Humanitarian Emergency Response Review

Debate between Andrew Mitchell and Jonathan Ashworth

Wednesday 15th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to make that point. It is the quality of local leadership on the ground that determines how quickly we can respond. Inevitably, although the UN actors on the ground are extremely good at what they do in normal times, they are sometimes not the right people to respond to disasters. That is why it is essential to get people there who can provide the necessary quality of leadership. For example, it was very interesting that the presence of John Ging, the No. 2 to Valerie Amos, in Libya very shortly after the conflict started led to an immediate response of a much better quality than we had previously seen.

[Jon Ashworth (Leicester South) (Lab)]

Many communities in my constituency—particularly those from Pakistan and Bangladesh, although I could name many others—have a commendable record of contributing to relief when humanitarian disaster strikes. Given that, will the Secretary of State give us some more details of how he expects to involve diaspora communities in emergency relief work and ensure that their expertise is taken advantage of?

[Mr Mitchell]

It depends on the disaster, but the hon. Gentleman is entirely correct to point to the valuable work that diaspora communities do. In the case of the Pakistan floods last year, the Pakistani diaspora, not least in the midlands, made a tremendous contribution not only financially but through a number of different charities to which it gave strong support, not least Islamic Relief. That meant that it played a vital part in the overall British relief effort that was mobilised.