making funds from her Department’s budget available to people in the UK affected by flooding.

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

The Government fully understand the need to help those in the UK affected by recent flooding, but Britain does not need to make a false choice between spending money to tackle flooding in the UK and spending it to save lives overseas through the aid budget. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has pledged that all immediate practical support and assistance will be provided to deal with the floods in the UK.

[Philip Davies]

When natural disasters take place in other parts of the world, the Government are always quick to respond. At a time when money is tight and the Department’s budget is the only one not under any financial pressure, surely if people in the UK need aid following a natural disaster, the aid budget should be made available to them. Charity begins at home, and the Government should not treat people abroad more favourably than people in this country.

[Mr Duncan]

I quite understand what my hon. Friend says, and I fully share his wish to give proper assistance to those in the UK affected by flooding. The international development budget, within our 0.7% of gross national income commitment, has to be used for official development assistance as defined by the OECD. It is not possible for us to redefine ODA in a way that would allow it to be transferred immediately to domestic purposes. The assumption in his question is therefore a false choice. I am pleased to say that the Government can help flood victims at home as well as abroad.

[Gavin Shuker (Luton South) (Lab/Co-op)]

We know that the greatest risk that the UK faces from climate change is flooding, but the developing world will be hit even harder, so we all need a global climate deal. Will the Minister commit the Prime Minister to attending Ban Ki-moon’s climate summit in September, as other world leaders will, and to pushing for a stand-alone climate change goal in the post-2015 process?

[Mr Duncan]

The hon. Gentleman strays ever so slightly from the question on the Order Paper, but I understand his point. I am not privy at this stage to the Prime Minister’s diary, but I can assure the hon. Gentleman that the priorities that we set in our overseas aid programmes focus on climate change to a large extent and are doing an enormous amount of good.

[Mrs Caroline Spelman (Meriden) (Con)]

The clue is in the name—overseas aid. I am sure the Minister agrees that organisations such as Tearfund, of which I am a vice-president, that work with flood-prone communities to build capacity can help to save both lives and livelihoods at home and abroad.

[Mr Duncan]

I have no doubt that Tearfund is lucky to have my right hon. Friend as its vice-president. I can confirm that a lot of expertise can be shared by countries across the world, and I like to think that the Department for International Development is very much in the lead in ensuring that flood defences and preparations and emergency response are of the best sort.

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

The coalition Government should be proud of having finally achieved 0.7% of gross national income going to international development. Alongside that, instead of having false arguments such as this, could we look, with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, at the £30 billion tax gap and do even more to clamp down on tax evasion?

[Mr Duncan]

I understand the issue, and we have addressed it on many occasions in this House. Part of our activities abroad is to ensure that we build up the tax base of impoverished countries, so that from their own resources they can ensure that their rich people pay a fair share of their income, and so that they can help their own poor people.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

6. What her Department’s involvement has been in the Bost agri-business park and Bost airfield.

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[Fiona O'Donnell (East Lothian) (Lab)]

The Burmese Government are preventing Médecins sans Frontières from providing health services in Rakhine. What is the Secretary of State doing, especially as the Rohingya Muslims are now left with practically no access to health services?

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

We are urgently discussing the situation with Médecins sans Frontières, the UN and other donors, and we have made our concerns very clear at senior levels of the Burmese Government. The health situation in Rakhine state is already on the brink of crisis and there must be no deterioration in the provision of health services of which MSF was a crucial part.

[Mr Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth East) (Con)]

T5. For Britain to succeed in international upstream engagement, humanitarian missions and stabilisation missions, does my right hon. Friend agree that DFID must co-operate strategically and tactically with the MOD, and this must include allowing the MOD to claim back all funds spent that meet official development assistance criteria?

Contingencies Fund Advance

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Thursday 27th February 2014 Written Statements

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

I would like to inform the House that the Department for International Development: Overseas Superannuation requires an advance to discharge its commitments which are set out in its supplementary estimate 2013-14, published on 12 February 2014 as HC 1006—CG supply estimates, supplementary estimates.

Parliamentary approval for additional net cash of £6 million for existing services has been sought in a supplementary estimate for the Department for International Development: Overseas Superannuation. Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £3 million will be met by repayable cash advances from the Contingencies Fund.

Syrian Refugees (Schooling)

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Thursday 13th February 2014 Commons Chamber

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

May I thank the right hon. Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Mr Brown) for securing this important debate and for bringing such an important issue to the attention of the House? I commend him for so tirelessly using his influence to champion the needs of Syrian children and for pushing education further up the global agenda. If there is one thing we can all absolutely agree on, it is that what is happening to Syria’s children is intolerable.

In this brutal civil war, children have been shot at, tortured and sexually abused. In parts of Syria today, children are starving. They are also dying from diseases that three years ago could have been easily treated. Indeed, polio has returned to the country 14 years after it was officially declared polio-free.

More than 1 million children have crossed the borders to escape the bloodshed; some have had their families split up and some have seen their parents and friends killed. Away from their home, many face neglect, exploitation and abuse. As the right hon. Gentleman has said, even very young children are being sent out to work or beg, while girls as young as 13 have been sold into early marriage. Whatever the degree of trauma children might have faced, what is true more widely is that millions of them are missing out on a basic education.

A destroyed childhood is a destroyed life. As this crisis rages on, an entire generation of children is being shaped by this relentlessly brutal war that has ripped every bit of normality away from them. That will have profound long-term consequences for Syria, the region and even much further afield.

We have a clear responsibility to invest in these children now and to invest in Syria’s future, because they are Syria’s future. That is why, right from the start of this crisis, this Government have highlighted the plight of vulnerable children and focused on ensuring that they have the basics that they need to survive.

The UK is leading the way. We have pledged £600 million for Syria and the region, which is three times the size of our response to any other humanitarian crisis. We are the second largest bilateral donor after the United States. UK aid is getting food to almost 320,000 people a month. We are getting water to 930,000 people a month, and we have provided more than 300,000 medical consultations. Our support is reaching children and their families inside Syria, and also those refugees who have fled to Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey and Egypt.

Food, water and medicine, however, are not enough. As the right hon. Gentleman knows all too well, bombs and bullets have forced nearly 2.3 million children out of school in Syria. Outside Syria, 735,000 school-age refugees are simply not going to school at all. As the number of refugees continues to rise, so will the number of children without an education—unless the world acts now.

Countries such as Lebanon and Jordan have been incredibly generous in welcoming these refugees, but their schools are coming under incredible strain. As many as one in four of school-age children in Lebanon are from Syria. We cannot afford to let these children—the future of Syria—become a generation lost to conflict.

That is why in September last year the Secretary of State played a leading role in championing the “no lost generation” initiative, which is designed to galvanise a global, co-ordinated effort to provide Syrian children with the education, protection and psycho-social support they all so desperately need. The UK has already pledged £30 million to the initiative, almost all of which has already been committed to specific projects.

For the past two years, I have personally worked with the United Arab Emirates on the Emirates-Jordanian camp for Syrian refugees, near Zarqa in Jordan. The camp is financed by the UAE, but it is the UK, through UNICEF, that is funding the education that is benefiting the more than 6,000 children in it. Furthermore, we have matched pound for pound the UK public’s generous contributions to winter appeals for Syrian children by UNICEF, War Child, Oxfam, and Save the Children. That is helping those agencies to deliver blankets, clothing and heating to help people to cope with winter conditions.

The right hon. Gentleman has asked the Government to support a plan to educate refugee children now in Lebanon, as well as vulnerable Lebanese children there. I want to make it clear that the Government fully support this excellent plan, which has been developed with the Lebanese Government and fits squarely within the “no lost generation” initiative that we have pushed. Lebanon has more Syrian refugee children than any other country, and the UNICEF “reaching all children with education” plan can make a huge contribution to achieving one of the key goals of the “no lost generation” initiative by ensuring that all children affected by the Syrian crisis can receive a good education.

The right hon. Gentleman has rightly drawn the House’s attention to the need to act now, and I share his sense of urgency. I am pleased to inform the House that the Department for International Development is already supporting one of the most urgent areas identified in the plan, namely the provision of textbooks for the current academic year. When she was in Lebanon in January, the Secretary of State announced that £4 million will be made available for 300,000 packs of textbooks for all children between the ages of six and 15 who attend state schools in Lebanon, including Syrian and Palestinian refugees.

The Government intend to provide further support for the “reaching all children with education” plan in Lebanon. I can assure the right hon. Gentleman that I want to work very closely with him as we assess just where UK assistance can add most value. As he said, I will discuss all this in more detail directly with the Lebanese Prime Minister tomorrow.

I am pleased to announce that the Secretary of State is planning a high-level meeting of key stakeholders—donors, host Governments, UN organisations and non-governmental organisations—to agree on how the international community can further ramp up its support for the education of Syrian children in the region, including by supporting the Lebanon plan. She has invited the right hon. Gentleman to attend that meeting, which will provide a further opportunity to rally support and to mobilise funding.

The right hon. Gentleman has done the children of Syria and Lebanon an inestimable service in fighting their corner. In this sphere, we respect and wish to support his work as a UN special envoy. Through DFID, this Government will do all they can to underpin his efforts. As a result of this debate, he can confidently tell other donors that the UK is there to support UNICEF’s Lebanese education plan. We will work with him to finalise the details.

It is the children of today who will have to rebuild their country tomorrow. The UK will continue to do everything possible to give them and Syria the chance of a better future. We continue to call on other nations to do likewise and to contribute more funding both to support this plan and to tackle the Syrian humanitarian crisis more broadly. The right hon. Gentleman’s role in this initiative is crucial, and his is an effort that we commend and support.

Question put and agreed to.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab)]

2. What assessment she has made of the extent to which the amount of food, medical supplies and fuel that is entering Gaza meets the needs of the population.

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

The collapse in the supply of fuel and medical supplies entering Gaza in recent months and the rising price of food are exacerbating the already precarious humanitarian situation caused by restrictions on the movement of goods and people and the devastation of the winter storms.

[Nia Griffith]

The Minister will know that there are severe drug shortages in Gaza, leading to problems with the provision of proper emergency care. What is his Department doing to ensure that the Palestinians get better, more timely access to the health care that they need?

[Mr Duncan]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right. I was in the Palestinian territories last week and I spoke directly to a number of people in Gaza. The shortage of drugs is a serious issue, and it has been since about 2007. DFID is supporting the UN access co-ordination unit to work with the World Health Organisation, Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the agencies to help to facilitate the transfer of medical equipment and supplies, and patient referrals, in and out of Gaza.

[Mike Freer (Finchley and Golders Green) (Con)]

Given that Egypt also has a border with Gaza, will the Minister tell us what representations he has made to the Egyptian Government on the steps they are taking to improve access?

[Mr Duncan]

The key point is that the tunnels from Egypt are now largely shut. DFID has had no direct conversations with the Government of Egypt, but I hope to visit that country in the next few months, and when I do so I have no doubt that that matter will be on the agenda.

[Richard Burden (Birmingham, Northfield) (Lab)]

Someone who did much to draw attention to the plight of the people living in Gaza, and who also represented Labour Friends of Palestine in the Gaza marathon two years ago and in the Bethlehem marathon, was Del Singh. He was killed last weekend in the attack on a restaurant in Kabul. Will the Minister join me in remembering Del Singh, and does he agree that Del will best be remembered by all of us redoubling our efforts to bring an end to the blockade of Gaza?

[Mr Duncan]

I wholly endorse what the hon. Gentleman says. We offer our condolences and full sympathy following Del Singh’s death. It would be a tribute to him if we were all to raise the issue of the humanitarian challenge now facing Gaza. It is no exaggeration to say that, come the autumn, Gaza could be without food, without power and without clean water. One UN report predicts that it could become an unliveable place, meaning that it risks becoming unfit for human habitation.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

I welcome the Minister’s forthcoming talks with the Egyptian Government. Will he impress on them that, while we support the security crackdown in Sinai, it is important that they should make suitable provision for humanitarian assistance to cross the Egypt-Gaza border?

[Mr Duncan]

I understand what my hon. Friend is saying, but at the moment those borders are closed. Under international law and other obligations, primary responsibility rests with the occupying power, and it is to that end that we will continue to work closely with Israel in an attempt to alleviate the humanitarian pressure that Gaza currently faces.

[Mr Michael McCann (East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow) (Lab)]

3. What assessment she has made of the educational needs of Syrian-born children in Syria and in refugee communities.

--- Later in debate ---

[Nick de Bois (Enfield North) (Con)]

8. What assessment her Department has made of the implications for its development programmes of recent elections in Bangladesh.

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

We are watching events carefully in Bangladesh following the recent elections. We have no intention of rushing into any decisions and have not cancelled any existing programmes.

[Nick de Bois]

Does the Minister agree that much money from his Department is put to good use but that investment in encouraging democracy among the people is wasted when the leaders seem not to wish to practise it?

[Mr Duncan]

It is true that the state of politics in Bangladesh leaves a lot to be desired. It does not, however, mean that our efforts are wasted. We do not give any direct funding to political parties, but we work with parliamentary Committees, particularly the Public Accounts Committee, to enhance parliamentary scrutiny, much of which is done through non-governmental organisations.

[Keith Vaz (Leicester East) (Lab)]

May I urge the Minister, whatever the outcome or conduct of the elections, to continue with our programme of helping and working with NGOs in Bangladesh?

[Mr Duncan]

I agree with the right hon. Gentleman. The outcome of the elections is largely clear, albeit that there has been a lot of recrimination. We are careful not to give direct budget support to a Government in the face of such controversy, but we are giving sectoral support—for instance, in education—and we will continue to work, largely through NGOs, to deliver the good work that DFID does in that country.

[Martin Horwood (Cheltenham) (LD)]

The worrying situation in Bangladesh underlines the links between development and stability and looks like a good candidate for support from the new conflict, stability and security fund that the Government are establishing. Will DFID be centrally involved in setting priorities for that fund and ensuring that the links between development and stability are reinforced?

[Mr Duncan]

We are fully involved in the new fund, which will replace the conflict pool from 2015, and we have worked very closely with the apparatus of the National Security Council to ensure that everything DFID does is fully aligned with the broader judgments of other Departments across Whitehall in this area.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr David Ward (Bradford East) (LD)]

T6. On Monday, many of us will attend Holocaust memorial day events. The theme is journeys, including journeys of return. Does the Secretary of State agree with me that our thoughts should include, among many others, the millions of displaced Palestinians still denied their right to return to their homes?

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

The right of return is of course part of the negotiations that continue as part of the middle east peace process. We fully support the efforts of Secretary Kerry and of my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary in everything that they are doing, and we want to do all we can to underpin the best prospects for a successful conclusion, which are predicted to occur by the end of April.

[Pat Glass (North West Durham) (Lab)]

T3. How certain is the Minister that the TradeMark East Africa project is having—[Interruption.]

International Development (Gender Equality) Bill

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Friday 17th January 2014 Commons Chamber

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

I am pleased to speak in support of the Bill promoted by my hon. Friend the Member for Stone (Mr Cash). I apologise on behalf of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, who had fully intended to speak today, but who was at the Syrian refugee pledging conference in Kuwait this week and has unfortunately returned with something of a lurgy, which has prevented her from attending. I am pleased to be able to step in at short notice.

The fact that the Bill has reached this stage is a testament to the dedication and determination of my hon. Friend. Very few Members could have managed to get it through in the way that he has, by bringing all parts of the House together both in the Chamber and in Committee. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I are hugely grateful to him for championing this important issue and for all the time he has given to it.

I believe that the Bill can have a lasting impact on generations of girls and women around the world. My right hon. Friend and I feel strongly about the subject, because changing the lives of girls and women is a core priority for the Department for International Development and the entire coalition Government. There is no doubt that, over the past few decades, the world has made significant progress on gender equality. More girls are now going to school; women are living longer and having fewer children; and women are participating more in the labour market.

However, there is much unfinished business. As has been said, women do 60% of the world’s work but earn only 10% of the world’s income and own less than 2% of the world’s land. By 2020, 50 million girls will have been forced into marriage before they have even reached their 15th birthday. Violence against women and girls is a global pandemic, and one in three women have experienced violence in their lifetime, which is a terrible statistic. I believe that that is the greatest unmet challenge of our time, not some sideline issue. It is a matter of basic human rights—the right of girls and women to live a life free of violence, to have an education and a voice in their community, to choose who to marry and when, and to have control over their bodies.

Gender equality is also a critical building block for progress towards other development goals. Around the world, people recognise that where open societies and open economies prevail, and where everyone has an opportunity to participate, people and communities are more prosperous, healthier and safer. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister refers to that as the “golden thread” of development, and time and again we see that investing in girls and women leads to incredible returns, not only for them but for their families, communities, economies and countries.

We know that women with more years of schooling have better maternal health, fewer and healthier children, and greater economic opportunities. When a woman generates her own income, evidence shows that she reinvests more of it in her family and community than men do. Getting more girls into secondary education is shown to boost a country’s economic growth.

[Sir Edward Leigh]

All this is absolutely right—and obvious. Why does it need an Act of Parliament to tell the Secretary of State to do this? Surely she is doing it already.

[Mr Duncan]

I will come to that point, but I say to my hon. Friend that there is value in embedding in everything we do an understanding of the issue, so that there is never any excuse for relegating it to a lower priority than it should enjoy. To that end, I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Stone for putting in all the effort for this simple, nearly one-page Bill, to ensure that that is the case.

The UK is already helping to give millions of girls and women voice, choice and control, for instance by supporting girls to complete primary and secondary education, to have jobs, incomes and access to markets, to live lives free from violence, and to have universal sexual and reproductive health rights. By 2015 we are on target to have saved the lives of at least 50,000 women during pregnancy and childbirth, to have enabled 10 million more women to use modern methods of family planning, to have improved access to financial services for more than 18 million women, and to have helped 10 million women get access to justice through the courts, police, and legal assistance.

We are supporting efforts to end the disgusting practice of female genital mutilation worldwide through a new £35 million programme that aims to reduce the practice by 30% in at least 10 countries over the next five years. We are also determined to do more to end violence against women and girls. Last November, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State launched an international call to action on violence against women and girls in humanitarian emergencies—something that has already been mentioned. The result was Governments and aid agencies around the world signing up to a ground-breaking commitment to make the safety of girls and women a life-saving priority in our response to emergencies. That is exactly the kind of process now embedded in the Bill.

[Mr Cash]

The advisability and advantages of an Act of Parliament include the fact that it imposes a duty that is voluntarily accepted by the Government and the Secretary of State, and endorsed across the House. It also acts as an encouragement and opportunity for other legislatures to regard it as a benchmark, and a lot of the advantages of the Bill will be derived from that.

[Mr Duncan]

I wholly agree with my hon. Friend. So much of the power that the United Kingdom is able to exercise, through the Department for International Development, is the power of example. Where we lead, many others follow. For instance, where we have led in assessing multilateral organisations, or in a review of how to respond to a humanitarian emergency, others have followed. I share my hon. Friend’s confidence and wish to see other countries follow that process of priority setting and giving attention to women and girls, and that is exactly what the Bill is attempting to embed.

I am proud of all the world-leading work that DFID is doing on girls and women, but we cannot afford to take our eye off the ball. Although we have come a long way on gender equality, there is so much further to go. There are still too many girls and women whose potential is wasted, and it will not be easy to reach them. We are talking about some of the poorest, most vulnerable people in the world—in many cases, the unseen and the unheard. We must keep up the pressure, the resources and the visibility of our actions to achieve better outcomes for women. That is why we all think that the Bill is so important. It will give our commitment to addressing gender inequality in countries where we provide development assistance a statutory footing, and enshrine it in law. If passed, the Bill will mean that a Secretary of State for International Development must have regard to reducing gender inequality before making decisions to provide development assistance under the International Development Act 2002.

Such a duty will bite not simply in the act of providing development assistance, but in the work that takes place beforehand—for example, in the preparation of a business case by officials that informs the eventual approval decision of a Minister. In other words, right from the outset the Bill sets in train a proper approach to the priorities that need to be addressed. That is crucial because gender equality is not something that can be just tacked on to our development programmes and humanitarian assistance, and it cannot be an afterthought if we want to get to the root of the problem. In that respect, perhaps I can address the concerns of my hon. Friend the Member for Gainsborough (Sir Edward Leigh), and reassure him confidently that as far as I can see no perverse consequences will ensue from the Bill. Indeed, to use modern jargon, it reinforces “best practice”—that is perhaps not a turn of phrase he uses, but he knows what we mean.

The Bill shapes ministerial leadership and does not in any way impede it. As we have heard, we already feel that there should be a keen focus on women and girls when taking humanitarian action, because as we know, women and girls are susceptible to rape used as a weapon of war, and that is the sort of humanitarian peril we try to address in our assistance.

The Bill will not introduce any significant costs. It is about ensuring that Ministers and officials fully take into account the interests of girls and women—as well as those of others—in administering the United Kingdom’s bilateral aid programmes. If the Bill is enacted, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I will ensure that training and other measures are put in place in the Department to provide the necessary support for officials for the sort of actions and thinking that they need to adopt to implement the legislation.

Finally, this Bill comes at a timely moment. Many in this House will be aware that the deadline for the millennium development goals for tackling global poverty is fast approaching. The old ones expire in 2015, and a new set will be designed and implemented. In May 2013, the UN Secretary-General’s high-level panel reported back on recommendations for that post-2015 development agenda. The panel, co-chaired by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, alongside the Presidents of Indonesia and Liberia, put forward a bold and ambitious vision for ending extreme poverty by 2030. At the heart of their report was a clear and powerful message that to defeat poverty we must leave no one behind, regardless of gender, ethnicity, geography, race or disability.

It is important that this ambition is not watered down in the final set of goals, which will replace the MDGs in two years. As negotiations get under way, the UK will push for a standalone goal on gender, with ambitious targets to tackle critical issues, such as ending child marriage and securing equal rights for girls and women to open bank accounts and own property, as well as integrating gender throughout the goals. I believe that the Bill, if passed, will set an example and put the UK in a stronger place to exercise influence in other forums, including those of multilateral organisations where the UK has a voting presence and to which we contribute significant funds.

Where half the population is locked out, prevented from being productive and from pursuing opportunities, there is no sustainable path to development. We urgently need irreversible gains in protecting the rights of girls and women and an end to violence against them. Improving the lives of girls and women is already a top priority in every area of our international development work. The UK is helping millions more girls and women to have voice, choice and control, and we are working to drive social transformation and shift discriminatory practices such as early and forced marriage and female genital cutting. The Bill—perhaps known for ever hereafter as Bill’s Bill—is another important step forward, enshrining our commitment to gender equality in law, and Her Majesty’s Government are proud to support it.

Multilateral Aid Review

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Wednesday 11th December 2013 Written Statements

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

I would like to inform the House of the publication today of the multilateral aid review update report.

In 2011 this Government published the multilateral aid review (MAR)—the first systematic assessment of the performance of the 43 multilateral organisations that the UK supports through core funding. The MAR is a central part of our wider efforts to ensure that we scrutinise the value for money of each pound we spend, whether we do so directly or through other organisations. Our efforts in this area were recognised by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) who gave us their civil service award for the most improved Government body on value for money and financial management in 2013. Other donor countries have emulated our approach.

The findings of the review confirmed the important role multilateral organisations play in supporting the UK to meet its development and humanitarian objectives —delivering humanitarian support in countries affected by conflict such as Syria or by natural disasters such as the Philippines, on promoting the rights of women and girls, and in ensuring that developing countries have the infrastructure they need to support their economic growth. The review also had a major impact on our spending decisions. While some high-performing organisations received considerable increases in funding, some poor performing institutions had their funding stopped altogether and others were asked to make urgent reforms if they wished to secure any future funding from DFID. The review also highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of multilateral organisations, and enabled us to give them a clear list of future priorities and essential reforms.

The MAR update has been undertaken to assess whether the multilateral organisations have made the progress we asked for. The report being published today sets out the results of this work. It shows that all of the multilaterals have made improvements over the two years since the multilateral aid review, that those organisations we asked to make urgent reforms are making progress, and that some multilaterals which were already doing well are doing even better. There have been significant improvements in crucial areas such as the management of finances, and how organisations work with others. This is encouraging, but more needs to be done. Not all organisations made the progress we expected of them, and the performance of some in critically important areas, such as the empowerment of women and girls, could be improved.

The Department for International Development (DFID) remains committed to strengthening multilateral effectiveness. Over the next year we will use the evidence from this update to work with multilaterals and other partners to bring about further change. There will be a particular focus on areas where progress has been too slow. We will also work with other Governments to ensure that the methodology and evidence base for future multilateral effectiveness assessments continue to improve, providing a sound basis for a full reassessment of the value for money that multilateral organisations offer in 2015. In doing so, we will seek to address issues raised with us by multilateral organisations, and in the informed commentary by the International Development Committee and others.

I am placing a copy of the MAR update report in the Libraries of both Houses.

Occupied Palestinian Territories (Water Shortages)

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Thursday 5th December 2013 Commons Chamber

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

I thank the hon. Member for Walsall North (Mr Winnick) for calling this debate and want to say at the outset that I agree with pretty much every word he said.

We take access to clean water for granted in the UK. We rarely question where the water in our taps and sanitation systems comes from and we assume it will be there again the next day. We take it for granted that it has been treated effectively to make it safe for us to use. The same cannot be said of those living in the Occupied Palestinian Territories today. Water resources there are limited. A lack of rainfall in recent years, inadequate infrastructure and the inequitable distribution of water resources with Israel combine to make life very difficult.

We cannot do anything about the naturally arid environment, but we can address the binding human and political constraints that perpetuate this problem. It is an injustice that in the 21st century Palestinians should still lack for something as basic as clean water and sanitation. Let me reassure the House that the UK and others are working to right this wrong.

In the west bank, the story begins with the unfair and unequal allocation of resources. Palestinians, as the hon. Gentleman said, are limited to withdrawing 20% of the water from the aquifers underneath the west bank. Domestic usage, understandably, is prioritised, leaving little left over for the vital irrigation of agricultural land. Palestinians have to buy water from the Israeli national water company to make up any shortfall. In 2012, this cost about $37million. Illegal Israeli settlers, on the other hand, do not have to worry—they are free to consume, on average, four times as much water per capita as Palestinians in the west bank.

Around 200,000 Palestinians in the west bank have no access to piped water at all. Half of Palestinian wells have dried up over the past 20 years. The only option, as the hon. Gentleman said, is to travel to buy tankered water—an option made all the more difficult by Israeli movement and access restrictions in place across much of the west bank. As a result, communities depending on tankered water pay up to 400% more for every single litre than those connected to the water network; and, of course, there is no guarantee of its quality.

That is no minor inconvenience. The hon. Gentleman mentioned the Emergency Water, Sanitation and Hygiene group, which co-ordinates efforts by around 30 donors and agencies to improve water and sanitation in the west bank and Gaza. It estimates that in isolated communities in the west bank, water consumption can be as low as 20 litres per person per day. Even worse than the hon. Gentleman’s description of that is the fact that that is the minimum amount recommended by the World Health Organisation in emergencies to sustain life.

We are perhaps more accustomed to hearing about such precarious situations in Gaza. While the situation there has indeed been precarious for a long time, in recent months things have only got worse. Today, only 15% of Gaza’s population receive clean running water daily. The Gaza aquifer is set to become too polluted for use by 2016, and will be irreversibly damaged by 2020. Just two weeks ago, the failure of the main sewage pumping station in Gaza City led to 35,000 cubic metres of raw sewage flooding into the streets.

There the problem is not so much access to water, but the ability to treat and distribute it effectively. Why? In part, it is because Israel continues to limit the import of construction and dual-use materials into Gaza that are necessary for building pipelines and pumping stations. The Gazan economy remains stifled, so there is no way in which it could pay for the infrastructure anyway. Recent actions by Egypt to close the smuggling tunnels have cut off a lifeline and served to make the situation even more difficult.

In fact, water shortages in the west bank and Gaza are part of a much bigger problem. Even while the US-led middle east peace talks continue, life for ordinary Palestinians is getting worse. We have seen a spike in settlement announcements and demolition orders. Violence has erupted in east Jerusalem and the west bank and unemployment is on the rise.

To make the case for peace, which this Government firmly believe in, we need to bring about real and tangible change on the ground, and to do so before it is too late. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs has made clear, there is no more urgent global priority in 2013 than the search for middle east peace. We see a two-state solution as the best way to meet the national aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians.

So, first, we will continue to support efforts to achieve a negotiated peace. Working with our EU partners and with the US, we will encourage both Israelis and Palestinians to take the bold steps needed to reach an agreement. Hard work and difficult choices lie ahead, but we are ready to provide support in any way we can. In part, that will include support to the Kerry-led economic package to foster private sector led, sustainable economic growth in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

[Mr Winnick]

We all want to see a satisfactory settlement to the negotiations—but a settlement that would mean a sovereign Palestine, no less sovereign than Israel, and not some kind of statelet. But how can it be said that the Israelis are really genuinely committed when they are continuing to build settlements on land where, as we know, it is illegal under international law?

[Mr Duncan]

It is very clear in the policy of Her Majesty’s Government that we totally condemn the illegal construction of settlements. They are an impediment to peace, and of course are an essential component of the discussions which we hope will lead to a successful conclusion next year. In the meantime, to assist those discussions, we in the Department for International Development and the Government, working with the EU, are doing our best to underpin some economic progress. For instance, our plan aims to generate investment of $4 billion, increase Palestinian gross domestic product over the next three years, and reduce unemployment to single digits. Water is one of the sectors set to receive private and public sector support in this plan, and we will get behind that.

We will continue to lobby Israel to make good on its promises made in September to improve access to water for Palestinians. This includes doubling the amount of water sold to the Gaza strip, and reviving the Joint Water Committee to adopt a truly co-operative approach to shared water resources. We know that Israel has made excellent progress in water technology in recent years. From drip-irrigation to desalination, perhaps no other country has contributed more breakthroughs in the area of water and food security than Israel. What an opportunity there is now to share this advance with its neighbours.

Finally, we will do what DFID does best, which is to provide practical support for those most in need. We recently agreed to provide a further £10 million of support to the International Committee of the Red Cross to further its important work on human rights and humanitarian assistance. As part of this support, over 60,000 people in Gaza and the west bank will have improved access to clean water in 2013 alone.

[Mr Winnick]

rose—

[Mr Duncan]

I sense that the hon. Gentleman is itching to intervene again.

[Mr Winnick]

I am grateful to the Minister for allowing me to intervene a second time. Ambassadors are sometimes called in when we feel that some injustice is taking place and it would be appropriate for the Minister or the Foreign Secretary to speak to the ambassador as a result. Could not the Israeli ambassador be called in to discuss some of what the Minister has said or what I have said? The Minister said that he agreed with every word I said. He is not likely to repeat that on any future parliamentary occasion, I imagine, but could not the ambassador be brought in and told of the concern felt by so many Members of Parliament on both sides of the House?

[Mr Duncan]

I and the House, I sense, share the hon. Gentleman’s sense of injustice, but I hope he will allow me to stay within the remit of DFID and not stray into the areas of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office by making a judgment on the call that he has just made.

I am pleased to be able to tell the House this evening that the UK is also embarking on a new programme of support to help provide water to irrigate agricultural land in area C of the west bank—a critical area to which the hon. Gentleman referred. The World Bank recently estimated that better irrigation in area C could boost the Palestinian economy by more than $700 million. To that end, as the DFID Minister, I have just agreed £1.8 million to restore agricultural wells serving nearly 1,000 farming families. We will be helping farmers to work more productively. For each £1 invested in rehabilitating groundwater wells, we can expect an additional 16 kg or 17 kg of vegetables to be produced annually.

[Sir Bob Russell]

Does the Minister think it right that British taxpayers’ money should be used to do work made necessary by the behaviour of the Israeli Government?

[Mr Duncan]

I detect in the hon. Gentleman’s question the suggestion, which I think is slightly warped logic, that somehow our support for the Palestinian Authority subsidises the occupation. That is not the logic that we adopt. We believe that our support for the Palestinian Authority is underpinning an organisation that is a putative Government for a Palestinian state that we hope will be the result of the negotiations that are under way.

It is our wish to build a viable Palestinian state and to protect those who are most vulnerable. On the specific topic of this debate, water shortages are a stark reminder of the harshness of Palestinian daily life. From the farmer in the west bank who cannot grow the same produce as his settler neighbour, to the family in Gaza having to wade through sewage to get home, the situation is unfair and untenable. Indeed, it is unjust. It is essential that peace negotiations on a two-state solution include discussions on shared water resources as part of a final status agreement, and it is essential that Israel makes good on its promises to improve access to water. In the meantime, Her Majesty’s Government and DFID will continue to support those who most need our help in any way we can.

Question put and agreed to.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Wednesday 4th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Gilbert (St Austell and Newquay) (LD)]

6. What steps she is taking to increase the capacity of developing countries to collect tax.

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

Tax collection is an essential element of any poor country’s development. Last month, DFID announced £6 million of funding for international projects to help poor countries with revenue collection and to combat tax evasion and avoidance.

[Stephen Gilbert]

It might surprise the House that the British overseas territories and Crown dependencies receive more foreign direct investment than Brazil, Russia, India and China combined. What more can we do to ensure that the former jurisdictions are not helping international companies to avoid paying tax to less developed nations?

[Mr Duncan]

At the Lough Erne summit, the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey agreed automatically to exchange tax information on the basis of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. All the overseas territories have said that they will conclude similar agreements with the UK. A pilot in the EU is developing the practice further. If accounts are more open and less hidden, poor countries will be in a much better position to raise their own taxes.

[Anas Sarwar (Glasgow Central) (Lab)]

Large multinational companies are avoiding paying tax in developing countries. Having tax transparency here can help to increase the tax receipts in those countries. When will the Government come forward with firm proposals to introduce country-by-country reporting right here in the UK?

[Mr Duncan]

The UK is leading by example. We are taking action to put our own house in order on this issue. We have announced that the UK will introduce new rules that require companies to obtain and hold information on their beneficial ownership. That information will be held in a central, publicly accessible registry maintained by Companies House.

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

7. What progress has been made on the most recent replenishment round for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Tuberculosis

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Wednesday 27th November 2013 Westminster Hall

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

I thank the hon. Member for Scunthorpe (Nic Dakin) for securing this important debate. If I may say so, it has been one of the best Westminster Hall debates I have been to. The speeches have all been passionate and have each come from a slightly different angle. Together, they form a comprehensive picture of the action that this issue requires.

We all know that tuberculosis remains one of the world’s biggest killers. It causes untold suffering and kills more than 1 million people across the world every year. What makes that tragedy much worse is that every single one of those deaths is preventable. The World Health Organisation’s recently launched annual global TB report outlines the progress and challenges in reaching international TB targets. Efforts to tackle TB are having a real effect. The incidence of TB has fallen in all six WHO regions and TB cases have been falling worldwide for a decade. However, the rate of decline remains too slow, at just 2% a year.

Resistance to TB drugs is a growing threat and the risk of resurgence is therefore always present. The figures are compelling: 8.6 million people still developed TB in 2012, and 1.3 million died. TB is one of the top 10 killers of children worldwide—a situation that is wholly unacceptable, as it is wholly preventable. There are wider social and economic costs as well, as TB primarily affects young adults in what should be their most productive years. Right hon. and hon. Members have spoken passionately about the areas for action highlighted in the global TB report.

The UK remains absolutely committed to the global goal of halving deaths from TB by 2015. We are helping people to have effective diagnosis and treatment, including for TB and HIV co-infection and for multi-drug-resistant TB. We are also helping to develop more effective treatment and better vaccines. All that work needs good health systems, so we are helping countries to build effective, efficient and durable health systems to support the delivery of TB programmes. Without such systems, we can have the best intentions, but there will be no means of achieving enough.

What is more, the Department for International Development is tackling the underlying risk factors for developing active TB. TB is a disease of poverty and squalor. Factors associated with poverty, such as malnutrition, overcrowding and poor sanitation, dramatically increase the chance of someone becoming infected and developing active TB. It is no wonder, therefore, that the ghastly prison described by my hon. Friend the Member for City of Chester (Stephen Mosley) —in what I thought was a remarkable speech—is so obviously perilous.

[Grahame M. Morris]

The Minister is responding systematically to the debate, which I appreciate, but will he turn his attention to the issues I raised about the incidence of TB among miners in South Africa? The hon. Member for City of Chester talked about chronic conditions in prisons; the hostel accommodation for miners, along with the confines of the mines they work in, is causing TB to spread. Will the Minister also comment on the obligations on UK-headquartered mining companies?

[Mr Duncan]

The hon. Gentleman has raised a serious point. If he will bear with me, I will come to the issue of South Africa in just a moment. As he and the right hon. Member for Neath (Mr Hain) said, the issue is obvious and compelling, and has to be addressed.

In spite of tough times, the broad picture for the UK is that we are delivering on our promise to spend 0.7% of gross national income on development. This year we will become the first G8 nation ever to do so. We are clear about our responsibility to deliver aid that is transparent, that delivers value for money and that produces the best results for the world’s poorest people. Our support to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria helps to do just that. Between 2002 and 2012, the global health fund supported the detection and treatment of 9.7 million cases of TB.

To respond to the continuity point raised by the hon. Member for Wirral South (Alison McGovern), who spoke from the Opposition Front Bench, last month the UK Government committed up to £1 billion over the next three years, which is enough to save a life every three minutes. The global health fund allocates 18% of its funds to TB, which equates to £180 million of UK development funding specifically for that disease. Improving basic TB control is critical to prevent the further spread of TB, and includes early detection and diagnosis of people with the illness, ensuring that they get the right treatment and care, and checking that their families and other close contacts do not also have active TB. Also important is the reporting of cases, so that health authorities can better monitor them and improve their services.

Let me turn to the work we are doing through our country bilateral support programmes. DFID is working closely with the Government of South Africa to expand the quality and access of public sector services, including TB control, and is increasing the speed with which new TB drugs are registered. In conjunction with the World Bank, DFID is also engaged in a new partnership with the private sector in South Africa. The partnership has been set up to increase public-private collaboration to reduce the high incidence of TB specifically in miners and in the communities around them. We will continue to focus on that important target group, to which the hon. Member for Easington (Grahame M. Morris) referred. In India, DFID is working with Indian pharmaceutical manufacturers to improve the price and security of supply for high-quality drugs for resistant TB and new low-cost diagnostic products.

Co-infection has been covered thoroughly today. Many countries have made considerable progress in addressing the combined epidemic of TB and HIV. However, there were still 320,000 deaths from HIV-associated TB in 2012. DFID is supporting improved co-ordination and collaboration between TB and HIV services jointly. As part of our commitment to the global health fund, we are pushing it to do more to prevent, diagnose and treat TB and HIV co-infection.

The UK Government are very concerned about the spread of drug-resistant TB, which probably results from the improper use of antibiotics. A patient who develops active disease with a drug-resistant TB strain can transmit that form of TB to other individuals, which threatens the whole global response to TB. Drug resistance increases the cost of treatment and makes it more difficult to ensure that effective treatment is accessible to the poorest. We support efforts to tackle drug-resistant TB through our support to UNITAID, the global health fund and research.

The UK has a strong record of supporting research and development for effective treatments, diagnostics and vaccines. We support a number of product development partnerships that bring together a range of public, private and community organisations. They are designed to develop and deliver new products more rapidly and more cheaply than either the public or private sectors can do alone.

I should mention TB REACH, to which four or five hon. Members referred. The issue is not as straightforward as any of us in public policy would like. We have reviewed the external mid-term evaluation of TB REACH, and the findings suggest that it has successfully funded pilot projects and innovative approaches, which we applaud. The question is whether it will be able to roll them out effectively in the long term and on an adequate scale. We propose that DFID officials should meet the executive director of the Stop TB Partnership to discuss how the global health fund can better support the expansion of proven TB REACH projects. It is important the TB REACH implementers co-ordinate more closely with national TB control programmes—again, that was raised today—and are part of national planning processes. That is crucial to secure longer-term support.

[Nick Herbert]

I am grateful to the Minister for responding to our points about TB REACH. Does he accept that although it will no doubt be worth having a dialogue with the global health fund about supporting proven TB REACH projects, further projects will rely on the continued funding of that programme? As my hon. Friend the Member for City of Chester (Stephen Mosley) effectively said, TB REACH funds projects that the global health fund will not fund because they are unproven. TB REACH allows innovation on the ground in such projects. Will the Minister reflect on that and consider my request for a meeting to discuss the TB REACH programme before a final decision is taken about its funding?

[Mr Duncan]

I certainly undertake to consider that, but obviously, as I am on my feet at the moment, I cannot give a commitment. We provide core funding to the Stop TB Partnership, some of which is used to support TB REACH continuously. I understand exactly what my right hon. Friend is saying, and I hope that the meeting to which I have referred can explore that point in more detail and address his concerns conclusively.

DFID has also supported the Foundation for Innovative and New Diagnostics—FIND—to develop a rapid molecular test, GeneXpert, to which reference has been made. It can be used by health care workers with minimal training and laboratory facilities. The test is associated with a 40% improvement in case detection rates and can provide test results within two hours. Working through the Stop TB Partnership and UNITAID, the Department has supported the policy development and distribution of GeneXpert, which is available in 29 countries. In August, DFID announced support to nine public-private partnerships, including FIND, the TB Alliance and Aeras. Those partnerships will help to fund crucial work on developing new and more effective tools to prevent, diagnose and treat TB.

We cannot shelter the UK from what is happening around the world. In 2011, nearly 9,000 cases of TB were reported in the UK. More than 6,000 of them were in people born outside the UK. The patterns must be analysed, followed and fully understood. A cross-government approach is also essential. Public Health England has made TB one of its priorities and is working to oversee a stronger national approach.

Resistance to all antimicrobials—the drugs used to prevent and treat bacterial, fungal, viral and some parasitic infections in humans and animals—is increasing, but of greatest concern is the rapid increase in bacterial resistance to antibiotics, including those used to treat TB. In September, the Government published a new five-year antimicrobial resistance strategy, which sets out actions to slow the development and spread of anti- microbial resistance, including strengthened international collaboration. That is why DFID will continue to work with the Department of Health and others to provide national and international policy leadership. We must play our part in ensuring co-ordinated action to tackle TB at home and abroad.

In conclusion, significant progress has been made since 1995 in controlling TB, with more than 56 million cases treated and 22 million lives saved. That progress has been rooted in improved partnership, policy, innovation, and national and international leadership. We have grounds for optimism, but we are not complacent about the significant challenges ahead, in which the UK will continue to play its full part.

Written Parliamentary Questions (Correction)

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Friday 8th November 2013 Written Statements

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

The search parameters used to draw down historic information for three written answers given on 11 June 2013, Official Report, column 278W, on 14 May, Official Report, column 180W and on 18 July 2013, Official Report, column 900W to the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Mr Sheerman) did not capture a series of data sets which should have been included.

The hon. Member for Huddersfield asked:

a) the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department currently spends on contracts with Capita; and how much was spent in each year since 2008.

The full answer is as follows:

The table below gives details of spending on contracts with Capita since 2008. Current year spending (as of 31 October 2013) is £764,349.