International Development (Reporting and Transparency) Bill

You may not be aware, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that the debate is reaching a wider audience than we might have imagined. As we speak, a whale is making its way up the Thames—I understand that it has just passed the Palace of Westminster. Whales have excellent hearing, and I am sure that he has come to hear what we have to say about the United Nations millennium development goals, particularly the seventh, which is about ensuring environmental sustainability. That shows what a fragile world we live in and how topical today’s debate is. I congratulate the right hon. Member for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill (Mr. Clarke) on his Bill and I am pleased to join the cross-party support for such an important measure. Focus on the millennium development goals is crucial. The UN Secretary-General has said that he is worried that we may not meet the 2015 targets. I hope that we will do all we can to encourage the United States to participate to a greater extent in efforts to reach the goals, as we do other countries. The millennium development goals are crucial and hon. Members have spoken passionately about international development issues today. My grandparents’ generation talked about the wars that affected them—the great war and the second world war. The concern of my parents’ generation was the cold war, which overshadowed their lives. My generation has focused on the future of our fragile planet and questions of where we are, who we are and what we are doing to our planet. I am pleased that trade justice, debt relief and Bob Geldof’s call to make poverty history are the cries that we hear today—they have become part of our everyday vocabulary—whereas I grew up with calls for an end to the nuclear arms race and John Lennon’s call to give peace a chance. Events have moved on and it is important that MPs participate in the debate and ensure that the issues remain high on the agenda. I am pleased that the Bill deals with the monitoring and scrutiny of how we spend 0.7 per cent. of our gross national income. I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Buckingham (John Bercow)—I am sure that other hon. Members made the point—that although the focus outside Parliament is on international development issues, we in Parliament spend only half an hour every four weeks on international development questions. I hope that the Minister will speak with the Leader of the House to see whether that can be increased. I intervened on the right hon. Member for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill a couple of times during his speech. There are concerns about the fact that there are no penalties or comebacks if we do not meet the targets to which his Bill refers, such as giving 0.7 per cent. of GNI to development assistance. There is also concern about the report being limited to 10 countries. Clause 1 lists the regions on which the Bill is focused; they include Asia, Africa, central and south America, so we are talking about only one or two countries per region. If the Bill reaches Committee, I hope that the right hon. Gentleman will consider expanding it to cover more than 10 countries. There is also concern about good governance and anti-corruption measures. It is all very well pouring money into African countries, but it can be like removing the debts of or giving more money to an unreformed gambler—it will not solve the problem. I therefore hope that the Bill will examine in detail how the money is spent to make sure that it is spent wisely. A couple of hon. Members have touched on the connections between international development and the European Union. Three months ago, I visited Afghanistan. My visit was in a military context, but I also learned about the €1 billion being spent there on behalf of all European Union countries. I was concerned about the breakdown in communication—I use those words carefully—between the EU special representative in Afghanistan, which is responsible for analysing where the money should be spent, and the EU delegation, which holds the money. The two were not talking to each other properly, and money was being wasted. One aspect of the Bill is scrutinising whether our money, either spent directly by us or channelled through the EU, is spent wisely. I very much support the Bill. An annual report on how we are spending money and on the progress towards achieving our millennium development goals is crucial. Concern has been expressed about the inherent delay in such large projects, which incorporate many countries across the world, between formulating the concept and putting it into practice. The Kyoto accord is the great example—it was written in 1997 and did not even come into effect until last year. I hope that this Bill will help us to make progress, keep our eye on the ball, make sure that we are able to meet the millennium development goals, make the Department for International Development more accountable and make sure that Britain meets its moral duties to help countries that are less fortunate than us.