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Pre-Budget Report

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend, because he has been one of the leading advocates throughout the world of action to achieve the millennium development goals and he has a proud record of passing legislation in this House that requires us to keep to the targets that we have set. Yes, we are intent on the 0.7 per cent. target. We are also intent on meeting the millennium development goals. In the next few months, we are launching the education for all initiative, which is designed to get every potential primary school pupil into education by 2015. There are 110 million children who are not. At the same time, Cardinal O’Brien, whose work in this area I applaud—particularly his visits to Africa to give hope to people in the areas of greatest need—was present at the launch of the vaccination initiative. We have agreed that 500 million children will be offered vaccination. As a result of that, over the next 10 to 15 years, it is possible that 10 million lives will be saved. I was grateful that the Pope sent his representatives to that launch. The Archbishop of Canterbury was there, as was the Chief Rabbi. Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and other faiths were represented. It is a measure of the consensus among the Churches that something needs to be done that Governments around the world are being influenced by Cardinal O’Brien and many like him.