International Development (Reporting and Transparency) Bill

The hon. Gentleman will know that that is not an issue on which I can give him satisfaction today. Those who can do so will have heard his comment. If there is any doubt that they have listened to what the hon. Gentleman has said, I will ensure that they are aware of his question and aware also of the comments of other hon. Members who have made similar points during the debate. Perhaps it would be helpful to the hon. Member for Stone and others if I set out briefly some of the processes that we go through before we take decisions on budget support to provide further reassurance that his suggestion that there should be an amendment to clause 8 is not required. We undertake a comprehensive fiduciary risk assessment that is based on an evaluation of the partner Governments’ public financial management systems. That includes a specific evaluation of the risk of corruption. Our approach to those assessments has been agreed with the NAO. The hon. Gentleman may know that several internationally recognised assessments are carried out in partner countries to help provide that evaluation of the quality of public financial management systems. For example, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund provide assessments. We have recently strengthened the evaluation of public financial management in the countries where we work by developing a comprehensive assessment framework in partnership with the World Bank, the IMF and several other countries. Such a framework includes a specific assessment of audit processes and arrangements for the scrutiny of public finances. Several hon. Members, for example, the hon. Member for Bournemouth, East, referred to the need for much more information in the annual report. The intervention of the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend, East (James Duddridge) and his exchange with my right hon. Friend the Member for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill should strike a cautionary note about the need for even further information. There is a balance to be struck between the understandable appetite for as much information as possible and the need to recognise its impact on the Department’s resources. The presence of my right hon. Friend the Paymaster General earlier means that hon. Members will recognise the need to be prudent and minimise the impact in bureaucracy. However, we shall reflect further on hon. Members comments. The Government welcome the Bill. There are some problems with drafting that we want to tackle in Committee. For example, there is some overlap between clause 2 and clause 4 and some duplication between clause 5 and clause 7. Clause 3 deals with the bulk of financial reporting, to which clauses 9 and 10 are relevant. The Committee therefore needs to deal with a series of technical but important issues. Not least, it will be important to ensure that the definitions of aid are aligned with internationally agreed definitions, including the time periods for reporting that are already in common use. The Government agree with the thrust of clause 8, but believe that it is over-prescriptive. For example, the proposal to specify planned levels of assistance to be provided to each country for the current year and at least three future years is beyond what is permissible under the current spending review. As many hon. Members have said, last year’s commitments need to be delivered. The Bill will help to do that. Subject to the minor drafting changes that I mentioned, the Government support the Bill and I warmly commend it to the House. Question put and agreed to. Bill accordingly read a Second time, and committed to a Standing Committee, pursuant to Standing Order No. 63 (Committal of Bills).