Ebola Outbreak: DRC

Nick Smith Excerpts

Monday 20th May 2019 Commons Chamber

[Rory Stewart]

In terms of the worst-case scenarios we are looking at, Goma is a very serious situation. Butembo, as I explained to the House, has a population of 1 million. Goma is far larger. It is a considerable urban settlement and a major trading port right across to Rwanda. It would not be possible to vaccinate everybody in Goma. There are simply more millions of people than we have vaccines to insert. It is therefore very, very important that we contain the outbreak by ring-vaccination around the area of Butembo. If it moves to Goma, we will have to move to a totally different stage of response, so we must do all we can to prevent that happening.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

I thank the Secretary of State for his statement, which was very helpful. I understand that in Sierra Leone’s most recent Ebola outbreak nearly 10% of that country’s health professionals were killed. This disease can therefore have a huge impact on a country. The Secretary of State talked about much distrust surrounding this outbreak. Will he say more about what is being done to raise awareness and emphasise the impact of Ebola, so we can contain it?

Oral Answers to Questions

Nick Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 17th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)]

2. What estimate she has made of the loss of tax receipts to developing countries by the use of tax havens by multinational companies operating in those countries in the last three years.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

4. What estimate she has made of the loss of tax receipts to developing countries by the use of tax havens by multinational companies operating in those countries in the last three years.

[Andy Sawford (Corby) (Lab/Co-op)]

6. What estimate she has made of the loss of tax receipts to developing countries by the use of tax havens by multinational companies operating in those countries in the last three years.

--- Later in debate ---

[Justine Greening]

As the hon. Lady will be aware, one of the key objectives of the G8 presidency, which we had last year, was about tax transparency. I am really proud that our Government have led the way in tackling issues such as base erosion and profit shifting. Rules that have been in place since the 1920s need to be updated for today’s modern corporate world. We are making big steps on that and big steps on transparency and beneficial ownership, and we will continue to play our role, leading the international effort to improve the rules so that we can get the tax due in the countries where the work has taken place.

[Nick Smith]

May I press the Secretary of State on this? Does she not accept that the overseas territories and Crown dependencies must go beyond a promise to implement the G20 principles, and actually introduce public registers of beneficial ownership?

[Justine Greening]

The hon. Gentleman is talking about G20 progress that was instigated by this Government when we held the G8 presidency. I am tempted to make the point that the Labour Government had 13 years in which to take steps in this direction, and entirely failed to do so. We took some important steps during our G8 presidency, and, as he will know, that involved the overseas territories. We are not saying that we have gone all the way down the path, but we are starting to move down it for the first time, and I think that the hon. Gentleman should welcome that. I assure him that we will continue to work to ensure that we bring the rest of the international community with us.

Typhoon Haiyan

Nick Smith Excerpts

Thursday 28th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

I express my deep condolences to the family and to all those people who have lost loved ones in the crisis. I would be happy to meet the Filipino community and I had the chance to meet some of them a couple of Fridays ago when we had a special mass at Westminster cathedral. I have been in close contact with the Philippine ambassador to London since the crisis hit and I saw him this weekend in the Philippines. I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend’s local community.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

Others on both sides of the House have emphasised how the UK and the British people have shown great generosity to help out in the Philippines, but what discussions has she had with her international counterparts to ensure that all nations pull their weight and help out?

[Justine Greening]

Those discussions are now well under way. I spoke yesterday with Baroness Valerie Amos, who leads the UN humanitarian effort. It is clear to me that although the UK can play and is playing a leading role in responding to the crisis, it is important that other countries continue to play their role. We have seen massive generosity from across the international community, but there will be a further UN flash appeal in December. I encourage the whole international community to respond to that flash appeal positively so that we can ensure that we keep the humanitarian effort going.

Oral Answers to Questions

Nick Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Duncan]

I know that my hon. Friend has in his constituency a Nepali community to which he pays a great deal of attention. Nepal has faced a bit of a logjam for a number of years, in that it has needed elections to approve a constitution and a constitution to approve elections. We hope that the November elections will take place with full participation and no violence.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

What work is the Department doing to stop any violence between competing parties in the November elections?

[Mr Duncan]

The UK is at the forefront of engaging with politicians of all parties in Nepal. My right hon. Friends in the Foreign Office and we in the Department for International Development visit them regularly and have urged all of them to participate. When I visited in April, I was very robust in urging some of the smaller Maoist parties to participate when at the time they were minded not to do so.

Oral Answers to Questions

Nick Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 17th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Lynne Featherstone]

My hon. Friend has made an important point. West Africa has particularly high rates of population growth, and there is much less take-up of family planning there. DFID’s work involves not only family planning—which is a complex issue—but the delaying of first pregnancies, access to economic assets for girls, getting girls through secondary school and preventing violence, all of which contribute to making the population richer and more successful.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

11. The international remittance trade is worth $500 billion a year. How will DFID support United Kingdom links with countries in north and west Africa where many people depend on remittances?

[Lynne Featherstone]

Remittances are indeed very important. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has met the head of Barclays to discuss the issue, with the aim of ensuring that remittances can be sent back to a country when they have the potential to increase that country’s GDP.

Oral Answers to Questions

Nick Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 12th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. As I said, our development relationship with India needs to match the India of today and the future rather than the India of yesterday, which means we can reprioritise our portfolio of development spend on countries where we believe we can still make a difference. Without that assistance from the UK, we would not be able to see change on the ground.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

Can the Secretary of State reveal how much financial aid will be provided to India through the UK’s technical assistance?

[Justine Greening]

We currently have an aid programme of around £270 million a year. After we complete our transition to technical assistance, we expect to spend approximately just under £30 million from 2015 onwards, to help the Indian Government to get the most out of the £50 billion a year they spend on things such as health and education.

Oral Answers to Questions

Nick Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 11th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I absolutely agree that in a coalition we need to keep working out the next set of things we want to achieve. This coalition has achieved cuts to corporation tax, taking people out of income tax, a massive expansion in trust schools, and a huge contribution to our health service—which is now performing better than at any time in the past decade—and I am committed to making sure we now look at all the next steps we want to take to make our country a better place to live.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

Q12. A grandfather from Blaenau Gwent fears the dole for his grandson returning from Afghanistan; some 20,000 soldiers face losing their jobs. Labour has persuaded big firms, including John Lewis, to guarantee veterans a job interview. Will the Prime Minister get the public sector to do the same?

[The Prime Minister]

I welcome what the hon. Gentleman says. We should do everything we can to work with employers, whether in the public or the private sector, to help find ex-service personnel jobs. They are people who have been trained brilliantly and who have contributed incredible things to our country, and I am sure we can do much more to help them find jobs. For instance, in the public sector my right hon. Friend the Education Secretary has a programme of “troops to teachers” to try to get people who have served our country to inspire future generations. I think that is an excellent scheme.