Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in regard to page 268 of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office annual report and accounts 2024 to 2025, published on 22 July, whether they will provide a breakdown of the proposed £46,557,000 to Nepal in 2025–26 by individual project.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK is a longstanding partner to Nepal and the UK's Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) is one part of our broad and diverse cooperation. Our Embassy in Kathmandu currently forecasts a full utilisation of its £46,557,000 bilateral ODA allocation for 2025-26. The actual spend may be influenced by factors beyond our control.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is committed to transparency and our forecast bilateral spend for 2025-26 is published through the UK Government's Development Tracker: Devtracker. A breakdown of current programme allocations, rounded to the nearest £100,000 is provided below:
Programme | £m |
Development Influencing and Learning in Nepal | 1.1 |
Evidence, Digital Innovation and Technology | 0.4 |
Evidence for Development | 0.1 |
Climate Smart Development for Nepal | 1.8 |
Green Growth Nepal | 3.6 |
Nepal in Business Programme | 9.9 |
Resilience, Adaptation and Inclusion in Nepal Programme | 5.8 |
Nepal Local Infrastructure Support Programme | 12.5 |
Public Financial Management Multi Donor Trust Fund - Phase II | 0.6 |
Rights, Inclusion, Voice and Agency Nepal | 1.6 |
Resilient Water Sanitation and Hygiene and Emergency Preparedness Programme | 0.8 |
Enhancing Gender Outcomes through Social Services Systems Strengthening | 3.3 |
Security and Justice Programme 2 | 5.0 |
Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in regard to page 268 of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office annual report and accounts 2024 to 2025, published on 22 July, what assessment they have made of the impact that the proposed £13,628,000 reduction in support to Nepal between 2024–25 and 2025–26 will have on the bilateral relationship between Nepal and the UK.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
Development is an essential part of the UK's global objectives and to the delivery of the Government's missions: working with partners to strengthen and stabilise countries, to tackle poverty and support growth, and to make the world safer. The UK continues to work closely with the Government of Nepal and other partners to ensure UK Official Development Assistance aligns with Nepal's national development priorities. Therefore, we have prioritised the following for our 2025-26 allocation: Nepal's inclusive economic transformation and the creation of jobs; building resilience to disasters and climate change, infrastructure development, and the strengthening of social services. We are aware that budget reductions will have an impact on Nepal and British Embassy Kathmandu is in continuing discussions with the Government of Nepal about these issues.
Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government which specific projects in Nepal funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in 2025–26 will directly contribute to maintaining consent to recruit members of the Brigade of Gurkhas.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK's development partnership with Nepal is built on long-standing cooperation across various sectors. We are working closely with the Government of Nepal and other stakeholders to ensure our 2025-26 budget is targeted towards Nepal's national development priorities. We acknowledge the outstanding contribution of the Gurkhas in the British Army and remain committed to a free and open Indo-Pacific and supporting economic growth and development across the region.
Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the third updated submission by the BRIXMIS Association, which the Ministry of Defence acknowledged receipt of on 24 June, will be considered by the Independent Advisory Military Sub-Committee on 9 July.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The BRIXMIS Association submission was an agenda item at the independent Advisory Military Sub-Committee (AMSC) meeting on 9 July 2025. Following discussions, the Secretary was directed to prepare a letter to the Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals (HD Committee) for its consideration. The findings of the sub-committee will be communicated to the Association in due course.
Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to widen the participation of girls in sport in secondary schools.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The government is committed to breaking down the barriers to accessing sport and physical activity for children and young people, including girls. Our manifesto set out our intention to support more children to be active by protecting time for physical education (PE) in schools and working across government to support the role grassroots clubs play in expanding access to sport and physical activity.
On 19 June, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister announced next steps for the future of PE and sport in schools. As part of our mission-led approach and Plan for Change, the government will co-design PE and School Sport Partnership networks. We are looking to develop and build strong partnerships between schools, national governing bodies, local organisations and clubs. The planned model will look to strengthen and broaden partnership-based support with the aim to increase equal access for children to high quality PE and extracurricular sport.
Schools are also supported to increase girls’ engagement in sport through programmes delivered by sector organisations, such as the Football Association’s ‘Barclays Girls’ Football School Partnerships’ programme and Sport England’s online Studio You programme.
Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether withdrawing from the Ottawa Treaty would have any benefit in meeting recommendation 42 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025 "to increase lethality ten-fold".
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction (also known as the Ottawa Convention) continues to play an important role in protecting civilians from harm caused by anti-personnel landmines. As a State Party to the Ottawa Convention, the UK’s commitment to it remains unwavering.
The UK’s ambition in the Strategic Defence Review to double and then triple the UK Army’s fighting power reflects a fundamental transformation in how the Army prepares for and conducts warfare. This is not simply about increasing firepower or platform numbers — it’s about reimagining how we fight.
Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Leader of the House when she expects a Written Answer to be given to the three questions asked by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton on 5 June (HL8180, HL8181 and HL8182).
Answered by Baroness Smith of Basildon - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The question was answered by the Department for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office 26 June 2025. I apologise for the delay.
Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the extent to which the unique relationship between Nepal and UK through the brigade of Gurkhas is taken into consideration when allocating bilateral support to Nepal.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK is a longstanding partner to Nepal and we have a broad and diverse cooperation. This includes Gurkhas in the British Army who make an outstanding contribution to the UK as well as UK Official Development Assistance (ODA). UK ODA is allocated by financial year. In financial year 2023-24, £28.3 million of ODA was allocated for bilateral programming in Nepal, and for year 2024-25, £60.2 million was allocated. We will publish final 2025/26 Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) ODA programme allocations in the FCDO Annual Report & Accounts this summer. Over the coming months, we will work through detailed decisions on how the ODA budget will be used from 2026/27, informed by internal and external consultation and impact assessments, ahead of publishing indicative multi-year allocations in the autumn.
Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much bilateral aid has been allocated to Nepal since 2023, broken down by year.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK is a longstanding partner to Nepal and we have a broad and diverse cooperation. This includes Gurkhas in the British Army who make an outstanding contribution to the UK as well as UK Official Development Assistance (ODA). UK ODA is allocated by financial year. In financial year 2023-24, £28.3 million of ODA was allocated for bilateral programming in Nepal, and for year 2024-25, £60.2 million was allocated. We will publish final 2025/26 Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) ODA programme allocations in the FCDO Annual Report & Accounts this summer. Over the coming months, we will work through detailed decisions on how the ODA budget will be used from 2026/27, informed by internal and external consultation and impact assessments, ahead of publishing indicative multi-year allocations in the autumn.
Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much bilateral aid will be allocated to Nepal for the next three financial years.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK is a longstanding partner to Nepal and we have a broad and diverse cooperation. This includes Gurkhas in the British Army who make an outstanding contribution to the UK as well as UK Official Development Assistance (ODA). UK ODA is allocated by financial year. In financial year 2023-24, £28.3 million of ODA was allocated for bilateral programming in Nepal, and for year 2024-25, £60.2 million was allocated. We will publish final 2025/26 Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) ODA programme allocations in the FCDO Annual Report & Accounts this summer. Over the coming months, we will work through detailed decisions on how the ODA budget will be used from 2026/27, informed by internal and external consultation and impact assessments, ahead of publishing indicative multi-year allocations in the autumn.