Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what criteria her Department uses to determine whether a country should receive aid from the UK; and if she will make a statement.

The ultimate task of UK aid is to support a country in establishing its own mechanisms for a timely, self-financed and secure exit from poverty. Accordingly, countries are eligible for direct bilateral aid if extreme poverty currently affects a significant proportion of the population and is projected to persist over the medium term, the country is unable to finance the reduction of poverty through domestic taxation, and the country meets basic requirements of legitimacy for a bilateral aid programme to operate.