Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of allowing for more security-related expenditure within the definition of Official Development Assistance on maintaining a distinction between development cooperation and policing missions for security.

The updates to the ODA rules agreed at the 2016 High Level Meeting (18-19 February 2016) mean that ODA can be used to support the military in fragile countries on issues that promote development, such as human rights and the prevention of sexual violence; this means the international community is better equipped to meet Global Goal 16, which calls for the stronger governance in developing countries to prevent violence and combat terrorism and crime.