7 Policy Coherence For Development
70. Our predecessors asserted in 2004 that "policy
coherence for development is achieved when policies across a range
of issues support, or at the very least do not undermine, the
attainment of development objectives". They went on to say
that "Policies which lack coherence and undermine development
are all too easily found" and gave the example that the total
volume of aid from OECD countries is dwarfed and undermined by
trade-distorting agricultural subsidies.[152]
Professor Paul Collier explains policy coherence in this area
quite simply: "It is stupid to provide aid with the objective
of promoting development and then adopt trade policies that impede
that objective."[153]
The Committee concluded that: "by committing themselves to
policy coherence for development, and establishing an administrative
process for resolving rather than tolerating policy incoherence
where it exists, governments can become more effective and cost-effective
and […] more accountable too."[154]
71. The International Development (Transparency and
Reporting) Act 2006 requires DFID to include in its annual report
to Parliament an assessment of:
"the effects of policies and programmes pursued
by Government departments on (a) the promotion of sustainable
development in countries outside the United Kingdom, (b) the reduction
of poverty in such countries."[155]
Part I of Chapter 9 of the 2007 DFID Annual Report
("Working with others on policies beyond aid") sets
out how DFID has worked with other government departments on a
range of issues in the past year. The "policies beyond aid"
include those dealing with such issues as: security, conflict,
trade, migration, investment, climate change, debt and corruption.
72. Although the provision of this new information
is very welcome, it has limitations. For example, Dr Alan Hudson
of the Overseas Development Institute points out in written evidence
that DFID says very little about the impact on developing countries
of these "policies beyond aid" nor is sufficient account
taken of the fact that developing countries are all different
and therefore the impact of the UK's various policies on each
of them will also be different.[156]
He gives the example of reducing EU agricultural subsidies, which
is seen as generally "development friendly" but which
is likely to benefit most the large exporting countries such as
Brazil, India, China and South Africa rather than the poorer,
less developed countries.
73. We
welcome the new information contained in the Annual Report on
policy coherence for development but believe it could be further
enhanced. We appreciate that the Annual Report is already a substantial
volume and that adding more detail could result in an unwieldy
and less helpful document. But we believe that to be meaningful,
the information provided on policy coherence needs to have much
more emphasis on the effects of policies beyond aid. It also needs
to be more country specific and to reflect the proper participation
of developing countries in assessing the effects on them of UK
policies.
74. The machinery of government changes in June 2007
gave DFID specific responsibility for trade policy, with a joint
minister shared with the new Department for Business, Enterprise
and Regulatory Reform. ActionAid point out that DFID is now "in
a better position to ensure that all of the Government's trade
policies help efforts to reduce poverty rather than hinder them".[157]
We have commented many times on the impact of trade policy on
poverty reduction.[158]
We are exploring the implications of DFID's new role in trade
policy in our inquiry into cross-departmental working on development
and trade.
152 First Report from the International Development
Committee, Session 2004-05, The Commission for Africa and Policy
Coherence for Development: First do no harm, HC 123, paragraphs
24-25 Back
153
The Bottom Billion: why the poorest countries are failing and
what can be done about it, Paul Collier, Oxford University
Press, 2007, p 160 Back
154
ibid, paragraph 28 Back
155
The International Development (Transparency and Reporting) Act
2006, Section 5 Back
156
Ev 78 Back
157
Ev 70 Back
158
See, for example, Fifth Report from the International Development
Committee, Session 2006-07, EU Development and Trade Policies:
an update, HC 271 and Third Report from the Committee, Session
2005-06, The WTO Hong Kong Ministerial and the Doha Development
Agenda, HC 730-I Back
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