Oral Answers to Questions

Catherine McKinnell Excerpts

Monday 9th September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Markus Campbell-Savours (Penrith and Solway) (Lab)]

17. What steps she is taking to recruit more teachers.

[The Minister for School Standards (Catherine McKinnell)]

As a first step in our mission to break down barriers to opportunity, we will recruit 6,500 additional teachers. We have kickstarted the recruitment campaigns, and made a 5.5% pay award, resetting the relationship with the education workforce. We will re-establish teaching as an attractive expert profession after years of damage under the previous Government.

[Douglas McAllister]

This Government have promised change in education, and made a commitment to raising school standards and increasing teacher numbers after 14 years of Tory neglect. The Scottish National party’s 17 years in power have led to falling standards, under-resourced schools and a growing attainment gap between the richest and the rest. Does the Minister agree that it is time for change, given the Scottish National party’s dismal record on education in Scotland?

[Catherine McKinnell]

Breaking down barriers to opportunity is a key mission for this Government and the Scottish Labour party. The SNP has seen attainment gaps widen and child poverty soar, but we will transform our education system so that all young people get the opportunities that they deserve, by driving high and rising standards across our education system. That is the change that this Labour Government will deliver.

[Markus Campbell-Savours]

Many teachers in my constituency welcome the drive to recruit more teachers, but they also want the Government to recognise the pressures on those already in the profession. What steps will the Department take to improve teacher retention in constituencies such as Penrith and Solway?

[Catherine McKinnell]

I want teachers to not only remain in the profession, but to thrive in it. That is why we are listening and acting on feedback. The Department, alongside school leaders, has developed a workload reduction toolkit and the education staff wellbeing charter. We will deliver a range of measures to make teaching a better valued and respected profession.

[Ellie Chowns (North Herefordshire) (Green)]

I recently visited Herefordshire, Ludlow and North Shropshire college, which provides excellent further education opportunities for students in my constituency. However, there is not parity of funding for teachers in the FE sector and those in the schools sector, meaning that post-16 education is now better funded for those pursuing academic courses than for those pursuing vocational courses. Will the Secretary of State roll out the 5.5% pay rise to teachers in the FE sector also, so that there is no increase in inequality between academic and vocational opportunities?

[Catherine McKinnell]

We accepted the School Teachers Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools in England from September. It is a substantial award that recognises the hard work of those in our teaching profession. We recognise the challenges in the FE sector also and the issues that the hon. Lady outlines. We will continue to keep the matter under review, because we want to ensure that every child has the best opportunities, whether that is in our school system or in our FE sector.

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

The new Government’s focus on the serious recruitment and retention crisis is welcome. However, as we have heard, the recent pay announcement overlooked teachers who work in colleges, who already face a pay gap of more than £9,000. We have twice the proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds in our colleges as in school sixth forms, so the recruitment issue is even more pressing in our colleges. Why is it that teachers of 16-year-olds in schools deserve a pay rise, but teachers of 16-year-olds in colleges do not?

[Catherine McKinnell]

We recognise the challenges that the hon. Lady sets out. We are facing an incredibly challenging fiscal position. From the previous Government, we inherited a £22 billion black hole to make up. This is about the opportunities of young people in this country, and we take the issues that she outlines incredibly seriously. We will continue to do what we can within the fiscal envelope that we have, and within the system that we have inherited. That is why we honoured the recommendations of the STRB review, and we will continue to do what we can in FE.

[Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood) (Lab)]

14. What steps she is taking to help improve educational outcomes for (a) children in social care and (b) other care-experienced young people.

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[Ian Lavery (Blyth and Ashington) (Lab)]

T2. As the new school year begins, far too many students in my constituency have not yet been able to secure a school place of their choice. Does my hon. Friend agree that the schools allocation policy needs a desperate overhaul? Many people believe that it is not fit for purpose. Could she tell the House what steps the Government are taking to address this extremely important issue?

[The Minister for School Standards (Catherine McKinnell)]

We recognise the challenges that my hon. Friend raises, which is why the Government will introduce changes, so that state-funded schools can be asked to co-operate with local authorities on admissions and place planning. Local authorities have a responsibility to allocate all applicants a school place on national offer day. If children in his area are still without places, I would be happy to meet him, and to support him in resolving those issues.

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[Charlie Dewhirst (Bridlington and The Wolds) (Con)]

T3. As was alluded to by my right hon. Friend the Member for Beverley and Holderness (Graham Stuart), children with special educational needs and disabilities in some urban local authorities receive three times more funding than they do in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Will the Secretary of State or her Minister meet me and East Riding colleagues, so that we can secure a fairer future for our local children?

[Catherine McKinnell]

The Secretary of State has set out extensive responses to extensive questions on the inherited challenges in the SEND system. We recognise the issues that the hon. Gentleman raised, and will be happy to meet him and his colleagues around his local authority area to discuss this further.

[Julia Buckley (Shrewsbury) (Lab)]

T6. Will the Secretary of State join me in congratulating the Shrewsbury Colleges Group in my constituency on yet another excellent round of results this summer, with A-level pass rates at over 98% and 210 vocational students achieving a triple distinction? It is a superb institution in our rural area, working to drive up engagement and standards for vocational qualifications, which are the bedrock of our industrial strategy and central to the Government’s mission to break down the barriers to opportunity. Will she join me in celebrating its success, and assure it that it has parity of esteem with its academic school counterparts, and will she perhaps book a visit?

[Caroline Voaden (South Devon) (LD)]

T5. Schools in Devon are missing out on £23.5 million a year due to the national funding formula—the equivalent of 450 full-time teachers across the county. Will the Minister meet me to discuss how Devon’s school children are missing out, particularly those living in the most deprived areas?

[Catherine McKinnell]

I recognise the concerns the hon. Lady raises. The Government intend to take time to consider the various funding formulas the Department and local authorities currently use to allocate funding for schools. It is really important that we have a fair education funding system that directs funding to where it is needed, and I would be happy to meet her to discuss the particular challenges in her area.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

T7. The Steiner school in my constituency, with its nurturing and therapeutic pedagogy, is most challenged by the VAT policy, yet it enables many children who have anxiety or who would otherwise not be in education to access school. Will the Secretary of State meet me to discuss my report on the impact of the VAT policy and find ways to keep this school open and the children in education?

[Claire Young (Thornbury and Yate) (LD)]

T9. I draw the attention of the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, as I am still a South Gloucestershire councillor. As last Thursday’s packed debate showed, children with SEND are being let down. Many local authorities are currently locked into safety valve agreements with the Department for Education, which were put into place pre-pandemic and contain unrealistic targets that no longer reflect the situation on the ground. Will the Secretary of State review those agreements, and meet me and local leaders to discuss the situation in South Gloucestershire?

[Catherine McKinnell]

The hon. Lady raises a concern that many have raised. She will have seen the level of concern at the special educational needs inheritance that this Government have taken on. Current safety valve agreements will continue to operate, as they are agreed, but we will look at their use going forward. I would be happy to meet her to discuss the particular challenges in her area.

[Uma Kumaran (Stratford and Bow) (Lab)]

T8. May I take this opportunity to welcome my right hon. Friend to her place, and to welcome students across Stratford and Bow back to school as they start their new term? The Secretary of State understands as well as I do the struggles some parents have in getting their children back to school, especially those with mental health and special educational needs. Will she outline what steps she is taking to ensure that school really is the best place for every child?

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[David Baines (St Helens North) (Lab)]

At the start of the new school year, may I wish all teachers, school staff and children in my constituency the very best for the year ahead?

Does my hon. Friend agree that, as part of the curriculum review, which I warmly welcome and look forward to, we need an education system and curriculum—particularly in primary schools—with much more focus on learning through play, on oracy, and on multisensory movement and the recording of learning? That would benefit not just children with SEND, but all pupils.

[Catherine McKinnell]

The curriculum assessment review, led by experts, will focus on the evidence—what we know from here and abroad about how we can best help children of all ages and abilities to learn, and that includes children with special educational needs. I am sure that those conducting the review will want to investigate different approaches to the primary curriculum, including those mentioned by my hon. Friend, but I would not want to pre-empt the review’s conclusions and recommendations.

Education and Opportunity

Catherine McKinnell Excerpts

Wednesday 24th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Catherine McKinnell)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I warmly welcome you to your place in the Chair, and I warmly welcome the hon. Member for South West Hertfordshire (Mr Mohindra) to his place. I also welcome the shadow Secretary of State, whom I previously shadowed.

I thank hon. Members who have made contributions to this afternoon’s debate, and pay tribute to those who have made their maiden speeches today. They do themselves and their communities proud. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Tony Vaughan), the first Member of Filipino heritage to stand in this Chamber; my hon. Friend the Member for North West Cambridgeshire (Sam Carling), the youngest Member of the House, who spoke about his education, which was fairly recent; my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Selly Oak (Al Carns), who has rightly been recognised in this place for his experience; and my hon. Friend the Member for Rugby (John Slinger), who is forgiven for all his rugby analogies after making an excellent speech.

In this House, we come together with a common goal: to give every child the best start in life and equip them with an education that sets them up for their lives. We are the Department for opportunity at the Department for Education. We are bringing education back to the centre of national life again, and we will work tirelessly to spread opportunity across our country, so that every child can thrive in a school with high and rising standards, and with a broad and rich curriculum that they can enjoy. Like every parent, I want that for my children, and I am so pleased that we have a Labour Government who are ready to deliver it.

I know what a brilliant school and education can mean. Unlike my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton Itchen (Darren Paffey), who made an excellent maiden speech today, I am not one of three Darrens, but I am a Sacred Heart girl, and I am not the only one in this Parliament. The parliamentary Labour party boasts three alumni of my old school, Sacred Heart Catholic high school in Newcastle; my hon. Friends the Members for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend (Mary Glindon) and for Cramlington and Killingworth (Emma Foody) went there, too. My hon. Friend the Member for Derby North (Catherine Atkinson), who made an outstanding maiden speech today, also attended a Sacred Heart school. It means that there are now as many state-educated Sacred Heart girls in the House of Commons as there are old Etonian boys—a tangible demonstration of the radical redistribution of opportunities that this Labour Government represent.

My hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Johanna Baxter) gave an account of her school trip to Parliament, which reminded me of my own trip at the age of 17, when I got in trouble for sitting down on these Benches. Clearly, such trips work to break down barriers to opportunity.

The journey starts in a child’s early years, when their development and education begin. Under successive Conservative Governments, however, the attainment gap has widened. It is now some years since I served on the Treasury Committee, but I still recall our inquiry into childcare as a part of national infrastructure. It was ground-breaking at the time and acknowledged that childcare is a fundamental service to our economy; it is not a “nice to have”. It is fundamental to allowing parents to work longer hours to provide for their families, and it is fundamental to people’s life chances. That is why this Government will deliver 3,000 more primary school-based nurseries, making them widely accessible to parents and unlocking opportunity for our youngest. In answer to the shadow Secretary of State’s question earlier, that will be delivered in partnership with the sector to ensure that it meets the needs of children and parents.

We know that childcare needs do not end when school starts. When a child moves up to primary school, in England, they will benefit from the roll-out of free breakfast clubs in every primary school in England. This will drive up attainment, improve behaviour and attendance, and enable parents to start work on time and support their families. It will set children up for the day and set them up to achieve, because it is as much about the club as it is about the breakfast. Being in the classroom at the start of the day matters.

Schools have a unique power to open up enormous opportunities for their pupils, with teachers and support staff who make a mark on every child’s life. That includes supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities to flourish, but across that system we have to acknowledge the many challenges that we face. Our buildings are substandard, our children are too often unhappy in school and our support staff feel underappreciated. We have to do better.

So many Members today have touched on the crisis in support for those with special educational needs and disabilities, including my hon. Friend the Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes), who I know has worked tirelessly on this issue for many years, and my hon. Friend the Member for Dartford (Jim Dickson), who also spoke passionately today. This Government will help schools to take a community-wide approach to SEND, improving their capability to accommodate pupils in mainstream settings and supporting them to flourish.

Last week, I visited the brilliant Croftway academy in Northumberland. It demonstrates how children of different abilities and needs can have the highest standard of education in a mainstream setting, but we also need to ensure that special schools can cater for those with the most complex needs. For those struggling with the pressures of school life, this Labour Government will fund mental health support in every secondary school and in every community so that they can access support before problems escalate. I know that mental health is a priority for many in this place, as was powerfully described by my hon. Friend the Member for Aylesbury (Laura Kyrke-Smith) in her speech.

As shadow Schools Minister, I heard many stories of decisions being taken about our schools that just did not factor in the needs of communities. There was delay that turned to disappointment and frustration. I have seen this in my own constituency with a lack of proper planning causing chaos to school admissions in Gosforth this year, and countless stories of failure are replicated across the country. So under Labour, schools will need to co-operate with their local authority on school admissions, on SEND inclusion and on place planning. No more of the chaos that we have seen over the last few years.

We want children to leave school with the skills and knowledge to set them up for life. That means a broad and balanced curriculum that encourages them to try new things, ask questions, express themselves and be creative while also gaining an excellent foundation in reading, writing and maths. So we are establishing an expert-led review on the curriculum and will collaborate with the sector to allow schools, teachers, parents and students to contribute and to plan ahead.

On the question of removing exemptions for private schools, which has been raised, this change will enable vital investment in more teachers and improved nursery provision. I commend the contribution from my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Chris Vince), a former maths teacher. While we are delighted that he is in his place, we need to ensure that we have more maths teachers in our state schools. My hon. Friend the Member for Monmouthshire (Catherine Fookes) spoke about being a school governor, and we need more of those too. My hon. Friend the Member for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr (Steve Witherden) gave a powerful testimony to his dear late mother. We share his grief and we share her pride.

Ultimately, education is about preparing children and young people for life and giving them the skills they need to get on, but these opportunities do not end at the school gates. For too long, post-16 education has been poorly matched to the ambitions of young people and the needs of businesses and employers, allowing talent to go untapped and the economy to flag. That is why, earlier this week, we announced Skills England, a transformative new body to match post-16 education to the needs of the economy. By deploying skills investment strategically, we will bring employment opportunities to the parts of the country where young people need a break and businesses need their skilled labour.

My hon. Friend the Member for Derby South (Baggy Shanker) spoke powerfully about his apprenticeship and his passion for ensuring those opportunities for others. My hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes Central (Emily Darlington) spoke about the need to not have to leave the place you love to get on in life. My hon. Friend the Member for Gravesham (Dr Sullivan) wants to see a curriculum for life. My hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Selly Oak has rightly been recognised, as I mentioned earlier.

All of this work will require a partnership approach. None of the challenges we face can be addressed by one person or one body alone. That is why we are resetting the relationship between Government and the sector. We are listening to professionals. We are learning from best practice. We are working to improve standards across the board. It is also why I want to take this opportunity today to pay tribute to all those who work in our schools, to thank them and to wish them a restful and restorative summer break.

Under this Labour Government, neither a person’s place of birth nor the income of their parents will determine what they can achieve, how they find fulfilment, how they discover their skills and talents, or how they grow in confidence, because breaking down the barriers to opportunity is Labour’s guiding focus. It is the job of this Government, and it is one that we are committed to delivering.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered education and opportunity.

Oral Answers to Questions

Catherine McKinnell Excerpts

Wednesday 14th September 2016 Commons Chamber

[James Wharton]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. He is absolutely right. He may have seen the words of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State in the Daily Mail only today setting out her vision for the future direction of the Department’s spending. We need rigorous accountability. We need proper business cases. We need a clear sense of what we want to achieve. That is exactly what this ministerial team will bring and what this Government will deliver.

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

9. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is on track to save 22 million lives by the end of 2016. Can the Secretary of State confirm whether the UK will pledge the £1.2 billion called for at the Replenishment conference? How will she ensure that Britain’s contribution will retain its value in light of the pound’s post-Brexit fall against the dollar?

[James Wharton]

The UK has been a key contributor to the global health fund, which has made a real difference. I met only yesterday the chairs of the all-party groups on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria to discuss the contribution the UK intends to make. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will be making an announcement in Montreal in the coming days to set out just what the UK will be doing.

Foreign Aid Expenditure

Catherine McKinnell Excerpts

Monday 13th June 2016 Westminster Hall

[Steve Double]

I wholeheartedly agree with the right hon. Gentleman, and I will come on to make that point very soon.

We know that in 2013, we were the only United Nations country to achieve our target on aid spending. We know that our 0.7% spending commitment is enshrined in law. Furthermore, let us not forget that our commitment to overseas aid was a clear part of the 2015 manifesto on which a majority Conservative Government was elected. There are people who feel strongly about this issue and feel that we should not be spending this amount of money on international aid. People are perfectly entitled to hold those views, and that is the beauty and very purpose of the Petitions Committee—it gives the opportunity to debate in the House issues that the public raise.

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

I know that there are concerns about this issue—in particular when we see cuts to local services in our local areas, such as to social care—but does the hon. Gentleman agree that the choice between spending on foreign aid and investing in our communities at home is false? We have a duty to do both.

[Steve Double]

I wholeheartedly agree with the hon. Lady. It is not either/or; it is about doing both.

HIV: Women and Girls

Catherine McKinnell Excerpts

Tuesday 12th April 2016 Westminster Hall

[The Minister of State, Department for International Development (Mr Desmond Swayne)]

It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott), who spoke with infectious enthusiasm about her experiences in Uganda, the programmes she saw there and the genuine commitment to community empowerment.

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Finchley and Golders Green (Mike Freer) for focusing his forensic intellect and our attention on this vital life-and-death question, on the eve of the replenishment of the Global Fund, with the UN’s high-level meeting on ending AIDS and this year’s AIDS conference coming shortly thereafter. This is a year in which we must make a change in the trajectory of this disease with respect to women and girls.

I clearly have to reassure my hon. Friend. I do not believe that this is the best forum in which to take him through the Department’s website, but I am confident that we can arrange a time to do so, perhaps when there is a screen in front of us. On the goal that he found absent, the high-level departmental goals will not specify every disease upon which we want to make an impact. I put it to Members this way: we put our money where our mouth is—follow the money. We are the second largest donor in the world in response to the AIDS epidemic.

In 2014-15, we spent some £374 million on our response to AIDS. In the current cycle, we have committed £1 billion, subject to the 10% burden share, to the Global Fund. We support UNAIDS, UNITAID, the Clinton Health Access Initiative and the Robert Carr network for outreach to civil society. All those things are vital, and they have had an impact. The response to the AIDS epidemic has seen in the past five years 15 million adults being treated for the disease, 1 million babies of infected mothers being able to avoid infection themselves and a two-thirds reduction in the number of new infections—and yet, as my hon. Friend pointed out, in sub-Saharan Africa 50% of the people who are infected do not know it, and among young women, only 15% know they are infected. Clearly, this has to be our main effort if there is any prospect of us getting to zero: to zero new infections, zero—

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

rose—

[Mr Swayne]

I am sorry. The hon. Lady has rather thrown me—I give way to her, if she must.

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[Catherine McKinnell]

I apologise for interrupting the Minister’s flow, because he is making a very important speech. I have listened carefully to the debate, which I commend the hon. Member for Finchley and Golders Green (Mike Freer) for securing. I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott), the shadow Secretary of State, that because of what the Minister is saying, the Government should be very clear that that is their aim. I still do not understand why they have not explicitly stated it in their information. I hope he is coming to that point.

[Mr Swayne]

I hope that I will be given the chance to get there, and that my statement today will be regarded as something of an explicit statement in lieu of what Members have not been able to find on the website, but that is a question we might come back to.

As I was saying, this has to be our main effort if we are going to have any prospect of getting to zero: to zero new cases, zero deaths and, as the hon. Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington and my hon. Friend the Member for Maidstone and The Weald (Mrs Grant) pointed out so importantly, to zero stigma and discrimination—a vital part of the equation.

How are we going to achieve that? I believe that the proper principle is to deploy our resources where the need is greatest, where the burden is greatest and where the resources are fewest. I have to reassure my hon. Friend the Member for Finchley and Golders Green in respect of his perfectly proper concern about middle-income status countries. The reality is that the Global Fund deploys half its resources in middle-income countries and specifically has programmes to deal with neglected, vulnerable populations in high middle-income countries. We have given £9 million to the Robert Carr fund specifically to address some of those issues.

I put it to hon. Members that as countries develop and become wealthier—I accept entirely that, as the hon. Member for Glasgow North (Patrick Grady) pointed out, there is a question of what defines a middle-income country, and there is a wide spread—there has to be an expectation and a challenge to them to start deploying more of their resources to deal with the problems of healthcare and AIDS in particular. It is very much part of the Addis agenda that countries deploy their own resources, and part of the challenge to us and to the Global Fund is to hold them to account for doing so.

My hon. Friend the Member for Finchley and Golders Green was right to challenge me on the issue of research and development. I do have concerns, but we are the leading investor in product development partnerships, which delink the market incentives for research and development and replace them with the prioritisation of public health objectives. Some 11 new products are now on the market in low-income countries as a consequence of the partnerships that we have developed. In addition, we have invested. We are the fifth largest funder of UNITAID and have put €60 million into its programme for developing diagnostics and treatments. Indeed, there is also its groundbreaking development in the treatment of paediatrics, with some 750,000 treatment regimes for children.

Gender Equality in Overseas Parliaments

Catherine McKinnell Excerpts

Wednesday 25th June 2014 Westminster Hall

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

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Bone.

Sitting suspended for a Division in the House.

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[Mr Peter Bone (in the Chair)]

The current debate may continue until 4.45 pm and the final debate may continue until 5.15 pm.

[Catherine McKinnell]

I am delighted to have secured this debate on the link between gender equality in Parliaments and political corruption, not least because I have been trying to secure it for some time now, in my capacity as the co-chair and co-founder of the all-party group on corruption. As the Minister will be well aware, female politicians can be very persistent and do not tend to let an issue go without achieving some sort of resolution. As a result, I am pleased that we finally have an opportunity, albeit a brief one, to discuss the issue today.

Before I turn to the specific subject of the debate, I want to remind us of the position in which women around the world continue to find themselves in relation to influence and power. An excellent paper published by the international development charity VSO—Voluntary Service Overseas—highlights that women are estimated to account for almost two thirds of the people globally who live in extreme poverty. Women perform two thirds of the world’s work and produce 50% of the food, but earn only 10% of the income and own only 1% of the property.

At the same time, around the world, including here in the UK, women are not participating in public and political life on equal terms and in equal measure to men. As the VSO paper goes on to highlight, all the evidence suggests that we are still very far from solving the problem. Only one in five parliamentarians worldwide is a woman—the figure is 22% for the House of Commons and 23% for the House of Lords. Women hold only 17% of ministerial positions around the world and just three of the 22 full Cabinet positions in the UK. At the highest level, women account for only 13 of 193 Heads of Government, although of course the UK has had a very highly respected female Head of State for the past 62 years.

In local government, women make up only 20% of elected councillors and hold mayoral positions in only 10 of the world’s capital cities; only 32% of councillors in England are women and London is yet to have a female elected Mayor. On the basis of those current trends in representation, women will not be equally represented in Parliaments until 2065—in more than 50 years’ time—and will not make up half the world’s leaders until the quite staggering date of 2134, an achievement not a single person alive on this planet will get to see.

In its paper, “Women in Power: Beyond Access to Influence in a post-2015 World”, VSO makes an incredibly persuasive—indeed, inarguable—case for putting women’s rights at the heart of the international development agenda as the United Nations considers a new international development framework for after the millennium development goals expire in 2015. As VSO argues, a new post-2015 goal of empowering women and girls to achieve gender equality needs to take account of the obstacles to that and how and why they are being perpetuated, as well as evidence of measures that have proved successful in addressing them.

[Sir William Cash (Stone) (Con)]

Am I right in saying that the hon. Lady will be 100% behind my International Development (Gender Equality) Act 2014? She is quoting from and drawing on the same VSO paper as I quoted on Third Reading before my Bill was enacted, and so her explanation has been almost word for word the same as mine—she is not copying me, of course. She is absolutely right. I commend her for taking such a strong line and wish her well.

[Catherine McKinnell]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his support and very much agree with the sentiments he has expressed. He clearly sees the urgent need to take action on the problem rather than simply talking about it.

Indeed, we are not alone: the former US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, once said:

“Data not only measures progress, it inspires it…what gets measured gets done…nobody wants to end up at the bottom of a list of rankings.”

I know that the Prime Minister is co-chairing the high-level panel on the post-2015 development agenda, and developing countries are being asked to identify their priorities for 2015 and beyond. I would be interested to hear the Minister’s thinking on whether gender equality will form one of the post-2015 goals.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing this debate. Through the all-party group on Egypt a short while ago, we met new President Sisi, for whom 33 million people voted. He told us that there had been so much change because of the women of Egypt. In recognition, he has set aside some seats in Parliament for women to be represented. Is that an indication of what the hon. Lady wants to see—not just in Egypt, but throughout the whole middle east?

[Catherine McKinnell]

Indeed. No one in this Chamber thinks that we should not be making greater strides on gender equality and political representation here in the UK and around the world, and I will give some examples. The hon. Gentleman mentioned Egypt, but I will focus on Rwanda where a remarkable transformation has taken place on gender representation.

What does the issue have to do with corruption? The Minister may be aware that earlier this year, to mark international women’s day, the Global Organisation of Parliamentarians Against Corruption published a position paper on gender equality in Parliaments and political corruption. The all-party group on corruption, which I co-chair, is a member of GOPAC, which based its research on a 10-year analysis of trends in the proportion of women elected to national Parliaments, correlated to trends in levels of national corruption.

The research found that an increase in the number of women in Parliament will tend to reduce corruption but, crucially, the GOPAC paper also made it clear that women politicians cannot be expected to tackle this issue on their own. It concluded that increasing the number of female parliamentarians must take place in tandem with steps to increase institutional political transparency, to strengthen parliamentary oversight, and to enforce strong penalties for corruption. In other words, an increase in the number of women in Parliaments will tend to reduce corruption if the country in question has a reasonably robust system to uphold democracy and to enforce anti-corruption laws.

On publication of the paper, the vice-chair of GOPAC’s women in Parliament network, Dr Donya Aziz, commented:

“'The status of women has come a long way since the first International Women’s Day in the early 1900’s, but our participation in the political sphere is still far too low in most countries across the world. Our paper demonstrates that the strongest fight against corruption is one that includes and embraces the female perspective as a critical part of strengthening parliamentary oversight and parliamentary democracy.”

The GOPAC paper illustrated its findings with the fascinating case study of Rwanda, a country that has made significant strides since the appalling genocide of 1994. As the Minister will know, Rwanda is the only country in the world where an outright majority of parliamentarians are female. Indeed, as of 2013, an unbelievable 63.8% of Rwanda’s Members of Parliament are women. The paper explains that that is partly the result of concerted efforts by Rwandans to increase female participation in politics, such as the introduction of a gender quota system, employing seats reserved for women and the establishment of legislated candidate quotas.

Such measures have seen the number of female parliamentarians in Rwanda increase from 17.1% in 1997 to 25.7% in 2002 and 48.8% in 2003 when the gender quota was established. The rate increased again to 56% in 2008 and then to the staggering 63.8% that Rwanda enjoys today. While this rapid change in gender representation has taken place, Rwanda has also strengthened its parliamentary oversight mechanisms. For example, in April 2011, the Rwandan Parliament established a new public accounts committee to examine financial misconduct in public institutions and to report misuse of public funds. Previously, despite evidence of continuous theft of public monies, no parliamentary body had that responsibility.

Subsequently, in 2012, the Rwandan public accounts committee released its examination of state finances, which reported that 9.7 billion Rwandan francs—$16.3 million —was lost in 2009-10 as a result of failings in Government operations. The Rwandan PAC went on to present recommendations for Government reforms and established the requirement for Parliament to act to remedy gaps in the management of public funds.

During the same period, Rwanda consistently improved its score on the corruption perceptions index, which has been published every year since 1995 by Transparency International. Over the past nine years, Rwanda has improved its CPI rating by 23 points, well above the eight-point global average improvement between 2003 and 2013. It scored 53 on the CPI in 2013 and was ranked 49th least corrupt country of the 177 countries surveyed. To put that in context, the UK scored 76 and was ranked 14th least corrupt country.

GOPAC’s paper concluded:

“Although Rwanda’s CPI score leaves room for improvement, it has experienced a significant reduction in corruption, clearly correlated with an increase in female political participation, in the context of improving systems of parliamentary oversight.”

GOPAC draws the link between a fall in levels of public corruption and an increased number of female parliamentarians, combined with improved parliamentary oversight mechanisms, while making it clear that that first step of having more women in Parliament is insufficient to reduce the problem.

[Sir William Cash]

I am deeply interested in what the hon. Lady is saying. The connection with corruption is in many senses new to many of us. A few years ago, I introduced the International Development (Anti-corruption Audit) Bill with the hon. Member for York Central (Hugh Bayley) and one or two other hon. Members. We are learning a great deal from what the hon. Lady is saying, which is very helpful.

[Catherine McKinnell]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his support and for his work on the issue. I look forward to us working together to take the matter forward. I also look forward to the Minister’s response and to hearing what the Government can do to take the issue forward as part of the millennium development goals.

I have asked myself whether it is entirely coincidental that Rwanda happened to see such significant improvements in its oversight of public funds and financial misconduct at exactly the same time as a significant increase in the number of female parliamentarians. The two developments may not be linked, but I contend otherwise. I would be interested to hear the assessment of the Minister and her Department.

Earlier this month, I had the privilege of meeting a delegation of Kenyan women parliamentarians during their week-long visit to the UK and Westminster, which was organised by the CPA. As the Minister knows, Kenya is often held up as another African country leading the way in female representation following its 2010 constitutional reforms, which stipulate that no more than two thirds of any appointed or elected body can be of the same gender.

The delegation was keen to hear more about the work of the all-party group on corruption. We spoke for over an hour about their experiences as female politicians in a very male dominated culture. They highlighted the fact that although there are now six women in Cabinet posts, including in defence and foreign affairs, there is a motion before the Kenyan Senate—their upper house—calling for the number of parliamentary seats for women to be scrapped and citing cost as the reason. Clearly, any progress made on gender equality and therefore on corruption cannot be taken for granted.

I have considered at length the link between increased female representation and reduced levels of corruption, but what about the female experience of corruption, which is often termed “graft”? Everyone knows that corruption is wrong. It keeps poor people poor and allows rich people to capture power and money. It stops development aid from countries such as the UK reaching the right people in the right places at the right time. Perhaps most importantly, it prevents developing countries from being able to develop their own tax base in order ultimately to reduce their dependence on aid.

We know from the statistics that I outlined at the beginning of my speech that the majority of people living in extreme poverty in the world are female and therefore at risk of being kept poor by this pernicious problem. Various research projects have looked at the different ways in which corruption has an impact on women, as opposed to men, in developing countries. Women remain the primary care-givers around the world, so they tend to face more corruption because of their increased interaction with public services, whether they are trying to obtain a school place for their child, support a relative through the health system or obtain legal documents for their family.

Recent reports suggest that the experience of many women facing corruption goes beyond the traditional gender spheres. One study found that the major problems were about starting a business. There have also been suggestions that, as more women access higher education, there is an increasing convergence of sexual harassment and academic corruption. When I visited Kenya earlier this year with CAFOD, I saw and heard about the damaging impact that corruption can have on many women’s lives.

In addition to the top-down approach of ensuring that there are more female elected representatives at decision-making level, a report from October 2012 by the UN Development Programme suggested that those who face corrupt officials most often develop the most efficient techniques for dealing with them. Such a bottom-up approach, in which relatively simple projects brought together groups of women who faced that problem, resulted in a marked success.

Simply by joining together, women empower each other by sharing experiences, comparing success stories and training their peers to deal with corrupt officials. Such projects are vital to enable women to break free from a culture—the norm in many parts of the world—that prevents women and girls from reporting corrupt practices, most notably practices such as sexual extortion, which carry a huge stigma.

I have attempted to cover in a relatively short time a significant and wide-ranging issue that affects many millions of women around the world. I am keen to emphasise the context of the debate. Almost two thirds of people globally who live in extreme poverty are women. Women perform two thirds of the world’s work and produce 50% of the world’s food, but they earn only 10% of the world’s income and own only 1% of the world’s property.

Given such pitiful levels of female representation, is it any wonder that we still find ourselves in a situation where today alone, 800 women will die unnecessarily in childbirth, 29,000 under-fives will die from preventable causes, 67 million children are not in school when they should be and almost 1 billion people will go to bed hungry? The money required to remedy that totally unacceptable situation is entirely available, but all too often corruption means that it is stolen for private gain instead. I strongly believe that empowering more women and girls around the world, from the top down and from the bottom up, will prove to be one of our strongest weapons in tackling this appalling injustice.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lynne Featherstone]

I thank my hon. Friend. The hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North asked that we put women at the heart of international development, and we have lived up to that. I have not attended an occasion or met a Government anywhere in the world without raising that as a primary issue.

The hon. Lady also asked about the post-2015 agenda. The high-level panel report was excellent and, amazingly, it was applauded by people across the spectrum, and from all sides of the political debate, across the world. I assure her that the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State and I are focused on the stand-alone goal for gender in the post-2015 agenda.

I was talking about legislative changes that come from having women in elected positions. In India, for example, greater representation of women in local government, which is an important level of government, resulted in greater budget allocations for women and children’s services. I have always said to women colleagues that we need to get into decision-making positions on budgets, because budgets ultimately make the difference.

If we want to get more women elected, we have to get more women involved and active in political processes. We also need to get more women voting. In the run-up to the 2013 election in Pakistan, it was discovered that 8 million women were missing from the voter roll. Thanks to support from the UK and other donors, the register was updated and millions of women were able to vote for the first time. Women candidates also need support. The UK provides considerable support to elections across the world, and we have supported 11 freer and fairer elections since 2010. That includes helping election organisers to meet the needs of women candidates and voters.

Changes to national constitutions and legislation can also be powerful tools to signal change. The hon. Lady mentioned Kenya, which adopted a new constitution in 2010 that guarantees gender equality and the use of affirmative action. I have met women parliamentarians, and in Kenya I met equally powerful women parliamentarians. I very much hope that Kenya does not change its decision. I am wildly off message in my party on quotas, of which I have always been a great supporter.

[Catherine McKinnell]

I welcome the Minister’s supportive response, but it is somewhat embarrassing for the UK to be pronouncing on these issues when we have a very poor record on female representation. I hope we can seek to make advances both across the world and here in the UK, too.

[Lynne Featherstone]

Winning seats is the issue for my part of the coalition, because if we do not win seats, we cannot get women or men into them. I totally agree, however, and I think we are working in that direction. The hon. Lady’s party, with its all-women shortlists, and my coalition partners with their A list or B list—I am not sure which—have made advances, and the face of Parliament has definitely changed. We would like further changes, but our issues are different from the issues facing the other two parties. We are moving in that direction. I will address corruption in a minute, but having a balanced gender mix is good, whether it is in the boardroom or on the Floor of Parliament. Wherever it is, groupthink is dangerous when making decisions. I might say the same if it was all women.

At the heart of what DFID does is unlocking the potential of girls and women by empowering them to have a voice in decision making, so we support women parliamentarians in many countries. Our work with MPs in Ethiopia helped to improve the gender balance and oversight functions of many Standing Committees. We promised £4.5 million to help to train female politicians in Afghanistan. In Pakistan, the Aawaz—which, as I am sure the hon. Lady knows, means “voice”—programme, funded by DFID, aims to increase women’s representation and voice in political organisations by 20% at local and 10% at national level.

It is interesting that it is a mix of everything, because women’s representation is incredibly important but it is not the only answer. That the pace of advance in all ways and at all levels and at every stratum of our society and the developing world is so slow is one of the most frustrating things. I am the international violence against women champion and I have been to Africa, where one sees appalling levels of violence against women, but there is a continuum across the world. In the UK, two women a week are killed by their partner or ex-partner and one in four women experience domestic violence their lifetime. The other end of the spectrum is rape as a weapon of war and levels of brutality dictated by social norms, because women are suppressed and oppressed and have how they should live their lives dictated to them. They are not given voice, choice or control over their own existence.

We support women’s involvement in all areas of public life by building leadership skills. Girl Hub, our collaboration with the Nike Foundation, for example, uses the power of brands and media to drive change in attitudes towards girls and build their self-esteem.

I turn to corruption, because that was the other thrust of the hon. Lady’s speech. I have always thought that development has three enemies: conflict, corruption and climate change—the three C’s. The hon. Lady is right that corruption robs many of the wealth that lies beneath Africa. The UK Government’s stance on corruption is clear. Corruption corrodes the fabric of society and public institutions. It is often at the root of conflict and instability. It diverts and wastes precious resources. There is clear evidence that poor people—it is always poor people—feel the effects more harshly than the better-off. The uncertainties of bribery stifle business development and inward investment. Corruption is therefore bad for development, bad for poor people and bad for business.

The evidence is less clear when it comes to whether having more women in politics is the answer, because, as shown in the Global Organisation of Parliamentarians Against Corruption report, progress is conditional on other things, such as the rule of law, institutions, the application of law and so on. The correlation is difficult, but it is a work in progress. Sadly, I believe that I have met corrupt politicians of both genders—I would love to think that women were completely innocent. Nevertheless, the more women that help in decision making, the more likely we are to move forward. Findings such as those in the GOPAC report support our approach, which I have described. We work with countries to strengthen their institutions of government and their enforcement of anti-corruption law.

On DFID’s overall approach, we have published specific plans for each country with whom we have a bilateral programme, explaining how we will help to tackle corruption and to insure against the misuse of aid funds, because I have to stand at the Dispatch Box and answer to the British taxpayer for every penny spent. When addressing fraud and corruption, we must be able to follow the money and to defend how it is used. To tackle corruption, we need to address the three conditions that allow it to thrive: opportunities for corruption, incentives for corruption and reduced chances of being caught.

We aim to prevent corruption by strengthening the integrity and accountability of public services, particularly the management of the civil service, of public finances and of public procurement. We aim also to ensure the efficient functioning of oversight mechanisms, such as auditors general and parliamentary public accounts committees. We focus on helping partner countries ensure both an impartial, effective and reliable judiciary and a properly regulated private or corporate sector. Supporting civil society to use transparency and information to demand accountability of Governments is also important and is a key component of the UK Government’s transparency and accountability initiatives.

The UK Government are deeply committed to improving the lives of women and girls around the world, empowering them to have a voice and to participate in politics and decision making. Getting more women involved in politics and elected to Parliaments will be an important part of this work. I thank all hon. Members for their interest in the matter and the hon. Lady for raising such an important issue.

HIV and AIDS

Catherine McKinnell Excerpts

Tuesday 10th December 2013 Westminster Hall

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

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this morning, Mr Dobbin, and to have the opportunity to speak in this important and timely debate. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Airdrie and Shotts (Pamela Nash) on securing the debate and making an incredibly powerful opening speech. It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Stafford (Jeremy Lefroy), who made an equally knowledgeable and powerful speech.

My hon. Friend the Member for Airdrie and Shotts poignantly—and rightly, at this time—highlighted the work done by Nelson Mandela in his lifetime to improve the situation for people with HIV and AIDS. He made the incredibly powerful statement:

“AIDS is no longer just a disease; it is a human rights issue.”

It is timely to think of that today, as it is international human rights day. It is an honour to mark that day with colleagues who feel equally strongly about these issues.

I want to focus on access to medicine and the human rights injustice that too many people still face in that regard. Hon. Members are already aware of the figures, but they are worth repeating: at the end of 2012, 9.7 million people worldwide had access to antiretroviral therapy in low and middle-income countries, compared with just 300,000 10 years earlier. We should recognise that achievement, but should guard against the complacency that the hon. Member for Stafford identified so poignantly.

Antiretroviral drugs have changed the way that HIV is viewed, from being a death sentence to being an illness. That achievement was propelled by a surge in donor funding and by the drastic reduction in the costs of first-line antiretroviral treatments, from $10,000 per patient 10 years ago to around $100 today. My hon. Friend the Member for Airdrie and Shotts referred to the Government’s recent review of their position paper on HIV and AIDS, “Towards Zero Infections”. I want to bring a few issues that remain of concern to the Minister’s attention.

Although remarkable progress has clearly been made in ensuring access to treatment for many, the World Health Organisation estimates that another 16 million people out of a total of 26 million are eligible for HIV treatment but lack access to it. Added to that is the fact that by 2050 it is estimated that over 50 million people will need HIV treatment. The situation is described powerfully in the excellent report by the all-party group on HIV and AIDS, “The Treatment Timebomb”. Millions of people who will need treatment in future will need more expensive medicines, as they will have become resistant to the basic HIV combination therapy; also—and this is welcome—people with HIV are living longer. Second and third-line treatments currently cost at least seven times more, and when the basic treatment stops working, getting access to them is a matter of life or death. That combination—more people needing more complex treatment—needs to be addressed now to avoid a potential crisis later.

The all-party group’s report gives a cogent argument as to how it is possible to make those medicines more accessible. Ten years ago, the basic HIV treatment cost $10,000 per person per year; today, thanks to generic production, the same medicines are available for $87 per person, enabling 3 million people to access treatment across the world. To avoid a treatment crisis, those kinds of price reductions need to happen again with newer HIV medicines. The report therefore urges pharmaceutical companies to co-operate by allowing generic manufacturers to produce HIV medicines cheaply specifically for developing countries, asking them to put their medicines into a patent pool for that purpose. That would also allow researchers to work on making HIV medicines suited to the developing world. Currently many HIV medicines are designed for a developed country market, and issues such as what happens when a patient needs to take HIV medicines in combination with TB medicines have not been considered—I know hon. Members have looked at that matter closely. There are also not many special HIV drugs for children because, thank goodness, not many children in the developed world have developed HIV.

At the request of the international community, the medicines patent pool was created. It negotiates with the patent holders of priority HIV medicines to sub-license their products to generic manufacturers to manufacture and sell them at a lower cost. Since last year we have seen a more encouraging uptake from pharmaceutical companies, from GlaxoSmithKline to Roche and Gilead Sciences, but there is still clearly a long way to go. Will the Minister outline what steps the Government are taking to ensure a much greater take-up by pharmaceutical companies? In the meantime, what alternative strategies are the Government pursuing to ensure that global access to medicines is being fully considered?

Although that issue was touched on in the Government’s review, it is a major challenge facing us. What steps are the Government taking to ensure that intellectual property rights and patent protections do not, as my hon. Friend the Member for Airdrie and Shotts aptly put it, prevent necessary treatments from being accessed by the millions around the world who are currently without the drugs they need and the millions who will need those drugs in the future?

The final issue I want to highlight concerns middle-income countries. “Towards Zero Infections” outlined plans to focus bilateral HIV funding on a narrower range of countries, in line with the Department for International Development’s 2011 bilateral aid review. It concluded that the UK should end bilateral programmes in 16 countries, many of them middle-income countries. That shift is based on the view that aid should be focused on low-income and fragile countries that are not able to eradicate poverty themselves.

The Government have decided to end their bilateral relationships with South Africa and India. But the fact is that three quarters of the world’s poorest people currently live in middle-income countries, as do 58% of people living with HIV; the projection is that that figure will rise to 70% by 2020. Three of the top five countries with the highest HIV burdens globally are middle-income countries, as are eight of the 10 countries with the highest tuberculosis burdens.

Middle-income countries also have far lower rates of antiretroviral coverage for people living with HIV than low-income countries, and much higher rates of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. The concern has been expressed that withdrawing funding to middle-income countries too quickly could undermine the gains that have been made through scaling up access to reach key populations, which so far have prevented a global HIV pandemic. Will the Minister comment on the extent to which a more transitional approach has been considered—one that recognises the need to build countries’ capacities for the longer term?

Médecins Sans Frontières has warned of the consequences for middle-income countries of tiered pricing—the practice of selling drugs to different countries at different rates according to their socio-economic status. That is another reason why the middle-income label must be used with caution: it must not hide the fact that the majority of the poor live in those countries. MSF has voiced strong concerns about the potential consequences of those countries being locked into bad deals. I will highlight one example. Although generic competition brought the price of first-line HIV drugs down by close to 99%, from over $10,000 per person per year a decade ago to $120 today, tiered pricing leaves middle-income countries paying as much as $740 per person per year for the second-line drug combination lopinavir/ritonavir. That is over 60% more than what pharmaceutical company Abbott is charging low-income countries. What are the Government doing to address those concerns and ensure that we do not create a ticking time bomb?

To conclude, I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Airdrie and Shotts again for securing this debate and for the work that both she and the all-party group on HIV and AIDS do. Given events today, it is fitting to reflect once more on the words of Nelson Mandela, who we know experienced at first hand the suffering that HIV and AIDS can bring. He famously said:

“Poverty is not an accident. Like slavery and apartheid, it is man-made and can be removed by the actions of human beings.”

That poverty is a barrier to life-saving medicines for millions of our brothers and sisters. That is our call to action today.

Oral Answers to Questions

Catherine McKinnell Excerpts

Wednesday 17th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

I pay tribute to some Scandinavian countries that have also reached the 0.7%—indeed, they have exceeded it. I regularly raise this issue with other EU development Ministers and with other donor countries.

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

T2. HIV/AIDS is a devastating illness affecting 34 million people worldwide, 69% of whom are in sub-Saharan Africa. This week, the White House published its HIV/AIDS strategy, so when will the Government commit to publishing one for the UK?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Lynne Featherstone)]

We are in the middle of reviewing our HIV position paper. I have just returned from a round table meeting in South Africa that examined this issue. It is an important issue and we are on it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Catherine McKinnell Excerpts

Wednesday 12th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that this is a good example of a British industry that is succeeding. If we look at Honda, Nissan, Toyota or Jaguar Land Rover, we see really good news in our automotive sector. We now need to get behind it and encourage it to have as much of its supply chain onshore as possible. That is beginning to happen in these industries, and I hope for further progress in the months ahead.

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

Q14. This week, Newcastle city council has revealed that rent arrears have increased by more than £550,000 since the bedroom tax was introduced in April. Furthermore, 60% of affected households are falling into arrears. When will the Prime Minister admit that this devastating policy risks costing more than it saves?

[The Prime Minister]

We ended the spare room subsidy because we did not think it was fair to give to people in council houses a subsidy that those in private rented accommodation did not have. There is now a question for the Labour party: if it is to have this welfare cap, will it now tell us whether it will reverse this change? Will you? [Interruption.] The shadow Chancellor is shaking his head. Is that a no? That is right. After all the talk of the last few weeks—the iron discipline we were going to hear about, the welfare cap they were telling us about—they have failed the first test.

Global Hunger

Catherine McKinnell Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd January 2013 Westminster Hall

Mr Duncan: I share my hon. Friend’s enthusiasm for such transparency, and indeed part of the menu of DFID’s activities in many of our bilateral country programmes is to enhance such political accountability and better governance of the people their politicians serve. We want to help countries to extend accountability, which we take for granted in this country, to their own people wherever possible.

Ultimately, our aim is to ensure that poor households, particularly those with young children, do not suffer from the sort of malnutrition that the right hon. Gentleman described. DFID is scaling up its nutrition programmes in more than 10 countries. We recently announced a new three-year £35 million programme in Yemen, for example, to treat and prevent under-nutrition among 1.65 million women and children. I take a particular interest in that country, where it is thought that perhaps a third of all children under five are malnourished.

We also contribute to research and development to improve the nutritional content of staple food crops. In Africa and Asia, with UK support, HarvestPlus is providing seeds and tubers nutritionally enriched with vitamin A, zinc and iron, which should benefit more than 3 million people.

Of course, no country or Government can tackle global hunger alone. Last year, the UK supported the launch of the G8’s new alliance for food security and nutrition, which aims to lift 50 million people in Africa out of poverty through economic growth and agriculture. This year, during our G8 presidency, the Government will attempt to improve and expand the new alliance. We will work to bring in more African countries and deepen its impact; for example, providing a strong focus on empowering women, who make up 40% of the world’s agricultural work force, and on promoting responsible private sector investment in African agriculture.

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

I am grateful to the Minister for giving way; he is being generous. An issue that he has not yet touched on in any detail is the importance of tackling corruption, ensuring that any money, whether tax or aid, is used to deal with economic development and poverty. Can he include a comment about that?

[Mr Duncan]

Certainly. There are two aspects of the overarching label of corruption. First is the risk of our taxpayers’ money being fraudulently diverted, which happens minimally and against which we have the most rigorous safeguards in all our practices in the Department. The second is a broader issue. In many of the countries where we work, there is endemic or pervasive corruption in society and among politicians. We will therefore soon be publishing, as recommended by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact, corruption strategies for each of the countries where we work, primarily directed at the pervasive corruption in the country itself but always with an eye on how our own funds are properly used, I hope, in that country. The hon. Lady is absolutely right, because ultimately those who suffer from corruption are the poorest.

The UK is a partner of the Scaling Up Nutrition movement, which is a coalition of developing countries, donors, international agencies, NGOs and businesses, spearheading efforts to build an effective international response to the problem of under-nutrition. As part of our Olympic legacy, in 2013 the Government will host a follow-up to last year’s hunger event to continue our focus and that of the world on the issue. NGOs play a vital role on the ground delivering key food and nutrition services. They help to build national awareness and consensus on problems that are often complex. The NGOs’ IF campaign will therefore provide welcome momentum.

While working hard to tackle global hunger, the UK will continue to provide humanitarian relief and respond to emergencies as they arise. This year, for instance, we will provide £15 million to support more than 500,000 people in five Sahel countries. Furthermore, the Prime Minister has a role as the co-chair of the UN Secretary-General’s high-level panel on the post-2015 development agenda. The Government will have a role in shaping the future of development and an end to poverty. Finally, again this year, the UK will be the first G8 country to meet the commitment to spend 0.7% of its gross national income on official development assistance, giving us greater capacity to address the challenge of hunger and poverty, among many other such challenges. In conclusion, I assure the House that the Government’s commitment to tackling global hunger for the very poor will continue with renewed purpose in 2013 and beyond.