Parliamentary Written Question (Correction)

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Monday 18th July 2011 Written Statements

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

An error has been identified in the written answer provided to the hon. Member for Witham (Priti Patel) on 30 June 2011, Official Report, column 931W. The full answer given was as follows:

[Priti Patel]

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether any funding from the public purse provided through his Department’s Strategic Grant Agreement with the Trades Union Congress was used to fund the Trade Unions and International Health and Safety workbook. [62589]

Oral Answers to Questions

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Wednesday 13th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)]

4. What recent assessment he has made of the humanitarian needs of the people of Gaza; and if he will make a statement.

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

The situation in Gaza is unacceptable and unsustainable. Perversely, the current access regime benefits Hamas and punishes the ordinary people of Gaza. In the last fortnight, I visited Israel and the west bank, as did the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for North East Bedfordshire (Alistair Burt), who also visited Gaza. We both urged Israeli Ministers to recognise that the restrictions are not in Israel’s interests and should be lifted.

[Fiona Mactaggart]

I thank the Minister for that reply. First, I am sure that my constituent, David Cole, who is currently in Gaza would like me to use this opportunity to thank those Government officials who eventually helped him to be able to get there. However, I know that he is concerned that the number of trucks going into Gaza is about a third less than the number that were able to go in before the blockade. I am glad the Minister has already made representations, but will he specifically ask the Israeli and Greek Governments why they will not allow unarmed humanitarian volunteers to deliver medical supplies to Gaza by boat, through the flotilla?

[Mr Duncan]

I thank the hon. Lady for her appreciative comments. It is the case that about 30 times more cement and 10 times more steel goes into Gaza through Hamas-controlled tunnels than through the crossings. At the current reconstruction rate, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency estimates it will take 78 years to rebuild Gaza. We put confidence in the conversations between Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Quartet representative Tony Blair, which took place in May, and hope they can have a more successful outcome than they have had so far.

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

Is it not true that more people enter Gaza from Egypt than from the tunnels in Israel? What can the Government do to stem this humanitarian crisis?

[Mr Duncan]

My hon. Friend is in some sense right, although the tunnels are in Egypt, not at the normal crossings from Israel. The volume of goods and mostly people—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I apologise for interrupting the Minister of State. I have been listening to the Minister of State for 20 years, and I want to carry on enjoying listening to him, and I want to be able to hear him.

[Mr Duncan]

Thank you, Mr Speaker; we are halfway there, perhaps.

My hon. Friend is right to say that much more comes in through the tunnels than through Israeli-approved access points. Perversely, that is assisting Hamas, which is something we would like to reverse.

[Anas Sarwar (Glasgow Central) (Lab)]

Six months after the Arab spring, what discussions has the Minister had with the Egyptian authorities about relaxing the restrictions at the Rafah border crossing to ensure that essential humanitarian assistance can get into Gaza?

[Mr Duncan]

That is primarily a matter for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. I have not had any such discussions, but I have had discussions with Israeli Ministers. As I said a moment ago, I hope that the representations made by the Quartet representative, Tony Blair, to Prime Minister Netanyahu can ease many of the restrictions that the Israelis are currently imposing.

[Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

5. What recent assessment he has made of his Department’s performance in the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis in developing countries.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Wednesday 8th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Jake Berry (Rossendale and Darwen) (Con)]

2. What steps he is taking to improve the transparency of bilateral and multilateral aid.

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

We have introduced the UK aid transparency guarantee, under which we have published greater and more detailed information on the Department for International Development’s aid expenditure than ever before, and we have actively encouraged our multilateral and other partners to follow our lead. I welcome the launch today of the Make Aid Transparent website, which is supported by a coalition of more than 50 civil society groups from more than 20 countries.

[Jake Berry]

I thank the Minister for his answer. Just as the Prime Minister has called on others in the G8 to live up to their promises on their aid budgets, will the Minister assure me that the Government are calling on others to increase the transparency of their spending and will he update the House on the international aid transparency initiative?

[Mr Duncan]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that the Prime Minister secured agreement in Deauville that the G8 should begin to lead rather than follow on aid transparency. DFID also leads the international aid transparency initiative, an alliance of 19 major donors. Under our leadership, a new aid transparency standard was agreed in February and is already being implemented by DFID, the World Bank and the Hewlett Foundation, with many more set to follow later this year.

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

In view of the lobbying of the House tomorrow by international development enthusiasts, will the Minister encourage as many people as possible to turn up, including hon. Members, to make our contribution to international development awareness?

[Mr Duncan]

I fully share the right hon. Gentleman’s enthusiasm for international development awareness, and when it comes to transparency there is already much praise for what the UK is doing. For instance, Publish What You Fund recently said:

“As well as focusing on its own breadth and quality of publication, its”—

DFID’s—

“commitment to influencing others sets important precedents for aid transparency on a global level.”

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

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the better we can demonstrate the effectiveness of UK aid, and that it is not all siphoned off into Swiss bank accounts, the sooner we will get the people of this country behind our excellent and worthy notion of spending 0.7% of GDP on overseas aid?

[Mr Duncan]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and that is exactly why we have set up the Independent Commission for Aid Impact, which can evaluate the impact and value for money of UK aid. Transparency sheds light on all that is done and reduces the sort of corruption that my hon. Friend describes.

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

Does the Minister accept that the welcome continued emphasis on transparency in Government aid must also apply to businesses? Given the OECD estimate that poor countries lose $120 billion each year to tax havens, three times more than the aid that they receive, what is he doing to require companies to publish what they pay to Governments in developing countries?

[Mr Duncan]

That is exactly why we support the likes of the extractive industry transparency initiative, which will ensure that companies contracting with countries fully reveal what exactly they make out of their contracts.

[Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North) (Lab)]

3. When he plans to bring forward legislation enacting the commitment to spend at least 0.7% of gross national income on official development assistance.

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

We rigorously assess costs against benefits in all our programmes. To measure the value for money of our climate programmes, we will look at metrics including the number of poor people protected from extreme weather events, the number of hectares of forest protected, and the number of people with access to energy.

[Luciana Berger]

The Minister will be aware of the decision at the last climate change summit to establish a green climate fund, and that the UK has a representative on the transnational committee that is designing the fund. Will he update the House on the progress made to date by the transnational committee and on what concrete outcomes the UK Government hope to see by the next summit in Durban later this year?

[Mr Duncan]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right that the fund is not yet up and running. We are on the design committee for the fund and are playing our full part in it. We want to ensure that the fund delivers results for poor people in the best possible way.

[Martin Horwood (Cheltenham) (LD)]

The clearest message from the poorest countries at the world climate change talks in Cancun was that they face immediate impacts from climate change. Will the British Government commit to set an example to other countries by putting a high proportion of our climate finance into adaptation, as well as into climate change mitigation?

[Mr Duncan]

Climate change will hit the poor hardest and first. DFID will support poor people to protect their lives and possessions from the impacts of climate change, for example by raising homes on to plinths to protect poor people from flooding in Bangladesh, supporting drought-resistant crops in Malawi, and preventing coastal erosion in Vietnam. We aim to spend 50% of our climate change finance on adaptation. That will be kept under full review.

[Mark Lazarowicz (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Minister will know that if we are to meet the commitments we made at the Copenhagen climate change conference, the UK will have to allocate by next year a further £1 billion in fast-start finance to help developing countries tackle climate change. Will he confirm that the Government still intend to allocate that funding by next year?

[Mr Duncan]

The Government are keeping their commitment to spend 0.7% of gross national income on official development assistance from 2013. Climate finance is being met out of that rising ODA budget.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

9. What estimate he has made of the proportion of gross national income to be spent on official development assistance in (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13.

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[Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North) (Lab)]

T4. I have been contacted by several constituents who believe that the World Bank should be leading the way towards a green economy and a greener future for the world’s poor. Will the Minister outline what discussions he and his colleagues in government have had with the World Bank to ensure that there is investment in clean energy projects in developing countries?

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

The crux of this issue is whether the building of coal-fired power stations should be supported. We believe that such power stations should be a last resort, and that every possible action should be taken to explore the scientific and commercial availability of carbon capture and storage.

[Chris Skidmore (Kingswood) (Con)]

T2. During the Secretary of State’s visit to Benghazi this weekend, what discussions did he have with the national transitional council regarding its plans for the immediate and longer-term future?

Oral Answers to Questions

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Wednesday 30th March 2011 Commons Chamber

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

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

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

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

[Helen Jones]

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

[Mr Duncan]

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

[Greg Mulholland]

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

[Mr Duncan]

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

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

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

[Mr Duncan]

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

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

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

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

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

[Mr Burrowes]

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

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

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

[Mr Duncan]

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

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[Keith Vaz (Leicester East) (Lab)]

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

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

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

[Keith Vaz]

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

[Mr Duncan]

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

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

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

Turks and Caicos Islands

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Monday 28th February 2011 Written Statements

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

Further to the written statement by the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, the hon. Member for North West Norfolk (Mr Bellingham) of 9 December, Official Report, columns 40-41WS, and the Department for International Development’s minute of 3 February notifying Parliament that the Secretary of State for International Development had approved in principle a loan guarantee to the Turks and Caicos Islands Government (TCIG), I would like to update the House.

The Department for International Development (DFID) has now finalised a guarantee in favour of Scotiabank (Turks and Caicos) Ltd to provide TCIG with access to a maximum capital amount of US$ 260 million over the next five years. I confirm that TCIG will immediately repay DFID its loan of £29.9 million plus interest.

This level of commercial borrowing is vital if TCIG is to turn around its dire financial situation. It will provide the time TCIG needs to implement budget measures which will lead to achieving a fiscal surplus in the financial year ending March 2013. As the Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for North West Norfolk, and I reported to Parliament on 9 December 2010, this is one of a number of key milestones to be reached before a date for elections can be set. Once the territory is in fiscal surplus it will be able to start to pay off its debt and should, after the five-year period is over, if not before, be able to secure new and reduced bank lending without the need for a UK Government guarantee.

The guarantee is intended to cost the UK taxpayer nothing. It will ensure that TCI does not fall victim to financial ruin and it is in line with DFID’s responsibility to underpin the reasonable needs of all British overseas territories.

The current chief financial officer has done an excellent job in getting a grip on TCIG’s public finances. To ensure that the financial plan stays on track to achieve a fiscal surplus DFID reserves the right to require TCIG to retain the position of chief financial officer for as long as the guarantee is in force and to nominate the holder of this post who shall then be appointed by the governor.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Wednesday 16th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin) (Con)]

5. On what date he expects the next Friends of Yemen meeting to take place; and if he will make a statement.

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

We expect the next Friends of Yemen meeting to take place in Riyadh at the end of March. I visited Saudi Arabia last weekend and was afterwards with the Foreign Secretary in Yemen. We are continuing to work with both countries to agree a firm date for the next meeting.

[Rehman Chishti]

Given the turmoil in the region, what is the Minister’s assessment of the situation in Yemen and of the Friends of Yemen process? How will it stop the state failing and assist in an orderly succession and economic progress following the commitment by the President not to stand at the next election?

[Mr Duncan]

Recent events demonstrate more than ever the importance of the Friends of Yemen process to prevent state failure in that country. I welcome President Saleh’s speech on 2 February, committing to follow the constitution of Yemen and not to seek re-election after 2013. Through the Friends of Yemen process, we will work to support political reform and the right of all Yemenis to participate legitimately and democratically in their political future.

[Mark Pritchard]

Is it not the case that a secure and prosperous Yemen is very much in the UK national security interest? Will my right hon. Friend inform the House what new measures have been put in place to ensure that those objectives are delivered?

[Mr Duncan]

We have seen substantial progress on many fronts since the New York Friends of Yemen meeting, and I particularly highlight the Yemeni Government’s adherence to an International Monetary Fund financial reform programme and progress made towards completing their five-year development plan for poverty reduction. We are close to establishing a multi-donor trust fund for Yemen. The Riyadh Friends of Yemen meeting will continue the support of Yemen’s friends for political and economic reform in the pursuit of democracy, stability and prosperity.

[Keith Vaz (Leicester East) (Lab)]

I warmly welcome the Minister’s visit to Yemen last week. I ask him to put one item on the agenda of the Friends of Yemen meeting—namely, the redevelopment and refurbishment of the Aden hospital, which has been ongoing for a number of years. Good health facilities would be of huge benefit to local people in what is one of the poorest countries on earth.

[Mr Duncan]

We do not tend to get involved in large infrastructure projects, but health in Yemen is at the top of our agenda. I well appreciate the right hon. Gentleman’s close personal association with Aden, and I undertake to give the matter a special personal look.

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

Although I acknowledge the link between poverty and security, not least in Yemen, may I invite the Minister of State to confirm that DFID sees addressing poverty among the poorest people in the poorest countries as its supreme challenge and as being at its heart?

[Mr Duncan]

Yes, poverty reduction is at the core of everything that the Department does, but I urge the right hon. Gentleman to appreciate that no fragile country has ever achieved a single millennium development goal. Preventing state failure is much less costly than dealing with a failed state afterwards.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

4. What development support his Department provides to the Palestinian Authority and to Israeli non-governmental organisations working in the west bank.

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

We provide financial and technical assistance to the Palestinian Authority. In this financial year, our support will total £31.1 million. DFID also co-funds the UK conflict pool, which supports five Israeli human rights NGOs operating in the west bank.

[Mr Walker]

I recently took part in a delegation to Jerusalem and the occupied Palestinian territories of the west bank, and I refer the House to my related entry in the register. During the visit, we met many Israeli human rights organisations and NGOs involved in the peace process, some of which receive financial support from the UK Government. All of them were concerned at moves by elements of the nationalist right to crack down on and embarrass organisations in receipt of overseas funding, no matter how legitimate—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am extremely grateful to the hon. Gentleman, but this is Question Time.

[Mr Duncan]

My hon. Friend refers to a proposed panel of inquiry on the Israeli side, to look into the funding of its NGOs. Our ambassador to Tel Aviv discussed the issue with the Israeli ambassador to the UK, Ron Prosor, shortly after the Knesset vote on the issue. Officials raised the matter with one of the two members of the Knesset who had pressed for such funding investigation. We do not want such investigations to impede the legitimate work of NGOs in the west bank and elsewhere in the Palestinian territories.

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

In light of the Minister’s reply, does he share the concern expressed by Norwegian Foreign Minister Støre about the Israeli Foreign Minister’s comments, which appear to delegitimise the work of brave NGOs such as B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights? It is important that the voices of those organisations, which are Israeli Jewish but express a different view from the Israeli Government, should continue to be heard.

[Mr Duncan]

I think that I can give the hon. Gentleman the assurance that he seeks. We are watching closely the treatment of the five NGOs concerned and we will do our utmost to ensure that they remain free to do their good work, even though some of their conclusions might disagree with the those of the Israeli Government.

[Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)]

Is the Minister aware that an increasing amount of aid to the Palestinian territories ends up in the hands of extremists and is used for extremist purposes? Will he take steps to stop that and ensure that aid gets to the Palestinians who need it most?

[Mr Duncan]

I do not share my hon. Friend’s conclusion. We are very careful how we spend our money in the occupied Palestinian territories and have done our utmost to support the legitimate government of Salam Fayyad with, I think, great success. We would abhor any money falling into the hands of extremists, and we do everything possible to ensure that such an accusation can never be verified or proved valid.

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

The Minister will know that many in the House and beyond continue to be deeply concerned about the desperate situation in Gaza. What efforts are the Government making to ensure that Israel lifts the blockade of Gaza, which leaves many dependent on UN aid? Given the situation in Egypt, will the Minister update us on the position at the Rafah crossing, and on what action will be taken to ensure that humanitarian aid can be delivered to those who need it most?

[Mr Duncan]

My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and all Ministers make our views clear on this matter. Prime Minister Netanyahu and Tony Blair announced a package covering the west bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem on 4 February. Gaza measures included new reconstruction project approvals and a timetable for exports. We have welcomed that, but implementation in practice will be the key.

[Simon Hughes (Bermondsey and Old Southwark) (LD)]

The Department’s work on conflict prevention and resolution is much appreciated. Can the Minister assure the House that this work in the middle east—Palestine, Israel and elsewhere—will be continued in the forthcoming years, and that the budget for it will be protected, and perhaps grown, even given the wider budget obligations?

[Mr Duncan]

I absolutely share the views of my right hon. Friend. This is a crucial part of DFID’s agenda, and essential to all the work we are doing in such a sensitive part of the world, so the answer is an unequivocal yes.

[Mrs Sharon Hodgson (Washington and Sunderland West) (Lab)]

6. What plans he has to provide support for the new UN Women agency; and if he will make a statement.

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[Mr Virendra Sharma (Ealing, Southall) (Lab)]

7. What recent assessment he has made of the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka; and if he will make a statement.

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

The number of internally displaced people in camps in Sri Lanka has declined from 300,000 in 2009 to 18,000 today. DFID has provided £13.5 million in humanitarian assistance since 2008, but our bilateral aid to Sri Lanka will cease in March, except for a new demining programme valued at £3 million.

[Mr Sharma]

Among those affected by the floods are many people who were earlier displaced by the conflict and who had recently returned to their homes only to be displaced again. Even before the floods, these people had been struggling to access much-needed protection and assistance because of Government restrictions on humanitarian organisations’ access to the return areas. What pressure is the Minister putting on the Government to allow humanitarian organisations to have access to the former conflict areas, so that the suffering people there can be given the full help they desperately need?

[Mr Duncan]

We will continue to press the Sri Lankan Government to grant access to such areas for humanitarian purposes. More than 1 million people have been affected by the flooding. We looked very closely into the sort of support we should give, but the most immediate needs are covered by Sri Lankan authorities and other donors, so we are working principally through multilateral organisations to give the help that is needed.

[Mr James Gray (North Wiltshire) (Con)]

The United Nations estimates that some 90% of Sri Lanka’s rice crop will be destroyed by the recent flooding. That makes the Government’s decision to stop all aid with effect from March quite worrying, because on top of all the troubles in that unfortunate country there is a very real risk of food security problems or starvation in the years to come. What is the Department prepared to do about that?

[Mr Duncan]

I urge my hon. Friend to appreciate the distinction between a continuing bilateral programme and humanitarian aid, which can be given as needs must. We will continue to review the humanitarian needs of Sri Lanka and work through multilateral organisations as required.

[Dr Daniel Poulter (Central Suffolk and North Ipswich) (Con)]

8. What support his Department is providing for the training of midwives and maternal health specialists in sub-Saharan Africa.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Wednesday 12th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

2. What recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the delivery of humanitarian aid in Afghanistan; and if he will make a statement.

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

In 2010, international humanitarian aid to Afghanistan fed 3.5 million people, helped 100,000 refugees and built 22,000 emergency shelters. DFID provides support to the International Committee of the Red Cross, to assist families affected by conflict and to provide medical care. As for potential problems this year, we are closely monitoring rain and snowfall levels and would work with the international community to respond to any problem caused by water shortages.

[Miss McIntosh]

I congratulate the Department on that achievement. Does humanitarian aid extend to the possibility of finding crops to substitute for poppies, to enable Afghanistan to have a proper income and become completely self-sufficient?

[Mr Duncan]

The answer is yes. DFID’s programmes seek to establish sustainable long-term solutions to poppy growing by promoting access to agricultural credit, releasing uncultivated land for productive use and strengthening access to markets for local producers. We are also trying to encourage farmers to grow different crops with a higher market value, including, for instance, pomegranates.

[Anas Sarwar (Glasgow Central) (Lab)]

The Government announced in the strategic defence review and in the comprehensive spending review that 30% of aid will go to fragile states. What proportion of aid will go to Afghanistan?

[Mr Duncan]

The amounts going to Afghanistan will be significantly increased, but the exact amounts will be announced in due course, when we have completed the multilateral and bilateral review process, which should be announced in the next few months.

[Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)]

3. What programmes funded by his Department support the education of women in developing countries.

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[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

11. What efforts his Department has made to support good governance in the field of tax collection in developing countries.

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

Any country requires some level of taxation to fund the basic services that it needs. DFID advises and assists Governments in the development of fair, equitable and efficient systems of collecting tax.

[Catherine McKinnell]

The Minister will be aware of the Dodd-Frank Act in the United States, which requires companies registered on Wall street to disclose all payments on a country-by-country basis, including tax payments. Will he meet me and representatives of the Publish What You Pay campaign, including NGOs such as CAFOD and Oxfam, to discuss how we can introduce similar legislation in the UK, thereby improving transparency and access to development?

[Mr Duncan]

It will always be a pleasure to meet the hon. Lady, and I am very happy to do so. The Act requires companies to disclose payments to foreign Governments. We should await the outcome of ongoing work, such as the development of rules on how the Act will operate, before deciding whether UK action is needed.

[Julie Hilling]

The OECD recognises that poor countries are likely to lose more money through tax dodging than they gain in aid. The coalition agreement promised to clamp down on tax avoidance, so will the Minister set out today what action his Government have taken to push for the introduction of country-by-country accounting? It will cost the Government nothing but make a huge difference to people in developing countries.

[Mr Duncan]

The OECD and the International Accounting Standards Board are both doing work related to that issue, and we hope that it will help to identify the best way forward. Action to tackle tax evasion through more transparency and the exchange of information, instigated by the G20 and led by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, has already produced good results, such as a big increase in the number of bilateral tax information exchange agreements. [Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. There is far too much noise in the Chamber. It is very unfair on Members who want to take part in questions to the Secretary of State for International Development. Let us have a bit of order.

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[Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)]

12. What recent progress he has made on his review of emergency humanitarian response capability.

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

The humanitarian emergency response review is an independent review of the UK Government’s emergency humanitarian assistance, led by Lord Ashdown. The review team will complete its consultations this month and issue its final report by the end of April.

[John Howell]

Given the significance of the review, will the Minister explain its remit?

[Mr Duncan]

The review has a specific focus on rapid onset humanitarian emergencies, which can either be natural disasters or sudden outbreaks of conflict. The urgent international response to disasters is often confused and unco-ordinated. Today is the first anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, and what happened there will play an essential part in our review. [Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The House must come to order again.

[Mr Duncan]

As I explained, the humanitarian review is primarily focused on rapid onset emergencies, and it has therefore not looked at a protracted crisis such as that of the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria. We support them, however, through our 13% share in the budget of the European Community’s humanitarian aid office, which in this financial year has committed €10 million to support Sahrawi refugees.

[Paul Flynn (Newport West) (Lab)]

What percentage of emergency aid does the Minister believe was included in the £52 million that the Vice-President of Afghanistan, Ahmad Zia Massoud, took from his country to his bolthole in Dubai? Is there any point in pouring money into those funds before we end the corruption that is endemic in the Afghanistan Government?

[Mr Duncan]

We do everything to make sure that such moneys are paid only through a trust fund and paid only after proven action with proper receipts. We do everything possible to overcome the challenges posed by corruption in any such country.

[Ms Gisela Stuart (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab)]

The Minister mentioned Haiti. It is clear that some NGOs were not working very effectively together and were actually operating in their own interest. Will the review also consider the better co-ordination of NGOs, both from this country and those under UN supervision?

[Mr Duncan]

Yes, is the answer. However, I repeat that the review’s remit is concentrated and focused on rapid onset humanitarian response—in other words, it is a review of emergency humanitarian response, not of the entire area of all humanitarian action.

The Prime Minister was asked—

International Development

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Wednesday 12th January 2011 Ministerial Corrections

[Jim Shannon]

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what (a) funds and (b) other resources his Department has allocated to Yemen in the last 12 months.

[Official Report, 15 December 2010, Vol. 520, c. 776W.]

Letter of correction from Mr Alan Duncan:

An error has been identified in the written answer given to the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) on 15 December 2010. The full answer given was as follows:

[Mr Duncan]

The Department for International Development has allocated £50 million of programme funding for development projects in Yemen for this financial year 2010-11. In financial year 2009-10 a total of £27 million was disbursed, as reported in “Statistics for International Development”, available on DFID's website.

There are ten international staff and six local staff working full-time on the Yemen programme.

The correct answer should have been:

[Mr Duncan]

The Department for International Development has allocated £50 million of programme funding for development projects in Yemen for this financial year 2010-11. In financial year 2009-10 a total of £29.8 million was disbursed, as reported in “Statistics for International Development”, available on DFID's website.

There are 10 international staff and six local staff working full-time on the Yemen programme.

Water Supplies (Developing World)

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Wednesday 15th December 2010 Commons Chamber

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

I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Bath (Mr Foster) for raising this topic. Achieving the millennium development goals, including the two vital targets on clean water and improved sanitation, is at the very heart of the coalition’s agenda on international development. I recognise and respect his interest in water and sanitation, and in particular his high regard for WaterAid, which we, too, consider a valued partner in our work.

Speaking personally, I am also convinced of the importance of water, sanitation and hygiene. In Hoa Binh province in Vietnam, I have seen how these simple interventions can make a remarkable difference to people’s health and opportunities. One local woman showed me the new latrine in her garden that had vastly improved her life, and told me that she had pinned up a hygiene advice sheet in her house to educate her whole family. I have also inspected at close quarters some latrines—of variable quality, I have to say—in rural Bangladesh. Indeed, I am proud to say that I am fast becoming something of a ministerial latrine expert. I commend to the House the UNICEF booklet entitled “Low-cost latrine options”, which contains an encyclopaedic list of various designs, including the Blair pit latrine. Known as a VIP latrine, it is a ventilated, improved pit, designed and used, as it happens, in Zimbabwe.

Furthermore, I am proud that the United Kingdom is the first country in the G20 to set out how we will meet our promise to spend 0.7% of our gross national income on aid from 2013. This also places a serious responsibility on us to use the money well, and water, sanitation and hygiene fit squarely within that agenda. Each pound of taxpayers’ money in this area can bring direct, tangible benefits for poor people. As many will know, we are currently reviewing all our bilateral and multilateral aid. I cannot therefore make any detailed announcements on numbers today, but we have a high level of ambition in this area and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has already stated in the House that we know we will support tens of millions of people in gaining access to sanitation over the next four years.

Today I can outline seven principles of how we, the British Government, will respond to this global crisis. First, we will ensure excellence in our Department for International Development country office programming. A vital part of our efforts will be through our bilateral programmes. Our current programmes in Bangladesh will affect up to 30 million people by 2011. Our current programmes in Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria will provide up to 17 million people with access. We will also be making new commitments under the bilateral aid review. We will of course ensure that there are sufficient and qualified staff in DFID country offices to deliver our programmes. There will be close co-ordination with our climate change work, including work on water management, and we will continue to ensure an excellent humanitarian response, dealing with issues of water storage, water supply, health care in emergencies and cholera pandemics.

Secondly, we will link our work on water, sanitation and hygiene especially closely with our work on health. We cannot achieve other key millennium development goal targets in the absence of action on something as fundamental as basic water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion. Recent articles in the Public Library of Science medical journal, launched last month by the Under-Secretary of State for International Development, my hon. Friend the Member for Eddisbury (Mr O’Brien), conclude that 2.4 million deaths each year could be prevented if people had adequate access to hygiene, sanitation and drinking water. They emphasised, as has my hon. Friend the Member for Bath, that diarrhoea is the biggest killer of children in Africa, with about 4,000 under-5s dying every single day. Yet simply washing hands with soap can reduce the risk of diarrhoeal diseases by 42% to 47%.

This issue was once much closer to home. It was John Snow who, in London in 1854, first traced a cholera outbreak to a contaminated water source in Broad street in Soho. This very institution of Parliament was brought to a standstill in 1858 by the “great stink” of inadequate sanitation. In 1862, Florence Nightingale, through her meticulous statistical analysis, showed that high death rates in the British Army in India were actually due to poor water, sanitation and hygiene. Today, globally, we must follow in the great British tradition of investing strongly in water, sanitation and hygiene to deliver the health gains that we need. Clearly, as diarrhoea is today the main killer of children in Africa, we cannot achieve the MDG on child mortality without that, and the evidence shows it will also play a major role in improved nutritional status, as well as reductions in pneumonia, maternal and neonatal infections and preventable blindness. So we will complement and co-ordinate our direct actions on health, and our sizeable new commitments on malaria, reproductive and maternal health, with substantial and closely linked actions on water, sanitation and hygiene.

Thirdly, we will increase our focus on gender and disability. Currently in the developing world, too much time is wasted, day in and day out, collecting water. That time could be spent in other productive, caring or educational activities. Women lose out most, as they are twice as likely to fetch water and they also face indignity, and often the risk of violence, because of a lack of sanitation facilities. Clean toilets in schools can contribute to keeping girls in school, and that alone is a reason to take action. Standard designs for water and sanitation may be inaccessible for people with disabilities, but simple modifications can solve that. They can reduce stigma and the burden of care, and increase dignity and social integration. So we will support innovation and scaling up of what works, to benefit women, girls and people with disabilities.

I have already alluded to the fourth principle: ensuring cost-effectiveness and value for money. Water, sanitation and hygiene are among the most cost-effective health interventions, according to the World Bank and the World Health Organisation. Hygiene promotion comes out as just $5 per disability-adjusted life year, known as DALY, averted—a measure of the impact of the intervention on reducing sickness and death. Sanitation promotion is also within the top 10 interventions, at $10 per DALY. We will work to ensure that whether we are working through multilateral, non-government or Government partners, we further improve the value for money we are achieving with UK taxpayers’ money.

Fifthly, we will directly empower communities and help them to hold their Governments to account. The community-led sanitation programmes which the UK and others have supported, first in Bangladesh and now spreading rapidly in Asia and Africa, have shown the powerful influence of shared action. Once communities start to work together on ensuring latrines and hand-washing for all, not just the few, experience shows that they go on to work together in addressing other problems. Natural community leaders emerge and they gain confidence to do more.

We have also been supporting citizens to hold their own Governments to account. We fund a global network of southern civil society organisations, the Freshwater Action Network, in south Asia and Africa. Local groups, for example, are carrying out citizen audits to investigate whether there are latrines in schools and presenting the findings to their local Governments. Lessons on what works are being shared via the global network. The network is also taking part in regional intergovernmental conferences, bringing the views of poor people who are demanding water and sanitation directly to the decision makers, and we will continue to support and develop such innovative and empowering approaches.

The sixth principle is that we will build further evidence and test innovative approaches. We will keep building evidence regarding both the cost-effectiveness of our interventions and what really works at scale. The British Government are funding the largest research programme in the world on sanitation and hygiene in the developing countries—the SHARE consortium—bringing together leading researchers and practitioners. We are supporting a major trial in Zimbabwe, examining the link between sanitation and nutrition. Not having latrines and not washing hands can cause intestinal infections and long-term malabsorption of nutrients, and so damage the long-term growth and development of children. This research is potentially vital to achieving global targets on nutrition. We will also investigate how we can use the entrepreneurship of the local private sector for providing and maintaining water supplies. The results from these will not just inform our programming but that of other donors too and, most importantly, the investments and policies of developing countries themselves.

Finally, we will work with others in the sector to ensure a collective response to this global crisis. We know it is possible to achieve results at scale: 1.3 billion people have gained access to sanitation since 1990, but particularly in Africa our collective efforts and resources have still not been enough.

The sanitation MDG target is likely to be missed by 1 billion people, and Africa is off-track for both water and sanitation. The UK is already the largest donor to basic water and sanitation systems in low-income countries. These simple systems reach people in rural and peri-urban areas where there are the lowest levels of coverage, and so are targeted well to the poorest people. Globally however, aid to basic systems has declined from 27% to just 16% of aid in the sector over the last five years, and only 42% of the sector’s aid goes to low-income countries. I am pleased that DFID supports an annual report, known as the GLAAS report and produced by UN-Water and the World Health Organisation, giving a global picture of how aid to water and sanitation is allocated. That will help us to hold each other to account, and assist better targeting in the future.

We must be realistic. We alone cannot solve all the problems. We also need others to play their part in focusing aid resources on the people who need them most, and this is not just about aid. Developing country Governments have the leading role to play in ensuring action on water and sanitation, backing it with their own policies, programmes and resources. In this way, donors can support countries to achieve their own targets in the way that they want.

Sometimes, however, there is not the political will or capacity to develop credible investment plans. We will therefore work closely with all our partners in the sector to solve this global crisis together, including through the UK leadership role in the sanitation and water for all initiative, where we are at the forefront of helping to address some of these wider issues. This global partnership of 31 developing countries, six donor countries, nine multilaterals and development banks and countless southern and northern civil society networks has come together with the common goal of ensuring both results on the ground and accountability in respect of them. The sanitation and water for all initiative has already achieved changes that should lead to improved results in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Senegal and other countries.

We will find new ways to work jointly with other donors. Specifically, we are looking for ways to enable fragile states, and those that are most off-track on the targets, to develop the capacity and plans to ensure access to water, sanitation and hygiene. It is imperative that we find ways for these countries to attract and use the finance for achieving results at scale.

The British Government know how important this agenda is, and we have a clear picture of the needs. We are ready to play our role in a global effort, complementing our leading role on health. In the coming weeks, we will finalise our commitments across the board and our policy support to this vital area. I can already confirm, however, that the Government have great ambition in water, sanitation and hygiene, and that that will continue to be an important part of DFID’s business.

Question put and agreed to.

Overseas Voluntary Sector

Alan Duncan Excerpts

Wednesday 24th November 2010 Westminster Hall

[Mr MacNeil]

Again, my remarks have been anticipated. I welcome the right hon. Gentleman’s comments. It is important that money is spent properly and that, if changes are made, there is a managed transition, not a breakneck-speed shift overnight.

VSO has also helped in one of the most important government activities, without which there would no health care, no education and no spending. It has helped the Governments of Bangladesh and Sierra Leone specifically to collect taxes from their people. Perhaps Ministers’ eyes will light up at this point—perhaps not—but that is a sign that people are getting round to trusting their Governments. Perhaps some hon. Members would like VSO to go into the City of London to ensure that every penny of tax is paid. But I digress. VSO’s work in that regard shows that corruption abroad can be tackled, that the high-value components we take for granted in our civic lives can be established and that normal society can start to be built.

VSO specialises in capacity building. It takes nationals from various countries—mainly the United Kingdom—and places them mainly in less fortunate countries. The value of the professionalism of volunteers, if they were to be paid what the market paid them before they joined VSO, would be some £18 million. Hon. Members might want to think about that. Volunteers forgo £18 million in wages annually, presumably based on a 40-hour week, but on top of that they move abroad. However, it is not quite the abroad that we know or as we like to imagine it—it is the other abroad of malaria and dengue fever. I met a volunteer in Phnom Penh who was getting over a rather nasty dose of dengue fever. Of course, volunteers are often abroad in a village with no electricity and, perhaps, no running water—for not just 40 hours a week, but 168 hours a week and 24/7.

Volunteers build capacity in education and health. They build capacity wherever it is needed. They are ordinary men and women and I would argue, perhaps controversially in the current surroundings, that they have a greater sense of service than politicians, although, in fairness, most politicians get into politics to serve society. However, these people seem to get into volunteering to serve humanity.

These examples are just the tip of the iceberg and I am sure—I know—that other organisations do good work as well. However, this is threatened by what could happen to just 1% of the DFID budget. My colleague from Northern Ireland, the hon. Member for Upper Bann (David Simpson), raised the following matter in his intervention. VSO received 51% of its funding last year—less than a third of 1% of DFID’s budget in that period—from DFID. Almost a decade ago, VSO received 90% of its funding from that source, but this year it is projected to fall to 48% and in five years it will be less than 40%.

The problem stems from that rainy afternoon, where I read in point 2 of the FAQs titled, “Proposal and Logical Framework information”:

“Successful applicants cannot receive a PPA which is more than 40% of their annual income, averaged over the previous three years.”

That would be immediate from next April.

I know and hope that the Government’s heart—like that of every hon. and right hon. Member in this Chamber—is in the right place, but do they realise what a sudden swing of the axe could do? It could equate to a reduction of volunteers by 50% and reduce the number of beneficiaries—the 26 million who are affected, reached and touched by VSO programmes—to 12 million. In short, the cuts will not hurt VSO as much as they will hurt those who benefit from the help and aid.

Organisations such as One World Action and Progressio will be pushed to cut where it is administratively quickest and easiest. Cuts will be too quick and too deep; transitional arrangements will be hard to make, if indeed they can be made at all. However, DFID is receiving an increase in funding. It is one of four Whitehall Departments to receive an increase, and one of two Departments, together with the Cabinet Office, to receive a double-digit increase in funding. According to the comprehensive spending review, the Cabinet Office budget has risen by 28% and that of DFID by 37%. On the surface, that seems to bode well for all organisations that use DFID funds. However, an increase in the departmental administration budget seems not to guarantee the safety of funds that go to the overseas voluntary sector.

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

Perhaps it might help to shape the rest of the debate if I were to point out that the partnership programme agreement funding is but one source of possible funding streams for voluntary organisations. If there is, as there will be, a 40% cap on a PPA, that is not necessarily a 40% cap on all the money that could go to a voluntary organisation. Such organisations could, for instance, also apply for in-country funds.

[Mr MacNeil]

I greatly welcome the tone of the Minister’s remarks. They seem to indicate that the door is ajar, and that he is ready to ensure that the transition happens in the managed way that all in the Chamber would hope for and expect. The threat is perhaps not so great given that opening door from the Minister, and we have heard of the value of volunteering from the Prime Minister. I hope that I am wrong, and that this is not an instance where one arm of the Government is not fully aware of what another arm might do. In reality, we have been told that the PPA will give no organisation more than 40% of what they received, although the Minister now indicates differently and I am pleased at that.

What does the Department intend to do with the increase in funds? Under current budgetary plans, DFID’s budget will rise from £7.8 billion to £11.5 billion over the next four to five years.

--- Later in debate ---

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

I thank the hon. Member for Western Isles—[Laughter.] I have copped out—for initiating the debate, which is particularly poignant in the light of the recent death of Linda Norgrove in Afghanistan, who came from the hon. Gentleman’s constituency. We have people like Linda in mind when we approach this debate.

I welcome the opportunity to address the issue of international development and the important contribution that can be made by the voluntary sector. I assure hon. Members that the coalition Government are certainly not reducing the budget for the work of the voluntary sector overseas. Indeed, as will be seen, we have set out our plans for increasing support to the most effective voluntary organisations. Over the years, Britain has established a global reputation for its work on international development, as a result of the work of successive UK Governments and the contributions from civil society, the private sector and UK citizens.

[Mr MacNeil]

rose—

[Mr Duncan]

Is the hon. Gentleman going to give me a pronunciation lesson?

[Mr MacNeil]

I shall not say Na h-Eileanan an Iar again. What the Minister said sounded very welcome on first hearing. Is he guaranteeing that VSO organisations that believe their funding will be cut will not suffer a sudden drop in their funding but will be able to continue on their expected path—that come this April, the axe will not be falling?

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Duncan]

I shall come to that point more specifically in a moment. In short, the answer is that I am not going to guarantee that individual organisations will have all their funding guaranteed in perpetuity. The whole point of what the Department is doing is to establish value for money, but I shall come to those arguments later.

[Mr MacNeil]

Our argument is not for funding in perpetuity, but for managed funding transitions and changes. We do not want a sudden drop in April. We want organisations to be able to manage the changes that are already projected, with spending being limited to below 40% in the next three to four years. I ask the Minister to take that on board, and to ensure that the good work that we heard about from all Members is not threatened in any way. That is a really serious point.

[Mr Duncan]

I fully understand the hon. Gentleman’s argument. I shall deal with it later in more detail, but we believe that there are additional components in any organisation’s potential funding that will allow flexibility and additional funding on top of the core funding. That could—although it is not necessarily guaranteed—sustain the level of funding that they hope for.

The House will be aware that, despite the difficult economic challenges, the coalition Government have publicly stated that we will not balance the books on the backs of the world’s poor. We have protected the aid budget, and made a firm commitment to achieving the aid target of 0.7% of gross national income from 2013. The Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for International Development have shown tremendous courage and leadership at a time when many were calling for reductions in the UK’s aid budget.

Tackling poverty is not only a moral imperative; it is in Britain’s self-interest. Well spent UK aid is one of the best investments we can make. Not only does it enable poor people to improve their lives, but it is good for our economy, our environment, our safety and our future. Quite simply, it is tremendous value for money. Our vision is simple. It is to make life better for the poorest in the poorest countries.

There is clear evidence that aid works. Over the past 25 years, we have seen 500 million fewer people living in poverty despite the rapid growth in the world’s population. In 2007-08, UK Aid trained more than 100,000 teachers, vaccinated 3 million children against measles and supplied just short of 7 million anti-malaria bed nets. However, we should not underestimate the scale of the challenges that we face. Some 25,000 children die every day from easily preventable and treatable diseases; and 1.4 billion people still live on less than $1.25 a day, more than two thirds of them being women and girls. Those factors, as well as new challenges such as climate change, mean that we need to maintain and strengthen our efforts.

I recognise the valuable contribution made by international voluntary organisations, many of which are effective in tackling poverty and promoting growth. They deliver services to improve the lives of poor and marginalised people, often in places that official donors do not reach. They enable citizens to be more effective participants in decisions that affect their lives. They hold Governments and others to account, and they assist public engagement in development. It is for those reasons that the UK places importance on building and maintaining the capacity and space for an active civil society; it is part of our overall approach to international development.

Members will be aware that an important part of the UK voluntary sector’s work overseas includes the special contribution of international volunteering organisations. Such organisations make a valuable contribution by offering UK citizens and others a unique opportunity to make a practical difference to poor people’s lives in developing countries by sharing their skills, their knowledge and their commitment. I pay special tribute to former volunteers who have returned to the UK from their overseas assignments and are putting their knowledge, skills and learning to good use in their local communities. Some, it seems, are in the Chamber doing just that.

The House will be aware that in October the Prime Minister announced a new scheme to support international volunteering. The international citizen service will give thousands of young adults in the UK the opportunity to join the fight against poverty by volunteering in developing countries. Volunteering is a powerful way to experience other cultures, and it allows the returned volunteers to broaden the UK’s public understanding of global poverty.

The Department for International Development funds voluntary organisations in many ways. More than 50% of the support provided by DFID to civil society organisations is made through DFID’s country offices. The remainder is provided from central funds. I shall come to these shortly. In 2009-10, DFID provided £362 million to UK civil society organisations to assist in poverty reduction overseas. That was equivalent to roughly 9% of UK bilateral assistance. Additionally, DFID provides support to many local voluntary organisations in those countries where the UK has a presence. The UK also supports voluntary organisations indirectly, through contributions to the United Nations, the European Commission and other multilateral organisations.

Through those investments, we have been able to achieve significant results. With DFID support, Care UK is working with the private sector in India to provide affordable micro-insurance to 210,000 families in disaster-affected communities; the Gender Links programme in Malawi has contributed to an increase in women’s representation in its Parliament from 14% to 22% in the May 2009 national elections; and WaterAid is helping 1 million people gain access to clean water and sanitation in Asia and Africa. These are significant results, and the UK can and should take pride in them.

The coalition Government are strongly committed to supporting effective civil society organisations. The House will be aware that DFID is providing support to civil society organisations over the next three years through its PPAs, or programme partnership arrangements.

[Mr MacNeil]

Will the Minister give way?

[Mr Duncan]

I am just coming to the nitty-gritty, but I shall allow the hon. Gentleman one more stab before getting stuck into the detail.

[Mr MacNeil]

Aid works—as the Minister said, fewer are in poverty, and he gave a list of impressive statistics. However, I have to say that I am not as heartened as I was when he intervened on me. Will he work to ensure that there is a manageable and careful transition—the £26 million being reduced to £12 million—without damaging any of the good work?

I say this with open hands: I do not want the Minister to find himself painted into a corner. I am sure he is not trying to do that. I ask for the flexibility of approach that will enable this good work to remain intact. That is really important. I know he might not feel able to give a full commitment this morning, but he might want to give himself wriggle room to make the transition manageable. It is most important, but it is above politics.

[Mr Duncan]

There is plenty of scope in the way the system works to give the hon. Gentleman a solid degree of reassurance and the comfort he seeks. I shall explain the components of the system; it might lead him to feel he has had that reassurance.

I start with the programme partnership arrangements, the crux of our funding debate. They provide flexible funding. That is the key. A flexible contract emerges from the PPAs for those partners that get a three-year funding deal. The PPAs provide funding for some of the best-performing organisations, and they are highly competitive. We also want to ensure that voluntary organisations do not become dependent on DFID funds. That is a key part of the argument. That is why, in the next round of PPA funding that begins in 2011, DFID will provide funding to a maximum of 40% of an organisation’s annual income. That is what we have been discussing this morning.

Our commitment to supporting voluntary organisations extends far beyond the PPAs. In October, the Government launched a new £40 million a year global poverty action fund, and projects will be selected on the basis of demonstrable impact on poverty, the clarity of their outcomes and the value for money they offer.

Let me respond to some of the contributions made this morning, which will add further detail to our discussion. We have covered—if not wholly to the satisfaction of the Member for Western Isles—the shortfall point.

My hon. Friend the Member for North Thanet asked if the 40% threshold should apply to an organisation’s global income. We have to look at the audited accounts of any such organisation. Looking at global income compared with UK-only income, we see that UK-only income is the major component of British voluntary organisations’ income. For instance, for VSO in the year 2009-10, the UK-only income was about £50 million and the global income was about £60 million. So, yes, my hon. Friend’s suggestion would make a difference, but the difference between global income and UK-only income is not so huge that it is—let us say—a multiple of the amount of money that would otherwise emerge from a PPA.

My hon. Friend also asked if his charity, or the likes of it, could be represented on the Disasters Emergency Committee. DEC is not in the gift of DFID. It is a voluntary alliance of the UK’s biggest charities and is designed to co-ordinate urgent action in response to any large-scale disaster. So, membership of DEC is more about scale and urgent response than anything else.

My hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon) asked whether we could support overseas apprenticeships. That is why we are supporting the new international citizen service, so there is scope for a very positive outcome regarding the objectives set by my hon. Friend.

My hon. Friend the Member for Southend West (Mr Amess) asked how we can support volunteer organisations. Let me outline again the components of our support. We offer support through PPAs; through in-country funds, which have significant scope for supplementing anything that emerges out of the capped 40% of a PPA; through challenge funds, which can do the same, and now we also have both the global poverty action fund and the international citizen service. So there are many routes through which the total picture of a volunteering organisation’s funding can be pieced together.

[Mr MacNeil]

rose—

[Mr Duncan]

I will give way one more time in a moment.

The key for the coalition, at a time when we are under enhanced scrutiny of the way we spend our development money, as my hon. Friend the Member for North Thanet rightly said, is that we must look for quality and value for money in everything we do. We also need to enhance the process by which we do that—hence, the various components I have just outlined—and not just offer a lump sum of funding through a PPA.

[Mr MacNeil]

One point I want to draw to his attention is that I fear that organisations that are holding PPA money are unable to apply for or access other pots of money from DFID. I am not certain whether the Minister is saying today that they will now be able to do that, or that other organisations might come in. However, the difficulty is that we have this transition phase; the organisations are planning for that change anyway, but it is just the speed of the change that is a concern. It is in April—or two or three years from next April—that the change is due, and I ask him to allow some latitude to ensure that it is a managed and not a brutal change.

[Mr Duncan]

I would wholly agree with the hon. Gentleman if there were to be a sudden cut with no alternative funding stream or transitional source, but that is not the picture. Yes, there will be a cap of 40% on the underlying three-year agreement, but I have just outlined three, four, even five different channels that an organisation, if it can show value for money, can readily use to supplement what he describes as a “shortfall”.

For example, if we take an organisation that might have, through its PPA, 50% of its annual income paid for by DFID, and that figure goes down to 40%, it is not beyond possibility that that 10% difference can once again be made up from the alternative funding sources I have outlined.

[Mark Lazarowicz]

rose—

[Mr Duncan]

I will say something else, if I may, and then see whether the hon. Gentleman still wants to intervene. He himself asked whether other funding schemes have a 40% cap. The 40% figure applies only to PPAs because a PPA provides far more flexible funding than project-based funding does, and that is why the regime is designed to be different.

[Mark Lazarowicz]

I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. Can we have some clarity, either in today’s debate or afterwards, regarding the ability of organisations that qualify for PPA funding to get other types of support as well? I have been briefed that one of the schemes that VSO might otherwise have been able to gain support for from the global poverty action fund will not be able to gain such support because VSO holds a PPA with the Department. Is the Minister saying that in fact, organisations can have a PPA and also receive funding from some of the other sources he has outlined?

[Mr Duncan]

I cannot say whether that is true in all cases; I do not want to mislead the hon. Gentleman by saying for certain that it is true in all cases. However, in many if not most cases, I believe it to be true. I undertake to write to him with a clear explanation of how the system works in detail, which is one of the advantages of having a debate such as this in Westminster Hall.

[Robert Halfon]

Will my right hon. Friend the Minister give way?

[Mr Duncan]

I will give way for the final time, because I only have two or three minutes left.

[Robert Halfon]

I thank my right hon. Friend for giving way and for his remarks on the international citizen service. However, will he give real incentives to companies, particularly multinational companies, to ensure that the service offers real apprenticeships for people to work overseas in the countries we have discussed?

[Mr Duncan]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that point, because one of the important thrusts of DFID under the coalition Government is that we want far greater engagement from the private sector, both in the delivery of development and in the likes of the apprenticeship scheme he is describing. So, the answer is yes—that is exactly the direction in which we want to go. That is why my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development is setting up a specific, bespoke private sector section within DFID, to ensure that the private sector can be a real engine for development in the years ahead.

In today’s difficult fiscal landscape, the increased funding that DFID is making available imposes a double duty to ensure that every pound of taxpayers’ money is well spent and can demonstrate real value for money. We cannot maintain support for a growing aid budget unless we can offer the British public independently verified evidence that funds are being well spent and achieving practical results. That is why the coalition Government have established the independent commission on aid impact, and why we are seeking value for money in every review we conduct and decision we make.

Earlier this year, the Secretary of State announced that DFID was undertaking comprehensive reviews of the UK’s bilateral aid, multilateral assistance and humanitarian and emergency support. Those reviews aim to ensure that UK aid focuses on the areas where we can have most impact and deliver maximum results and maximum value for money. We are also working to ensure maximum value for money from our support to voluntary organisations. That will mean higher levels of competition.

Many British organisations are doing a brilliant job in tackling poverty. We will continue to support those excellent organisations, and through greater competition we will ensure that every pound of taxpayers’ money is well spent and produces top quality results.

[Mr Peter Bone (in the Chair)]

Order. Thank you for that splendid debate. As the hon. Gentleman who has secured the next debate is here in advance, and as I believe that the Minister is doing a “double-act” this morning—

[Mr Duncan]

I certainly am.

[Mr Peter Bone (in the Chair)]

Therefore, we will move on to the next debate.