Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what effect the 30 per cent reduction in his Department’s Official Development Assistance allocation will have on the Government’s ringfenced climate change and R&D funding commitments.

The difficult finance situation we face due to the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a temporary reduction in the UK’s aid spending target from 0.7% of GNI to 0.5%.

ODA allocations for all departments were determined in light of this by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, in consultation with HM Treasury, and with regard to wider commitments including the R&D ringfence. The Government’s commitment to research and innovation is clearly demonstrated through the recently published R&D Roadmap, and the £400m uplift in R&D spending announced in the Spending Review.

The Department remains committed to supporting my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s pledge to double the UK’s International Climate Finance to £11.6bn between 2021/22 and 2025/26, and we will deliver ambitious programmes to support both this commitment and the Prime Minister’s recent pledge to spend £3bn of our climate finance on nature. This significant uplift of our climate finance sets a clear benchmark for the international community towards COP26 and beyond.