I am sorry that the noble Lord does not seem to accept my word on that.
Anyway, to the findings reached by the National Audit Office. It said:
“Assessing whether the Department has met the target is made more difficult by changes in the calculation of gross national income”.
In fact,
“the Department published 4 values for the ratio of ODA spending to gross national income, ranging from 0.67% to 0.72% depending on how gross national income is calculated”.
We need to be very careful about what we mean by a target, because even the department found itself wrestling with four different numbers.
The NAO also found:
“The government’s specification of its aid target and international reporting rules present the Department with challenges for managing its budget and spending. The requirement to hit, but not significantly exceed, aid spending equal to 0.7% of gross national income every calendar year means the Department has to hit a fairly narrow target against a background of considerable uncertainty. In addition, it has to manage its finances around a December and a March year end; use latest economic forecasts to predict the level of ODA required to meet 0.7%; monitor and forecast other departments’ ODA; and adjust its spending to reflect changing forecasts”.
In other words, the effect of “a” target or “the” target is to present the department with, in effect, having two financial years: one the calendar year and the other
the financial year. That means that it would be half way through the calendar year at the start of a new financial year, trying to work out how it will meet the target.
The NAO also said:
“The Department’s spending forecasts for 2013 had weaknesses, making it more difficult for the Department to manage delivery of the ODA target”.
In addition, it said:
“To achieve the target and manage its budget the Department had to quickly add some activities to its 2013 plans but delay others set for 2014, making it more difficult to achieve value for money”.
That is an independent view of the effect of having a target. It has nothing whatever to do with whether or not you think that the Government should spend roughly 0.7% of our gross national income on development aid; it is about the effect of specifying a target.
The NAO states:
“The Department added activities at short notice in 2013 which constrained choice”.
I could go through the whole of the report—
11 am