Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the article of Bureau for Investigative Journalism on 10 March 2022 that reported how ODA reporting for vaccine donations displaced up to £144 million of aid, if he will ensure any vaccine donation ODA reporting for 2022 is additional, rather than within, its 0.5 per cent GNI target.

The government remains committed to international development and providing support to the world's poorest, and intends to return to spending 0.7% of gross national income on Official Development Assistance (ODA) when the fiscal situation allows.

The 2021 Spending Review provides departments with an ODA budget that rises to £12.3 billion in 2024-25, growing by 23% compared to the £10 billion allocated at the 2020 Spending Review, and facilitates significant increases across priority spending areas. This will ensure that the UK remains one of the largest ODA spenders in the world and well above the OECD Development Assistance Committee average.

The UK donated 30.8 million vaccines in 2021. We have now donated a total of 54.5 million vaccines, benefitting more than 38 countries. Our 100 million dose-donation target is part of one billion doses G7 leaders committed to share and finance at the Carbis Bay summit. They are a testament to our collective commitment to accelerate global vaccine access.

As with all ODA eligible expenditure, donations of surplus vaccines will count towards meeting the UK’s annual ODA spending commitment; this is the established UK approach in line with international rules.