Humanitarian Relief: Spending (Hansard, 27 May 1993)

§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Chalker of Wallasey)
My Lords, of our total aid programme to developing countries humanitarian relief accounted for 9.6 per cent in 1989–90, 9.9 per cent in 1990–91 and 14.4 per cent in 1991–92. The figures for 1992–93 are not yet available. It is not our usual practice to publish estimates, which can often differ greatly from actual expenditure, especially in relation to emergency relief, which by its very nature is unpredictable.

§ Lord Judd
My Lords, while I thank the Minister for that reply, does she not agree that with more than 40 significant conflicts raging in the world and almost 40 million refugees and displaced people, and in the light of all the evidence that every major famine of recent years has been conflict related, that trend in the aid programme demonstrates that absolute priority must be given to pre-emptive diplomacy, conflict resolution, peacemaking and peacekeeping? What are the Government doing strategically towards those objectives?

§ Baroness Chalker of Wallasey
My Lords, I sympathise as regards the problems because I am the one in the hot seat who has to deal with them all the time. While one cannot predict where one is going to need to spend resources as a result either of natural disasters or of the man-made disasters of war which affect so many millions of people, we have a firm strategy for being ready to respond. We make sure that we have sufficient resources to expend when called upon to do so. We have learnt many lessons in the past two years, when we have had the greatest number of conflicts ever. I am glad to say that I have managed to make sure that life-preserving humanitarian aid takes the highest priority but also not to curtail development aid in order to provide such humanitarian assistance.

§ Lord Mellish
My Lords, first, no one doubts the generosity of this Government towards overseas aid. 390 However, is the aid going to the right people? What efforts are being made by this Government, or any other government for that matter, to ensure that the money we give goes to the people who really need it?

§ Baroness Chalker of Wallasey
My Lords, I can assure this House that the British Government have one of the most effective and carefully controlled systems for assessing need before deciding what resources are needed and by what means they should be expended. I have no doubt that there are some donor countries in the world which are not as precise as we are. If the noble Lord has a specific case in mind, I hope that he will write to me about it because I have never failed to investigate such suggestions and, if there has ever been the slightest doubt in my mind, to put in extra staff to make sure that the money is spent on those things which we say it should be spent on.

§ Lord Ennals
My Lords, does the Minister accept that many noble Lords on these Benches do not accept the generalisation just made by the noble Lord, Lord Mellish? Many of us feel that the aid is inadequate. Will the Minister accept my congratulations on the fact that she distributes an inadequate budget as fairly as she can? Do the Government still accept 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product as the target for our overseas aid programme? Does she believe that progress year by year is now moving towards that figure? When will we reach that figure?

§ Baroness Chalker of Wallasey
My Lords, I believe that the House already knows that the Government have never given a date by which, under any administration, we would meet that figure. It is a target. Over the past five years we have averaged 0.3 per cent of gross domestic product. I am doing my best to ensure that every single pound of the resources we have is spent to maximum effect and with the minimum administrative cost. However, one has always to be conscious of the fact that, with more than 30 million refugees and displaced persons and with the role of modern media in creating additional demand for help with problems about which a few years ago we knew nothing, we have a real difficulty. I shall do my best with the resources that are available.
I say to the noble Lord in all sincerity that any responsible government must spend only what it can afford. I am very conscious of the need to do the very best I can with those resources that I can obtain. However, we have to make sure that we have the resources to pay for the programmes that we want to implement.

§ Lord Peyton of Yeovil
My Lords, bearing in mind both the number and dimension of the problems, does my noble friend agree that whatever resources were applied they would be inadequate but that in the circumstances most of us warmly endorse the views expressed by the noble Lord, Lord Mellish?

§ Baroness Chalker of Wallasey
My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend Lord Peyton for what he has just said. I believe that we have to be very strict about the spending of resources. That is why over recent years we have sought to improve government 391 systems in many of the countries receiving aid, particularly relating to the administration of their own economic resources, so that we can make sure that all the money we give can be given to countries which are themselves pursuing sensible economic reform and structural adjustment.

§ Lord Molloy
My Lords, while I acknowledge that our Government have an excellent record in these matters, is the Minister satisfied that other wealthy countries are making as good an effort as we are? Is that not a vital question which our Government should address, because some countries would have difficulty in equalling our record but ought to do as much as we do?

§ Baroness Chalker of Wallasey
My Lords, the House is very well aware that, if Britain undertakes a commitment to pay money to an international organisation, we pay up. Others are not always so good at doing that. It is one of my jobs—and will be next week —to encourage others to pay their dues.

§ Lord Ennals
My Lords, as a supplementary point to the question I asked earlier, does the Minister accept that some of the Western countries which, like us, have been going through a very difficult recession have reached and exceeded the target of 0.7 per cent?

§ Baroness Chalker of Wallasey
My Lords, I am glad to note that the noble Lord, Lord Ennals, is aware that many countries have also suffered this bad recession. Sometimes his colleagues on the other side of this House do not seem to realise that other countries have also suffered a bad recession. None of those countries which have reached or surpassed the figure of 0.7 per cent have anything like our global responsibilities. Nor do they have the same ability to contribute in many different fields overseas. Therefore, while countries like the Netherlands may have a laudable and very acceptable system, they do not have the other demands upon them that the United Kingdom bears and which we have to be able to pay for.

§ Lord Judd
My Lords, does the Minister not agree that the figures she herself has given today illustrate that there has been an increase of the order of 50 per cent in the amount of the aid programme being spent on relief as distinct from development? Does she agree that that is directly related to conflict and that if we are to create the conditions in which development can take place on a sustained basis priority must be given by the international community to conflict resolution and peacekeeping? We are Permanent Members of the Security Council: what are we doing about it?

§ Baroness Chalker of Wallasey
My Lords, if the noble Lord, Lord Judd, had seen the volume of telegrams on the subject of conflict resolution which emanates from and is received by the United Kingdom's mission at the UN in New York, he would know just how hard we are seeking to work with others on conflict resolution. I agree with him totally that conflict resolution can be the solution in some cases, but the difficulty for the Permanent Members, 392 who now work together better than at any time that I remember, is that whatever the Security Council resolves has to be implemented in some countries which have no interest in that conflict resolution.

§ Lord Rea
My Lords, at the risk of my point being considered wide of the Question on the Order Paper, will the noble Baroness give us some idea of the military expenditure which has been engendered by the support for our humanitarian work in various countries where British forces are engaged over and above what one might call the normal running costs of the Armed Forces?

§ Baroness Chalker of Wallasey
My Lords, I understand what the noble Lord asks. I am afraid that I do not have the figures to hand; and the question is a long way from the original Question of the noble Lord, Lord Judd.