Air Pollution

Earl of Listowel Excerpts

Monday 22nd July 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

The noble Baroness is not quite right. There are a number of measures and the United Kingdom has worked incredibly hard to try to meet these; for example, on particulate matter, which is very significant, the UK met EU requirements for the PM10 measure in 2011. In addition, 22 out of 27 states are struggling to meet the nitrogen dioxide directive, largely because of problems with diesel vehicles. So across the board countries are finding this a challenge. We are working very hard to ensure that we comply, aiming for later this decade.

[The Earl of Listowel]

My Lords, is there particular concern about the welfare of cyclists, and are they being given advice, particularly about wearing masks?

[Baroness Northover]

My brief tells me that cycling is actually a safer means of transport and that the risks from pollution highlighted by the noble Earl are not of major significance. However, clearly it would depend which roads those cyclists are cycling along. We want to do our very best to encourage people to cycle and walk, for the general benefit to themselves and the wider public, but it is true that there are greater risks in certain areas than in others.

International Development: Budget

Earl of Listowel Excerpts

Tuesday 11th June 2013 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Listowel]

My Lords, I, too, am most grateful to my noble friend Lord Empey for tabling this important and timely debate. We always have to consider the brave men and women of our armed services and be sure to leave no stone unturned in ensuring our absolute commitment to their success and to the protection of the nation.

However, I seek reassurance from the Minister with regard to switching funding from development towards defence because, as the noble Lord, Lord Bates, made crystal clear, we are talking about the lives of millions of children. Even a small reduction in funding will be measurable in children’s lives. We as a nation are making a huge difference through our commitment and the example that we are setting to the international community. We are taking a leadership role in international development by saving children’s and adults’ lives, and showing other nations the way in doing so. Perhaps it is arguable that by taking these steps we are also contributing to an increase in the reduction in population growth across the globe. As families are supported as women receive education, birth rates drop, so population growth drops. It is arguable that that might contribute to long-term stability and a safer and more secure global environment.

I should declare an interest. I was funded to visit Angola during the civil war there 12 or 15 years ago. I have visited Angola on a couple of occasions subsequently, funded by Save the Children and Tearfund. I recall meeting AIDS patients in Luanda who were utterly helpless because there was no treatment that they could afford. They were living desperate lives. I also remember visiting an area for internally displaced people and seeing a group of men and a young woman who was with them talking about condom use and how important it was in preventing the spread of AIDS. I remember seeing street children who were living in the sewers of the city. They came up from there to make a life for themselves. I visited a school sponsored by an NGO that provided street children with an education and opportunities for employment. I visited a project funded by DevelopmentAid where young men were building their own homes. I visited a maternity unit, which sadly had no or very few incubators for babies. The main problem was that the roads were in such poor condition that mothers found it difficult to get timely help during their pregnancies.

The difference which the British people make internationally by their investment in educating women, reducing levels of poverty and ensuring that children get adequate nutrition is huge. The noble Lord, Lord Judd, drew attention to the long-term impact of malnutrition in early life. By making a difference in these areas, we are also contributing to lower birth rates and a reduction in the world population.

This is the right thing to do because we are saving children’s lives in Africa and across the world. It might also be argued that what we are doing is prudent because we are introducing more stability by reducing population growth by ensuring that women are educated and taking that step forward. I join in the tributes made across the House to the coalition Government for their commitment of 0.7% GDP to international development, and I look forward to what I hope will be some reassurance from the Minister that there will be no trans-switching of funding from international development to defence. Both are crucial and need to be treated independently.

Global Hunger

Earl of Listowel Excerpts

Monday 21st January 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

We are very supportive of moves in this regard on voluntary guidelines on the management of land and other natural resources. It is extremely important that there is transparency here, that the governance of land tenure is addressed, and that when countries consider the position on tenure in their countries they consider food security, the impact on the environment and consultation with those involved. We are very actively pushing that forward.

[The Earl of Listowel]

My Lords, can the Minister confirm that 14% of men, women and children around the globe go to bed hungry each night, including tonight, and that 28% of children in the developing world are undernourished or stunted? In the welcome investment that the Government are making this year to achieve their 0.7% target, will they look at investment in small-scale agriculture and nutrition, and encourage their G8 partners to follow their lead in this area?

[Baroness Northover]

Again, the noble Earl is right to concentrate on this area. It has been a diminishing problem, but it is still there on a massive scale. That is what we have to tackle. We have to welcome the fact that in many parts of the world now undernutrition has now reduced, but he is quite right: it is still a major problem, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. We are very supportive of smallholders. We are helping in 13 countries. Some 500 million farmers are smallholders, with less than two hectares of land, and they are at the margin in their ability to feed their families.

World Food Supplies

Earl of Listowel Excerpts

Thursday 10th January 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

The noble Lord makes a good point. He will probably be aware that at the G8 last year the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition was set up specifically to take forward that approach of looking at the responsible development of agriculture, recognising its importance in sustaining the poorest communities and making sure that people are engaged in that positively. The UK is continuing to press forward that approach.

[The Earl of Listowel]

Will the Minister look particularly at any adverse impact on pregnant mothers and nursing mothers and their crucial role in the early development of children in terms of their being denied food because their area is being used to grow biofuels or for other uses?

[Baroness Northover]

The United Kingdom is extremely aware of the importance of supporting pregnant mothers and infants in their first days. The noble Earl will be aware that the first 1,000 days of gestation and a child’s life are so important to the future health of that child. The areas that I have just focused on support this, but I also flag up the fact that we have social safety nets. It is extremely important that financial support reaches pregnant women and those who are trying to support their families so that they have enough money to provide for those families.

West Bank and Gaza

Earl of Listowel Excerpts

Tuesday 29th May 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

The noble Baroness can be assured that the aid given by the United Kingdom is very closely monitored. It goes through the World Bank trust fund and we are encouraged by reports about how that expenditure is carried forward. I would point out that movement restrictions were estimated to cost the Palestinian economy 85% of GDP in 2010. Obviously, the more that we can do to free up the economy so that the Palestinians do not need that kind of support the better.

[The Earl of Listowel]

My Lords, can the Minister give the House some illustrative facts about the experience for children in Palestine? How does their access to education and health compare with their neighbours in Israel?

[Baroness Northover]

The noble Earl is well aware of the situation of children in the Occupied Territories. They have access to education through what the international community provides and we and the EU are very supportive of that. I am aware that the number of textbooks and the range of resources available to children there is not the same as for their Israeli counterparts. However, there is a huge commitment to education among the Palestinians and that is very encouraging.

Health and Social Care Bill: HIV/AIDS Programmes

Earl of Listowel Excerpts

Wednesday 21st March 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

I was accused of answering at too great a length. The Commissioning Board will oversee commissioning. It is working out how that can best be delivered and whether various things should be commissioned at the local level. If the noble Baroness would like to feed into that process, that would be very welcome.

[The Earl of Listowel]

My Lords, this may be slightly wide of the Question, but can the noble Baroness say what progress has been made in reducing maternal transfer of HIV in this country, and how that compares with the progress made on that issue in sub-Saharan Africa? That may be very wide of the Question and she may like to write to me.

[Baroness Northover]

I am very happy to write to the noble Earl, but the information I have suggests to me that it has been declining.

International Widows Day

Earl of Listowel Excerpts

Wednesday 15th June 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, I accept that the question is very important; I need to take it away and write to the noble Baroness in response.

[The Earl of Listowel]

My Lords, does the Minister recognise that in bringing up children an important problem for many mothers, including widows, is finding good male role models, perhaps particularly for their sons? Will she take this opportunity to pay tribute to the men who step into those roles, particularly male school teachers and perhaps male physical education teachers?

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, the noble Earl is absolutely right. Issues regarding gender will never be resolved unless we take on board the important work and commitment undertaken by both men and women. I completely accept what the noble Earl says. By and large, we are trying to work closely to ensure that the engagement is not just with women and girls but with boys and men too.

International Development Aid

Earl of Listowel Excerpts

Monday 7th February 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, the noble Baroness raises an important point. She will also be aware that the reviews are coming to a conclusion. They will be able to lay out all the questions that the Select Committee raised as well as the ones that she has asked.

[The Earl of Listowel]

My Lords, can the Minister say what progress the Government are making towards improving the education of girls and young women in fragile states?

Children: Parenting for Success in School

Earl of Listowel Excerpts

Thursday 3rd February 2011 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Listowel]

My Lords, I, too, thank my noble friend Lord Northbourne for calling this debate. I recall Mary Crowley, the director of the Parenting Education & Support Forum, which for many years co-ordinated efforts in this area, telling me that my noble friend called a meeting in the Moses Room several years ago bringing together interested parties in this area and out of that grew the Parenting Education & Support Forum. As the noble Lord, Lord Eden of Winton, said, my noble friend has many years’ practical experience of organising holiday camps for young people from the East End.

I shall make a few quick points. The noble Lord, Lord Winston, made very important points about Sure Start. A recent report from 4Children and the Daycare Trust found that a significant number of Sure Start centres expect to close at the end of the year. One thing that might help is guidance to local authorities on the best priorities to use when some services might be cut; for instance, on choosing between a speech therapist in a children’s centre and some other practitioner, on whether one post can be lost or on looking at a Robin Hood method so that wealthier parents pay while the poorer do not. This might be something on which the Minister could work with the Department for Communities and Local Government.

The Coram Family was mentioned twice. We speak of Sure Start children’s centres, but the original model on which they are based was the Coram model. This brings me to my theme, which is the importance of having the right professional framework to support parents with complex needs, the sort of professional framework that Coram offers so outstandingly.

I am very concerned about the future of the Cassel family assessment unit, and I am most grateful to my noble friend Lady Hollins for alluding to her concerns. Will the Minister speak with the noble Earl, Lord Howe, about these concerns? We understood that the decision on its future would be taken last month, but I think there is still some hope that that decision might have been delayed because of other priorities. This centre has faced difficulties. In 2005, a decision in the Court of Appeal lifted the duty on local authorities to provide assessments at this centre of expertise in Richmond. It is a 25-bed unit that works with families, both parents and children, with very complex needs. It is a national NHS flagship institution. It has a good record of keeping families with very complex needs together. Since that 2005 ruling, it has been used less and less. It is hard to justify the continuance of this institution because not all its 25 beds are being used. The problem is that it has not been properly funded. It needs to be nationally funded. It is a specialist service. This is the question before the Government now: shall we fund it nationally? If the Government choose not to, it is currently due to close in May so that is a critical decision. I recognise that the Government have a huge range of priorities to decide upon at the moment but, given the importance of this early intervention, the complex needs and the money saved—as has been made so clear throughout this debate—by intervening at that point with those families, I hope that the Minister will pass these concerns to the noble Earl, Lord Howe. I am most grateful for the conversations I have already had with him on this matter.

I turn briefly to the model developed at Hackney of intervening on parents with complex needs. Over the past three to four years, Hackney has reduced the number of children coming into care from 500 to 270. That is a huge saving in costs on those children and in terms of the courts. That money has been saved and reinvested in the service, half of it being sent back to the local authority. That has been achieved by developing a superb expert framework, recruiting the very best social workers who are working in teams with systemic psychotherapists. Those people have eight years of formation and such high expertise that they can quickly get the children back into their families and support the parents in caring for them. I look forward to the Minister's response.

Pakistan: Child Welfare

Earl of Listowel Excerpts

Thursday 14th October 2010 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Viscount on all the hard work he does. We recognise that a lot of good work is being done, but the department is reviewing its bilateral and multilateral aid to make sure that where our aid is being used, it is being used to the best possible advantage.

[The Earl of Listowel]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that it is important that women are not only the recipients of aid but are also drawn as far as possible into the political processes? Does she look, for instance, to the example of the work of CARE International? Will she use her department’s influence and example as far as possible to ensure that women are fully drawn into any discussions in this area?

[Baroness Verma]

I thank the noble Earl. As he is aware, we have put women and the empowerment of women at the heart of our priorities. We will work very closely with other departments and nations to ensure that women are at the forefront of decision-making whether in the political process or at civic level, which is also key to ensuring the empowerment of women and girls.