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Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 4 November 1997
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Child Labour
Mr. Wigley: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on progress at the Oslo Conference on preventing the exploitation of child labour in third world and developing countries. [13359]
Clare Short: The Conference was organised by the Norwegian Government with the joint support of the ILO and UNICEF. Building on an earlier conference in Amsterdam, as well as three subsequent regional conferences in Asia, Africa and Latin America, its purpose was to achieve agreement on an Agenda for Action, to be taken forward by governments--41 were represented, the majority from developing countries; representatives of multilateral organisations, trades unions, employers associations and NGOs were also represented at the conference.
The Conference was a success. It produced a sensible and balanced agenda for action; it provided the opportunity for the different constituents to understand each other's viewpoints and agree more collaborative ways of working together. While some further work will be required to achieve agreement next year on the new ILO Convention on Intolerable Child Labour, the Oslo Conference will have strengthened in-country and international partnerships for tackling the problem on the ground.
The Conference was largely devoted to working sessions on the themes of legislation, education and social mobilisation. Views on priorities and sequencing between these themes depended largely on each participant's constituency and country of origin. Cutting across each working group was a discussion of how to take measures to end child labour while protecting the livelihoods of working children and their families.
In my statement to the Conference I said that the industrialised world should re-read its own history concerning our own past exploitation of children and then approach this subject with due humility. But our own history reminds us how destructive child labour can be. It stunts childhood and damages health, and the deprivation of education it entails sentences the child concerned to a lifetime of poverty. At the same time, child labour undermines the wages of adults and entrenches families in poverty. If the poor countries are to develop, they must ensure that the children are in school and their parents at work.
I mentioned the great public concern in the UK about child labour. UK consumers are increasingly supporting ethical movements and are not prepared to buy goods produced by exploiting children. But we have learnt that boycotts or over-night exclusion of children from
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industries can drive the children into worse exploitation. So we must devise strategies that benefit the children and their families. Football stitching is not the most intolerable type of work for children in Pakistan, but it is one which drew international attention. We have to start work where we can. I therefore announced our intention to fund Save the Children to implement a social protection programme in Sialkot so that when, at the end of next year, children stop working in the football stitching industry, they are not forced into more hazardous and exploitative work. We intend that the model developed in Sialkot will then be adapted and applied in another province, focusing on removing and protecting children from more intolerable forms of work which are less susceptible to pressure form international consumers.
Mr. Malcolm Bruce:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will publish the action plan, due by 1 October 1997, for resolving the computer millennium problem in her Department, its agencies and other public bodies for which she is responsible; if such was fully completed on time; and if she will make a statement. [13627]
Clare Short:
Because of the extent of public interest in the issue, DFID's costed action plans, along with that of other government departments, will be reported first to Parliament after analysis by the Central Information Technology Unit (Cabinet Office) and Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency to which DFID's plans were notified in October 1997. They will be available thereafter.
Mr. Malcolm Bruce:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development when her Department, its agencies and other public bodies for which she is responsible completed the millennium computer compliance audits of systems; and if she will make a statement. [13630]
Clare Short:
An audit of DFID's systems was completed in June 1997 and identified a small number of departmental systems that were not millennium compliant in addition to those corporate systems that had already been identified.
Mr. Malcolm Bruce:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development which (a) Minister and (b) civil servant has overall responsibility for ensuring millennium computer compliance in her Department and its associated public bodies. [13631]
Clare Short:
As Secretary of State I have overall responsibility. The responsible official within the Department is Mr. A. Davis, Head of the Information Systems Department.
Mr. Malcolm Bruce:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on what funding provision has been made to accommodate the expenditure needed to resolve the computer millennium problem; and if she expects to have sufficient funding to pay for the work necessary to achieve complete millennium compliance by 1 January 2000. [13629]
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Clare Short:
For 1997-98 we have made provision for £145,000 consisting of £100,000 for purchasing assistance and £45,000 of departmental staff's time working on year 2000 issues. For 1998-99 provision of £65,000 has been made to cover departmental staff time testing changes. The budgets are adequate unless there are unforseen difficulties.
Mr. Malcolm Bruce:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what is her latest estimate of the total cost of resolving the computer millennium problem in (a) her Department, (b) its agencies and (c) other public bodies for which she is responsible; if she will state in each case (i) expenditure incurred to date, (ii) expenditure planned for 1997-98, (iii) expenditure planned for 1998-99 and (iv) expenditure planned for 1999-2000; and if she will make a statement. [13628]
Clare Short:
The figures of expenditure to date are not available for the corporate systems already made millennium compliant. This is because they were being transferred to a new system for resource accounting and no separate costs for staff input were kept. An estimated £10,000 of staff time establishing inventory, planning and reporting on other systems has been incurred to date.
Jane Griffiths:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on the effect of the lack of rule of law in southern Ethiopia on the delivery of United Kingdom supported aid programmes to that country. [13750]
Clare Short:
There has been no disruption to UK supported aid programmes in southern Ethiopia arising from legal or security problems in that region.
Ms Jennifer Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on the World Trade Organisation's ruling on Caribbean banana imports to the EU and its impact on overseas aid to the Caribbean. [14048]
Clare Short:
The EU bananas regime represents a serious attempt to meet our obligations to our trading partners and developing countries. We are obviously disappointed that parts of it have been found incompatible with the WTO, but accept that the Community must now set about revising the EU arrangements to bring them into conformity with the WTO's rules.
The Government is considering the WTO findings on the EU banana regime in liaison with the Commission in Brussels, which have the principal responsibility for proposing a new WTO compatible regime. We intend to play a major role as leading advocates of the legitimate interests of those developing countries in the Caribbean which have traditionally supplied the UK market. They can rest assured that we have their interest high on our agenda.
The Windward Islands, already have large allocations of aid from the European Union under the Stabex facility. These are being deployed to strengthen the competitiveness of the banana industry, assist economic diversification and develop social safety nets. The case
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for additional finance from the European Union will be examined as the implications of the WTO findings become clearer.
Mr. Dalyell:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to his Department's letter to the hon. Member for Linlithgow on the peoples of the New Guinea highlands, what measures he is taking to help the victims of drought in Papua New Guinea. [14414]
Clare Short:
As stated in the letter of 20 October to the hon. Member for Linlithgow, we have already provided £50,000 for the purchase of food, medicines and water containers. We are now considering the 28 October appeal from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and are expecting proposals from CAFOD and World Vision.
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