The Law Officers’ Convention requires that it is not generally disclosed outside Government whether I have been asked to provide advice or the contents of any such advice. This is a longstanding principle of Cabinet collective agreement which enables the Government of the day to obtain frank and full legal advice in confidence.

The full unredacted report is held at The National Archives under file reference FCO 75/1. This file was transferred to The National Archives under the terms of the Public Records Act and is publicly available to be viewed.

This letter is already in the Library. It was placed there in 1994 as part of the evidence to the Treasury and Civil Service Select Committee.

The UK government take issues of fraud and sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment extremely seriously. As set out in DFID funding agreements with all partners, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) has a clear obligation to report incidents to us.

Over the past year, IPPF’s Director General and IPPF’s Safeguarding Unit have taken significant steps to strengthen their internal systems and to shift culture at the organisation so that people feel safer and more able to report wrongdoing. Action taken by IPPF includes a Safeguarding Taskforce to review and improve overall processes; IPPF’s first employee engagement survey; a set of best-practice safeguarding policies and procedures, including an Independent Complaints Panel; an IPPF SafeReport, which provides a safe space for anyone – including staff, clients, volunteers or member of the public – to raise concerns.

We continue to regularly review IPPF against our high standards for safeguarding, whistleblowing, risk, governance and code of conduct, and we conduct regular assessments of their safeguarding procedures. In addition to recent safeguarding reforms, IPPF is currently conducting a review of its governance system and structures, which IPPF anticipate will take around six months. During this time DFID will monitor IPPF’s governance reforms closely and regularly.

The UK government take issues of fraud and sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment extremely seriously. As set out in DFID funding agreements with all partners, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) has a clear obligation to report incidents to us.

Over the past year, IPPF’s Director General and IPPF’s Safeguarding Unit have taken significant steps to strengthen their internal systems and to shift culture at the organisation so that people feel safer and more able to report wrongdoing. Action taken by IPPF includes a Safeguarding Taskforce to review and improve overall processes; IPPF’s first employee engagement survey; a set of best-practice safeguarding policies and procedures, including an Independent Complaints Panel; an IPPF SafeReport, which provides a safe space for anyone – including staff, clients, volunteers or member of the public – to raise concerns.

We continue to regularly review IPPF against our high standards for safeguarding, whistleblowing, risk, governance and code of conduct, and we conduct regular assessments of their safeguarding procedures. In addition to recent safeguarding reforms, IPPF is currently conducting a review of its governance system and structures, which IPPF anticipate will take around six months. During this time DFID will monitor IPPF’s governance reforms closely and regularly.

My Department published the Evaluation of the Prevention of Maternal Deaths from Unwanted Pregnancy Programme which can be found here, together with the management response. The report summarises the extensive findings; including evaluation background, findings from countries policy analysis and methodological approaches. We do not intend to publish anything further at this stage.

My Department has provided funding to Marie Stopes International through central and bilateral programming in support of comprehensive sexual and reproductive health. This includes a wide range of activities such as health service delivery, outreach, contraceptive supply, policy support and advocacy.

As part of this support, the Department allocated funding to Marie Stopes International and its partners through the Preventing Maternal Deaths from Unwanted Pregnancy Programme, from 2011 to 2018 across 20 countries, including South Sudan (until 2015) and Malawi. Our programmes take an integrated approach and the budget does not include figures specifically for advocacy on laws on abortion.

The UK government has long used a range of data sources and publications to inform our policy on unsafe abortion, as cited in our published position – notably the World Health Organisation and the Guttmacher Institute, whose expertise in this area is longstanding. This was the case prior to July 2018, when our sector results page was published.

From January 2013 to December 2017 DFID channelled £34.4m of net ODA via the International Planned Parenthood Federation. Comparable figures beyond 2017 are not yet available, estimates for 2018 spending will be available in autumn 2019.

The UK Government’s policy on safe abortion takes an evidence-based, public health approach that aims to reduce death and disability caused by unsafe abortions and does not use opinion surveys.

DFID has a range of bilateral and multi-country programmes supporting a package of women’s reproductive and maternal health information and services and only supports provision of safe abortion services as allowed by local laws. In countries where abortion is highly restricted, we can help make the consequences of unsafe abortion more widely understood. We do this by supporting the voices of local women themselves, as they work for their own rights and choices.

The Department for International Development has not funded Marie Stopes International to provide abortion services in Kenya.

DFID has a range of bilateral and multi-country programmes supporting a package of women’s reproductive and maternal health information and services. It is not possible to provide a break down by safe abortion or post-abortion care alone. DFID supports provision of safe abortion services as allowed by local laws and where access to abortion is highly restricted, we can help make the consequences of unsafe abortion more widely understood and can consider supporting policy reform.

All DFID programming on sexual and reproductive health and rights, including the ‘Delivering Sustainable and Equitable Increases in Family Planning in Kenya’ programme, take an integrated approach in order to meet a wide range of women’s reproductive health needs. For example, providing a woman with holistic care for gender-based violence, HIV, counselling, post-abortion care and information on family planning. Because these services are integrated, it is not possible to disaggregate figures solely relating to safe abortion procedures.

The aim of DFID’s work on sexual and reproductive health and rights is to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions, increase the use of voluntary family planning, and give women control over their own bodies and lives.

Marie Stopes International are a valued partner in our comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights work.

We have seen no evidence of any illegal activity in Niger on their part and no formal allegations have been made to us. DFID funds cannot be used to fund any illegal activities. We treat allegations of any improper use of funds extremely seriously. The process for reporting allegations is on our website. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-international-development

DFID takes an integrated approach to our programming on sexual and reproductive health and rights in order to meet a wide range of women’s reproductive health needs. Because these services are integrated it is not possible to disaggregate figures solely relating to safe abortion procedures.

The aim of DFID’s work on sexual and reproductive health and rights is to save the lives of women, reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions, increase the use of voluntary family planning, and give women control over their own bodies and lives. DFID has robust monitoring and evaluation procedures to ensure UK taxpayers’ money is achieving the results we expect of it across all policy areas. Precise monitoring arrangements vary by project; however progress is always reviewed by DFID on an annual basis and these are publicly available. All of our reviews demonstrate confidence in the quality of Marie Stopes International’s services in developing countries.

The aim of DFID’s work on sexual and reproductive health and rights is to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions, increase the use of voluntary family planning, and give women control over their own bodies and lives. Marie Stopes International (MSI) are a valued partner in our comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights work.

DFID has robust monitoring and evaluation procedures to ensure UK taxpayers’ money is achieving the results we expect of it across all policy areas. Precise monitoring arrangements vary by project; and progress is always reviewed by DFID on an annual basis. All of our reviews demonstrate confidence in the quality of MSI’s services in developing countries.

DFID funds cannot be used to fund any illegal activities. We treat allegations of any improper use of funds extremely seriously. The process for reporting allegations is on our website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-international-development

We welcome the Independent Commission for Aid Impact’s impact review on DFID’s results in improving maternal health. The recommendations will feed into DFID’s strategic planning.

Despite the helpful points that the report highlights, we stand by our estimates for the overall number of maternal lives we saved. We used an internationally respected modelling tool – the Lives Saved Tool. We were forced to make some assumptions, however, and therefore used the tool conservatively, excluding some results from large programmes where we could not be sure of accuracy. This was our best way to account for UK Aid to the taxpayer.

We welcome the Independent Commission for Aid Impact’s impact review on DFID’s results in improving maternal health. The recommendations will feed into DFID’s strategic planning.

Increasing our family planning portfolio from 2013 was an important move – this was a neglected area with an enormous potential impact, not only for women’s lives but also to societies and economies. Our spending on maternal health was not, however, reduced during this time.