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Written question asked by James McMurdock (Independent (affiliation)) on Friday, 28 August 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 2 September 2026. It was answered by Stephen Doughty (Labour) on Tuesday, 8 September 2026 on behalf of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Pakistan: Development Aid

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the British High Commission Islamabad and British Deputy High Commission Karachi article entitled UK helps over 200,000 children improve reading and numeracy in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, published on 24 August 2026, what safeguards are in place to prevent UK funding provided through that programme from being lost through (a) fraud, (b) corruption and (c) misuse.

Answer

These educational outcomes relate to the UK-funded education programme ILMpact in Pakistan, implemented by the British Council as the lead partner. The programme used a third-party firm for collection and validation of data on learning levels achieved in English, Urdu and Mathematics. This evidence points to positive learning gains with the UK's support. We used a comparison group to measure impact.

Girls accounted for 91.6 per cent of participants in the learning intervention. Around 35,000 children were brought back to school, and 125,538 children benefitted from disability inclusion initiatives.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
25819
Session
2026-27
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Corruption Development aid Maladministration Pakistan
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk