Select committee: International Development Committee
Conclusion 24
First Report - The FCDO’s approach to sexual and reproductive health
Published 25 Jan 2024
Paragraph 91
Addressed to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
International Development Committee FCDO’s approach to sexual and reproductive health All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Over recent years, there has been an alarming rollback on the rights of women and girls globally, of which SRHR are integral, and further criminalisation of LGBT+ people. The merger of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with the Department for International Development offers an opportunity for the FCDO to better use its diplomatic position to obtain its development goals on sexual and reproductive health and rights, such as by supporting access to these rights by women and girls and other marginalised groups. The UK should continue to position itself as a global leader on SRHR by (a) continuing to advance the principle of ‘Leave No One Behind’ across its aid programming and (b) continuing to raise the issue of the rights of women and girls, LGBT+ people and other marginalised groups both in multilateral fora and in bilateral conversations with partners in regard to SRHR. It should ensure that its diplomatic and development work on SRHR are integrated and complementary.
From: International Development Committee, First Report - The FCDO’s approach to sexual and reproductive health (HC 108), paragraph 91, 25 January 2024
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 17 May 2024 (deadline 25 March 2024).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees with many of the Committee's conclusions on sexual and reproductive health and rights, but disagrees with setting minimum spending targets and partially agrees with others, citing the need for flexibility.
- It agrees that cuts to UK ODA budgets have affected its SRHR work, saying "it is incontrovertible that damage was done", and agrees that consistent and long-term funding is necessary.
- It disagrees with recommendation 3 on a minimum percentage of bilateral ODA for SRHR, saying such targets "could result in a suboptimal portfolio of programming". It gives similar reasons for preferring budget flexibility on WASH and health personnel training targets.
- On multilateral funding it partially agrees, but says it "cannot agree to meet a set level of financial commitment, or restore discretionary funding". It is "unable to return our core funding" to UNFPA to pre-Covid-19 levels.
- It commits to publishing an Ending Preventable Deaths narrative report in 2024, reporting through existing mechanisms rather than setting up a parallel framework.