Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the potential for joint working between the Department for International Development and the British Council; how much Official Development Assistance has been applied for that purpose in each of the last five years; and how much is expected to be expended in the period covered by the current Spending Review.

We primarily engage British Council through contractual relationships. DFID will continue to develop its relationship with the British Council where they have been selected as the lead supplier after fair competition.

Official Development Assistance has been disbursed through the British Council in recent years as follows:

2009/10 - £15.7m

2010/11 - £33.4m

2011/12 - £13.1m

2012/13 - £14.5m

2013/14 - £14.5m.

We expect to disburse £10.8m in the remainder of this spending review.