Garment Industry (Working Conditions)
Debate between Alison McGovern and Shabana Mahmood(10 years ago)
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Shabana Mahmood
I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention, which highlighted a number of important issues. I will come to building standards a little later.
As I was saying, I did not feel that even what I accepted was a good factory represented a safe environment in which I would happily rock up for work, do my shift and go home without thinking that I had taken my life in my hands. That is a stark reminder, if one were needed, that even with minimum standards in place—there has been a lot of good work on getting standards in place for the sector in Bangladesh post-Rana Plaza—there is a long way to go, first to meet those standards in the first place and then to get the kind of working conditions in that part of the world that workers in many other parts of the world, particularly in this country, enjoy.
Alison McGovern
I apologise to all Members; I will not be able to stay until the end of the debate. Briefly, does my hon. Friend agree that the standards issues she describes make it all the more important that we support and back up the work of the International Labour Organisation, which does this work around the world on all our behalves?
Shabana Mahmood
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The ILO plays a very important role and I am pleased that other organisations work closely with it, including DFID. I hope that that co-operation continues.