Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will publish the impact assessment that was carried out on the decision to reduce Official Development Assistance spending to 0.5 per cent of GNI in 2021-22.

The Government disclosed the Equalities Assessment to the International Planned Parenthood Federation as part of their Judicial Review claim. The Equalities Assessment was a snapshot in March 2021 aimed at predicting how spending decisions for 21/22 would impact protected groups. Having considered usual practices across Government, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has no plans to publish the overarching Equalities Assessment for Official Development Assistance for its spend in financial year 2021-2022. It is Ministers' views that if we were to publish all Equalities Assessments, it would have a chilling effect on the candour of advice officials prepared. We will set out our future ambitions on transparency in the upcoming International Development Strategy.