Clause 5 - Multilateral development assistance and Millennium Development Goals 1 to 7
International Development (Reporting and Transparency) Bill
9:45 am
Tom Clarke (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill, Labour)
In new clause 5 I propose to merge clause 5, which deals with the effectiveness of multilateral aid in achieving millennium development goals 1 to 7, with clause 7, which deals with the effectiveness of bilateral aid. Again, I propose that we specifically make reference to the MDGs. The hon. Member for Banbury, in remarks that I otherwise agreed with, said something about this being a Government Bill. I do not want to develop the point too much, but if he were a fly on the wall he would not reach the same conclusion, and that is reflected in what I am proposing to the Committee.
New clause 5 also deals with tied aid, which was in clause 4, as I am now convinced that this is a matter of aid effectiveness rather than policy coherence. After consulting hon. Members from all parts of the House, and given that all UK bilateral aid agreed since 2001 has been untied—indeed tied aid has been outlawed—I have chosen to focus instead on the more positive promotion of untied aid, of which the UK is in the vanguard in the EU and the Development Assistance Committee. The changes that I propose identify and celebrate the UK’s position as a world leader in this matter.
After consulting my hon. Friend the Minister—I want to acknowledge a positive Government contribution, because I am trying to be as even-handed as I have been from the beginning—I am pleased to propose that, in line with the important points put forward on Second Reading by the hon. Members for Boston and Skegness, for Bournemouth, East and for Kettering (Mr. Hollobone), the cap on the number of countries under scrutiny in the Bill shall be increased to a number not fewer than 20, with room for the Government of the day to focus on even more should they choose to do so. I understand that the Minister will wish to add his comments to what I have just said.
By way of explanation, reference to humanitarian assistance has been removed from the new clause and included in the schedule. To say in the new clause that bilateral aid includes humanitarian assistance would imply that elsewhere it does not. Moreover, humanitarian assistance is not primarily aimed at MDGs 1 to 7, which is the principal focus of the new clause, which I commend to the Committee.