Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

I assure the hon. Gentleman that I will look into the specific point he raises. Human rights run through all DFID programmes, and when dealing with Governments we have partnership principles that also include human rights.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

T3. What is my right hon. Friend’s Department doing to promote the business skills of developing countries so that they can promote their own economies?

[Justine Greening]

I know that my hon. Friend was involved in excellent work on business mentoring in Burundi over the summer, and last week I met the Institute of Chartered Accountants—of which I am a fellow—to discuss accounting and auditing standards in the developing world. I hope the UK’s excellent professional services will play a role in driving standards and skills in the developing world over the coming months and years.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Wednesday 17th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Lynne Featherstone]

Remittances are indeed very important. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has met the head of Barclays to discuss the issue, with the aim of ensuring that remittances can be sent back to a country when they have the potential to increase that country’s GDP.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

7. What steps her Department is taking to end aid dependency through jobs and economic development.

[The Secretary of State for International Development (Justine Greening)]

I am ramping up my Department’s economic development efforts to ensure that we adopt a more systematic and structured approach in order to unlock more trade and investment. That includes embarking on a new relationship with the CBI, meeting representatives of the extractive industries and engineering companies, and starting to work with United Kingdom retailers to drive up standards.

[Andrew Jones]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that poverty can only be reduced in the long run through economic development, and that DFID can play a major role in helping companies to grow and get people into work so that they can raise their own tax revenues to fund their own services?

[Justine Greening]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. United Kingdom companies also have a key role to play, and companies in his own constituency, such as Taylors of Harrogate, demonstrate how that can be done.

Overseas Aid (Private Sector Contracts)

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Monday 11th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

I do agree and, for example, we are talking with Pearson about how we can work more closely with it in places such as Pakistan. A number of sectors in our country’s economy have real value to add. We have talked a lot about retail today, but education is yet another sector where we have so much knowledge and so many skills. We can pass those things on to developing economies, and it is in everybody’s interests to do so.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement, and I noted her mention of my former employer, Taylors of Harrogate, in both her speech this morning and in the House this afternoon. Does she agree that trade and partnership, thus creating sustainable economic growth, is the key to taking people out of poverty?

[Justine Greening]

It certainly is, and statistically we have seen that that equation absolutely holds. As anybody who has ever been to Harrogate will be aware, it is definitely worth while dropping into Bettys, where people can sample some fantastic Taylors of Harrogate tea.

UK’s Development Work (Girls and Women)

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Thursday 7th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

I suspect that it will be women-led, although there will be no absolute bar on men being involved.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on her excellent and very encouraging statement. Does she welcome the warm endorsement that Kate Allen, the head of Amnesty International, gave to the Government’s policies on women and girls on Monday?

[Justine Greening]

Yes, I was delighted by that. It was very good of Amnesty to allow me to make my speech at its headquarters here in London. Amnesty has been pressing us for some time to focus more strategically on the work that we are doing, particularly on women and girls in Afghanistan, and I was pleased to be able to set those policies out to Kate on Monday.

Afghanistan

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Thursday 13th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. One of the things that struck me in my first few days in this role is just how common some of the challenges we all face are. Education is the route for all of us to make the most of ourselves. That is why it is so important that children in Afghanistan should also have the chance to develop into the people they can be. Some 5.9 million children—nearly 6 million—are now attending school in Afghanistan, which is a huge, dramatic increase. Nearly 40% or so are now girls. Let us remember that under the Taliban none of them were girls and there were also far fewer children in school. If we are to see long-term progress, we have to enable people in Afghanistan, particularly children, to get the knowledge and skills to develop their country themselves. That is one of the most important things we are doing.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

I thank my right hon. Friend for her statement. Please can she explain what role the UK is playing in improving governance in Afghanistan?

[Justine Greening]

Obviously we are playing a leading role in this area. The most important thing we are doing is supporting Afghan departments to be effective. We have funded advisers helping them not just to work on policy, but to do very straightforward tasks such as planning budgets, executing budgets and monitoring financial spend. All those things are relatively straightforward, but they are the key ingredients that need to be in place for public services to be delivered well. When public services are delivered well in Afghanistan, that will lead to increasing buy-in among the Afghan people, as they see their country moving in the right direction. If we can do that, it will create, I hope, a more virtuous circle, so that we see more and more development continuing in future.