International Development (Reporting and Transparency) Bill

My Lords, I, too, am grateful to my noble friend Lady Whitaker for taking this very fine Bill through the Lords, and I am delighted that it has been warmly welcomed by all noble Lords who have participated in today’s debate and those who could not be present—the noble Baronesses, Lady Chalker and Lady Rawlings. I also pay tribute to my right honourable friend the Member for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill on his skill and dedication in drafting this clear and concise Bill; it was, indeed, deft footwork, as the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, said. As my noble friend Lord Morris of Manchester informed us, Tom Clarke has a fine track record in this area. Important changes were made in the other place and I assure the noble Baroness, Lady Seccombe, that the report will cover 25 countries, as was agreed there. It was a real pleasure to listen to the excellent maiden speech of my noble friend Lady Quin, who I have known and held in high esteem since we worked together in 1979, when we shared interesting, enjoyable but incredibly frustrating times, and that of the noble Lord, Lord Cotter, who I do not yet know—but I have spent many happy hours in his former constituency of what we used to call, ““Weston-super-mud””. I note that we also share the same recreational interests. Both speakers will add greatly to the expertise and collective wisdom of this House and I look forward to their valuable contributions. This is undoubtedly an important Bill. It may be only one tool in the toolbox of the noble Lord, Lord Chidgey, however it is a welcome and innovative tool. It will enhance parliamentary scrutiny of Ministers in delivering on our pledges to help the poorer countries and peoples of the world. Also, through Parliament, it will ultimately make Government accountable to the people. Personally, I fervently hope that the annual reports that will result from the Bill will inform, stimulate and reinvigorate public debate and build on the strong public support for international development already engendered by such initiatives as the Make Poverty History campaign. Indeed, I hope that it will be a means of enhancing democratic engagement. The noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, asked about the form of the report. This matter is still under discussion in DfID, but we hope that there may be one report encompassing the annual report and the report demanded by the Bill. In answer to one of his earlier questions about 10 per cent cuts, DfID has invested in a programme of modernisation of its administrative systems that will release 10 per cent of its support staff by 2008 and will result in significantly more efficient and effective processes for planning, accounting and monitoring, allowing us to devote more resources to front-line delivery. The efforts of Make Poverty History campaigners helped to ensure that an unprecedented level of attention was focused on international development in 2005—with splendid results. This allowed the UK, as president of the G8, to strongly advocate real change leading up to the G8 Summit at Gleneagles. I take this opportunity to commend an excellent little booklet entitled G8 Gleneagles: One Year On—Turning Talk into Action. It is packed full of useful facts and figures. I note the concerns expressed by the noble Baroness, Lady Seccombe, about the G8 and accountability of commitments. I assure her that the Prime Minister’s panel, established this week, has been warmly welcomed globally. That is very good news. As my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development made clear in another place, the Bill also provides a powerful model for other countries—developed and developing—to follow. It provides a clear example of how the democratic process can be advanced by ensuring that Parliaments, on behalf of the peoples they represent, have the ability to examine and influence the development policies and programmes of their countries and, in turn, hold their Governments to account. As noble Lords have said, one of the key elements of the Bill is that it establishes, for the first time in UK law, the importance of a date by which to achieve the UN target of 0.7 per cent of gross national income to be devoted to official development assistance. As your Lordships will know, it is vital that all donor countries meet this crucial international target, and I am proud to say that this Government will do so, at the latest, by 2013. Like the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, I trust that it will have a multiplier effect. However, reporting is not just about money. It is about how British policies and programmes are changing the lives of people in poor countries for the better. I particularly welcome the fact that the Bill highlights the importance of policy coherence across government departments in promoting international development. Reporting is about the impact of our endeavours on the ground, and we have, through the millennium development goals, a powerful mechanism to deliver that. We need the Bill so that progress towards making poverty history and achieving the millennium development goals can be set out and scrutinised. The year 2005 represented a milestone—notably at Gleneagles, where the G8, spurred on by the Make Poverty History campaign, came together as never before. Important commitments were made at Gleneagles and we now have to deliver on those. We have an obligation to the world’s poor but also to our own taxpayers. As my noble friend Lady Quin said, people want to know that their money is being well spent. Our aid must be effective and well targeted. We know that, given the right circumstances, development works. The Bill will help us to demonstrate that things are changing for the better. Ultimately, progress depends on the ability of individual partner Governments to deliver on poverty reduction for their people. The commitments made in 2005 were predicated on a commitment to better governance in partner countries. My noble friend Lord Judd was right to emphasise the importance of good governance. The Bill highlights the need for greater transparency in the provision of aid and in the way that it is used with partner countries. Only national Governments and their citizens can build states and improve their political governance to the point where corruption is stifled. Donors, of course, can play a support role in that process through funding, support for capacity building and diplomatic engagement. We are active in all those areas. We are also working in more targeted ways to support national strategies and to fight corruption. The noble Lord, Lord Chidgey, is absolutely right to say that we have much more to do in the fight against corruption. I can assure noble Lords that the Government will remain active on this issue, with my right honourable friend Hilary Benn championing the issue across Government. We in this country have to ensure that we adhere to the highest possible standards. On fighting corruption, we need enforcement actions such as strong and effective anti-corruption agencies and preventative measures. Such measures include strengthening public sector budgetary and financial management, procurement, accounting and auditing, reforming civil service management, enhancing public oversight through strengthened parliamentary committees, developing measures to reduce judicial corruption and supporting civil society to promote transparency and accountability in public life. The best people to promote good governance and to help to fight corruption are those who live in the country and are most affected by such issues. That is why we hope that this Bill will be taken as a model for such Governments to engage with their peoples and parliaments and to be held to account. We are at a crossroads. I have set out reasons for us to be optimistic but there are real challenges ahead. Progress towards achieving the millennium development goals is uneven. So many of the world’s poor lack enough food to eat, enough water to drink, a roof over their heads, a job, a school for their kids and medicine and care when they are sick. One in six human beings has to live on less than a dollar a day; 30,000 children die needlessly every day; half a million women still die each year in pregnancy or childbirth; over 40 million people already live with HIV; tuberculosis and malaria persist; and new problems like avian flu require concerted international action. Above all, there is the overarching need to manage the planet sustainably and fairly for all. The noble Lord, Lord Cotter, said that we have a duty to value all human lives, the poorest included. The population continues to increase but many of the natural resources on which we rely are already becoming seriously depleted. Climate change is the most serious and urgent problem that the world faces. Disaster prevention measures, as referred to by my noble friend Lord Judd, are also a challenge, as are conflict resolution and the strategic issues that he mentioned. We need this important Bill to track precisely and in detail how the Government will in the years ahead tackle these major challenges. It is a very welcome tool in our toolbox, and I warmly commend the Bill to the House.