Chief Commissioner gives evidence to International Development Committee

12 Dec 2013

On 10 December 2013 Chief Commissioner Graham Ward was called to give evidence on Trade Development in Southern Africa to the International Development Committee, the select committee responsible for oversight of DFID. He was supported by Mark Hellyer, Team Leader for the review, and Dr Alexandra Cran-McGreehin, Head of the ICAI Secretariat.

This session was set up at short notice in order to obtain a UK Government response to ICAI’s report on Southern African Trade (published on 6 December). ICAI awarded its first overall ‘Red’ traffic light rating for the report, which made serious criticisms of the DFID-funded £100 million Trademark Southern Africa (TMSA) programme.

The  Secretary of State for International Development and Mark Lowcock, Permanent Secretary, DFID also gave evidence to the Committee, responding to the concerns that we raised.

The proceedings are available to view on the Parliament website: http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=14426

For more information on the International Development Committee, please visit their homepage: http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/international-development-committee/