International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Bill

Lord Ramsbotham Excerpts

Friday 6th February 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Forsyth of Drumlean]

I defer to the noble Lord, who is the absolute expert, as acknowledged by everyone in the House, on tedious repetition.

That is why I believe that the House and my noble and learned friend and the noble Lord, Lord Purvis of Tweed, need to consider the amendment seriously, because I do not believe that what they intend to happen will be achieved.

[Lord Ramsbotham (CB)]

My Lords, I make a very brief intervention in support of the word used by my noble friend Lord Butler and the noble Viscount, Lord Eccles: flexibility. I came to support the amendment to substitute “a” for “the” because it introduces flexibility. I cite two examples. One was in the Select Committee on Soft Power, chaired so expertly by the noble Lord, Lord Howell. One of our recommendations was that consideration should be given to the lack of tie-up between DfID, the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence in Afghanistan, and the need to pool cross-government contributions to aid. Secondly, to pick up a point made by the noble Lord, Lord MacGregor, in relation to the Armed Forces, something that always worried me is the overcharging of overseas cadets coming to places such as Sandhurst, which forces them to go elsewhere. If we allowed some aid to subsidise their attendance here, it might encourage them on to our side in future, with future benefits for this country.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

Will the noble Lord comment on whether it might be better if some aid projects were managed by the military? Would that not cut down on corruption?

[Lord Ramsbotham]

All I would say is that if we are talking about 0.7%, it should include every contribution made by every ministry.

[The Countess of Mar]

My Lords, before we go any further, can I just get something clear? Are we talking about “a” duty of “a” Secretary of State for “a” target, because we seem to be debating all three at the moment, or just one of those “a”s, and if so, which one? Can we have that made absolutely clear?