Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Wednesday 5th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Chris Heaton-Harris (Daventry) (Con)]

4. What steps her Department is taking to ensure that people with disabilities benefit from UK aid programmes.

[The Minister of State, Department for International Development (Mr Desmond Swayne)]

First, may I say that my right hon. Friend the Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Lynne Featherstone) was a champion for this brief and for disabled people in the most vulnerable countries in the world? We are publishing a framework on 3 December, because we are determined that disabled people will benefit from UK aid.

[Chris Heaton-Harris]

I am delighted to hear that we are going to publish the disability framework on 3 December. How will it ensure that disabled people—particularly those with learning and intellectual disabilities —are systematically and consistently included in UK aid programmes?

[Mr Swayne]

I ask my hon. Friend to show some patience until 3 December. What I can tell him is that we have consulted widely and undertaken to quadruple the number of staff working on this. We have also appointed a senior management champion. With respect to mental health and disability, we are funding a major study in Asia and Africa to see what works in poorly resourced countries.

[Mr Tom Clarke (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (Lab)]

Will the Minister assure the House that the Department for International Development will continue to focus on supporting excellent advocacy groups such as the one I met in Angola, where people are suffering from the effects of land mines? That is a very useful thing to do.

[Mr Swayne]

I hope that I will be able to give the right hon. Gentleman that assurance. Perhaps he would like to meet me to discuss the work of that non-governmental organisation.

[Mrs Caroline Spelman (Meriden) (Con)]

Our troops have been withdrawn from Afghanistan, but there remains a legacy of unexploded ordnance and many disabled Afghans. Will the Minister tell the House what DFID will be doing to help those who suffer disability as a result of the armaments left by several conflicts in that poor country?

[Mr Swayne]

We will continue to work with the Halo Trust to dispose of that ordnance. Equally, we have an ongoing commitment to Afghanistan and to providing aid to deal with the problems that my right hon. Friend has mentioned.

[Fiona O’Donnell (East Lothian) (Lab)]

I welcome the Minister’s commitment to improving the lives of people with disabilities in developing countries. To that end, will he support the proposal for a stand-alone goal on inequality in the post-2015 framework?

[Mr Swayne]

We have so far succeeded in ensuring that that goal will be included on the post-2015 agenda—I think it is remiss that it does not already exist as part of the development goals—and we are determined to keep it there as the discussions proceed.

[Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)]

5. What recent discussions she has had with her international counterparts on including climate justice in future sustainable development goals.

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[Mr John Spellar (Warley) (Lab)]

6. What support her Department is providing to Tunisia and the new Government of that country.

[The Minister of State, Department for International Development (Mr Desmond Swayne)]

DFID delivers its assistance on developing a more inclusive and democratic Tunisia through the Arab Partnership.

[Mr Spellar]

I thank the Minister for that answer. As I am sure he will recognise, last week’s welcome election result showed that Tunisia, where the Arab spring started, is a beacon of hope in the region. Will his Department prioritise support for Tunisia, to help it to make further progress and provide a working example of how real change can take place in that region?

[Mr Swayne]

I entirely endorse the right hon. Gentleman’s description of the progress Tunisia has made, and it is important that we keep that progress going. We have spent some £10 million in Tunisia since 2011, the European Union has a budget of €169 million this year, and there is money from the International Monetary Fund and other sources. We will continue to watch this brief.

[Crispin Blunt (Reigate) (Con)]

Some excellent work has been done to support politics in Tunisia, particularly by an organisation called Forward Thinking. I hope that that would come within the remit of the Department’s funding scheme.

[Mr Swayne]

It does indeed.

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

There are particular issues affecting the people of Tunisia that do not affect other north African countries. Does the Minister agree that we should build on bilateral relationships between Tunisia and the UK, and strengthen those links between the two nations?

[Mr Swayne]

I agree with the hon. Gentleman, and we are straining to do that. Principally, Tunisia is very close to Libya, and that presents a significant difficulty.

[Sir Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)]

T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.