Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what impact assessment was undertaken on the potential effect of the reduction of the official development assistance budget on research on emerging infections from animals or zoonoses.

The seismic impact of the pandemic on the UK economy has forced us to take tough but necessary decisions, including temporarily reducing the overall amount we spend on aid to 0.5% of GNI. Despite this, the UK remains a development superpower, with an ODA budget on track to exceed £10bn this year. FCDO ODA will be targeted to addressing seven global challenges facing the world poorest which includes global health security and research and technology.

FCDO will now work through what this means for individual programmes, in line with the priorities we have identified.