Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has had recent discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the fiscal circumstances within which the level of the Official Development Assistance budget will be raised to 0.7% of gross national income.

In line with the International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015, the Government is required to review whether a return to spending 0.7 per cent of gross national income on Official Development Assistance is possible against each new fiscal forecast, and to lay a statement in Parliament in each year when that is not possible. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office continues to liaise closely with HM Treasury on an ongoing basis in relation to these projections.