UK government response to ICAI report on management of the 0.7% ODA spending target in 2020
Published 16 August 2021
© Crown copyright 2021
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-government-response-to-icai-report-on-management-of-the-07-oda-spending-target-in-2020/uk-government-response-to-icai-report-on-management-of-the-07-oda-spending-target-in-2020
The Government welcomes the Independent Commission for Aid Impact’s (ICAI) review on Management of the 0.7% ODA spending target in 2020.
In 2020 the UK spent 0.7% of our national income, equivalent to £14.5 billion in aid fighting poverty and helping those in need, despite the seismic impact of the pandemic on the UK and global economy. This included £1.4 billion to support the international effort to fight coronavirus and £1.3 billion in humanitarian assistance. Meeting our aid target in the face of a deeply uncertain and volatile economic climate shows how tightly we manage the aid budget to ensure maximum value for money.
The Government will continue to ensure that aid is spent even more effectively in 2021 to address global challenges while working in the UK’s national interest. The Government is committed to returning to 0.7% aid spending target once the fiscal situation allows.
Recommendation 1
To inform decision making on ODA spend throughout the year, departments responsible for managing UK ODA should use a range of GNI forecasts, calculated by a range of methods and provided by a number of reliable economic commentators (including, though not limited to, the OBR).
UK government response: agree
HM Treasury and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office do, as standard, consider a range of GNI forecasts and outturn data to inform decision making on ODA spend throughout the year.
Recommendation 2
FCDO should build options for flexing spend into country portfolios and plans, incorporating programme activities that could be scaled up or down in response to external shock, with minimal impact on value for money.
UK government response: agree
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office does build flexibility into our country plans and portfolios, including through large scale humanitarian programmes. For example, some humanitarian programmes can be scaled up rapidly to respond to changing circumstances on the ground or changes in Gross National Income (GNI) or fluctuations in spend by other government departments.
These offer good value for money and can be mobilised rapidly to respond to unmet humanitarian need. We are also developing ways to increase flexibility in other types of spend. For example, using break clauses in our contracts give us the opportunity to re-evaluate and adjust accordingly and considerable progress has been made in developing contract models to support flexible and adaptive programmes addressing complex, multi-dimensional development challenges.