Source · Select Committees · Business and Trade Committee
Recommendation 16
16
Paragraph: 74
We recommend that the Department commit to full transparency in terms of its ODA funding...
Recommendation
We recommend that the Department commit to full transparency in terms of its ODA funding being used in China to ensure that no Government funds are being used to underpin human rights abuses. The use of taxpayer funds needs to be addressed. The Department should conduct an urgent review of its direct expenditure, including those via other UK Government departments - in particular the DIT and FCDO - or public bodies in China, to ensure it is compliant with the principles expressed in this report.
Paragraph Reference:
74
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
We agree that transparency of BEIS’s ODA funding in China is of particular importance. BEIS is committed to improving the data management and transparency of its ODA funds. In the most recent Publish What You Fund assessment, BEIS achieved a “Good” 72% transparency score. BEIS is taking active steps to further improve its performance, including through rollout of the new data management systems. BEIS ODA research & development funds operate through a devolved delivery model under which trusted UK partner organisations, such as UKRI or the national academies, are awarded funding from BEIS to then select and administer the most relevant and promising proposals in priority areas. These partner organisations are held accountable by BEIS through Allocation Letters that have anti-slavery provisions included within them. Partner organisations are the grant administrators for research and innovation activity and are required to escalate concerns within a quarterly reporting framework. BEIS is also instituting a process of audit sampling to further enhance our assurance mechanisms. The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) recently found, in its Tackling Fraud in the UK audit, that BEIS’s auditing approach is robust. BEIS does not deliver any ODA programmes through other government departments, although we do make payments to FCDO for the cost of hosting Newton Fund programme staff in their missions in Beijing and South China. No part of BEIS, including International Climate Finance, provides financial aid directly to the Chinese government. At the time of the Select Committee, BEIS was also working with ICAI to support their work in writing an information note of all of Government’s aid engagement with China. As part of this, BEIS provided a comprehensive project-by-project data pack concerning all ODA spending in China. This also confirmed that no ODA spending in China could be linked to the human rights abuses happening in Xinjiang. The ICAI Information Note4 on the Government’s aid engagement with China was published on 28 April and is available online.