Correspondence published
The Sub-Committee on the work of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) launched an inquiry to consider ICAI’s findings on how UK aid learns and the implications for the future Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
Summary
In 2019, ICAI published three reviews which provided a retrospective assessment of the ability of UK government departments to apply learnings to their Official Development Assistance (ODA) programmes and respond better to development challenges:
- ‘The current state of UK aid: A synthesis of ICAI findings from 2015 to 2019’ (‘The Synthesis review’);
- ‘ICAI follow-up review of 2017-18 reports’ (‘The Follow-up review’); and
- ‘How UK Aid Learns’
Disruptions to the parliamentary calendar prevented the predecessor ICAI Sub-Committee from taking oral evidence on these reviews in 2019 within the usual timeframe. The Sub-Committee launched an inquiry to consider ICAI’s key findings and recommendations and their implications for the recently announced merger of the Department for International Development (DFID) with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).
The Sub-Committee will examine the areas where previous performance and ability to act on ICAI’s recommendations could suggest challenges lay ahead for the future FCDO and other ODA departments in delivering the Sustainable Development Goals and other crucial development targets.