Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what estimate she has made of the value of Official Development Assistance funding spent in Tonga in each of the last five years.

The UK is deeply concerned by the appalling devastation caused by the recent volcanic eruption and tsunami in Tonga. While full details of the humanitarian impact are still unknown, HMG has been working with partners on options for support, helping to ensure a coordinated regional response.

The UK is a world leader on International Development; in 2020 we were the third largest donor. Departmental Official Development Assistance (ODA) budgets will be increasing significantly over the Spending Review period, from £10 billion that was allocated in 2020 to at least £12.3 billion by 2024-25. Most UK aid in the Pacific Island Countries is delivered through multilateral institutions, which have the capacity and scale to deliver strong development impact in the region on our behalf. Since 2015, we estimate that Tonga has received over £25.9 million of UK aid through our core funding to multilateral institutions (2015: £2.0 million; 2016: £2.2 million; 2017: £1.8 million; 2018: £8.2 million; 2019: £11.7 million).