Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that allocations of ODA to Rwanda promote efficacy and value for public money in the implementation of UK development goals; and if she will publish evidence to demonstrate that offers of (a) ODA and (b) other development funding to Rwanda were not made as part of negotiations to establish a migrant deportation policy.

Under the Migration and Economic Development Partnership between the UK and Rwanda, we have announced a new Economic Transformation and Integration Fund to boost the development of Rwanda. Rwanda will be responsible for allocating this funding to achieve its development goals, including creating jobs, improving livelihoods, increasing productivity, boosting trade and ensuring long-term sustainable development.

The funding for the Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda is separate from, and additional to, the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget. It complements the UK and Rwanda’s existing collaboration on a range of priorities including girls’ education, building back from COVID-19 and climate change, and it will bolster our longstanding development partnership focused on green growth and trade, building human capital and supporting effective, accountable institutions.

Funding will be provided separately to support the delivery of asylum operations, accommodation and integration, similar to the costs incurred in the UK for these services.