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Baroness Crawley: My Lords, I too thank the noble Baroness, Lady Chalker, for securing this debate and in doing so I acknowledge her most impressive record and experience in this field. I thank all noble Lords who have participated in this excellent debate for their very constructive and often challenging remarks, and for their positive comments on the Government's policy towards international development.
As 2005 approaches, we are reaching a critical time for global political commitment and UK leadership in the field of international development. The 2004 DfID
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departmental report—I thank all noble Lords who have made encouraging noises on the report—sets out the work that DfID undertakes through bilateral and multilateral channels in more than 125 countries around the world and aims to give a balanced picture of UK success stories and areas where much more needs to be done and how we intend to achieve that.
Progress towards the internationally agreed millennium development goals is mixed, as many noble Lords have said. On current trends it is unlikely that more than two goals will be met by 2015: the goals relating to income poverty and improved access to safe water. Globally, 104 million children still do not go to primary school; 10 million children die each year before their fifth birthdays from largely preventable diseases; and 1.1 billion people are still living on less than one dollar a day.
Each UK government department has to measure progress against a set of objectives that make up its public service agreement; a mechanism first implemented in 1999 that provides a coherent and dynamic focus for the department's work. As the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, said, DfID's 2003–06 public service agreement is linked directly to the millennium development goals.
The millennium development goals have been referred to by many noble Lords. The department is on track to meet 17 of the 28 indicators linked to the objectives. There has been a significant reduction in the proportion of people living on one dollar a day. The ratio of girls to boys enrolled in primary schools has increased. The effectiveness of the international development system has been enhanced. However, enormous challenges remain, as we have heard today from many noble Lords, particularly those relating to under-fives and maternal mortality rates, tuberculosis detection rates, the poverty focus of the EC and the stalled World Trade Organisation talks.
The constraints to progress against the millennium development goals and the public service agreement vary considerably between geographical regions. They include particularly the impact of HIV/AIDS and barriers to trade, in addition to ongoing conflict, poor governance, inequality and exclusion, and human rights abuses. The scale of the HIV/AIDS epidemic is staggering, as the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, said, with nine new infections occurring globally every minute. That is quite simply killing development in many countries. Life expectancy is dropping and deaths among skilled workers and young people are undermining prospects for future economic growth. The social consequences for women and children in particular—a matter raised by the noble Lord, Lord Patel, and the noble Baronesses, Lady Flather and Lady Northover—are devastating. In Botswana it is estimated that life expectancy will drop from 65 years in the early 1990s to 27 years by 2010.
The UK Government's call for action on HIV/AIDS is the start of a process that will take us beyond our 2005 presidency and focus on stronger political direction and improved funding. On donor co-ordination and HIV/AIDS programmes, we are fully supportive of the UN and
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World Health Organisation efforts to secure HIV treatment for 3 million people in the developing world by the end of 2005, including 2 million in sub-Saharan Africa.
The stalled world trade talks at Cancun were a major disappointment and the UK Government are absolutely committed to an early resumption of multilateral trade negotiations. The stakes are high, as the noble Baroness, Lady Chalker, has implied. Estimates suggest that a 50 per cent reduction in trade protection measures by both developing and developed countries could result in a welfare gain for developing countries of around 150 billion dollars per year. As noble Lords will know, that is three times what they receive in aid. This could lift 300 million people out of poverty by 2015, as the noble Baroness said.
Noble Lords have stressed that the international community must now move on to deliver on the Doha commitments to improve market access, to reduce and agree a date for ending all forms of export subsidies and to reduce trade distorting domestic support.
The challenge to the millennium development goals is particularly daunting in sub-Saharan Africa where poverty levels are the highest in the world. Less than 1 per cent of global foreign direct investment goes to the region. Africa's share of world trade is also less than 1 per cent and 29 million Africans are infected with the HIV virus.
The UK Government are committed to tackling the challenges faced by sub-Saharan Africa. The Commission for Africa set up this year provides an opportunity to take a fresh look at the problems facing Africa, both past and present, and to recommend a new way forward. This is not a UK commission. More than half the commissioners are African and it aims to draw on the expertise of as many African organisations as possible, in particular the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa's Development. The commission has agreed six principal themes to be considered over the next six months: investment in people; conflict and peace-building; the environment; governance; the economy; culture and participation. Its recommendations may mean difficult choices for the international community and Africa, but new solutions must be identified if the Millennium Development Goals are to be relevant for the majority of Africans.
The United Nations millennium development goals stock-take next year will provide a harsh reality-check. It is currently estimated that sub-Saharan Africa will reach neither the poverty goal nor the child mortality goal until 2150—some 150 years beyond 2015. It will be imperative that we use this stock-take to gain renewed commitment from the international community as a whole to meeting the millennium development goals within the agreed timescale. As the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Newcastle has rightly said, 2005 will offer an important opportunity for the UK Government to increase the international political focus on development as they take on the presidencies of the G8 and the expanded European Union. The way forward is clear—we must ensure that sufficient financial resources are provided, and that these are used to optimum effect if real progress is to be made. Again, the right reverend Prelate underlined this issue in his contribution.
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First, the volume of aid must be increased. The 2002 Monterrey Financing for Development Consensus committed international donors to providing significant additional aid by 2006. We now need to live up to these commitments. The UK Government are gradually moving towards the United Nations target of 0.7 per cent of our gross national income being allocated to official development assistance. We aim to reach 0.4 per cent in 2005–06. I take note of several noble Lords' criticisms on the speed of that development. We are also strongly supporting the proposed International Finance Facility which aims to more that double the total aid provided globally to more than 100 billion dollars a year.
Secondly, in addition to providing more funds, as the noble Baroness, Lady Chalker, has highlighted, the effectiveness of that aid must be improved. In the last year for which we have figures, donors started 35,000 activities with an average size of 1.5 million dollars. It is almost impossible for developing countries to keep track of these initiatives, and to draw maximum benefit from them. DfID has worked closely with others to implement the principles established in the OECD Rome Declaration on Harmonisation in 2003, which aim to encourage a more integrated approach from international donors. DfID has reduced its number of projects and focused more on poverty reduction budget support and sector strategies intended to support partner governments' own poverty reduction agendas. Thirdly, well-informed, evidence-based policy is critical to good decision-making on both aid allocations and intervention. DfID is working to improve its policies through greater research and improved analytical methodology, and has reorganised its policy division this year to provide more focused analysis, advice and expertise.
Given sufficient political will, progress is possible. There are already success stories to be told. Ongoing conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa have fallen from 19 to two over the past four years. The heavily indebted poor countries initiative has released 1.7 billion dollars since 2001 for social expenditure and poverty reduction in 27 countries. Over the past four years, DfID has helped India to increase primary school enrolment to 90 per cent. In conjunction with other agencies, DfID has helped to save 1,000 lives in the immediate aftermath of the Bam earthquake in Iran. It is estimated that DfID's aid lifts 2 million people permanently out of poverty each year.
I will do my best to answer as many of your Lordships' questions as possible, and those that I do not reach I will follow-up in correspondence. The noble Baroness, Lady Chalker, asked about DfID and private companies, and what action we are taking to develop these partnerships. DfID is working on a number of fronts to promote greater corporate responsibility and greater partnership with the private sector. Successful examples include the extractive industries transparency initiative launched by the Prime Minister in September 2002 to promote full transparency of payments and revenues in the oil, gas and mining sectors in developing countries. There is also the support for the ethical trading initiative, an alliance of businesses,
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non-governmental organisations and trade unions designed to improve working conditions in global supply chains. The noble Baroness also asked whether the poverty reduction budget support is given in conjunction with help for capacity-building. Capacity-building is provided in conjunction with the budget support, often within the area of public financial management systems among others. An important indicator of whether budget support will result in poverty reduction is whether the recipient government's public financial management systems are effective.
The noble Baroness, Lady Chalker, and the noble Lord, Lord Hannay of Chiswick, asked what DfID is doing to improve access to trade and reduce trade barriers. They will know that the Government acknowledge the damaging effect that dumping and trade-supporting subsidies have on developing countries' agricultural sectors. Commodity dependency—and the associated vulnerability to high volatility prices—also remains a major development problem. Our priorities for the round are getting agreement on the issues that matter most to developing countries: agriculture; non-agricultural market access; and special and differential treatment to help poorer countries adjust to open markets.
The noble Baroness raised the issue of corruption as did my noble friend Lord Desai. She asked whether we are training for reducing corruption. We are not training specifically, but DfID provides a wide range of support for developing countries to tackle corruption—through strong enforcement action against corruption and money laundering such as effective anti-corruption agencies and financial intelligence units, and through necessary preventive measures such as improved public sector financial management and better parliamentary oversight.
The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Newcastle and the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, raised very strongly the issue of the 0.7 per cent target. I have covered that to some extent. They also asked me directly about a timetable, as did other noble Lords. I will no doubt disappoint them by saying that the UK Government have not as yet committed to a timetable for reaching the 0.7 per cent target. However, I am sure that the strong appeal of the right reverend Prelate and other noble Lords will be noted.
The noble Lord, Lord Patel, asked in his very moving contribution what plans DfID has in developing a new strategy for meeting millennium development goals for reducing maternal deaths. A new strategy on maternal health will be launched by the department in the coming weeks. As the noble Lord knows, DfID is committed to reducing the appalling toll of deaths of mothers and new-born babies. We are focused on building better health systems able to meet the challenges of delivering quality care in the resource-starved settings that are often found—systems able to provide access to quality reproductive health services, prevent and safely manage unwanted pregnancies, and provide skilled attendance for every birth backed by ready access to emergency obstetric care.
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The noble Lord also raised the question of how DfID is promoting programmes for treating women with obstetric fistula. I am sure that the department will be very willing to discuss this most important area of women's and girls' health with him at his convenience.
The noble Lord, Lord Patel, and the noble Baroness, Lady Flather, spoke about the USA with regard to contraception and reproduction programmes. They asked what plans DfID had to engage in dialogue with countries such as the USA to promote reproductive health and rights more actively by restoring their funding schemes. They will know that DfID has a long-standing commitment to support reproductive health and rights. We are a leading donor to UNIFEM. DfID engages with international partners in strengthening global leadership and raising the profile of maternal health on national and international agendas. Although we agree to disagree with the United States on those policies, such as those on condoms and abortion, that does not preclude us from working closely with the United States on sexual and reproductive health in a number of countries.
The noble Baroness, Lady Flather, the noble Lords, Lord Patel and Lord Chan, and others emphasised the empowerment of women. We agree that gender equality and the empowerment of women are essential prerequisites for the eradication of world poverty and the upholding of human rights.
I was asked a specific question by the noble Lord, Lord Hannay of Chiswick, about street children in Brazil and the consequences of DfID's policy on middle-income countries. I can say to the noble Lord—I hope that it is good news—that the Government's reprioritisation of funding to middle-income countries will not affect the work being done with street children in Brazil, which is supported by DfID. United Kingdom NGOs will continue to have access to funding through DfID's Civil Society Challenge Fund and through their partnership programme agreements with DfID for such projects. DfID currently supports one such project through the Civil Society Challenge Fund scheme.
The noble Lords, Lord Hannay of Chiswick and Lord Bowness, asked about EU aid policy and our response to it. We are, of course, in favour of turning the European Union into an effective player in aid policy. It is the third-largest aid agency in the world. Recent EU reforms are starting to push things in the right direction, and we are looking to build on those positive developments. That will not give noble Lords the complete answer, but, no doubt, we will get that in the coming weeks and months.
The noble Lord, Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville, asked a specific question about the Darwin Initiative—a biodiversity initiative. Last year, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs contributed £4 million to the Darwin Initiative, which is a small grants programme that draws on British expertise in biodiversity to promote conservation and the sustainable use of resources in less-developed countries. Since its launch in 1992, the Darwin Initiative has committed over £35 million to more than 300 projects in over 100 countries. Defra's contribution to the initiative will rise to £7 million in 2006–07.
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I have run out of time and will not be able to answer other questions from noble Lords now. Noble Lords can rest assured that I will answer in writing.
The next 10 years are crucial, if we are to demonstrate our political commitment to tackling poverty, injustice and inequality. In 2005, we must seize the opportunity to demonstrate international leadership and ensure that political commitments translate into reinvigorated efforts to reduce global poverty.
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