Source · Select Committees · Foreign Affairs Committee
Recommendation 13
13
The Government argued that the FCO-DFID merger would be an opportunity to align aid spending...
Recommendation
The Government argued that the FCO-DFID merger would be an opportunity to align aid spending with diplomatic policy, with the potential for gains in global health security. We are concerned that the Government is squandering this opportunity by making ill-considered cuts to vital global health programmes. It is short-sighted to cut spending on neglected tropical diseases, or health research for lower-income countries, in order to focus on covid-19. These steps could undermine the response to covid, and put us all at greater risk from the next pandemic. In particular, cutting spending on important medical research and development programmes is a dangerous false economy, and could endanger Global Britain’s reputation as a science superpower. We are disappointed by the lack of transparency over the cuts, and over how the decisions have been made. In response to this report, we recommend that the FCDO provides us with a full account of the changes faced by aid-funded health programmes, with details on how decisions have been made on which to cut. It should publicly commit to reinstituting previous levels of funding to health research programmes as soon as the fiscal situation allows. (Paragraph 40) Global Health, Global Britain 25
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
The impact of the global pandemic on the UK economy has forced us to take the tough but necessary decision to temporarily reduce how much we spend on Official Development Assistance to 0.5% of Gross National Income. This is a temporary measure and we will return to 0.7% when the fiscal situation allows. Given the government’s careful stewardship of the public finances and the strength of the recovery, the ODA fiscal tests are now forecast to be met in 2024–25, which is earlier than the OBR forecast in March. As such, SR21 provisionally sets aside additional unallocated ODA funding in 2024–25, to the value of the difference between 0.5% and 0.7% of GNI. The FCDO has prioritised our aid to be more strategic and remain a force for good across the world. Following a thorough review, the FCDO’s 2021/22 aid budget has been allocated in accordance with UK strategic priorities against a challenging financial climate of COVID-19. Throughout this process, we have strived to ensure that every penny of our aid brings maximum strategic coherence, impact and value for taxpayers’ money. Our aid is targeted at the highest priority global challenges. We are focusing on the core priorities for poverty reduction, including getting more girls into education, providing urgent humanitarian support to those who need it most, and tackling global threats like climate change, COVID-19 recovery and other international health priorities. Our research funding focuses on our priorities, such as women and girls, global health and vaccines, and we will continue to allocate our funds in accordance with UK strategic priorities. Based on OECD data for 2020, the UK will be the third largest donor within the G7 as a percentage of GNI. A breakdown of the FCDO’s programme budgets currently allocated to individual countries and departments for 2021/22 was published in the Annual Report on 22 September, including health spend through our Global Funds Department and our Human Development Department. HMG’s final 2021 ODA spend, including country and sectoral data, will be published in the ‘Statistics on International Development: Final UK Aid Spend’ in autumn 2022. We will continue to publish our spend information by project, including ODA-funded health programmes, on DevTracker as always (updated monthly).