UK Government no longer ‘global charity’, aid minister to tell MPs

The new aid minister will tell MPs that the days of the British Government acting as a “global charity” are “over”, when she faces a Commons committee on Tuesday.

Baroness Jenny Chapman will face the Commons International Development Committee for the first time since taking the aid role in February.

Her appointment followed the resignation of Anneliese Dodds, who quit as development minister in protest at the decision to cut the aid budget to fund increased defence spending.

She is expected to use her appearance before the committee on Tuesday to set out plans to focus aid spending on sharing British expertise, rather than providing money, telling MPs: “The days of viewing the UK Government as a global charity are over.”

Saying the Government remains “committed to international development”, she will add: “We need to prioritise, be more efficient and focus on impact above all else.

“We have to get the best value for money, for the UK taxpayer, but also for the people we are trying to help around the world.”

In February the international development budget was reduced from 0.5% of gross national income (GNI) to 0.3%.

Coming shortly after US President Donald Trump’s administration effectively gutted the US agency for international development, opponents suggested the UK cut would lead to lives being lost in the developing world.

But Baroness Chapman is expected to say that developing countries want to move from receiving aid money to an approach described as “partnering, not paternalism”, pointing to a deal between the Met Office and its Bangladeshi counterpart to improve flood forecasting.

She will say: “We need to support other countries’ systems where this is what they want, so they can educate their children, reform their own healthcare systems and grow their economies in ways which last.

“And, ultimately, exit the need for aid.

“With less to spend, we have no choice. Biggest impact and biggest spend aren’t always the same thing.”