International Development (Reporting and Transparency) Bill

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords on the Front and Back Benches most warmly for their support. I too was impressed by the splendid maiden speeches. I was taken by the suggestion of my noble friend Lady Quin that the Bill could be a model for other countries and organisations, and by her appreciation of the importance of co-ordination across government departments. Who better to know about that? My noble friend Lord Morris of Manchester has asked me to explain his unavoidable absence for medical reasons. I thank him for his kind words and for his understanding of what the Bill is about. I would like to pick up four short points. First, a recurring theme has been the importance of transparency and the avoidance of corruption. The noble Lords, Lord Chidgey, Lord Hannay and Lord Judd, and the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, all mentioned that. As the noble Lord, Lord Chidgey, said, the Bill enables transparency, but it goes far wider and I agree that we shall need specific legislation on corruption as well. For my noble friend Lord Judd, I add that the DfID White Paper may provide an occasion to respond to his important concerns about power in a couple of weeks or so. To him and the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, I offer the thought that the Bill obliges an account of the reduction of tied aid everywhere. As for the novel suggestion of a spin-off for the UK from aid activity, that is outside the concept of the Bill as I understand it, which is about the effect on developing countries. Perhaps it is a subject for another debate. Finally, the noble Baroness, Lady Seccombe, asked if there was not insufficient focus on the results of aid. We hope that the parliamentary debate on the annual report, as specified in the Bill, will provide an opportunity for that. I draw her attention to Clause 4(1), where ““effectiveness”” is used more than once. I hope she and her noble friends will challenge the Government on that. I was most grateful for her support. The Bill will help to make public and parliamentary accountability and public enthusiasm motors for the continued change needed to achieve a fair world order. It is a Bill for the future. It is modern, in that it inserts an audit function into the heart of expenditure, and sensible because every taxpayer naturally and reasonably wants to be assured that their money not only goes on what was voted for in Parliament, but achieves the objectives for which it was meant. On Question, Bill read a second time.