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Vol. 747 Thursday No. 43 25 July 2013 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) HOUSE OF LORDS OFFICIAL REPORT ORDER OF BUSINESS Questions Overseas Aid: Post-2015 Development Agenda ........................................................1411 Taxation: VAT on Retrofitting Buildings ..................................................................1413 Overseas Aid: GDP Target ........................................................................................1416 Cigarette Packaging .....................................................................................................1418 NHS: Accident and Emergency Services Private Notice Question...............................................................................................1420 Procedure Committee Motion to Agree ..........................................................................................................1424 English Premier League Football Motion to Take Note ..................................................................................................1425 Atheists and Humanists: Contribution to Society Motion to Take Note ..................................................................................................1463 National Health Service (Licence Exemptions, etc.) Regulations 2013 Motion to Approve.......................................................................................................1501 Health and Social Care Act 2012 (Consequential Amendments) (No. 2) Order 2013 Motion to Approve.......................................................................................................1505 Arts: Contribution to Education, Health and Emotional Well-being Question for Short Debate ..........................................................................................1508 Grand Committee Energy Bill Committee (8th Day)............................................................................................GC 539 Written Statements ....................................................................................................WS 157 Written Answers .........................................................................................................WA 219 £4·00 Lords wishing to be supplied with these Daily Reports should give notice to this effect to the Printed Paper Office. The bound volumes also will be sent to those Peers who similarly notify their wish to receive them. No proofs of Daily Reports are provided. Corrections for the bound volume which Lords wish to suggest to the report of their speeches should be clearly indicated in a copy of the Daily Report, which, with the column numbers concerned shown on the front cover, should be sent to the Editor of Debates, House of Lords, within 14 days of the date of the Daily Report. This issue of the Official Report is also available on the Internet at www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201314/ldhansrd/index/130725.html PRICES AND SUBSCRIPTION RATES DAILY PARTS Single copies: Commons, £5; Lords £4 Annual subscriptions: Commons, £865; Lords £600 LORDS VOLUME INDEX obtainable on standing order only. Details available on request. BOUND VOLUMES OF DEBATES are issued periodically during the session. Single copies: Commons, £105; Lords, £60 (£100 for a two-volume edition). Standing orders will be accepted. THE INDEX to each Bound Volume of House of Commons Debates is published separately at £9·00 and can be supplied to standing order. All prices are inclusive of postage. © Parliamentary Copyright House of Lords 2013, this publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 1411 Overseas Aid: Post-2015 Agenda[25 JULY 2013] Overseas Aid: Post-2015 Agenda 1412 are met for all the relevant income and stakeholder House of Lords groups. Given all of that and the fact that progress towards the current millennium development goals Thursday, 25 July 2013. has been limited by the great increase in global inequalities, will the UK Government press for a stand-alone goal 11 am on equality in the post-2015 framework? Prayers—read by the Lord Bishop of Birmingham. Baroness Northover: The noble Lord is right about how this proposal emphasises leaving no one behind and that targets can be considered achieved only when Overseas Aid: Post-2015 they are met across all social and income groups. That Development Agenda is essential in tackling inequality. It seems to us that Question challenging inequality runs as a thread through the whole report. 11.06 am Asked By Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale Baroness Jenkin of Kennington: My Lords, I returned this morning from Myanmar which—although it was To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps a fascinating week—is still in a very fragile state. It is they will take to follow up the report of the one of the states that has failed to achieve any of the United Nations High-level Panel on the Post-2015 MDGs. It is still a very poor country where one in four Development Agenda. people lives below $1.25 a day, and it has terrible capacity issues. Given the feeling of hope in that Baroness Northover: My Lords, the Government country now, what does DfID plan to do to support welcome the high-level panel’s report as an ambitious the Burmese people in the run-up to the 2015 elections? and practical starting point for negotiations on the post-2015 development framework. Over the next two Baroness Northover: DfID is a strong supporter of years we will work internationally to seek to build Myanmar and we recognise that it is a very fragile momentum behind the panel’s recommendations and state. I think that my noble friend went with an to ensure that the final framework is equally strong. all-party group, and we are delighted that such a group has been able to visit. We recently announced Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale: I thank the £10 million in funding to help with the 2014 Myanmar Minister for that Answer. Everyone in this House who population and housing census which will help to has taken part in debates on this matter will welcome underpin the information required for the elections. the very strong analysis and recommendations made We will continue to help the Government and other in the report of the high-level panel on the issues of organisations in other ways as well. conflict, security and development. In fact, the recommendations are perhaps surprising given the Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: My Lords, the hostility that there may be elsewhere in the United managing director of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, Nations system towards these issues. What action recently said: will the Government take to build a broad coalition “Rising income inequality is a growing concern for policymakers in the United Nations and elsewhere to secure these around the world”. recommendations and to make sure that the final Why, then, has the high-level panel omitted any reference report for the post-2015 development framework tackles to this issue, and why does it talk only about equality the crucial issues of peacebuilding and post-conflict of opportunity? Does the Minister agree that Madame reconstruction? Lagarde’s evidence-based statement that, “more equal societies are more likely to achieve lasting growth”, Baroness Northover: This report is remarkable. Many should be considered in any future discussions? people felt that it would be very difficult to secure something as focused, streamlined and effective as this one is, following on as it does from the previous one, Baroness Northover: If the noble Baroness looks at which was negotiated almost in isolation. Many different the 12 goals, and I am sure that she has, she will see groups and organisations from countries across the that they include the issues that need to be addressed. globe have been involved, which is a good omen for For example, goal 8 is to, taking this forward. However, the noble Lord is absolutely “create jobs, sustainable livelihoods and equitable growth”. right to say that it is going to need a lot of work, and I think that that addresses the problems that she this Government will be putting that work in to ensure highlights. that what is finally proposed is as strong as this initial report. The Lord Bishop of Birmingham: Like other noble Lords, I applaud the Prime Minister’s initiative and Lord Low of Dalston: My Lords, the Prime Minister leadership in this area and encourage him to press on. is much to be congratulated on the report of the In view of the importance that the report attaches to high-level panel, which he co-chaired, given its emphasis gender equality and empowerment, can the Minister on no one being left behind and the recommendation confirm that the Government will look to next year’s that targets should be considered achieved only if they UN Commission on the Status of Women, which 1413 Overseas Aid: Post-2015 Agenda[LORDS] Taxation: VAT on Retrofitting Buildings 1414 [THE LORD BISHOP OF BIRMINGHAM] Lord Newby: My Lords, a reduced VAT rate of 5% starts in March, to build consensus among UN member already applies to the installation of various energy-saving states on this matter, ahead of any final negotiations materials, including insulation materials, in residential on the post-2015 development agenda? properties. There are many instances where people incur expenditure in a way that helps to reduce energy Baroness Northover: I can assure the right reverend use, but given the current fiscal pressures, it is not Prelate that we are already doing that. A great deal of possible to