5 EXAMINATION OF EXPENDITURE
53. Due to the General Election, our predecessors
did not publish a report on DFID's Departmental Report 2005.
However, the Committee did send a series of questions to the Department
on issues which included: the poverty-reduction focus of European
Community development programmes; the World Bank International
Development Association fourteenth replenishment; debt relief;
allocation of funding for humanitarian emergencies; the financing
needs for HIV/AIDS; expenditure on Iraq; and governance. The replies
from the Government were published on our website.[32]
54. DFID's Departmental Report 2006
formed the basis for an evidence session on 11 July 2006 with
the Permanent Secretary and the Directors-General.[33]
That session focused on the more visible areas of DFID activity.
In addition we pursued in writing questions which arose from the
Department's resource accounts and Winter and Spring Supplementary
Estimates.
55. The focus of our report Department for International
Development Departmental Report 2006 was an examination of
how DFID manages and spends the increasing UK aid budget, and
we recommended ways to make its contribution more effective in
meeting the MDGs. DFID budgets have risen significantly over recent
spending reviews, yet this expanding budget coincides with a drive
to reduce staff numbers. Our report also looked at key issues
currently facing DFID, including trade and Economic Partnership
Agreements (EPAs), and China's engagement in sub-Saharan Africa.
56. Our recommendations for DFID to consider before
the publication of its next annual departmental report included:
making information available in the Comprehensive Spending Review
2007 on specialisation, off-shoring and out-sourcing; making information
available on exactly how it intends to balance good performers
and fragile states in its overall aid programme; clarification
of how it allocates funding across multilateral institutions;
examination of the long-term viability of budget support before
it is introduced in a particular country; and the inclusion of
specific examples in future Departmental Reports of how DFID seeks
to achieve PSA targets.
57. The 2006 Departmental Report shows that DFID
has acted upon many of the Committee's previous recommendations
such as including a brief overview of the Department's risk management
processes in the Report, and providing information on the poverty
focus of multilateral donors.[34]
32 Government response to the International Development
Committee's questions on DFID's Departmental Report 2005,
HC 998. Published on website only. Back
33
International Development Committee, First Report of Session 2006-07,
Department for International Development Departmental Report
2006, HC 71 Back
34
International Development Committee, Eighth Report of Session
2002-03, Department for International Development Departmental
Report 2003, HC 825. para 16; and International Development
Committee, Eighth Report of Session 2003-04, Department for
International Development Departmental Report 2004, HC 749,
para 18 Back
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