Memorandum submitted by the Welcome Trust
In order to support the International Development
Committee's inquiry into the DFID Departmental Report 2007, the
Wellcome Trust would like to bring the Committee's attention to
an issue related to DFID's important role in supporting development
research. To help balance DFID's rising research budget with the
requirement to reduce its staffing levels, the Wellcome Trust
has informally been consulted on a plan to move DFID's Central
Research Department (CRD) into a non-departmental public body.
We understand that this idea is currently under consideration
in HM Treasury, although it has not as yet been approved. We enthusiastically
support the increased funds being made available for DFID to support
research, however we are not convinced that creating a new body
outside of DFID would be the best way to administer this activity.
Although we recognise the head-count reduction in progress across
Whitehall, we would recommend that, under these exceptional circumstances
(a doubling of the CRD budget over the next 5-years), increased
staffing of the Central Research Department(CRD) is required to
permit CRD to effectively fulfil its mandate.
The Wellcome Trust has supported a number of
large-scale research projects in cooperation with DFID and has
been impressed with the ability of the agency to identify, effectively
support, and internalise results from research that is crucial
to its mission. For example, with DFID we have jointly committed
funds to the Medicines for Malaria Venture product development
partnership, and are currently supporting a Health Research Capacity
Strengthening Initiative in Kenya and Malawi. We value our direct
relationship with DFID via the Central Research Department. We
question whether an arms-length body would be able to set a research
agenda as effectively as DFID itself, and are concerned that separating
out research delivery from the core of DFID would hamper the effective
uptake of research results into policy.
Holding an open consultation on the proposed
changes would help ensure that the numerous stakeholders involved
with DFID's current research activities have an opportunity to
communicate their views on this important topic.
17 July 2007
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