Completed: 20 May 2021
The government successfully met its aid spending target in 2020 through reprioritising programmes as the COVID-19 pandemic hit – but economic uncertainty and the government’s ‘cut once, cut deep’ approach meant that cuts to bilateral aid were ultimately more drastic than they needed to be.Completed: 28 April 2021
An information note providing a factual account of how UK aid has been spent by government departments supporting China’s own development, partnering with China on global development challenges, and working with third countries on their engagement with China.Completed: 8 April 2021
The government’s approach to managing fraud in the aid programme is broadly relevant and effective – but more can be done to find fraud cases by improving oversight and intelligence sharing across aid-spending departments, and streamlining and enhancing whistleblowing systems.Completed: 4 December 2020
Aid-spending government departments worked flexibly with suppliers to minimise the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their work, but lack of transparency about the government’s new aid priorities hampered delivery, and the long-term impact of the cuts to the UK aid programme remains to be seen.Completed: 24 November 2020
The government’s approach to managing its aid-spending target has become increasingly effective and well-coordinated across government – but making the process more flexible in future could reduce the “significant” impact of major economic shocks.Completed: 14 October 2020
The UK’s work to tackle modern slavery in developing countries has had limited long-term impact, did not build on existing international efforts and experience, and failed to adequately involve survivors – though the government played a prominent role in raising the profile of the issue globally.Completed: 30 September 2020
The UK’s “leading” work to tackle the widespread problem of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) by international peacekeepers is relevant and important, but could be strengthened with more focus on survivors and a stronger approach to learning. This short report is a companion to ICAI’s January 2020 review of The UK’s Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative.Completed: 16 September 2020
The government has beaten its goal of reaching people in some of the world’s poorest countries with nutrition services – but with malnutrition set to rise as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it should do more to help the most vulnerable.Completed: 31 July 2020
The UK’s work with Africa’s leading development institution is good value for money, allowing the UK taxpayer to influence development across Africa, but more could be done to strengthen strategic engagement between the UK and the Bank, and cooperation on the ground.Completed: 23 July 2020
ICAI’s follow-up review looks at how well government departments have responded to the recommendations made in our 2018-19 reviews.Completed: 4 June 2020
The UK’s major aid investment in Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is playing a pivotal role in making sure children in the world’s poorest countries are vaccinated against disease – but the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic risks “crowding out” routine immunisation work.Completed: 19 March 2020
The UK has an important role to play in international efforts to tackle corruption in developing countries – but the government’s domestic approach and the rapidly-changing nature of the threat are among six potential future ‘lines of enquiry’ identified in this information note.