Source · Select Committees · Foreign Affairs Committee
Recommendation 6
6
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The strength and reputation of the UK’s world-class aid delivery is in large part due...
Recommendation
The strength and reputation of the UK’s world-class aid delivery is in large part due to the skills and experience of DFID staff. We recommend that the Government makes staff retention a priority and implements a clear strategy for retaining DFID staff with valuable technical and programming expertise. This will require recognising DFID’s unique character as a Whitehall Department and preserving the ethos. There should also be clarity on how the Government intends to resolve any remuneration differentials between the two Departments before the 1 September merger date.
Paragraph Reference:
19
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
DFID’s amassed world class expertise is rightly a source of national pride and has helped transform hundreds of millions of lives around the world. Their ambition, vision and expertise will be at the heart of the FCDO. We have initiated a comprehensive programme of staff engagement setting out the value in which international development and wider technical expertise will be held in the new department. In support of this we will continue to invest in specific learning and development opportunities to expand and enhance the skills of current and future FCDO officers. We will take this as an opportunity to consider what we can learn from others to ensure the FCDO has an appropriate package to enable us to attract and retain the skills and experience required by the new Department. As separate employers, DFID and FCO staff (both in the UK and overseas) had different Terms and Conditions of Service. We have been clear with staff that we will align terms and conditions wherever possible but that we will do so in a way that both follows proper process and legal considerations. Although some work had already started on aligning terms and conditions before the machinery of government changes were announced, it is too early to be able to say precisely when all contracts will be harmonised. As some of the changes will have financial implications, it is expected to be after the next Spending Review. As of 1 September existing employees will remain on their current pay and terms and conditions whilst we work the issue through using Cabinet Office Statement of Practice on Staff Transfers in the Public Sector.