Lord Collins: Government must consult NGOs and charities before changing overseas aid rules

Conservative's proposed changes to the rules around overseas development aid could undermine our international leadership role, says Lord Collins.



"The truth is that UK development influence is massive, greater than our foreign policy, and this isn’t just about money, Britain is saving lives and bringing stability and security, and that’s good for our economy."

Not my words but those Priti Patel in an interview with the Guardian recently. Whilst I welcome her new found enthusiasm for Development I do have huge concerns about the direction she is taking her Department.

The Conservative manifesto in the recent General Election whilst maintaining the commitment to spend 0.7% set out to challenge the internationally agreed definition of what constitutes Overseas Development Assistance. This has the potential to undermine both the cross Party consensus on the spending target and the UK’s leadership role in encouraging others to step up to the plate to meet it.

The 0.7% target is an internationally agreed one, monitored by the OECD Development Assistance Committee. Through a consensus of its 29 member countries, the DAC has long monitored levels of ODA spend. The world we live in is rapidly changing; Defence Diplomacy and Development are the necessary ingredients to securing the peaceful world we all desire, they are indivisible and interrelated, all needed in supporting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development.

This has been recognised by the DAC when In February 2016 at a High Level Meeting agreement was reached on updating the rules. The rule changes agreed recognised the detrimental impact that conflict, fragility and insecurity have on efforts to tackle poverty and reflect the importance of private sector investment for development.

The changes mean that:

• official aid can be used to support the military in fragile countries on issues that promote development, such as human rights and the prevention of sexual violence;

• tackling violent extremism is now formally recognised as a development activity; more than 90% of terrorist attacks occur in states with weak governance and poor human rights records

• donors are incentivised to work more with the private sector to boost economic development and create jobs in some of the world’s poorest countries.

However the core principle of the ODA system remains unchanged. To count as ODA, an activity must support the economic development and welfare of a developing country as its main objective.

Lord Ahmed in the Queen’s speech debate asserted that the UK has driven and will continue to drive reform of the official aid rules. He argued that in an ever changing world, it is right to push for more changes to ensure that the aid rules remain relevant, credible and appropriate for today’s needs. So what more changes do they want? Are the 2016 rule changes no longer relevant or sufficient?

Failure to engage and present a fait accompli seems to be the hallmark of this Government. That’s why I’m demanding in today’s oral question that the Government undertake the widest consultation process with NGOs and Development Charities before they commence international talks to change the rules further.

The worrying shift of ODA spend away from DfID was also touched upon in Lord Ahmed speech when he said more aid will be administered by other government departments. He pointed out that in 2015, they accounted for 19.5% of ODA spending, compared with 13.8% in 2014.

One of the largest beneficiaries of this aid has been the FCO and a big problem with this is the lack of monitoring and evaluation systems. The Government must ensure that non DfID aid programmes and funds meet DfIDs high levels of transparency and report publically on their activities. Parliament needs to be satisfied they are being properly assessed against their achievements in delivering the Sustainable Development Goals.

Lord Ray Collins of Highbury is both Shadow FCO and Shadow DfID Minister in the House of Lords