Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement by the Prime Minister on 16 June about the merger of the Department for International Development and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (HC Deb, cols 666–8), what changes they plan to make to the operation of UK Official Development Assistance.

On 16 June the Prime Minister announced that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development will merge to form a new international department – the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The Government remains committed to the target of spending 0.7 percent of national income on Official Development Assistance (ODA), which is enshrined in law, and the UK continues to abide by internationally agreed rules on what constitutes ODA. The majority of ODA will be administered by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, while a small amount will continue to be spent by other departments who bring relevant expertise to specific projects including BEIS, DEFRA, DIT and Home Office (to deliver ODA eligible services in the UK).

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office will have oversight of the Government’s aid policy and final decisions will be taken by the Foreign Secretary. The Integrated Review, expected to conclude later in the year, will define the Government’s ambition for the UK’s role in the world and its outcomes will shape the objectives for the new department, including for ODA.

All departments are accountable to parliament and to taxpayers for how they spend UK aid.