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IDC 0.7% inquiry report
The International Development Committee released the report of its inquiry into the draft International Development Bill on March 23rd 2010.
Download it here
The report recognises that the 0.7% Bill will allow UK to retain its international leadership on development and improve predictability; providing a degree of predictability at the macro-level, which will send positive message to developing countries.
It also establishes that the Bill is not intended to be upheld in court of law and only intends to make a duty of an agreed target "aware of, and have sympathy with, legal arguments that such duties should not therefore be enshrined in law".
As recommended by UKAN's submission to the inquiry the report suggests improvements to the Bill:
- As the 0.7% may be met by spending outside DFID; it proposes that any future legislation should include detailed reporting on aid delivered outside of DFID and that International Development Act be extended to apply to all UK ODA;
- In order to improve the accountability for meeting 0.7%; it recommends removing the clause that allows the Secretary of State to explain non-compliance with reference to economic, fiscal and external circumstances; and recommends that in the event of non-compliance the Government be required to lay an action plan before parliament to ensure future compliance is achieved, and for that to be included in DFID's Annual Report.
In conclusion, paragraph 42 states that, "The evidence we received has generally been supportive of the objectives of the draft Bill...that it will help to guarantee that the target will be met in future years when perhaps there is less political support for it, and that it will enhance UK leadership in international development." Both of these are worthy objectives.
The Government published draft legislation on the 0.7% commitment on January 15th, (link here) and invited written submissions by 5th February.
UKAN members submitted a joint written submission to the enquiry and three UKAN members gave oral evidence to the International Development Committe in February.