International Development (Reporting and Transparency) Bill

Indeed, and I am about to come to those points. I listened with interest to the points that my hon. Friend made about corruption, and I will deal with that issue, if he will allow me to make a little more progress first. I hope that my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch will not press all these amendments to a Division, because some are not as important as others. We need to concentrate on the most important amendments that have been explored in this debate—those that would strengthen the Bill and deliver what not only we in this House want, but what members of the public in my constituency, and in many others, want. I turn to amendment No. 15 and corruption, which my hon. Friend the Member Stone mentioned. The link between corruption and how aid is spent, and achieving a reduction in corruption, are crucial to the whole nature of this Bill. The amendment would provide a valuable mechanism to enable the public properly to judge how effective such aid is. Using aid as a tool to reduce corruption is a vital step for long-term aid development and surely has to be a top priority for the Government. I do not see how an annual report on international aid, which is trying to encourage transparency, can stand without promoting a link between the commitment of aid and the reduction of corruption in recipient countries.