Conflict, Stability and Security Fund

Lord Judd Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd November 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Judd (Lab)]

My Lords, my noble friend Lord McConnell has established a formidable reputation for his consistency and effectiveness in following these issues. In thanking him for what he said, I will emphasise one point that he made. The Conservative Government should feel quite proud of the fact that they created the National Security Council. This was long overdue, and it could potentially make a full contribution to handling these matters rationally and sensibly.

I should declare an interest: quite a time ago, I was director of Oxfam; I have served as the chairman of International Alert; and I have served as a trustee of Saferworld. Indeed, my ministerial experience was in defence and overseas development and at the Foreign Office.

All that experience illustrates to me the importance of the subject that is before us tonight. Of course we have to have security and stability—development cannot take place without it—but we have to be careful that it does not run away with the real objective, which is development. It is there to enable development, not to replace it, and that is terribly important. I remember when I was director of Oxfam that we wanted to get on with development projects wherever we were working, and yet in so many countries we could not do this because we were caught up with dealing with the consequences of conflicts. That was a long time ago, and the situation has deteriorated gravely since then.

There are difficulties, and we should not dodge them. I was privileged to be part of a discussion once in the earlier stages of the Afghanistan war when it became quite clear that there were tensions between the MoD and DfID. I can understand those tensions. Commanders in the field going in to liberate an area wanted quickly to be able to demonstrate the benefits to the population of having been liberated and to have tangible evidence of that. But the professionalism of DfID was naturally one of cautious assessment: will this be effective in the long run, or will it prove counterproductive? Therefore, an active debate needs to take place, and it is sensible to face up to that and to be certain that we have channels for handling it.

I will take the few moments at my disposal to put some quite specific questions to the Minister. I realise that she will not be able to answer them tonight, but if she cannot do so it would be very good if she could reply later and put a copy in the Library.

What assessment have the Government made of the role of the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund in adequately training Jordanian community police in supporting community police stations in Syrian refugee camps, including ensuring that these community police officers receive suitable training in their role concerning child protection? How have the UK Government used their increased funding through the CSSF to support security sector reform in developing countries, and does this include ensuring child protection training is undertaken by the armed forces, judiciary and police?

Where the CSSF provides funding for technical assistance to border management officials, can the Government confirm whether this includes training for officials on child protection, including identifying potential victims of trafficking, and referring children with particular vulnerabilities to the appropriate authorities? I know that UNICEF UK is particularly preoccupied with questions of that kind.

One more central policy issue, which to some extent follows up what my noble friend said in his introduction, is the importance of recognising that the Secretary of State for International Development’s commitment to prioritise transparency and to improve tracking the impacts of UK aid spending must apply to the CSSF itself. What progress is being made in fulfilling the Government’s commitment on that score? As an interim measure at least, will country and thematic/sector allocations be made public? What role is DfID playing in the programming of the CSSF’s work, including programmes led by the FCO and the MoD? It is critical for DfID to have a role so that programmes effectively address development dimensions—a matter to which I have already referred.

How will the CSSF be reporting on the progress and impacts of its programmes? As far as I can see, no information of this nature has yet been made available. What strategies and policies is the CSSF currently following to guide its work? How is the CSSF addressing the legal commitment in the International Development (Gender Equality) Act 2014 to the UK’s aid promoting gender equality? How is the CSSF taking note of the legal commitment in the International Development Act 2002 to the UK’s aid achieving poverty reduction, as well as the UK Government’s commitment to aid effectiveness principles and their commitment to the sustainable development goals, including that of focusing on the poorest and most marginalised people?

Those are the specific questions which I think it is important to answer. However, I finish by saying that last night we were debating refugees. The refugee problem is going to increase and will be repeated across the world. This issue is central to that and we have to get it right.