UK aid spent by departments other than DFID

Review

This review maps aid spending and examines activities by eight aid-spending government departments outside of the Department for International Development (DFID). We made one recommendation.

Findings

During the period of rapid scaling up of UK aid (2009 to 2013), aid spending by departments other than DFID increased, but the proportion in total UK ODA remains the same at around 13%. We did not find any evidence that the UK has weakened its ODA reporting practices, or that inappropriate activities are being reported as ODA.

The activities we examined were all found to be ODA-eligible and appropriate to the UK aid programme.

Data on non-DFID ODA is published in various forms. There is no single place where the public can find a clear explanation of the amounts and objectives of non-DFID ODA.

Recommendation

1. DFID should include a more complete explanation of the main categories of ODA spent by other government department in its Statistics on International Development report to enhance transparency.