Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether (a) he or (b) Ministers in his Department met with the UKRI's advisory groups prior to the announcement that his Department's allocation of Official Development Assistance in 2021-22 would leave a £120 million gap between allocations and commitments to grant holders.
All Government Departments with responsibility for spending Official Development Assistance took part in a cross-government process, led by my Rt. Hon. Friend the First Secretary of State, to review in detail how ODA is allocated between key priorities - recognising the difficult economic circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ministers across multiple departments engaged in these discussions as part of the process. BEIS ministers regularly meet with UKRI on allocations and other issues.