Defence and Diplomatic Relations: Finance
The question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what comparative assessment she has made of the adequacy of the amount of funding available for (a) diplomacy in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and (b) defence in the Ministry of Defence.
Answered by Darren Jones
Both the MOD and FCDO have recently had future budgets confirmed through Spending Review 25, where Government priorities are considered in the round.
Whilst the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has seen ODA reductions, they have been funded to pursue a variety of programming ambitions, reforms, and operating costs.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) budget is growing by £10.9bn in real terms from 2023-24 to 2028-29 and provides the resources and capital necessary for MOD to start delivering on the vision for defence set out in the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) which was published on 2 June 2025.
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