International Development

Debate between Rory Stewart and Liz Twist

Monday 10th June 2019 Ministerial Corrections

[Liz Twist (Blaydon) (Lab)]

T3. For the past 25 years, the UK has rightly been committed to ensuring that aid spending is untied from commercial interests. How does the Secretary of State explain the ONE Campaign’s research that found that almost £475 million of UK aid was still effectively tied?

[Rory Stewart]

We are very clear that we do not tie aid spending. There may be situations in which it is beneficial. For example, we have just put £70 million into British universities to find a universal cure for snake bites. That is a very good example of how we can solve a global public health problem through investment in British universities, but that is not tied aid; it is because British research and development, particularly the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, is the leader in this area.

[Official Report, 6 June 2019, Vol. 661, c. 268.]

Letter of correction from the Secretary of State for International Development:

Errors have been identified in the response I gave to the hon. Member for Blaydon (Liz Twist).

The correct response should have been:

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rory Stewart and Liz Twist

Thursday 6th June 2019 Commons Chamber

[Rory Stewart]

First, I pay huge tribute to my hon. Friend for the passion and commitment that he and many others have put into this issue. We do work on this. We have been particularly focused on the Nepali-Indian border, across which there is terrible trafficking taking place. These are very difficult things to deal with. We are talking about global crime. It involves working with communities in Nepal to educate women and identify instances of trafficking and working with the police and customs and ultimately finding an approach that stops both the misery there and our role in the UK in propagating that misery. I really am delighted that he has taken such a lead on this.

[Liz Twist (Blaydon) (Lab)]

T3. For the past 25 years, the UK has rightly been committed to ensuring that aid spending is untied from commercial interests. How does the Secretary of State explain the ONE Campaign’s research that found that almost £475 million of UK aid was still effectively tied?

[Rory Stewart]

We are very clear that we do not tie aid spending. There may be situations in which it is beneficial. For example, we have just put £70 million into British universities to find a universal cure for snake bites. That is a very good example of how we can solve a global public health problem through investment in British universities, but that is not tied aid; it is because British research and development, particularly the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, is the leader in this area.[Official Report, 10 June 2019, Vol. 661, c. 4MC.] We can do this in many areas without feeling ashamed of ourselves, benefiting Britain and the world, and without tying our aid.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rory Stewart and Liz Twist

Thursday 29th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Rory Stewart]

The formal answer to that question is that, as the hon. Lady knows, the decision was made independently by the Crown Prosecution Service, but there are a number of laws under which we can currently secure successful criminal convictions. There is the outraging public decency legislation of 2015, and, in the case of a child, indecent images legislation. However, we clearly need think more about digital images in the current age, and we are happy to sit down and continue to discuss the hon. Lady’s Bill.

[Liz Twist (Blaydon) (Lab)]

13. What assessment she has made of the effect on women’s refuges of proposed reforms to supported housing.