Moore, Bruce and Hughes quiz Alexander on Haiti

12.47.40pm GMT Sat 6th Feb 2010

• [Feb 03] Mr. Michael Moore (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (LD): ' . . THE Liberal Democrats welcome the initiative the Secretary has announced and the speedy response he indicated. Will he tell us what other forms of assistance, beyond the rescue teams, he is contemplating, perhaps as the next stage of assistance with the recovery? . . '

I too thank the hon. Member for Hackney, North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott) for giving us the opportunity for this update today, and I associate myself and my colleagues with the comments made by the Secretary of State and the shadow Secretary of State. The horrors in Haiti this morning are utterly unimaginable, and the impact is all the worse for being the latest in a very long list of geographical disasters, which are complicated by political divisions and terrible uncertainty.

The Liberal Democrats welcome the initiative the Secretary has announced and the speedy response he indicated. Will he tell us what other forms of assistance, beyond the rescue teams, he is contemplating, perhaps as the next stage of assistance with the recovery? Others in the European Union and from elsewhere in the world will also be looking to see how they can assist. Will he explain to the House how all those different efforts will be co-ordinated?

The international community has a desperate habit of losing interest in, and forgetting, countries once the television crews have gone home, so looking to the longer-term, will the Secretary of State give us an assurance that with our partners, he will re-examine the support that we provide to Haiti and other vulnerable countries like it, and prepare help for them on a sustainable and secure basis?

The Secretary of State for International Development (Mr. Douglas Alexander): Again, I am grateful for those remarks and associate myself with the determination that the hon. Gentleman communicates that the United Kingdom should play its part. Let me deal with two or three of the specific points that he raises. He is right to recognise that in any major disaster such as this one, there is a rescue phase-and that is what our efforts are focused on at the moment. The assessment team will contribute to the recovery phase and to an assessment of the humanitarian requirements.

In the wake of a tragedy such as this, there are always requirements for food, shelter, clean water and medicines. That is why the hon. Gentleman's point about the co-ordination of the international effort is so apposite. We are already in discussions with OCHA-the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs-which has historically led such efforts. Tragically, because of our familiarity with major disasters over recent years, it has developed real expertise in the cluster system, whereby individual countries can slot their contribution into a more co-ordinated and joined-up international effort.

The hon. Gentleman asked about the European Union, which is historically one of the partners of Haiti. We are already in discussion with European partners, and we anticipate that ECHO-the European Community Humanitarian Office-the EU's humanitarian assistance arm, will be heavily engaged in the response to the tragedy. Again, I will take the opportunity to update the House on the continued efforts to co-ordinate those international efforts in due course.

• . . Malcolm Bruce (Gordon) (LD): The International Development Committee looked at the Government's response to emergencies a couple of years ago. I commend the Secretary of State on his ability to show how that works at very short notice. We visited the emergency room in Victoria street.

Can the Secretary of State ensure that the co-ordination that follows from this disaster will avoid a lot of duplication of effort, which can go to waste? That has happened with other disasters. In particular, will the United Nations have the capacity to play that role, as it sought to do in Pakistan?

Mr. Alexander: I am grateful for the right hon. Gentleman's question and the knowledge and expertise that he and his Committee have brought to bear on these issues. It would be fair to characterise the United Nations capability as significantly improved, although still with significant room for improvement. I am mindful of the lessons that needed to be drawn after the Pakistan earthquake, and we have put significant effort into strengthening the capability for immediate response and co-ordination.

I have already been questioned elsewhere this morning on why we are sending an assessment team in the face of the immediacy of the human tragedy. It is to address exactly the point raised by the right hon. Gentleman-so that we can both understand the scale of the humanitarian need and deploy effectively with our international partners to address that need. Alongside the rescue phase, work is already under way genuinely to understand the needs of a country that we should not forget was desperately poor even before this tragedy. Then we will be working with the United Nations to ensure a co-ordinated and sustained response to this tragedy.

• . . Simon Hughes (North Southwark and Bermondsey) (LD): The Secretary of State may know that there are significant numbers of French-speaking people in the UK, who I am sure will have a particular interest. The Churches, particularly the Roman Catholic Church, have strong links with Haiti. Furthermore, organisations such as Voluntary Service Overseas have sent many people with expertise in various fields to work in Haiti over the years. Can the Secretary of State make sure that those groups, among others, are called on? I am sure that they wish to assist, and will be competent and able to do so.

Mr. Alexander: Of course. I pay tribute to the work that Church organisations and non-governmental organisations from the United Kingdom have done for some time to support the people of Haiti, often in extraordinarily difficult and challenging circumstances. As you can imagine, Mr. Speaker, it has been a rather busy morning for us in the Department, but I anticipate that in fairly short order we will bring together the relevant NGOs-those that have worked in Haiti and/or have an interest in responding to this humanitarian tragedy-so that we can update them and assess how they can help.