Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the value for money of nutrition programmes in the Overseas Development Assistance budget allocation.

The FCDO undertakes reviews of all its programmes on an annual basis, which include a close look at value for money. These are published on DevTracker, and include consideration of the programme's value for money. We also invest in evaluating our programmes to enable us to learn what works, and to adapt our approaches accordingly.

Investments in optimum nutrition, particularly those focused on the critical first 1000 days of life, are some of the best value-for-money development actions. For every pound spent by donors on basic nutrition programmes, there is a £16 return to the local economy.