Letter to the Rt Hon David Miliband MP,
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Foreign
and Commonwealth Office, from the Chairman of the Committee
COMMONWEALTH SCHOLARSHIPS
At its last meeting, the Foreign Affairs Committee
considered your letter to me of 11 March, in which you informed
us of the decision that the FCO would "work in the future
through two scholarship schemes only, the Marshall scheme in the
USA and the Chevening scheme in the rest of the world", and
added that "[t]his means an end to the FCO contribution to
the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan".
As you will appreciate, this decision has caused
considerable concern among supporters of Commonwealth Scholarships.
The Committee wishes to pursue this issue as part of its forthcoming
inquiry into the FCO's Annual Report, 2007-08. In anticipation
of that inquiry, we would be grateful to receive from the FCO
a memorandum giving fuller details about your decision to end
support for Commonwealth Scholarships.
We would be grateful if this could include responses
to the following questions (together with any other material which
you consider relevant):
1. What was the evidential basis for concluding
that Commonwealth Scholarships are less worthy than Chevening
Scholarships of receiving financial support from the FCO?
2. What reviews, internal
or external, have been carried out in recent years into the effectiveness
and cost-effectiveness of Commonwealth Scholarships and their
benefits for the UK and other Commonwealth countries? Please summarise
the results of those reviews
3. Did the FCO carry out a specific review
of its support for Commonwealth Scholarships in parallel with
the Chevening review? If so, please could the Committee be supplied
with a copy
4. Please supply details
of:
(a) the timing and content of any consultation
carried out with external bodies (including the Commonwealth Scholarship
Commission, other Commonwealth governments and relevant academic
bodies) before the decision was taken; and
(b) FCO funding for the three scholarship
schemes over the past 15 years, adjusted for inflation; and projected
future funding for the Marshall and Chevening schemes.
5. What is the Government's
response to the request by Professor Trudy Harpham, Chair of the
Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, in her letter to you of 17
March (which she has supplied to the Committee), that you should
consider a "detailed proposal" from the Commission as
to how FCO-funded scholarships in Commonwealth countries might
be delivered "in a more cost-effective, targeted and rigorous
manner"?
9 April 2008
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