Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact's report UK’s aid engagement with China A further update, published in July; how much UK aid has been spent in the China in the past 12 months; what estimate they have made of the size of the Chinese economy compared with the UK's; and what plans they have to address the Commission's finding that there is limited transparency over where UK aid is being spent in China.

China has the world's second largest economy, after the US, when measured by nominal GDP. Its GDP is almost 6 times larger than the UK. However, taking into account China's large population of 1.4 billion, UK's GDP per capita is over 3 times larger than that of China. We are aware of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI)'s report. The UK stopped all direct aid to the Chinese Government in 2011. The FCDO has cut Official Development Aid (ODA) funded programmes in China by 95 per cent from the 2021-22 financial year. All new ODA programming has been limited to supporting activities that further our open societies and human rights objectives in China. HMG's final 2022 ODA spend, including country data, will be published in the 'Statistics on International Development: Final UK Aid Spend' in autumn 2023. We remain committed to transparency and the FCDO will continue to work closely with the ICAI to ensure that all UK aid spending maintains our high standards and has the greatest impact.