Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-01-20.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what expertise in the design and supervision of aid and development projects, if any, is available within EU diplomatic posts outside the EU; and if none, whether they will call for a halt to further projects.
Baroness Verma
The EU Commission’s Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development (DG DEVCO) is responsible for designing European international cooperation and development policy and delivering aid throughout the world.
As of 1 January 2015 DG DEVCO had approximately 3600 Staff (officials, contractual agents, local agents and other categories of external staff) both in Headquarters (35%) and in EU Delegations (65%). DG DEVCO has the greatest number of Commission staff in EU Delegations (2350 – approximately 44%). The Commission also draws on Member State contributions to complement and supplement its own expertise. For example, as well drawing on expertise in policy technical experts meetings and management committees, there are a significant number of specialists drawn from Member States under the Seconded National Experts arrangements.
