The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Mr Stephen O'Brien)

DFID’s policy for reducing poverty in Africa focuses, alongside country Governments, on achieving the millennium development goals, including through wealth creation, strengthening governance and security, improving the lives of women and girls, and tackling climate change. We will implement this policy in a cost-effective and transparent way.

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Fiona O'Donnell (East Lothian) (Lab)

7. What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change on financial contributions to support climate change mitigation for developing countries through the green climate fund. ( 32718 )

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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Mr Stephen O'Brien)

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State regularly discusses international climate issues with the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and his ministerial colleagues. We welcome the agreement at Cancun to establish a green climate fund, but no decisions have yet been taken on a financial contribution. [Interruption.]

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Fiona O'Donnell

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I welcome the reaffirmation of the need to support developing countries in responding to climate change, as agreed at Cancun last year, but we still do not have the detail of where the money will come from. Will the Minister reassure the House that money will not be diverted from the aid budget, but that his Government will make additional funds available by doing as we did in government, and setting a cap on the amount of money that can be transferred from the aid budget to respond to climate change?

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Mr O'Brien

The clear answer is that the £2.9 billion of international climate finance announced in the spending review is being met out of a rising overseas development assistance budget and will continue to account for less than 10% of ODA, as indeed was set by the previous Government.

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Paul Maynard (Blackpool North and Cleveleys) (Con)

Will the Minister join me in congratulating students at St Mary’s college in my constituency who have been campaigning with the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development to lobby for greater Government aid to developing nations to help to mitigate climate change? Will he assure the House, however, that any money that goes to those developing nations will be subject to robust oversight to make sure that it is spent properly and accountably?

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