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Baroness Amos: My Lords, I entirely agree with the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, that the Black Economic Empowerment programme in South Africa has contributed a great deal. On land privatisation, he will know that the Government of South Africa are committed to a fair, legal and transparent land reform process. Good policies are in place, but progress has been extremely slow. DfID has proposed support for the Department of Land Affairs which includes helping it to resolve some of the longstanding land claims of labour tenants on commercial farms, many of whom are in Kwazulu-Natal. We are at a very early stage of discussion with the South African Government on that issue.
Lord Astor of Hever: My Lords, following the noble Earl's question about land reform, are Her Majesty's Government concerned at the emergence of a pressure group, the Landless People's Movement, which is threatening farm invasions if more progress on land reform is not made quickly?
Baroness Amos: My Lords, the South African Government themselves are concerned about this issue. I understand that many of the claims relating to urban areas have been settled and that the problem relates to rural areas. As I said in my previous answer, good policies are in place, but progress has been extremely slow. We would like to work with the South African Government on this issue, using some of our technical expertise.
Lord Hughes of Woodside: My Lords—
Lord Grocott: My Lords, I should not really need to adjudicate; there is plenty of time. We have heard neither from the Labour Benches nor from the Liberal Democrat Benches, so we can do it in neat order.
Lord Hughes of Woodside: My Lords, in congratulating the African National Congress on its magnificent election victory, is my noble friend aware of its pledge to redistribute 30 per cent of agricultural land by 2014, combined with comprehensive assistance to emergent farmers? Can she say what discussions will take place between our Government and the South African Government on the technical and practical assistance we can offer to produce this very worthwhile redistribution?
Baroness Amos: My Lords, my noble friend is right. The ANC's original election pledge was to transfer ownership of 30 per cent of agricultural land within 15 years, which would have taken it to 2009. However, the deadline has recently been put back to 2015. We are concerned that, at the current rate of progress, the South African Government are unlikely to meet even that delayed target. That is why we have offered our support on land issues. That support is still at the design stage. We are in discussions with the South African Government, particularly the Department of Land Affairs, about ways in which we can help them to resolve some of those long-standing issues.
Baroness Northover: My Lords, I echo what the veteran campaigner, the noble Lord, Lord Hughes of Woodside, said in welcoming the results of the election. We on these Benches express our congratulations to the South African people on their successful transition from apartheid to democracy. However, does the noble Baroness share my worry—she clearly does—that, over the same decade, the AIDS pandemic has taken hold of South Africa so that the incidence of HIV among young people has increased from 1 per cent to 20 per cent? Can she tell us more about what DfID is doing to help South Africa in this crisis, what proposals the department favours for
the support of the increasing numbers of AIDS orphans, and when it will publish its strategy for HIV/AIDS?
Baroness Amos: My Lords, I join the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, in congratulating the people of South Africa, particularly on holding peaceful, free and fair elections.
On the issue of HIV/AIDS, last year the Government of South Africa announced a comprehensive plan for the care and treatment of those infected, including access to anti-retroviral therapy. The noble Baroness will know that that was an issue of some controversy within South Africa. We are supporting that programme as part of a £30 million commitment agreed last year to help South Africa to tackle HIV/AIDS. Indeed, I myself visited one of the projects in Johannesburg when I visited South Africa last year.
DfID's own HIV/AIDS strategy has been the subject of consultation and discussion with a number of community organisations. I shall write to the noble Baroness, if I may, when I have a much clearer idea of the publication date.
Lord St John of Bletso: My Lords, will the Minister elaborate on what role Her Majesty's Government are playing with the World Trade Organisation to assist in the removal of trade barriers, in particular the agricultural subsidies that are having such a crippling effect on African exports and obviously have a knock-on effect on poverty and unemployment? When Her Majesty's Government take up the chairmanship of the G8 summit and the presidency of the European Union next year, what role will they play in ensuring that African development issues such as poverty and unemployment are put back on the central stage of the agenda of the industrialised nations?
Baroness Amos: My Lords, on the issue of trade barriers, as the noble Lord will know, we have worked tirelessly within the European Union, and within the WTO more broadly, to ensure that this trade round is a development round. We were not successful at Cancun; for a number of different reasons, those trade talks broke down without agreement. We are back trying to talk with our development partners and our developed countries partners on these issues. My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was recently in Brussels, negotiating further with our European counterparts on some of those issues. Related negotiations on issues such as sugar are ongoing. So we remain committed to removing trade barriers and breaking down agricultural subsidies—although I have to say that it is not easy.
As the noble Lord will know, Africa is one of the priorities that my right honourable friend the Prime Minister has set for our G8 chairmanship. In addition, my right honourable friend has established the Africa Commission.
Queen's Counsel: Appointments
2.54 p.m.
Lord Goodhart asked Her Majesty's Government:
- When they will announce whether there are to be any further appointments to the rank of Queen's Counsel.
The Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and Lord Chancellor (Lord Falconer of Thoroton): My Lords, before I answer the Question, could I declare an interest? I myself was a QC, my wife is a QC and my brother-in-law is a QC.
We hope to make an announcement soon. The consultation did not produce consensus on the way forward. We have been in discussion with professional bodies with a view to providing a sensible way forward which meets the issues raised in the consultation and, crucially, provides a solution in the interests of the public.
Lord Goodhart: My Lords, might I start by being entirely out of order in congratulating the noble Lord, Lord Renton, who has just reached the 50th anniversary of his appointment as a QC?
It is now a year since the noble and learned Lord, Lord Irvine of Lairg, announced the suspension of the 2004 Silk round in order to enable the system to be reviewed. Is the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor aware, as I am sure he is, that the delay has been a matter of considerable concern to the profession as a whole and, in particular, to those who would have applied for an appointment this year, had the Silk round taken place? Can he give us any information as to the direction in which the Government are moving, whether it is towards simple abolition, to the creation of some revised form of public appointment or to inviting the legal profession to award its own kite marks?
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: My Lords, I join the noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, in congratulating the noble Lord, Lord Renton, on 50 years in Silk. I congratulate, too, the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, who has had 25 years in silk. They are having a party today in the Lord Chancellor's residence to celebrate 75 years in Silk. I hope that my declaration of interest and that congratulation do not give the impression that this is too incestuous a place with regard to QCs.
Yes, I am aware of the concerns in relation to the prolonged period of consultation and the failure so far to decide what the policy is. It would be wrong at this stage for me to give only half an answer. We should give an answer as quickly as possible but, as I said in my Answer, the answer must be ultimately judged by what is in the interests of the people who use legal services rather than those who provide them.
Lord Renton: My Lords, while thanking the noble and learned Lord and the noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, for their kind references, may I put two serious points—both reasons for retaining Queen's Counsel—to the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor? First, if a barrister becomes a very busy junior with a tremendous amount of paperwork, it is impossible for him to carry on with that way of life within the profession. It is much better that he should become a QC. The other reason—the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor must surely already have discovered this—is that making judicial appointments, from High Court and Crown Court judges right down to minor judicial appointments, is much easier if there is a difference within the profession, and that is done by the presence of Queen's Counsel.
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