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Sir Robert Smith: I must welcome the amendment because it was tabled in another place in response to an amendment from my colleagues in the House of Lords. It was designed to place on the face of the Bill the assurance that money that went into the modernisation fund would not go into a political fund. As the hon. Member for North-West Norfolk (Mr. Bellingham) said, it is sad that the Government could not recognise the importance of that from the start and that it took the Bill's passage through another place to provide that reassurance. It shows that it is dangerous for a Government to introduce such a controversial provision at a late stage. If it had been included at the outset, progress might have been smoother and more measured.
When the fund is allocated, it will be important to ensure that it is properly audited and policed to ensure compliance with the clause. Perhaps the Minister can
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make clear the way in which the Government envisage policing the clause and implementing the assurance on the face of the Bill.
2.15 pm
Mr. Sutcliffe: It is sad at the end of the process to have discord about the fund. On that subject, the objectives and motivations of the parties are different. Although I acknowledge that the hon. Member for North-West Norfolk (Mr. Bellingham) has tried through his discussions with Brendan Barber and his positive consideration of many aspects of the Bill in the new culture of industrial relations that the Government are trying to engender, the deep-rooted suspicion of the role of trade unions remains. He could not help himself; he could not say that trade unions are or could be a force for good in a modern society. I suspect that he could not say that because the Conservative party took great delight in trying to destroy the trade union movement, which it described as "the enemy within". Government Communications Headquarters was a prime example of that.
I hope that we have moved on from those days and that we all want a modern, vibrant economy. There was a furore in the House when the clause was introduced but the Government were not trying to hide something at the last minute. We used the same procedure when we established the partnership fund, which produced good work between employers and employees. We used the same method then. However, we listened to the debate and were surprised when not only the Conservative party—for, I am sure, understandable reasons from its past—but the Liberal Democrats objected to the union modernisation fund. They said that it was a step too far. Again, there was the suspicion that the trade unions would not use the money appropriately. Yet all hon. Members should know from experience in their constituencies and elsewhere that trade unionism locally, regionally and nationally can enhance the country's productivity. We have only to consider the union learning representatives and the union learning fund to understand that.
Let me deal with the points about safeguards. The fund will go out to consultation, which will include employer organisations, trade unions and any other stakeholder who believes that there is a need to consider the projects. I personally believe that the outcome will be a board that is similar to the partnership board and comprises trade unions and employers who will evaluate the bids as they are made. I believe that that will provide the safeguards and answer hon. Members' concerns.
The union modernisation fund is a major part of what we are trying to achieve in a different culture of industrial relations. It is not true that business organisations are not funded. They are funded through the way in which we deal with projects; I envisage dealing with projects through the fund in the same way. I hope that Conservative Members will view the matter positively and support the principles of the fund in the context of trying to change industrial relations in the United Kingdom. We have already achieved that in the legislation that has been passed since 1997 to ensure that the Government can set minimum standards. However, the best way to resolve industrial relations issues is in the workplace. We need to equip people to carry out that job.
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We are reaching the end of our deliberations. I want to place on record my thanks to all hon. Members who have taken part in the debates and the evaluation of the Bill and, of course, all the officials who have worked so hard throughout to ensure that we have a credible and important measure.
Mr. Deputy Speaker: Order. The hon. Gentleman will have to take his comments as read. I am sure that he has expressed them on a previous occasion. However polite his contribution was intended to be, it would be out of order.
Lords amendment agreed to.
Lords amendments Nos. 55 to 71 agreed to.
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HIV/AIDS (Developing World)
Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Vernon Coaker.]
2.19 pm
The Secretary of State for International Development (Hilary Benn): First, may I say how glad I am—I am sure that this will go for other hon. Members—to have this opportunity to debate the impact that AIDS is having on the prospects for development around the world? May I take this opportunity in our first such debate to welcome the hon. Member for Rutland and Melton (Mr. Duncan) to the Front Bench? We look forward very much to hearing what he has to say on this extremely important issue.
Very simply, AIDS presents an unprecedented challenge to the developing world. It is one of the greatest threats that we currently face to the eradication of poverty and therefore to the achievement of the millennium development goals. I say that because, if one looks back on the history of the past two generations, we have seen in developing countries real improvements in life expectancy. Since the mid-1960s, average life expectancy in developing countries has increased by 18 years, but HIV/AIDS is now in the process of wiping out all that gain in life expectancy in some countries—in other words, reversing four decades of progress. The massive cost in terms of human life and the enormous economic burden on families and communities should not be underestimated.
The first AIDS cases were identified in the 1980s, and the number of people affected by HIV has risen rapidly since then. Today, about 58 million people—no one knows for sure—around the globe are HIV-positive. So far, 20 million people have lost their lives to the disease. Women and young children, including the rising number of children orphaned by AIDS, are particularly vulnerable. Six million young people are living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, three quarters of them female.
Twelve million children have lost one or both of their parents to AIDS. Perhaps the House would just pause for a moment to contemplate losing the most important source of support that we rely on, certainly when we are young—our parents, one or both. Think of all those children who are growing up without the care of a mother or father. To make matters worse, that number is estimated to become a staggering 18 million children by 2010. One of the consequences is that an entire generation of grandparents now have to look after an entire generation of their grandchildren, because the generation in between—their children's generation—is in the process of dying. If there is one thing that we as parents fear more than anything else it is that our children will die before we do, because that is not how it is meant to be; it is not in the natural order of things.
In June, the all-party group on Africa published its report "Averting Catastrophe: AIDS in the 21st century", which said:
"Sub-Saharan Africa is home to between 25.0 and 28.2 million people infected with HIV. UNAIDS estimate that, in 2003 alone, 2.3 million Africans died of AIDS. Despite high death rates, the number of people infected continues to rise as new infections outstrip the number of deaths. In 2002, seven countries saw infection levels surpass 30 per cent. in the age band 15–49 years."
I want to take the opportunity of the debate to congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for City of York (Hugh Bayley), who chairs the all-party group on
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Africa, and all his colleagues—some of whom are in the Chamber today—on that outstanding piece of work, which is a real beacon to all-party groups in demonstrating what they can do when applying their minds and expertise to a subject of such importance.
Last week, I was in Nigeria, which is home to one in 10 of the world's HIV-positive population. The number of infected people in that country is estimated to reach 15 million by 2010. Those figures will outstrip the current number of people who are HIV-positive in southern Africa, where many people would agree that crisis point has already been reached. Yet it is still possible that, if we collectively do the right things now, we could avert the catastrophically high levels of infection that have been predicted, thereby reducing the subsequent death rates. It is important for the House to acknowledge that this is not just about Africa, although that is where we see the scale of the epidemic manifested most clearly. Asia and eastern Europe also face rapid increases, and there is a real danger of a generalised epidemic unless we take action now.
The UK Government are committed to doing what we can to help to halt AIDS and to reverse the spread of HIV globally. Hon. Members will have seen the "Call for Action" document that we published in December last year and the document "Taking Action: the UK's strategy for tackling HIV and AIDS in the developing world", which was launched by the Prime Minister on 20 July. In that document, we sought to set out the practical steps that we are trying to take in working towards all the internationally agreed targets to fight AIDS—in particular, the millennium development goals, the UN General Assembly declaration of commitment and the UN International Conference on Population and Development action plan.
We have pledged to work with others to try to prevent infections—the international target is to reduce the rates among young people by 25 per cent.—to increase access to sexual and reproductive health services; to support the World Health Organisation to get 3 million people into treatment by 2005; to meet the needs of orphans and vulnerable children; to put in place the three "ones"; to increase research; and to meet the millennium development goal target of being
"on track to slow the progress of HIV and AIDS by 2015".
Given the expertise on this subject that there is in the Chamber, hon. Members will recognise that those targets are extremely ambitious, and we are not currently on track to meet many of them. That is especially true of some of the 2005 targets, and in particular the WHO target. Although we recognise that it is likely that some of them will not be met, it is important that we hold on to ambition and aspiration in trying to tackle this terrible epidemic.
UNAIDS calculates that £6.6 billion is needed to tackle AIDS next year. Although a significant funding gap remains, we have seen in the past few years a significant increase in the international attention given to AIDS and the amount of money that countries are committing to fight AIDS. The US President's initiative on AIDS has committed $15 billion over five years. The UK, too, is seeking to play its part in meeting that need. We are the world's second largest bilateral donor, according to UNAIDS.
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We have committed ourselves to spend at least £1.5 billion over the next three years. That is a consequence of the outcome of the comprehensive spending review, which will involve further significant increases in the international development budget, including at least £150 million for orphans and other vulnerable children, especially in Africa. We made that commitment because when we consulted on our call for action, which we published in December last year, one of the messages that came back very strongly was that people did not think that the world or, indeed, the UK were doing enough for orphans and vulnerable children, and we reflected that in the strategy that we published in July.
In July, I also announced that, over the next four years, the UK will give £36 million to UNAIDS, which plays such an important role in co-ordinating the global fight, and £80 million to UNFPA—the UN Population Fund—to support its hugely important work in HIV prevention and its sexual and reproductive health work, particularly with women. We also announced that we would double our support for the global fund, which fights AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, to £150 million over the next three years. We have therefore pledged £250 million to the global fund to support its work until 2008. To date, we have pledged the third highest amount of any G8 country and the fourth most of any donor to support the fund. I am proud of that record of support for that very important fund.
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