Baroness Kennedy of Cradley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2016-09-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the procedures and priorities to agree the spending of public money on international aid are the same across all government departments, and if there are differences, what they are.

Lord Young of Cookham

The allocation of Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding was agreed at the 2015 Spending Review in line with the strategic objectives set out in the UK aid strategy. Departments spending ODA are required to demonstrate how they are using rigorous evidence to underpin spending decisions. There must be clear lines of accountability for all ODA projects, and project performance must be regularly assessed. Poor performing programmes will be closed and funds redeployed. In addition, all ODA spend is subject to scrutiny by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact.

Spending on ODA is also subject to the principles of sound financial management set out in ‘Managing Public Money’. Within these constraints departments have discretion over how they organise, direct and manage the resources at their disposal.