Select committee: International Relations and Defence Committee
Conclusion 7
1st Report - The UK and Sub-Saharan Africa: prosperity, peace and development co-operation
Published 10 Jul 2020
Paragraph 51
International Relations and Defence Committee The UK and Sub-Saharan Africa All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The UK’s visa policies are damaging its reputation and the ability of international departments to build and strengthen relationships across Africa, and in some cases fall below the standards of basic human decency. One witness described the process as “arbitrary, expensive, time-consuming and … humiliating”. The Home Office should, as a matter of urgency, review how the UK’s approach to the issuing of visas for people from the continent is working. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Department for International Trade should participate in this review, to ensure that diplomatic and trade and investment priorities are reflected in how the system operates.
From: International Relations and Defence Committee, 1st Report - The UK and Sub-Saharan Africa: prosperity, peace and development co-operation, paragraph 51, 10 July 2020
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 10 September 2020 (deadline 10 September 2020).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government's response addresses the Committee's recommendations one by one, stating that its 2018 strategic approach remains the framework for Africa policy and that it plans to refresh it after the Integrated Review.
- On the Committee's call for a published priorities list and action plan, the government says a single strategy document "would not be effective" and that the approach rests on country and regional implementation plans. It says it intends to publish further information "in due course".
- On visas, the government says the Home Office "does not plan to undertake a specific review of African visas". It says UKVI is continually reviewing its global visa operation.
- The government says it "fully agrees" that other countries should maintain their official development assistance commitments, and says it has pledged £774 million of UK aid to help end the COVID pandemic.
- On the FCO and DFID merger, the government says that "development spending will remain central to the new department's mission". It says the 0.7 per cent aid commitment is "enshrined in law".