Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on any potential reallocation of savings from in-donor refugee costs to the FCDO’s ODA budget.

The UK Government has taken measures to reduce the asylum backlog and reform the asylum accommodation system to help end the use of expensive accommodation in the next Spending Review period to ensure more of our Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget is spent on our development priorities overseas.

The aid spent in the UK on refugee and asylum costs fell by a third last year and we are working to bring it down further as we continue to deliver on our election promise to slash asylum costs.

Departmental ODA allocations will be confirmed at the Spending Review.

The Foreign Secretary has regular discussions with the Chancellor.