Overseas aid spending a mess since Foreign Office put in charge, watchdog warns

Overseas aid has been plunged into confusion in the hands of the Foreign Office, a watchdog is warning, leaving countries in the dark about how and why money is being spent.

In a damning report, the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) attacks a dramatic loss of “transparency” since the controversial abolition of the Department for International Development (DFID) in 2020.

It is warning of a dearth of information about the “spending priorities for individual countries”, with the Foreign Office failing to even set out a proper budget this year.

As a result, the “ability of parliament and civil society to hold the government to account” – and the UK’s reputation as a “global leader on aid transparency” – is being lost.

“DFID spearheaded efforts to increase transparency, helping to improve the value for money of UK aid and strengthen trust in the UK’s aid programme,” said ICAI commissioner, Tarek Rouchdy.

“But there is now concern that the transparency commitment has changed, and the presumption of disclosure weakened.”

The conclusions confirm the worst fears of aid groups who fought the axing of DFID and the loss of experienced staff when it was swallowed up into the renamed Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

They report that partner organisations in recipient countries no longer receive the information they need about aid spending, making it harder to structure work and avoid duplication.

The problems are fuelled by the chaotic way around £4bn was suddenly slashed from spending, when the share of UK national income allocated to aid was cut from 0.7 to 0.5 per cent.

There was shock, last month, when the UK failed to donate to a United Nations fund for AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria victims – even as the Democratic Republic of Congo gave $6m.

And The Independent revealed that £3bn more could be cut from aid projects unless ministers abandon rules diverting a quarter of the shrunken budget to the costs of Ukraine refugees in the UK.

Abigael Baldoumas, policy manager at the aid organisation network Bond, said: “The government is in the grips of a UK aid transparency crisis.

“FCDO has allowed transparency over the UK aid budget to plummet in recent years, which not only weakens its accountability to the British taxpayer and the communities we work with, but hampers the support we provide to the world’s most marginalised people.”

The ICAI report points out that, while DFID published detailed statistics on spending and results, plus programme documents, on an online tracker, now only “summary information” is available.

Although the Aid Transparency Index gave FCDO a ‘good’ rating at 71.9 per cent this year, this was down from DFID’s ‘very good’ – 85.4 per cent – standard in 2020.

Worryingly, FCDO has committed only to improve its score, rather than fully reverse the decline, pointing to “a change in culture towards aid transparency in the new department”.

Ms Baldoumas added: “The FCDO already has the tools to restore UK aid transparency and accountability. What is needed now is a demonstration of political will.”

An FCDO spokesperson said: “As this report acknowledges, the UK is a global leader for aid transparency and we are committed to maintaining our record in this area.

“The department welcomes the report and will work to take forward its recommendations.”