Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the financial effect of a fall in Gross National Income on the Official Development Assistance budget.

Given the likely decrease in the size of the economy this year, and therefore a decrease in the value of the 0.7 per cent commitment, a package of £2.9 billion of reductions in the Government's planned Official Development Assistance (ODA) spend has been agreed. This package includes underspends, delaying activity and stopping some spend.

As normal, there will continue to be adjustments in-year to individual departmental ODA spend to meet the 0.7 per cent commitment, especially as the economic picture becomes clearer.