§ 3. Mr. Ben Chapman (Wirral, South)What progress her Department has made in helping the islanders of Montserrat to recover from the effects of the volcanic eruptions and to be better prepared for disaster in future. [67504]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Mr. George Foulkes)Last month in Montserrat, I signed the country policy plan, agreed jointly with the Government of Montserrat, which commits us to spend £75 million over three years on its development. That is on top of nearly £60 million provided up to the end of the last financial year.
We have made great progress restoring normality to the 4,000 people remaining in the habitable north and are working to encourage the Government of Montserrat to accept their responsibility to promote development rather than demanding continuous and increasing subsidy from our aid budget.
§ Mr. ChapmanI congratulate my hon. Friend on the considerable progress that has been made so far in difficult circumstances. Will he outline the extent to which his discussions with the Government of Montserrat touched on the continuing monitoring of the threat still posed by the volcano? What is his assessment of the impact of all this on tourism, which greatly affects the future of Montserrat?
§ Mr. FoulkesI am grateful to my hon. Friend. We are funding the Montserrat volcano observatory, with scientists from the British Geological Survey and the university of the West Indies. They carry out regular risk 918 assessments, and I am pleased to be able to say that the last one allowed us to reoccupy part of the island, which improves tourism prospects. The next assessment will be undertaken later this month, and I hope that it will prove more promising in respect of the volcano.
There is growing confidence in Montserrat: one hotel is already being reopened, another new one is being built, and I hope that if the new assessment is positive, the possibility of reopening the W. H. Bramble airport will become a reality. The future of Montserrat will then be much brighter than it has been for many a year.
§ Mr. John Bercow (Buckingham)In the light of what the Minister said in his initial answer to the question, why does he think that the Montserrat coroner described the Secretary of State's response to the recent disaster as unimaginative, grudging and tardy?
§ Mr. FoulkesI think that the Montserrat coroner said that because he is ignorant. I met him when I was in Montserrat. The hon. Gentleman will know that the jury accepted that the deaths were caused because the people involved moved into areas that were prohibited. I asked the coroner why he had said that the conditions in the shelters had forced them to do that, and whether he had visited any of the shelters, as I have done—but he had visited none of them. I asked him whether he had spoken to staff from the Department for International Development and the governor, but he had spoken to none of them. If the coroner had done his work properly, we would take more account of his comments.