Clause 9 - Arrangements with third parties
International Development Bill [Lords]
12:00 pm
Mr Hilary Benn (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for International Development; Leeds Central, Labour)
I will try to brief. The hon. Lady has said that the amendment is simple. The difficulty is that it could have a number of undesirable effects, depending on how the wording was read. If it was interpreted in a narrow way, it would ensure that statutory bodies could act only under clauses 1 and 3 and therefore that they could enter into and carry out agreements using development assistance provided by the Secretary of State only under those clauses, and that it would be channelled to them under clause 8. Clause 9 is intended to allow statutory bodies to engage in activities in other countries that promote sustainable development, improve the welfare of people or alleviate the effects of disasters using resources from anywhere—their own, the Secretary of State's or someone else's.
The other consequence that could arise from a narrow interpretation of the amendment would be that the statutory bodies listed in schedule 1, though not those able to act in other countries under their existing powers, could not make agreements to work in the overseas territories under clause 2. It would be rather strange to include a provision that would impose the strict poverty criterion, from which assistance to those territories is generally exempted, only on assistance provided to them through the statutory bodies. For instance, one of the tourist boards listed under schedule 1 might wish to work with one of the overseas territories. It would be unfortunate if we imposed a stricter requirement on it to give that assistance than we impose on ourselves by virtue of clause 2.
For those reasons, I shall urge the Committee to resist the amendment if it is pressed to a Division.