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Overseas Development Aid
11. Mr. Colin Challen (Morley and Rothwell) (Lab): What assessment he has made of the main obstacles to delivering the targets set in the millennium development goals. [158477]
12. Mr. Huw Edwards (Monmouth) (Lab): If he will make a statement on progress to achieve the millennium development goals. [158478]
The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Gordon Brown): Since 1997 we have raised overseas development aid from 0.26 per cent. of gross national income to a projected 0.4 per cent. To achieve the millennium development goals, including 80 million more school places, will not only take economic reform, achieving value for money in aid and a settlement of the world trade talks, but cannot be achieved without those increases in overseas development aid.
Mr. Challen : I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that answer, which shows that Britain is leading the way
in the attempt to meet those goals. I congratulate my right hon. Friend on the speech he gave to faith groups and non-governmental organisations on 18 February when, among many other things, he said:
- "Too often we have set goals, reset them, and recalibrated them again so that all we end up doing is mitigating the extent to which we have failed."
Mr. Brown: My hon. Friend is right. The latest information is that the major millennium goals of getting every child into education, halving poverty and achieving a two-thirds reduction in infant mortality will not, on present trends, be met by 2115, far less by 2015. That is why we need extra resources and why we cannot escape the question of how we can create those resources. It is no use people saying that they support our international finance facility without committing themselves to further overseas aid. I wish that we had a consensus in the House of Commons for further increases in overseas aid, but unfortunately the Conservatives wish to cut the budget.
Mr. Edwards: May I tell my right hon. Friend that there is considerable support in my constituency for the millennium development goals, especially those to combat gender inequality and to promote maternal health? Those concerns will be highlighted tonight when Glenys Kinnock opens the Monmouth women's festival. Given that the UK assumes the presidency of the G7 next year, how will my right hon. Friend persuade the other wealthy countries of the world to support the international finance facility in order to achieve those goals?
Mr. Brown: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Next year is important because it is the first year in which a millennium development target falls due to be met—namely, the target on reducing inequalities in educational opportunities for girls and women. That target will not be met. It is also the year when we hold the G7 presidency. We believe, given the establishment of the commission on Africa, that our G7 presidency will indeed be a development presidency. We are determined to make progress. One of the ways in which we shall do so is the conference that France and Britain have called for next month in Paris. Sixty countries will attend, and we hope to persuade them of the virtues of the international finance facility, which could, if it worked, double the amount of aid for the next 10 years.
Miss Anne McIntosh (Vale of York) (Con): Will the Chancellor be minded to link the millennium development goals with the Government's war on terror, which we support? In particular, will he push in world trade talks for alternative crops in countries such as Afghanistan, in order to wean them away from opium production?
Mr. Brown: I accept what the hon. Lady says about the problems of opium production in Afghanistan,
which perhaps represents a bigger share of its economy than the formal economy that is registered there. That is why, at the G7 meeting, we discussed special measures to reduce the economy's dependence on opium. At the same time, it is necessary to persuade people that if they open up to trade and change the system so that they have stability and are open to investment, we are prepared to help them to solve problems, including those of education and health, that they cannot solve financially on their own. That must be part of a new deal between the developed and the developing countries. That new deal will, however, require money, so I hope that the Conservatives will reconsider their decision to freeze, then to cut, the overseas development budget.
Dr. Jenny Tonge (Richmond Park) (LD): I sincerely congratulate the Chancellor on the progress that he has made on this front. I hope that he would include in that the brilliant contribution made by the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood (Clare Short) when she was Secretary of State for International Development. Having said that, is the Chancellor concerned about the progress that is being made in getting other countries to contribute to the global fund and the finance facility that he recently set up?
Mr. Brown: America has agreed to increase by $5 billion a year the amount of overseas development aid that it provides. That is in its own millennium challenge fund. The European Union has agreed to increase overseas development aid from 0.32 to 0.39 per cent. of European gross domestic product. That is a big change in decision making by many European Governments. We are increasing our overseas development aid from 0.26 to 0.4 per cent. of GDP. Governments around the world have agreed to increase the amount of development aid that they provide.
However, because the cuts in aid over the past 20 years have been so severe, those resources are not sufficient to deal with the problems of education, of health or even of HIV/AIDS. That is why we need a new measure, and why we proposed the international finance facility. I am pleased that that has support from the Liberal party and support in principle from the Conservative party. However, that support depends in practice on our being able to increase the overseas development budget, so I again urge the Conservatives to reconsider their decision to oppose that.
Civil Service
13. Mr. Gwyn Prosser (Dover) (Lab): What measures he is taking to address low pay in the civil service. [158479]
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (John Healey): It is up to individual Departments to determine their own pay and grading systems. Then, through the pay remits system, they are provided with the means to deal with the particular recruitment and retention problems that they face.
Mr. Prosser: I thank my hon. Friend for that reply. I appreciate that the Chancellor's record on tackling poverty is second to none, but how is that reconciled with the rigid capping of pay offers, especially in the
Department for Work and Pensions, to low-paid civil servants, whose pay barely keeps up with the statutory minimum wage and whose take-home pay the Public and Commercial Services Union describes as "poverty pay"? Will my hon. Friend meet me and colleagues to find ways of paying those hard-working people a fair day's pay for a fair day's work?
John Healey: Of course I am happy to meet my hon. Friend and members of the PCS.
We are proud of our investment in public services and of what we have been able to do to get those who work and serve in the public services fairer pay and treatment.
I stress to my hon. Friend that part of our job is to ensure that pay budgets across Government are realistic, affordable and directed towards improving services. That is why we are considering the efficiency review, relocating civil servants out of London and the south-east, and increasing local pay flexibility. Above all, Labour's monetary policy framework, which the Tories opposed, has led us to the longest period of sustained low inflation since the 1960s. Wage bargainers can now plan with the sort of confidence that they could not previously entertain. In those circumstances, I hope that we can deal with the concerns of my hon. Friend and the PCS.Business of the House
12.31 pm
Mr. Oliver Heald (North-East Hertfordshire) (Con): Will the Leader of the House please give us the business for next week?
The Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. Peter Hain): The business for next week will be as follows:
Monday 8 March—Commons consideration of Lords amendments to the European Parliamentary and Local Elections (Pilots) Bill, followed by a motion to approve a money resolution on the Gangmasters (Licensing) Bill, followed by a motion to approve the first joint report of the Accommodation and Works Committee and the Administration Committee on visitor facilities: "Access to Parliament".
Tuesday 9 March—Opposition Day [Unallotted]. There will be a debate entitled "Publication of the Advice from the Attorney-General on Iraq", followed by a debate entitled "Young People and Democracy". Both debates arise on a motion in the name of the Scottish National party and Plaid Cymru.
Wednesday 10 March—Second Reading of the Justice (Northern Ireland) Bill [Lords].
Thursday 11 March—Estimates [2nd Allotted Day]. There will be a debate on aviation services and a debate on biofuels. Details will be given in the Official Report. At 6 o'clock the House will be asked to agree all outstanding estimates.
Friday 12 March—Private Members' Bills.
The provisional business for the following week will be:
Monday 15 March—Proceedings on the Consolidated Fund (No. 2) Bill. Remaining stages of the Fire and Rescue Services Bill.
Tuesday 16 March—Remaining stages of the Traffic Management Bill.
Wednesday 17 March—My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer will open his Budget statement.
Thursday 18 March—Continuation of the Budget debate.
It may assist the House if I confirm that my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary will make a statement on Monday on the publication of the Penrose report. Next week, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will make a statement on Government policy on genetically modified foods.
Transport: In so far as they relate to aviation (6th Report of Transport Committee, Session 2002–03, (HC 454—I and HC 454—II) and Government response to the Transport Committee's Sixth Report into Aviation.]
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