Millennium Development Goals

Chris White Excerpts

Tuesday 10th January 2012 Westminster Hall

[Mr Thomas]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and I hope that the Minister will take advantage of his intervention to bring the House up to date with what the Government are doing to drive progress towards meeting the education millennium development goals.

Some countries have achieved all the millennium development goal targets, and others will have made significant progress by 2015. Clearly, not all countries will achieve all the goals, and some of the poorest—usually but not exclusively those that are, or have been, affected by conflict—are a long way from achieving them. Significant shortfalls remain in the delivery of international commitments to support the achievement of the goals. However, a joint report by the Overseas Development Institute and the Millennium Campaign on progress on the MDGs concluded that although it is not uniform across all countries,

“the rate of progress in reducing poverty and in increasing access to basic health, education, water, and other essential services is unparalleled in many countries’ histories.”

Britain undoubtedly played a significant role in galvanising the progress made towards meeting the MDGs through its ministerial support for, and engagement in, the process that saw the MDGs adopted. It maintained pressure for progress up to and beyond the 2005 G8 summit at Gleneagles, and in the UN General Assembly discussions in 2008 and 2009. That support has continued in more recent years, and I acknowledge the role that the Minister and his colleagues have played while in office.

Britain played a crucial role in keeping European aid directed at achievement of the millennium development goals, with the European development framework clearly targeted at the needs of the poorest.

[Chris White (Warwick and Leamington) (Con)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing this debate. In the spirit of co-operation that he has shown in his work with me on my private Member’s Bill, does he agree that four years is a very short time in international politics, and that it is crucial that the UK starts to lead the debate on the formation of post-2015 goals for global development, and particularly on putting more emphasis on millennium development goal 8?

[Jim Sheridan (in the Chair)]

Order. That is a long intervention. Does the hon. Gentleman have a question?

[Chris White]

Does the hon. Member for Harrow West (Mr Thomas) agree that particular attention should be paid to goal 8, which is specifically about creating better governance so that we maximise the impact of aid spending and ensure that the gains that we make are not undermined by poor planning and corruption?

[Mr Thomas]

I agree with the hon. Gentleman. Governance is crucial, and I believe strongly that it needs to be part of a post-MDGs framework. The key question for this debate is what comes after the millennium development goals, from 2015 onwards. Where do Ministers stand on that agenda? Do they support the UN Secretary-General’s ambition for a new generation of sustainable development goals, and if they do, what action are they taking to make such an agenda happen?

The Minister will be cautious, understandably, about saying today what should be included among a new set of international goals, but Ministers could help to galvanise the process of agreeing an accord by supporting and encouraging international debate on what a post-MDGs agenda might look like. To date, we have heard remarkably little from the Secretary of State on this issue. Has a policy team of civil servants been set up within the Department to corral ideas, and to engage with those in civil society, the UN and other national Governments, particularly in Europe, to drive the UK’s involvement in the preparation of such an agenda?

Elsewhere in the UK, among the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development, the Overseas Development Institute, the Institute for Development Studies, Christian Aid, and the Beyond 2015 coalition of non-governmental organisations, there has been real interest in the question. Indeed, the Beyond 2015 coalition has published an interesting and thoughtful set of essential must-haves for a new global development framework, focusing on how a process might work and stressing the importance of the MDGs review summit next year, and the Rio plus 20 process in June this year. That interest in UK civil society is mirrored by a growing interest throughout civil society in developing countries.

Both CAFOD and the excellent Overseas Development Institute have noted how significant the “how” will be in reaching an agreement, and the importance of “what”—that is, what such an agreement should contain. I would welcome hearing how the Minister thinks an agreement could be reached, and what he plans to do to assist.

Civil society interest is clearly key in framing debate, and in involving those in developing countries and developed countries, but Governments must reach agreement. Vital to that is active dialogue within Government, between Governments and their civil society groups and, crucially, at intergovernmental level. That is where the British Government could do more. Although in recent years the G20 has become more prominent, discussions between G8 leaders still matter hugely. Britain will chair the G8 next year in the run-up to the review summit, and it could put a post-MDGs agreement at the centre of the debate between the richest nations in the world.

International negotiations require considerable time and effort, and they make progress only when leaders and national politicians are engaged. A G8-driven agenda to replace MDGs is likely to stir up scepticism and concern, so any agreement must be—and I believe will be—UN-led. It would, however, be a mistake to think that an agreement will be reached without the richest nations on board. As a result of its record and its forthcoming role, Britain is uniquely placed in the G8 to support the UN more visibly in working towards a post-MDGs accord.

There have been a series of initiatives to consider the post-2015 framework. Early suggestions included the roll-over of existing MDGs to 2020 or 2025, or an “MDG plus” agreement that could take some existing core goals in education, health or nutrition, and add three or four new, locally defined, goals. The so-called one world approach would have new goals based on issues such as resilience and climate change. More recent proposals include a gross national happiness index, such as that currently used by Bhutan, for measuring national progress; the UN General Assembly has expressed qualified interest in that. Measuring happiness has begun to be of interest in the UK and in France, and in a series of state governments in the US. A Sri Lankan economist has proposed a series of consumption goals to target under-consumption by the poorest countries and over-consumption in richer countries. The Colombian Government have proposed a series of sustainable development goals that I understand also have the support of Brazil. Those are due to be discussed at the forthcoming Rio plus 20 meeting in June, and focus on addressing global climate change and development. I would be interested to know what the Minister thinks about those ideas.

The Overseas Development Institute has suggested three principles for a new post-MDGs agreement. First, the principle of universality and inclusiveness goes with the grain of existing anti-poverty measures in developing countries such as Mexico, Kenya or Sierra Leone that deal with social protection, education and health care. Such measures create minimum standards of provision that are now within range of many more developing countries than was the case when the MDGs were originally conceived.

The ODI’s second principle is that of building resilience and reducing vulnerability. That could provide a focus for the use of renewed G8 and G20 development interest in growth and infrastructure to help tackle inequality and address issues such as capital flight and tax avoidance, as well as other critical environmental issues such as climate change, which reduce a community’s resilience and increase vulnerability. Finally, the ODI suggests a principle of building national economies—a key concern of Governments in developing countries, and one that increasingly reflects debate in many developed countries about what should be the priorities for overseas aid.

Perhaps the most interesting specific proposals come from the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Centre for International Governance Innovation. They have proposed 12 new goals that seek to build on existing MDGs while reflecting the changed international context, and they include new methods for devising targets and accounting for progress. As well as arguing for the inclusion of further indicators to improve the living standards of the poor, reduce diseases, eradicate hunger and ensure access to safe water supplies, they also suggest new indicators concerning access to and quality of education—that point will be of interest to my hon. Friend the Member for Workington (Tony Cunningham). They urge a new focus on the reduction of violence, particularly against women and children, the promotion of gender equality, and better access to basic infrastructure, such as energy, information and financial services. They also support indicators of environmental sustainability, access to justice, trade rules and the transparency of Government budgets—that will be of interest to the hon. Member for Warwick and Leamington (Chris White).

At the moment, that list contains too many suggestions to achieve the simplicity that has helped to drive the continuing appeal of the MDGs, and there is perhaps not enough focus on job creation and growth. In my view, however, the proposals merit further serious debate and attention, and in that spirit, I commend them to the House.

Time is ticking, and a new post-MDGs agreement would be a huge prize, with regard to our efforts to tackle global poverty and improve sustainability. Britain could—and I believe should—once again occupy a pivotal place in the debates, and I look forward to hearing the Minister’s plans to achieve that goal.