Official Development Assistance

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock Excerpts

Tuesday 4th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

That is complete nonsense; we are not going to do that. When we talk about prioritisation, that is about making choices. The idea that the Government, who have just reallocated the money into defence, are then going to be blasé or relaxed about reducing spending that contributes towards our security is, frankly, ridiculous.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, further to the question raised by my noble friend Lady Amos, to make sure that every pound we spend is as effective as possible, particularly on poverty reduction in sub-Saharan Africa, would my noble friend the Minister consider setting up an advisory group consisting of non-governmental organisations and experts—such as the noble Lord, Lord Bruce of Bennachie, and others—to advise on where the priority for spending should be?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I can assure my noble friend that I have not been short of advice in the last few days, but he makes a good point. We do not want to make these important decisions, which have such far-reaching consequences, in an office in Whitehall. That would be the wrong way to go about it. I do not know if an advisory group is the right or wrong way to do that, but it is important to think about how we make sure that people with expertise, experience and knowledge of how these decisions will impact operations on the ground are included, and that they are part of the decision-making process.