Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, which Government Departments employ (a) a Head of, (b) a Director of or (c) a Director-General of Official Development Assistance; and what the (i) salary ranges and (ii) responsibilities of these positions were when the initial appointments were made.
Answered by Wendy Morton
In addition to those in the Department for International Development, there are several roles across Government for which oversight of Official Development Assistance (ODA) is part of responsibilities. These are important roles to ensure government departments are able to spend ODA as effectively as possible; some are listed here.
HM Treasury, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), and Home Office employ Heads of ODA at Grade 7 with salary ranges of £47,044 - £64,498. Responsibilities include international development policy; setting, overseeing and managing risks around UK ODA; and ensuring ODA is effectively spent and aligned with wider foreign policy objectives.
FCO’s Strategic Programmes Coordinator (salary range £90,000 - £94,999) leads on ODA policy for the FCO, and the Head of Portfolio Management Office (salary range £70,000 - £117,800) leads on ensuring all ODA programmes deliver value for money.
The Office for National Statistics employ a Head of International Development at Grade 6 (salary range £57,721 to £71,259) responsible for designing and managing ODA projects using ONS expertise.
The Department for International Trade and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) employ Deputy Directors of Development or ODA with responsibility for the development of ODA policy and strategy, and the governance and delivery of ODA spend.
The Departments for Health and Social Care and Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy employ Deputy Directors whose roles include responsibility for managing their departments’ main ODA spending programmes. The salary range of these Deputy Director roles is £68,000 to £117,800.
The Home Office has recently advertised for a Director of ODA (salary range £92,000 - £110,000), and Defra is currently recruiting for an additional Deputy Director who will be focused on Defra-wide ODA management.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which Government departments applied to the Integrated Activity Fund for funding during the 2019–20 financial year; and which of those applications were granted.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Crown Prosecution Service, Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs/Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Department for International Trade, Department of Health/Public Health England, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, HM Revenue and Customs, Home Office and the National Economic Crime Centre in the National Crime Agency all successfully applied for Integrated Activity Funding in 2019/20.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 4 May 2020 to Question 40723 on Overseas Aid: Coronavirus, how many FTE staff have been moved to work on (a) her Department's and (b) other Departments' covid-19 response.
Answered by Wendy Morton
DFID along with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is leading on the UK Government’s international response to COVID-19. DFID is surging staff internally to support this effort as its priority.
57 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) staff have been moved into a new central team coordinating the overall COVID-19 response and a further 4 FTE staff have been surged into this team from across government. Delivery of the response itself is spread across the Department, with many staff across our International, Economic Development, Policy, Science and Research and geographical/corporate Divisions focusing on the immediate COVID-19 response and longer-term recovery.
DFID has loaned staff with specific skillsets to other government departments in support of their COVID-19 work. 9 FTE staff have been deployed to support other government departments at this time.
Asked by: Andrea Jenkyns (Conservative - Morley and Outwood)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to help prevent the spread of covid-19 in the UK Overseas Territories.
Answered by Wendy Morton
We will always stand by the Overseas Territories. A range of government departments, led by DFID and the FCO, are supporting the Overseas Territories to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic. Support includes essential medical supply, public health advice, security and access support, and financial aid to mitigate the economic impacts in the most vulnerable territories.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will publish the monitoring and evaluation framework her Department is using to assess the efficacy of UK overseas aid in tackling the spread of covid-19.
Answered by Wendy Morton
The UK has so far pledged £744 million of UK aid to end the coronavirus pandemic as quickly as possible: tracking the efficiency, effectiveness and impact of that spend is essential.
We have a strong, coordinated monitoring, evaluation and learning system to ensure accountability for decision making and resource allocation to these priorities. This will also ensure DFID and other government departments learn from and use evidence to improve current and future responses to crises in developing contexts. This is part of DFID’s overall approach to ensuring that our investments in tackling COVID-19 are driven by the best evidence and latest scientific advances.
As programmes adapt and mobilise to tackle the impact of COVID-19, so too will our monitoring, evaluation, and learning approach and framework. The COVID-19 response will draw on the systems and expertise we already have on monitoring, evaluation and learning. Our existing Evaluation Strategy, the key points of which were published in the Evaluation Annual Report 18-19, will direct our monitoring, evaluation and learning response to COVID-19 interventions. This Strategy enables DFID to use the best evidence tools for learning and improving throughout our programmes, as well as prioritising investment in rigorous central evaluations in the most strategic areas.
DFID’s overarching results indicators under the Single Departmental Plan are public. We will also publish information on our monitoring, evaluation and learning approach to COVID-19 as part of our Evaluation Annual Report.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to support the Overseas Territories to deal with the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Wendy Morton
A range of government departments, led by DFID and the FCO, are supporting Overseas Territories to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic. Support includes essential medical supply, public health advice, security and access support, and financial aid to mitigate the economic impacts in the most vulnerable territories.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what Official Development Assistance qualifying spending over £1 million she has (a) authorised, (b) suspended and (c) transferred to other Government Departments since 15 January 2020.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Dev Tracker (https://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/) publishes all our approved programming and disbursements, all of which flow from Secretary of State (or via her delegated approval). Ministers have made no decisions yet on suspension of activities. It is too early to catch changes to our planned spending for 2020/21 on our management information systems.
Pursuant to my answer on 16 March, the Department will provide details of all budget transfers to other Government Departments in our Memorandum to the International Development Committee on the publication of the department’s Main Supply Estimate.
Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Department for International Development will remain the UK Government Department responsible for administering overseas aid; and whether the goal of that Department will continue to be “to promote sustainable development and eliminate world poverty”.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
DFID continues to lead the UK’s work to reduce poverty and deliver the Sustainable Development Goals, maximising opportunities to work jointly with other government departments as demonstrated by the cross-Government response, jointly led by DFID and FCO, to supporting global efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The PM has appointed a fully joint junior ministerial team, along with separate Secretaries of State for the Foreign Office and DFID, to ensure the departments will work more closely overseas to deliver the Government’s objectives. DFID ministers retain authority over decisions on DFID aid spending and accountability for all financial resources remains within existing departmental lines.
Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government who has responsibility for (1) programme design, and (2) delivery of, Official Development Assistance compliant projects; and whether that person will continue to have that responsibility.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Design and delivery of Official Development Assistance projects is the responsibility of the individual spending department.
DFID ministers retain authority over decisions on aid spending and accountability for all financial resources remains within existing departmental lines.
Departments will work more closely together overseas to deliver Her Majesty’s Government’s objectives and ensure the UK’s international operations are fully integrated.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure (a) transparency and (b) accountability on the provision of official development assistance to support counter-narcotics projects overseas.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The UK government works overseas to tackle drugs supply to the UK alongside other serious and organised crime (SOC) threats in line with the direction and ambition set out in the SOC Strategy 2018.
Overseas counter-narcotics activities are part of wider funded activities (both Official Development Assistance (ODA) and non-ODA) designed to tackle the underlying drivers, enablers and consequences associated with serious and organised crime in developing countries as well as tackling penetration across borders.
The Home Office is committed to ensuring transparency and accountability in all its aid projects, in line with the UK Aid Strategy. Significant progress has been made to that effect, with the 2020 UK Aid Transparency Review listing the Home Office as one of just three departments to have been publishing good quality results data, but we recognise there is more to be done. We will continue to work closely with DfID and other HMG departments on best practices to improve UK aid and its impact.