International Development: Budget

Lord Chidgey Excerpts

Tuesday 11th June 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Chidgey]

My Lords, I, too, congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Empey, on securing this debate, on his thoughtful contribution and on the concise way in which he presented it, which is an example to us all. I will certainly try to follow that example.

It is a delight and a privilege to follow my old friend, the noble Lord, Lord Judd, who was first elected as an MP in Portsmouth many years ago when I was a young student at Portsmouth Polytechnic. I am afraid that he did not persuade me to vote for him. Nevertheless, it is always a pleasure to hear him extolling with such oratorical skill his well-known absolute commitment to international aid and development. I shall try to follow him with a few precise words of my own.

For some months now, there has been a mounting campaign within the defence community for the MoD to be given an ability to draw upon elements of Britain’s aid and development budget. The attempt to access this ring-fenced budget as part of the comprehensive spending review has thrown up suggestions that DfID should, for example, pay for flights on RAF transport aircraft, in particular for military helicopters used to carry civilians as well as soldiers, by prepaying a guaranteed number of flights for each type of aircraft in regular use by DfID. There have also been suggestions that DfID should pay for some naval patrols and protective equipment required by civilian staff. The Royal Navy’s Atlantic Patrol Task is a case in point. Tasked with protecting our interests in the Caribbean, the APT takes on humanitarian aid during the hurricane season, together with assisting with counternarcotics and anti-terrorism operations.

There has been a push from the MoD to redefine more of its work as official development assistance, not surprisingly given the way in which the Prime Minister’s remarks about establishing effective links between defence and development have been largely, if not blatantly, misinterpreted in some quarters. They were spun to mean that more ODA should be spent on defence, increasing the momentum being created behind the campaign to that effect. However, the fact of the matter is that ODA can be spent by the military only on very specific activities due to strict guidelines from the OECD and the United Kingdom’s own International Development Act 2002, to which the noble Lord, Lord Empey, referred.

Apparently, discussions between the MoD and DfID are ongoing, so perhaps in her reply the Minister could tell us whether an options paper has yet been put to the National Security Council and, if so, when its response is expected. The Government have made it clear that they would like to see more of the aid budget diverted to defence by building up the Conflict Pool already used by DfID and the MoD.

If we can help states riven by conflict and war, and help to deliver security and provide stability, we also provide the base on which all development can proceed. The Government’s commitment to investing greater resources in preventing violent conflict before it breaks out is widely welcomed. The use of the Conflict Pool through the Building Stability Overseas strategy is widely seen as a step in the right direction.

The Independent Commission for Aid Impact’s recent report, Evaluation of the Inter-Departmental Conflict Pool, recognised that it has proved effective at identifying and supporting worthwhile conflict-prevention initiatives and has delivered some useful, if localised, results. It goes on to say that the Conflict Pool functions well as a responsive grant-making instrument for supporting small-scale peacebuilding activities by local parties in conflict-affected countries.

The ICAI report identifies a number of ways in which the Conflict Pool can be improved through greater attention to how the cross-departmental approach should work in practice, identifying more clearly how Conflict Pool spending can achieve impacts on the scale required, adopting a more conflict-sensitive approach, and improving monitoring and evaluation systems. I would be grateful if the Minister could inform the House of the actions that the Government have taken, and are taking, in this regard.

Aid is not the only mechanism that the UK can use to promote peace and support stability and development. According to Saferworld, there are a number of ways in which the defence community can contribute to conflict-prevention activities—elements such as security and justice sector reform, small arms counterproliferation and monitoring arms transfer control arrangements. Some may count as ODA while others may not. The MoD mentions the BSOS in its Defence Engagement Strategy paper but does not set out how it intends to contribute to upstream conflict prevention. This gives an impression of a lack of commitment to the BSOS and belies the MoD’s responsibility to ensure that its approach in fragile states works towards the vision of stability outlined in the BSOS. Will the Minister clarify how the MoD is working to fulfil its commitments under the BSOS, which sets out the UK’s approach to addressing conflict overseas?

Finally, I echo the words of Bill Gates who, with the Gates foundation, has set new heights in philanthropy in aid and development. When he opened DfID’s new offices in Whitehall last week—in fact, we should not really call them new; that is a misnomer as they are a refurbished conversion that will hopefully do the job—he said that the UK should take great pride in the compassion and generosity of its people and its commitment. Mostly, it should take great pride in its ability to deliver effective international aid on a scale that makes the UK a world leader, and the Gates foundation its preferred partner.