Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people distributing (a) UK aid and (b) other public funding overseas with (i) British and (ii) duel British nationality are not aiding or supporting proscribed terrorist organisations.

The FCDO has controls in place to ensure that UK aid - and other funds used overseas - goes direct to intended beneficiaries, and for its intended purposes. The FCDO carries out due diligence assessments of UK aid partners to ensure they have procedures in place to manage the risk of aid diversion, including the risk of support to proscribed terrorist groups, as appropriate. All UK aid fund disbursements are overseen by a Senior Responsible Owner who is accountable for ensuring procedures are followed. The FCDO Programme Operating Framework, which sets out the mandatory rules for FCDO programming, was reviewed by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) in 2023. The review, published in April, said that this was the right approach for the FCDO - calling it a credible and appropriate framework. To date, no individual from an International NGO or body corporate has been prosecuted in the UK for terrorism offences relating to humanitarian, development or peacebuilding work.