Thank you for contacting me about our aid spending.
Corruption is bad for development, it is bad for poor people and it is bad for business. With regards to International Development spending, I can reassure you that our aid is spent where it is most needed and all spending is rigorously monitored as programmes progress. Department for International Development (DFID) Ministers have taken steps to make our aid spending more accountable and focused, by reforming the UK's aid strategy, cutting wasteful programmes and making sure spending is firmly in the UK's national interest. All DFID's country programmes have anti-corruption strategies, and the previous International Development Secretary in the Coalition Government set up the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) in 2011. Both the ICAI and Parliament's International Development Committee provide rigorous independent scrutiny of DFID's work.
In addition, the Government's new aid strategy announced in November 2015 that DFID will neither start any new, nor restart any previous traditional general budget support (unearmarked contributions to recipient countries' budgets) programmes. Instead, Ministers will continue to focus on more targeted forms of financing. Through a range of programmes, DFID is also assisting developing countries in strengthening their tax regimes, and tackling tax avoidance and evasion. DFID funds units in the National Crime Agency that are dedicated to investigating the money laundering and bribery that affects developing countries.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
