House of Commons - International Development

Select Committee on International Development Third Report

7 OTHER AREAS OF ACTIVITY

60. We have not had the occasion to interview any new appointees to major posts in the last year. As DFID has a very small number of associated bodies, the Secretary of State makes very few major appointments.

Associated public bodies

61. DFID has two associated Non-Departmental Public Bodies: the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK and the Crown Agents Holdings Realisation Board. We have not undertaken inquiries into these bodies during the period covered by this Report. CDC Group plc is a UK government-owned body. In March 2006, we heard evidence from its Chief Executive Officer, as part of the inquiry into Private Sector Development.

Examination of draft legislation

62. The Department has not produced draft legislation.

Quadripartite Committee

63. We continued our contribution to the 'Quadripartite' Committee, together with members of the Defence, Foreign Affairs and Trade and Industry Committees. This Committee carries out detailed scrutiny of the Government's controls on exports of equipment and technology with a military application. In March 2005 the Committee published a report on the Government's Strategic Export Controls Annual Report for 2003 (which was debated in March 2006) and in August 2006 it produced a report on the Government's Strategic Export Controls Annual Report for 2004 and Quarterly Reports for 2005.[37] In 2006 the Committee took evidence for the first time from HM Revenue and Customs and the Revenue and Customs Prosecution Office on the enforcement of export controls.

64. The Reports continued the Committee's interest in a range of issues, including: the effects of the emergence of China as an arms exporter to developing countries; support for an international Arms Trade Treaty; and the need to tighten controls on those selling and brokering arms. In 2006 the Committee highlighted the increasing use of the Internet to promote and facilitate arms sales and it found that the Government's response to the challenge of the Internet was too passive.

Conference of Development and Cooperation Committee Chairmen

65. The United Kingdom held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from 1 July 2005 until 31 December 2005. As is traditional for the country holding the presidency, the Chairman of our Committee, and Lord Bowness, Chairman of the House of Lords EU Sub-Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Development Policy, hosted a Conference of Development and Cooperation Committee Chairmen in London, in November 2005. The Conference was very well attended; 30 parliamentarians from EU member states and accession countries participated in a series of lively and informative meetings. Speakers included Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP, Secretary of State for International Development; Mr Louis Michel, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid; Myles Wickstead, formerly Head of the Secretariat to the Commission for Africa; and Mr L Alan Winters, Director, Development Research Group, World Bank.

66. Whilst participating in our conference, the Chair of the Austrian Sub-Committee on Development announced that, under the Austrian Presidency, the conference would be held in Africa rather than following the tradition of using the capital of the host EU country as the venue. Our Chairman attended this in May 2006, as well as attending the Finnish Conference in Helsinki in September 2006. These conferences offer a valuable opportunity to discuss our work with our European counterparts.

Visit to Washington DC and New York

67. In November 2005, we visited Washington DC and New York and met representatives from the UN, the World Bank and the IMF, the US Administration, USAID, the Millennium Challenge Account, and members of both Houses of Congress. Extensive discussions were held on reform of the UN, the establishment of the Peacebuilding Commission in the UN, trade negotiations, and on the UK's position on the conditionality policy of the IMF and the World Bank.

68. There are a number of channels through which we can share information and raise concerns with parliamentarians in Europe including the Conferences of Committee Chairmen and regular visits to European institutions. But the US is a different case. There is a challenge to be met in persuading the United States that aid works and that it should be focused on poverty reduction. The US visit enabled us to encourage our counterparts in the US in this direction.

Informal meetings

69. Our newly appointed Committee held an innovative 'away day' in October 2005 at the Royal Horticultural Hall, which gave us a chance to decide our future programme away from the everyday business of Westminster. We invited DFID officials, including the Permanent Secretary and the Directors General, and also heard presentations from NGOs and other experts.

70. We were pleased to meet key figures and organisations informally throughout 2005-06. Such meetings provided a valuable opportunity for discussion of areas of mutual interest, whilst they also expanded our knowledge and allowed important relationship-building. These meetings included: several representatives of the World Bank, including the President, Paul Wolfowitz; government ministers from Afghanistan; Hernando de Soto, an influential Peruvian economist and Director of Peru's Institute for Liberty and Democracy; Sir Edward Clay, former British High Commissioner to Kenya; Desmond de Silva QC, former Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone; Sir Emyr Jones Parry, UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations; and a visiting group of Canadian parliamentarians from our equivalent committee.

71. The Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the OECD carry out peer reviews of donor countries every 4-5 years, and 2006 was the turn of the UK. Two other donor countries carry out the review of their peer, and the Examiners of the UK were the USA and Italy, with the remit to review all aspects of the UK's development system. The review team met the Committee in January 2006, to receive input from parliamentarians.[38]

72. The Committee has developed a practice of holding informal seminars as an integral part of medium- and large-scale inquiries. These 'teach-ins', held before evidence sessions are commenced, provide an opportunity for experts to outline important areas we could consider in our examination of witnesses. We also hold briefings in advance of visits to hear views from country experts, DFID officials and Ambassadors and High Commissioners. We are fortunate, in addition to formal evidence sessions, to have at least two informal meetings a year with the Secretary of State for International Development, which enable us to discuss a wide range of general development issues in a relaxed atmosphere.

37 Quadripartite Committee, First Joint Report of Session 2004-05, Strategic Export Controls: HMG's Annual Report for 2003, Licensing Policy and Parliamentary Scrutiny, HC 145; and Quadripartite Committee, First Joint Report of Session 2005-06, Strategic Export Controls: Annual Report for 2004, Quarterly Reports for 2005, Licensing Policy and Parliamentary Scrutiny, HC 873 Back

38 Development Assistance Committee Peer Review: United Kingdom, OECD Back



© Parliamentary copyright 2007	Prepared 24 January 2007