Speeches by Harding.

“Do you know what balance that is between the in‑country refugee costs going down and GNI going up? Do you know how that is?”

“Can I also ask another question? Coming back to priorities, I noticed also that there was a decline in spend on the eradication of poverty. From what you have just said about the Minister’s priorities—and, again, we can ask her when she comes—is it your expectation that the objectives for development are going to be on…”

“I think that there was a decline from 2019 in aid to least developed countries, which went significantly down, as you would expect, in 2021, but then continued to go down into 2023.”

“Between extreme poverty and the middle income countries, yes, so there was less spend there.”

“The eradication of extreme poverty will be a continued objective under this Government.”

“Can I pick up on that point? In your highest pay quartile, the gender distribution is about 10% apart between men and women. It is not unique to you. It happens across industry and it is usually because women are leaving to have children and then not coming back into the top echelons. What are you doing to encourage th…”

“I am coming back to the point you made that your partners and in-country deliverers had digested the news that we were back down to 0.5% rather than 0.7%. My worry is, therefore, that there is no push to get back to what is a statutory target of 0.7%. Is that your feeling, too? Are we stuck at 0.5%?”

“Part of the £22 billion black hole was actually ODA spend on in-country refugee costs. The figure was £2.6 billion. I am interested in how the 0.5% of GNI was arrived at. You, the Chancellor and the Prime Minister vigorously resisted the two fiscal tests in Parliament when they were proposed by the last Conservative Go…”

“Do not you feel that if two issues are of such critical importance, they should have their own Ministers?”

“Turning to money, Minister, were you satisfied with the ODA settlement in the autumn Budget?”

“It is not a question on the circumstances; it is a question on the fiscal conditions that the Government have chosen to use to set the 0.5% and not yet get to the 0.7%. How did you arrive at that 0.56% that we are at currently and where is the ambition to get to the 0.7%?”

“That is right.”

“They are rules that you vigorously opposed, as did the Prime Minister and the Chancellor.”

“I want to talk about the ambition. This is something that we spoke to the officials about. The rhetoric does not seem to match the fiscal rules adoption, but we will leave fiscal rules to one side for a moment. Given that there has been a UK aid cut, how will you meet your ambitions to reset the UK in the development s…”

“I wanted to come back to your point. If I may push it, have the UK laid out any consequences or planned any consequences to UNWRA being unable to operate anymore in three weeks’ time? Similarly, is the Minister or are the Government having any bilateral conversations with other countries about this?”

“To push you on the separation between the two, has that meant a loss of focus for the development part of it? For example, is it subsumed by perhaps UK commercial interests and has that focus gone?”

“On that, I visited Kenya early last year. Two people involved in international development, in aid work in Kenya, said to me, “We miss the British”. One of them was American and one was local. Is that because of brand? Is that because of capability, as you have outlined, or is that because of money?”

“On that, I visited Kenya early last year. Two people involved in international development, in aid work in Kenya, said to me, “We miss the British”. One of them was American and one was local. Is that because of brand? Is that because of capability, as you have outlined, or is that because of money?”

“Nick, ODA has been cut again for the 2024-25 budget to £13.7 billion, which is a reduction of £1.6 billion from the total 2023 ODA spend. Where will the impact of this reduction be felt?”

“I am pleased that the Prime Minister recently met UNRWA’s Commissioner-General Lazzarini and pledged further funding, but in three weeks legislation to ban UNRWA will come into force. Lazzarini has said that “dismantling UNRWA will collapse the United Nations’ humanitarian response” in Gaza and that the “entire populat…”