International Development (Reporting and Transparency) Bill

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. I have a number of concerns about the Bill, including the need to clarify and strengthen the role of the report, which should represent the views of the Government as a whole, not just the Department. I hope that such concerns can be probed in Committee, particularly the Secretary of State’s ability in clauses 9 and 10 quietly to negate the Bill in its entirety. Clause 10, for example, confers power on him to make an order or regulations, including the power"““to make provision subject to such exemptions and exceptions as the Secretary of State thinks fit.””" That could be almost anything, and it could wipe out the Bill itself. I hope that I can bank some credit by acknowledging that the political climate is relatively benign, but we cannot be sure that that will always be the case. The Bill does not provide the country and Parliament with reassurance that, in a less benign climate, the measure itself could not be negated. In conclusion, the popular concern about development issues and the need to make poverty history, which was expressed last year and which will no doubt be expressed again in future, are not a passing fad or fashion. We should embrace that popular concern and use it to leave a legacy to future Parliaments that will enable us properly to scrutinise the role of Government in poverty eradication around the world in the years and decades to come. The Bill can achieve that aim. We need to find mechanisms and tools to improve the ability of the developed world to turn around our shared failure to achieve meaningful progress in making poverty history and meeting the millennium development goals. That is why the Bill is a helpful tool and mechanism, so it has the support of my right hon. and hon. Friends and myself.