Mr Bowen Wells: Select Committees offer opportunities pre-and post-ministerial office. I do not exclude either possibility, but I believe that serving on a Select Committee makes a satisfying alternative career to being a Minister. The hon. Gentleman, who has not been a junior departmental Minister, may think that Select Committee membership is a more influential position than a junior Minister often occupies.
Mr Bowen Wells: It is entirely clear. A career could be mixed; an hon. Member could have a ministerial and a Select Committee career. The latter offers an alternative path for influencing matters that relate to a specific subject that an hon. Member wishes to pursue.
Mr Bowen Wells: That makes the point. However, I must conclude my remarks because many other hon. Members want to contribute. The Liaison Committee report looks forward to the way in which an effective Parliament can be seen to be working by the public. That is important for the prestige and power of Parliament. Select Committees are much more suited than the House to the television camera because the...
Mr Bowen Wells: Is not the essence of the right hon. Lady's argument the fact that she objects to the transfer of power from the Government, the individuals who lead the Government Whips Office and the Leader of the House to those who are elected by Parliament?
Mr Bowen Wells: Will the Secretary of State tell the House what contribution the Prime Minister's initiative group at the Department for International Development makes to the proposed Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline project? [Interruption.]
Mr Bowen Wells: Will the Secretary of State tell the House what contribution the Prime Minister's initiative group at the Department for International Development makes to the proposed Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline project?
Mr Bowen Wells: I welcome both the return of the Government to the wholehearted support of efforts by the United Nations, and the progress that the Government and the Army have made in restoring some stability in Sierra Leone. Has any assessment been made of the long-term cost of rehabilitating, training and arming the Sierra Leone army, so that the rule of law may spread from Freetown to the country's...
Mr Bowen Wells: I hope that the House will find that the two things that I want to say are pleasant and complimentary. First, I congratulate the hon. Member for Romsey (Sandra Gidley) on her outstanding maiden speech, in which she outlined those parts of her constituency that are especially interesting from the point of view of education. I also thank the hon. Lady for the very gracious, warm and lovely...
Mr Bowen Wells: The Government have indeed cut the amount of money going to grant-maintained schools, which are now called foundation schools. The result is that we are getting higher numbers in each class and the teachers find it much more difficult to achieve the standards that they want to achieve on behalf of their pupils. Far from there being less stress, there is far more in those circumstances. The...
Mr Bowen Wells: Can the Minister describe the new arrangements that he, the Foreign Office and Ministers in the Department of Trade and Industry are making for the promotion of trade with southern Africa?
Mr Bowen Wells: In view of the fact that the neighbouring country of Liberia supports the RUF and Mr. Sankoh, what approach has the Foreign Secretary made to the leadership in Liberia for assistance in trying to bring about the resumption of a peaceful solution to the problems facing Sierra Leone? Secondly, on diamonds, how far has the Foreign Office gone in its analysis of the situation, and in the...
Mr Bowen Wells: Who drafted these amendments, and why is it necessary to introduce them at this stage? Has the Bill been improperly drafted? Does it reflect Ministers' desires and objectives? Why are we being subjected to this long list of tiny amendments that should have been taken care of in the original drafting of the Bill?
Mr Bowen Wells: Does the Secretary of State agree that it is the duty and responsibility of employers in the public and private sectors—particularly the private sector—to take measures to educate their work force on how to manage the problem of HIV-AIDS and the associated illnesses? Is that not the way to begin to reduce the number infected?
Mr Bowen Wells: Of course the flood was greater than any of us foresaw. However, the fact is that surges of water down rivers such as the Limpopo do not happen overnight. The surge was caused by the very considerable rainfall inland. As the hon. Member for Cynon Valley (Ann Clwyd) said, the Committee was in the middle of that, and we knew that the surge was coming down. It should have been anticipated.
Mr Bowen Wells: Malawi, which has two helicopters, gave 50 per cent. of its helicopter force to help in the emergency.
Mr Bowen Wells: I am delighted to take up the remarks of my colleague on the Select Committee on International Development, the hon. Member for Cynon Valley (Ann Clwyd), who speaks with the knowledge that she gained from the Committee's visit to Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia and South Africa. She knows what was going on. If matters had been left to my Committee, I am sure that we would have been able to advise...
Mr Bowen Wells: The answer partly depended on the assessment of the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, but I would have hoped that, after the Ministry of Defence had realised that South African helicopters were deployed in the second week of February and that the South African armed forces knew that there was a crisis, it would have started planning. The Secretary of State...
Mr Bowen Wells: No, at the time, I was visiting Mozambique, Zambia and Malawi with the hon. Member for Cynon Valley. I was therefore not in a position to raise those matters personally. It should have occurred to someone in the Ministry of Defence to consider ways of supporting the Department for International Development.
Mr Bowen Wells: That question goes to the heart of the problem that I would like to consider so that we can react better next time. The Ministry of Defence should fulfil the second objective to which the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Dr. Tonge) referred and support the Department for International Development in deploying military equipment when a humanitarian disaster has occurred. Rightly, the MOD is...
Mr Bowen Wells: As the right hon. Lady said, the highly dangerous period was between 25 February and the following week. As she knows, the helicopters, albeit only two with winches, from South Africa were working in the previous week to rescue people. We should have deployed earlier. However, that depended on the assessment that had been made. That assessment was not available to the Secretary of State for...
