Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) and the Sub-Committee on the Work of the ICAI will be retained following the merger of his Department and the Department for International Development; and if he will make it his policy to (a) publish all ICAI reports that have already been commissioned and (b) allow the ICAI Sub-Committee to scrutinise those reports.

The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) will continue to scrutinise aid spending. The publication of all ICAI reports will continue, including those commissioned prior to the merger.

The Foreign Secretary is committed to thorough parliamentary scrutiny of UK aid. With the formation of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the House of Commons may wish to reconfigure the select committee structure. The Government's view is that select committees should generally mirror government departments. We will reflect carefully on the recommendations of the International Development Committee and the Liaison Committee before bringing forward motions to change the existing committee structures for the House to agree later in the year.