International Assistance: Public Expenditure
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what criteria his Department uses to evaluate whether non-emergency international development projects represent effective use of public funds.
Answered by Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Official Development Assistance (ODA) is focused where it can have the greatest impact, supporting the most vulnerable and advancing our modern development approach.
Effectiveness and value for money are assessed on an ongoing basis as part of embedded processes, and we continue to improve the effectiveness of all UK aid. The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) Programme Operating Framework maximises the impact of aid through consideration of various factors including, where appropriate, independent evaluations which are framed around the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) criteria of: relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability. ODA programmes undergo an annual review of effectiveness using a results framework. To assess value for money and inform decision-making throughout the programme lifecycle, we use a mix of quantitative data and qualitative information. As part of our ODA transparency commitments, these are published to the Development Tracker website, which further supports aid effectiveness by providing information to inform other donors' spending decisions.
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