1 Introduction
1. This report is the result of our regular yearly
scrutiny of the Department for International Development's (DFID)
Annual Report. This year DFID, in line with other government departments,
published its Resource Accounts at the same time as the Annual
Report.[1] This meant that
the document was published later in the year than previously (in
July rather than May) which altered our own schedule for examining
the Annual Report.
2. More significantly, in the same month DFID
also published a new White Paper.[2]
This document sets out new priorities for the Department. It seemed
to us appropriate to examine the Annual Report and the White Paper
as part of the same exercise to enable us to assess the extent
to which DFID's recent past performance gave confidence that it
could achieve its new objectives.
3. We took evidence from the Secretary of State
for International Development, the DFID Permanent Secretary and
other senior DFID directors, in November 2009. We also received
written evidence from 20 organisations. We are grateful to all
those who contributed to our inquiry. In a new departure, the
National Audit Office (NAO) produced a performance brief on DFID
to assist our inquiry and provided us with an informal briefing
in advance of our oral evidence sessions.[3]
We have greatly valued this additional support for our scrutiny
of the Department.
4. Our Report begins with our usual examination
of whether DFID is using its increasing resources efficiently
and effectively. We then move on to examine the policy areas to
which DFID aims to give increased focus: climate change (Chapter
3), fragile states (Chapter 4), and working through multilateral
bodies (Chapter 5). We then examine an issue on which we have
previously reported: the level of assistance the international
community is providing to developing countries to cope with the
economic downturn (Chapter 6).[4]
1 DFID, Better results for poor people: Annual Report
and Resource Accounts 2008-09, Volumes 1 and 2, HC 867-I and
-II, July 2009 Back
2
DFID, Eliminating World Poverty; Building our Common Future,
Cm 7656, July 2009 Back
3
NAO, Performance of the Department for International Development
2008-09: Briefing for the House of Commons International
Development Committee, November 2009 Back
4
See Fourth Report of Session 2008-09, Aid Under Pressure: Support
for Development Assistance in a Global Economic Downturn,
HC 179-I Back
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