Developing Countries: Overseas Aid

(asked on 29th April 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 21 April 2020 to Question 35017, on Overseas Aid: Developing Countries, what recent assessment she has made of the overall financial health of supply partners; and which organisations are at risk as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.


Answered by
Wendy Morton Portrait
Wendy Morton
This question was answered on 6th May 2020

DFID is actively monitoring the overall financial health of our supply partners to understand the impact of COVID-19 on our supplier base and delivery capacity.

We are offering support to suppliers and partners where this is appropriate, in line with the UK government position and will apply the provisions of the Cabinet Office Procurement Policy Note and associated guidance for grants, which allows for relief on services and goods provided in the UK, to DFID aid programmes as a last resort and on a case-by-case basis for DFID contracts and grants.

We have also assessed the Business Continuity Plans of our strategic supply partners and commissioned a weekly survey of 300 private sector and civil society suppliers to give us a heat map of impacts at programme, portfolio, and sector levels. Some supply partners are at greater risk, but it would not be appropriate to name specific organisations. We will consider financial data as part of our response to any request for supply partner relief.

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