Written questions by Morton.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what consultation his Department has conducted with women's rights or women-led organisations on the decision to reduce Official Development Assistance.

At this time of profound change, with conflicts overseas undermining security and prosperity at home, the Prime Minister has taken the decision to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product from 2027, funded by reducing Official Development Assistance to 0.3 per cent of gross national income.We are currently working through the details of the Prime Minister's announcement, including engagement with a range of stakeholders.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 28 April 2025 to Question 47234 on Anzhelika Melnikava, whether he has had recent discussions with his international counterparts on the reported disappearance of Anzhelika Melnikava and her daughters.

As previously stated, I am concerned by reports of Angelika Melnikova's disappearance. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office officials continue to follow the case closely. Our understanding is that her daughters are currently in Belarus with their father. As the situation regarding the circumstances of Ms Melnikova's disappearance remain unclear, I have not raised this with international counterparts.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to make an assessment of the impact of Official Development Assistance reductions on women and girls before decisions on reductions are made.

Decisions on how the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget will be used are being worked through as part of the ongoing Spending Review, based on various factors including impact assessments. Equality Impact Assessments - which consider impacts on women and girls - are an essential part of how we make decisions on ODA allocations.The UK is committed to empowering women and girls around the world through our international work.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to support civilians in (a) Zamzam IDP camp and (b) El Fasher in Sudan to reach safety.

The UK is appalled by the continued violence in and around El Fasher and the Zamzam Internally Displaced Person camp. On 24 April, the Foreign Secretary issued a statement highlighting the unacceptable levels of civilian harm and called on the warring parties to urgently de-escalate. The Foreign Secretary also stated that the UK will continue to use all tools available to hold those responsible for atrocities to account. Through our ongoing humanitarian programme in Sudan the UK is supporting Emergency Response Rooms who play an integral role in identifying safe areas and exit routes for civilians from combat zones and coordinating their transportation options.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to help ensure that the warring parties in Sudan implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 2736.

The UK continues to use all diplomatic levers at its disposal to press all parties in Sudan to comply with UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2736. Despite the disgraceful Russian veto in November 2024 of a UK-Sierra Leone led resolution to build on UNSCR 2736, the UK has continued to work with UNSC partners to galvanise Council action on Sudan. This has included securing a UNSC press statement on 17 April which called for the end of hostilities around El Fasher and full implementation of Resolution 2736.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to reduce in-donor refugee costs to meet Official Development Assistance budget allocations for (a) 2026-27 and (b) 2027-28.

The Government is committed to ensuring that asylum costs fall and has already acted. The Government has taken measures to reduce the asylum backlog, reform the asylum accommodation system to help end the use of expensive accommodation in the next Spending Review (SR) period and increase detention capacity to facilitate more asylum removals. Whilst there will always be volatility in asylum forecasts, we expect these decisions to drive down overall in-donor refugee costs over the next multi-year SR (2026/27- 2028/2029).Departmental Official Development Assistance allocations will be confirmed at the next Spending Review.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what proportion of Official Development Assistance spending will be on domestic (a) administrative and (b) staffing costs in 2025-26.

The Department estimates that the proportion of Official Development Assistance spending on domestic (a) administrative and (b) staffing costs in 2025-26 will be approximately 3 per cent and 1 per cent respectively. The staffing costs are part of the total administrative costs. These figures are indicative estimates only.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he will take to ensure UK (a) health and (b) health security is not adversely impacted by changes to (i) Official Development Assistance and (ii) the global health budget.

Decisions on how the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget will be used are being worked through as part of the ongoing Spending Review, based on various factors including impact assessments. We plan to publish final 2025/26 ODA programme allocations in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Annual Report & Accounts this summer.We continue to work across Government to strengthen global health security and to protect the health of our people in the UK. The UK's role in helping secure agreement to a Pandemic Accord at the World Health Organization last month is a good example of that collective effort.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department undertakes Child's Rights impact assessments during the development of international development policies.

As a ratifier of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UK is committed to safeguarding and promoting the rights and wellbeing of children. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) does not undertake mandatory Child Rights Impact Assessments, but it is FCDO policy to consider the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), which includes age, and Safeguarding responsibilities across our policies and investments.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 8 April 2025 to Question 39011 on Sudan: Development Aid, how much has been allocated for the 2025-26 financial year.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given to their previous Question, 47226.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to help support Gavi between 2026 and 2030.

The UK is one of the largest donors to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. We have committed £1.65 billion to the current strategic period covering 2021-2025. Following the decision to reduce UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) from 0.5% of GNI to 0.3% by 2027, we are taking a rigorous approach to ensure all ODA delivers value for money and assessing how the UK can have the greatest impact with our health investments. Announcements on individual investments will be made following the completion of the Spending Review process.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the UK’s financial commitment to Gavi for the 2026-2030 period has changed since 1 April 2025.

The UK is one of the largest donors to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. We have committed £1.65 billion to the current strategic period covering 2021-2025. Following the decision to reduce UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) from 0.5 per cent of Gross National Income to 0.3 per cent by 2027 we are taking a rigorous approach to ensure all ODA delivers value for money. Announcements on individual investments will be made following the completion of the Spending Review process.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to use the International Finance Facility for Immunisation to support Gavi’s funding needs.

The UK is one of the largest donors to Gavi and the largest contributor to the International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm). The UK has committed £1.65 billion to Gavi's current strategic period covering 2021-2025, with £590 million of that funding via IFFIm. The UK has ongoing legally binding pledges to IFFIm. Announcements on additional investments will be made following the completion of the spending review process.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Science Innovation and Technology on the role of the UK science and technology sector in global efforts to eliminate (a) malaria and (b) other tropical diseases.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology work closely on issues related to science and technology. Government collaboration with the UK's science and technology sector has been critical in developing new drugs, vaccines, and other tools to eliminate malaria and other tropical diseases.The FCDO collaborates with Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), and the Innovative Vector Control Consortium (IVCC) to tackle malaria through the development of products, supported by MMV's three and IVCC's five UK-based science partners. In developing products to eliminate other tropical diseases, the FCDO partners with Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), in collaboration with twelve additional partners across twenty-six projects. Our longstanding partnership with the Medical Research Council distributes grants for research on malaria and other tropical diseases. Undertaking applied research to address vectors for malaria, RAFT is an FCDO-funded programme led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to levels of Official Development Assistance on the number of women and girls using modern methods of family planning in recipient countries.

The UK's commitment to defending and promoting Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR), including family planning, uses multiple levers: working to influence policy, through health and development diplomacy, as well as using our Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget, to advance SRHR for all.We plan to publish final 2025/26 ODA programme allocations in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Annual Report & Accounts this summer. Decisions on how the ODA budget will be used from 2026/27 onwards will be worked through as part of the ongoing Spending Review, based on various factors including impact assessments. The UK is committed to empowering women and girls around the world through our international work.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of protecting funding for global health multilaterals, in the context of changes to levels of Official Development Assistance funding.

The UK is one of the largest donors to global health multilaterals delivering significant impact. Our £1.65bn funding to Gavi, the Vaccine Allice (2021-2025) is supporting the vaccination of 300 million children and our £1bn funding to the Global Fund for Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria (2023 - 2025) is expected to save 1.276 million lives and avert 28.25 million new infections. UK support to the World Health Organization, will enable WHO to prioritise activities that will help save over 40 million lives, improve the health of over 6 billion people, and protect an additional 7 billion people from health emergencies. This investment, alongside other international partners' support, will enable the WHO to prioritise activities that will help save over 40 million lives, improve the health of over 6 billion people, and protect an additional 7 billion people from health emergencies. Following the decision to reduce UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) from 0.5 per cent of GNI to 0.3 per cent by 2027 we are taking a rigorous approach to ensure all ODA delivers value for money. Announcements on individual investments will be made following the completion of the Spending Review process.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of (a) replenishments and (b) pledges to (i) the Global Fund and (ii) GAVI on the UK's international reputation.

The UK is one of the largest donors to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. We have committed £1.65 billion to the current strategic period covering 2021-2025. The UK is working to ensure a successful replenishment of Gavi and the Global Fund through our diplomatic and development network. The UK has been clear about the reasons for the difficult decision to reduce UK Official Development Assistance from 0.5 per cent of GNI to 0.3 per cent by 2027. Announcements on individual investments will be made following the completion of the Spending Review process.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to paragraph 2.13 of the Spring Statement 2025, published in March 2025, what his planned timetable is to introduce plans to modernise aid; and how he will engage with (a) parliamentarians and (b) civil society on those plans.

We are in the process of modernising how the UK approaches international development. Modern partnerships are about using all the levers at the UK's disposal - drawing upon UK diplomacy, trade and investment, and defence, as well as partnering with UK institutions, be that in the science and tech sector, the City of London, our universities, and beyond. As the Government makes decisions about the move to 0.3% of gross national income through the Spending Review, we will set out further plans on this.The Minister for Development met with Bond [the UK network for organisations working in international development] earlier this month to discuss a number of issues, and is committed to engaging regularly with civil society organisations. The Ministerial team regularly engages with local civil society organisations on overseas visits. Parliamentarians will be included as part of any approach to further consultation. The Minister will be setting more of this out when she appears at the International Development Committee on 13 May.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to paragraph 2.13 of the Spring Statement 2025, published in March 2025, what (a) plans he has to share progress on working with (i) the financial sector and (ii) international partners to mobilise private capital for international development and (b) benchmarks are in place to assess progress.

To strengthen links with the financial sector, the Minister of State for International Development and the Economic Secretary to the Treasury will convene an industry led Emerging Markets and Developing Economies taskforce following an industry report "The UK as a climate finance hub" to increase UK private investment for climate and development. British International Investment - the UK's Development Finance Institution (DFI) - is working with institutional investors to develop solutions through a new Mobilisation Facility [announced in September 2024]. We are also working with international partners, including the G7, G20, and through our shareholdings in the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), to reform the global financial system to unlock more finance, including through their private sector arms. We will also be reporting on our financial commitments to the Partnerships for Global Infrastructure and Investment initiative at the G7 Summit in June. To assess progress, we are working closely with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and MDBs/DFIs to report on private capital mobilisation, and through our business plan and programme annual reviews we monitor a number of outcome indicators - they can be found on Development Tracker.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he is considering amending existing (a) commitments and (b) financial pledges when determining budgets for (i) this financial year and (ii) 2026-27.

To enable us to deliver the transition to spending 0.3 per cent of Gross National Income on Official Development Assistance (ODA) effectively, in 2025/26 we are prioritising meeting legally binding commitments and delivering work already underway, as well as planned humanitarian spend. We have also established an exemptions process to allow for critical new development work to continue. Full detail is set out in the Minister for Development's 27 March letter to the International Development Committee.Decisions on how the ODA budget will be used from 2026/27 onwards are being worked through as part of the ongoing Spending Review.