FCDO

At Autumn Conference 2020, LDID submitted an emergency motion on the newly-established FCDO, which can be read here:

Conference notes that:

  1. The UK Government announced in June 2020 the integration of the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) into a new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; the decision was taken with little sector consultation and in advance of the Government’s ‘Integrated Review’ of its international policies

  1. The “2020 Aid Transparency Index” found that DFID is one of the world’s most transparent donors, rating it as “very good”; but other ODA spending government departments do not meet the same standards

  1. Coronavirus poses particular challenges to development, not least in potentially reversing decades of progress in reducing poverty

  1. The UK can play a key role in supporting developing countries to address the immediate consequences of the pandemic – through providing humanitarian aid and support for health system strengthening – but also in supporting their longer-term recovery, which has important implications for our own future prosperity  

  1. A high-quality international development programme, as part of an open, generous, globally-engaged UK will not only be of direct benefit to those who need that support, but also sends an important  message about our values and priorities, and a recognition that many of the challenges we face can only be addressed as a global community

  1. 2020 marks 50 years since the Liberal Party committed to 0.7% gross national income (GNI) aid spending, the first UK political party to do so; and it was the Liberal Democrats who enshrined this commitment in law while in Coalition Government

Conference reaffirms commitment to: 

  1. Retaining DFID as a separate Department of State with its own Cabinet Minister

  2. Retaining the UK commitment to spend 0.7% of GNI on official development assistance (ODA)


Conference calls for the UK Government to: 

  1. Ensure that the use of ODA continues to be consistent with the OECD/DAC rules/guidelines, and with UK legislation, and in particular its primary purpose should remain the economic development of, and poverty reduction within, the partner country

  2. Ensure that a Parliamentary select committee with a remit of examining all British Government ODA expenditure is retained, as well as the Independent Commission on Aid Impact (ICAI).

  3. Ensure that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), agreed in September 2015, lie at the heart of the UK’s international development policy, as well as inform domestic policy

  4. Re-establish the development education programme, linked to the SDGs, to increase public understanding of the links between progress elsewhere and the UK and the universal nature and applicability of the SDGs 

LDID