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Development Aid

Asked by Rachael MaskellLabour (Co-op)TreasuryTabled Answered 25 June 2025UIN 60523

The question

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal criteria she is using to determine when overseas development funding can be restored to previous levels.

Answered by Darren Jones

To enable the government to invest more on security and defence, while remaining committed to our fiscal rules, the Prime Minister has taken the difficult decision to reduce Official Development Assistance (ODA) to the equivalent of 0.3% of GNI by 2027. The Spending Review (SR) 2025 ODA settlement delivers on this. The government remains committed to returning spending on ODA to 0.7% of GNI when the fiscal circumstances allow. The OBR’s latest forecast shows that the ODA fiscal tests are not due to be met within the Parliament. The government will continue to monitor future forecasts closely, and each year will review and confirm, in accordance with the International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015, whether a return to spending 0.7% of GNI on ODA is possible against the latest fiscal forecast.

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