HC Deb 25 October 2000 vol 355 cc210-1
6. Mr. Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington)

If she will make a statement on the United Kingdom's international aid budget for disaster relief. [132186]

The Secretary of State for International Development (Clare Short)

Internationally, 5 per cent. of development assistance is usually spent on disaster relief. The United Kingdom does not set itself a pre-ordained limit, but spends according to need. In the previous financial year, 11 per cent. of my Department's budget was spent on disaster relief. That compares with 5 per cent, in 1997–98, and 8 per cent, in 1998–99. This year, we have provided relief for floods in west Bengal, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia, a hurricane in Belize, and a typhoon and tidal wave in North Korea. [Interruption.] We are also continuing to provide humanitarian assistance to people affected by conflict in many parts of the world. [Interruption.]

Mr. Speaker

Order. I must ask the House to come to order.

Mr. Brake

I thank the Secretary of State for her reply. She will remember stating about the Mozambique floods; The problem is not money. The problem is deploying on the ground, getting the helicopters and boats where they are needed, and getting food and water to people.—[Official Report, 28 February 2000; Vol. 345, c. 22.] Will the Secretary of State tell the House what progress has been made in establishing a fully capable United Nations rapid reaction disaster task force?

Clare Short

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right: an individual's chances of surviving a flood or other disaster are determined largely by the help available in the immediately succeeding hours. Although subsequent international assistance helps the country to recover, it is immediate action that saves people's lives, their animals and their livelihoods. Immediate action depends on strong systems already being in place in disaster-prone countries.

We are working with various countries and with the International Committee of the Red Cross to build up national red cross organisations. We are also working to strengthen the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, so that it can plan and deploy help and stockpiles of assistance around the world. Although the UNHCR is not as strong as it should be, it is strengthening, and it is a lot stronger than it was a few years ago. We will continue to work hard with the UNHCR to strengthen that international capacity. I agree with the hon. Gentleman that only the UN can play that central role.

Mr. Lawrie Quinn (Scarborough and Whitby)

Would my right hon. Friend like to acknowledge the brilliant work that has been done by British civil engineers in disaster relief efforts around the world? May I also take this opportunity to congratulate her on her honorary fellowship of the Institution of Civil Engineers, which was awarded to her to acknowledge her efforts in international disaster relief?

Clare Short

I am grateful to my hon. Friend—my grandfather would be proud of the fact that I am now a properly qualified engineer—and agree with him. We have in Red R—Registered Engineers for Disaster Relief—an association of United Kingdom engineers who, at a moment's notice, will drop everything and work on projects to provide water and sanitation and to build dams. They proudly serve our country, and we should be enormously proud of them. I am sure that hon. Members on both sides of the House take great pride in what they do.

Mr. Andrew Rowe (Faversham and Mid-Kent)

Does the Secretary of State agree that, sometimes, the most effective disaster relief should be delivered by the people living in the country? Does she not find it almost obscene that one of the richest countries in the world should be sending teams to sub-Saharan Africa to recruit nurses for the national health service, when those nurses should be left in the countries in which they have been trained?

Clare Short

I strongly agree with the hon. Gentleman's fundamental point. Although it is good for people to share their skills internationally and to travel to other countries, and although we and other countries may have skill shortages and want to recruit internationally, we should not recruit highly skilled and expensively trained people from some of the poorest countries. As we develop our policy we must balance those two imperatives and my Department is trying to make sure that the Government do just that.