Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 20 May (HL4189), which Government departments applied to the Integrated Activity Fund for funding during the (1) 2016/17, (2) 2018/19, and (3) 2020/21, financial years; and which of those applications were granted.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Integrated Activity Fund (IAF) was managed by the Cabinet Office during 2016/17 and detailed information is not held by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. In 2018/19 the IAF received applications for funding from a number of government departments. The IAF was replaced by the Gulf Strategy Fund for 2020/21. Applications for funding were received from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, the Department for International Trade, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, HM Revenue & Customs and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS). Funding for DCMS was not approved.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 4 September 2020 to Question 82256 on Government Departments: Overseas Aid, whether he currently has final sign-off of Official Development Assistance spending proposed by other Government Departments.
Answered by James Cleverly - Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
As with all public expenditure, HM Treasury allocates ODA funding to departments at each Spending Review. Final sign off of ODA spent through other Government departments rests with the Secretaries of State of those departments. The FCDO will continue to work closely with HM Treasury on overall effectiveness of ODA across Government.
Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Government plans to increase (a) the number of Departments administering Official Development Assistance (ODA) and (b) the proportion of ODA spending administered by his Department, excluding the cross-government funds, over the next five years.
Answered by James Cleverly - Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
As with all public expenditure, HM Treasury allocates Official Development Assistance funding to departments at each Spending Review. As announced on 21st October 2020, the Chancellor has decided to conduct a one-year Spending Review in order to prioritise the response to COVID-19, and our focus on supporting jobs. We expect this process to conclude in late November.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 16 October 2020 to Question 102832 on Overseas Aid, which Government Departments applied for funding under the Integrated Activity Fund in 2018-19 for the 31 projects where no Overseas Security and Justice Assistance assessments were conducted.
Answered by James Cleverly - Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
During the 2018-19 financial year the Integrated Activity Fund received applications for funding from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Cabinet Office, the Department for Digital Culture, Media and Sport, the Ministry of Defence, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department for International Trade, the Home Office, HM Revenue and Customs and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he is taking to steps to prevent Government departments from spending UK aid that do not achieve a (a) good or (b) very good at the next assessment by the Aid Transparency Index.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is globally recognised for its expertise and transparency in aid spending and continues to be committed to improving transparency of aid globally and maintaining our own high standards for overseas spending. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office will use this expert knowledge to work with aid spending Government departments to improve their aid transparency.
As with all public expenditure, HM Treasury allocates ODA funding to departments at each spending review. FCDO then provides support to these government departments through the HMG Transparency Community of Practice. This group has been used to champion aid transparency and has supported the majority of government departments to publish to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) standard. The assessment of 10 UK aid spending departments (Aid Transparency Review) which was published in 2020 provided a set of recommendations for future improvement which FCDO is helping them implement.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he is taking steps to ensure that all UK aid spending Government departments achieve a (a) good or (b) very good at the next assessment by the the Aid Transparency Index.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The FCDO will use the recommendations made in the UK Aid Transparency Review, carried out by the Aid Transparency Index in 2020, to work with other Government departments to make progress on UK Government transparency in our next assessment. This will take place through the HMG Transparency Community of Practice which has championed aid transparency and supported government departments to publish to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) standard.
The UK is globally recognised for its expertise and transparency in aid spending and continues to be committed to improving transparency of aid globally, maintaining our own high standards for overseas spending. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office will use this expert knowledge to work with aid spending Government departments to ensure good aid transparency.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department plans to allocate the same proportion of Official Development Assistance through other Government departments.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
HM Treasury will set Official Development Assistance (ODA) budgets across government as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review taking place this year.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he will have final sign-off of Official Development Assistance spending proposed by other Government departments.
Answered by James Cleverly - Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
HM Treasury will set ODA budgets across government as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review taking place this year. The Integrated Review and Comprehensive Spending Reviews will conclude in the autumn - it would not be appropriate to pre-empt their conclusions.
Asked by: Lord Chidgey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what management and oversight precautions, if any, they are putting in place to (1) increase accountability of aid spending; and (2) prevent non-attributable day-to-day spending being re-badged as aid.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Government is committed to ensuring that every pound spent on Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) achieves maximum value for money for taxpayers based on the same high standards of accountability and effectiveness as all areas of public expenditure. Individual departments are responsible under public spending rules for monitoring all public money including their UK aid programming and ensuring that they deliver value for money. Robust parliamentary and independent scrutiny of the aid budget will continue – the form that Parliamentary scrutiny takes is for Parliament to decide. UK ODA continues to be spent in accordance with international rules on what constitutes aid as set by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans she has to commission a future review of the transparency of Official Development Assistance spending by all Government departments.
Answered by Wendy Morton - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is globally recognised for its expertise and transparency in aid spending. We are committed to improving transparency of aid globally and maintaining our high standards for overseas spending. We will continue to be accountable to parliament and to taxpayers for how we spend UK aid.