Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the reduction in Overseas Development Assistance on the Overseas Territories; and what steps he is taking to help mitigate that impact.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government remains committed to supporting the Overseas Territories, and is funding programmes to increase long term capacity and capability in the Overseas Territories in receipt of Official Development Assistance (ODA). The Prime Minister has set out a new strategic vision for government spending on defence and security and ODA. We will set out our spending plans following the completion of the Spending Review and departmental resource allocation processes.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the reduction in overseas development assistance on the UK’s (a) shareholding and (b) board membership of the World Bank.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK's shareholding at the World Bank is based on our paid in capital. We do not anticipate any reduction in our shareholding or any changes to our board representation as a result of the decision to reduce UK aid spending.
Detailed decisions on how the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget will be used will be worked through as part of the ongoing Spending Review on the basis of various factors including impact assessments. We will set out spending plans following the completion of the Spending Review and departmental resource allocation processes.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will spend 80 percent of Official Development Assistance on women and girls.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is committed to putting women and girls at the heart of everything we do. We continue to work towards our target of at least 80 percent of the FCDO's bilateral aid programmes having a focus on gender equality by 2030. This commitment is measured by the proportion of programmes, rather than by spend, since this reflects our ambition for gender to be mainstreamed across all FCDO programmes.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much Official Development Assistance funding has been spent on countering disinformation in the Balkans in each of the last five years.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Over the past five years, we have supported efforts to counter information threats, including disinformation, in the Western Balkans. This includes, where appropriate, supporting projects through Official Development Assistance funding. Due to the risks posed to our partners and beneficiaries of these projects we do not publish detailed information about them.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much Official Development Assistance funding has been spent on countering disinformation in Georgia in each of the last five years.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Over the past five years, we have supported efforts to counter information threats, including disinformation, in Central and Eastern Europe. This includes, where appropriate, supporting projects through Official Development Assistance funding. Due to the risks posed to our partners and beneficiaries of these projects we do not publish detailed information about them.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much Official Development Assistance funding has been spent on countering disinformation in Moldova in each of the last five years.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Over the past five years, we have supported efforts to counter information threats, including disinformation, in Central and Eastern Europe. This includes, where appropriate, supporting projects through Official Development Assistance funding. Due to the risks posed to our partners and beneficiaries of these projects we do not publish detailed information about them.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when he plans to restore Official Development Assistance to 0.7 percent of gross national income.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government remains committed to returning to spending 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI) on Official Development Assistance (ODA) when fiscal circumstances allow, in line with the International Development Act 2015. Reducing ODA now is a difficult but necessary decision to respond to the pressing security challenges.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR's) latest forecast shows that the ODA fiscal tests are not due to be met within the Parliament. The government will continue to monitor future forecasts closely, and each year will review and confirm, in accordance with the International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015, whether a return to spending 0.7% GNI on ODA is possible against the latest fiscal forecast.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the projected level of overseas development aid (ODA) expenditure on asylum accommodation is over the next three years; and whether he plans to ring-fence the amount of ODA available for that purpose.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government is committed to ensuring that asylum costs fall and has already acted. The Government has taken measures to reduce the asylum backlog, reform the asylum accommodation system to end the use of expensive accommodation in the next Spending Review (SR) period and increase detention capacity to facilitate more asylum removals.
Whilst there will always be volatility in asylum forecasts, we expect these decisions to drive down overall in-donor refugee costs over the next SR.
All UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) spending is consistent with the international rules agreed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD's) Development Assistance Committee. This includes ODA spent on in-donor refugee costs.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the reduction in Overseas Development Assistance on the Commonwealth realms; and what steps he is taking to help mitigate that impact.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Prime Minister has set out a new strategic vision for government spending on defence and security and Official Development Assistance (ODA). Detailed decisions on how the ODA budget will be used will be worked through as part of the ongoing Spending Review based on various factors including impact assessments.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much Official Development Assistance funding has been spent on countering people smuggling in the Balkans in each of the last five years.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government takes a comprehensive approach towards tackling irregular migration through, and from, the Western Balkans, including through partnerships and cooperation in the region to strengthen border security, disrupt organised immigration crime and build partnerships on returns. Bilateral agreements are currently in place with Albania, Serbia, Kosovo and North Macedonia. UK Overseas Development Assistance in the Western Balkans, focussed on Albania, complements these efforts through funding programme activities that help to address underlying causes of irregular migration. In financial year (FY) 2023/24 the spend on this was £2.89 million, and in FY 2024/25 £2.3m (to date). The UK Government will use the forthcoming European Political Community (EPC) in Albania, and our hosting of the Berlin Process to continue to develop the range of our co-operation with countries in the Western Balkans.