1 Introduction
1. This Report focuses on the work of the Committee
during the parliamentary Session 2008-2009.[1]
It reviews the work of the International Development Committee
in relation to the objectives and core tasks established by the
Liaison Committee.[2] As
we have indicated in our previous annual reports, the core tasks
do not apply equally to all committees and our Committee operates
in a slightly different way from others. The Department for International
Development (DFID), the Department whose area of work we monitor,
has no associated public bodies;[3]
and the Secretary of State is rarely responsible for major public
appointments. Much of the policy we examine is implemented jointly
with other country and multilateral donors and often in conjunction
with non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which are both national
and international. We therefore seek to influence policy nationally
and internationally, in addition to ensuring the accountability
of the UK Government, and we have adapted the core tasks to these
particular circumstances.
Highlights of the Committee's
work in 2008-09
2. During the 2008-2009 Session, we held 30 meetings,
of which 20 were public oral evidence sessions. We published eight
Reports which included a number of specific recommendations to
Government on a variety of DFID policy areas.[4]
3. The economic turmoil of the last year has
threatened both the economies of poor countries directly and the
budgets which developed countries allocate to development assistance.
There was also a risk that increased economic hardship in the
UK might undermine traditionally strong public support for the
aid budget. Our report into Aid Under Pressure: Support for
Development Assistance in a Global Economic Downturn examined
all these potential impacts of the economic downturn.
4. Climate change is another key development
challenge: its impacts threaten to reverse development gains and
halt economic advances. Poor countries have not contributed to
climate change, but they are likely to be affected first and most
severely. Our inquiry into Sustainable Development in a Changing
Climate enabled us to assess the support being provided by
the UK and other donors to help developing countries mitigate
and adapt to the impact of climate change. The inquiry was under-pinned
by the knowledge that the world was seeking to reach a new agreement
on tackling climate change at the Copenhagen Conference due to
take place in December 2009.
5. DFID announced early in 2009 that it intended
to publish a new White Paper. Its consultation process made clear
that both of the inquiries referred to above were very relevant
to the issues to be covered in the White Paper. We therefore accelerated
completion of our inquiries so that the Reports were available
in time to inform DFID's thinking. We were pleased to see that
our views had been taken into account in the final document published
in July.[5] Our specific
recommendations are covered in more detail in the next chapters
of this Report. We intend to follow up a number of the key policy
shifts set out in the White Paper in our evidence session with
the Secretary of State early in the new Session.
Committee membership
6. We have again seen a number of changes to
the membership of the Committee this Session.[6]
We repeat the point we made last year that it would greatly assist
select committees in carrying out their duties if membership changes
were dealt with more promptly. We also drew attention in last
year's Sessional Report to our concern about the lack of female
representation on our Committee. We had no women on the Committee
for the whole of the 2008-09 Session. This is a cause of embarrassment
for us, particularly when we visit developing countries which
the UK exhorts to promote gender equality. We will return to this
issue later in the Report when we discuss the key messages we
would like to pass on to our successors.
1 The parliamentary Session 2008-2009 began with the
State Opening of Parliament on 3 December 2008 and ended on 12
November 2009. Back
2
See Annex A Back
3
DFID sponsors one non-departmental body, the Advisory Commonwealth
Scholarship Commission in the UK; and wholly owns CDC Group plc,
the main arm for the Department's interventions in private sector
development. Back
4
See Annex C: Sessional Return. The Sessional Return includes information
and statistics about the membership and work of the committee. Back
5
DFID, Eliminating World Poverty: Building our Common Future,
Cm 7656, 6 July 2009 Back
6
See Annex C for details Back
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