Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 25 November that they will be “spending the equivalent of 0.5 per cent of our national income on overseas aid in 2021” (HC Deb, col 830), which 20 countries have been the biggest recipients of UK bilateral aid since 2015; and what criteria will be used to determine reductions in (1) multilateral, and (2) bilateral, aid.

The top twenty recipients of UK bilateral aid between 2015 and 2019 are:

The Government is introducing a new strategic approach which will allow us to drive greater impact from our ODA spending around a set of strategic objectives. First, tackling climate change, protecting biodiversity and financing low-carbon and climate-resilient technologies in poor and emerging economies. Second, tackling COVID-19, and promoting wider international health security. Third, prioritising girls' education. Fourth, resolving conflict, alleviating humanitarian crises, defending open societies, and promoting trade and investment, including by increasing UK partnerships in science research and technology. Finally, improving delivery of aid in order to increase the impact that we have on the ground, in the countries and the communities that they are designed to benefit and help. We will do this by strengthening accountability, value for money and in-house capability.