Speeches by Dodds.

“The reason why I am smiling is that I have had so many amazing experiences since I came into my role. One of the most moving was when I was in Indonesia with a gathering of female politicians from all over Indonesia of all kinds of backgrounds. One of them said, “I am really pleased that the UK has a Minister for Devel…”

“Yes, I agree with that. It is critically important in those circumstances to speak very openly and honestly. As I said, that means acknowledging where we need to make changes in our own country. That has also been the case with racial equality and, indeed, LGBT+ equality, where we are seeking to make changes as well. W…”

“For me, what is important is whether we are actually getting on with the job and making those changes. I felt it was critically important, when I attended the cross-Government committee that was set up on our mission to halve violence against women and girls, that I could talk about the UK expertise through the What Wo…”

“On the latter, that would be a really good idea. I do not have any problem with that at all—I am just looking at officials—but that would be sensible. At the time when we commissioned the review, some of those principles were set out, but it would be good to talk about that together, given the Committee’s expertise in …”

“I have been having discussions with Baroness Shafik throughout the whole process, so obviously I have seen a considerable amount of material from her already. I hope that we would be able to both have that private discussion that was mentioned before and share how we are going to take this forward with the Committee as…”

“Thank you so much for that question. Minouche Shafik has been focused on issues that I know have been of considerable concern to the Committee around capability and capacity, really making sure that we are doing all that we can to restore our development reputation, as I mentioned. She has been working at pace on that.…”

“I am not going to spike anything. I certainly understand her thinking. I understand what she is focused on. I know who she has been speaking with. I am very grateful indeed to those Committee members who have given up their time, and to the many experts who have spoken with her. It really has been a valuable exercise, …”

“As you probably heard in the previous session that you had with officials, because of the decisions that have been taken by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury in discussion with us, at year-end Darren was able to say—subject to the agreement of Parliament, as with any such financial measure—that the FCDO will receive …”

“No, we are seeking to ensure that, where possible, we see continuity within the bilateral programme. The reason for that is because of what I talked about before. There was a lot of damage created to relationships. In some cases, we saw staff having contracts terminated and that kind of thing, but also a direct impact …”

“We have changed a number of rules in different areas, but we will always do that in a way that is fiscally sensible.”

“I would love to attend the conference in person. I do not think we have sorted out our exact arrangements around it, but we are certainly preparing for that Paris conference right now. I have had preliminary discussions around it and the work that we will need to undertake with partners. You and other committee members…”

“That is such a good question. It is something that I am really passionate about as well. When people realise that back in 1980, about 50% of the world lived in extreme poverty, and now about one in 10 people in the world live in extreme poverty, they can see that we can make progress together. When the UK works in part…”

“Every single Government Minister will always say that in an ideal world there would be limitless resources. The reality is, unfortunately, that we have had a situation where we have had that £22 million black hole. I do not need to rehearse this, because you all know it. We are working really hard to get our country on…”

“We will keep working towards a system for the public finances that is far more robust for the future, one where we really can fund our priorities at the level that we want to see. That £22 billion black hole has inevitably had a significant impact. As I said, I am pleased and encouraged by the fact that we have seen th…”

“Yes, six months.”

“I will be delighted to set them out in just one moment. If you will permit me, Chair, I just want to say, first of all, what a huge privilege it is for me to be in front of you. I really mean that. Doing this job is a dream come true for me. It really has been such a privilege, so I am very excited to be having this se…”

“Yes, absolutely. This is an area where we need to make far more of the UK contribution. We have seen HMRC, in particular, in a number of countries providing support and advice at a technical level to different Governments. That has been really significant. I found that myself, with some of the field visits that I have …”

“I will make two comments on that. First of all, there is considerable work going on within the Department on this. I mentioned before that ODA board. Officials have been working together towards that to ensure that we really can use it as a mechanism to effectively scrutinise those costs and to make sure that they are …”

“That is such an important question and one that I have been thinking about really deeply. We need to take the right decisions for the medium term, but for the long term as well. That does mean making sure that we get that balance right. For example, it is very important that when it comes to multilateral funding, we en…”

“The 0.5% was the decision of the previous Government, so that was already the inheritance that we received. If you are asking me whether I wish that we were in different fiscal circumstances, of course I wish that. This is not the only area where an incoming Government would want to see the finances being in a better s…”