Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he plans to take to (a) maintain the current level of parliamentary and independent scrutiny of the aid budget and (b) ensure departmental accountability to UK taxpayers after the merger of his Department and the Department for International Development.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office will be accountable to Parliament and to taxpayers for how it spends UK aid. The form this takes is a matter for Parliament. We remain committed to full transparency in our aid spending and there will continue to be parliamentary and independent scrutiny of the aid budget.