Commonwealth Development Corporation Bill

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that welcome and for his remarks. He is right: successive Br...

The Secretary of State is outlining a long list of the Department for International Development’s...

The hon. Gentleman has just heard not only what DFID has done in the past under two outstanding S...

Order. The hon. Gentleman knows that he should not make remarks from a sedentary position, but if...

It is not just in times of crisis that the international development community comes together. My...

The Secretary of State is making some very strong statements. Of course I do not deride the work ...

As the hon. Gentleman knows from my appearances at the Select Committee, I have clearly stated th...

On the subject of the Bill, does the Secretary of State recognise that there are concerns that th...

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his comments. It is right that the focus is on development i...

Will my right hon. Friend please be reassured that her efforts to ensure that we have accountabil...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We owe that to those who contribute to the taxes which enable...

Does my right hon. Friend agree that with regard to the concerns expressed about the CDC, the gra...

I thank my hon. Friend for her comments and observation. As I outlined at the beginning, the CDC ...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

I must make progress.

As I mentioned earlier, contrary to some of the reports that we have ...

An example of that was the event that I and the Minister of State, Department for International D...

I thank my hon. Friend for his comments. As he knows, a great deal of work is taking place with o...

The Secretary of State may have answered this question, or she may be coming on to answer it, but...

That is an important point. Back in 2009, the CDC’s then chief executive was criticised quite ext...

rose—

rose—

No, I will not give way.

Under its new leadership, the CDC has transformed itself. As I sai...

My right hon. Friend is outlining a strong case for what she proposes for the CDC. However, on th...

It is important to acknowledge the City of London and the great expertise that exists there when ...

I fully support what my right hon. Friend is saying. This is a progressive, cross-party movement,...

I thank my hon. Friend for his comments. He is absolutely right about the 8% figure. It is also w...

The vast majority of Members of this House support the UK’s guarantee to spend 0.7% of gross nati...

Does the hon. Lady accept that no one is considering going back to those bad old days? While I do...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I am concerned that we learn from the past. I am...

Another dimension, when we are talking about health, is the pharmaceutical industry and the produ...

I totally agree with my hon. Friend. We need not only to look at the health of poorer people but ...

The people who were employed in the construction of those shopping malls in Accra—I have seen the...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I know that he went around Africa in his previou...

My hon. Friend was in the House when the Secretary of State gave me a very welcome assurance conc...

I thank my right hon. Friend for his intervention. Yes, humanitarian aid is paramount. In times o...

I draw the House’s attention to my outside interests, which are listed in the Register of Members...

I am just being slightly mischievous, but will my right hon. Friend confirm that all those intere...

Order. Before the right hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell) replies to that interventi...

I do not play golf, but I assure my right hon. Friend the Member for Cities of London and Westmin...

I hope, Madam Deputy Speaker, that before I begin my remarks on the Bill, you and the House will ...

Order. I am sure that the whole House joins the hon. Gentleman in remembering those who lost thei...

Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker.

The Bill is a rare piece of DFID-led legislation...

The hon. Gentleman is right that ICAI should have a role, which it has because it can follow all ...

I am happy to take that reassurance from the former Secretary of State, but I hope to hear it fro...

As chair of the sub-committee of the International Development Committee that scrutinises the wor...

DFID and the other bodies rightly face considerable scrutiny, which is as it should be, but we mu...

I draw the House’s attention to my outside interests, among which are some financial interests in...

I have clearly touched a nerve with some of my comments about the Bill, which I am afraid I will ...

The hon. Gentleman suggests that the aims are significantly different, yet 83% of the new CDC inv...

As I shall come on to explain more fully, there has been a significant change and there has been ...

The hon. Gentleman seems to be implying that aid spent through other Departments is a bad thing. ...

I was shaking my head because I agreed with much of what the hon. Gentleman was saying, but my qu...

Surely the hon. Gentleman can be reassured by the fact that the Government have a double commitme...

It is indeed. I am a member of the ICAI sub-committee, and I hope that we will look into these ma...

I have seen the NAO’s report, and what concerns me is the fact that it states:

“It remains ...

Absolutely. I shall return shortly to what the NAO report actually said, as opposed to the slight...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will give way briefly, but then I want to move on.

The hon. Gentleman is a member of the International Development Committee. He will therefore be a...

Indeed. I apologise for not being present at that meeting, but, as you will know, Madam Deputy Sp...

I totally agree with the hon. Gentleman’s point that economic development has been important to D...

It is a mixed record. We had a joint DFID-DTI—as I think the Department was called then—Trade Min...

Did the hon. Gentleman also read the bit of the report that says:

“Through tighter cost con...

I did; I have read the whole report. It also states:

“It remains a significant challenge fo...

The hon. Gentleman asks where the business case is. Has he seen the letter of 23 November from th...

That might be reassuring to the hon. Lady, but it does not reassure me, not least because the CDC...

I suspect I am going to have the privilege of serving on the Committee with the hon. Member for C...

rose—

I will not take the intervention, because I want to conclude.

I strongly support the CDC. I...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge). The ...

Although £300,000 is a large salary, will the hon. Gentleman at least accept that in coming to ta...

I note the right hon. Gentleman’s comments and, yes, if she took a massive reduction in salary th...

Although this is a relatively straightforward Bill, which I had hoped would have the support of a...

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the selective quoting of the NAO report by the hon. Member f...

I agree with everything my hon. Friend has to say.

I am glad that the Secretary of State is...

I am listening very carefully to my right hon. Friend and agree with everything he has said so fa...

You can take the boy out of the Foreign Office but obviously, when it comes down to it, you can’t...

My right hon. Friend is quite right to slap down the former Foreign Office Minister, my right hon...

I would like to think that I am much too diplomatic to slap anyone down, although he knows where ...

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

One last time, yes.

Just to clarify this, I am not sure that my right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr...

I am sure that my right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield was not wilfully misleading a...

It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Mark Field...

It is a pleasure to speak in support of a Bill that will strengthen one of the world’s oldest and...

Sitting through the debate and listening to so many informed contributions has been informative, ...

On behalf of other members of the Select Committee, I inform the House that many of them are abro...

The hon. Lady raises the issue of private fee-paying education and health. The issue is about whe...

As with so many of these cases, it is not an either/or. It is often both when the need is clearly...

It is a pleasure to follow so many distinguished speakers in all parts of the House. I thank them...

I want to say a great thank you to all the hon. and right hon. Members who have taken part in the...

The Minister is talking about the capital that this approach has brought in, but that has not alw...

I am trying to move towards my 5.20 pm conclusion, but let me deal with that quickly. As I was sa...