Business of the House

Harriett Baldwin Excerpts

Thursday 24th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

The hon. Lady is right to raise this on behalf of her constituents. There will be a debate on Monday on the whole covid-19 problem, so she may wish to raise her points then.

[Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

The UK is rightly proud of its commitment to the world’s poorest through spending 0.7% of our GNI on eliminating poverty, but with a smaller economy, the new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is having to make reductions of £2.9 billion in that spending. Will the Foreign Secretary come to the House to update us on how he is making those difficult choices and trade-offs? When will the Leader of the House table a motion to establish a Committee to look at spending on overseas development assistance across all Departments?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

On the second part of my hon. Friend’s question, the Prime Minister told the Liaison Committee that the Government welcome parliamentary scrutiny. I had a meeting last week with the Chair of the relevant Committee, the hon. Member for Rotherham (Sarah Champion), and I discussed with her what steps she wanted to see taken next. Ultimately, what happens to the International Development Committee is a matter for Parliament. As regards the Foreign Secretary coming to the House, he will, admittedly, be here later on, on a different subject, but he is a regular attender of the House and there will be many opportunities to question him.