The proposed Foreign Office and DFID merger

There are arguments for and against the merger of the Department for International Development and the Foreign Office, which the Prime Minister has announced.

I do think it is important to stress what is not happening: the DFID budget is not being cut and the work the existing department does is not being stopped or downgraded.

The government says that, quote, "The new department won’t roll back on our commitments to International Development including spending 0.7 per cent of GNI on development."

Work will begin immediately on the merger. The new department – the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office – will be established in early September and will be led by the Foreign Secretary. The Foreign Secretary will be empowered to make decisions on aid spending in line with the UK’s priorities overseas.

For me the judgement on whether this is a success will be whether aid is directed more effectively to those people and countries who really need it, and will not mean taxes paid by the poor people in a rich country going to the rich people in a poor country.

Comments

Gary Bullivant said…
From personal experience, this is likely to be seen as a positive step by many recipient states. It was widely perceived by those in the know where I was that DFID grants were directed in response to the needs of the FCO and SIS, just as it was for the much bigger USAID budget, the State Department and the CIA. At least now there will be less pretence.
12:02 am
Chris Whiteside said…
You may well have a point.

It is distinctly possible that the main change in practice will be that Britain will be doing openly what both Britain and most, if not all, other aid donor countries have always done anyway.
8:06 pm
Chris Whiteside said…
A very good piece on why both the FO and DFID have been less successful than they should by Matthew Syed in this weekend's Sunday Times, which I will probably post on.
1:23 pm
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