Fifth Special Report - Racism in the aid sector: Government response to the Committee’s First Report

This is the government's response, published 23 January 2023.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government says it takes racism in the aid sector seriously and is already working to address it, but it declines some recommendations, including a review of reserved department status and requiring funded organisations to publish diversity data.

• On local partners, it states that the FCDO "does not value international expertise over local expertise" and points to existing measures, including a 10% Social Value weighting in tender evaluations and a Due Diligence Hub.
• On reserved department status, it says "There is currently no plan to review" it, citing the threat to FCDO staff from state actors.
• On diversity data, it says requiring funded organisations to publish it "may not always be either appropriate or possible". It does not currently publish ethnicity pay gap data, and the Cabinet Office "is expected to issue guidance" in 2023.
• On terminology, it says it is "exploring taking part" in the sector debate led by Bond. On convening, it will "continue to look for opportunities" to support the sector on inclusion.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error