Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether any Government spending on the BBC World Service is recorded as Overseas Development Assistance.

We have committed to increase funding for the BBC World Service to £34 million in 2016/17 and £85 million a year up to 2019-20. As a provider of accurate, impartial and independent news the BBC World Service helps to strengthen democratic accountability and governance, meaning that a significant portion of the funding provided can be classified as Official Development Assistance (ODA). ODA is subject to approval via the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC), which oversees international ODA classification. We will work with the BBC and DAC to make the case for classifying up to £28m of the £34m in 2016/17 as ODA, and up to £70m per year in three remaining years of programme as ODA spend.