Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take (1) to maintain standards of independent scrutiny of the UK aid budget, and (2) to ensure accountability for that expenditure.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office will be accountable to parliament for how it spends UK aid. We remain committed to full transparency in our aid spending and there will continue to be parliamentary and independent scrutiny of the aid budget – the form this takes following the merger will be set out in due course.