Submission by Save the Children UK

 

February 2010

 

Introduction

Save the Children UK is the world's independent children's charity. We are outraged that millions of children are still denied proper healthcare, food, education and protection. We are working flat out to get every child their rights and we're determined to make further, faster changes.

 

Summary

 

1. Save the Children welcomes the Draft Bill, which increases the likelihood of the UK finally meeting the long-standing commitment to give 0.7% of national income in Official Development Assistance (ODA). We believe that the Draft Bill merits the support of the three main parties, given that it is consistent with all their stated commitments to the 0.7% target. As such, the Bill should be passed before the UN MDG summit, in order to leverage further aid commitments from other donor countries that are lagging on the target.

 

2. The current Draft Bill needs to see a strengthening of the mechanisms for holding government accountable on the 0.7% target. Specifically, the reporting on progress must be more disaggregated than is currently the case; greater parliamentary scrutiny is needed within the provisions of the Bill; and greater clarity is needed on the ramifications of Government's failure to meet the target.

 

3. The UK Government currently uses a more restricted definition of ODA than is permissible under the OECD rules. We are concerned that the spirit, as well as the letter of the Bill, is followed, and that safeguards are included to ensure that UK continues to use a more limited and poverty-focused definition of ODA.

 

Why a Bill is needed

 

1. By locking in further parliamentary scrutiny of the Government's performance, the Draft Bill increases the likelihood of the UK reaching, and continuing to meet, the UN aid target of 0.7% of national income that was first adopted in 1970. The target has been restated many times, including at the UN Financing for Development summit in 2002.

 

2. In 2005 the pre-accession EU member states committed to meeting the target by 2015, with the UK and France adopting an earlier date of 2013. Progress towards 0.7% underpinned the Gleneagles declaration at the 2005 G8 of a doubling of ODA to sub-Saharan Africa, as part of a global increase of US$50 billion by 2010.

 

3. At present, the G8 has delivered on approximately one third of the additional aid it pledged in 2005. Several countries, including France and Germany, are significantly offtrack on delivering on this pledge. In contrast, many non-G8 countries have stuck more closely to their promises. Five countries - the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Luxembourg, have met the 0.7% target. Other non-G8 donors, such as Spain and South Korea, are also rapidly increasing their ODA commitments.

 

4. In the current context, the 0.7% Bill is extremely timely, and will place pressure on other countries in the G8 and EU to meet their own pledges. With five years to go before the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target date of 2015, the world is collectively off track. MDGs 4 and 51 - on child and maternal mortality - are furthest off track, MDGs 4 and 5[1] - on child and maternal mortality - are furthest off track, with just 30% and 10% of the necessary progress achieved to date. The slow and uneven progress towards the MDGs should be a particular concern to the UK, given that since 2000 it has been the organising framework for the government's development policy.

 

5. If the Bill is passed before the MDG review summit in September 2010, it would place the UK in a genuine position of leadership from which it would be better able to leverage resources from other developed and developing countries, in order to accelerate progress towards the MDGs. While aid will not by itself decide whether or not the MDGs are reached, it is clear that without good quality external support the poorest countries cannot make the necessary progress.

 

6. All three major UK political parties support the achievement of the 0.7% target within the current timeframe. Since 0.7% is a proportional rather than absolute target, the current fiscal constraints should not count against the Bill - when national income falls, so too will the sums required to meet the target. Given the welcome consensus on 0.7% that has emerged since 2005, we strongly urge the parties to collaborate constructively to pass the Bill. Doing so would send a clear signal that the UK sees poverty reduction as acentral objective of our international policy.

 

Aspects of the Bill that need strengthening

 

7. Save the Children believes that the current Draft Bill needs strengthening in 3 key respects if it is to provide an effective accountability check on Government performance against the 0.7% target.

 

8. First, the Bill must provide evidence to Parliament not only of whether the target has been met, but also how it has been met. In particular, the Secretary of State for International Development should report on the proportion of the overall expenditure that is cash spending on DFID programmes in Low Income Countries. This is an important indicator of actual resource transfer to poor countries, and of whether UK ODA is in fact poverty-focused. The Secretary of State should also be required to set out clearly the proportion of ODA accounted for by (i) spending through other government departments, with these departmental spends itemised (ii) through multilaterals, (iii) attribution of EU budget spending on aid (iv) on debt relief and (v) through the Commonwealth Development Corporation.

 

9. Secondly, greater parliamentary scrutiny is needed within the provisions of the Bill. Specifically, a detailed annual report should be provided to the International Development Select Committee, with the Secretary of State appearing before the IDC to answer questions. In addition to providing a retrospective view of whether the 0.7% target has been met, which will involve a lag given that the proposed Bill requires reports against OECD calendar year data, the Secretary of State should also be required to provide - on an annual basis - a forward-looking report of whether future government plans over the timeframe of a spending round make it likely that the 0.7% target will be reached.

 

10. Thirdly, the Bill needs to be clearer about the ramifications of failure to meet the target, beyond the risk of mild embarrassment to the Government. Further measures are needed to strengthen the Bill in this area. In particular, while the formal accountability in the draft bill for reaching the target rests with the Secretary of State for International Development, the decision as to whether it is met is effectively decided by Treasury through the 3 yearly spending round and annual budget process. Where the target is missed, the Bill should require Treasury to issue a joint report with DFID explaining why it has been missed. Where necessary, Treasury Ministers should be called before the International Development Committee to answer questions.

 

ODA definitions

 

14. It is important that by strengthening accountability around the 0.7% target, the Bill does not create pressure for items to be counted against the UK ODA effort which do not make a clear contribution to poverty reduction, within the terms of the 2002 International Development Act. At present, the UK government uses a more restricted definition of ODA than some other OECD members use, and than OECD rules allow. Save the Children would be very concerned by any loosening of the current definitions, and would question some of the current items that are counted towards the UK ODA effort in terms of their direct and indirect contribution to poverty reduction. Each annual report under the Bill should be required to detail any changes in the methods used to count UK ODA.

 

 

 

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[1] MDG 4: To cut under 5 mortality by two thirds by 2015, MDG 5: To cut maternal mortality by three quarters by 2015