Senior FCDO officials questioned on leadership and performance in global development over past year
On Tuesday the IDC will question senior FCDO officials on their priorities, budget allocations and spending as climate change accelerates and conflict has surged around the world; against a backdrop of significant cuts to the UK ODA budget and after the surprise return of former Prime Minister David Cameron in the role of Foreign Secretary.
The Committee has repeatedly raised questions about the impact of the FCDO merger and significant cuts to the ODA budget on the UK’s leadership and role in international development, and ability to respond to crises. How successful has the restructured Department been in delivering UK global development objectives over the last year? What impact does high turnover in Secretaries of State - and wider staff – have?
Meeting details
Areas of questioning will likely include:
- The Committee’s September report on British International Investment, where a central recommendation – that BII should ensure half of its investments go to the lowest income countries - was incorporated in the recent global development White Paper
- Prospects for restoring the UK commitment to provide 0.7% of GNI as ODA and the impact of not doing so
- Controversy over use of part of the UK’s ODA budget for the costs of housing asylum seekers in the UK – potentially subject to challenge since the provisions of the Illegal Migration Bill
- The costs of the UK response to Ukraine and how that has been financed in the face of wider cuts