Written question asked by Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Baroness Verma (Conservative) on Wednesday, 25 May 2011.

Poverty

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any international development funding is provided to support science and technologies in the United Kingdom in order to maximise their potential contribution to relieving global poverty.

Answer: The legal basis for our work is the International Development Act (2002). This requires us to make sure that aid is likely to contribute to reducing poverty and under the act our aid is not tied to British goods and services. British organisations are, however, eligible to bid for the funding we provide and in 2009-10, the last year for which figures are available, 44 per cent of the Department for International Development's (DfID's) central research funds were awarded to UK institutions.

Secondary information