Wednesday Volume 596 3 June 2015 No. 10 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Wednesday 3 June 2015 £5·00 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2015 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 571 3 JUNE 2015 572 Foreign Minister of Israel says it has the right to build House of Commons anywhere in the west bank it chooses. My question to the Secretary of State is not whether she opposes that Wednesday 3 June 2015 but whether she agrees that European companies have no business trading with illegal settlements east of the green line. The House met at half-past Eleven o’clock Justine Greening: The hon. Gentleman is right that PRAYERS we oppose that illegal building of settlements, and he is shining a light on some of the decisions that companies [MR SPEAKER in the Chair] themselves have to make about whether they will be part of that activity. It is up to them to speak for Speaker’s Statement themselves, but the Government’s position in relation to those settlements is very clear. Mr Speaker: It will be for the convenience of Members to know that the private Members’ Bills ballot book is open in the No Lobby today until the rise of the House, Paul Flynn: May I welcome the right hon. Lady back when the ballot for 2015-16 will close. The ballot draw to her post, which she fulfilled with great distinction in will be held at 9 am tomorrow morning in Committee the previous Parliament? Room 10. The draw will be open to Members, media We are all aware of the terrible situation in Gaza, and the public. As soon as possible, the results will be where more than 100,000 people have had their homes displayed in the No Lobby and made available in the destroyed and not one of them has been rebuilt. Will Vote Office and on the website. she use her office to persuade the Israelis that, from the I also remind Members that the ballot for the election point of view of humanitarian need and future peace, of Deputy Speakers is taking place until 1.30 pm today provisions should be brought in to rebuild the houses? in Committee Room 6. The result will be announced as soon as practicable after the count has been completed. Justine Greening: The hon. Gentleman rightly highlights some of the challenges in getting construction materials into the Occupied Palestinian Territories, particularly Oral Answers to Questions Gaza, to rebuild homes that have been destroyed. The Gaza reconstruction mechanism gives us a way to do that, and he will be pleased to hear that just under 90,000 people have now been able to get the equipment INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT they need to rebuild their homes. The Secretary of State was asked— Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con): As my right hon. Friend knows, there is an urgent need for reconstruction Occupied Palestinian Territories in Gaza, but how can she ensure that materials such as concrete and scaffolding are not used to construct weapons 1. Richard Burden (Birmingham, Northfield) (Lab): that can be used against the state of Israel and its What recent assessment she has made of the citizens? humanitarian situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. [900060] Justine Greening: We have been particularly concerned 2. Paul Flynn (Newport West) (Lab): What recent to play our role in managing that issue. DFID is helping assessment she has made of the humanitarian situation to support the materials monitoring unit. That means we can check materials as they enter Gaza and check in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. [900061] where they are stored, how they are used and how they The Secretary of State for International Development are reused. So there absolutely are good controls in (Justine Greening): I would like to start by paying place to ensure the materials are used for rebuilding tribute to Charles Kennedy, who died a few days ago. people’s homes and helping them rebuild their lives. Like many Members of this House, I not only found him to be a kind and generous man but had a huge Andrew Percy (Brigg and Goole) (Con): Does the amount of respect for him politically, and I and many Secretary of State welcome Israeli President Rivlin’s others will mourn his passing. call for an urgent international effort to rebuild Gaza, The United Nations assesses that the situation in the but on the understanding that the hostilities perpetrated Occupied Palestinian Territories is a protracted crisis by Hamas against Israel must cease? Does she also with humanitarian consequences. Even before the latest agree that the continued incitement to violence by conflict in Gaza, 57% of the population were food-insecure Palestinians against Israel must end? and 43% were unemployed. Justine Greening: Clearly, the only way people in Richard Burden: First, may I endorse everything the Gaza, particularly children growing up there, are going Secretary of State has said regarding Charles Kennedy? to have a better future is if we have a two-state solution. He was a gifted politician and a genuinely friendly and That requires Israel, and the Occupied Palestinian Territories funny man, and we will miss him. and its transitional Government, to be prepared to do Some 46 Palestinian Bedouin communities face what it takes to get a long-term settlement. That also displacement from their homes in the west bank to means not doing things that get in the way of peace make way for illegal Israeli settlements. The Deputy talks getting going again. 573 Oral Answers3 JUNE 2015 Oral Answers 574 Illegal Migration Justine Greening: My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and over the past couple of years DFID has dramatically 3. Daniel Kawczynski (Shrewsbury and Atcham) (Con): increased the amount of our work that is going on, What assessment her Department has made of the root including on economic development and creating jobs causes of illegal migration to Europe by boat. [900062] and livelihoods. A World Bank report in 2013 estimated that 600 million jobs will be required over the next The Secretary of State for International Development 15 years for young people entering the labour market, (Justine Greening): According to the United Nations many of whom are in Africa. It makes sense, and it is High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 80,000 crucial, that we provide opportunity for them to fulfil migrants have arrived in Europe by sea already this their potential there. year. Some are fleeing conflict, such as that in Syria, or persecution elsewhere; others are economic migrants Valerie Vaz: What implications are there for the UK searching for a better life. Addressing the root causes, as a result of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations not just the symptoms, involves bringing peace and conference on 29 May in Bangkok? stability, good governance, development and jobs to their countries of origin. Justine Greening: The hon. Lady rightly points out that while we in Europe grapple with the challenges we Daniel Kawczynski: My right hon. Friend will have face on migration, comparable challenges are being seen the terrible suffering in the Mediterranean as people faced by other countries. It is absolutely right that are being trafficked from Libya to Lampedusa. What Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia are now working far concrete steps is her Department taking to help the more carefully together, and the UK will be playing its Libyan coastguard to police its ports better? role to support them in doing that. Justine Greening: My hon. Friend will know that this Mr Angus Brendan MacNeil (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) is an international problem that requires an international (SNP): Can we see illegal migrants to Europe first and co-ordinated solution, not least from the EU, and the foremost as human beings and give them all the dignity, UK is part of that. Getting a stable Government in care and respect we can, especially by ensuring the Libya is a crucial part of how we can start to clamp availability of rescue facilities as they cross the down on the traffickers who trade in human misery, and Mediterranean? I assure him that both DFID and the Foreign Office are a part of that work. Justine Greening: The hon. Gentleman is right to say that we need to see the people behind many of the Keith Vaz (Leicester East) (Lab) rose— statistics that we read in the paper. That is one reason why we sent HMS Bulwark and Merlin helicopters—so Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) (Lab) rose— that this country can play our role in providing search and rescue services to help those people. They are Mr Speaker: Ah. The Vaz sibling rivalry lives on. I literally putting their lives on the line to get a better life, call Mr Keith Vaz. and we should never forget the stories of the people behind those terrible numbers. Keith Vaz: Thank you, Mr Speaker. [HON.MEMBERS: “Wrong choice!”] You made the right choice. Mr Gavin Shuker (Luton South) (Lab/Co-op): May I The hon. Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham (Daniel begin by welcoming the Secretary of State back to her Kawczynski) is right, in that 92% of the 170,000 who post and welcoming the right hon. Member for Welwyn have travelled from north Africa to Italy came through Hatfield (Grant Shapps) to his new post? We look Libya. The Khartoum process is clearly not working, forward to working constructively with the Secretary of and the humanitarian crisis starts in north Africa, goes State in this very important year for development.