Clause 2 - Development Assistance for UK Overseas Territories
International Development Bill
6:30 pm
Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 7, in page 1, line 24, at end insert
`(and, for the avoidance of doubt, such assistance may include support for communications systems)'.
We tabled this probing amendment to determine the parameters of the Government's attitude toward the overseas territories. When I asked the Minister about that earlier with reference to the Secretary of State's answer about preventing drugs from flowing across the world and large amounts of money being outwith development budget funding, he tried to set my mind at rest. However, I have a number of other concerns, some of which were raised on Second Reading.
I am worried that some overseas territories remain unsure about the Department's spending priorities in respect of their countries; Montserrat springs to mind. In the House on 10 January, my hon. Friend the Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) put the following question to the Minister's predecessor:
``Given that Montserrat was listed as a tax haven by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, what representations on that point has the hon. Gentleman made, or alternatively what assistance does his Department envisage providing for the territory, bearing in mind that if its financial services sector is damaged or destroyed, the country is much more likely to be prey to the commission of serious crime, including drug trafficking?''
The reply was:
``We are of course aware that were any overseas territory to lose any resources as a result of the pressure that the hon. Gentleman describes, our Department would need to make available additional resources.''—[Official Report, 10 January 2001; Vol. 360, c. 1062.]
I seek an assurance from the Minister that those additional resources would be forthcoming for any overseas territories. I also seek assurances about the infrastructure project on St Helena, the landmine clearance programme in the Falklands and communications projects on the Pitcairn Islands.
Opposition Members have rightly asked questions about overseas territories, but the Minister will have anticipated them because they were flagged up. Therefore, rather than making a meal out of the amendment, which was tabled to probe the Government's policy towards the overseas territories, I shall keep my remarks brief and allow him to respond.