Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how much his Department spent on aid projects relating to women and girls in (a) 2019-20 and (b) the last financial year.

Official data, sourced from the Statistics for International Development and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) DAC Creditor Reporting System, is available for 2022. This data indicated that in 2022 58 per cent of the FCDO's total bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) programme spend was in programmes that had a focus on gender equality (using OECD DAC markers Significant and Principal). In 2021 the figure was 60 per cent, in 2020 the figure was 70 per cent, and in 2019 it was 67 per cent. As part of FCDO's International Women and Girls Strategy published in 2023, we will ensure at least 80 per cent of the FCDO's bilateral aid programmes have a focus on gender equality by 2030. This is a reflection of how we are prioritising gender equality in our work and investment moving forward.