Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development: Merger Debate
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Baroness Sheehan
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Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development: Merger
Baroness Sheehan Excerpts(3 years, 9 months ago)
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Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The FCDO will remain accountable to Parliament in how it spends UK aid. I assure the noble Lord that we remain fully committed to issues of transparency in our aid spending. There will continue to be parliamentary and independent scrutiny of the aid budget.
Baroness Sheehan (LD) [V]
My Lords, the development community is in the dark about last week’s cuts to ODA. There was no consultation or notice. Will the Minister write to me with details of the process by which decisions were made and the strong case for keeping ICAI and a dedicated ODA committee for it to work through, as the best arrangement if the Government want to be trusted on their aid commitment?
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
My Lords, parliamentary committees are very much a matter for Parliament. I disagree with the noble Baroness on consultation. As a Human Rights Minister, I have engaged closely with human rights organisations, and my noble friend Lady Sugg and the DfID Permanent Secretary have been meeting with NGO partners on the development programmes.