The International Development Committee has today launched a new
inquiry into the inclusiveness of FCDO development strategy and
delivery.
The inquiry will consider the adequacy and effectiveness of the
FCDO’s disability and inclusion rights strategy, launched in
February 2022, including the consequences for
disability-inclusive programmes of the decision to cut aid
spending from 0.7% to 0.5% of GNI.
The Committee last year obtained and published an FCDO equalities
impact assessment that highlighted the likely impact of
significant cuts to disability-inclusive aid programmes.
Chair's comment
The Chair of the International Development Committee, , said:
“Against a policy backdrop where the rights and needs of people
with disabilities can too often be forgotten, the decision to cut
aid spending from 0.7% to 0.5% of GNI has consequences. The
equalities impact assessment obtained and published by the
Committee last year gave us an idea of the likely impact of
significant cuts on disability-inclusive aid programmes.
“The FCDO’s disability and inclusion rights strategy has been
broadly welcomed, but there are concerns about FCDO’s commitment
to education equality, particularly for disabled women and girls
and disabled members of the LGBT+ community. And it’s not clear
how the commitment to ‘mainstream’ disability inclusion will be
implemented or monitored.”
“We would like to invite evidence from as broad a range of
stakeholders as possible, including on how effective FCDO was in
reaching and consulting them to develop its strategy and approach
in the first place.”
Key questions for the inquiry include:
- The adequacy of FCDO’s new disability and inclusion rights
strategy as a framework for approaching disability-inclusive
development
- The adequacy of FCDO’s spending on disability-inclusive
programmes and the impact of cuts to ODA programmes on people
with disabilities
- FCDO’s work to encourage and facilitate the participation of
people with disabilities, and relevant advocacy groups, in
developing its strategy and approach
- The extent to which other ODA-spending departments are
ensuring that their ODA expenditure is inclusive of people with
disabilities
- The role of the UK in disability inclusion within the global
humanitarian and development community
- Safeguarding issues within disability inclusion that should
be prioritised in FCDO’s work tackling sexual exploitation and
abuse in the aid sector
- FCDO’s learning from other approaches and global work on
disability inclusion
- FCDO’s progress in implementing the Committee’s previous
recommendations, and the commitments made at the Global
Disability Summit
Submitting written evidence
The committee welcomes evidence to inform its inquiry from a wide
range of people. These may include experts, stakeholders,
government leaders and officials - but we welcome contributions
from anyone with insights. In this instance we will be gathering
written information until a deadline of Monday 4
September 2023. Submit written evidence via
our call for evidence page.
For information on how to submit written information to us, and
how we then use that information, please see here. As well as
taking written evidence the committee will hold question and
answer sessions. These sessions will take place in public and
will be announced in advance on our website.
Reasonable adjustments
If you need an adjustment to help you send your evidence, please
get in touch with committee staff by email or call 020 7219
1223/3260. They’ll be able to talk about what we can do to help
you send your evidence, so far as reasonably practical. That
might include sending it to us in a different format or giving
you more time to prepare your evidence. We’ll be happy to help
you.
