HL Deb 13 November 2003 vol 654 cc1563-5

Baroness Northover asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the increase in aid to Iraq is at the expense of aid to other parts of the world.

The Lord President of the Council (Baroness Amos)

My Lords, the Government are committed to spending 90 per cent of Department for International Development country programmes in low-income countries by 2005–06. That, together with contributing to the cost of recovery in Iraq, is leading to some reductions in aid to other middle-income countries in future years.

Baroness Northover

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for that precise reply. On Monday, she told me that I had misunderstood the matter. I remind her that DfID stated to the International Development Select Committee—

Noble Lords

Question!

Baroness Northover

My Lords, does the noble Baroness recall that DfID stated that it would clearly be wrong to consider withdrawing DfID funding from development efforts elsewhere in the world; that she said a week later that money for Iraq would come from DfID's reserves; and that the Prime Minister wrote to a director of Christian Aid on 25th April stating: Funds will not be redirected to Iraq from programmes supporting poor people elsewhere"? Is that not clear?

As the security situation in Iraq worsens—

Noble Lords

Order!

Baroness Northover

My Lords, you do not want to hear it, do you? What assurance can the noble Baroness give the House that the poorest people elsewhere in the world will not be affected by this situation?

Baroness Amos

My Lords, I shall repeat what I said on Monday. We are currently spending 78 per cent of our bilateral funding on the poorest countries in the world. We have a target to increase that to 90 per cent of our bilateral funding by 2005–06. That commitment remains. In addition, we shall be spending £1 billion in Africa by 2005–06. That commitment remains.

Again, as I said on Monday, we are considering our spending in middle-income countries. Iraq is a special case as a post-conflict country. That is the basis on which the World Bank will make a special case of Iraq for the next two years.

So our spending in middle-income countries for the current financial year will be sustained, but the ongoing reprioritisation—it is ongoing because we are moving from 78 per cent to 90 per cent—will continue. We will have to advance the closure of some programmes in middle-income countries to fund our programmes in Iraq as a special post-conflict country. That will not affect our commitment to the poorest countries in the world.

Lord Astor of Hever

My Lords, in the light of the decision of the Red Cross and other charities to close their offices in Baghdad and Basra, what discussions have the Government had with non-governmental organisations about the reallocation of funding?

Baroness Amos

My Lords, we have had ongoing discussion with NGOs, especially about security issues in Iraq. In fact, we have told NGOs that we will help to fund some security measures that they need to put in place, and which can be expensive, to enable them to continue to work in Iraq. Several NGOs have expressed concern about our long-term programme in middle-income countries more generally, but that would have been the case regardless of the situation in Iraq.

Lord Tomlinson

My Lords, does not my noble friend agree that the best way to ensure effective aid in Iraq would be if all our allies, especially some other countries in the European Union, would accept all the obligations of the most recent Security Council resolution, which calls on them to provide all sorts of assistance to create the security environment in which that aid can be properly dispersed?

Baroness Amos

My Lords, I agree with my noble friend. The UN Security Council resolution put in place a framework that would enable other countries to engage more effectively with that agenda. We will continue to work with our partners to ensure that they can contribute to the longer-term future of Iraq.

Lord Eden of Winton

My Lords, is there any truth in the reports that the Government are going to cut back the extremely important funding that they provide in support of the G7 pilot programme for the conservation of Brazilian rainforests? If so, why?

Baroness Amos

My Lords, that is not correct. A number of projects were agreed. They are all approaching the end of their funding period. Only one of them will undergo review because it has come to the end of its funding period, but it will continue. I will be happy to write to the noble Lord with details.

Lord Renton

My Lords, in order to restore prosperity in Iraq, should not the priority be the restoration of the oilfields, which in the past have brought a good income to Iraq?

Baroness Amos

My Lords, the noble Lord is quite right. We need to ensure that Iraq's own resources, which will be fundamental for the longer-term development effort, are restored. Noble Lords will know that the current security situation and the ongoing programme of sabotage is the result of a deliberate effort to ensure that Iraqi resources cannot be used in that way.

Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay

My Lords, as the noble Baroness mentioned middle-income countries, what does she expect to be the effect of the money spent in Iraq on our aid to Latin America by 2005–06? In particular, Brazil has been mentioned as a middle-income country. Is she aware that some of the poorest people in the world are in middle-income countries such as Brazil?

Baroness Amos

My Lords, of course I am aware that there are poor people in many middle-income countries, but this country's strategy for our development effort has been clear. It was set out in our White Paper in 1997, when we stated that our core commitment was to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The continent in the world in which we are least likely to achieve the Millennium Development Goals is sub-Saharan Africa. That is why our focus on increasing our spending in sub-Saharan Africa to £1 billion by 2005–06 remains.

It is important for noble Lords to remember that all our spending does not go through the bilateral route; 40 per cent of our expenditure goes through multilateral channels. As for Latin America, in 2001, our share of European Commission spending in Latin America was about £21 million. That level of spending will continue. The total for all multilaterals, including the Commission, was £49 million.