Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the proportion of official development assistance that is provided to global religious minorities.

The UK will champion Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) for all abroad. No one should live in fear because of what they do or do not believe in. The official source of data on UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) is Statistics on International Development (SID). In line with the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) ODA reporting rules, ODA data is categorised using sector (or purpose) codes, which classify ODA activities by the sectors they benefit. These sector codes are not sufficiently granular to enable tracking of ODA provided to religious minorities. The FCDO works to ensure that Official Development Assistance (ODA) is allocated to those who are most vulnerable and most in need of this assistance irrespective of race, religion, or ethnicity. This includes minority religious or belief communities, who are assessed by our partners when determining those most in need of protection and assistance.