S.C.B.
NOTICES OF AMENDMENTS
given up to and including
Monday 13th February 2006
New Amendments handed in are marked thus *
STANDING COMMITTEE B
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (TRANSPARENCY AND REPORTING) BILL
Mr Tom Clarke
14
*Clause 1, page 1, line 4, leave out from 'Parliament' to end of line 5 and insert 'each year a report about international aid pursuant to the provisions of this Act (an "annual report").'.
Mr Tom Clarke
15
*Clause 1, page 1, line 6, leave out from beginning to end of line 16 on page 2 and insert—
'( ) In this Act, "relevant period" means—
| (a) | a period of 12 months ending with 31st December, in the case of information which is normally produced by reference to calendar years, |
| (b) | in any other case, a period of 12 months ending with 31st March.'. |
Mr Tom Clarke
16
*Clause 1, page 2, line 18, leave out 'the end of the relevant period' and insert '31st March each year'.
Mr Tom Clarke
17
*Clause 1, page 2, line 18, at end insert—
'( ) An annual report may revise anything contained in a previous annual report.'.
Mr Tom Clarke
18
*Clause 1, page 2, line 20, leave out from 'State' to end of line 24 and insert 'lays before either House of Parliament.'.
Mr Tom Clarke
19
*Page 2, line 25, leave out Clause 2.
Mr Gareth Thomas
5
*Page 2, line 35, leave out Clause 3.
Mr Tom Clarke
20
*Page 3, line 39, leave out Clause 4.
Mr Tom Clarke
21
*Page 4, line 13, leave out Clause 5.
Pete Wishart
1
*Clause 5, page 4, line 20, after 'agencies' insert—
'(ca) other bilateral donor governments,'.
Pete Wishart
2
*Clause 5, page 4, line 23, leave out from second 'the' to end of line 24 and insert—'economic policy conditions tied to multilateral development assistance, where the United Kingdom contributes through its aid budget, and what has been the impact of these conditions.'.
Pete Wishart
3
*Clause 5, page 4, line 24, at end insert—
'(2A) The annual report shall include a summary of the United Kingdom's involvement in decision-making in multilateral institutions, including details of how United Kingdom representatives have voted and statements they have made in such fora.'.
Mr Tom Clarke
22
*Page 4, line 28, leave out Clause 6.
Mr Tom Clarke
23
*Page 5, line 4, leave out Clause 7.
Pete Wishart
4
*Clause 7, page 5, line 12, at end insert—
| '(d) | The conditions and benchmarks attached to United Kingdom official development assistance, providing evidence of ex ante assessment of their likely impacts and showing their effectiveness once implemented.'. |
Mr Gareth Thomas
6
*Page 5, line 24, leave out Clause 8.
Mr Gareth Thomas
7
*Page 5, line 41, leave out Clause 9.
Mr Gareth Thomas
8
*Page 6, line 25, leave out Clause 10.
Mr Gareth Thomas
9
*Page 6, line 36, leave out Clause 11.
Mr Gareth Thomas
10
*Clause 13, page 7, line 27, leave out '9' and insert '(Transparency)'.
NEW CLAUSES
Statistics to be reported
Mr Gareth Thomas
NC1
*To move the following Clause:—
'Each annual report must include the information set out in the Schedule to this Act.'.
Transparency
Mr Gareth Thomas
NC2
*To move the following Clause:—
'(1) The Secretary of State shall include in each annual report such observations as he thinks appropriate about the contribution by Government departments to the promotion of transparency in—
| (a) | the provision of aid, and |
| (b) | the use made of aid provided. |
(2) He shall include, in particular, observations about progress in relation to the following—
| (a) | specifying future allocations of aid, |
| (b) | securing that aid supports clearly identified development objectives, agreed between those providing and those receiving the aid, |
| (c) | promoting the better management of aid, including the prevention of corruption in relation to it, |
| (d) | securing improvements in monitoring the use of aid.'. |
As Amendments to Mr Gareth Thomas's proposed New Clause (Transparency) (NC2):—
Mark Simmonds
(a)
Line 1, leave out 'such observations as he thinks appropriate' and insert 'observations'.
Mark Simmonds
(b)
Line 13, at end add—
'( ) Observations made in accordance with subsections (1) and (2) shall be made in respect of each of the countries specified under section (Aid effectiveness and Millennium Development Goals 1 to 7).
Interpretation, and meaning of terms used in annual report
Mr Gareth Thomas
NC3
*To move the following Clause:—
'(1) In this Act, references (however expressed) to the provision of aid by the United Kingdom are to the provision of aid by Government departments.
(2) If an annual report uses terms which have a special meaning, it must include an explanation or a definition of those terms.
(3) In particular, each annual report must include an explanation or definition of the following terms—
"humanitarian assistance",
"official development assistance",
Progress towards United Nations 0.7% expenditure target
Mr Tom Clarke
NC4
*To move the following Clause:—
'The Secretary of State shall include in each annual report his assessment of the year in which he expects that the target for expenditure on official development assistance to amount to 0.7% of gross national income will be met by the United Kingdom.'.
Aid effectiveness and Millennium Development Goals 1 to 7
Mr Tom Clarke
NC5
*To move the following Clause:—
'(1) Each annual report must include the Secretary of State's assessment of the following matters—
| (a) | what progress has been made generally towards the achievement of Millennium Development Goals 1 to 7, |
| (b) | the effectiveness in pursuing Millennium Development Goals 1 to 7 of multilateral aid generally to which the United Kingdom contributes, |
| (c) | the effectiveness in pursuing Millennium Development Goals 1 to 7 of bilateral aid provided by the United Kingdom to not fewer than 20 countries specified in the report, selected according to criteria so specified, |
| (d) | what progress has been made in promoting untied aid. |
(2) In this section—
| (a) | references to "Millennium Development Goals 1 to 7" are to Goals 1 to 7 set out in the Annex to United Nations General Assembly document A/56/326 dated 6th September 2001, entitled "Road map towards the implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration: Report of the Secretary General", as those Goals may be amended or modified from time to time, |
| (b) | "untied aid" means aid which falls within subsection (3). |
(3) Aid falls within this subsection if—
| (a) | it is either not subject to a condition restricting the states from which goods or services may be purchased using the aid, or (if it is subject to such a condition) the states from which goods or services may be purchased using the aid include all the member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and substantially all states which receive aid from any source, and |
| (b) | the provider of the aid has, so far as reasonably practicable, secured that there will be no significant impediment in the purchasing process which would have the effect of a narrower restriction than that mentioned in paragraph (a) on the states from which goods or services will be purchased using the aid.'. |
As Amendments to Mr Tom Clarke's proposed New Clause (Aid effectiveness and Millennium Development Goals 1 to 7) (NC5):—
Mark Simmonds
(a)
Line 9, leave out 'selected according to criteria so specified' and insert 'which shall be the 20 recipients of the greatest amount of United Kingdom bilateral aid'.
Mark Simmonds
(b)
Line 11, at end insert—
| '(e) | an independent analysis of the effectiveness of United Kingdom bilateral development assistance in contributing directly to each of the Millennium Development Goals 1 to 7, |
| (f) | a comparison of the effectiveness of individual country programmes in contributing directly to each of the Millennium Development Goals 1 to 7, |
| (g) | a statement on how resources have been reallocated and money has been spent in response to information set out in accordance with paragraphs (e) and (f), |
| (h) | the effectiveness in pursuing each of the Millennium Development Goals 1 to 7 of aid spent as direct budgetary support in the 20 countries which receive the greatest amount of direct budgetary support from the United Kingdom.'. |
