Afghanistan

Lord Hughes of Woodside Excerpts

Wednesday 28th July 2010 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My noble friend raises some very important issues. As I am also a lead spokesman for women and equalities in this House, I should like to say that 20 per cent of DfID support for vocational training is set aside for women. We also support a gender adviser in the Afghan independent electoral commission to strengthen the participation of women in elections as candidates and as voters. Some 28 per cent of teachers in Afghanistan to date are women; 26 per cent of all Afghan civil servants are women.

[Lord Hughes of Woodside]

My Lords, the noble Baroness is not being precisely clear. Although the overseas aid budget is ring-fenced, will the money going to Afghanistan be over and above that, or is there to be redistribution within the ring-fencing? Given the very hard choices the coalition has made so far in cutting grants, how can that be justified?

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, I return to my original Answer. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development puts down very strict regulations on how aid is spent. We will ensure that all the aid money spent is for development and the elimination of poverty.