Oral Answers to Questions

Stephen O'Brien Excerpts

Wednesday 12th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Richard Ottaway (Croydon South) (Con)]

4. What his Department’s policy is on reducing poverty in Africa.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Mr Stephen O'Brien)]

DFID’s policy for reducing poverty in Africa focuses, alongside country Governments, on achieving the millennium development goals, including through wealth creation, strengthening governance and security, improving the lives of women and girls, and tackling climate change. We will implement this policy in a cost-effective and transparent way.

[Richard Ottaway]

The Minister and I agree that no country has got itself out of poverty without first addressing population growth, and I congratulate the Department on what it is doing in that area. Does he agree, however, that much aid in Africa comes through non-governmental organisations? To what extent are they taking on the need to address population policies?

[Mr O'Brien]

I thank my hon. Friend for his observations. Last month, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State launched the framework for results for improving reproductive, maternal and newborn health. It was developed in consultation with NGOs, and it has been widely disseminated and welcomed. Work is under way with NGOs at an international, regional and, indeed, country level to ensure that women have reproductive health choices and to improve the quality and accessibility of services such as those in Malawi, which demonstrates that real progress has been made in ensuring that we tackle the priority of population effects.

[Mr Russell Brown (Dumfries and Galloway) (Lab)]

What assessment have the Minister and the Secretary of State made of the humanitarian situation in Côte d’Ivoire, and what support has his Department provided?

[Mr O'Brien]

We are giving support primarily through the Red Cross, and we support the measures taken by the EU and the African Union to bring about a peaceful transfer of power in Ivory Coast, which will have the greatest effect on humanitarian interests, including the EU visa ban on Laurent Gbagbo and his closest advisers. We certainly support the UN’s position in declaring the presidential election valid, and in insisting that Mr Ouattara is the legitimate winner. The UK stands ready to help through our trusted partners if the humanitarian situation deteriorates.

[Mr Gary Streeter (South West Devon) (Con)]

Access to sanitation is one of the millennium development goals, and will sadly be missed by a mile, but it is hugely relevant to almost every country in Africa. What extra assistance can the Minister’s excellent Department give over the next 12 months to try to improve access to water and sanitation for the people of that continent?

[Mr O'Brien]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point, and I can certainly assure him that the way in which work will be implemented to achieve access to clean water and better sanitation is central to the programmes developed under the bilateral and multilateral aid reviews, and will be announced in the relatively near future.

[Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab)]

6. If he will bring forward legislative proposals to make binding the 0.7% target for official development assistance as a proportion of gross national income.

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

7. What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change on financial contributions to support climate change mitigation for developing countries through the green climate fund.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Mr Stephen O'Brien)]

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State regularly discusses international climate issues with the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and his ministerial colleagues. We welcome the agreement at Cancun to establish a green climate fund, but no decisions have yet been taken on a financial contribution. [Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. There are far too many noisy private conversations taking place in the Chamber. I want to hear Fiona O’Donnell.

[Fiona O'Donnell]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I welcome the reaffirmation of the need to support developing countries in responding to climate change, as agreed at Cancun last year, but we still do not have the detail of where the money will come from. Will the Minister reassure the House that money will not be diverted from the aid budget, but that his Government will make additional funds available by doing as we did in government, and setting a cap on the amount of money that can be transferred from the aid budget to respond to climate change?

[Mr O'Brien]

The clear answer is that the £2.9 billion of international climate finance announced in the spending review is being met out of a rising overseas development assistance budget and will continue to account for less than 10% of ODA, as indeed was set by the previous Government.

[Paul Maynard (Blackpool North and Cleveleys) (Con)]

Will the Minister join me in congratulating students at St Mary’s college in my constituency who have been campaigning with the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development to lobby for greater Government aid to developing nations to help to mitigate climate change? Will he assure the House, however, that any money that goes to those developing nations will be subject to robust oversight to make sure that it is spent properly and accountably?

[Mr O'Brien]

I am pleased to join in congratulating my hon. Friend’s local college on its efforts and support. I can assure him that at all times the expenditure made in relation to these and other development issues is being subjected to the new transparency and accountability programmes and rules that we are introducing. That is live as we speak, so he can assure his college that that is in place.

[Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North) (Lab)]

8. What steps his Department is taking to support the work of Governments in developing countries to increase the size of their tax base.

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[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Mr Stephen O'Brien)]

The Government regularly discuss with international counterparts the work of the UN Commission on Population and Development to ensure that sexual and reproductive health and rights are included in international strategies. The commission’s theme for 2011 is fertility, reproductive health and development.

[Katy Clark]

I thank the Minister for that answer. He will be aware that we now have the largest ever number of people—1.2 billion—of reproductive age, but we are not spending the money that we set ourselves internationally as targets on reproductive health and family planning. Does he agree that there needs to be greater emphasis on that area, and will he commit his Government to ensuring that more money is provided for it?

[Mr O'Brien]

I congratulate the hon. Lady on her very accurate observations, which are absolutely fundamental to good development. I assure her that, in the reproductive, maternal health and neo-natal document that we published on 31 December, that is precisely the emphasis on, and increased access to, family planning that is proposed and in which we intend to take a lead, through the design of our programmes, as we roll out their announcement following the bilateral aid reviews.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

10. What recent progress he has made on his review of emergency humanitarian response capability.