HL Deb 07 March 1995 vol 562 cc9-10WA
Lord Judd

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Who will represent the UK at the forthcoming social summit in Copenhagen and what the role of the Prime Minister will be.

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Chalker of Wallasey):

I shall head the United Kingdom delegation to the summit. Officials from the Foreign Office, the Overseas Development Administration, the Department of Employment and the Department of Social Security will also participate.

Due to pressure of other business, my right honourable friend the Prime Minister will not attend.

Lord Judd

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What will be their position at the forthcoming social summit in Copenhagen on the United Nations Development Programme's proposal that 20 per cent. of overseas development aid by donors and 20 per cent. of the budgets of recipient countries should be devoted to basic education and health.

Baroness Chalker of Wallasey:

We support the aim of increasing resources for basic human development priorities; and welcome the recognition in the social summit draft declaration of the responsibilities of developing countries' governments to provide services to their people. But we have doubts about the value of assigning specific targets to either donors or recipients of aid, not least because of data measurement and comparability issues. The quality of basic services is as important as their coverage. For these reasons we shall not support the 20/20 proposal.

Lord Judd

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What will be their position at the forthcoming social summit in Copenhagen on the early ratification by participating governments of existing core human rights instruments (and/or, where appropriate, the removal of reservations which undermine the intervention of relevant treaties) and of International Labour Organisation conventions, including the Covenant for the Protection of Migrant Workers and their families.

Baroness Chalker of Wallasey:

We fully support references to the ratification of human rights instruments which appear in the declaration and programme of action to be agreed during the summit. We will continue to encourage all those wishing to improve their position towards basic human rights to look at the principles embodied in existing human rights instruments and, where appropriate, to ratify them.

Lord Judd

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether, at the forthcoming social summit in Copenhagen, they will support moves—

  1. (i) to ensure that social development objectives form an integral part of all international macroeconomic policy;
  2. (ii) to ensure that national governments fulfil their obligations to secure basic social and economic tights;
  3. (iii) to institute internationally agreed targets for the eradication of poverty and indicators to measure progress in social development;
  4. (iv) to ensure that structural adjustment programmes are based on careful analysis of their impact on poverty, and contain specific social development goals;
  5. (v) to act on recent research by the World Bank which indicates that current social safety nets which it funds may reach only 1 per cent. of those in need;
  6. (vi) to give special consideration to those developing countries where multilateral debt constitutes an important part of their total debt, and to sell limited quantities of IMF gold stocks to help meet this problem.

Baroness Chalker of Wallasey:

On approach to the social summit in Copenhagen on these will be as follows:

  1. (i) stable macroeconomic policies and price incentives are the key to sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction. The pattern of growth is also an important consideration;
  2. (ii) we will continue to encourage all those countries which have ratified international instruments which address social and economic issues to meet their obligations;
  3. (iii) we will support the adoption of internationally agreed targets on eradication of extreme poverty and indicators of social development, but only those which are relevant, practical and useable;
  4. (iv) we continue to stress the need for economic reform programmes to take full account of the social dimensions of development in their design and implementation;
  5. (v) we are not aware of such research findings. To be effective, safety net programmes need to be well targeted. Performance by individual countries in the design and implementation of such programmes varies widely;
  6. (vi) my right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer made this proposal at the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings in Madrid last autumn.