30 Apr 2024
ICAI finds the UK mounted an effective and flexible civilian aid response to the crisis in Ukraine, including bilateral aid of £228m and a 5-year commitment of £4 billion in loan guarantees. Strong efforts to ensure aid reaches vulnerable groups such as the elderly, women and those with disabilities. More humanitarian aid should be channelled […]
18 Apr 2024
Aid watchdog finds FCDO has started work to ensure aid to India goes where it is most needed, and on mobilising climate finance following last year’s review. But ICAI raises questions over some investments made by the UK’s development finance institution BII, including in social media sites and a cosmetics company. Report comes after BII […]
10 Apr 2024
Aid spending on asylum seekers and refugees in the UK rose to £4.3bn in 2023, constituting 28% of the aid budget, as ICAI continues to raise concerns around value for money. Negative impact on FCDO’s development spending less than in previous years, in part due to gross national income being higher than forecast and increased […]
Read more on Use of the aid budget to host refugees in the UK rises to £4.3bn
26 Mar 2024
Despite having strong programme management processes in place, FCDO discovered just £2.2 million in fraud loss in 2020-21 in UK aid compared to its £9.9 billion spend, ICAI finds. Under-investment in central anti-fraud team leaves staff overseas lacking support. New finance system introduced after departmental merger without proper training caused payment delays and staff having […]
21 Mar 2024
UK aid to China has fallen by up to 90% since 2019, but the aid watchdog continues to raise concerns about the transparency of the remaining spend in a report today (Thursday 21 March). The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) finds that aid engagement with China across all of government dropped from £80 million […]
Read more on UK aid to China falls by up to 90% since 2019 but still lacks transparency
29 Feb 2024
ICAI review finds £11.6 billion target will be challenging to meet, with 55% to be spent in the last two years of the pledge. The government “moved the goalposts” by changing the way meeting the target is calculated, and reviewing existing spend to include all eligible ICF. Altogether this amounted to an additional £1.724 billion, of […]
Read more on UK’s £11.6bn climate finance commitment at risk as aid resources stretched
26 Feb 2024
The COVID-19 pandemic and race to develop a vaccine brought health research to the top of the international agenda, and in recent years it has become more central to UK aid’s strategic priorities. A forthcoming review from the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) will look at aid spent by the Department for Health and […]
Read more on Forthcoming review: DHSC’s aid-funded global health research and innovation
13 Feb 2024
Liz Ditchburn and Harold Freeman have been announced as the incoming part-time Commissioners for the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI). The candidates, who will take up their four-year posts on 1 July 2024, were appointed by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), after a selection process conducted in accordance with the Governance Code […]
Read more on New ICAI Commissioners: Liz Ditchburn and Harold Freeman
7 Feb 2024
The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) will look at UK aid to Gaza, Afghanistan and China in three new information notes. Since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023, the UK has announced £60 million in additional humanitarian funding in Gaza, trebling the planned 2023-24 annual budget to the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs). However […]
Read more on UK aid to Gaza, Afghanistan and China to come under ICAI scrutiny
22 Jan 2024
The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) will assess how well the UK is using its aid for sustainable cities and urban development in a forthcoming review. Cities generate more than 80% of global GDP and by 2050, the United Nations projects that more than two-thirds of the global population will live in urban areas. […]
Read more on Forthcoming review: UK aid for sustainable cities
