1 Introduction
1. This report is the outcome of our annual scrutiny
exercise in which the Committee considers the Departmental Report
produced by the Department for International Development (DFID).
As part of this exercise we took evidence from Suma Chakrabati,
DFID's Permanent Secretary, Mark Lowcock, Director General for
Corporate Performance and Knowledge Sharing and Susanna Moorehead,
Deputy Director, Policy Division. We also sent a number of written
questions to the Department. DFID's responses are published along
with the report. Examination of DFID's annual Departmental Report
is a significant task. It is not feasible to examine in detail
every aspect of the report and of DFID's work programme. We have
concentrated therefore on certain areas of DFID's work and followed
up themes and issues which have been raised in previous examinations
of DFID's Departmental Reports.
2. Our report consists of eight chapters. Chapter
two examines the way DFID manages, measures and reports on its
performance, and comments on DFID's new Public Service Agreement
(PSA). It aims to give a broad overview of how DFID has performed
against its targets; by contrast, subsequent chapters focus on
specific policy issues in more detail. Chapter three continues
a theme from last year's report, the nature of DFID's engagement
with aid-receiving countries. It examines developments in the
shift towards budget support and the conditions under which such
support is appropriate, as well as the need for capacity-building
and technical assistance. Following on from this, chapter four
looks at Poverty Reduction Strategies and, in particular, investigates
the interface between local ownership and donor influence. Chapters
five, six and seven all concentrate on distinct policy areas:
sexual and reproductive health (SRH), gender and agriculture.
The impact of the external policy environment and the attempt
to "mainstream" both SRH and gender are considered
in chapters five and six. Chapter seven highlights what we see
as a lack of emphasis on agriculture in DFID's poverty reduction
policy.
Developments since 2002
3. The DFID Departmental Report 2003 comes after
some significant developments and expansion. As part of the Spending
Review 2002 DFID's objectives and targets were rewritten and now
align more closely with the Department's structure. The Department
initiated a programme of organisational and management change
over the past year which is focussed on ensuring that DFID is
organised and managed in ways to maximise effectiveness.[1]
DFID continues to grow, having secured significant additional
funding to increase the budget from £3.4 billion in 2002-03
to nearly £4.6 billion in 2005-06.[2]
- The Departmental Report is intended to provide
Parliament, members of the public and other stakeholders with
a comprehensive account of DFID's performance during 2002-03,
and its plans for the future. DFID has adopted recommendations
on the Report's format which we made last year. These include
explicitly stating its objectives in Chapter 1, providing an organogram
to demonstrate departmental organisation and the insertion of
a whole chapter devoted to "How we are organised to deliver".[3]
It shows performance against the 2001-2004 Public Service Agreement
(PSA) targets, progress towards the Millennium Development Goals,
details of activity in general areas such as HIV/AIDS, reproductive
health and primary education and how DFID is working with partners
to reduce poverty, as well as tables of past and planned expenditure.
We welcome the changes to the report made in consequence of our
recommendations last year. We also welcome the fact that this
year the report provides links and references to further information
where there is not the space to address these issues in detail.
1 Department for International Development, Departmental
Report 2003, Cm5914, May 2003, paragraph 6.1, page 112. Back
2
HM Treasury, Spending Review 2002, Cm5507, July 2002,page
101 Back
3
International Development Committee, Sixth Report, 2001-02, Department
for International Development: Departmental Report 2002, HC964.
DFID, Departmental Report 2003,Cm5914, May 2003, Chapter
1 and Annex 5. Back
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