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 effect of the merger between his Department and the Department for International Development on the criteria for (a) acceptance and (b) refusal of international development grant applications.

There has been no change to the criteria for international development grants.

From 2 September, FCDO has been implementing a twin-track approach to programme delivery rules and accountabilities. This will remain in place until a harmonised programme delivery framework can be established at the start of the next financial year. Until that point, existing and new programmes, including those which make grant awards, will be governed by the rules framework for the department that the programme budget is drawn from.