International Development (Reporting and Transparency) Bill

I will be brief to allow other hon. Members to speak. I join the chorus of congratulations to the right hon. Member for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill (Mr. Clarke) on introducing this fine Bill. I commend the assiduous way in which he has gone about garnering support, not only from Members of Parliament, but from aid agencies and the whole non-governmental organisation community. Three Scottish National party Members are here today—half our parliamentary group—to support him in his endeavours. We are here not just out of affection for the right hon. Gentleman, although he can take that for granted, but because we believe that this is a very important Bill. The key words that keep ringing around this Chamber today are ““accountability”” and ““transparency””. Those words are particularly important in relation to international development, and we should air them as often as possible.As I have said before, the Department for International Development should be as spin-free as possible in discussing its international aid strategies. On occasion, this Government, particularly the Chancellor, come pretty close to spinning such issues. That is utterly counterproductive: first, because it heightens expectations among African and developing nations, which can only end in disappointment; and secondly, it does not allow us, as Members of Parliament, to get a full picture of what is happening and what more needs to be done. The Bill would ensure that we got the raw data, spin-free. All that it asks is that an annual report be presented to Parliament, which, as we have heard, would be more or less cost-free. One would think that a parliamentary report would be of interest only to us as parliamentarians, but I think that it would serve the many members of the public who take an interest in these affairs and could be informed about what we are doing. As we have heard, 2005 was a momentous year for international development. We had the G8 summit, with the Government placing Africa on the agenda, and the Live 8 concerts. I was fortunate enough to see the concert at Murrayfield, which was a fantastic evening out.