Select committee: Foreign Affairs Committee
Recommendation 5
Second Report: Merging success: Bringing together the FCO and DFID
Published 23 Jul 2020
Paragraph 16
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)
To integrate the Departments successfully, the new PUS must have the skills and experience necessary to effectively oversee both diplomatic and development projects. Above all else, they must have exceptional knowledge and experience of change management and major project delivery to allow them to oversee a merger of this scale. We recommend that the selection criteria for the new Permanent Under- Secretary include experience of: major project management, responsibility for large budgets, multilateral diplomacy, and leadership of change in a large organisation. Given the political importance of the position and the increasing role of No. 10 in senior civil service appointments, we recommend that consideration be given by the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee to pre-appointment hearings for the PUS of the merged Department and, potentially, other similar roles.
From: Foreign Affairs Committee, Second Report: Merging success: Bringing together the FCO and DFID (HC 525), paragraph 16, 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.