Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their announcement that they have identified a £2.9 billion package of reductions in their planned Official Development Assistance spend, what steps they are taking to ensure that reductions in such spend are made to programmes that have been found to be less effective at poverty alleviation.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The First Secretary led a careful review process to look at every strand of the ODA budget and assess the impacts of spend. ODA spend for 2020 was prioritised to focus on key strategic objectives including poverty reduction for the ‘bottom billion’, tackling climate change and reversing biodiversity loss, championing girls’ education, UK leadership in the global response to Covid-19, and protecting the UK’s science base. These priorities will help the government to deliver our manifesto commitments and ensure that the UK is a global force for good.
The work of UK Aid to reduce poverty will remain central to the new department’s mission and we will continue to be guided by our responsibilities under the International Development Act.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to ensure that the merger of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development enables the maintenance of good quality, poverty-focused aid.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
This Government is unashamed in believing that its job is to promote British influence around the world, to try to change the world for the better, and to get best value for the British taxpayer who spends so generously to help others. This change will help us do that.
Our reputation as a world leader on development issues comes from three things: our thought leadership; the scale and quality of UK development programmes; and excellence of our analysis, long term perspective and staff. None of these will change with the creation of the FCDO, but our development work will now be better aligned with foreign policy and the broad UK national interest. It should make our development work even more effective. DFID has been a more effective spender of aid than any other Government department – that expertise must be brought into the centre of the new department.
The work of UK Aid to reduce poverty will remain central to the new department’s mission and we will continue to be guided by our responsibilities under the International Development Act.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to ensure that (1) development and humanitarian concerns are heard at the highest levels of the Government, and (2) there is policy coherence in those areas across Departments.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
From the 1st September, the Foreign Secretary will lead the new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. His seat at Cabinet will ensure that development and humanitarian concerns are at the heart of Cabinet decision-making. The Integrated Review will refresh systems to ensure policy coherence across HMG.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the merger of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development on the world's poorest people.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Spending 0.7 per cent of our national income on aid is enshrined in law and we will continue to be guided by our responsibilities under the International Development Act, including a commitment to poverty reduction.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their announcement that they have identified a £2.9 billion package of reductions in their planned Official Development Assistance spend, what plans they have to publish a breakdown of those reductions, including (1) underspends, (2) activity delays, and (3) spending cancellations.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Revised ODA allocations for 2020/21 will be published by HM Treasury at Autumn Budget, and the Statistics for International Development published in 2021 will provide a full breakdown of the UK’s ODA spend for 2020. Currently we are discussing specific savings with suppliers and partners and we will publish the revised ODA allocations in due course after this process has been completed.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their announcement that they have identified a £2.9 billion package of reductions in their planned Official Development Assistance (ODA) spend, what plans they have to publish the arrangements in place to reduce ODA spending in 2020.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Revised ODA allocations for 2020/21 will be published by HM Treasury at Autumn Budget, and the Statistics for International Development published in 2021 will provide a full breakdown of the UK’s ODA spend for 2020. Currently we are discussing specific savings with suppliers and partners and we will publish the revised ODA allocations in due course after this process has been completed.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their announcement that they have identified a £2.9 billion package of reductions in their planned Official Development Assistance (ODA) spend, by what process they came to their decision to reduce their planned ODA spend.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The First Secretary of State, supported by the International Development Secretary and ministers from ODA spending departments, led a cross government review to identify reductions in this year’s ODA budget needed to meet the 0.7% commitment. The careful review process looked at every strand of the ODA budget and assess the impacts of spend. Several review sessions were held in which Ministers prioritised programmes based on strategic objectives such as poverty reduction for the ‘bottom billion’, tackling climate change and reversing biodiversity loss, championing girls’ education, and the global response to Covid-19.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take (1) to maintain standards of independent scrutiny of the UK aid budget, and (2) to ensure accountability for that expenditure.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office will be accountable to parliament for how it spends UK aid. We remain committed to full transparency in our aid spending and there will continue to be parliamentary and independent scrutiny of the aid budget – the form this takes following the merger will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the public health implications of merging the Department for International Development with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office during the COVID-19 pandemic (1) globally and (2) for the UK.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The current pandemic makes ever clearer the need for international collaboration on health and the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) will continue to work with DHSC to support the public health needs of the UK where this requires international activity, for example facilitating learning from other countries and work on health issues in multilateral forums.
The UK is the second largest Government donor on global health. This Government is committed to SDG3, ensuring healthy lives and promoting health and wellbeing for all at all ages, and supporting countries to achieve Universal Health Coverage. The pandemic is showing us the vital importance of strong and resilient health systems, with effective public health functions for both preventing and protecting people from health threats and ensuring continued access to quality essential health services, respecting rights and leaving no one behind.
The Government remains fully focused on stopping the spread of COVID-19, mitigating both the direct and indirect impacts, and saving lives. We are using UK aid to its full effect to counter the health, humanitarian, and economic risks and impact of this pandemic in the developing world. By creating the new FCDO the Government is aligning our development and diplomatic efforts to maximise our influence and expertise and ensure we are in the best position to continue to drive the international response to the pandemic – funding the development of a vaccine and supporting the global recovery.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consultation, if any, took place with humanitarian and development experts before the decision was made to merge the Department for International Development with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
On 16 June the Prime Minister announced that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development will merge to form a new international department – the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The Government will continue to engage closely with interested stakeholders, including UK and international NGOs, in the weeks and months to come as we work to create the new department, which will unite our development expertise and first class diplomatic service to make the UK a force for good in the world.