Humanitarian Emergency Response Review

Hugh Bayley Excerpts

Wednesday 15th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

I thank my hon. Friend for her comments, which are extremely helpful. She is right to talk about the absolute importance of integration. I can reassure her to this extent: proposals on climate change, on which we are involved in much work, come to a cross-ministerial board, which includes DECC, DFID, the Treasury and other Departments that have a direct interest. As I indicated in my statement, we will not forget the importance of strong, cross-Whitehall collaboration.

[Hugh Bayley (York Central) (Lab)]

I welcome what the Secretary of State says about resilience and enabling countries to respond better if a crisis strikes, but does he recognise that some humanitarian crises can be avoided? If we did more work on food security and pre-positioning food stocks—in the horn of Africa, say—on climate change or on regional integration, such as by getting an upstream country to warn a downstream country when a flood is coming, we could avoid crises. Work must be done by DFID and the UN on that.

[Mr Mitchell]

The hon. Gentleman is entirely correct. That is why we have, for example, consistently sought to pre-position food and shelter in respect of Sudan, which until very recently has not been required. In respect of Pakistan, we are trying to ensure that we understand the monsoon pattern and whether any flooding will take place this year. The review and the Government’s response rightly recognise his point on encouraging resilience and anticipation.