Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of reductions in the aid budget on (a) poverty, (b) inequality and (c) the UK’s reputation in the Global South.

The UK is a world leader in development, committed to the global fight against poverty and to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. In 2020 we spent £14.5 billion Official Development Assistance (ODA) fighting poverty and helping those in need, despite the seismic impact of the pandemic on the UK and global economy. This included £1.7 billion supporting the effort to fight coronavirus, £1.5 billion in humanitarian assistance, and we gave more than half of our regional bilateral aid to countries in Africa.

In 2021, the UK will spend over £10 billion and remain one of the largest ODA contributors in the world. Based on 2020 OECD data, the UK will be the third largest ODA donor in the G7 as a percentage of GNI in 2021 and will spend above the average for OECD Development Assistance Committee members (0.41%). As the Chancellor said during his budget speech of 27th October, improving economic forecasts shows that HMG is scheduled to return to spending 0.7% of Gross National Income on aid in financial year 2024/25.