Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department has spent on helping each developing country increase its tax base since 2010.

DFID is already engaged in or is developing tax capacity building in the following partner countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, DRC, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Kyrgyz Republic, Malawi, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Pakistan, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somaliland, South Africa, South Sudan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe. This includes indirect support through multilateral organisations.

In accordance with OECD DAC reporting guidelines, we do not currently record tax programmes under a separate spend code but we have been expanding our tax work over the Parliament. This includes the establishment of a specialist Developing Country Capacity Building Unit in HMRC, to deploy HMRC staff to provide technical expertise in support of these efforts.

A wide range of staff across the Department are engaged in work on tax, including policy, financial and corporate advisers and staff in country offices. In addition, HMRC staff provide tax capacity technical assistance in DFID partner countries.