HC Deb 27 March 2003 vol 402 cc444-6
9. Mr. Stephen McCabe (Birmingham, Hall Green)

What he estimates will be the cost to (a) the Treasury, (b) other Governments and (c) international finance institutions of meeting the millennium target for reducing infant mortality. [105158]

15. Valerie Davey (Bristol, West)

What estimate he has made of the cost to (a) the UK Government and (b) international finance institutions of meeting the millennium development target that all children have primary schooling by 2015. [105164]

The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Gordon Brown)

The World Bank estimates that the additional cost of providing for health care is £12 billion a year and, for education, £10 billion a year.

Mr. McCabe

Contrary to some other hon. Members, I think that my right hon. Friend deserves a great deal of credit for the dedication and commitment that he has shown to these matters. Will he continue to use his influence to ensure that the richer countries and the international financial institutions minimise waste and internal disagreements and maximise our chances of achieving those ambitious, but morally justified targets?

Mr. Brown

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for those remarks. I think that he would agree with me that this is a time when we have to see not only the reconstruction of Iraq planned in a way that is satisfactory for the people of Iraq and the middle east peace settlement moved forward, but an act of statesmanship from the developed countries to the developing countries, so that they know that, as they invest, open up their markets and prepare for the modern economic world, we will support them with additional resources for health, education and anti-poverty programmes. I believe that this is the time when all major industrialised countries should be supporting the new initiative that my hon. Friend is talking about—an international finance facility that can release substantial sums—so that we can show people that, in addition to tackling the problems of terrorism, we are tackling the problems of poverty and injustice in the poorest countries.

Valerie Davey

My right hon. Friend's positive response will be welcomed by many people in Bristol, West who support the millennium education project. What can my right hon. Friend and the other agencies involved do to ensure that as many girls as boys benefit from that exciting education development?

Mr. Brown

More than 110 million children are not going to school today. Two thirds of those children are girls, as my hon. Friend will know. If we achieve our millennium development goals by investing more than £10 billion extra in education, the greatest beneficiaries will be those who have been discriminated against most in the provision of education—girls and young women. The fact of the matter today is that, in almost all the African countries that we are talking about as well as in Asia, far too few girls are getting the chance of education, and I believe that the expenditure that we are proposing for literacy, numeracy and enrolment in primary education can yield those results. In countries where money has been provided, such as Uganda, the pupil-teacher ratio has halved and there is a prospect that every young child—girl and boy—will have the chance of education.

Mr. Desmond Swayne (New Forest, West)

Does the Chancellor agree first, that there is perhaps a great lesson to be learned from the most enlightened aspect of the Marshall aid programme, which was: to tie repayment levels to balance of payment surpluses, thereby creating a huge incentive for nations to trade freely; and secondly, that trade will always dwarf aid?

Mr. Brown

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising a useful analogy about moneys for developing countries. The Marshall plan provided 1 per cent. of America's gross domestic product to the poorer countries of Europe when reconstruction was planned after the second world war. It started as a foreign policy initiative and ended up with the economic and social reconstruction of Europe that produced benefits not only because of the money that was invested in Europe, but the resulting extra trade. That is the exact analogy that we should use when considering money for developing countries.

We must increase the amount of development aid, and I must tell the hon. Gentleman that America provides 0.1 per cent. of its GDP and the developed countries provide only 0.2 per cent. We would have to go a considerable way to reach aid figures that are equivalent to the Marshall plan. At the same time, however, benefits will include not only the amount of aid for the reconstruction and development of the poorest countries, but the greater benefits that result from a more open trading world from which all countries may benefit.