Select committee: Foreign Affairs Committee
Recommendation 1
Second Report: Merging success: Bringing together the FCO and DFID
Published 23 Jul 2020
Paragraph 8
Addressed to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Foreign Affairs Committee FCO-DFID merger All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Given the gap between the merger and the reporting date of the Integrated Review, the FCDO risks operating for months without clear strategic direction, which will be compounded by the likely productivity dips which follow departmental mergers. The FCDO is being created to bring coherent strategy to UK foreign and development policies at a time of global change, so establishing clear objectives at the departmental level is essential to ensure that the UK’s unified international policy is understood by those who are implementing it. We recommend that the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office consults with Parliament before publishing a clear set of strategic objectives by the end of September to ensure its staff and stakeholders understand its purpose, function and direction.
From: Foreign Affairs Committee, Second Report: Merging success: Bringing together the FCO and DFID (HC 525), paragraph 8, 23 July 2020
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 24 September 2020 (deadline 23 September 2020).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government "notes" the Committee's report and responds to each recommendation, setting out how the new FCDO will operate while generally pointing to the Integrated Review and Spending Review for strategic detail.
- On pre-appointment hearings for the Permanent Under-Secretary, the FCO "does not support the recommendation", saying such a hearing "would not be correct for a Civil Service appointment".
- On staffing, it confirms "no compulsory redundancies" from the merger. It will align terms and conditions "wherever possible", but says it is "too early" to give a date and expects this "after the next Spending Review".
- On transparency and scrutiny, it says the 'Devtracker' tool "will be maintained" and that ICAI will continue to provide independent scrutiny with a broadened mandate, alongside a commissioned review of its remit.
- On merger costs, it agrees recording and reporting are important, says more time is needed to determine when a clear picture is known, and states "We expect to publish figures" in the FCDO's 2020-21 annual report and accounts.