| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
CHURCH COMMISSIONERS
The hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners, was asked--
Spending (Chichester)
41. Mr. Robert Key (Salisbury): If he will list by category expenditure by the Church Commissioners in the last three financial years on (a) the diocese of Chichester and (b) the Dean and Chapter of Chichester; and if he will make a statement. [86571]
Mr. Stuart Bell (Second Church Estates Commissioner, representing the Church Commissioners): The Diocese of Chichester received £170,000 per annum in 1996 and 1997 and £163,000 in 1998 in respect of stipend support from the Church Commissioners, mainly in the form of statutory payments of guaranteed annuities and other grants paid direct to clergy.
Mr. Key: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. Does he agree that those figures are modest and that unwarranted attacks on alleged mis-spending by clergy of the Church of England and absurd claims by hon. Members that bishops live extravagant life styles do nothing to assist the Church and merely show that people who indulge in such ridiculous and pathetic attacks know nothing about the Church of England?
Mr. Bell: I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman's comments. I could not put it better myself.
Kosovo and G8 Summit
3.31 pm
The Prime Minister (Mr. Tony Blair): With permission, Madam Speaker, I should like to make a statement on Kosovo and the G8 summit in Cologne. Copies of the documents issued at the summit are being placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Ninety days after our military action began, I can tell the House that all Serb forces have withdrawn from Kosovo. This is a huge achievement, and many observers in this country and in this House were sceptical that it would ever be achieved. However, NATO's unity, the determination to prevail and the professionalism of our forces under General Sir Mike Jackson have proved them wrong. Milosevic's forces are out, our forces are in and soon the refugees will go home. Some are already returning, despite the risks. I met the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the margins of the summit, and the organised return of the refugees will begin on 1 July.
Kosovo was discussed extensively at the G8 summit and two important advances were tied down during the weekend. First, agreement was reached on Russian participation in KFOR. Russia will supply up to 3,600 troops for a force that is planned to reach some 50,000. They will have areas of operation in three different sectors rather than being concentrated in one area. Russia will provide a deputy to the commander in each sector where they are present and Russian troops will be integrated into the unified force with command-and-control arrangements very similar to those for Russian troops in the NATO-led forces in Bosnia.
Secondly, late last night, the Kosovo Liberation Army signed an undertaking with the KFOR Commander General Mike Jackson to hand in its weapons and to demilitarise its organisation. I want to pay tribute to John Reith, the British NATO General in charge of the NATO force in Albania, who conducted these difficult and complex negotiations so well. The KLA have agreed that, within seven days, their forces will gather in assembly areas. Within 30 days, all prohibited weapons--with the exception of automatic small arms--will be handed in. Automatic small arms will be handed in in phases over 90 days, after which time the assembly areas will come under the full control of the KFOR commander and all KLA members have to cease wearing their uniforms and insignia. The KLA will then be de-militarised.
The progress made in the few days since Milosevic finally caved in has been extraordinary: on the withdrawal of Serb forces, on the deployment of ours, on the role of the Russians, and now on the agreement to demilitarise the KLA. This is a remarkable story, and Britain and British forces can be very proud of their role in it.
Another far worse story is unfolding as the true horrors that Kosovo has lived through come to light. I warned the House that we would be shocked by what we found when we finally entered Kosovo, and so it has proved: torture chambers, organised rape, the butchering of children--massacre, after massacre, after massacre. If ever justification were needed for the military campaign, the whole world has seen it now. The war crimes investigators have a massive task before them.
Let no one think that Serbia can regain a place among civilised nations while it is led by an indicted war criminal. I say this to the Serb people: "The world cannot
help you rebuild your country while Milosevic is at its head. Nor will the world understand, as the full extent of these atrocities is revealed, if you just turn a blind eye to the truth and pretend that it is nothing to do with you. This is your country, and this evil was carried out by your soldiers and by your leaders."
To the rest of the region, it is clear from the G8 summit that the international community will stand by the promises we made to them. The countries of the region stood with us, without compromise, during this conflict. We owe them a debt. We made a pledge to help rebuild the region and we will stand by that pledge. We want to rebuild the Balkans and to integrate the countries one with another and with the rest of Europe. We cannot afford another conflict like this one: we must invest now for peace in Kosovo, and in the Balkans as a whole. At the G8, we agreed that there should be a Balkans summit in the next few months, at which we and the leaders of the democratic countries of south-east Europe would plan the way ahead for the region and mobilise the necessary support.
I also met President Yeltsin and the new Russian Prime Minister, Mr. Stephashin, at the summit. President Yeltsin and I agreed to put our recent difficulties behind us and, in his words, make our relations stronger together. Russia played a vital part in the successful resolution of this conflict and I am sure that this House will join me in thanking Russia's leaders for the part that they played.
Events in Kosovo inevitably dominated the coverage. However, the summit at Cologne covered a range of other issues that are of huge political and economic significance for all our countries--issues including the environment, non-proliferation, the millennium bug and the killer diseases of AIDS and malaria. However, for me, most important of all was the progress that we were able to announce on third world debt.
Britain has long been in the forefront of the international effort to release the poorest countries of the world from the chains of massive debt. At Birmingham last year, we pledged to support the speedy extension of debt relief to more countries. My right hon. Friends the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for International Development have worked hard with Church leaders, Jubilee 2000, Oxfam, Comic Relief and others to secure the most generous package possible. The measures that leaders adopted in Cologne mark a significant step forward. Those measures will reduce the debt of the world's poorest countries by an extra $70 billion, on top of further traditional debt relief of $30 billion; and will help more countries to qualify for highly indebted poorest countries--HIPC--debt relief, by making the debt sustainability criteria more generous.
We also took steps to ensure that the new HIPC scheme will deliver debt relief more quickly. We will ensure that countries feel the full benefits of debt relief after a maximum of just three years, rather than six as now. We have agreed that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund should take steps to ensure that at least three quarters of eligible countries get the benefits of debt relief by the end of next year; and, in principle, we agreed a new partnership--public-private--in the fight against poverty in the developing world by inviting the private sector to contribute voluntarily to the new millennium fund.
I would like to see us go further still on debt; it is an issue whose time has come. I will personally do whatever I can to make that happen. However, the impact of the agreement that we reached this weekend should not be underestimated: more than two thirds of the official debt owed by the world's poorest countries will now be completely written off.
At the summit, most countries--particularly Japan--were able to report improved economic prospects for the year ahead. However, the lessons of last year's financial crisis must be properly learned. At the summit, we were able to announce a six-point plan for strengthening the international financial system--including measures to increase the effectiveness of the IMF and the other international financial institutions; proposals to promote transparency and best practice, with the IMF monitoring compliance with new codes and standards; and a new framework for involving the private sector in crisis prevention and management. Many of those proposals reflect ideas that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor and I have put forward during the past year. Once fully implemented, they will transform the rules of the game in the global financial markets. Taken together, I have no doubt that they will greatly strengthen the efficiency and robustness of the international financial system.
Those reforms will need to be accompanied by a continuing worldwide effort to reduce barriers to trade. The millennium trade round to be launched at this year's World Trade Organization Ministerial in Seattle represents a key opportunity. At Cologne, we agreed that the new round should be broad based and ambitious. It must also deliver substantial benefits for the developing world.
We also committed ourselves to a science-based, rules-based approach in dealing with the impact of biotechnology. As part of a joint initiative including the UK, the G8 agreed to ask Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development experts to study the issues raised by recent developments in biotechnology and other aspects of food safety. We need to look at whether the current regulatory and institutional framework can be strengthened; next year's summit will return to that.
Finally, I was pleased that we were able to spend some time at the summit on the key domestic policy challenge of our time: how to equip all our citizens to survive and prosper in the knowledge-based economy of the future. Education and lifelong learning are the passport to success in today's global economy. They are also the foundations of a prosperous and more just society. So I was delighted that the other G8 leaders agreed to support the idea of a G8 charter on aims and ambitions for lifelong learning to underline our strong personal commitment to raising educational standards, not just in our own countries but across the globe.
| Next Section
| Index | Home Page |