Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, by what proportion his Department’s work on governance, democracy and anti-corruption will change as a result of reductions to Overseas Development Assistance in 2021.

As announced last year, the impact of the global pandemic on the UK economy has forced us to take the tough but necessary decision to temporarily reduce how much we spend on Official Development Assistance (ODA) to a target of spending 0.5% of Gross National Income (GNI) on ODA, rather than 0.7%. As we have set out in the Integrated Review, this is a temporary measure and we will return to 0.7% when the fiscal situation allows. No decisions on individual country or sectoral budget allocations have yet been made.

The recently-published Integrated Review is clear about the UK's commitment to being a Force for Good, supporting open societies. We will use our aid budget and British expertise to strengthen democratic institutions, human rights, free media, protect the civic space, and promote effective governance, including combatting corruption and illicit financial flows. Championing this agenda is not only essential for future development progress, but also to protect our values and interests in a world where open societies are under threat.