Answers from the Minister: Gareth Thomas, MP

As you may remember, recently a number of questions were posted through the boards to Gareth Thomas MP, Minister for International Development.

Here are his responses, which make for some fascinating reading -


As a "committed promoter of sustainable energy, particular renewable energy" what is your view of your leaders recent comments about nuclear energy?

There is no doubt in my mind that we need to step up our efforts to encourage the growth of renewable energy and Combined Heat and Power (CHP). It will be good for climate change, energy efficiency and jobs. I expect the Energy Review which will be published in the summer to take this forward.

On nuclear, I don’t think we should rule this out given the scale of carbon dioxide reductions we need to achieve. However, there are serious costs and waste issues, which I am sure the Review will have looked at.

Do you watch Big Brother?

Imogen or Glyn to win!


Are you aware that most people in the country want Tony Blair to go? No matter what he does now, his legacy is and always will be, the disastrous Iraq war. What will you be personally doing to convince him to go immediately?

Part of Tony Blair’s legacy in my view will be much better public services, a radical step change in support for Africa and the bringing to justice of dictators such as Slobodan Milosevic, Saddam Hussein and more recently Charles Taylor. On Iraq, we have said we will leave when asked to by the government and plans are being put in place for this to begin.

What are you doing for people in Zimbabwe who have the lowest life expectancy in the world? (-/+ 40?)

The HIV/AIDS epidemic has had a devastating impact on life expectancy in Zimbabwe. Over 3200 people die each week from AIDS which accounts for more than 75% of hospital admissions in Zimbabwe. There are an estimated 1.3 million orphans and 1.8 million Zimbabweans living with HIV and AIDS.

In 2005/06 DFID spent over £38 million in Zimbabwe: priorities include HIV/AIDS and food security. This money is channelled through NGOs and UN agencies. Most recently DFID committed £23 million to support a national programme to help orphans and other vulnerable children in Zimbabwe. DFID also provides support to over 1.5 million of the poorest people again through international NGOs and the UN with an aim to improve food security and livelihoods in particular to AIDS. DFID has committed £10 million to the World Food Programme to support their efforts to provide food to over three million hungry people in the past six months.

Do you think more needs to be done to raise awareness of the problems in the UK's Overseas Dependent Territories? Do you think enough is being done to help?

The Territories have always faced the problem of being overshadowed for the headlines by other development stories, like the desperate poverty in Africa, global debt relief, the world trade debate or the re-construction of Iraq. But that is not to say they are ignored. The Territories attract a strong following in Parliament and in the NGO community who continually keep up the pressure on us - rightly so - to ensure we pay attention to their needs. And we are responding. We are building an airport in St Helena - probably the biggest single building project DFID is doing at present - to at last remove the obstacle of difficult access to the island. We will be building new harbours for the Pitcairn Islands and Tristan da Cunha, both essential to ensure those communities can survive and prosper. And we have helped Montserrat cope with, and start to recover from, more than 10 years of uncertainty due to the volcano.

Which country has been the most interesting to visit and why?

I have particular responsibility for Asia, Caribbean and Latin America and have enjoyed visits to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, countries I knew from the many constituents I have from those countries. The most fascinating country I have visited from a development perspective given the development challenges and the opportunities to tackle deep poverty and inequality is Afghanistan.


Do you support the war on Jihad and its central front in Iraq?

DFID is working with the Iraqi Government to make life better for ordinary Iraqis. In 2006/07 we have a £45 million assistance programme for Iraq. This focuses on four main areas:

• Advising the government on economic reform, to encourage growth and lift more people out of poverty
• Improving power and water services for Iraqis living in the south
• Helping central and local government to manage government business more effectively
• Supporting Iraqi civil society organisations and encouraging broad political participation

For example, in March 2006 Hilary Benn officially opened the Basra Water Training Centre, funded by DFID and built by an Iraqi construction firm. The Centre will train Iraqi water engineers from across the South of Iraq, giving them the crucial skills needed to maintain and repair the water and sewage networks.

Why did you go to Zambia as minister for "Asia, Latin America, Caribbean and the UK’s Overseas Dependent Territories"? What did you learn from this trip?

I have specific responsibility for HIV/AIDS and went to look at our response to the AIDS crisis, how we were supporting a range of organisations help AIDS orphans and particularly to understand how we can help the government increase the number of doctors and nurses which is fundamental to doing more to reduce the spread of AIDS.

What is the DFID budget for 2006/7 as a proportion of government expenditure? Is the DFID actively lobbying for a larger budget?

We do not lobby as such, but set out our case for additional resources in a process called a Spending Review. This typically takes place every two years and sets all Government Departments spending plans for 3 forward years. The next Review will be concluded in 2007.

DFID is in a fortunate position. The government is committed to substantial increases in development spending over the coming years, and to meeting the target of spending 0.7% of Gross National Income on development assistance by 2013. This commitment to increased resources is a reflection not only of the Government’s commitment to poverty reduction, but also of DFID’s reputation and ability to spend resources effectively.

What is the net contribution of the United Kingdom government to global aid and development budgets (excluding administrative costs)?

DFID's resource budget this year (2006/07) is about £5 billion. This is about 1.7% of total planned Government expenditure.

DFID's budget is rising as the Government is committed to meeting the United Nations target for official development assistance (oda) of 0.7% of gross national income (GNI). oda is defined as those flows to developing countries and multilateral institutions provided by official agencies or by their executive agencies and is comprised of both DFID and non-DFID oda. The oda/GNI ratio is calculated on the calendar year, not the financial year

Total UK official development assistance (oda) will increase from £4 billion in 2004 to almost £6.5 billion by 2007-08, and oda as a proportion of national income will increase from 0.34 per cent in 2003 to 0.47 per cent in 2007. The Government wishes to maintain those rates of growth in the overseas aid ratio which on this timetable would rise beyond 0.5 per cent after 2008 and to 0.7 per cent by 2013.

This will be more than double the current G7 oda/GNI country average and well ahead of the current OECD average (0.22%). We will also have exceeded the average EU oda/GNI target of 0.39%'

How can we as globally aware, environmentally conscious consumers reconcile the need to reduce the distance our food travels from production to consumption whilst simultaneously supporting developing (LED) nations through programmes such as Fair Trade?

This is a case where we need to think through the trade-offs between different aspects of sustainable development. For foods that can only be grown in tropical countries such as tea or cocoa, food miles are unavoidable – the issue here is to make sure that developing countries get the best deal they can through fair prices, including those paid to the farmers who grow these crops. Supporting Fair Trade is a great way of ensuring that poor people get the most they can from growing and producing these crops

Airfreight is very important for developing countries - such as Kenya - that produce and export vegetables. These exports provide many jobs and other economic benefits. We appreciate that airfreight food miles are damaging to the environment but they account for only a small proportion of overall carbon dioxide emissions. Recent work commissioned by Defra suggests that the carbon dioxide emissions from airfreight to the whole of Europe are only one tenth of those produced by vehicles used in the food industry in the UK.

There have been major advances in aircraft engine technology: less fuel burn equals less emissions. In the past 30 years, aircraft fuel efficiency per passenger-km has improved by about 50% and goes a long way to offset the effects of growth. However, no technological ‘quick fixes’ have been identified.

The DTI produced a report in 2003 entitled “The Potential for Renewable Energy Sources in Aviation”. The work was carried out by the Imperial College Centre for Energy, Policy and Technology. It studied the options for potential renewable fuels for civil aviation.

The main findings were that methanol, ethanol and biogas are unsuitable for jet aircraft and nuclear power is not a suitable alternative. Hydrogen, FT kerosene and biodiesel, however, all have the potential to bring savings in the sector’s use of non-renewable energy and emissions of greenhouse gases. All three options would be significantly more expensive to produce compared to the cost of kerosene (which is currently used). However, in the long-term, the costs of producing hydrogen and FT kerosene may drop sufficiently for them to become viable options. Hydrogen aircraft would require new engines and are unlikely to be seen for at least several decades (an engine’s typical lifespan is around 50 years). In general, renewable fuels are likely to be used more widely for road transport or electricity generation in preference to aviation.

How does the government promote grassroots support for global development (e.g. school twinning, local campaigning, and business sponsorship) and do you have any plans to improve this?

Helping people in the poorest countries is not just a moral issue, it’s about recognising that we are interdependent: our choices affect the lives of the people in developing countries and their choices affect us. We can’t address problems like HIV and AIDS or climate change alone, we need a global effort. That’s why I think it’s really important to build grassroots support for the fight against poverty in the UK.

Most of our effort goes into schools – we’re providing advice and funding for projects to put the global dimension into every classroom. One way of making these global connections real for people is by creating links between schools in the UK and developing countries. That’s why we’ve just doubled our support to our Global Schools Partnership Scheme, which is managed by the British Council, to bring a further 1500 schools into the scheme over the next 3 years.

DFID does not support a business sponsorship programme but we do work in partnership with business to build support for development. For example, we worked with the Rough Guide travel publishers to produce a free ‘Rough Guide To A Better World’ for those people that have ever wondered how international development works and how they can help. In partnership with the Post Office, Starbuck’s, Ottakar’s Bookshops and others, we have distributed more than 5 million copies of this booklet.

For anyone interested in development, I’d recommend ‘Developments’ magazine which tells the human stories behind the headlines. It’s available quarterly and you can sign up for free on the ‘Developments’ website.

To find out more about DFID’s programmes, go to: www.dfid.gov.uk

To find out more about the DFID Global School Partnerships Programme, go to www.britishcouncil.org/globalschools

To find out more about ‘The Rough Guide to a Better World,’ go to: www.roughguide-betterworld.com

To find out more and subscribe free to Developments, go to: www.developments.org.uk

Does the government tie aid to overseas business deals? If so why?

No, all the UK's aid is untied and is focused solely on the reduction of poverty. It is illegal according to the 2002 International Development Act. By untying aid, you get the very best and most cost-effective solutions. For example, imagine you want to use aid to pay for some international experts on HIV to advise the government of a poor country. If you tie aid, you can only choose from British experts. But with untied aid, you can choose any expert anywhere in the world. By untying aid, you make sure you focus aid on reducing poverty rather than on promoting business interest.

If a government’s aid is tied to business interests, it might decide to give aid to a country because there are a lot of potential business interests there. By untying aid, we are able to make sure we focus our resources on the very poorest countries in the world. We have been encouraging other donors to follow our lead and untie their aid. Developing country governments prefer aid to be untied and so they are also encouraging donors to untie. There has been steady progress over the last few years.

The overall percentage of the world’s aid that is untied has increased (from 55% in 2000 to 70% in 2003, the most recent year for which data has been finalised).Ireland, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Belgium have untied all, or nearly all, their aid. This includes countries like Ireland, Norway, Finland. The United States, Australia and Germany are among the countries that still tie a lot of their aid.

Does the government tie aid to political reform? If so why?

We do not tie aid to specific policy reforms - for example, we do not use aid to force other Governments to privatise or liberalise trade.

There are, however, circumstances when aid may be withdrawn or suspended - for example, if there is a significant violation of commitments to poverty reduction, human rights or other international obligations, or if there are major problems with financial management.

What is the government doing to improve the electricity crisis in East Africa (Uganda/Kenya/Tanzania) and do you think that is more of a concern to us than whether we use nuclear, wind or coal power stations here in the UK?

The power situation in East Africa is of great interest to DFID, as is the result of the UK Energy Review. This review is identifying measures that are needed to tackle climate change, and ensure secure and affordable energy supplies in the UK.

The power situation in East Africa is difficult for three main reasons.
Firstly, there is not enough investment in power generation and distribution systems. DFID has helped to bring in more private investment, for example:

• in the Songas natural gas power station in Tanzania where investments have led to a 50% increase in capacity, have improved energy security by switching from oil to Tanzanian natural gas, and reduced the cost of oil imports for the government.
• in the power distribution system in Uganda where investments will enable 60,000 new connections to homes and businesses between 2005-2009, of which 11,000 have already been made.
  
  Secondly, the amount of hydro-electric power from dams has been reduced by low rainfall throughout the region. Not much DFID can do to bring rain, but it’s one of the reasons why tackling climate change is so important.
  Access to electricity is becoming a more important issue and whilst it is not included in poverty targets, such as the Millennium Development Goals, it underpins progress towards such goals. DFID is beginning to do more in this area mainly through working with the big international financial institutions such as the World Bank and IMF.
  
  Climate Change is the issue that links both the crisis in East Africa to the Energy Review in the UK. Lack of rain to power hydro-electric dams in East Africa is in part caused by climate change. Our Energy Review is considering what else we should be doing to reduce carbon dioxide emissions which cause global warming.
  
  How do the DFID and the DEC work together to ensure that aid money gets to where it was intended, and not absorbed into the general budgets of the larger charities?
  
  The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), as an independent umbrella organisation for UK NGOs working in disaster response, sets strict rules for how its members can use the money raised through DEC appeals. For instance, members can use a maximum of 2 percent of funds for administration; the rest must go towards providing assistance for those who need it. Also, following the tsunami disaster and the earthquake in South Asia last October, DFID agreed to pay the costs of transporting relief items on behalf of DEC members, making sure that money donated by the public was spent on assistance and not on the cost of getting it there. You can get more information about what the DEC does, and how public money is spent, by visiting their website at www.dec.org.uk. You can also get information on how members of the public can help following a disaster, by visiting DFID’s website at www.dfid.gov.uk and clicking the ‘disasters’ tab.
  
  What is the future for the UK Overseas [Dependent] Territories? What is your role in this?
  
  The Government has pledged to all Territories that we will support their right to remain British if that is the wish of their population. We want to see all Territories prosper and make their own way in the world economically, and for their citizens to continue to enjoy the benefits of stable government in the British tradition. No Territory wants to rely on handouts from the British Government. Many are already highly successful (Bermuda, Gibraltar, Cayman Islands). Others, because of remoteness (St Helena, Tristan da Cunha, Pitcairn) or natural disaster (Montserrat) need our continuing help, and are likely to do so for many years to come. My role as DFID Minister is to help those territories which need it to develop the foundations for a healthy and self-sufficient economy. For example, we are building an airport in St Helena - probably the biggest single building project DFID is doing at present - to at last remove the obstacle of difficult access to the island.
  
  You say you are: “promoting reform of the United Nations so it can lead the international community better in the fight against poverty.” How exactly are you achieving this aim? The slothful response of the United Nations in Rwanda in 1994 - its size, the diversity of its member states and their various agendas surely make it unmanageable when dealing with global development? How does the UK ambassador to the UN make a difference in real terms?
  
  One of the reasons why the UN did not act in Rwanda is because under its rules at the time it was not allowed to intervene in sovereign countries unless invited. The UN Summit in New York last September changed the rules to give the UN a responsibility to protect its citizens at risk of genocide which would allow interventions now. More generally, we are trying to improve the quality of the UN’s work in developing countries by providing more resources and developing proposals to improve the effectiveness of the UN.
  
  On our ambassador’s role, he is the UK's eyes, ears and mouth in the United Nations system -the place where we listen to other governments and share our ideas and on global issues. The ambassador uses his/her influence to ensure all of our policy is integrated. Essentially, that it hangs together around the international agenda of peace and security, development and human rights. For example, the ambassador is presently cementing a consensus around critical development issues and advocating for our ambitious target for development assistance.
  
  Why are ID cards a good idea?
  
  ID cards will help to tackle identity crime. This is where someone tries to pass themselves off as someone else in order to commit crime e.g. to steal money, benefit fraud or to secure a particular type of status e.g. illegal immigration. ID cards are one further device to help to prevent and tackle such crime. We already have to prove our identity , be it through passports, credit cards, work place ID. ID cars will help to standardise identity requirements.
  
  How is it acceptable to put restrictions on people's rights to protest in a "democratic" country?
  
  It is acceptable to put “reasonable” restrictions on people’s rights to protest if there are genuine security considerations and if there are a large number of alternative ways of registering protests.
  
  What has happened to principle and integrity in politicians?
  
  I think most politicians do have a set of beliefs to which they hold. Given the hours politicians work and the impact on their lives it is your basic beliefs that keep you going and keep you well motivated. Politicians are however human, with the same instincts, facing the same temptations as every body else. I have believed in the integrity and the commitment of my opponents, the vast majority of whom I have had considerable respect for, whilst profoundly disagreeing with their politics.