§ 1. Mr. Khalid Mahmood (Birmingham, Perry Barr)If she will make a statement on her Department's support for the ethical trading initiative. [6111]
§ The Secretary of State for International Development (Clare Short)My Department has supported the ethical trading initiative since its establishment in 1998. It is an alliance of major British retailers, development nongovernmental organisations and trade unions dedicated to the improvement of labour standards throughout the supply chain of the retailers concerned. The ETI brings together £60 billion in annual turnover, and therefore has a considerable worldwide reach. The retailers subject themselves to independent monitoring, and work 264 to bring their supply chains into compliance with International Labour Organisation standards in a way that brings benefits to workers in developing countries.
§ Mr. MahmoodDoes my right hon. Friend agree that improving the observance of core labour standards in supply chains can help developing country workers to get a better deal out of trade? What further steps can her Department take through the ETI and other initiatives to ensure that labour standards are better observed worldwide?
§ Clare ShortI agree strongly with my hon. Friend. As the House knows, core labour standards include having no child or bonded labour. Some children are still working when they should be at school because their parents are so poor, and some people have to bond their future and their children into labour. That shows what desperate levels of poverty we have in the world.
The ETI is a very important initiative: a £60 billion turnover has a wide international influence. We want to build on it and spread it across the world. It is being watched, and may be imitated, in other countries worldwide.