Oral Answers to Questions

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con)]

3. What plans her Department has to assist with elections in Nepal in November 2013.

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

Our budget of £14 million for Nepal’s elections will cover items such as £5 million to the United Nations Development Programme for the electoral roll, £8 million to the Election Commission of Nepal for the administrative costs of the election itself, and a further £1 million to cover independent observers.

[Mr Jones]

I thank the Minister for his answer. Given that so many years have passed since an election last took place in Nepal, is he confident that the assistance he is providing will contribute to a successful outcome?

[Mr Duncan]

I know that my hon. Friend has in his constituency a Nepali community to which he pays a great deal of attention. Nepal has faced a bit of a logjam for a number of years, in that it has needed elections to approve a constitution and a constitution to approve elections. We hope that the November elections will take place with full participation and no violence.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

What work is the Department doing to stop any violence between competing parties in the November elections?

[Mr Duncan]

The UK is at the forefront of engaging with politicians of all parties in Nepal. My right hon. Friends in the Foreign Office and we in the Department for International Development visit them regularly and have urged all of them to participate. When I visited in April, I was very robust in urging some of the smaller Maoist parties to participate when at the time they were minded not to do so.

[Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab)]

4. What contribution her Department is making to the implementation of the Government’s preventing sexual violence initiative.

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[Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab)]

5. What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the levels of food, fuel and medical supplies entering Gaza each day.

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

Although the supply of food in Gaza is adequate, prices are rising fast. The level of fuel and medical supplies has dropped, exacerbating an already precarious humanitarian situation and threatening the basic needs of ordinary people in Gaza.

[Paul Blomfield]

The Minister has recognised in his reply that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is increasingly fragile. The impoverished Palestinian population is reliant on the tunnels for affordable goods. The tightening of restrictions by the Egyptian and Israeli authorities is resulting in shockingly high prices for fuel and basic commodities. With access to, and the affordability of, food becoming a huge problem, will the Government acknowledge that the blockade of Gaza is a violation of international humanitarian and human rights law and constitutes collective punishment?

[Mr Speaker]

There are extremely serious matters of life and death in Gaza. Let us hear the questions and the Minister’s answers.

[Mr Duncan]

I recognise exactly what the hon. Gentleman says. We would far rather see free movement and access for trade and economic activity in Gaza than an economy that is channelled through tunnels in a way that benefits Hamas. Israel’s plan to expand the capacity of the Allenby crossing between the west bank and Jordan is a welcome example of the sort of steps that can be taken to improve trade.

[Sir Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)]

The truth is that the international community and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency will have to continue supporting thousands of people in Gaza and the west bank until a two-state solution is found or until Gaza and the west bank are incorporated into de jure Israel. Permanent occupation is a perpetual hell for thousands of people. When will the international community find a long-term solution for Gaza and the west bank?

[Mr Duncan]

I hope that the efforts that are under way will lead to exactly the kind of agreement that my hon. Friend is seeking. The efforts of my right hon. Friends the Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister, in particular in working with the US Administration, will hopefully lead to a two-state solution and a long-lasting agreement that lead to peace and security between the two countries.

[Ann McKechin (Glasgow North) (Lab)]

The Minister will be aware that the price of fuel in Gaza has almost doubled in recent weeks. What steps is his Department taking to assist small businesses in Gaza, particularly fishermen, who have been hit hard by that increase?

[Mr Duncan]

The hon. Lady makes a very fair point. The amount of fuel that enters Gaza via the tunnels has halved from about 1 million litres a day in June to about 500,000 litres this month. The Gaza power plant is operating at half its capacity, triggering electricity blackouts of up to 12 hours a day, exacerbating the already difficult economic and humanitarian situation in Gaza.

[John Mann (Bassetlaw) (Lab)]

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

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[Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab)]

T8. Will the Secretary of State say what discussions she has had with the Israeli Government about the price of petrol for the Palestinians?

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

The Department is in regular discussions with the Israeli Government, and as mentioned earlier, we are particularly concerned about the limitation that exists on fuel in Gaza. We fully understand that those pressures exist, and we make representations whenever we can.

Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK (Triennial Review)

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Monday 14th October 2013 Written Statements

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

On 13 November 2012, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development announced the commencement of the triennial review of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the United Kingdom (CSC). I am pleased to announce completion of the review.

The CSC is a statutory body which administers the Government’s contribution to the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan.

The review concluded that the functions performed by the CSC are still required and that it should be retained as an executive non-departmental public body (NDPB). The review also looked at the governance arrangements for CSC in line with the guidance on good corporate governance set out by the Cabinet Office. The report makes some recommendations in this respect, which will be implemented shortly.

The full report of the review of CSC can be found on the DFID website and copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Mobile Army Surgical Hospital

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Wednesday 9th October 2013 Commons Chamber

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

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell (Dr Lee) for introducing this debate on such an interesting topic. Put simply, I entirely agree that military field hospitals could play a vital role in any international humanitarian response. Indeed, the Department for International Development has collaborated with UK forces in humanitarian responses over many years, for instance in Bosnia, which is well known to my hon. Friend the Member for Beckenham (Bob Stewart), East Timor, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Haiti, to name some of the more notable examples.

DFID, the MOD and the armed forces continue to co-operate closely. Since 2007, that co-operation has been codified in a memorandum of understanding that sets out how DFID and UK forces will work together. Its main principles are that DFID will lead the UK response to overseas disasters, that it can ask the MOD for military support if necessary, and that the MOD will charge DFID only the additional operating costs for, for example, ships or aeroplanes, and not the full capital costs. In requesting military support for overseas disasters, it is clearly understood that UK defence requirements will always take precedence.

Alongside that established framework of co-operation, the two Departments have made explicit provision to use military field hospitals if required. DFID has agreed with senior military medical colleagues that, subject to defence priorities, military field hospitals may be deployed as part of a humanitarian response by DFID. To that end, DFID has visited the Army’s 34 Field Hospital at Catterick garrison, which is the MOD’s designated rapid response field hospital. DFID has held detailed practical discussions with it and has contributed to its humanitarian training and preparedness.

Importantly, it must be understood that the deployment of a military field hospital requires substantial logistical support. It might also require a considerable force protection package, which would have a bearing on the location and appropriateness of the facility. Our experience is that the use of any military asset is expensive. Issues around permission to operate and the command and control of such a facility would need to be agreed with the receiving nation, which would inevitably prove more complicated with a military facility than a civilian one.

[Stephen Barclay (North East Cambridgeshire) (Con)]

The Marshall facility in Cambridge specialises in building modular medical equipment. Is it not a key point that the initial funding for the equipment could come from the DFID budget under the existing definitions, which might ease the concerns of other countries about the military aspects of the facility?

[Mr Duncan]

Spending on humanitarian matters is official development assistance, so in that respect my hon. Friend is right. However, we must also show that there is value for money and we must know that the assets can be appropriately deployed. I will discuss that issue further.

DFID has worked on the ground alongside UK forces in Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Iraq and Afghanistan. DFID has also used Royal Air Force aircraft and helicopters in earthquake and flood relief in Pakistan, and in sending search and rescue teams to Indonesia. The Royal Navy was able to make its Royal Fleet Auxiliary Largs Bay ships available to help with relief after the Haiti earthquake.

So far, UK military field hospitals have not been deployed under the auspices of DFID. However, the way it would work is that DFID would request the support of the MOD in response to a natural disaster, in accordance with United Nations guidelines known as the Oslo guidelines. Those guidelines stipulate that support should be provided in line with the humanitarian principles of impartiality, neutrality, humanity and independence. They also state that military assets should be requested only where there is no comparable civilian alternative. That implies that the military asset must be the only way of meeting the particular need and that its use should be a last resort.

DFID has to design its humanitarian responses carefully according to the specific humanitarian needs that they face and based on what responses are best provided by the UK and by other donors. Very often, what works best is help to restore and rebuild an afflicted country’s own health system. If a field hospital is needed, there are already well established civilian organisations that are used to providing such hospitals in humanitarian crises, notably the International Red Cross, which has been mentioned.

A civilian response will usually be what is needed in a delicate and complex situation, rather than a foreign military presence which, however well intentioned, is still military and may not be welcomed. For example, in Pakistan, which has also been mentioned, it was a difficult, finely balanced, decision to include RAF aircraft in the NATO relief airlift, when extremists had explicitly threatened the foreign relief effort and relief workers if NATO were to operate in that country. Like other international donors, therefore, while we are glad to have military field hospitals available, we will use them as a last resort, when it is too difficult or dangerous to use civilian measures and if the circumstances permit a military medical unit to be deployed.

DFID has also been building a UK civilian medical response capability. UK surgeons and other medical staff performed heroically in Haiti after the earthquake in 2010, saving lives and limbs which might otherwise have been lost. Building on that experience, DFID is supporting a programme of training and regional workshops for NHS doctors and other medical staff to equip them to deal with the additional challenges of surgery in a conflict zone. That is underpinned by an arrangement with the Department of Health and the national health service to deploy surgical trauma teams drawn from the British health service. Many of those personnel will also be military reservists, thus further exemplifying good civilian/military co-operation across Government.

My hon. Friend specifically mentioned the Syria crisis. As the House is aware, the UK Government’s relief response is considerable. The UK has so far pledged £500 million, making us the second largest donor. Much of that relief is to provide health and medical care. Through our funding we are supporting vital medical help on civilian channels and with civilian medical personnel, not all details of which can be openly revealed. I can say, however, that the range of services provided by DFID is wide and big. It includes ensuring the running, supply and necessary specialist training for a large number of emergency surgical facilities, including in remote areas. For example, we are supporting primary health care centres to help look after vulnerable groups such as women and children, as well as the elderly, who often have chronic unmet health needs. In Syria’s neighbouring countries, which now host more than 2 million refugees between them, DFID-supported health programmes provide medical evacuations and ambulance services, widespread primary health care facilities, mental health and psycho-social services, and highly specialised facilities for victims of sexual and gender-based violence.

We provide specialist training courses for health professionals, many of whom are specialist staff seconded into emergency departments to reinforce their capacity and specialist care. We provide health services for refugees, as well as for vulnerable resident populations that are hosting huge numbers of refugees in their communities. DFID and MOD officials are in frequent touch in London and the region, and the need for and suitability of mobile field hospitals is often discussed. While options remain open, it is agreed that deploying a mobile field hospital at the moment would not be the most effective way to reach the diverse needs faced by so many people in so many different locations.

DFID’s new civilian surgical trauma facility also remains an option, but so far it has not been necessary to deploy a surgical team in any of the refugee-hosting countries. Inside Syria, the level of conflict makes access to health care difficult in many areas, and unfortunately the security challenges also prevent the deployment of a field hospital or a civilian UK surgical team. DFID will therefore continue to support existing health facilities on the ground, and constantly review the situation.

[Bob Stewart]

Does DFID have the capacity to deploy not just a surgical team, but the equipment and some primary buildings in support of that team? Is that what my right hon. Friend is referring to?

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[Mr Duncan]

I like to think that DFID is well prepared always to procure and lay its hands on any such equipment, to which end many framework contracts permit us to draw at short notice on many companies’ equipment so as to do whatever is appropriate in whatever humanitarian situation we face, be that an earthquake, a tsunami or a conflict.

In conclusion, the Government value their ability to deploy military surgical teams as an important option, additional to other means of response. DFID’s response is based on the needs of the affected population, and so far the need for a UK military field hospital has not arisen. If it does, we remain ready to respond as required in the best and most appropriate way.

Question put and agreed to.

International Development (Scotland’s Role)

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Wednesday 4th September 2013 Westminster Hall

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

I am grateful to the hon. Member for Glasgow Central (Anas Sarwar) for securing this debate. I very much appreciate his kind and appreciative comments about DFID and, more importantly, the staff who work so hard.

As we talk today, the International Development Committee is, as the hon. Gentleman said, holding an inquiry into the implications for development in the event of Scotland becoming an independent country. The Committee has yet to present its analysis and report, so, out of respect for the processes of the House, I will not anticipate the outcome of the inquiry.

I welcome the chance, however, to set out the Government’s plans for the UK’s international development programme and to consider the role Scotland plays in it. Let me be clear at the outset: the UK Government want Scotland to remain an integral part of the UK, because that is what is best for all of us. Scotland benefits from being part of the UK, and the UK benefits from having Scotland in the UK. The UK Government are hopeful that, when people in Scotland come to make their choice, they will choose to remain part of the UK.

On the evidence and analysis available so far, I am very clear that the UK, with Scotland in it, can continue to have a significant international development impact, providing excellent value for money to taxpayers at home and making a significant difference to the poorest and most vulnerable people across the world. Scottish taxpayers, like all UK taxpayers, can be proud of the contribution they make to the UK’s official development assistance—otherwise known as ODA—and I see no case for changing that.

The UK is one of the world’s leaders in the fight against poverty. On provisional data, the UK provided £8.6 billion of ODA in 2012. That places us second only to the USA, just ahead of Germany and then France. This year we will do even better, as the first G8 country to achieve the global 0.7% target. That is a tremendous achievement, which brings with it great responsibility for DFID.

The size and reach of DFID’s programme enable UK aid to have a huge impact. We are proud of the results we have delivered towards the millennium development goals. To give just a few examples, since 2010, UK aid has supported 5.9 million children—half of them girls—to go to primary school; given 19.6 million people access to clean water and sanitation; prevented 12.9 million children and pregnant women from going hungry; and enabled more than 30 million men and women to work their way out of poverty through access to financial services. I am sure we can agree that those figures are very impressive indeed.

DFID delivers major results through its significant funding of multilateral organisations, which helps draw in other donors who add their contributions to those effective multilateral organisations. In 2012, for example, the multilaterals supported by DFID gave food assistance to more than 97 million people and immunised 46 million children against preventable diseases. The UK, together, has a significant impact on the lives of the poor as a responsible 0.7% donor. We can always do better, but the Government believe that we are stronger and more influential when we work together.

I will now analyse why size and reputation help the UK make a bigger impact. First, DFID’s size and global reputation create opportunities to shape international efforts in ways that are consistent with UK values. The Prime Minister’s pivotal role in shaping the framework that follows the MDGs and the co-chairing of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation by the Secretary of State for International Development are examples that ultimately aim to give global development more impact per £1 spent. That is about being clear on what we are trying to achieve, measuring and reporting on it and working with the right partners. The UK as a whole, together, is leading the way on that.

Alongside that, we have real influence within the multilateral system. The World Bank’s International Development Association, a major provider of interest-free loans to the world’s poorest countries, is an effective example. UK aid typically accounts for between 10% and 14% of donor contributions, giving us a powerful voice in fund governance structures. IDA was assessed in the groundbreaking DFID multilateral aid review as very good value for money. It is poverty focused, provides quality technical expertise and has a huge global reach. Because of DFID’s size and reputation—something that would be reduced if we were fragmented—the World Bank works closely with us to keep improving the impact on matters that reflect UK values, such as addressing the needs of girls and women and delivering better in fragile states.

[Dr Whiteford]

Will the Minister give way?

[Mr Duncan]

I will give way to the hon. Lady, but am I to understand from her earlier intervention that the SNP would guarantee the jobs of everyone in Abercrombie house if the Scottish people were to vote for independence?

[Dr Whiteford]

I will come back to the Minister’s question in a moment.

Is the Minister really saying that an independent English DFID would lose its status in the world? That seems a preposterous assertion from a Conservative Minister.

The SNP has pledged that there will be no compulsory redundancies in public sector jobs for which it is currently responsible. Obviously, if Scotland were to take on new responsibilities, it would need to resource those functions. Scottish people of all parties are committed to meeting their obligation to provide 0.7% of gross national income in ODA, but if we were to have an international development budget of some £900 million, we would surely need a civil service to administer that.

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[Mr Duncan]

I detect in the hon. Lady’s answer an unequivocal no disguised as equivocation. If she is saying that I am wrong to say that she would not guarantee the jobs of everyone at Abercrombie house, I will give her the chance to rebut it immediately.

[Dr Whiteford]

I would rather that the Minister addressed my question. Does he really think that England, on its own, needs Scotland to prop up its international development work?

[Mr Duncan]

I believe that the United Kingdom would be weaker without Scotland, which is a clear answer to the hon. Lady’s question; I regret that she has been unable to give a clear answer to mine.

[Anas Sarwar]

The Minister has hit the nail on the head. Five hundred people in East Kilbride service £10.7 billion of aid across the world. Would 500 people be needed to service £900 million of aid?

[Mr Duncan]

I will leave it to the Select Committee to analyse that in greater detail, but I point out, more generally, that the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan (Dr Whiteford) has been unable to give a clear answer, despite the illusion and impression that she is trying to convey. I ask her once again: does she, or does she not, guarantee the jobs of those in Abercrombie house should there be independence for Scotland?

[Dr Whiteford]

The Scottish Government have made it very clear that they will need civil servants to do such jobs post-independence. Look at our record to date: we have secured people’s jobs through the toughest recession and the UK Government’s shameless austerity measures. Why would that change?

[Mr Duncan]

That answer shows that the hon. Lady’s so-called public sector jobs guarantee amounts to nothing and is a political deceit.

The UK’s global reach matters. We have a strong, professional DFID presence in 28 focus countries, and we have widely respected multi-million pound programmes, many of which are worth between £50 million and £250 million a year. Partner Governments seek advice from DFID, which translates into better development.

None of that would be possible without our staff. DFID’s size and ambition allows us to attract and retain the best talent. Front-line staff have technical and specialist skills, such as in economics, health, governance, social development and accountancy. Our staff are able to build fulfilling careers in an organisation with a wide scope.

So what should Scotland’s role be in the UK’s international development effort? Scotland already makes a significant contribution to UK international development, and the contribution Scottish taxpayers make to the UK’s total international development budget is important. DFID has a sizeable headquarters in Abercrombie house in East Kilbride. More than 600 staff in Scotland form an intrinsic part of the team that delivers the UK’s entire international development impact. Responsibilities at Abercrombie house range from professional oversight of DFID’s finance, procurement, human resources and IT functions to the development of policy and research agendas. Staff working equally from East Kilbride and London contribute to the coalition Government’s international development priorities, such as the Prime Minister’s push to end global hunger and malnutrition. The Department delivers excellent value for money for all UK taxpayers and provides significant high quality job opportunities in Scotland.

The Scottish Government have their own small £9 million programme, which is funded from the devolved budget and contributes to the UK’s official development assistance. Working relations between DFID and the Scottish Government are strong and there is regular contact and co-operation.

The real question is whether it would make development sense for an independent Scotland to start afresh and to develop the capacity to manage its own programme, aiming for 0.7%, or even more, of its own gross national income. It is not for us to speculate on how an independent Scottish development agency would or could operate; it is for those advocating independence to make the case that independence would have a greater overall impact on international development.

[Mr McKenzie]

Will the Minister give way?

[Mr Duncan]

I am just finishing.

We believe that the UK can have the greatest impact in the world if everyone works together as part of a UK that includes a vibrant Scotland. I am very pleased, and I warmly welcome the fact, that the hon. Member for Glasgow Central has so eloquently put that view.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Wednesday 17th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Oliver Colvile (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport) (Con)]

5. What steps her Department takes to reduce the impact of natural disasters by increasing the resilience of communities.

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

Resilience means equipping communities better to withstand disasters and giving them the means to recover afterwards. DFID’s programmes include investments before disasters, such as in flood defences and setting up systems to give people early warning. We also help people bounce back after the event, for example by setting up insurance schemes and by providing income support.

[Oliver Colvile]

My right hon. Friend will know of the devastating impact that natural disasters have on developing countries and the role that Devonport-based ships play in sorting out disaster relief. What is his Department doing to build the capacity of state institutions in the developing world to deal with the impact of these natural disasters?

[Mr Duncan]

My hon. Friend is right. Navy ships such as those from his constituency have been crucially important in the past—for example, three years ago in Haiti. He is also right about the importance of a country’s capacity. We help in that regard through, for instance, pre-earthquake planning in Nepal and flood preparedness in Bangladesh.

[Mr Tom Clarke (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (Lab)]

As the Minister knows, DFID has a deservedly high reputation for helping in disasters, but is there not a case for making some programmes last longer than they have been in the past? We want to move not just from disaster to aid, but from disaster to development.

[Mr Duncan]

That is absolutely true. We need long-term preparation in advance, and a longer-term response following any disaster. Those were the conclusions of a review conducted at the beginning of the current Parliament, whose recommendations we are implementing as best we can.

[Sir Tony Cunningham (Workington) (Lab)]

Those who are hit hardest by disasters are almost always the most vulnerable members of society. What steps has the Department taken to ensure that inequality is considered in resilience planning?

[Mr Duncan]

People who live in poverty are indeed the ones who suffer most as a result of natural disasters, which pull them into a cycle of debt, illness and thence even deeper poverty. Investing in measures to help communities to cope with disasters protects lives and livelihoods, and safeguards investment in a country’s development.

[Richard Ottaway (Croydon South) (Con)]

6. What assessment she has made of likely population growth in north and west Africa by 2050; and if she will make a statement.

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

T7. The UK contributes £30 million a year to the Palestinian Authority’s general budget. Does the Secretary of State agree that the pooled and general nature of that budget means that it is impossible to track how all donor money is actually spent?

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

UK funding to the Palestinian Authority is used specifically to pay civil servants’ salaries, and that is subject to audit. It is absolutely right, and essential for peace, that we continue to support the Palestinian Authority.

[Hugh Bayley (York Central) (Lab)]

T5. In a Westminster Hall debate on 4 July, the Minister of State, who has just left the Front Bench, said that he would take on board my concerns about workers in debt bondage in Pakistan. Will he undertake to get the DFID office in Pakistan to write a plan of action over the summer and then to make a written statement when the House comes back in September?

Pakistan

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Thursday 4th July 2013 Westminster Hall

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

DFID warmly welcomes the Committee’s report on Pakistan. It has made some helpful recommendations, and I am pleased to say that, as our reply makes clear, we agree with pretty much all of them.

As the Committee recognises, the need for our development support is clear. Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world, with an estimated population of 180 million, and it is growing fast. The population is likely to increase by half as much again by 2050. One in three Pakistanis live on 30p a day or less, and as the hon. Member for Bethnal Green and Bow (Rushanara Ali) has just made clear, one in 11 children die before their fifth birthday. Half of all adults and two thirds of women are illiterate, and 12 million children are out of school. Internal instability and sectarian violence have seen more than 30,000 Pakistani civilians killed since 2001, with many more left injured.

Those enormous challenges are not entirely insurmountable, and there is some reason to be optimistic for the future. Pakistan has just witnessed historic elections, which mark the first time a democratically elected civilian Government in Pakistan have served their full term and then handed over to another through credible elections. In the face of sustained extremist violence, the people sent a clear message that they expected change. They wanted improved security, better services, more jobs and better economic prospects. Both federal and provincial government have made ambitious commitments to deliver against those expectations.

The UK’s development programme is well placed to help. Since the Government made the decision to increase support to Pakistan in 2010, UK aid has helped 1.9 million children in school, provided cash transfers to more than 2.5 million people and provided life-saving support to millions of people during the devastating floods in 2010 and 2011. Ultimately, though, only the Government of Pakistan have the responsibility and wherewithal to solve Pakistan’s problems.

As the Committee set out, our development support must be dependent on policy reform that fosters increased economic and social development. That is why UK development programmes with the Government of Pakistan proceed only on the condition: that the Government of Pakistan provide the bulk of the funding and commit to increase their spending; that they deliver on agreed results and reforms; and that UK public money is protected from corruption. Those benchmarks are at the heart of all our joint programmes with both the federal and provincial government.

I think that approach is working. Through our education programme, we have helped the government of Punjab appoint 81,000 new teachers based on their ability to teach, not on their connections. Measures to increase both student and teacher attendance have led to 1 million more children and 35,000 more teachers attending school every day. We have helped the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province adopt new budgeting procedures, which have reduced the cost of building a classroom by more than 40%. I appreciate what the right hon. Member for Gordon (Sir Malcolm Bruce) says about merit, attendance and standards overall. If he would like more information on the detail of what we are doing, we would of course be very pleased to oblige.

At national level, we have helped to generate significant increases and improvements in the Government’s income support programme, which is a financial safety net for the poorest and most vulnerable. The new Government have announced a 25% increase in the programme’s budget, which is a commitment of almost £500 million in the coming year. The risk of corruption has also been reduced—thus trying to ensure that the programme reaches those who need it most. Over the coming months, we will hold formal talks with the new federal and provincial governments as soon as we can to agree joint priorities. Central to those discussions will be economic reform, particularly on tax.

The Committee urged us to do all we can to encourage an increase in tax revenue, which is exactly what we are doing. We agree that, without more revenue, the Pakistani Government cannot meet the needs of their growing population. We have had initial discussions with the new Government on tax issues at both ministerial and official level, and we are clear on what needs to happen. Pakistan has one of the lowest tax takes in the world, which has to change.

Early signs from the new Government are positive. In their recent budget, they committed to increase their tax-to-GDP ratio, which is currently less than 10%, to 15% by 2018, and they took some initial steps towards that. I assure hon. Members that our Prime Minister raised that matter forcefully during his visit to Pakistan last week. We are already providing advice on how they can deliver that commitment, and we will continue to push for early, bold action, starting from the top. The richest must pay their fair share. Our Prime Minister had positive conversations with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on that issue during his visit, and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development has also raised it in her early discussions.

As the Committee recommended, we are actively engaged with the IMF and other international finance institutions to ensure that any future IMF support is predicated on meaningful economic reforms, which, as my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Jeremy Lefroy) said, must include a firm grip on public finances. As negotiations with the IMF proceed, we are exploring how best the UK can provide assistance alongside other international partners. That includes considering the possibility of offering Pakistan expertise and advice from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, but we are clear that co-ordinated action through an IMF programme, rather than individual donors setting their own reform conditions, offers the best long-term prospect for securing reform.

It is absolutely essential that the new Government take steps to address corruption, because corruption limits economic growth and erodes confidence in the state. Our governance work already focuses on such corruption. In Punjab, for example, we are supporting the Government to curb low-level corruption by officials, and to improve service delivery as a result. Every day, 30,000 people are providing feedback on government services, via their mobile phones for instance, and action is being taken against those accused of corruption. We look forward to discussing what more we can do with the new Government as they develop their own priorities in that area.

Central to addressing corruption is effective governance that ensures the rule of law and empowers citizens—what our Prime Minister calls the “golden thread.” The Committee suggests that that is lacking in governance work, and I want to make it clear that it runs through our portfolio. Our new sub-national governance programmes will operate across two provinces and benefit more than 7.5 million people, thereby improving the ability of government to deliver key services, including security and justice. Now the new Government are in place, we will review our approach with them to identify opportunities where more can be done.

We are supporting civil society to ensure it is able to hold the Government to account and to demand change, most recently through our support for the elections, which helped to increase voter turnout significantly and to provide election monitoring. As the hon. Member for York Central (Hugh Bayley) mentioned, supporting women will also remain, and must remain, a fundamental element of our work. Pakistan is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a woman. To improve our efforts, we will take up the Committee’s recommendation to establish a gender advisory group, and will look to include Pakistan in the wider girls and women advisory group being established by DFID.

The right hon. Member for Gordon mentioned the health sector. In recent years, service provision has changed significantly through the devolution of responsibilities from federal to provincial government, as both the Committee and the Independent Commission for Aid Impact have noted. In response to that change, we have significantly redesigned our support for health. Let me assure the House that the redesign has addressed the concerns expressed by ICAI and the Committee, and has taken on board the lessons from the previous federal approach. DFID’s new provincial health and nutrition programme supports local governments to manage both community midwives and lady health workers, so ensuring that their remits are complementary. Our funding will also only be provided when there is clear evidence that results are being achieved. In a period of substantial political change, we will continue to review and adapt our programmes, in the light of the new Government’s priorities and the reforms that they implement.

I have taken on board the impassioned plea made by the hon. Member for York Central for the need to address the scourge of debt bondage among Pakistan’s helpless and ultra-impoverished people. Similarly, I have taken on board the important comment made by the hon. Member for Bethnal Green and Bow about empowerment, especially of women and girls—something that is always incorporated from the start in our programmes, not only in Pakistan but elsewhere.

To summarise, at last count DFID and the Government agreed with 16 out of the 17 recommendations made by the Committee, and we only partially disagreed with the 17th. We also agree that UK development support must be predicated on the commitment of the Pakistani authorities to implement policy changes that will foster economic and social development. I am pleased to see that the new federal and provincial governments have already made positive commitments to deliver economic, tax and social sector reforms. They have a real opportunity to set Pakistan on a path towards stability and prosperity. We will continue to do all we can to ensure that they take decisions that will lead to a brighter future for their people.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Wednesday 12th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Doughty (Cardiff South and Penarth) (Lab/Co-op)]

5. When the Government plan to bring forward legislative proposals to enshrine in law their commitment to spend 0.7% of gross national income on official development assistance.

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

This Government will be the first in the G8 to reach 0.7%, and we are doing so this year.

[Stephen Doughty]

The Minister wants us to believe the Government’s 0.7% aid promise, but first we find no Bill in the Queen’s Speech, and secondly we see a massive underspend in the Department in the last few months of last year. Who made the decisions to omit the Bill and to underspend? Was it the Secretary of State, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, or the Prime Minister?

[Mr Duncan]

Very nice try, but there is not a massive underspend. Previous mentions in the Queen’s Speech were about the objective of meeting the target, and if the hon. Gentleman wants the proof to be in the pudding, that is exactly what we are doing.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

Would the excellent Minister agree with me that we should not set targets for overseas aid? We should give what is required.

[Mr Duncan]

We are doing both, because as the United Nations’ objective of 0.7% established, the continuity that comes from countries meeting it ensures that aid is delivered in the best possible way, and that is why the objective is so important for the poorest people in the world, whom we are all trying to help.

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

Now that we are the first of the G8 nations to reach 0.7%, perhaps the Prime Minister will make that declaration in the magnificent surroundings of County Fermanagh next week. When he has done that, will he ensure that we target that aid, that it is free from corruption, that people can see that there is a point behind the aid, and that it goes to those most in need?

[Mr Duncan]

I am confident that not only would the Prime Minister enjoy making such a commitment, but that he could do so truthfully and accurately, because my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, and indeed all of us in the Department for International Development, ensures that the money that we spend on behalf of taxpayers goes to people in need, and not into the pockets of anyone who might be corrupt.

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

May I invite the Minister and the Secretary of State to look at the Ministry of Defence’s stabilisation activities, such as mine clearance, police training in Afghanistan, and the replacement of the Kajaki dam turbine? Those activities are not claimed as going towards the ODA target of 0.7%; if they were, I believe that we would be exceeding it.

[Mr Duncan]

One of the great achievements of this Government is the great co-ordination between the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign Office and DFID, under the auspices of the National Security Council. When it comes to spending, we work very closely with those two Departments, but we must stick within the OECD rules that govern the definition of official development assistance.

[Keith Vaz (Leicester East) (Lab)]

How much of that percentage will be made available to the people of Yemen? Only yesterday, Jamal Benomar, the UN special representative, said that 1 million children were dying from malnutrition there. How can we save those children?

[Mr Duncan]

Our focus on Yemen is acute, and I take charge of that personally. The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. Indeed, one of the comments at the nutrition event at the weekend, attended by Ministers from Yemen, was that more than half of their children under five are stunted. We have to focus on that need, and I assure the right hon. Gentleman and the House that through our programmes in Yemen, that is exactly what we are doing.

[Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan) (Con)]

6. What her Department’s spending priorities are for 2012-13.

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

8. What research her Department has undertaken into the humanitarian effects of the occupation of the west bank.

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

We are deeply concerned by the impact of the occupation on the lives of Palestinians in the west bank. DFID assesses this constantly. Reports from the UN and others clearly document poverty, displacement, constrained growth and the demolition this year alone of 247 Palestinian structures.

[Mr Ward]

Those who have been to the west bank and to Gaza will be frustrated constantly to see international aid used to pay for buildings which are promptly knocked down by the Israeli regime. Is the Minister aware that according to figures in the United Nations “Humanitarian Monitor” monthly report for April, there was a 30% rise in the number of Palestinians displaced by house demolitions, with a total of 46 structures demolished by the Israeli army, which included five paid for by international donors?

[Mr Speaker]

We are grateful to the hon. Member, but we need to have time for the answer.

[Mr Duncan]

The Government share the hon. Gentleman’s concerns about the nature and scale of the demolitions. I am pleased to say, however, that we have contributed to the construction of a number of schools in Gaza, where we hope children will be educated without their premises ever being demolished.

[Chris Evans (Islwyn) (Lab/Co-op)]

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

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[Jim McGovern (Dundee West) (Lab)]

T10. A member of my staff, Lee Butcher, recently visited Palestine. He was shocked and stunned to see how Palestinians are treated by the Israelis, for example having no water for weeks on end. What can the Government do to help those Palestinians who are suffering such pain?

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

We put as much pressure and argument as we can to improve the condition of Palestinians in Area C, and we very much hope that such issues will be addressed in the peace process, which we wish every success, as it continues over the next few weeks.

[Rehman Chishti (Gillingham and Rainham) (Con)]

T4. What discussions have been had with the Government of Pakistan to tackle the issues of population growth, lack of family planning and high maternity deaths?

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

On a recent delegation to the west bank, we met President Abbas, who confirmed that the Palestinian Authority pays the families of convicted criminals a salary dependent on the length of time they spend in prison. Since DFID provides direct budget support which is indivisible from the Palestinian Authority’s funds, will the Minister explain and justify how British taxpayers’ money can be spent on paying criminals?

[Mr Duncan]

We have dealt with this issue on many occasions in written and oral parliamentary questions. I can assure the hon. Gentleman that British funding is ring-fenced and does not in any way go to purposes of that sort.

[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

T5. Does my right hon. Friend agree that it would be possible to link our large aid presence in the British embassy in Jakarta more effectively with our trade presence in order to promote new energy solutions like the first biodiesel plant in the country from Gloucestershire’s Green Fuels?

International Development

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Monday 22nd April 2013 Ministerial Corrections

[Mr Duncan]

DFID has made a large investment in improving education provision in Afghanistan for all children over the last decade. UK development funding through the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund has contributed to 5.9 million children attending school in 2011-12. This includes 2.3 million girls, compared with virtually none under the Taliban. We have therefore exceeded our Operational Plan target of contributing to 2.1 million girls attending primary school by 2013-14 and will be working with the Afghan Ministry of Education as they develop new targets.

The correct answer should have been:

[Mr Duncan]

DFID has made a large investment in improving education provision in Afghanistan for all children over the last decade. UK aid funding through the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund since 2002 has contributed to 4.1 million children attending school in 2011-12. This includes 1.6 million girls, compared with virtually none under the Taliban. The latest data for the 2012-13 school year will be available from the Afghan Ministry of Education in July 2013.

Post-2015 Development Agenda

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Thursday 21st March 2013 Westminster Hall

[Hugh Bayley (York Central) (Lab)]

That rather limits the time for me to say anything.

I start by thanking colleagues from many of the all-party groups that take an interest in international development for joining me, on behalf of the all-party group on Africa, in seeking the debate. I also thank the Backbench Business Committee for giving it to us, particularly in this important week. Next week the United Nations Secretary-General’s high-level panel, charged with producing a report recommending global development goals for the period after 2015—the end date of the millennium development goals—meets in Indonesia. That will be its last full meeting before it publishes its report.

I should also begin by paying tribute to the Government and what the Chancellor said in his Budget speech yesterday.

“We will also deliver in this coming year on this nation’s long-standing commitment to the world’s poorest to spend 0.7% of our national income on international development.”—[Official Report, 20 March 2013; Vol. 560, c. 935-6.]

That is a statement that I imagine everybody here will warmly endorse.

The Select Committee on International Development has made criticisms from time to time of the way in which the Department for International Development is moving towards that goal. We were concerned that instead of increasing the budget in three equal stages over three years from the 0.53% of gross national income inherited from the previous Government, the budget has flatlined for three years and will now rise steeply in this year from, I think, 0.52%, which is slightly below the level inherited from the previous Government as a proportion of GNI.

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

If I may assist the hon. Gentleman, last year’s figure was 0.56%, so it has been rising gently but then will be steeper.

[Hugh Bayley]

I stand corrected and congratulate the Government on moving in the right direction. The concern from the International Development Committee was that it will mean a substantial increase in spend in this year. We were concerned about the absorptive capacity, particularly in countries where we have bilateral programmes. That is something that the Minister might address later.

The International Development Committee has also voiced concerns about the squeeze imposed by the Treasury on DFID’s administrative costs. Like all Members I want to see every Government Department lean and mean, but as DFID is unusual in having a sharply rising budget, we are concerned that reducing the number of people DFID has on the ground runs a risk of our aid spend being supervised and scrutinised less closely, and possibly being less efficient as a result. That needs some creative thinking.

On my visits with the International Development Committee to DFID offices in the field, it has occurred to me that it is now harder for DFID staff to spend time away from the capital, looking at what is happening in health clinics or schools. Perhaps DFID could contract out to non-governmental organisations some of that work of checking what is happening on the ground and delivering reports on whether the training programmes for teachers in rural schools are delivering trained teachers. That is just a thought.

Having said that, I acknowledge that in the current economic climate it is not an easy political decision for the Government to stick to the commitment. Those of us who think it is the right thing to do have a responsibility to make the case for international development, in church halls and local newspapers up and down the country. Although there is a strong constituency of support, often church or faith based, for international development, and support from many diaspora communities in Britain, there are also many people who ask why we are increasing our charity abroad when we are not able to increase spending on some essential services at home.

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[Martin Horwood (Cheltenham) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Brady, and to follow the hon. Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds), who made some excellent points. In particular, he talked about the fact that support for sustainable development is not just a human imperative, but in our long-term economic interests. This has been a well-informed and wide-ranging debate, and it is a pleasure to take part in it.

This debate reminds me of one we held as recently as October in this same Chamber, when we also discussed the post-2015 agenda. Quite a lot has happened since then. Several Members have mentioned yesterday’s announcement by the Chancellor that we will hit our target of 0.7% of national wealth going to overseas development assistance during this coming year—that is what I think he said. The phraseology last year was “from 2013”—

[Mr Duncan]

This year.

[Martin Horwood]

The Minister confirms that it is the 2013 calendar year, which is very reassuring. Our original commitment in the coalition agreement was that we would introduce legislation in the first term of this Parliament. Although it is far more important to hit the target than to legislate for it, we should manage in what will now have to be the last two Sessions of this Parliament to put our commitment into legislation. It is a very proud thing to have hit the target. People have challenged me about why the figure is 0.7%, and the hon. Member for East Hampshire made similar points in his speech. It is to some extent an arbitrary figure—there is no denying that; but I think it was chosen because it was an achievable, and therefore realistic, goal for countries to share, but was also ambitious. It pushed the quantum of overseas development assistance beyond what was being achieved 30 or 40 years ago, when the target was set. Most importantly—the hon. Member for East Hampshire made this point too—it was a benchmark. It was something that enabled countries at whatever level to measure and compare each others’ performance. The hon. Member for Stafford (Jeremy Lefroy) made the point that now that we are achieving the benchmark we are beginning to turn the pressure on to those countries that can afford to do it but have not yet.

The final meeting of the high-level panel, in Bali, is imminent and the Secretary of State for International Development will stand in for the Prime Minister. It is perhaps a little disappointing that the Prime Minister will not have made it to all the meetings, but the Secretary of State will do a fine job; she has been a strong supporter of the high-level panel process. The UN General Assembly’s open working group met recently for the first time, and I gather that a high-level event is planned for September. Apparently everything is still in train for a decision in 2015, which we all expect. In the meantime one more initiative requires comment, and although it is not the most significant it is a rather good one: the Secretary of State last month launched a competition in which UK schoolchildren are invited to submit ideas to the Prime Minister; 150 schools have already signed up. I am a little disappointed that I discovered that only while researching for the debate, so perhaps we need to publicise it more widely; but part of the way in which we shall garner support for the 0.7% figure and the development agenda generally is by engaging with young people. The initiative is a good way of going forward.

The original millennium development goals, as many hon. Members have said, have widely been regarded as successful and effective. That is not because every one has been achieved; rather it is because quite a lot of the targets within the MDGs have been achieved by some countries. Also they have helped to highlight some of the failings in development—particularly the way in which conflict has resulted in many fragile states achieving none of the goals. The MDGs have contributed to the amount of direct aid towards social spending, and to the significant rise in spending at national level by developing Governments. That, among other things, has meant that each day 10,000 fewer children under five die than in 1990; 33 million more children go to school than a decade ago; and more than 12 times more people are now getting AIDS treatment than in 2003.

It is true that those changes cannot all be attributed to the millennium development goals, nor, certainly, to aid and overseas development assistance—but then the MDGs were not just about those things. Perhaps I may gently rebuke the hon. Member for Beckenham (Bob Stewart), who is no longer in his place: I do not think that DFID, the United Nations or international agencies—including voluntary ones—that support development have ever really said that aid was all that people should rely on to make progress with development. That has always been about trade, tackling issues such as debt reduction, and encouraging private sector investment and activity and economic growth. A strength of the MDGs was the fact that they related to a wide range of topics.

The Secretary of State recently got a little bit of stick from Labour Members for referring to the importance of the private sector in development. I thought that was unfair, because she was not saying that overseas development assistance should be diverted to the private sector; she was simply underlining the importance of the sector. I come from a development agency background, where that has always been understood. The impact of aid is dwarfed by the impact, for good or ill, of the private sector and business decisions. For instance, mining companies’ ability to go into an area and act insensitively, or to wreck the environment and impoverish future generations by not behaving properly, is of massive significance. A good company that does the right thing—British extractive industries have a good record on that generally, although occasionally some companies, such as Vedanta Resources, have been picked up not doing the right thing—helps empowerment and wealth creation. That can be a very positive thing.

The hon. Member for Gloucester (Richard Graham) referred earlier to Green Fuels, and the hon. Member for York Central (Hugh Bayley) raised the question whether biofuels were always a good, sustainable thing to invest in. He was right: if business does the wrong thing in relation to biofuels, that can increase demand for land, leading to more incursions on rain forest, and can damage the environment. Green Fuels is a Gloucestershire company and I know it well; it uses surplus waste cooking oil. That is what it is encouraging in Indonesia. It takes surplus cooking oil from hotels, which would otherwise be poured into watercourses, polluting them, or go to waste; or, possibly worse still, be sold to street vendors to be put into their cooking oil and used for street food. If cooking oil is overused it can be carcinogenic, so Green Fuels is investing in a good, sustainable project in Indonesia. That shows how business, used in the right way, can support development goals.

The wider context includes organisations such as the International Finance Corporation, which has made an enormous contribution to development, leveraging and investing billions in developing countries and paying attention particularly to what it rather euphemistically calls frontier markets. I think that phrase is used in a bid to make them sound exciting and not just dangerous. The idea is to take investment and leverage business in places where at other times investors might fear, slightly, to tread. If there is a plea to be made to the high-level panel about the post-2015 millennium development goals agenda, I would ask that that agenda be inclusive, and spread beyond aid to include the private sector and international agencies such as the IFC.

Some weaknesses in the MDGs have been highlighted. Those include the way in which they hid inequality; the fact that they perhaps neglected issues such as joblessness, which is an acute contributor to poverty; and the fact that they may have missed the very poorest people in some countries. By using averages and country totals they perhaps did not spot some pockets of extreme poverty. That is among the things being discussed at the high-level panel. It has also been suggested that the goals did not, in addressing environmental sustainability, give it the centrality that they could have. When we debated that in October I made a plea for the importance, among all the various issues such as health, education, social justice and disability that might be included in any future set of sustainable development goals, of the central idea that growth and development should come within planetary boundaries. I reiterate that.

We also talked in October about whether the next set of goals should be global and include all countries, not just the poorest, so that some developing countries might have the toughest targets for jobs, agriculture and gender equality, whereas for countries such as ours there would be quite a lesson, and a set of targets to be met, on resource waste and unsustainable consumption. We talked about the ambitiousness of the goals and the idea that, as with the UN framework convention on climate change, they should impose common but differentiated responsibilities, and be sensitive to different countries’ circumstances. DFID’s latest report on the high-level panel’s progress says that it is considering a single post-2015 development agenda, which I assume means bringing together the continuing progress on the MDGs with the new sustainable development goals. If so, that is welcome. It is focused on poverty reduction and inclusive growth, “embedded” in the “principles of sustainable development”—I have never seen anything embedded in a principle before, but there is always a first time. I hope that sustainability will therefore be central to the development process.

DFID also reports a clear focus on eradicating extreme poverty, with a strong human development emphasis, which is obviously welcome. The new framework should also include income, poverty, health, education and equality for girls and women—all welcome as well—although I am again a little concerned that resources and the environment are not included in the list. I hope that the Minister will be able to reassure me that sustainability in environmental terms will remain central to the process. DFID further reports that the high-level panel has talked about the building blocks being tackled, including strong institutions and the rule of law, and I am sure that is right.

The process, however, should not be simplistically about economic growth, so I will draw attention to three areas that I want the Minister to take on board and comment on, all of which were highlighted by an excellent organisation, Development Initiatives, which is one of the best sources of data and information about development that I have come across. First, responsibility: who is responsible for delivering the goals? That might seem rather obvious, but it has never been spelt out, and the debate about whether the private sector should play a role is relevant here. As I said, the private sector’s role in delivering development is crucial, and international actors such as the IFC and the World Bank should have specific responsibilities in the process, as should national Governments, not only the ones meeting the 0.7% target but the ones that are not yet meeting it; they should be given a responsibility to step up to the plate. People involved in remittances, who are acting privately, as individuals, also play a part, because “private” refers not only to big companies and investors but to private individuals. Some of them are very rich private individuals, the Warren Buffetts and Bill Gateses of this world, who are making a valuable contribution, but Development Initiatives spelt out to me that if we look at the overall resource flows into developing countries, overseas development assistance is only a small part of those flows. ODA is dwarfed by remittances and by foreign direct investment, as well as by debt, which the hon. Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce) termed better as “finance”. A great deal of the resource going into developing countries is way beyond and above ODA.

My second point, therefore, is that it would be good if resource flows were brought into the framework. We should measure and look at resource flows into developing countries and perhaps consider setting specific development goal targets to do with reducing barriers to things such as foreign direct investment, or limiting or tackling outflows of illicit finance, which is a serious problem for some of the developing countries in the greatest poverty.

My third point is about reporting and measurement, which should be open, transparent and as complete as possible. The way in which data are being used in our information age is enormously advanced. I can look at an app on my iPhone and tell Members that 7% of our energy in this country comes from wind power—as of now, because I have a live app that tells me the exact amount of energy coming from that source. I could look at other sources and know that 2% is coming from the Dutch interconnector and so on. If I can have such information at my fingertips, we ought to be able to look at the development goals and see exactly the flows of resource into a particular developing country—how much from the private sector, how much from ODA—and any mismatches between the levels of poverty and of resource going in. Such imaginative but open and transparent information is important, and organisations such as Oxfam make the point that it increases the power of people on the ground to know how much money should be coming into their country and where it should be spent and to hold individuals accountable for the spending.

In summary, the new sustainable development goals should be global, including all countries. Sustainability is absolutely key, because climate change will ultimately impoverish us all, even in developing countries. The goals should be transparent, and measurement should be as complete and timely as possible. They should include some attention to overall resource flows, and not focus only on development assistance. Above all, who is responsible for delivering the goals should be clear, and we should welcome the private sector into the process while emphasising the specific responsibilities of international agencies, Governments and others, whom we can hold accountable.

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

I thank the hon. Member for York Central (Hugh Bayley) for securing the debate. The post-2015 agenda is a priority for the whole of the Government. Ensuring that we have an ambitious, poverty-focused post-2015 agenda is a top priority for my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, for all of us in DFID, for much of the House of Commons, and for the development community as a whole. We all welcome parliamentary engagement on the issue.

I have spoken in previous Adjournment debates on this fast-moving agenda, but now is a good time to take up the topic again, because the high-level panel will meet once again next week in Bali. The debate is also timely given the recent inquiry into the post-2015 development agenda by the International Development Committee. The Government’s response to that was published yesterday, in which we welcomed the constructive contribution from the Committee and explained our thinking so far.

Let me start by saying that the post-2015 process should absolutely not be at the expense of continuing to work to deliver the existing MDGs between now and 2015. The UK will continue to lead the way on supporting developing countries to attain those goals. We have seen remarkable progress around the world since 2000. The proportion of people living on $1.25 a day since 1990 has been halved, as has the proportion of people without access to drinking water. Primary school enrolment has increased by 89%. Those are just a few of the successes, but there are many areas in which progress has been weak, such as on maternal mortality and the quality of children’s education. Additionally, more than 1 billion people are still living in extreme poverty. We still have a world in which people die unnecessarily every day. They go without education and go to bed hungry at night. That is why the Government are upholding their commitment to delivering 0.7% of our national income in aid, but that is only part of the answer, and it is in that context that we will look ahead to the period after 2015. We need the new development agenda to reflect the fact that the world has changed greatly since 2000. Indeed, in the period since I last spoke in an Adjournment debate on this subject, a lot has changed. The discussion has moved forward in leaps and bounds, but a lot remains to be agreed.

When we last discussed the post-2015 agenda in such a debate, the ambition for the new framework was not really clear. Would we, for instance, tweak the current MDGs to update and adjust them a bit, or would we revamp the whole framework and address completely new challenges and issues? Now, five months on, let me be clear about the ambition of the high-level panel, which my right hon. friend the Prime Minister co-chairs. The new framework should maintain a resolute focus on eradicating poverty, but to do that, it will not be enough to address human development issues such as health and education. Addressing the symptoms of poverty will also not be enough. We need to address the root causes of poverty, and that means going further than just a tweak to the old framework. Alongside dealing with issues such as education and health, we need to include the building blocks of sustainable prosperity, such as open, accountable governance, jobs—the hon. Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch (Meg Hillier) referred to that in detail—and the sustainable use of natural resources, all of which were mentioned in this debate.

Those are all challenging issues, and the discussion about how the global community should work together to achieve the mammoth task of eradicating poverty for ever is full of intellectual and conceptual challenges. Various countries and organisations, such as businesses and civil society, have different views about what our priorities should be and how we should achieve our aims, so let me lay out a few of the core challenges that we will be working to resolve.

One lively topic of debate has been whether a focus on poverty eradication can be married with the need to promote global sustainable development in the post-2015 agenda that we are trying to design, or whether a wider view on sustainable development would dilute the focus on poverty? Should the post-2015 framework tackle issues such as climate change, or should they be separated into a distinct set of goals? In our view, the case for integration is clear. Integrating social, economic and environmental issues in a framework focused on poverty is the only way to make the ending of poverty irreversible. If we do not manage to do that, resource scarcity and environmental degradation have the potential to unpick years of economic progress, so the Prime Minister and the Government as a whole are committed to securing a single set of goals for the period after 2015.

Another conceptual challenge facing us as we look to 2015 is the role for the vital conditions for eradicating poverty and pursuing prosperity. Accountable institutions —we have heard about accountability today—transparent governance, the rule of law and the absence of conflict are just some of the building blocks of sustained prosperity that the Prime Minister calls the “golden thread” of development. Only when people can get a job and a voice can they take control of their own destiny and build a future for themselves that is free from poverty.

Not everyone agrees with the view that I have just outlined, however. Some believe that actively promoting good governance and the rule of law is going too far. They say that those things are sovereign—that no one is entitled to impose them on someone else—and anyway they do not believe that it is possible to quantify or measure something such as the rule of law or an effective judicial system. However, we believe that they can be measured. Indeed, we have done a lot of work on just that, and we are not alone in our belief.

Poor people themselves regularly identify honest and responsive governance as one of their top priorities for the new framework. That is what we seem to be hearing from the MY World global survey that we have been supporting. Fragile, conflict-stricken countries also agree. For instance, Emilia Pires, East Timor’s Minister of Finance, has been vocal on the panel about the need to establish robust institutions as part of tackling conflict and insecurity. Graça Machel, Nelson Mandela’s wife, has been another influential advocate. As the debate continues in the international community, we will be working with partners to make that a priority for the new framework.

Let me talk about “universality”. That is the current buzzword defining the debate, yet various people are giving very different meanings to that word. To some people, universality means that the new framework must reach people regardless of whether they have disabilities, whether they are male or female, whether they live in a city or a village and whether they are old or young, and whatever religion and ethnicity they are. In the MDGs, we said that we would halve poverty, so for some people, universality means that this time we must reach everyone and get to zero poverty—that we must reach the poorest and most marginalised, which is the approach urged on us by the hon. Members for Banff and Buchan (Dr Whiteford) and for Hackney South and Shoreditch. It is, in essence, the issue of reach, in as much as the average is an inadequate measure of the depth of progress that we want to see.

However, some people mean that the framework should apply, as they put it, as much in East Anglia as in east Africa. They believe that all targets should apply to all countries, which is something that we have heard about in the debate. It is an interesting suggestion, but what would it mean in practice for the UK? Would targets on getting kids into schools or access to clean water have any meaning here? Perhaps not, although any targets relating to boosting the numbers of women CEOs or MPs might. We probably need to be cautious about losing the focus on eradicating poverty by casting our net too wide and rendering the sharp focus of intended action dangerously meaningless. The framework needs to deal with real fundamentals. Frankly, countries in which only half of all kids go to school, or in which corruption is rife and blocking growth and prosperity, need to be the priorities for a set of global development goals.

Some use the word “universality” to mean that we need firm commitments from donors. We agree with that, which is why the Prime Minister has been using the G8 to deliver a strong message on the obligations of richer countries. However, national Governments in developing countries will also have to act if we are to deliver real results.

Overall, the success of any post-2015 framework will rest on its simplicity. It should be short, compelling and easy to understand. That was the great strength of the millennium development goals. What we cannot have is a long shopping list of issues designed to satisfy everyone. A lot of development issues have been raised during today’s debate and I recognise the importance of many of them, but a new framework with hundreds of goals addressing every single point would be useless. The core challenge ahead of us is how to distil them into a few really fundamental issues. That will mean that not everyone is happy—some people will not see their favoured issues reflected—but we need to aim for our highest common ambition, not the lowest common denominator.

As we know, the Prime Minister, along with the Presidents of Indonesia and Liberia, is a co-chair of the high-level panel on what we will do after 2015. It has met three times and, at the fourth meeting next week, needs to continue to make progress. That meeting will focus on global partnerships, and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will be demonstrating the clear vision and leadership for which the UK has become known on the panel.

The panel is only the first stage, because UN negotiations will follow, but the panel has a fantastic opportunity to provide leadership at the start of the process and make ambitious proposals, setting a high standard for the UN negotiations that follow. The UK is a well-respected intellectual leader in the field of development, and we will be using our influence and expertise to lead the political and technical debate that is all part of the process.

Transparency is vital for the post-2015 agenda. That is one of the reasons why I welcome today’s discussion. I am glad that it has attracted such widespread interest—from Parliament, NGOs, businesses, local and national Governments and, we hope, through what we have arranged, from our schools as well. Only this morning, the Prime Minister’s special envoy for post-2015 development, Michael Anderson, a senior DFID official, updated the all-party group on the United Nations on the panel’s progress. At this very moment, a seminar is taking place in the House of Lords, bringing together NGOs, academics and parliamentarians to discuss the shape of the agenda that they want to see.

As I said, the voices of poor people themselves must be at the heart of any new framework. That will be crucial to developing a framework that ends poverty, for ever, in our generation. DFID has been supporting a number of initiatives to drive engagement with marginalised groups. One of those is MY World—an online, offline and SMS survey to ask people all over the world what they would like to see reflected in the framework. I expect that many of our constituents will be keen to get involved and will be filling that out online. Today, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State sent a letter to all MPs that outlines our thoughts and actions so far on the post-2015 agenda. A point it makes forcefully is that women and girls must be included in the framework, which must also include an aim to eliminate violence against women.

I sense that the hon. Member for York Central, who initiated the debate, might want five or 10 minutes to respond, so I hope that hon. Members will forgive me if I do not comment on everybody who has spoken, except to canter through some of the points made. We recognise the importance of jobs, but what gives us jobs? A vibrant private sector from the agricultural sector up. My hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Jeremy Lefroy) was right to say that when Lord Howard was leader he committed the Conservative party to 0.7%; he might also wish to reflect on who was the shadow Secretary of State at the time who persuaded him to do that. I note that education is a high priority for the hon. Member for Ceredigion (Mr Williams).

On the question of population, I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds) that prosperity is indeed the best contraceptive. Richer countries have lower population growth; it is the poor ones that have exploding populations. I note that my hon. Friend the Member for Cheltenham (Martin Horwood) made a sensible defence of the development potency of the private sector. He is right about accountability and responsibility, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin and Harpenden (Mr Lilley) has been for many years on the potency of trade. It is a pleasure to see such unity among parliamentarians on the issue. I hope that it can be converted to hard and productive work to ensure that Britain can be in the lead in seeking global agreement on how the post-2015 framework for poverty eradication should look.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Wednesday 13th March 2013 Commons Chamber

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

3. What recent assessment she has made of the financial stability of the Palestinian Authority.

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

We estimate that the Palestinian Authority’s funding gap in 2013 is likely to be at least $500 million, which will continue to make it hard for it to pay salaries and deliver essential public services. The PA must of course show financial discipline itself, but for it to become stable it is essential that international donors support it in a consistent manner, and that Israel eases its restrictions and meets its legal obligations to transfer tax revenues.

[Mike Freer]

I thank the Minister for that answer, but is he aware that British aid donations to the Palestinian Authority general budget are being used to pay salaries of up to £2,000 a month to convicted Palestinian terrorists, many of whom have been properly convicted? What assurances can the Government provide that no further UK aid donations will be spent in that way?

[Mr Duncan]

I can assure my hon. Friend that we have a system in place under which DFID’s support to the Palestinian Authority is used specifically to pay for the salaries of civil servants. The list of approved recipients is subject both to vetting processes and to independent audit.

[Mr Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith) (Lab)]

Does the Minister agree that the best way to improve the financial stability of the Palestinian Authority would be to lift the blockade of Gaza and movement and access restrictions on the west bank? Does he also think that the EU should be trading with the Palestinians and not with the illegal Israeli settlements?

[Mr Duncan]

A 2011 International Monetary Fund report estimated that without movement and access restrictions the Palestinian economy would be 78% larger in terms of GDP a year, amounting to about $6.3 billion. That would remove its dependence on aid.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

Is there not a more general question about international donor money being used to support Palestinian institutions that have taken violence against Israel? What steps are the Government taking to ensure that that money genuinely contributes to financial stability and is not used in a way that undermines the peace process?

[Mr Duncan]

We rigorously monitor any danger there might be that the Palestinian Authority in any way incites violence, but it is committed to doing exactly the opposite, and it is right that we support it, the potential Government of a Palestinian state. We wish to see further progress towards the peace process over the months ahead.

[Anas Sarwar (Glasgow Central) (Lab)]

We all support the creation of a viable two-state solution in the middle east, but that will come about only if the Palestinians are able to run an effective country. What assessment have the Government made of the structures available in the Palestinian Authority to make that happen?

[Mr Duncan]

The structures are sorely stretched, which is why we continue to support the Palestinian Authority, and of course we also urge other donors, particularly the Arab states, to carry their fair share of commitment, because if the Palestinian Authority were to collapse there is a serious danger that all prospects of proper peace negotiations would collapse as well.

[Chris Evans (Islwyn) (Lab/Co-op)]

4. What discussions she has had with her counterparts in the UN on reinstating bilateral aid to Mali.

--- Later in debate ---

[Gordon Henderson (Sittingbourne and Sheppey) (Con)]

7. What processes are in place to ensure that non-governmental organisations in the Palestinian Authority that are funded by the UK, the EU and the UN do not promote incitement of hate.

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

We deplore incitement on either side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including any comments that could stir up hatred and prejudice. UK, EU and UN-funded NGOs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are subject to rigorous due diligence assessments designed to ensure that funds are used only for legitimate development purposes.

[Gordon Henderson]

I welcome the Minister’s answer, but in East Jerusalem last year a UN-funded Palestinian NGO performed a puppet show promoting non-smoking. This well-intentioned educational message was corrupted somewhat when the children were urged to replace cigarettes with machine guns. Will the Minister assure me that no British financial aid donations, direct or indirect, are being used to fund such propaganda?

[Mr Duncan]

I am aware of that puppet show, put on in a funded community centre, and I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising it. It was an utterly stupid and irresponsible way of corrupting an otherwise sensible no-smoking message. It was performed not by an NGO, but by a visiting organisation. No UK or UN funds had anything whatever to do with sanctioning this performance, and the community centre itself was angered by the content and made its own disapproval very clear.

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

I agree with the Minister that it is very important that we oppose all those who promote hate in the middle east. May I invite him to say that we must also stand with those human rights organisations in Israel and in Palestine that stand out against hate crimes such as the so-called price tag attacks?

[Mr Duncan]

It is essential that we make a stand against the incitement of hate from either side in any way. I share the hon. Gentleman’s commitment to doing so in his great understanding of this issue.

[Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab)]

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