Afghanistan

Naomi Long Excerpts

Thursday 13th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

The hon. Gentleman asks a very specific question and it might be better if I reply to him in writing after the statement. Suffice it to say that he is right to point out that our troops have played a critical role not just in combat but in supporting the Afghanistan Government to rebuild some of the infrastructure that the country will need. He mentioned a project in Helmand province. Alongside that, our troops have played key roles in helping with schools, health care and roads—if we are to have a thriving agriculture sector, farmers need to get their produce to market. All that work provided by our troops will be immensely powerful not just in protecting Afghanistan and in working with Afghanistan forces today, but in building the country we hope can be successful tomorrow.

[Naomi Long (Belfast East) (Alliance)]

I welcome the Secretary of State to her post. I also welcome her commitment to working with women in Afghanistan and her reflection on the importance of the role of women in peace-building and stability. Will she expand on what specific role the UK Government can play in supporting rural women in Afghanistan to ensure that they have access to education and financial independence, and to ensure that they are not only aware of their rights but able to exercise them?

[Justine Greening]

The hon. Lady will no doubt understand that a huge range of different activities are happening, and not just at national level—provincial and district plans are also in place. The district plans are very much locally driven, but we are providing assistance. As I have said, we are providing assistance at national level in Ministries to ensure that they are better placed in terms of their skills and capability to deliver at local level, but we need to see further progress. The Tokyo mutual accountability framework is the right one to enable us not only to agree what needs to be done, but to track it to ensure that it happens.

Water and Sanitation

Naomi Long Excerpts

Wednesday 21st March 2012 Westminster Hall

[Naomi Long (Belfast East) (Alliance)]

I am delighted to have the opportunity in the run-up to world water day tomorrow to initiate this brief debate on global access to water and sanitation, and to highlight one of the most significant challenges facing the world. Lack of access to clean water and sanitation remains one of the major barriers that must be overcome if real and sustainable progress is to be made in education, health, food security and economic productivity. Without water, nothing else works.

An estimated 800 million people globally still do not have access to clean water, but an even larger number— 2.6 billion, or more than one third of the world population—have no access to even basic sanitation and so are exposed to the health risks associated with poor sanitary infrastructure. As a direct result, people—the majority of them children—are dying of diseases that the provision of potable water and sanitation could eliminate almost entirely. That is illustrated by the fact that the biggest killer of children under five in sub-Saharan Africa, and the second biggest globally, are diarrhoeal diseases, the vast majority of which are entirely preventable conditions caused by inadequate sanitation and hygiene.

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

I congratulate the hon. Lady on obtaining this debate. Will she join me in congratulating some of the faith-based organisations and other charitable institutions that in small parts of sub-Saharan Africa have made significant progress in delivering clean water to those communities?

[Naomi Long]

I do indeed, and I will name some of them later, but there are many others that I will not have the opportunity to name. I recognise that that co-operation and collaboration is an important part of trying to expand the network of sanitation and clean water internationally.

[Mr Andrew Smith (Oxford East) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Lady on calling this enormously important debate. Does she agree that initiatives such as Oxfam’s water week, which engages children in both education and fundraising for specific projects in specific countries—Mali last year and Niger this year—are an important way of raising awareness and achieving practical results?

[Naomi Long]

I agree entirely. It is important to engage young people in that work, because they will no doubt carry it forward.

Annually, more children under five die as a result of diseases arising from inadequate sanitation and hygiene than from HIV/AIDS, malaria and measles combined, so the impact is huge. Open drainage channels and sewers provide the environment conducive to the breeding of mosquitoes, which spread such diseases.

I am a former civil engineer with a long-standing interest in international development, and this issue is particularly close to my heart. During my term as lord mayor of Belfast, WaterAid was one of my nominated charities, and since my election to Parliament I have continued to work closely with it and other charities, such as Tearfund, to pursue this issue with the UK Government. I thank both charities for their support to me in preparing for today’s debate and, more important, for their work with others to maximise access to clean water and sanitation globally.

[Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)]

I agree that there is a huge amount of cross-party support for the hon. Lady’s case, but will she join me in congratulating the Government on their commitment to overseas spending, which creates an environment in which we can take up the challenge? The money is available to do the job throughout the world, and the Government should be congratulated on that.

[Naomi Long]

I have congratulated the Government on that on numerous occasions, and I will congratulate them on other matters, but I will also press them on areas where further progress could be made.

This subject is important to my constituents, many of whom signed up to the recent Tearfund postcard campaign calling for more action on water and sanitation. Last October, the hon. Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce) and I joined Tearfund to present more than 10,000 postcards to the Under-Secretary of State for International Development, to highlight the importance of action.

I recognise that in the UK, the biggest step change in public health and mortality rates resulted not from medical advances, but from widened access to clean drinking water and adequate sanitation. During the late 19th century, as both water and sewerage infrastructure expanded dramatically, the life expectancy of an average member of the population in this country rose by 15 years—a remarkable increase, delivered over a short period.

[Mr William Cash (Stone) (Con)]

I am chairman of the all-party group on water and sanitation in the third world. Does the hon. Lady agree that whatever progress has been made on access to drinking water, which we acknowledge is improving, only 63% of the world population have access to sanitation, which is well below the 75% target, and that if we do not get sanitation right, water will not be right either?

[Naomi Long]

I agree entirely with the hon. Gentleman, and I hope to come to that point.

The British Medical Association has recognised that commissioning of the sewerage system in London was the most important breakthrough in public health—more significant than the discovery of penicillin or development of vaccine programmes. If developing nations are to experience a similar step change in their outcomes, there can be no more effective place to start than investment in water, sanitation and hygiene.

There has been progress, particularly on access to clean water, and this month brought the welcome news that the UN millennium development goal on water has been met five years early. However, it is clear that approximately 10% of the world population still have no access to clean water and there is still much work to be done. Also, the global figure disguises the disparities in progress between, and even within, different countries. That needs to be considered carefully when planning future programmes. For example, almost half the progress towards the millennium development goal can be accounted for by progress in India and China alone, whereas progress in sub-Saharan Africa has generally been much slower; and although Sierra Leone, for example, has made significant improvements in access to water, with a national average of 55%, that masks a significant disparity between rural access, at 35%, and urban access, at 87%.

Even allowing for the complexities of the picture, significant progress has been made on access to clean water. However, my understanding is that, by contrast, the millennium development goal on access to sanitation is not on track for delivery. Indeed, it has been identified as one of the most off-track millennium development goals. I would welcome the Minister’s views on what action the UK Government could take to try to ensure that focus is maintained on taking forward work on that specific problem.

At the current rate of progress, it has been estimated that it could take 350 years to ensure that everyone in Africa alone has access to adequate sanitation. That differential delivery between water and sanitation may be due in part to the stigma that surrounds discussion of sanitation in many cultures, including our own. That needs to be tackled in the developing world because education on hygiene is critical to improving public health. In India, for example, it is estimated that almost 51% of the population still defecate in the open, and that poor sanitation costs India around 6% of its GDP.

[Fiona Bruce (Congleton) (Con)]

I congratulate the hon. Lady on introducing this debate and on her continuing work. Does she agree that if we are to make real progress, the key is partnership working by voluntary organisations and Church groups, which have been mentioned, and substantial Government resources? We are delighted that the Secretary of State is to attend the high-level WASH—water, sanitation and hygiene—meeting in Washington. At that meeting, should he not focus on partnership working between countries globally, and ensuring that resources across the piece are shared and co-ordinated more effectively?

[Naomi Long]

I agree entirely with the hon. Lady. It is hugely important to maximise the benefit of our investment.

Lack of access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene also carries with it significant gender implications that can, in turn, impact more widely on communities.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Naomi Long]

I would like to make a little progress first.

In developing countries, women and girls still shoulder most of the responsibility for the collection of clean drinking water from wells, which may involve long and arduous daily journeys. The provision of simple village standpipes could therefore improve not only health, but education outcomes for women and girls in particular, because, freed from that daily chore, they would have time to attend school. The provision of proper and private sanitation facilities in schools has also been shown to reduce education drop-out rates for girls reaching puberty. Women are more likely to bear the burden of caring for those who contract diseases as a result of poor access to water, sanitation and hygiene, and that significantly restricts the degree to which they can be economically active and independent. Most disturbingly, lack of access to water and sanitation can leave women and girls more vulnerable to violence and sexual assault, either as they travel long distances to collect water, or as they wait until nightfall before defecating in the open.

By investing in water and sanitation, we can improve the health and education of millions of people around the world and tackle gender inequality. Access to water and sanitation transforms lives, improves health outcomes and lifts people out of poverty. With every penny of public expenditure under scrutiny, it is important that the resources available for international development are invested in ways that will have maximum impact and are sustainable. Investment in water, sanitation and hygiene meets that economic test.

The UN human development report estimates that for every pound invested in water and sanitation, £8 is returned in saved time, increased productivity and reduced health costs. It is therefore a prudent as well as a necessary investment. Lack of access to clean water and sanitation is estimated to cost sub-Saharan Africa 5% of its gross domestic product—an amount equivalent to the aid received by the region. That fact demonstrates the link between long-term sustainable development, and the specific direction of aid towards water, sanitation and hygiene projects. The impact of such investment could be multiplied if we collaborate with other Governments and with non-governmental organisations and charities that can assist by providing education to local communities through Church and community networks, and by supporting increased capacity among state and non-state players in the field.

The provision of water and sanitation is a fundamental part of the foundations on which our progress on other millennium development goals will be built. It is also an area that delivers significant economic and social returns. One would imagine, therefore, that it would be the aid investment of choice, but sadly that is not the case. Speaking of water and sanitation, Kofi Annan stated:

“No other issue suffers such disparity between its human importance and its political priority.”

In 2010, the UN-Water global annual assessment of sanitation and drinking water looked at the amount spent by donor countries on aid for that sector. It found that although levels of international aid have been rising since the mid-‘90s, the proportion spent on water and sanitation has declined. In the mid-‘90s, the proportion of aid spent on water, sanitation and hygiene was more than 8%, but that has now fallen to less than 5.5%. The UK’s bilateral aid to the WASH sector made up less than 2% of our total aid budget in 2010, and less than 50% of the average reported by other donors.

[Jim Shannon]

I congratulate the hon. Lady on bringing this subject before the House. She has mentioned the importance of water for sanitation, but it is used for other things such as watering crops, or the work done by the churches. Water is also used to make bricks for industry, so it is important for employment, health and food. Does the hon. Lady agree that sanitation is one part of the need for wider water provision?

--- Later in debate ---

[Naomi Long]

The hon. Gentleman is quite right. Water security and the cost of water in many developing countries limits crop production, because people cannot afford to irrigate their crops. Countries that are able to develop irrigation systems have more productive fields and are able to produce more food to feed their people. It is a hugely important issue.

Members have asked me to be positive about what the UK Government are doing, and of course I will be where appropriate. The UK Government have taken a lead on development policy, and I commend them on that. In 2006, DFID expanded its list of basic public services to include water and sanitation, and the UK and Dutch Governments announced their support for a global framework for action at the UN in September 2008. The UK Government played a key role in the development of that global partnership, and “Sanitation and Water for All: A Global Framework for Action”, was formally launched in 2010, with a high-level meeting that was linked to the World Bank spring meeting in Washington. The timing allowed Finance Ministers and those with responsibility for the delivery of water and sanitation to attend. The second high-level meeting will be in Washington next month, and through the Minister I wish to thank the Secretary of State for indicating to me and to other right hon. and hon. Members who wrote to him, that it is his intention to attend.

I also thank the Secretary of State for his pledge to continue providing support and guidance to the Sanitation and Water for All partnership. As yet, however, although 35 developing nations have indicated that they will attend, only seven donor countries have done likewise, and I urge the Government to use whatever influence they have to encourage other developed nations to engage with that key forum. I would also be grateful if the Minister outlined how the Government intend to make manifest that pledge of continued support in the coming months and years.

As I understand, DFID is close to announcing its portfolio review of water and sanitation projects, which seeks to identify where more can be done. I await eagerly the publication of that report, and perhaps the Minister will confirm when that will take place.

[Fiona O'Donnell (East Lothian) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing this debate. Does she agree that the Rio+20 summit is an opportunity to link millennium development goals with sustainable development goals?

[Naomi Long]

Absolutely, and it is hugely important to plan how we can streamline all those efforts. It is hard to have sustainable development unless you have access to clean water and sanitation.

Given that more than 35% of UK official development assistance is now spent through multilateral agencies such as the World Bank, I hope that DFID’s review will have assessed thoroughly the performance of such agencies in delivering progress in the sector, and considered how the UK can influence agencies to deliver increased commitments on WASH. I hope that it will also address the lack of political priority given to investment in water and sanitation when compared with other aid portfolios such as health and education. Without access to WASH, any progress achieved in other areas is significantly constrained.

One practical measure that would maximise the impact of overseas development aid, would be to integrate WASH into other connected health, education and nutrition programmes. In 2006, the International Development Committee recommended that sanitation become an integral part of the work of health advisors. I would be grateful if the Minister indicated what progress has been made on that.

In conclusion, I urge the Department for International Development to build on its activities to date, to be even more ambitious in its future goals, and to use its influence internationally to press others to do the same ahead of the Sanitation and Water for All high-level meeting in Washington DC next month.

Oral Answers to Questions

Naomi Long Excerpts

Wednesday 14th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I think it is fair that someone who is earning far, far beyond the average should not be subsidised by, and receiving child benefit from, people on much lower incomes. The hon. Gentleman raises a perfectly valid point, which is that the cut-off point can create those anomalies and cliff edges—as he said, one earner on £43,000 will have their child benefit removed while two earners earning £80,000 will not. We have all said that we will look at a pragmatic way of implementing this in a sensitive manner.

[Naomi Long (Belfast East) (Alliance)]

The Deputy Prime Minister will be aware of the very serious incidents in my constituency involving three separate explosive devices planted since Friday, the most recent being adjacent to two local schools. Will he join me in condemning such reckless attacks, which bring misery to the community and place lives at risk, and will he assure the House that, in the absence of the International Monitoring Commission, the UK Government will continue to monitor closely any linkages between such activity and proscribed organisations?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I am sure I speak on behalf of the whole House in utterly condemning the cowardly pipe bomb attacks in east Belfast, which endangered the lives of all those in the surrounding areas, including those of young children attending school. It was totally reprehensible. I understand that all these attacks are now being investigated by the Police Service of Northern Ireland. There is no indication, at present, that these were terrorist attacks, and they therefore fall to the purview of the Northern Ireland Justice Minister.

Humanitarian Emergency Response Review

Naomi Long Excerpts

Wednesday 15th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

In respect of the responsibility to protect, the hon. Gentleman will know that that is a technical UN term that triggers certain other actions. The point that I was making was narrower and it was that if Britain has a unique skill or the capacity to intervene in a humanitarian situation, we should always consider whether it is right to do so. That was my point and it is narrower than the basis on which he seeks to get me to proceed.

[Naomi Long (Belfast East) (Alliance)]

I warmly welcome both Lord Ashdown’s report and the Government’s response. In a humanitarian crisis, securing access to clean water and sanitation is often one of the key challenges. Does the Secretary of State agree that it is hugely important that engineering charities such as RedR and WaterAid are given the support they need to provide technical assistance in an emergency and upskill local people to make that sustainable?

[Mr Mitchell]

The hon. Lady makes a very good point. She identifies two of Britain’s brilliant NGOs, RedR and WaterAid, which both do such good work in some of the most challenging places anywhere in the world. She also identifies the importance of clean water and sanitation. Britain is doing this in terms of steady state development, with a commitment to get more clean water and sanitation to people in the poor world than the total population of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and in terms of our work through the cluster system, giving strong support on water and sanitation, not least to Oxfam. That is an absolute priority in almost all humanitarian disasters.

Oral Answers to Questions

Naomi Long Excerpts

Wednesday 30th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

My hon. Friend is right. Lord Ashdown’s review of the way Britain conducts its humanitarian and emergency relief is outstanding. The Government will now consult and take six weeks to consider all the implications of that, and then report back to the House.

[Naomi Long (Belfast East) (Alliance)]

Many sub-Saharan Africans work as migrant workers in Libya and do not have the resources or the opportunity to be repatriated. One of my constituents, who works with the Somali community in Belfast, has contacted me as members of that community are very concerned about their relatives. What are the international community and our Government doing to try to stem that aspect of the humanitarian crisis?

UN Women

Naomi Long Excerpts

Thursday 10th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Laing]

Absolutely right; my hon. Friend is totally correct. We have all been through it, and I have seen it. I know that it happens in our party, and I hear anecdotally that it does in other parties, too. He is also right to say that those in church are blamed for those who are not there. We need more women to come forward to be part of the democratic process, but we need to make it possible for them to do so. If I were to cover the points that I have made many times before on that subject, I would take far more than the five minutes still left to me, but I hope that other Members will address it this afternoon.

We have a long way to go, but I also say to the House—and I mean it—that the percentage of women in the House is not what really matters. What matters is making our voices heard when we are here. What matters is punching above our weight, and let us face it, our weight is generally much lower than that of our male colleagues. There is now a critical mass of women in this place that there was not when I first came here 14 years ago, and it is up to us to make our voices heard. That is exactly what we are doing this afternoon.

[Naomi Long (Belfast East) (Alliance)]

Does the hon. Lady agree that there is an important, subtle difference between working in an environment that is predominantly male and working in one that is male-dominated?

[Mrs Laing]

The hon. Lady puts it very well. The environment in which we work is both predominantly male and male-dominated, but we might not be able to change the former as quickly as we can change the latter by making our voices heard. I am pleased to see that so many women and men are here to do so this afternoon.

If our democratic deficit is bad, the deficit is even worse in the business world. I draw the attention of the House to Lord Davies’s excellent recent report, which identifies the loss to our economy because so few women are on the boards of UK companies. Once again, we cannot insist on their being there, but we can create the conditions that make it possible for them to live up to their aspirations and the aspirations that we as a society have for women.

At the same time, two thirds of low-paid workers in Britain today are women, and across the country, two women die every week as a result of domestic violence. Throughout the work force, women still earn an average of 16% less than men. It is not by changing the law that we can change those things and the others that are wrong, but by changing the attitudes of society. That is why it is important that we talk about these matters in the Chamber.

The great tragedy of the lack of women’s representation, the lack of women in top places in industry and the lack of women doing the jobs that they could be doing is that it is a waste to our economy and our society. The pursuit of equality is not just a philosophical end. If we take the empowerment of women seriously, then across the world, and especially in developing countries where it is so desperately needed, we must give women the chance of good health and good education, to develop skills and contribute to the work force, and to give their children the health and education that will strengthen future generations. If we empower women, we will let them teach their children that co-operating, living together in peace and respecting other people is a more worthy ideal than the old-fashioned way of fighting for territory and proving oneself the stronger man.

By empowering women, we will be able to instil in future generations the idea that the most important goal is respect for fellow human beings and basic human rights. We have come a long way on basic human rights. We believe—let us take this message to developing countries, too—that people should respect their fellow human beings and accord them the same rights that they would wish to have themselves. No matter what a person’s colour, what country they come from, what their religion is, what they look like or what they sound like, we would wish to accord them equality.

As we celebrate international women’s day, and as we ensure that we keep all those issues high on the political agenda, what chance do we have as a society, and further afield across the world, of according basic human rights and human dignity to the world’s minorities if we cannot start by according those rights and that basic dignity to half the world’s population who happen to be women?

I am pleased that we are able to have this debate, and I look forward to Members examining in greater detail the issues that I have raised. I thank the House for coming together this afternoon to ensure that those of us who are privileged women in a developed society can speak up for our sisters across the world who need our help.

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[Naomi Long]

Although on the face of it the UK Government’s position—to defer a decision until the action and strategic plan have been confirmed—seems reasonable, is there not a concern that in order to show leadership, we have to give stronger commitments ahead of that strategic plan to allow this to be developed more coherently?

[Jo Swinson]

We need to do both. We need to make clear our commitment and offer every possible assistance in the swift development of the strategic plan. One of the challenges facing UN Women is to create a range of indicators that can monitor properly what progress is being made on women, peace and security goals. Under the current structure, that will take two years, but that is too long. I know that DFID Ministers have agreed with that, so anything that the Government can do to assist in driving this forward more quickly would be helpful. This is money well spent. Last year’s World Economic Forum global gender report draws a clear correlation: countries with greater gender equality have more competitive economies that grow faster. We need to be very robust about that.

We have moved away from a situation in which war and conflict were about engagement between two sets of armed forces fighting on a particular location. Wars today are characterised by violence directed against citizens and innocent people, particularly women and girls, who get caught up in fighting and unrest. It is important to recognise the role of women not only as victims within conflict, but in reaching across battle lines to call for peace. Africa’s first female head of state, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, commented:

“Women’s contribution to the search for durable peace is remarkable, unparalleled, but most often overlooked”.

In the past 25 years, only one in 40 peace agreement signatories was a woman. UN Security Council resolution 1325, in 2000, captured the essence of women’s contribution to peace. It calls on the international community to live up to its responsibility to include women in conflict prevention, peacebuilding and reconstruction, while protecting human rights during conflict and preventing gender-based violence. As a result of its sister resolution, 1888, we welcome the appointment of the first special representative on sexual violence in armed conflict, Margot Wallstrom, and I understand that she was recently in Parliament and that many Members were able to meet her. She is now leading the investigation into the shocking sexual violence that took place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Widespread violence against women and girls continues to fuel conflict and insecurity. It is often framed as unrelated to gender-based violence during peacetime, as if war happens and suddenly this violence erupts. Actually, however, the only difference is the degree to which perpetrators can act with impunity during war owing to the absence of the rule of law. All too often, this violence has been bubbling under the surface during the apparent peace. A shocking statistic is that 87% of Afghan women experience domestic violence and live with that constant insecurity. That only extends the cycle of conflict, violence and marginalisation, so it is important to deal with violence against women not only in conflict, but in apparent peacetime.

The UK was one of the first countries to develop a national action plan on implementing resolution 1325, but we still need to ensure that we have a coherent national plan and policy looking at the issues of women, peace and security.

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[Amber Rudd]

I thank my hon. Friend for her contribution; in fact, I am about to talk about a similar situation. As she implies, the difference women can make to managing their families in the developed world can create an opportunity for non-governmental organisations and perhaps UN Women to focus on women as providers in their own communities.

The human rights case for equality is, I believe, glaringly simple. Girls and women should not be disadvantaged because of their gender, and where that is the case, we need to remove the barriers in their lives. We know what a lot of those barriers are: they are to do with education, health, and taking action against violence, and the UN Women initiative will focus on those. I feel sure that few would disagree with that.

[Naomi Long]

As a former civil engineer, one of my passions is the delivery of clean water and sanitation, which is also a gendered issue. Does the hon. Lady agree that if we are to liberate women from the long haul of bringing water to their families, which inhibits their ability to access education and other health services, it is important to deliver clean water to their communities, giving them some free time to spend on other issues?

[Amber Rudd]

I wholly endorse what the hon. Lady says: clean water is indeed essential for communities and we should work with women to bring it about.

I believe that the differences I mentioned can be seen at two ends of the society—first, in small communities through women’s commitment to their families; and secondly, in government through women gaining significant representation. I do not underestimate the commitment of men to their families; it is just that they often show it in a different way. Let me illustrate that with the example of the Barefoot college at Rajasthan in India.

As some colleagues may know, the Barefoot college is a non-governmental organisation founded in 1972. It is a solar-powered school that teaches illiterate women from impoverished villages to become, among other professions, solar engineers. The college takes women from the poorest villages and teaches them the necessary professional skills without requiring them to read or write. For the past five years, it has focused on women who have come over from Africa in order to take the skills back to their native countries.

The point about focusing on women is that, as this NGO’s experience shows, they go home again and take their skills to their families and communities. The Barefoot college chooses to train for this particular solar energy course only women aged 35 to 60 who will want to keep the skills and the benefits in their community. I am afraid that the college describes the men as “untrainable”! The women, it says, are less likely to use the training as a means to move into a city or build up skills to take away from home. A certificate is not required at the end of it. The founders deliberately focus on women to make sure that the skills go home with the trainee.

The college trains women to build, install, maintain and repair solar electrification systems for off-grid electrification. Training takes six months. Once the course is completed, the equipment, along with the women who built it, is sent back to the villages where it is used to electrify the houses and schools. After five years of solar training since 2006, 97 villages in Africa have been electrified by their own trained women—a fantastic result. This initiative provides women with employment, confidence and purpose and it deliberately focuses on women as the natural supporters of their families.

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[Mr MacShane]

I entirely agree. There was a very good three-part series on trafficking on Channel 4 last autumn, narrated by Helen Mirren. It was interesting to see that not a single male using the services of trafficked sex slaves was held, questioned or even put in front of some minor magistrate’s court by the police. As was the case with domestic violence, we need the moral exemplary publicity provided by convictions or court cases. Until men have to face their responsibilities for the use of trafficked women, we will not make real progress.

[Naomi Long]

I take heed of the right hon. Gentleman’s warning about statistics, but the Home Office currently estimates that about 4,000 women have been trafficked into the UK and the sex industry. We have talked about wanting the Government to sign up to the EU directive on human trafficking and I add my voice to that call. Does he agree that it would help if the Government, when dealing with the sexual enslavement of women, were willing to tackle demand by criminalising the purchase of sexual services, which would protect trafficked women and others?

[Mr MacShane]

I agree with the hon. Lady. That figure of 4,000 was produced by one report last autumn and has been fairly comprehensively rubbished by many experts in the field. We do not know the figures. Our former colleague, Anthony Steen, the chairman of the Human Trafficking Centre, has said that he has spoken to senior police officers who know of 2,300 brothels in London. He said:

“They reckoned that 80 per cent of those working there were from abroad, and they estimated that 4,000 were trafficked. And that was just in London. My view is that the national figure is probably in excess of 10,000.”

After a long campaign for which I pay tribute to a collection of women Ministers, including the then Home Secretary and Attorney-General, some of whom are still with us and some of whom are now outside the House, the previous Government made a small amendment to criminal legislation saying that it is a crime to pay for sex with a woman who has been trafficked or coerced. To my knowledge, however, there has not been a single prosecution for that crime so far. We have been able to curtail kerb crawling by taking photographs of kerb crawlers’ cars, publishing their registration numbers and in some cases putting them in front of magistrates. That is the only language that abusers of sex slave trafficked women understand.

Some of our newspapers have adverts in the back for massage parlours and brothels.