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Development Aid

Asked by James NaishLabourForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled Answered 18 September 2025UIN 71592

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has specified (a) targets and (b) benchmarks for gender equality spending from the ODA budget as a (i) principal and (ii) significant objective.

Answered by Chris Elmore

As we transition to spending 0.3 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) on Official Development Assistance (ODA), the Government is reviewing existing commitments. Detailed decisions on how the ODA budget will be used from 2026/27 to 2028/29 will be informed by impact assessments, ahead of publishing multi-year allocations.

Data on ODA spend is available in the Statistics on International Development publications, which are available for 2023 and provisionally for 2024. Data is available broken down by sector for the 2023 publication, including social sector spending on health and education, and humanitarian aid. Further information and annual reviews on specific programmes, including those with a specific focus on equalities, can be found on GOV.UK's Development Tracker.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office remains steadfast in its commitment to promoting gender equality around the world, and is taking steps to strengthen the integration of gender equality across the Department's work.

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