Oral Answers to Questions

Ruth Cadbury Excerpts

Tuesday 30th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Bambos Charalambous (Enfield, Southgate) (Lab)]

Whether the Government plan to ring-fence the budget for official development assistance in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

Whether the Government plan to ring-fence the budget for official development assistance in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

[Taiwo Owatemi (Coventry North West) (Lab)]

Whether the Government plan to ring-fence the budget for official development assistance in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

--- Later in debate ---

[James Duddridge]

Yes.

[Ruth Cadbury]

Those with long memories will remember the Pergau dam scandal of the 1990s, where the High Court found that the Government had unlawfully provided aid in exchange for a lucrative arms contract. That was one reason why the Labour Government made the Department for International Development a separate and independent Department from the Foreign Office. What steps will the Government be taking to ensure that we do not see a repeat of the Pergau dam scandal in the future?

[James Duddridge]

We do not need a separate Department to learn lessons from the past, but that type of transaction would be wholly inappropriate and would not happen under this ministerial team.