Building on the work on long-term refugees by the previous Committee, the Committee intends to look at the effectiveness of Official Development Assistance spending on a range of activity aimed at supporting displaced people across the globe. A major topic of the inquiry will be the FCDO’s consideration of civilians at the beginning of conflicts, and whether the appropriate support and assistance is offered. Furthermore, the Committee will investigate the effectiveness of ODA spending on support for people displaced by climate disasters. The Conflict, Security and Stability Fund, now replaced by the Integrated Security Fund, was intended to consider these issues, but questions remain about its effectiveness.

Integral to the Committee’s inquiry will be consideration of the drivers that force people to flee and what forms of early intervention work to prevent displacement. Once people become displaced, the Committee wants to examine what happens to them as they leave home and how their return home is facilitated. Across all of this, the Committee will consider whether what the UK Government is currently doing to keep displaced people safe is working.

The Committee is also interested in the value for money of ODA spent on housing displaced people within the UK. Finally, the Committee will evaluate Government progress against the recommendations made by the Committee in its May 2023 Report, “UK aid for refugee host countries”, including on Government support for host countries of long-term refugees, such as Jordan.

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