8th Special Report: Assessing Value, Ensuring Impact: The FCDO’s Approach to Value for Money in Official Development Assistance: Government Response

This is the government's response, published 11 February 2026.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Government's response agrees with some recommendations, partially agrees with others and disagrees with several, including calls for a new stand-alone VfM strategy and a return to spending 0.5% of GNI on ODA.

• It disagrees that a new VfM strategy is needed, saying the Programme Operating Framework and PrOF Guide on VfM already set out the approach. It will instead update existing guidance and publish a version for external partners on gov.uk.
• On ODA levels, it disagrees with the 0.5% recommendation and is committed to returning to 0.7% of GNI "as soon as fiscal circumstances allow", noting the OBR's latest forecast shows the ODA fiscal tests are not due to be met within this Parliament.
• It agrees to publish an impact assessment of ODA cuts, which the FCDO "plans to publish" after ODA programme allocations are finalised, and agrees that IATI publishing by implementing partners should be improved.
• It disagrees with a new multilateral aid review, an audit of long-running contracts and ringfencing MEL spend, saying existing scrutiny and oversight processes apply and that ringfencing "is not appropriate in the current fiscal landscape".

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error