9th Report - Future of UK aid and development assistance: interim report

Key findings

• The government plans to shift more ODA through multilateral organisations but has not set out how to ensure this aligns with its stated principles or maintains UK influence and accountability.
• FCDO 2030 restructuring anticipates staffing reductions of 15–25% before clarity on budgets and policy, risking loss of expertise needed to oversee multilateral reform and maintain diplomatic leadership.
• In-country FCDO missions lack the autonomy and local expertise to respond to partner needs; missions need adequate bilateral funding, independence to approve central programmes, and access to thematic and geographic expertise.
• The committee disagrees with the Development Minister's assessment of ICAI's performance and cautions against rapid decisions on its future without full comparison of alternatives.
• Spending decisions must prioritise fragile and conflict-affected states, climate-vulnerable countries, women and girls' rights, and marginalised groups; interconnected development challenges require holistic, flexible approaches.

Recommendations

• Commission a multilateral development review by end of 2026 to assess the performance of multilateral organisations the UK supports and align spending with stated principles.
• Improve communication on multilateral programmes: work with multilateral partners on a communication plan and urgently improve public accessibility of multilateral spending data.
• Conduct an upfront skills audit to assess staffing required to oversee and support multilateral reform; retain and build this capacity under FCDO 2030.
• Ensure sufficient bilateral ODA is earmarked for in-country programmes overseen by FCDO missions; undertake thorough review of Centrally Managed Programmes to give missions strategic autonomy and expertise.
• Provide missions access to in-house thematic and geographic expertise both in-country and in the UK, with local staff vital for effective projects.
• Provide details on how poverty reduction will remain prioritised during department restructuring.
• Pause FCDO 2030 processes until completion of: structured workforce assessment presented as a Workforce Plan, skills audit and equalities impact assessment, and assessment of ODA programming impact on the extreme poor.
• Maintain full funding for ICAI; base any future decision on assessment of existing arrangements compared against alternatives; keep Committee fully appraised of government's work on ICAI's future.
• Prioritise fragile and conflict-affected states and climate-vulnerable countries in ODA allocations; ensure resources support local empowerment and preventative action.
• Retain centralised and local gender expertise and gender-specific bilateral funding to empower marginalised groups in decision-making and support women and girls' rights.
• Maintain flexibility within global health, climate and nature priorities to address interconnected challenges (nutrition, food systems, education, WASH, governance) and respond to partner needs.

Key actors

Sarah Champion (Committee Chair), Baroness Chapman (Minister of State for International Development), Melinda Bohannon (Director General, Humanitarian and Development, FCDO), Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI), Bond, Overseas Development Institute (ODI)