Committee publication · Correspondence · 21 April 2026

Correspondence to the Permanent Under-Secretary relating to FCDO 2030, 25 March 2026

From: International Development Committee

Summary

The International Development Committee writes to the Permanent Under-Secretary of the FCDO expressing continued concerns about the FCDO 2030 restructure process. The committee reiterates that previous calls to pause the restructure have been ignored and transparency remains inadequate. It requests detailed documentation on equality impact assessments, the Personal Capability Self-Assessment methodology, risk assessments, governance inputs, and alignment with ministerial priorities, plus an oral briefing by 8 April 2026.

Key findings

Committee's earlier concerns about FCDO 2030 restructure have not been substantively addressed and the pause request was ignored
Committee cites insufficient transparency from the FCDO throughout the restructure process
Committee seeks programme-level equality impact assessments and full documentation of the Personal Capability Self-Assessment evaluation methodology, scoring matrix, and moderation guidelines
Committee requests clarification on AI use in processing self-assessment responses and inclusion of staff on maternity/paternity leave
Committee demands information on risk register activities and the roles of legal and HR in FCDO 2030 governance and decision-making

Tone

Critical

Topics

public-administrationtransparencyhuman-resourcesequality-impact

Key actors

Sarah Champion MP, Sir Oliver Robbins, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, International Development Committee, Development Minister, Foreign Secretary

Notable line

“We continue to be disappointed by the level of transparency the department has shown up to this point.”

Key Quotes

“We continue to have concerns about the process the FCDO is undertaking around the FCDO2030 restructure.”
— Sarah Champion MP · Opening statement of the committee's concerns

“We note that our calls for the process to be paused have been ignored, and many of the concerns in our last letter have not been substantively addressed.”
— Sarah Champion MP · Asserting lack of response to previous committee requests

“We continue to be disappointed by the level of transparency the department has shown up to this point.”
— Sarah Champion MP · Criticising the FCDO's transparency record

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Source · parliament.uk record ↗