Queen’s Speech

Lord Crisp Excerpts

Wednesday 11th June 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Crisp (CB)]

My Lords, I want to speak briefly about international development. I was disappointed that in the noble Baroness’s opening remarks for today’s debate, there was very little reference to international development and no comment on the fact that in 2015 the millennium development goals come to their conclusion. We will then be negotiating the future sustainability goals. I say this in the context of congratulating this Government, and indeed their predecessor, on their achievements in international development.

Like other noble Lords, I travel considerably. I spend time within health services, in particular in Africa, and I see the result of that international development and the ways in which the UK is regarded. I would cite three ways: first, it is regarded as compassionate and showing solidarity with the poorest people in the world; secondly, it is regarded as extremely capable, with remarkable skills that we are able to bring from all parts of our society; thirdly, it is also seen as very powerful—as a real leader and a country to be influenced. This is of course not just the Government’s doing but reflects the thousands of people and their many supporters who in the UK pay attention to working in aid, international development and co-development around the world. I declare my interest as the chair of the trustees of Sightsavers, which works on preventing and dealing with blindness in 34 countries around the world.

The specific point I want to make is to urge the Government to accept the proposal of having a disability-inclusive development strategy as part of their negotiations around the sustainability goals. I appreciate that I am pushing partly at an open door here. I also know that the International Development Committee, in its 11th report on disability and development, set out clear proposals on how this might be done. These included making sure that there are clear targets and timescales, making sure that disabled people have a central role within DfID’s discussions and policy-making, and making sure—this is probably the most key point of all—that the results on international development are disaggregated by disability. That is so that if, say, 5% of people are not being dealt with in the appropriate way, we can see what proportion of those people are actually disabled. We need those results disaggregated by disability. We also need to embed that notion and treatment of disability, and of working with people with disabilities, into DfID culture. I know that the Government will respond in due course to the report from the International Development Committee. I should be grateful if the Minister could say anything about that at this stage.

This is not just about compassion, although compassion is extraordinarily important. It is about the waste of potential. I know through my association with Sightsavers that a cataract operation performed quickly enables the patient to regain his or her economic status within a year. It helps the patient to get back to work.

The UK is a very powerful, critical and influential leader in relation to the post-2015 sustainable development goals. I urge the Government to use their political capital to influence others to ensure that development goals never again exclude people with disabilities and other marginalised groups. After all, it was this Government who said last year that their international development plans should never leave anybody behind.