Inquiry announced: Implications for development following possible Scottish independence
16 July 2013
New inquiry: Implications for development in the event of Scotland becoming an independent country
The referendum on possible Scottish independence will take place on 18 September 2014.
If Scotland were to become an independent country, this would have certain implications for DFID, partly because DFID has a large office in Scotland: Abercrombie House in East Kilbride. 41% of DFID’s UK workforce is based in East Kilbride, a total of 549 staff (2012 figures).
In addition, there are implications for poor people and poor countries. The present devolved Scottish administration currently runs a small International Development Fund of its own, but it is not known how this would develop in the event of Scotland becoming an independent country.
The International Development Committee is to launch an inquiry on the implications for DFID in the event of Scotland becoming an independent country. It invites submissions on the following issues:
- How DFID’s operations would be affected in the event of Scotland becoming an independent country;
- Whether DFID would have to relocate its office from East Kilbride in the event of Scotland becoming an independent country, the likely cost of doing so, and the effect on jobs in Scotland;
- What other plans DFID should put in place to prepare for the eventuality of Scotland becoming an independent country;
- The likely cost which would be incurred in setting up a separate Scottish development agency and reducing the UK’s aid budget accordingly;
- The likely number of bilateral programmes which would be pursued by a separate Scottish development agency;
- The likely relationship of a separate Scottish development agency with multilateral organisations, and how this would differ from the UK’s relationship with multilaterals;
- How the overall impact on international development would be affected by the existence of two separate development agencies in Scotland and the rest of the UK.
The Committee invites written submissions from interested organisations and individuals. The deadline for these is 2 September 2013.
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