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Estimates Day Debate: Spending of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

One of Parliament’s longest standing functions is the consideration and authorisation of the government’s spending plans, requiring the government to obtain parliamentary consent before spending public money. Estimates, sometimes known as Supply Estimates, are the documents presented to Parliament setting out the government’s plans for spending for a given year. The process of obtaining Parliamentary approval to those plans is known as Supply. With a few specific exceptions, the government is required to obtain authority from Parliament through the supply process before it can spend public money.

Following the debate, the House will vote on whether to approve the Supplementary Estimate for the FCDO for 2024/25.

UK aid spending currently stands at 0.5% of gross national income, down from the 0.7% level of 2013 to 2020, and totalled £15.3 billion in 2023. The government intends to increase bilateral aid spending in 2024/25 and reduce the value of aid spent on in-donor refugee costs, which represented 28% of spending in 2023.

In February 2025, the government announced that from 2027 spending would be reduced further to 0.3% of GNI, to fund increased defence spending. The aid budget would total around £9.2 billion in 2027, on current GNI estimates. The government says Ukraine, Sudan, Gaza, global health and climate change will be areas for continued UK aid work. The International Development Committee Chair criticised the reduction, as have several charities and NGOs.

The Commons Library Insights, UK to reduce aid to 0.3% of GNI from 2027 and The UK and international development: global issues for 2025, have more on the global context of aid and UK decision in February 2025.

This briefing provides background to the debate, including on the estimates process, spending by the department, UK policy on aid and “soft power”, and related parliamentary and media material.