Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department plans to maintain the current level of funding for the Global Challenges Research Fund.
The COVID-19 pandemic's economic impact has forced the government to take the difficult decision to temporarily reduce ODA to 0.5% of GNI and to take tough, but necessary decisions to maximise impact for our aid spend.
The Foreign Secretary has now completed the overall departmental cross-government allocations of ODA spend for 2021 and laid a Written Ministerial Statement in Parliament [today], summarising the outcomes. The resulting package will drive greater coherence, notwithstanding the difficult financial position we face. We will spend 0.5% (currently forecast as £10 billion) on our priorities of climate and biodiversity; COVID-19 and global health security; girls' education; science and research; open societies and conflict; humanitarian assistance; and trade.
Individual departments will now work through the implications of their spending allocation for the programmes and activities they manage.