Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what percentage of Gross National Income the Government spent as Official Development Assistance in the calendar years (a) 2024 and (b) 2025; how much UK Official Development Assistance was spent on research and development in the calendar years (i) 2024 and (ii) 2025: what percentage of Gross National Income the Government plans to spend as Official Development Assistance in the calendar years (A) 2026, (B) 2027, (C) 2028 and (D) 2029; and how much UK Official Development Assistance the government plans to spend on research and development in the calendar years (1) 2026, (2) 2027, (3) 2028 and (4) 2029.

If my Hon. Friend is seeking the provisional Official Development Assistance (ODA): Gross National Income (GNI) ratio for 2025 (and final ratio for 2024) this information can be found within the Statistics on International Development at this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-on-international-development.

In February 2025, the UK Government took the difficult decision to reduce ODA spending to 0.3 per cent of GNI by 2027 to fund a necessary increase in defence spending. We also stated our commitment to restore ODA spending to 0.7 per cent of GNI as soon as fiscal circumstances allow. The Government has acted to improve budget stability for ODA to allow for better long-term planning of programming, meaning that ODA budgets will no longer be automatically adjusted for GNI fluctuations.

For 2024/25 the total ODA Research and Development (R&D) spend across HM Government was £985 million. Projected spending for 2025/26 was £0.8 billion, and current spending plans are £0.5 billion for 2026/27, and £0.4 billion for 2027/28, 2028/29 and 2029/30.