The Rt Hon Malcolm Bruce MP

June Column

Making Poverty History?

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Next month will see the next G8 summit in the St. Petersburg - a year on from the Gleneagles summit that promised to make poverty history.

During that year, many promises have been made but it is too early to say what progress has been made in practical outcomes.

I became Chairman of the International Development Select Committee shortly after the Gleneagles event and we have had a very busy year following up the commitments made - on debt relief, on trade and on aid.

We have monitored the international institutions - the IMF, the World Bank, the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation and the European Commission.

More importantly and practically we have given priority to asking the people to whom the promises were made - especially in Africa.

Members of the committee have visited Uganda, Sierra Leone, Malawi, Botswana, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo and briefly Rwanda, Kenya and South Africa.

What did we find out? Firstly we looked at a number of aspects. We found out what our government and other donors were doing on the ground.

We looked at the prospects for growing the economies and providing income and employment for the poor people.

We looked at the battle against HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB and other debilitating diseases.

We learned that Africa is not one country and conditions and prospects vary. In Malawi millions are dependent on food aid - because of uncertainty of rains and poor yields. In northern Uganda two million people are living in camps on their own fertile land for fear of the brutal predilections of the weird and terrifying Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)

In these instances, hundreds of millions of dollars of aid is going simply to keeping people alive but doing nothing to assist development.

In the Congo we visited a country which is at the same time the richest and poorest in Africa - riven by wars which have killed more then three million people and where the failure of the state means that nearly 40,000 people a month are dying from malnutrition, AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

Botswana, thanks to good government and diamonds is the richest, most stable country in Africa. Yet it is struggling to tackle the scourge of HIV/AIDS.

Mozambique is rebuilding after civil war and is reducing poverty but has a long way to go. Sierra Leone, with British help, has ended its civil war but not begun to tackle poverty.

These countries need so many things - education, health care, investment in roads (which are poor or non-existent in many areas), railways, clean water and a well-run state.

This can be provided by partnerships between Government, in each affected country, and the aid donors. In Malawi, for example, our Government is topping up the salaries of doctors and nurses to encourage them to stay in the country.

In the Congo, DFID, are training a Congolese project team to deliver a UK funded road-building programme. This has been undermined by the intervention of the Congolese minister who has sacked the team and appointed his family.

Of course, DFID, have halted the project to resolve this, but the experience shows the problems in countries where political corruption is the endemic norm.

The UK is helping the Congo prepare for its first elections in 45 years in the hope that it will help change the culture and give ordinary people more control. There is no guarantee that this will exceed. Expectations are high. Participation is likely to be enthusiastic but there is little understanding of how democracy can work.

World donors are working more closely together. In many countries more children are going to school; health service delivery is being developed; infrastructure projects are beginning to appear.

People are resilient and where given opportunities seize them with enthusiasm.

Our partnership needs to give African farmers and traders fair access to markets. The rich resources that exist need to be developed in ways that benefit ordinary people not the political elite and foreign investors. It requires leadership from within the African continent and a constructive response from the external donors.

The commitment to deliver on the Millennium Development Goals will not be met. But the promises are leading to new approaches to deliver real progress.

It is too early to say. If you are among the people who joined last year's campaign my message is this. Keep demanding results.

One depressing comment I heard recently about coloured bracelets was "Making Poverty History" is no longer cool.

It may have been an absurdly impossible claim but it provides a stimulus to action. That spur will be needed for many years to come.

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Scotland growing

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Interesting information appeared recently about population trends in Scotland. After 20 years of population decline it appears Scotland is now gaining people on a sustained basis.

This is not due to a sudden increase in the birth rate (in spite of the best endeavours of the Bruce family). It is entirely due to an increase in immigration - mostly from the new member states of the European Union.

Indeed, I understand from NHS Grampian that they are responding to an influx of 800 people a month - half of them from Poland.

My own experience of visiting employers across Gordon is that many of them are benefiting from these immigrants skilled and unskilled.

Over time, this may bring social changes. Nevertheless I believe that the effects will be mostly positive.

Companies experiencing labour shortages (given near full employment in the North East) have been able to fill vacancies. This will lead to further benefit in expanding the local economy from the spending of new residents.

Of course it will cause pressure on housing, infrastructure and services and make it even more essential for our local authorities, health service etc to be adequately funded.

In reality, Scotland is beginning to share in the population growth of the rest of the UK - people are moving here from England and Wales, Northern Ireland and the new members of the EU.

Under the fresh talent initiative this could be reinforced by new graduates of Scottish universities from countries outside the EU. These will be, by definition, assets to Scotland.

Scotland will grow and change.

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Time to make up for lost years

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It is perhaps inevitable that transport issues feature regularly in this column. The line of route for the Western Peripheral Route has been finalised subject to planning. It is impossible to build a road of this scale without affecting some properties. Those people who are affected are entitled to object especially if they believe compensation is inadequate or there is a viable alternative. Nevertheless, the North East has waited a long time for this route and most people will hope that it can be resolved without unreasonable further delay. The same applies to the proposed new Don crossing. It has attracted objections mostly from the southern end but people have been campaigning for it for decades. Experience tells us that people rarely register their support for proposed developments even if they have been calling for it and will be angry and disappointed if it does not go ahead. There are literally thousands of people living north of the river not only in Bridge of Don but up to Ellon and beyond who will benefit from a bridge. Both these roads are a catch up for what should have been done 20 or 30 years ago. It is important that we go ahead at the same time with public transport developments - especially the commuter rail service, which will eventually, I hope, include an airport link. A lot of heat will be generated before work starts but I hope the outcome will be relief to years of congestion and a better, more integrated transport system around Aberdeen.

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Pension proposals a bit mean

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The Government have finally grasped the nettle and come up with their plans for the future of pensions. It is true that they commissioned an independent report from Adair Turner. They have followed most of his recommendations. What the Government did not do was consult closely with the opposition parties to get consensus for a commitment for future generations. I am in favour of encouraging people to make provision for their own retirement and helping them to do so. However, there should be an adequate state pension linked to earnings and people who cannot work full time (and I included carers and stay at home mums) should not be penalised in terms of the basic pension. So making people work until they are 68 before qualifying for a state pension seems a bit mean for a wealthy country that should be able to look after its aging population with respect and dignity. The Government's proposals are not unreasonable but to me they seem a bit mean spirited.