Before funding is committed and disbursed to any partners, we ensure that due diligence and value for money considerations are carried out in line with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office programme operating framework. We also monitor effectiveness through our general programme oversight including annual reviews, partner engagement, and monitoring visits to scrutinise performance. Our business cases and annual review processes consider the risks to and around our Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) support.

The Hon Member can find details of all UK Official Development Assistance spending in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's (FCDO) annual accounts, or in the annual statistics on international development published on GOV.UK.

Decisions on allocations of Official Development Assistance for the next three years are currently under consideration, and will be announced in the usual way.

The UK Government takes these allegations seriously and expects the UN to investigate these claims. We continue to support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East's (UNRWA) work on reform and implementation of the Colonna Report to ensure they meet the highest standards on neutrality and integrity. The UK remains committed to supporting the humanitarian needs of Palestinian refugees, while ensuring that aid does not contribute to incitement or extremism. In line with the approach taken by most other Member States, the UK has conducted extensive due diligence and are satisfied that UNRWA adequately manage UK funds.

The UK is clear that countries should not sell arms or provide financial assistance to the Myanmar military regime as this will only lead to greater instability and violence. UK sanctions include a comprehensive arms embargo on Myanmar. We note that in resolution 2669 (2022) UN Security Council members, including China and Russia, expressed deep concern at all forms of violence across Myanmar and attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure. Despite this, we are aware of reports of ongoing support to the military regime. The UK has been clear with partners, in public and in private, that it is unacceptable to sell arms to the Myanmar military.

The UK and Morocco share concern about the security and development issues faced by Sahelian countries. In the Sahel, the UK provided £177 million in bilateral Official Developmental Assistance in the financial year ending in 2025, including £46 million on health, £83 million on humanitarian, and £12 million on promoting stability and conflict prevention. UK embassies and aid programmes in Mali, Niger, Chad and Mauritania and aid programmes in Burkina Faso promote UK interests and seek to address the root causes of recurrent crises in the Sahel, working with international partners including Morocco. The UK's continued engagement and humanitarian aid helps reduce instability in the Sahel and impact on neighbouring states including Morocco and manage threats to our national security.

The Foreign Secretary has not had direct discussions with his US counterpart specifically regarding the Guttmacher Institute's publication on the impact of cuts to US foreign assistance funding on Family Planning initiatives. However, the UK is actively assessing the broader implications of the US funding cuts across various development sectors.

We are currently working to assess the implications of the US funding pause across development sectors, geographic regions and multilateral organisations. We are gathering information and working with other donor partners to share analysis of the pause.

We are currently working to assess the implications of the US funding pause across development sectors, geographic regions and multilateral organisations. We are gathering information and working with other donor partners to share analysis of the pause before making any decisions.

We are currently working to assess the implications of the US funding pause across development sectors, geographic regions and multilateral organisations. We are gathering information and working with other donor partners to share analysis of the pause before making any decisions.

All government spending is approved by Parliament in the Budget. There are no plans to introduce new legislation for ODA spending.

To support effective programme delivery, the publicly available FCDO Programme Operating Framework sets out the mandatory rules and the principles, controls, roles, and responsibilities for programme teams. We ensure delivery represents value for money by measuring and assessing programmes throughout their lifecycle and will work with the Independent Commission for Aid Impact to apply the highest standards to our ODA spend, including robust measures of development effectiveness.

The UK is a champion of media freedom and proud member of the Media Freedom Coalition. We are deeply concerned by restrictions on media freedom in Pakistan and regularly raise this issue at the highest levels. I underlined the importance of upholding freedom of information when I met Pakistan's Human Rights Minister on 19 November, and discussed the safety of journalists in Parliament on 28 November. We will continue to advocate for improved legislation and stronger institutions to enable a free and independent media and ensure the safety of journalists.

This is a matter for the US. Progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals requires collective action, and the UK will continue to work with all international partners toward that vision. The UK's commitment to supporting both humanitarian aid and development across the world remains steadfast.

The official source of data on UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) spend (commonly referred to as foreign aid spend) is the Accredited Official Statistics publication "Statistics on International Development: Final UK Aid Spend" which includes a breakdown of bilateral ODA by benefitting country, including Bangladesh. The data is also reported to the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) in line with our obligations as a DAC member.

The FCDO has a low appetite for fraud risks. This reflects our willingness to only accept the risks necessary for effective delivery, given our commitment to managing public money well. We take our responsibilities on counter-fraud seriously, and we expect our external partners to do the same.

To help ensure that our ODA funding reaches its intended recipients, the FCDO maintains high standards of programme delivery and risk management. This includes, but is not limited to, maintaining clear audit trails, investigating suspicions or credible allegations of fraud, bribery, and corruption, maintaining financial oversight of programmes, and carrying out formal reviews of programmes to ensure that UK funds are being used for the purposes intended. The FCDO ensures that our delivery partners have robust fraud policies in place, and our due diligence assessments cover their ability to manage downstream partners.

China does not publish comprehensive data on its development finance to other countries. A white paper on "China's International Development Cooperation in the New Era" (https://english.www.gov.cn/archive/whitepaper/202101/10/content_WS5ffa6bbbc6d0f72576943922.html), published by the Chinese Government in January 2021, provides some information about China's foreign assistance between 2013 to 2018. A number of research institutions also compile information on Chinese development finance and other aid, including AidData (https://www.aiddata.org/data/aiddatas-global-chinese-development-finance-dataset-version-2-0) and the China-Africa Research Initiative (http://www.sais-cari.org/).

UK sanctions have been coordinated with international allies to impose severe cost on Putin and his regime. We are acting together, as our collective impact is greater than the sum of its parts. Russia seeks to have economic, diplomatic and industrial relations with a very wide range of countries. We assess that these will be severely impacted by Russia's aggressive and unlawful actions against Ukraine.

The world is watching what China chooses to say and do in response to Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. We have been clear that if China wants to be seen as a responsible global actor, it should take concrete steps to show that it does not support Russia's actions. We continue to engage at all levels to urge China to use its relationship with Russia to contribute to peace and stability, and not to fuel aggression.