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Select committee: Foreign Affairs Committee

Sixth Special Report: Merging success: Bringing together the FCO and DFID : Government Response to Committee’s Second Report

Published 24 September 2020

Foreign Affairs Committee FCO-DFID merger Report on parliament.uk ↗

At a glance

The government's response

This document responds to Second Report: Merging success: Bringing together the FCO and DFID.

This is the government's response, published 24 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.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error

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