Committees

Aid spending in the UK

Inquiry

Report and Government response published

The Government must put the UK’s aid budget beyond the reach of the Home Office and ringfence it to spend in the world’s poorest and most vulnerable countries, the International Development Committee is urging today.

In a searingly concise report of 14 paragraphs, the Committee sets out the evidence to demonstrate that the world’s poorest countries are being short-changed as a result of other Government departments raiding the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s (FCDO's) aid budget. Meanwhile the aid budget has been cut to 0.55 per cent of Gross National Income and aid programmes which support the world’s poorest people overseas have been disproportionately cut.

The UK Government’s approach to spending ODA in the UK is incompatible with the spirit of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee rules, says today’s report. Most countries take a conservative approach, recognising that the ODA budget is for spending that “promotes and specifically targets the economic development and welfare of developing countries.”

This makes the Government’s choice to spend a significant and increasing proportion of the ODA budget in the UK a “political choice”. It is a self-defeating decision which is likely only to increase the number of refugees arriving in the UK.

Read the Report: Aid spending in the UK

Read the Government response: Aid spending in the UK

This inquiry is no longer accepting evidence

The deadline for submissions was 11:00pm on 15 December 2022.

Upcoming events

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Past events

Wednesday 8 February 2023
2:30pm Public
Aid spending in the UK - Oral evidence 8 February 2023
2:30pm
  • Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell (Minister of State (Development and Africa) at Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office)
  • Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP (Minister for Immigration at Home Office)
  • Rt Hon John Glen MP (Chief Secretary to the Treasury at HM Treasury)
The Grimond Room, Portcullis House
Tuesday 13 December 2022
2:30pm Public
Aid spending in the UK - Oral evidence 13 December 2022
2:30pm
  • Enver Solomon (Chief Executive at Refugee Council)
  • Daphne Jayasinghe (Chief Policy Adviser at International Rescue Committee)
3:15pm
  • Ian Mitchell (Senior Policy Fellow at Center for Global Development)
  • Professor Michael Collyer (Professor at University of Sussex)
  • Professor Stefan Dercon (Professor of Economic Policy at Blavatnik School of Government)
Room 5, Palace of Westminster

Contact us

We receive a significant number of emails each day. All requests and invitations are considered but we do not respond directly to everyone. Please be aware, the committee does not look at individual cases or specific complaints.

  • Email: indcom@parliament.uk
  • Address: International Development Committee, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA