The Government is closely engaged in discussions on the proposed merger of United Nations (UN) Women and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The UK supports effective and evidence-based UN reform and remains open to merger and non-merger options, but considers that insufficient evidence has been provided to justify a merger at this time. Our priority is to ensure the most effective and efficient delivery of the important mandates of both organisations, leading to stronger outcomes for women and girls on the ground. We continue to stress that the existing mandates of UN Women and UNFPA are not up for negotiation. The UK believes that any proposal for significant structural reform should be underpinned by a robust evidence base, and we continue to ask the UN to provide the necessary analysis to inform Member State discussions. We also emphasise the importance of inclusive consultation throughout the process, including meaningful engagement with civil society.

The Government is closely engaged in discussions on the proposed merger of United Nations (UN) Women and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The UK supports effective and evidence-based UN reform and remains open to merger and non-merger options, but considers that insufficient evidence has been provided to justify a merger at this time. Our priority is to ensure the most effective and efficient delivery of the important mandates of both organisations, leading to stronger outcomes for women and girls on the ground. We continue to stress that the existing mandates of UN Women and UNFPA are not up for negotiation. The UK believes that any proposal for significant structural reform should be underpinned by a robust evidence base, and we continue to ask the UN to provide the necessary analysis to inform Member State discussions. We also emphasise the importance of inclusive consultation throughout the process, including meaningful engagement with civil society.

The Government is closely engaged in discussions on the proposed merger of United Nations (UN) Women and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The UK supports effective and evidence-based UN reform and remains open to merger and non-merger options, but considers that insufficient evidence has been provided to justify a merger at this time. Our priority is to ensure the most effective and efficient delivery of the important mandates of both organisations, leading to stronger outcomes for women and girls on the ground. We continue to stress that the existing mandates of UN Women and UNFPA are not up for negotiation. The UK believes that any proposal for significant structural reform should be underpinned by a robust evidence base, and we continue to ask the UN to provide the necessary analysis to inform Member State discussions. We also emphasise the importance of inclusive consultation throughout the process, including meaningful engagement with civil society.

I refer the Noble Baroness to the answer provided on 23 January 2025 to Question HL3786.

The UK Government previously agreed to provide the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Supplies Partnership with £425 million from 2020 - 2025. This was later reduced following reductions in Overseas Development Assistance spend in 2021 to £264 million from 2020-2025. We are, however, still the largest donor to UNFPA Supplies and we are supporting supplies in additional ways such as through market shaping.

The UK Government has disbursed £204 million and is on track to disburse the final £60 million payment next financial year. The programme closes in March 2025.

In 2019, the UK pledged £425 million to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Supplies Partnership (not £785 million)

Following the signing of its first agreement, the UK disbursed £65 million in 2020 as planned. The UK signed a second agreement in 2020 to provide the remaining £360 million from 2020-2025 but this was reduced in 2021 following reductions in ODA spending. We are currently providing £60 million a year to UNFPA Supplies Programme.

Payments can be found on DevTracker: https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/projects/GB-GOV-1-300713/documents.

As the answer to Question 187040 made clear, no UK overseas development assistance funds forced or coercive abortions in China. We have a stringent due diligence process in our programming and partnerships to ensure our sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) interventions are rights-based, voluntary and legal. We expect and have full confidence in our partners, including International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), to align with this approach.

No UK overseas development assistance funds forced or coercive abortions in China. The UK proudly defends and promotes universal and comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) globally, providing international aid to trusted multilateral organisations such as International and Planned Parenthood Federation and United Nations Family Planning Association to help deliver this important work and help people, especially women and girls, have control of their bodies. We have a stringent due diligence process in our programming and partnerships to ensure our SRHR interventions are rights-based, voluntary and legal. We expect and have full confidence in our partners to align with this approach.

Our funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Supplies is as follows:

Sources:

2022 - DevTracker Programme GB-GOV-1-300713 Transactions (fcdo.gov.uk)

2021 to 2017 - Statistics on International Development: final UK aid spend 2021

2016 to 2013 Statistics on International Development: final UK aid spend 2017

The UK is committed to promoting and defending comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and to working with our partners to drive progress. Family planning is an important part of our programming on reproductive health. At the 2017 Family Planning Summit, the UK committed to spend an average of £225 million on family planning each year to 2022. The UK has exceeded that commitment, spending an average of approximately £246 million on family planning every year between April 2017 and March 2022. The UK continue to be an important partner and significant funder of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The FCDO works closely with HM Treasury to ensure that aid spend is directed towards our priorities in line with the International Development Strategy, meeting the UK Government's commitment to spend 0.5% of Gross National Income (GNI) on Official Development Assistance until the fiscal situation allows a return to 0.7%. Comprehensive SRHR is integral to achieving the commitments in the International Development Strategy on women and girls and global health.

Table 1 shows the volume of UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) spending that has been disbursed to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in each of the last five years.

Part of the UK's ODA spending to UNFPA is unearmarked funding which is pooled with other donors' funding and disbursed as part of the UNFPA's core budget.

The other part of UK ODA flows through UNFPA as bilateral ODA, where UNFPA is acting as the delivery partner for UK bilateral aid programmes i.e. those where the funding is earmarked for a specific purpose or fund.

Source: Statistics on International Development

Details of Official Development Assistance (ODA) contributions to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) from 2018 to 2020 are published by calendar year in the "Statistics on International Development (SID): final UK aid spend 2020 - Data underlying the SID publication" annex table under "Channel of delivery" here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistics-on-international-development-final-uk-aid-spend-2020. Smaller partner organisations like IPPF are currently grouped under the "International NGO" label in the SID tables.

However, all ODA contributions to partner organisations are published - within a few months - on the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) under UK aid programmes details. IATI data is fully accessible via multiple platforms such as https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/ or https://d-portal.org/.

The impact of the pandemic on the UK economy forced us to take tough decisions. Global health remains a priority and we continue to be a major investor. The Foreign Secretary has committed to prioritising ODA funding levels for women and girls, and the UK remains strongly committed to championing comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) globally. This is demonstrated through the UK's recent payment of £60 million to the United Nations Population Fund's (UNFPA) Supplies Partnership Programme for financial year April 2022 - April 2023.

Comprehensive SRHR (including safe abortion) is a central pillar to achieving the UK Government's manifesto commitment to end the preventable deaths of mothers, babies and children by 2030. On 14 December 2021, we published the Ending Preventable Deaths of Mothers, Babies and Children Approach Paper: our strategy to strengthen countries' own ability to deliver life-saving maternal, and child health services.

We are restoring funding for women and girls to pre-Official Development Assistance cut levels over the Spending Review period, focusing on giving more girls a quality education; ending the extremely harmful practice of female genital mutilation, supporting girls' health; and ending the abhorrent use of sexual violence around the world.

The UK is firmly committed to defending comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) globally - this includes family planning and maternal health, both central to the empowerment of women and girls. Any funding for SRHR will contribute to UK objectives to improve the lives of women and girls across the world. No decisions on funding to individual organisations have been made to date. This will be worked through as part of the FCDO's Business and Country Planning process over the coming months. Following the Spending Review, decisions on allocations and individual programmes will be published in the usual way.

The seismic impact of the pandemic on the UK economy has forced us to make tough but necessary decisions, including temporarily reducing the amount we spend on foreign aid.

The UK's aid budget has been allocated in accordance with our key strategic priorities and after a cross-government review of how we spend ODA. The Foreign Secretary has agreed he will focus our investment and expertise where the UK can make the most difference and achieve maximum impact. We are now working with partners to help them assess and manage the impact of UK funding reductions on individual programmes and we will share further details on this in due course. In the meantime, let me reassure you that the UK remains a proud partner to UNFPA and a global champion of sexual and reproductive health and rights.

We will maintain a broad range of sexual and reproductive health and rights programmes including in family planning. We will do this through programmes such as the Global Financing Facility, Reproductive Health Supplies and our support to FP2030.

The seismic impact of the pandemic on the UK economy has forced us to make tough but necessary decisions, including temporarily reducing the amount we spend on foreign aid.

The UK's aid budget has been allocated in accordance with our key strategic priorities and after a cross-government review of how we spend ODA. The Foreign Secretary has agreed he will focus our investment and expertise where the UK can make the most difference and achieve maximum impact. We are now working with partners to help them assess and manage the impact of UK funding reductions on individual programmes and we will share further details on this in due course. In the meantime, let me reassure you that the UK remains a proud partner to UNFPA and a global champion of sexual and reproductive health and rights.

We will maintain a broad range of sexual and reproductive health and rights programmes including in family planning. We will do this through programmes such as the Global Financing Facility, Reproductive Health Supplies and our support to FP2030.

The seismic impact of the pandemic on the UK economy has forced us to make tough but necessary decisions, including temporarily reducing the amount we spend on foreign aid. We are now working through the implications of this change for individual programmes so I am unable to comment on the UK's funding to UNFPA at this time.

The UK's aid budget has been allocated in accordance with our key strategic priorities. Standalone impact assessments were not carried out for individual programmes given the multiple overlapping scenarios, but officials carefully considered the impact of all funding decisions when developing advice to Ministers. We are now working with partners to help them assess and manage the impact of UK funding reductions on individual programmes and we will share further details on this in due course.

The UK Government has committed £10 million of UK aid to UNFPA in support of its global COVID-19 appeal, through the Global Humanitarian Response Plan. Through the appeal, UNFPA will address the needs of women and girls impacted by COVID-19, including strengthening health systems to deliver sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence services, and plugging gaps in the availability of SRH supplies caused by coronavirus.

It is anticipated that all funding received from both the UK Government and other donors will be fully utilised by 31 December 2020, in line with the current appeal. DFID welcomes the vital role that NGOs will continue to play in service delivery through multilaterals, and we are pleased that some UN agencies, such as UNFPA, are seeking to simplify their processes for NGO partners to help ensure funding reaches them more swiftly. We will be working with the UN and DFID’s country offices to understand, improve and track eventual flows to NGOs in-country.