Results 1-20 of 1,134 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Andrew Mitchell

Oral Answers to Questions — International Development: Ethical Investments (21 Oct 2009) has video

Andrew Mitchell: But the damning National Audit Office report last year found that Ministers failed to demand real evidence of the impact of CDC, and that this multi-billion business was overseen by the equivalent of just one and a half full-time members of staff from the Department. What is the Minister doing to get his act together and ensure that CDC delivers on the key development objectives that we expect?

Oral Answers to Questions — International Development: Copenhagen Summit (21 Oct 2009) has video

Andrew Mitchell: As I saw at the Poznan climate summit last year, representatives of developing countries are at a disadvantage, because they cannot afford to employ the hordes of lawyers and negotiators that developed countries hire. In the spirit of the right hon. Gentleman's call for a unified response throughout the House, will he look again at Conservative proposals for an advocacy fund to help poor...

Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department: Building our Common Future (6 Jul 2009)

Andrew Mitchell: I thank the Secretary of State for his statement. There is much in the White Paper that we welcome, not least since it adopts a number of themes and specific ideas that the Opposition have been championing now for more than four years. We welcome his commitment to do more on agriculture and to focus on women, who bear the brunt of conflict and poverty. We look forward to hearing how he will...

Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department: Building our Common Future (6 Jul 2009)

Andrew Mitchell: But not that of Conservative Front Benchers.

Oral Answers to Questions — International Development: Afghanistan (24 Jun 2009) has video

Andrew Mitchell: Congratulations on your election, Mr. Speaker. Your interest in international development is well known, and is very welcome. At the last DFID questions, the Secretary of State claimed that his Department withdrew funding to the United Nations Development Programme—UNDP—Afghanistan counter-narcotics trust fund as soon as serious weaknesses became apparent. However, I have obtained...

Oral Answers to Questions — International Development: Afghanistan (24 Jun 2009) has video

Andrew Mitchell: Let me read to the Secretary of State from the memo, which Ministers received before signing off that money. It warned that, in Afghanistan, the UNDP's reporting is "poor", and that it suffers from a "lack of experienced people" who "only do the minimum in terms of their contractual obligations". Yet, so far this year, the Secretary of State has signed off another £14 million for the...

Oral Answers to Questions — International Development: Afghanistan (13 May 2009) has video

Andrew Mitchell: I join the Secretary of State in sending our condolences to the friends and family of the Welsh Guards officer who died in Selly Oak this morning. The Secretary of State will know that the National Audit Office has criticised his Department for handing over £20 million of taxpayers' money to the Afghan Counter-narcotics trust fund, which the UNDP was too inexperienced to manage...

Oral Answers to Questions — International Development: Afghanistan (13 May 2009) has video

Andrew Mitchell: So can the Secretary of State tell the House what steps he is taking to ensure that the extra £14 million that he had just signed off for the UNDP in Afghanistan is subject to proper, independent, effective impact evaluation so that British taxpayers know they are getting value for money, and British troops know their bravery is reinforced by an effective and successful aid effort?

Oral Answers to Questions — International Development: St. Helena (25 Mar 2009) has video

Andrew Mitchell: Is the Minister aware of the view across the House that the Government are guilty of a breach of faith and of dithering in their handling of this matter? What will the new consultation tell him that he does not already know from the past nine years of this process?

Oral Answers to Questions — International Development: St. Helena (25 Mar 2009) has video

Andrew Mitchell: Does the Minister not understand that Ministers' handling of this matter has been shameful, as the hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley (Meg Munn), the respected former Foreign Office Minister, has eloquently explained? The people of St. Helena are British citizens, so do we not have a duty to them to resolve this issue? Is not it time that he and his colleagues got a grip?

Oral Answers to Questions — International Development: Gaza (11 Feb 2009) has video

Andrew Mitchell: It is clear from my recent visit to the Gaza border that the work of the Department for International Development is widely respected both by Israeli Minister Herzog and Palestinian Prime Minister Fayyad. However, when I spoke to the UN agencies last night, they told me that still only a fraction of the 900,000 Gazans dependent on food aid were receiving it. Will the Secretary of State...

Oral Answers to Questions — International Development: Gaza (11 Feb 2009) has video

Andrew Mitchell: We welcome the Secretary of State's announcement of a total of £27 million of humanitarian support for Gaza and note that he has so far allocated just over half of that. Could he clarify for the House when, where and how he intends to spend the remaining half of that money?

Oral Answers to Questions — International Development: UN Conference (Poznan) (17 Dec 2008) has video

Andrew Mitchell: When I attended the Poznan conference last week, I was struck by the visible differences in negotiating capacity between the world's richest and poorest countries. Will the Minister examine ways of strengthening the ability of the poorest developing countries to participate in these vital but complex negotiations?

Oral Answers to Questions — International Development: UN Conference (Poznan) (17 Dec 2008) has video

Andrew Mitchell: I thank the Minister for his answer, but does he not agree that Britain could do more to help, for example through the Commonwealth? Will he consider again the advocacy fund suggested by my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Mr. Howard), which would help the poorest countries to fight their corner in these crucial negotiations?

Royal Assent: International Aid Transparency (13 Nov 2008) has video

Andrew Mitchell: I am most grateful to the junior Minister for giving way. I have set out very clearly my party's attitude to budget support, and explained that, in principle, it is the best form of aid. However, I made it very clear why it has to be made more accountable— [ Interruption .] For the second time, the Secretary of State has muttered from a sedentary position "Daily...

Royal Assent: International Aid Transparency (13 Nov 2008) has video

Andrew Mitchell: The problem is that people are not fleeing to semi-established or established camps. They are fleeing, in the clothes that they stand up in, into a most inhospitable jungle territory. That is why it is taking so long to get desperately needed support to those who are suffering.

Royal Assent: International Aid Transparency (13 Nov 2008) has video

Andrew Mitchell: The right hon. Gentleman makes a good point about the constraints on numbers that operate across Whitehall, including DFID. Let me reiterate that we think it is absolutely absurd that DFID staffing figures are being restricted at a time when the budget is rising significantly. The staffing level should be set to meet that rising budget, not the reverse.

Royal Assent: International Aid Transparency (13 Nov 2008) has video

Andrew Mitchell: I am happy to reassure the right hon. Gentleman, and to lift from his shoulders that unhappy concern by saying that the policy that I have enunciated and set out today has the full and total support of the shadow Cabinet and the parliamentary party.

Royal Assent: International Aid Transparency (13 Nov 2008) has video

Andrew Mitchell: I, too, noticed that comment, and I was surprised as well, but I think there is a clear explanation. The conflict is not between the Congo and Rwanda, which is why, as I understand it, the President was unwilling to attend a bilateral meeting with President Kabila. He did, however, attend a meeting in Nairobi last weekend with a number of Heads of State of countries affected in the region.

Royal Assent: International Aid Transparency (13 Nov 2008) has video

Andrew Mitchell: The year 2008 has been a distinctly mixed one for international development. We remain stubbornly off-track to meet the millennium development goals, and fuel prices and food shortages have left millions at risk. Natural disasters have hit, leaving destruction in their wake—floods in India, a cyclone in Burma, and an earthquake in Pakistan. Man-made emergencies in Zimbabwe, the...