Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of his Department’s policy to freeze non-essential aid spending until 31 October 2022 on (a) tackling food poverty, (b) water sanitation and (c) education for girls.

The FCDO is closely monitoring the risks and impacts of pausing some ODA spend.

The FCDO tackles food insecurity and supports food systems through interventions in low-income countries and is prioritising spending that will prevent people falling into humanitarian need when food production drops or food price increase.

Improved access to water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) is key to the UK's approach to ending the preventable deaths of mothers, children, infants and for pandemic preparedness and response. The UK is prioritising spend on hand hygiene as part of our approach to tackling Covid-19; strengthening the climate resilience of WASH services; and reinforcing accountability for the delivery of WASH services.

Girls' education remains a development priority. In FCDO, we are prioritising spend to ensure continued access to primary education for girls, especially the most marginalised and those caught up in crisis situations.