Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will publish the (a) full methodology and (b) results of the equalities impact assessment that the Government carried out to decide where the reductions would be made to the Official Development Assistance budget for 2021-22.

During the 2021/22 ODA allocation process, the FCDO considered risks and impacts to inform advice to Ministers. An overarching Equalities Impact Assessment analysed impacts across bilateral country spend. The assessment was considered by Ministers before decisions were made. It showed no evidence that programmes targeting those with protected characteristics are more likely to be reduced or discontinued than other programmes.

The FCDO is reviewing the case to put the assessment into the public domain.