Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Government’s strategy for international development, published on 16 May 2022, whether she plans to change the proportion of UK diplomatic costs for particular countries that are attributed to Official Development Assistance budgets.

The UK will continue to apply consistently the international rules on aid set by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. These allow donors to report as Official Development Assistance (ODA) the proportion of costs for diplomatic staff where they are performing aid-related duties. The duties must be in line with the DAC primary purpose of aid and benefitting countries on the DAC list of ODA eligible countries.