It is estimated that access to safely managed water services in Sub-Saharan Africa increased from 30 per cent in 2020 to 32 per cent in 2024, supported by overseas development assistance from the UK, other individual countries, and multilateral organisations, as well as the vital work of many NGOs.

At the same time, the population in sub-Saharan Africa increased from 1,094 billion to 1,391 billion. This means that an estimated 117 million additional people gained access to safely managed drinking water services over this period.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) actively monitors and manages fraud, bribery, corruption and error risks across its Official Development Assistance (ODA) portfolio through a range of controls, reporting mechanisms and ongoing risk assessments. Available estimates in this area can be found in the section on fraud at pages 167-169 of the FCDO's 2024/25 Annual Report and Accounts, and in equivalent sections in previous years' reports.

We plan to make an estimated contribution of £23 million to the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) this financial year.

Nigeria's rapid population growth will put additional pressures on areas such as healthcare, education and food security. FCDO's Official Development Allowance allocations are regularly reviewed to respond to changing global needs and decisions are informed by a range of data and information sources, including poverty levels, humanitarian need, geopolitical prioritisation and the ability of a country to make effective use of aid and to self-finance poverty reduction.

In 2021, during the UK COP26 Presidency, the World Bank Group made a commitment to fully align its sovereign operations with the Paris Agreement by 1 July 2023, and non-sovereign operations by 1 July 2025. In March this year the World Bank published a comprehensive set of methodologies and sector notes detailing its approach to Paris alignment. Since 1 July, all projects are assessed for Paris alignment. While the Bank is still in the early stages of implementation, HMG is confident that the Bank is implementing a rigorous process and is applying oversight through its seat on the Board.

The UK has been a longstanding supporter of the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) which has reached millions of vulnerable people throughout Ethiopia and has helped to promote resilience to drought. In January this year I [Minister Andrew Mitchell] announced a package of support to the PSNP budgeted at £11.6 million. This will reach 250,000 people living in extreme poverty.

As a member of the Donor Working Group responsible for overseeing PSNP the UK is working with the Government of Ethiopia and other donors to track programme performance against agreed aims.

HMG considers the Taiwan issue one to be settled peacefully by the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait through constructive dialogue. However, we remain concerned by any action which raises tensions and risks destabilising the status quo.

We are deeply concerned about the devastating locust outbreak in East Africa. It is destroying crops, livelihoods and essential food supplies.

UK aid is helping to tackle this outbreak though the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). The CERF has released £7.5 million to the UN Food and Agriculture Office (FAO) Locust Appeal. Our support is having an immediate impact, with UK aid backed funding, the FAO is spraying pesticides on the ground and by air to prevent further damage to crops and protect livelihoods.

DFID’s existing humanitarian and development programming in the region is working to address current food insecurity and poverty challenges and is ready to flex to respond to this crisis. We continue to monitor the situation closely and stand ready to help further.

As rising temperatures due to climate change make such events across Africa more likely, we are also helping communities adapt longer term to climate shocks.

For each of the last five years the impact of DFID’s work has been set out in the Departmental Annual Reports and Accounts. The DFID Annual Report and Accounts 2017-2018 also shows the results achieved during the period April 2015 to March 2018. In that period, UK Official Development Assistance reached 26.8 million people with humanitarian assistance and supported 40.3 million people to access clean water and/or better sanitation. Between January 2015 and December 2017, it supported the immunisation of approximately 37.4 million children, saving an estimated 610,000 lives. We are committed to improving the effectiveness and transparency of UK aid to ensure we are attaining maximum impact from our aid budget. The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) has the remit to provide independent scrutiny of the impact and value for money of all UK Government aid spending and reports its finding to Parliament’s International Development Committee.

The government’s commitment to spend 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI) on Official Development Assistance is measured on a calendar year basis. To meet this commitment, ODA budgets are routinely adjusted at fiscal events in response to changing forecasts. The most recent GNI forecasts are available in the Office for Budgetary Responsibility’s October 2018 Economic and Fiscal Outlook and can be found in the Economy supplementary tables.

That is absolutely correct. It is not just fraud and corruption and making sure that our programmes are delivering for the people who need them; we also need to help developing nations to crack down on other fraud and corruption going on. There is no point in us putting aid money into or lending money to countries when more of that money is leaving those countries every year.

The Millennium Development Goal targets for clean water in sub-Saharan Africa were not met by the 2015 deadline. Between 2015 and 2018, DFID supported 17.5 million people in Africa to access clean water and/or better sanitation. For example, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, over 2.7 million people gained access to clean water with DFID’s support between 2015 and 2018. In Ethiopia, DFID supported 1.9 million people to access clean water and/or better sanitation.

The UK is part of the international effort to provide critical humanitarian and development support to the civilian population in Gaza. DFID is aware of a small number of minor irregularities in UK official development assistance spending on bilateral programmes in Gaza in the last two years. There are inherent risks to delivering aid in Gaza, which is why the UK has stringent controls in place to prevent the diversion of aid and only works with organisations that have a strong track record of delivering humanitarian aid in difficult places. We take immediate and strong action when any irregularities are reported and work closely with partners to prevent future cases. We do not disclose individual case details to protect the integrity of investigations, anonymity of informants and help ensure that we can get the best deal for the UK taxpayer through recovery of funds.

In Gaza, our rigorous controls include: monitoring spending closely; mapping the flow of funds through each organisation involved in delivery; regular audits of programme spending; and field visits. These all enable us to deliver critical assistance to people in need whilst protecting UK taxpayers’ money. Additionally, DFID aid complies with UK and international counter terrorism legislation and our funding agreements commit partners to understand and comply with international counter terrorism legislation.

The government’s commitment to spend 0.7% of Gross National Income on Official Development Assistance is measured on a calendar year rather than a financial year basis, according to the standards set by the OECD Development Assistance Committee. The cost of meeting the 0.7% commitment in the next calendar year will be dependent upon GNI forecasts, which will be published by the Office for Budget Responsibility at the Autumn Budget.

I absolutely agree with the issues the hon. Gentleman raises. We are learning from the first wave of applications to the small charities fund. I would like to make it less bureaucratic, more nimble and open to even smaller organisations.

DFID has a zero-tolerance approach to fraud and has robust controls to prevent the diversion of aid. In Gaza: DFID monitors spending closely; maps the flow of funds through each organisation involved in delivery, regularly audits programme spending; and conducts regular field visits to ensure that UK aid reaches the intended beneficiaries and achieves the best development outcomes, thereby ensuring value for money for the UK taxpayer. Additionally, DFID aid complies with UK and international counter terrorism legislation and our funding agreements commit partners to understand and comply with international counter terrorism legislation.

They will indeed be able to avail themselves of the fund, provided that their annual income is less than £250,000 and provided that they are working in one of the 50 poorest countries in the world. Larger charities can apply to other sources of funding.

The government has committed to spend 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI) on Official Development Assistance (ODA) in each calendar year. Spend on ODA next year will therefore reflect GNI forecasts published by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) on 22 November. According to the latest available data, UK spend on ODA in 2016 was £13.3 billion.

Of course Aung San Suu Kyi has an important role to play. She has a voice, and she needs to use it to stop the persecution and, with the Burmese military and with what is effectively her Government, to create routes home for the Rohingya people, giving them security, rather than the fleeing and persecution we have seen. It is not just for the British Government, although we are doing this, but for all international voices to step up, come together and make that abundantly clear to her.

This is available in the Office for Budgetary Responsibility’s March 2017 Economic and Fiscal Outlook, and can be found in Table 1.2 of the Economy supplementary tables. http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/download/march-2017-economic-and-fiscal-outlook-supplementary-economy-tables/