Select committee: International Development Committee
Recommendation 4
Eighth Report - Covid-19 in developing countries: secondary impacts
Published 26 Jan 2021
Paragraph 17
Addressed to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
International Development Committee Humanitarian crises monitoring: coronavirus in developing countries: secondary impacts All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The pandemic is having a particularly detrimental effect upon already vulnerable groups by reinforcing inequalities and discrimination. To counteract this, we recommend that the FCDO take the following steps: • To undertake and publish impact assessments as quickly as possible (and no later than March 2021). • To collect and publish disaggregated data relating to age, disability and gender in order to provide an effective and inclusive response to the secondary impacts of covid-19 which leaves no-one behind. • To embed DFID’s Data Disaggregation Plan and the work of the Data for Development (D4D) team in the covid-19 response in order to increase the scope for meaningful engagement with local NGOs and community workers working with vulnerable groups during and after the pandemic. Covid-19 in developing countries: secondary impacts 37 The UK should use this data to inform future decision-making on UK ODA, and thus increase its value for money by enhancing the effectiveness of UK ODA and facilitating transparency in accounting for it.
From: International Development Committee, Eighth Report - Covid-19 in developing countries: secondary impacts (HC 1186), paragraph 17, 26 January 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 26 April 2021.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government agrees on the need for a strategic approach and for efficient aid spending, but states there are "no plans for a separate covid-19 strategy" and "no immediate plans to publish a global health strategy".
- On ODA, it describes the move from 0.7% to 0.5% of GNI as a "temporary decision" and says it "will return to the 0.7% target when the fiscal situation allows".
- On debt, the UK "will work with G7 and G20 partners to take a coordinated view on a further extension of the DSSI"; it is "willing to cancel debts where required in order to restore debt sustainability".
- On sexual and reproductive health, it does not ringfence contraception funding, saying ringfencing "could provide unnecessary limitations of choice for women and decrease integration between services".
- On nutrition commitments, the Department is "undertaking an internal review" and "will update as soon as is feasible"; it agrees that cash transfers can help different groups respond to secondary impacts.