Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Overseas Aid

(asked on 1st July 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the International Rescue Committee's research highlighting that 52 million additional people will go hungry in fragile and developing countries in 2020, whether the new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office will maintain the proportion of the aid budget that is spent in fragile and conflict-affected states, currently set at 50 per cent of the Department for International Development's annual budget.


Answered by
James Cleverly Portrait
James Cleverly
Home Secretary
This question was answered on 9th July 2020

The UK is concerned about the food security outlook in 2020. At the end of last year, 135 million people were facing acute food insecurity in 55 countries. This is set to increase this year, driven in part by the COVID-19 pandemic and the desert locust outbreak. Fragile and conflict affected states (FCAS) will be amongst the most impacted.

We are working with international partners to closely monitor the situation and take action. As a leading donor to the COVID-19 response and one of the biggest humanitarian actors, we are ensuring essential supplies reach those who need it the most. We have also adapted our social protection, agriculture and food security programmes to support the most vulnerable.

The UK is committed to spending 0.7% of national income on development. Our work in FCAS is a vital part of this and we have consistently spent at least 50% of our Official Development Assistance in these contexts between 2015 to 2017. Figures for 2018 will be published in due course. We continue to look at how UK aid can be deployed most effectively in our national interest including through the Integrated Review, which will report in the Autumn and inform the new department’s priorities.

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