Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has learned lessons from the implementation of Official Development Assistance reductions in 2020-21.

The Government has learned lessons from previous rounds of reductions to the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget.

We recognise that the reduction demands significant shifts in the scale and shape of our ODA spending, which is why we are taking the time necessary to fully consider how we will reprioritise and refocus the ODA budget, in line with the shifts underway as we modernise our approach to development.

We are taking a rigorous approach to value for money as we work through decisions as part of the ongoing Spending Review, in order to deliver the best outcome for both UK taxpayers and our partners.

To improve predictability and certainty, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's ODA budget will no longer be exposed to the volatility of ODA spending by other departments, including asylum costs, providing greater predictability and certainty for our budgets.