§ 5. Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)What proportion of his Department's budget he expects to be spent in Africa through budget support in the next financial year. [178965]
§ The Secretary of State for International Development (Hilary Benn)In 2004–05, we expect that 30 per cent. of our projected total bilateral spending in Africa will be in the form of poverty reduction budget support; plans for 2005–06 will be decided during the rest of the year.
§ Tony BaldryIf budget support is to be successful, sustained capacity-building will obviously be needed in the receiving African countries. The Secretary of State is fortunate in heading the Whitehall Department with the largest number of fast-track civil servants, so does he agree that if budget support is to work, Ministers in the receiving African countries must be able to work up their senior management teams so that they, too, can call on good-quality officials both to work up and deliver policy?
§ Hilary BennI completely agree with the hon. Gentleman. As he will know, we take three steps before deciding whether to give budget support. The first is that there should be a thorough review of public financial management, which, of course, includes the capacity to manage resources effectively. Secondly, there should be agreement to reform any weaknesses that have been identified, and thirdly—recognising that giving budget support entails some risks—the risks should be outweighed by the development benefits.
764 As the hon. Gentleman will be aware, a large part of the work that we undertake is with the Governments of those countries and elsewhere to build that capacity, because once countries have that capacity they can do the job that we all look to Governments to do, which is to provide for our needs. If we can then provide financial support through budget assistance, it will enable the countries themselves to do more of the things that they have already decided they want to do.
§ Barbara Follett (Stevenage) (Lab)What consideration has my right hon. Friend's Department given to project, as well as budget, support in Africa? Such projects are far easier to monitor and are far less likely to be things that we do not want, such as military expenditure.
§ Hilary BennWe undertake a large amount of project work in Africa. It is a question of deciding on appropriate development assistance, depending on the circumstances. Where there is a Government who have a clear plan and the capacity—to which the hon. Member for Banbury (Tony Baldry) referred—to provide more health care and education but lack the financial support to do so, it is sensible to give them additional resources to help make that happen. Kenya recently increased the number of children in primary school by 1.2 million because it received support from us and other countries. Where those conditions do not obtain, it is right that we continue, through other project and programme activities, to help make a difference to the people of those countries.
§ Mr. Julian Brazier (Canterbury) (Con)Does the Minister accept that the worst humanitarian crisis, with by far the greatest need for aid in Africa, is in Sudan? Last month, my hon. Friend the Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) raised the question of the Government's support for Sudan's reappointment to the UN Commission on Human Rights, given that it is in no small measure responsible for parts of the disaster there. While we are thinking about aid for Africa and Sudan in particular, will the Minister tell us whether there has been any progress in getting those international monitors, on whom he put so much emphasis last month, to the areas where they need to be to expose the abuses that are going on?
§ Hilary BennI hope that two groups of monitors will be working in Darfur as quickly as possible. The first group is the African Union ceasefire monitoring team. As I reported to the House last week, the first part of that team has already deployed. We are looking to support the deployment of the remainder, so that the total of 120 is reached. The second group is made up of the eight human rights monitors. In fact, this morning, I spoke to the Foreign Minister of Sudan to urge the Government of Sudan to accept the arrival of those monitors in Darfur, because they will be able to report to us and the rest of the world about the serious human rights situations and the abuses that are taking place even now.
§ Helen Jackson (Sheffield, Hillsborough) (Lab)When my right hon. Friend considers his future budget spending for Africa—I hope that he gets as much as he 765 possibly can for that—will he particularly look at education, not simply what happens in schools to meet the millennium development goals, which is exceptionally important, but perhaps also some of the radio-based adult education that can be carried out by the World Service, the Open university and other bodies to raise awareness through education on that continent?
§ Hilary BennI will gladly consider my hon. Friend's suggestions because all the things that she describes can contribute to ensuring that Africa can build greater capacity, through education, to achieve a better economic future. Undoubtedly, that will be one of the things that the Commission for Africa will look forward to. We will increase our support to education in Africa with the resources that we have already, and I look forward to having more resources available to do more.