Queen's Speech: Vital moves on corruption and aid

Our response to the Queen's Speech, which saw the government announce two important pieces of legislation for international development

A "Bribery Bill"aims to strengthen the law on corruption by creating a specific criminal offence of bribing a foreign public official to obtain or retain business - meaning individuals who make illegal payments in the UK or overseas could be jailed for up to a decade.

Joanne Green, CAFOD head of policy, says: "We welcome the announcement today that a Bribery Bill will be part of the government's legislative programme. Action by the UK government to tackle bribery is essential in the fight against global poverty.

"This Bill has already received close scrutiny from the Joint Parliamentary Committee and we hope that the government will heed its recommendation that the bill be further toughened so that companies are brought to book for bribery overseas and that it is speedily enacted."

Meanwhile, draft legislation on aid was also announced, to bring into law the commitment for the government to spend 0.7% of GNI (Gross National Income) on aid by 2013 and to maintain it beyond that date.

Joanne Green says: "It's vital that we keep our promises to the world's poor on international aid. We support the government's proposal to make the 0.7% aid commitment legally binding.

"Although it is just draft legislation, we urge all political parties to back it so that it can be brought into law whoever wins the next election."

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