Written questions by Bedford.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how his Department (a) tracks and (b) reports on the use of UK foreign aid funds in (a) Bangladesh and (b) other countries with known corruption risks; and what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that funds are not (i) diverted and (ii) misappropriated.

The official source of data on UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) spend (commonly referred to as foreign aid spend) is the Accredited Official Statistics publication "Statistics on International Development: Final UK Aid Spend" which includes a breakdown of bilateral ODA by benefitting country, including Bangladesh. The data is also reported to the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) in line with our obligations as a DAC member.The FCDO has a low appetite for fraud risks. This reflects our willingness to only accept the risks necessary for effective delivery, given our commitment to managing public money well. We take our responsibilities on counter-fraud seriously, and we expect our external partners to do the same.To help ensure that our ODA funding reaches its intended recipients, the FCDO maintains high standards of programme delivery and risk management. This includes, but is not limited to, maintaining clear audit trails, investigating suspicions or credible allegations of fraud, bribery, and corruption, maintaining financial oversight of programmes, and carrying out formal reviews of programmes to ensure that UK funds are being used for the purposes intended. The FCDO ensures that our delivery partners have robust fraud policies in place, and our due diligence assessments cover their ability to manage downstream partners.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many employee settlement agreements there were in his Department in each year since 2020; and what the total value of such agreements is.

Since 2020 the FCDO has agreed 26 employee settlements totalling circa £1.921 million.YearNumber of Settlements2020420215202262023620245Total26All settlements are made with robust legal advice and following a value for money assessment.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the extent of the involvement of teachers working in schools run by the UN Relief and Works Agency with Hamas; and whether any UK funding of th

We were appalled by the allegations that United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) staff were involved in the 7 October attacks against Israel. The Secretary-General and the Commissioner General of UNRWA took t...

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his polices of reports that UNRWA staff members were named as Hamas operatives planning attacks against Israel from the A

We were appalled by the allegations that United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) staff were involved in the 7 October attacks against Israel. The Secretary-General and the Commissioner General of UNRWA took t...

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of reports that United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) facilities are being used by Hamas in Gaza.

We are aware of reports of Hamas using healthcare facilities and other infrastructure, such as schools, as bases and command nodes. UNRWA has condemned the use of UN facilities by any party to the conflict for military and fighting purposes. All parties must act in accordance with International Humanitarian Law.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of reports of the misappropriation of international aid by Hamas in Gaza.

FCDO has systems in place to monitor how UK funding is safeguarded against aid diversion. Measures include rigorous due diligence assessments, thorough and regular risk management assessments, and clauses on preventing aid diversion in our Memoranda of Understandings and agreements with partners. We continuously monitor our programmes and partners, including through annual review processes. We coordinate closely with our partners and any concerns about misappropriation of aid are proactively raised to us.