Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Cheryl Gillan

Wednesday 4th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

We can do a variety of things. First, we can pursue grass-roots programmes, as we do in many countries, that are aimed at improving women’s chance to get a job, to be educated through the girls education challenge, and to be able to have control over their sexual and reproductive health. We need to complement that with advocacy at domestic and national Government level, but also at international level, and that is one of the things on which I have worked alongside the Foreign Secretary in raising the issue of women’s rights.

[Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham) (Con)]

In times of disaster, women and girls are particularly vulnerable to exploitation. According to the non-governmental organisation World Vision, in Bangladesh, for example, 62% of marriages of under-18 girls between 2007 and 2011 took place in the 12 months after the disaster there. What is the Secretary of State doing to build that sort of protection into our UK development programmes and disaster planning?

[Justine Greening]

That is an excellent question, and it is why we have decided to raise this issue more internationally. We need to start from the right basis to respond to crises more effectively. Protecting women and girls should not be an afterthought when a crisis hits, such as Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines; it absolutely should be one of the core priorities considered from day one. If we can do that, I believe we dramatically improve the chances of making sure that we protect girls and women over the course of a crisis as it evolves.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Cheryl Gillan

Wednesday 23rd October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

The hon. Lady makes a powerful point about what is happening in Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi is in the country and I will be meeting her today. I will be sure to raise those issues with her. I am sure that she takes them as seriously as this House.

[Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham) (Con)]

As a means to encouraging the wider implementation of the convention on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, the Council of Europe launched a campaign in February to encourage its member states to have their municipal and regional authorities sign a pact to stop sexual violence against children. Will the Secretary of State say whether she is aware of that campaign and what contribution her Department can make?

[Justine Greening]

I am not aware of that campaign. The Department sets a lot of store by the work that it does to protect children, whether in Syria or Democratic Republic of the Congo. Only today, I announced £2 million to take care of the Syrian children who are turning up in Iraq unaccompanied. I will write to my right hon. Friend to respond more fully on the campaign that she mentioned.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Cheryl Gillan

Wednesday 12th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

We are very clear that we want companies to behave responsibly across the board, including on tax, and I can assure the hon. Gentleman that there is such due diligence. We cannot simply ignore those problems, and if we are to shape private sector investment in the developing world so that it can help drive development, as I think we should, we will have to engage with the private sector more in the future than we have in the past.

[Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham) (Con)]

The Secretary of State will know that the OECD has been charged with coming up with a scheme to tackle base erosion and profit shifting and to consider corporate taxation. Last week in a meeting with the organisation it confirmed to me that it is working to a timetable of just two years. Does she agree with that timetable, or does she agree with me that it is an over optimistic timetable for trying to get a multilateral convention to replace 3,000 tax treaties?

[Justine Greening]

My right hon. Friend is right that the timetable is ambitious and that is why we need to put the political momentum behind it that the G8 meeting can bring. The work that the OECD is doing has been commissioned by the G20 and it shows that if we are to reach a sustainable solution, leading economies and world leaders must come together. That is precisely why we have put the subject on our G8 agenda.