New inquiry: The future of UK development cooperation
26 October 2012
The global factors affecting poverty and well being are changing and this will shape future UK development cooperation. Emerging economies are growing at rates which will significantly reduce their need for traditional aid in the future, and there is increasing recognition that donors should focus on the impact of policies “beyond aid”—including trade, migration and climate change—on developing countries
The Future of UK Development Cooperation: Summary and Call for Written Evidence
At the same time there remain areas where absolute poverty is extensive and where factors such as conflict or natural disasters make progress difficult.
The Committee has agreed to undertake an inquiry into the Future of UK Development Cooperation over a two year period. The inquiry will assess the need for and design of UK development cooperation over the medium to long term.
The Committee invites evidence on the following issues:
• How the main global factors affecting poverty and well-being are changing and how this will affect development cooperation;
• The role of development aid in the future;
• Whether DFID should offer concessional loans, and the balance between these and traditional grant aid;
• The impact of non-aid policies and instruments including trade, migration, and climate on development, and how effective cross-Government work on these is;
• How the UK works with international organisations and other donors and its ability to influence the future global development agenda; and,
• What should UK development cooperation look like in the future?
The Committee may make additional calls for evidence over the next two years.
The Committee invites written submissions from interested organisations and individuals. The deadline for these is 12 December 2012.
Written evidence submitted should:
• Have a one page summary at the front
• Be no longer than 3000 words in length
• Have numbered paragraphs
• Avoid the use of colour or expensive-to-print material
• Be provided electronically in MS Word or Rich Text format (No PDF’s) by e-mail to indcom@parliament.uk. If submitted by e-mail or e-mail attachment, a letter should also be sent validating the e-mail. The letterhead should contain your full postal address and contact details.
View guidance on giving evidence to Select Committees.
Please also note that:
• Material already published elsewhere should not form the basis of a submission, but may be referred to within written evidence, in which case a hard copy of the published work should be included. If a number of published documents are sent to accompany written evidence, these should be listed in the covering email.
• Written evidence submitted must be kept confidential until published by the Committee, unless publication by the person or organisation submitting it is specifically authorised.
• Once submitted, evidence is the property of the Committee. The Committee normally, though not always, chooses to make public the written evidence it receives, by publishing it on the internet (where it will be searchable), by printing it or by making it available through the Parliamentary Record Office. If there is any information you believe to be sensitive you should highlight it and explain what harm you believe would result from its disclosure. The Committee will take this into account in deciding whether to publish or further disclose the evidence.
• It would be helpful, for Data Protection purposes, if individuals wishing to submit written evidence send their contact details separately in a covering letter. You should be aware that there may be circumstances in which the House of Commons will be required to communicate information to third parties on request, in order to comply with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
• Select Committees are unable to investigate individual cases.
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