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International Development
3.31 pm
The Secretary of State for International Development (Clare Short): With permission, Madam Speaker, I wish to make a statement about international development. I am today publishing a White Paper, entitled "Eliminating World Poverty: A Challenge for the 21st Century". It will be available in the Vote Office when I have finished speaking.
The White Paper sets out the Government's policies for the sustainable development of the planet. That requires greater progress in eliminating poverty. Nearly one in four of the people of the world live on the margins of human existence. That is morally repugnant and threatening to future security and stability. Our manifesto made it clear that we would give much greater priority to international development than the previous Administration. The creation of my Department, and the fact that it is headed by a Cabinet Minister, reflects that, as does the publication of the White Paper. It is the first White Paper on development for more than 20 years.
Considerable progress in poverty elimination is now possible. The past 50 years have seen great advances. On average, people live longer and in better health. More people have clean water. More are literate. More people have escaped from poverty in the past 50 years than in the previous 500 years. However, because of population growth, more people are living in abject poverty than ever before.
The challenge of development is to apply the lessons of success to enable the poor to work their way out of poverty. We are committing ourselves to refocus our international development efforts on poverty elimination. That can be achieved only through economic growth, which benefits the poor, and through measures that provide education and health care and enable the poor to develop their talents. As Michel Camdessus, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said recently:
We shall pursue the targets in partnership with developing countries that are committed to them. We shall offer such countries a longer-term commitment of support, more resources and greater flexibility in using those resources. Our aim is to ensure that good Governments succeed. The nature of our partnership will depend on the circumstances of each partner country and how we can best help. We shall also work in partnership with other donors and international institutions in pursuit of the targets. Britain has unique international links, which we intend to use actively.
British business, voluntary agencies and our research community have a vital contribution to make to the eradication of poverty. We have held discussions with all those sectors, which are keen to make a greater contribution. British business is increasingly clear that ethical business means good business in every sense and is keen to contribute to development. The aid and trade provision, which lacks poverty elimination as its central focus, will end. We are, however, keeping the option of providing mixed credits within agreed country programmes if they can contribute to the primary aim of reducing poverty. We shall consult the private sector when preparing country and other development strategies.
We shall also transform the Commonwealth Development Corporation into a public-private partnership that will increase the flow of private investment to the poorer countries. As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced last month, we shall seek to enlarge the resources at the CDC's disposal by introducing private sector capital, with the Government retaining a substantial minority holding and a golden share. The CDC will act as an ethical and socially responsible investor in poorer countries, with the proceeds from the sale, I am glad to say, being ploughed back into the development programme.
The White Paper is not simply about aid. It covers the full range of Government policies affecting poorer countries. We shall ensure much greater consistency across the range of Government policies, including environment, trade, investment and agricultural policy. All will take account of our sustainable development objectives. We shall give particular attention to human rights, transparent and accountable government and core labour standards, building on the Government's ethical approach to international relations.
We shall use our influence to promote political stability and social cohesion and, wherever possible, to resolve conflict. I recently announced a doubling of my Department's resources for de-mining. I shall be signing for the United Kingdom the international convention on anti-personnel land mines in Ottawa next month.
We must also do more to reduce the external debt of developing countries. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer launched a new initiative at the Commonwealth Finance Ministers' meeting in September. I have also set in place arrangements to write off aid debt owed to the UK by lower-income Commonwealth countries that are committed to pro-poor and transparent policies. We shall do all that we can to mobilise stronger international commitment to debt reduction.
The Government also attach great importance to increasing development awareness in Britain. Every child should be educated about development issues so that they can influence the shape of the world that they will inherit, and every adult should have the chance to influence the Government's policies. We shall establish a working group of educationists and others to improve development education. We also intend to establish an annual development policy forum representing the many strands of society with an interest in international development. We shall publish an annual report explaining how we shall secure the objectives described in the White Paper, and what progress has been made against the international development targets year on year. We shall also consult widely on the case for a new international development Act.
The resources that the international community has made available to support the development process have shamefully declined over recent years. The previous Administration almost halved Britain's development assistance as a proportion of gross national product. The Government will reverse the decline in UK spending on development assistance. We also reaffirm our commitment to the 0.7 per cent. UN target.
Every generation has a moral duty to reach out to the poor and needy, but the present generation carries an extra responsibility to ensure that the international development targets are met. If we do not, there is a real danger that by the middle of the next century the world will simply not be sustainable. Population pressures, environmental degradation, conflict and disease could impose catastrophic pressure on the planet.
The White Paper sets out how we can make progress. We should not overestimate what we can achieve alone, but we should not underestimate what we can achieve with others. The new British Government commit themselves in the White Paper to working for a major advance in poverty elimination and the building of a more just and sustainable future for all the people of the world.
Sir Alastair Goodlad (Eddisbury):
I thank the Secretary of State for making her statement to the House, and for giving us good prior notice of it. I assure her, as I did earlier in the year, that international development is an issue in which both sides of the House take the deepest possible interest. Does she share my belief that an informed debate on this subject before too very long would be helpful, and that the Select Committee on International Development should examine her document thoroughly before we have a full debate?
Does the Secretary of State recollect that aid policy was reviewed only three years ago? Does she accept that the White Paper broadly reaffirms the priorities and policies that were set then? Does she recognise how very welcome is the Government's commitment to seek to halve the number of people living in absolute poverty by 2015, and does she acknowledge that the target was set by the previous Government? Does she accept that the adoption of the 2015 target--which, as she said, is an extremely ambitious but none the less realistic target--is a tribute to her predecessor, Lynda Chalker, whose achievements the House and many people throughout the world respect and the White Paper underlines?
Will the Secretary of State confirm that the White Paper reasserts the four key points for development set out in the Conservative Government's review of aid? They were that the purpose of aid is to promote sound political and economic policies; stronger health and education services; sustainable development; and co-operation with our international partners.
Does the Secretary of State acknowledge, as businesses do, that the aid and trade provision, which was introduced by a previous Labour Government, has provided important projects that have benefited developing countries as well as boosted British enterprise? Which of the criteria governing ATP cause her particular problems, and which of the projects approved since 1993 would she have cancelled?
For which countries will the mixed credits to which the Secretary of State referred be available, and in what amounts? Which in-country programmes will be increased
to reflect the current and projected levels of ATP funding? Will the mixed credits in aggregate be more or less than the current ATP budget? Pending clarification of that, recipient countries and the business community will feel that--how shall I put it?--the Government emerge from this part of the White Paper with, at best, mixed credit.
I remind the Secretary of State that the House is still waiting for the details of the proposed public-private partnership for the CDC. Will she join me in paying tribute to the work done by the CDC? Does she agree that the longer the details for the new arrangements are kept secret, the more uncertainty it will bring to the CDC and those who want to work with it? Can she say how the new entity will be financed in terms of debt and equity, how much she expects to be the proceeds from the sale of the majority of the Government's interests, whether the sum would constitute a net increase in the aid budget and when the new entity will come into being?
Does the Secretary of State accept that tied aid has enabled British firms to benefit from British aid programmes over the years, as well as the recipient countries? Does she agree that any untied British aid must be given in conjunction with other donors, because unilateral untying, like universal disarmament, would ultimately be pointless?
The Secretary of State acknowledged the work done by the previous Government to reduce third-world debt. Will she confirm her support for the Jubilee 2000 initiative, and say what measures will be taken to ensure that debt relief is linked to good government and sound economic criteria? Will she say how much of the aid debt to which she referred, owed to the United Kingdom by lower- income Commonwealth countries committed to pro-poor and transparent policies--potentially up to £132 million--she is writing off, and tell us when that will happen? Will she also tell us how she sees the Government's role in the world's campaign against corruption in this context?
The Secretary of State mentioned the impact of population expansion on developing countries, but I do not think that I heard her commit the Government to continuing to support the family planning programme sponsored by her Department and by the United Nations. I am sure that the House would be grateful if she did so.
Does the Secretary of State wish to take the opportunity to endorse the OECD report that praised the quality of bilateral British aid? Can she tell us what measures the Government will take to ensure that that quality is maintained, and that there is proper oversight of multilateral donor organisations? In particular, what plans has she to improve the management of the European Union's environmental aid during the British presidency? Will she join me in paying tribute to the dedication of the civil servants and non-governmental organisation employees whose professionalism has contributed so much to the present high regard in which British aid is held?
I am sure that the Secretary of State shares the House's concern over today's news about the latest evacuation on Montserrat. Does she agree that the people of Montserrat desperately need the British Government's help to provide housing, safeguard health, build an airstrip and bring about a return to the self-sufficiency of which the island is proud? Does she agree that British dependent territories should have first call on British aid for all reasonable
purposes? Is she aware that the previous Government used the contingency reserve to support Montserrat, and that the present Government should do the same?
The Government's support for the United Nations' 0.7 per cent. public aid target is not new; but will the Secretary of State undertake that it will now be met in the lifetime of the present Parliament? Will she confirm that there is a larger UN target of 1 per cent. of gross national product, which takes into account public and private money, and that in the last financial year the United Kingdom exceeded that target by more than a third? It was second to the Netherlands in GNP percentage terms as a donor of aid to the developing world. Will the Secretary of State commit the Government to continuing to exceed that larger target, and will she acknowledge that it is not the source of funding that matters, but its application? Will she tell the House whether she expects to increase the amount of money disbursed for bilateral aid?
"We support high quality growth. This means growth that results in a permanent reduction in poverty and greater equality of economic opportunity."
We shall measure our progress against clear, internationally accepted targets that have been agreed at the great United Nations conferences and drawn together by the development committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The key target is to halve the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015. The targets also cover environmental conservation and human development. We want everyone in the world to have access to basic health care, education and clean water. The targets are challenging, but they are both affordable and achievable if we can mobilise sufficient political will in the world system to achieve what can be achieved.
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