Andrew George MP made a number of contributions to this debate – you can see the whole transcript of the debate HERE or you can see Andrew’s interjections HERE

Andrew George MP (St Ives, Liberal Democrat)

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department has taken to (a) integrate HIV and TB services and (b) support testing for HIV and screening for TB in countries where HIV and TB are prevalent.

Stephen O’Brien (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, International Development; Eddisbury, Conservative)

Scaling up access to HIV and TB diagnosis, treatment, care and support, including early infant diagnosis, within integrated services is listed as one of the UK’s strategic priorities in the recently published position paper on HIV: “Towards zero infections”. We will continue to focus on both HIV and TB in countries where they are prevalent, and on strengthening the underlying health systems in order to improve the way health services diagnose and treat illnesses, including TB and TB-HIV co-infection.

Our multilateral support to the new UNAIDS Unified Budget, Results and Accountability Framework (UBRAF) will also promote the strengthening of country systems to increase access to antiretroviral therapy and implement collaborative TB/HIV activities, including HIV testing for TB patients and TB screening for people living with HIV.

Andrew George MP (St Ives, Liberal Democrat)

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what targets his Department has set for reducing tuberculosis deaths of people with (a) HIV- and (b) non HIV-related tuberculosis.

Stephen O’Brien (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, International Development; Eddisbury, Conservative)

As highlighted in ‘UK aid: Changing lives, delivering results’, the coalition Government are committed to supporting global efforts to halve tuberculosis deaths by 2015, In relation to deaths from TB in people living with HIV, in the coalition Government’s recently launched Towards zero infections: The UK‘s position paper on HIV in the developing world’ we committed to contribute to the UNAIDS and Stop TB Partnership’s goal of reducing HIV-related TB among people living with HIV by 50% by 2015. We will do this through multilateral and bilateral support to help deliver the Global Plan to Stop Tuberculosis 2011-15.

Andrew George MP (St Ives, Liberal Democrat)

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what plans his Department has set to reduce multi-drug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis in developing countries.

Stephen O’Brien (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, International Development; Eddisbury, Conservative)

The coalition Government recognises that drug resistant strains of tuberculosis (TB) pose serious threats to achieving the goals of the Global Plan to Stop TB 2006-15. We are therefore working with our partners to ensure that prompt quality diagnosis and effective treatment is available to those who need it.

Our support includes a 20 year commitment to UNITAID, the international facility for the purchase of drugs against HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB, of up to €60 million per year subject to performance. UNITAID aims to triple access to rapid tests for multi-drug resistant TB and to significantly reduce the price of drug resistant TB medicines. We also fund research to: develop easier to use diagnostics for drug resistant TB; new TB medicines; and in the longer-term, effective TB vaccines. We also fund operational research to improve health service delivery to diagnose and treat people with drug resistant TB.

Andrew George MP (St Ives, Liberal Democrat)

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what strategies his Department has to (a) prevent and (b) treat non-HIV related TB.

Stephen O’Brien (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, International Development; Eddisbury, Conservative)

The coalition Government are committed to supporting global efforts to halve tuberculosis (TB) deaths by 2015, as highlighted in ‘UK aid: Changing lives, delivering results’. We will help increase access to effective prevention, diagnosis and treatment of TB through our bilateral and multilateral support, particularly through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which is the largest single provider of international funds to fight TB, and through supporting co-ordinated action through the Stop TB Partnership; through our investments in research and product development into more effective treatment and vaccines; through our support to countries to strengthen health systems to deliver quality TB programmes; and working with our partners to tackle the risk factors for TB, including poverty and malnutrition.

Andrew George MP (St Ives, Liberal Democrat)

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department has taken to encourage industrial development of (a) diagnostics, (b) drugs and (c) vaccines for tuberculosis; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of these steps.

Stephen O’Brien (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, International Development; Eddisbury, Conservative)

The Department for International Development (DFID) is supporting a number of product development partnerships to encourage industrial development of new diagnostics, drugs and vaccines for tuberculosis. This includes support to the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND); the Global Alliance for TB Drugs; and the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation. These initiatives are making progress. For instance, FIND has helped develop a new diagnostic for rapid detection of TB (‘GenXpert’). This may help shorten the time to diagnosis and cut transmission, thus preventing new cases in future. FIND are also working on how they can adapt these tools for use in more peripheral settings.

Andrew George (St Ives, Liberal Democrat)

I lead on DEFRA matters for the Liberal Democrats and hope that the Minister understands that I oppose the abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board. Rural workers are exceptionally isolated and in an exceptional position that I think justifies exceptional protections.

Nick Hurd (Parliamentary Secretary (Civil Society), Cabinet Office; Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner, Conservative)

I think that the House understands, as the Government certainly do, that the hon. Gentleman is opposed to the abolition, but I do not think that that changes our view that separate representation for agricultural workers is no longer needed.

Andrew George (St Ives, Liberal Democrat)

I hope that the right hon. Lady would agree that rather than trading figures for partisan purposes, we need to have a proper audit of what is going on. A moment ago she mentioned the Commission for Rural Communities. As that body is being brought in-house by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs—that is probably a sensible thing to do—we do not necessarily know whether that will be counted as a saving or whether it will be lost from the overall audit of what quangos cost the country. At the end of the day, however, the important point is the one that I made earlier. We need a rural advocate that is independent of all the partisan debate that we have in this place.

Tessa Jowell (Dulwich and West Norwood, Labour)

The hon. Gentleman has set out the precise nature of the debate that will need to take place in Committee, because losing the independence and the advocacy role of a number of these significant bodies will harm the proper process of representing interests that often get too little hearing in this House.

See this in contect HERE

Andrew George (St Ives, Liberal Democrat)

The point about the Agricultural Wages Board is not just that it pins down a minimum wage for agricultural workers but that there are six scales of pay and other protections for those workers, who have a very weak voice in the labour market. The Minister talks about transparency, but the rural voice will be lost unless transparent decisions are made in the Chamber about each of the bodies involved, including the Rural Advocate, who speaks up on behalf of the most vulnerable in rural communities.

Francis Maude (Minister for the Cabinet Office; Horsham, Conservative)

On the hon. Gentleman’s point about the Rural Advocate, it seems to me that rural areas are very well represented in this House. It seems odd that a separate body should be created to be a rural advocate, because it seems to me that it is the duty of Members of Parliament to be the advocate for their constituents. There are many very effective advocates of rural residents and constituents.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs proposes to consult on the AWB in the autumn. It will be part of a wider consultation package on the future of the agricultural wages committees and the agricultural dwelling house advisory committees.

Andrew George (St Ives, Liberal Democrat)

I warmly welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement. On decentralised energy, does he agree, particularly with regard to onshore wind, that the sooner it is enabled, the sooner we can overcome the innate reluctance of many communities to accept it and ensure that they can share in the benefits?

Christopher Huhne (Secretary of State, Energy and Climate Change; Eastleigh, Liberal Democrat)

I agree with my hon. Friend about the importance of community schemes. That message has come clearly from the successful schemes, particularly those north of the border. He is absolutely right to point out that when the community has a clear stake in a proposal, it is much more likely to back it.