Within the last two weeks, the UK Government has published two sets of data providing information on how the Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) budget is being spent, confirming huge increases in the amount of being spent domestically within the UK.
In a statement to parliament made on the 30th March, Andrew Mitchell set out the 2022-23 and 2023-24 Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) bilateral allocations, which was followed up today on 6th April with the Statistics on International Development: Provisional UK Aid Spend 2022, published by FCDO. You can read an in-depth reaction from Bond here.
Frances Guy, Chief Executive of Scotland’s International Development Alliance said:
“Today’s figures show that in 2022 the UK spent three times more on support in the UK than it did on humanitarian support elsewhere, and more than bilateral development aid to Africa and Asia combined. Of course, all refugees fleeing persecution and conflict should be supported, but this should not be at the expense of others in need elsewhere. The International Development Committee have previously noted that the UK is the only G7 country counting domestic support to Ukrainian refugees towards overseas development assistance (ODA). These figures demonstrate the reality of that decision. We remain concerned that reducing aid spending in lower-income countries while increasing spending in the UK does nothing to tackle systemic causes of global instability and injustice.
Andrew Mitchell, Minister for Development and Africa, had already indicated that the 23/24 financial year will be tough for development assistance. These figures show just how difficult it will be for the UK to meet its commitments to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals globally by 2030. To overcome global injustice a return to 0.7 % GNI for ODA (spent overseas) is a minimum requirement.”