Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what effect the secondment of 600 staff to other Government Departments has had on the core work of her Department.

DFID has not deployed 600 staff to other government departments. DFID has undertaken a detailed prioritisation exercise to assess the internal resource required to maintain essential delivery. For DFID, this entails meeting the legal commitment to spend 0.7% of GNI (Gross National Income) on international development in an effective and value for money way and the ability to respond to humanitarian emergencies. All other DFID business is highly important however officials have taken decisions to slow or pause delivery in order to support the EU exit related resource requirements of other government departments. As at 3 April 2019, 101 DFID staff have been deployed to support essential work related to the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.