Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the link between overseas development aid spend in Nepal and the recruitment of Gurkhas in the country.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
Diplomatic relations between the UK and Nepal stretch over 200 years and are grounded in mutual respect. The UK Government holds the Gurkhas in the highest regard and acknowledges the outstanding contribution they make to the United Kingdom. Separately, the UK's development partnership with Nepal focuses on long‑term economic welfare and development as part of our global Official Development Assistance strategy.
Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much money in each of the last seven years, broken down by year, has been given to the Gurkha Welfare Trust to deliver development projects in Nepal.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
Since 2019, FCDO projects delivered through the Gurkha Welfare Trust have totalled £14,249,415.21, comprising £2,500,000.00 (2019), £3,287,835.23 (2020), £1,999,999.70 (2021), £1,981,792.73 (2022), £1,892,458.82 (2023), £1,408,265.60 (2024), £1,069,681.90 (2025) and £109,381.22 (2026). Over the past seven years, The Gurkha Welfare Trust has delivered two major UK‑funded programmes: the Rural Water & Sanitation Programme V (RWSP V, until 2021) and the Resilient Water, Sanitation and Hygiene and Emergency Preparedness Programme (RWEPP, up to March 2025) - providing safe, reliable water to over 53,000 people and upgrading facilities in 185 public institutions. These programmes have strengthened water security, sanitation and disaster resilience across Nepal.
Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what outcomes have been achieved by projects delivered by the Gurkha Welfare Trust on behalf of the Government in each of the last seven years.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
Since 2019, FCDO projects delivered through the Gurkha Welfare Trust have totalled £14,249,415.21, comprising £2,500,000.00 (2019), £3,287,835.23 (2020), £1,999,999.70 (2021), £1,981,792.73 (2022), £1,892,458.82 (2023), £1,408,265.60 (2024), £1,069,681.90 (2025) and £109,381.22 (2026). Over the past seven years, The Gurkha Welfare Trust has delivered two major UK‑funded programmes: the Rural Water & Sanitation Programme V (RWSP V, until 2021) and the Resilient Water, Sanitation and Hygiene and Emergency Preparedness Programme (RWEPP, up to March 2025) - providing safe, reliable water to over 53,000 people and upgrading facilities in 185 public institutions. These programmes have strengthened water security, sanitation and disaster resilience across Nepal.
Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of a further reduction in development aid for Nepal on their ability to retain that country's consent to continue recruiting Ghurkas.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The Government will set out details in the coming months of Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocations for the period up to 2029. We will not engage in speculation in the interim on the impact of hypothetical funding scenarios for different countries or programmes.
Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in regard to page 267 of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office annual report and accounts 2024 to 2025, published on 22 July, whether they will provide a breakdown of the aggregate proposed £132,940,000 support to overseas territories in 2025–26 by individual overseas territory.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
As per programme management best practice, Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocations for individual Overseas Territories evolve during the financial year in line with their changing priorities. Current proposed allocations (which may be subject to further change) total £132.7 million:
Montserrat: £64.3 million
St Helena and Tristan da Cunha: £56.3 million
The Pitcairn Islands: £5.6 million
Further ODA amounts will be allocated throughout the year via cross-Territory programmes, including the Blue Belt initiative.
Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in regard to page 172 of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office annual report and accounts 2024 to 2025, published on 22 July, for what purposes the £425,000 Gibraltar Guarantee contingent liability may be used.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK Government is committed to supporting Gibraltar, its people and its economy. In 2020, the UK Government provided the Government of Gibraltar with a Loan Guarantee of up to £500 million (of which the Government of Gibraltar has drawn down £425 million) with the purpose of supporting Gibraltar's recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic which had severely affected the main pillars of Gibraltar's economy, including financial services, online gaming and tourism.
Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in regard to page 268 of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office annual report and accounts 2024 to 2025, published on 22 July, whether they will provide a breakdown of the proposed £46,557,000 to Nepal in 2025–26 by individual project.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK is a longstanding partner to Nepal and the UK's Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) is one part of our broad and diverse cooperation. Our Embassy in Kathmandu currently forecasts a full utilisation of its £46,557,000 bilateral ODA allocation for 2025-26. The actual spend may be influenced by factors beyond our control.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is committed to transparency and our forecast bilateral spend for 2025-26 is published through the UK Government's Development Tracker: Devtracker. A breakdown of current programme allocations, rounded to the nearest £100,000 is provided below:
Programme | £m |
Development Influencing and Learning in Nepal | 1.1 |
Evidence, Digital Innovation and Technology | 0.4 |
Evidence for Development | 0.1 |
Climate Smart Development for Nepal | 1.8 |
Green Growth Nepal | 3.6 |
Nepal in Business Programme | 9.9 |
Resilience, Adaptation and Inclusion in Nepal Programme | 5.8 |
Nepal Local Infrastructure Support Programme | 12.5 |
Public Financial Management Multi Donor Trust Fund - Phase II | 0.6 |
Rights, Inclusion, Voice and Agency Nepal | 1.6 |
Resilient Water Sanitation and Hygiene and Emergency Preparedness Programme | 0.8 |
Enhancing Gender Outcomes through Social Services Systems Strengthening | 3.3 |
Security and Justice Programme 2 | 5.0 |
Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in regard to page 268 of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office annual report and accounts 2024 to 2025, published on 22 July, what assessment they have made of the impact that the proposed £13,628,000 reduction in support to Nepal between 2024–25 and 2025–26 will have on the bilateral relationship between Nepal and the UK.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
Development is an essential part of the UK's global objectives and to the delivery of the Government's missions: working with partners to strengthen and stabilise countries, to tackle poverty and support growth, and to make the world safer. The UK continues to work closely with the Government of Nepal and other partners to ensure UK Official Development Assistance aligns with Nepal's national development priorities. Therefore, we have prioritised the following for our 2025-26 allocation: Nepal's inclusive economic transformation and the creation of jobs; building resilience to disasters and climate change, infrastructure development, and the strengthening of social services. We are aware that budget reductions will have an impact on Nepal and British Embassy Kathmandu is in continuing discussions with the Government of Nepal about these issues.
Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government which specific projects in Nepal funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in 2025–26 will directly contribute to maintaining consent to recruit members of the Brigade of Gurkhas.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK's development partnership with Nepal is built on long-standing cooperation across various sectors. We are working closely with the Government of Nepal and other stakeholders to ensure our 2025-26 budget is targeted towards Nepal's national development priorities. We acknowledge the outstanding contribution of the Gurkhas in the British Army and remain committed to a free and open Indo-Pacific and supporting economic growth and development across the region.
Asked by: Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the extent to which the unique relationship between Nepal and UK through the brigade of Gurkhas is taken into consideration when allocating bilateral support to Nepal.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK is a longstanding partner to Nepal and we have a broad and diverse cooperation. This includes Gurkhas in the British Army who make an outstanding contribution to the UK as well as UK Official Development Assistance (ODA). UK ODA is allocated by financial year. In financial year 2023-24, £28.3 million of ODA was allocated for bilateral programming in Nepal, and for year 2024-25, £60.2 million was allocated. We will publish final 2025/26 Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) ODA programme allocations in the FCDO Annual Report & Accounts this summer. Over the coming months, we will work through detailed decisions on how the ODA budget will be used from 2026/27, informed by internal and external consultation and impact assessments, ahead of publishing indicative multi-year allocations in the autumn.