Queen’s Speech

Lord Chidgey Excerpts

Wednesday 15th May 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Chidgey]

My Lords, I first thank my noble friend for her overview of the developments in defence, foreign and commonwealth affairs and international development. I will concentrate my remarks on the latter. Within that framework, the UK has, through DfID and the FCO, maintained a reputation over the past decade and more as a world leader in international development. To our great credit, our development programme has been maintained in spite of our straitened economic circumstances. Our overseas development aid is expected to rise to some £11.7 billion this year as we meet the target of investing 0.7% of gross national income—a target agreed by the G8 and others to help global efforts to meet the millennium development goals or MDGs.

However, there is growing concern that the UK has yet to enshrine this target in law as a permanent feature of our international development commitment. The MDGs were set to be achieved by 2015 but that is clearly not going to happen. It is clear that few if any developing countries will achieve all the goals. This must not be painted as failure. In reality, probably in every case, developing countries have made significant progress towards meeting some if not all of the goals, progress that arguably would not have been made without the MDG initiative. The debate is now in full swing over what should be done post-2015.

According to news reports this morning, the Prime Minister will announce at the UN today proposals for 10 new development goals that will be simple to understand and easy to implement. It is not clear whether these are extensions of the current MDGs or the outcomes of the post-Busan Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation, which the Prime Minister co-chairs. Also reported this morning were the results of a survey carried out among more than 600 MPs at the Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly meeting in Quito. That revealed that MPs overwhelmingly backed democratic governance as a stand-alone objective for the UN post-2015 sustainable development goals—the new SDGs. More than 96% of the MPs surveyed believed that the key elements of democratic governance —participation, transparency and accountability—should be embedded in other SDGs to ensure success. Do the Government agree with that?

For more than a decade, and in parallel with the MDGs programme, there has been a concerted effort to achieve an international partnership in effective development co-operation. The fourth high-level forum in Busan at the end of 2011 saw the establishment of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation. Its main functions include maintaining political support for co-operation and monitoring the implementation of the Busan commitments, with more than 160 countries and 45 other organisations signed up to endorse the agreement.

The UK was and remains a major player in the Busan process. The Prime Minister is a co-chair of the high-level panel of Ministers and our Secretary of State for DfID serves on the international steering committee developing the indicators for monitoring aid effectiveness. Given that the steering committee’s work is carried out transparently, could my noble friend, either now or later, provide your Lordships with a brief on the progress made by the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State since December 2011 on their post-Busan duties, and by the former Working Party on Aid Effectiveness?

With more than 48% of the world’s population now living in democracies, the current western model for development and aid investment assumes that participation of citizens is essential to development. The promotion of democracy underlies much of western development policy and access to aid and investment from the UK, EU and other donors. That western model has been seriously questioned at the World Economic Forum in Addis Ababa. It has prompted the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Africa, of which I am a vice-chairman, to initiate an inquiry into democracy and development in Africa. The inquiry will focus in particular on the implications for UK development policy.

The gracious Speech made strong reference to curbing sexual violence in conflict, which would fall within the remit of Building Security Overseas, and in particular, the right to protect. There is a clear need for the UK to promote the right to protect to help states build the capacity to guard against the risks of genocide and crimes against humanity. The Minister has already given in her opening remarks some indication of where the budget now available through Building Security Overseas has led to improving the tools available to the international community before, during and after conflict, minimising the potential for atrocities. Can she or her colleague provide more detail about that process and the Government’s commitment in due course?

One of the most pressing issues, particularly on the African continent, is the predicted shortfall in the production of enough food to meet the needs of a burgeoning population. According to the Montpellier Panel at Imperial College, more than 200 million people, 23% of Africa’s population, are classified as hungry and 40% of children under five in sub-Saharan Africa are stunted due to malnutrition. Sub-Saharan Africa has a current population of about 875 million, which is expected almost to double by 2050 to close to 2 billion. The Montpellier Panel believes that a new paradigm to tackle food insecurity is urgently needed, through a programme of sustainable intensification. That, it says, will be essential if we are to overcome supply challenges. On present trends, food production will be able to meet only 13% of the continent’s food needs by 2050.

Can my noble friend tell the House whether the Government plan to recognise and act on the new paradigm of sustainable intensification to avert food insecurity and the threat of chronic hunger? Is she also aware of the report of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, of which I am a former member, entitled Global Food: Waste Not, Want Not, which concludes that at least 30% of all food produced never reaches the intended consumer due to poor practices in harvesting, transportation and storage? Do the Government plan to follow the recommendations of the institution, and work with the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation and the international engineering community to bring their skills to bear on improving harvesting, transportation and storage practices?

As the ONE campaign pointed out in its latest report on fighting extreme poverty in Africa, the 19 countries that it assesses in the context of meeting the MDGs have together a funding shortfall of some $4.4 billion. It is also the case, apparently, that DFID directs less than 3% of UK aid to agriculture, forestry, fishing and agro-industries—the lowest among the G8 countries. Does my noble friend agree that there is a strong case for that aspect of government policy to be reviewed? It seems counterintuitive that while sub-Saharan Africa is facing an impending food crisis, according to Action Aid, more and more land is being switched from food production to growing crops for biofuels. Action Aid’s research reveals that in sub-Saharan Africa, 6 million hectares of land are now under the control of EU companies engaged in the biofuel industry. It estimates that the amount of food crops consumed as fuel by G8 countries could feed more than 400 million people.

Will the Government take the opportunity, when chairing the G8 summit next month, to follow the advice of the World Bank, the World Trade Organisation and the UN’s FAO, and press for the removal of biofuel mandates, which are forcing up food prices?

Developing Countries: Budgetary Support

Lord Chidgey Excerpts

Wednesday 15th May 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

Both those decisions are kept under review. As the noble Lord will know, as regards Malawi, in November 2012 the UK provided emergency budget support, recognising what Joyce Banda had done. We will continue to monitor the situation in Malawi. As regards Rwanda, as he will know, the budget support was suspended because of actions by the Rwandan Government towards the rebel groups in the DRC. The Secretary of State will take a decision during the summer regarding any further disbursements and reprogramming decisions.

[Lord Chidgey]

Is my noble friend aware that the international development co-operation agreement, reached at the fourth high-level forum in Busan, established parliamentary capacity, accountability and transparency as key indicators for monitoring development progress? Can my noble friend confirm that these criteria for allocating budget support for HM Government will, in fact, follow the Busan international development model?

[Baroness Northover]

Parliamentarians clearly play a major role, or need to. My noble friend will know that in terms of the UK partnership principles, the third one is:

“Improving public financial management, promoting good governance and transparency and fighting corruption”.

Parliamentarians play a key role in making sure that those things are delivered.

Crime: Domestic Violence

Lord Chidgey Excerpts

Thursday 14th February 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

The noble Baroness is absolutely right that the figures on this are appalling. Globally, one woman in three is beaten or sexually abused in her lifetime, which is utterly unacceptable. We are working with all international organisations, and nationally as well, to try to raise this issue. It is a focus, as the noble Baroness will know, of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York in March. My honourable friend Lynne Featherstone is leading the delegation from here; that commission is focusing on violence against women and girls. The Foreign Secretary is focusing on this as part of our leadership of the G8 this year and, of course, it forms part of the discussions on the MDGs as we take them forward. It is extremely important. It is about time that it is on the agenda and we seek to tackle it.

[Lord Chidgey]

One of the cruellest and most insidious forms of domestic violence is that among young girls, some as young as four, who are subjected to female genital mutilation, or FGM, as it is known. There are more than 100 million women in the world suffering from the effects of that, mostly in Africa, and as many as 3 million young girls a year are at risk from this form of mutilation. Can my noble friend the Minister say whether the Government, in their development programme, are helping NGOs such as AWEPA on the ground—in the villages and at the grass roots—to try to stop this rather revolting and dangerous form of mutilation?

[Baroness Northover]

My noble friend is right that this is a terrible practice, which we seek to counter both in the United Kingdom and overseas. We are funding civil society organisations which are working to end the practice in Ethiopia and Kenya, and my honourable friend Lynne Featherstone is developing a major new programme to address FGM. We know that work with communities, as my noble friend says, including affected women and girls is key to ending the practice. Organisations such as AWEPA, which engage parliamentarians, are crucial in bringing about the change that we all need to see.

EU: Budget

Lord Chidgey Excerpts

Thursday 17th January 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

I thank the noble Lord for his question. He is well aware that the United Kingdom is increasing its own spending because it recognises the importance of supporting the poorest in the world, even when we are in financial difficulties. As far as the EDF and the EU budget are concerned, we scrutinise them very carefully for their poverty focus. We are encouraged by the direction they are heading in, so perhaps I can reassure the noble Lord in that regard. However, we will continue to keep up the pressure, as it needs to be poverty-focused. I point out that we are fifth in the league, as it were, in terms of ODA in the EU, behind Sweden, Luxembourg, Denmark and the Netherlands, all of which have gone beyond the 0.7%. The evidence is not quite as he indicated in terms of other countries. For example, there are increases from Germany, Italy and Sweden, so the picture here is not quite as he portrays it.

[Lord Chidgey]

Is my noble friend aware that the European Court of Auditors has just reported on its study of 48 EDF schemes—road transport programmes totalling over something like 2,500 kilometres—in the Sahel? It shows that, while it is by far the European Commission’s financially most important sector, it has been only partially effective in promoting policy reform that would ensure the sustainability of this massive road infrastructure investment. What is the Government’s response to the court’s recommendations that the European Commission should better focus European Development Fund resources and make better use of the conditions that it attaches to the programmes?

[Baroness Northover]

This report was published a couple of days ago, on Tuesday. DfID will produce a considered response, which will be scrutinised by Parliament. It is worth flagging up that, as my noble friend rightly points out, this looks at aid since 1995 in terms of road building and at whether the balance between road maintenance and road building has been sustained as it should have been. In the United Kingdom we know that when you are in constrained financial circumstances a balance must be struck between those two areas. I am sure that we can learn many lessons; nevertheless, it is not as though the balance between those issues is not also felt in other countries.

World Food Supplies

Lord Chidgey Excerpts

Thursday 10th January 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

The noble Lord, who has worked in this area for a very long time, is right to highlight this as a potential problem. However, I cannot agree with his first statement about its scale because there is insufficient evidence. One thing that is extremely important and that we are pursuing is supporting the evidence-gathering in this area to see what the scale of the problem might be so that we can better address it. Nevertheless, the noble Lord is right to say that transparency is the key here. If we can promote that, we can see whether the acquisitions that people may have made reference to are simply anecdotal or whether there is evidence of the nature that he is talking about. I assure the noble Lord that we are emphasising transparency and that at the G8 summit the Prime Minister will indeed focus on food security as one of the issues.

[Lord Chidgey]

What proportion of DfID’s aid budget has been allocated to the provision of more support for sustainable small-scale agriculture to help poor—mainly women—farmers feed their families? What measures are the Government taking to ensure that increased private investment in agriculture, as the Minister mentioned, is aimed at maximising poverty reduction and sustainable equitable growth, as highlighted by many NGOs, including Oxfam and ActionAid?

[Baroness Northover]

The noble Lord is right. DfID does support smallholder production, and one of the key issues here is trying to establish land rights. The United Kingdom is working in a number of countries to promote this and has increased the spending in this area. It is working in 13 countries to support smallholder farmers by supplying seeds, fertilisers and access to finance and by making sure that women, who are often the ones running these smallholdings, are particularly supported.

Polio Eradication

Lord Chidgey Excerpts

Monday 19th November 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

Yes, the lessons from India are being carried over, and it is excellent to see that India is offering technical support in Nigeria and Pakistan. That is also where NGOs can play a part in reducing levels of suspicion about vaccination. There are a number of challenges, not least from the fact that there is a lot of conflict in the areas where there is not yet adequate take-up. However, that has been eradicated in the DRC and Somalia, so this can be done. It is a matter of making sure that we drive through and finish this particular programme.

[Lord Chidgey]

Does my noble friend recognise that the Global Polio Eradication Initiative currently faces a funding shortfall of up to $700 million, which is jeopardising its potential for completely eradicating polio? With vital programmes facing delay or cancellation and countries that were previously polio-free now facing the risk of re-infection, what targets are the Government setting for restoring the public/private sector global donor fund, which has now dropped to 20 members from 50?

[Baroness Northover]

My noble friend is right that we are concerned at the lack of engagement by some countries. This is a window of opportunity. There is a programme to try to eradicate polio by 2018. We will all be aware of what an incredible achievement that would be. We are so close. The United Kingdom has been a major donor in this area. In 2011, 9.04% of the contribution to the eradication of polio came from the UK. Gates is a very powerful player here. We are very pleased to see the Secretary-General of the United Nations convening countries to try to ensure that they are engaged, and the key ones to engage here are Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

International Development

Lord Chidgey Excerpts

Tuesday 6th November 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

The noble Lord is right about how the effect of conflict wipes away development gains. He refers to the high-level panel which the UN set up; the Prime Minister is one of its co-chairs, and it met last week. Given that it is seeking to address the causes of poverty, it is acutely aware that, as he says, no fragile and conflict-affected state will reach any of the MDGs.

[Lord Chidgey]

Is my noble friend aware that the aid effectiveness forum in Busan launched a new deal for fragile states, to give voice to the 1.5 billion people who did not benefit and are not benefiting from the MDGs? What position is the United Kingdom taking on the new deal’s five peacebuilding and state-building goals—the PSGs—which are quite separate from the MDGs?

[Baroness Northover]

My noble friend will be aware that my right honourable friend the previous Secretary of State for International Development was instrumental in trying to ensure that the peacebuilding and state-building goals were addressed at Busan. The current Secretary of State is taking this forward. We are very strongly in support of what was decided at Busan, and in fact, we are already taking this forward in South Sudan and Afghanistan, and are applying the principles in other countries as well.

Family Planning: London Summit

Lord Chidgey Excerpts

Thursday 12th July 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

The noble Lord is right. I thank him for his congratulations. For me, it was an incredibly optimistic conference; I was extremely glad to see the wide range of commitments that were being made, which addressed not only the financial need to make sure that access is there and available but also the kind of social and cultural concerns that he just flagged up. It is extremely important that women and girls have the chance to choose whether they are to have children and how they might space them—and it is important for the mothers, too. In the case that he mentioned, it would probably have helped if the mother herself had more control over her life, which then would have impacted on her own child.

[Lord Chidgey]

Is my noble friend aware of reports from Nigeria of rural family planning clinics closing down through lack of resources for service delivery? Will these very welcome new plans include investment in long-term recruitment, training and employment of sufficient health workers who are dedicated to family planning service delivery as well as the provision of family planning commodities?

[Baroness Northover]

It is extremely important that the infrastructure is there as well and Nigeria made a major commitment yesterday. Hearing some of the speakers from developing countries was very encouraging. For example, the Malawi health Minister said, “No parenthood before adulthood”. That is extremely important and its delivery is absolutely key.

Malawi

Lord Chidgey Excerpts

Monday 21st May 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

The noble Lord’s involvement in and support for Malawi is well known, as is that of the Scottish Government. We very much welcome the peaceful and constitutional transition following the previous president’s death in April. Early discussions with President Banda, who is the second female head of state in sub-Saharan Africa, have been very encouraging and we look forward to working with her to resolve many of these problems. The noble Lord is absolutely right: she has shown a lot of initiative in moving various areas forward. I am sure that the Government of Malawi will raise with the Secretary of State the issues that the noble Lord has mentioned. The Secretary of State is looking carefully at how best to support Malawi. However, it is one thing to say things; it is another to make sure that certain changes are delivered.

[Lord Chidgey]

My noble friend will be aware that a step change in economic management and governance standards in Malawi is critical, not just to bring immediate relief to its people through the NGOs on the ground but to secure the release of some $750 million in grant aid, which is currently blocked and is clearly needed in the general budget and elsewhere. Importantly, securing investment to interconnect Malawi and Mozambique’s national grids, for example, which are essential to stabilising Malawi’s industry, must also be considered. What action is DfID taking with resident NGOs, such as World Vision and others, to ramp up financial accountability and good-governance standards in Malawi to ensure that inward investment such as that will start to flow?

[Baroness Northover]

My noble friend is quite right to say that these issues need to be addressed, and poor governance is of course the root cause of much poverty. DfID is putting a considerable amount into seeking to address that issue, so that the Government of Malawi can be held to account—not least in the way that they manage their public finances, to which he referred. We are pleased that the new president is now talking to Mozambique about restarting discussions on the energy interconnector, which is encouraging and is important to industry in the area. However, first and foremost, it is important to try to address the economic problems in Malawi. DfID is in constant contact with Malawi, which is also in constant contact with the IMF. An IMF team is there right now.

Sudan and South Sudan

Lord Chidgey Excerpts

Thursday 17th May 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

My Lords, I am aware of the noble Baroness’s visit, and I thank her for giving me a copy of her draft report. I am aware, as the House is, of all her work in this area. She reports some terrible stories within it.

Continued aerial bombardments by the Sudanese armed forces are absolutely unacceptable, and we condemn them. Ministers and officials at our embassy have pressed this point during meetings with Sudanese counterparts. We worked very hard with Security Council partners to achieve unanimous support for UN Security Council Resolution 2046, which saw the Security Council demand under Chapter 7 of the UN charter a political resolution to conflict in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, as well as addressing wider issues in both countries. We are also very actively monitoring the humanitarian situation and getting supplies in place.

[Lord Chidgey]

Is my noble friend aware that the UN Security Council passed that resolution on 2 May, and that within it was a two-week period for conflict to stop and negotiations to begin? That was on 16 May. There have been no negotiations starting; instead, the fighting has started again. What do the Government propose to suggest that the UN Security Council should do now?

[Baroness Northover]

Yesterday, the special envoy to the Secretary-General briefed the Security Council on compliance by Sudan, South Sudan and the SPLM-North with Security Council Resolution 2046. He is keeping a close watch on the extent to which the ceasefire is not being adhered to. He identified a small window for restarting negotiations between Sudan and South Sudan. President Mbeke is travelling to Khartoum and Juba to engage with the parties and convene a meeting between them as soon as possible. We, the US and France have confirmed our readiness to consider sanctions if necessary.