Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate her Department has made of the funds allocated to Bridge International Academies and its parent or subsidiary companies in each of the last three years.

Through CDC, the UK’s Development Finance Institution, DFID has invested a total of $8.8m in Bridge International Academies (BIA) for its global operations in Africa and India. An investment of $1.6m was made in 2016. The remainder was invested in 2013 and 2014. These are long term investments and returnable to the UK taxpayer. In addition, a DFID £3.45m grant, awarded competitively, was also provided to open 23 Bridge academies in Lagos, Nigeria from 2014 through to 2016. This grant is now completed.