International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Bill

Debate between Thérèse Coffey and Mark Hendrick

Friday 13th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mark Hendrick]

Yes, it does. We are talking about percentages. If we have growth, the overall budget will increase in real terms, but the percentage will stay the same. If GNI contracts because we are in recession, the real amount will fall, but the percentage will stay the same. The Bill maintains a percentage commitment, not an absolute commitment in real terms.

Clause 4 provides for the repeal of the Secretary of State’s duty in section 3 of the 2006 Act to forecast when the 0.7% target will be met. That repeal takes account of the Secretary of State’s new duty—in clause 1 —to ensure that the UK meets the 0.7% target from 2013 onwards.

Finally, clause 5 sets up a new body, which for the purposes of convenience I have called the independent international development office. The new body would bear a great deal of relation to the current Independent Commission for Aid Impact, which the Secretary of State rightly set up just over a year ago to answer to the Select Committee on International Development so that it can oversee the effectiveness and efficiency of aid administered throughout the world. The new body would keep a much closer eye on the Department and its performance, and it would have a statutory footing—it would be established in law.

[Dr Thérèse Coffey (Suffolk Coastal) (Con)]

I support a lot of what the hon. Gentleman tries to do in the Bill, but I am concerned about clause 4. I wonder why we are duplicating functions, but the Bill also mentions

“a pre-appointment hearing by, and with the consent of, the International Development Committee”.

To almost resurrect a discussion on other Bills, why does he believe that this extra obligation of monitoring the Department is not the job of the Select Committee and Parliament as a whole? Why do we need that external body?

[Mark Hendrick]

If the Government’s commitment is written into law—the intention is that Governments of whichever party must keep to it—the body needs a statutory footing, which the current Independent Commission for Aid Impact does not have. The new body will also mean much tighter scrutiny: it will be able to oversee the work of the Department in a way that the current ICAI cannot because it does not have a statutory basis. I accept the hon. Lady’s point on procedures arising from the Bill, but we can iron those out in Committee should the Bill make progress.

It is right, during a time of hardship, that we continue to fight against poverty. I urge the House to grasp the opportunity and to support my Bill. That will fulfil not only a pre-election promise but, more importantly, a promise to fight, and one day to fulfil, that dream of eradicating poverty.