Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what programmes will be funded by the UK's Official Development Assistance Budget in China in 2021-22; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of that funding.

The Foreign Secretary set out in his Written Ministerial Statement on 21 April that we have prioritised our aid to be more strategic and remain a force for good across the world, following a thorough review against a challenging financial climate of COVID-19. We have cut FCDO aid programming to China by 95 per cent in 2021-2022, focusing the remaining programme funding on specific programmes that support British values around open societies and human rights.

There will be additional ODA in this year only to meet the contractual exit costs of former programmes.