Newly released statistics that the U.K. government had promised would show the effects of its first round of recent aid cuts have left observers disappointed yet again.
In its annual Statistics on International Development publication, released Wednesday, the government did not outline its development plans prior to the 2020 budget reductions, which aid experts said makes it impossible to see what did not go ahead as a result of the cuts. Those plans had been made before the country’s aid spending target was reduced from 0.7% to 0.5% of gross national income.
What’s wrong: “I would expect our international development statistics to be useful. As such, they need to be comparable to past editions and useful for future editions,” Gary Forster, CEO at Publish What You Fund, an aid transparency monitor, told Devex.
“I’m surprised to see no attempt made to align the 2020 data with the government’s seven priority areas,” he added. “This undermines the utility of the data and raises questions about what baseline, if any, the government is using for its policy decisions.”
Why it matters: The extent of the damage caused by multiple rounds of aid budget cuts is still unknown. Earlier this year, the government had cited the planned release of the new statistics as a reason for rejecting a freedom of information request from Bond — the U.K. network for NGOs — seeking more information about the reductions.
“We still do not have a complete picture of the specific cuts. And we will be in the same position next year when the new 0.5% target is reported on [in the Statistics on International Development publication], because it still won’t show the cuts that were made, and we do not know what the government intended to spend as a baseline before the cuts were made,” said Abigael Baldoumas, policy and advocacy manager for aid effectiveness at Bond.
About the author
William Worley@willrworley
Will Worley is the Climate Correspondent for Devex, covering the intersection of development and climate change. He previously worked as UK Correspondent, reporting on the FCDO and British aid policy during a time of seismic reforms. Will’s extensive reporting on the UK aid cuts saw him shortlisted for ‘Specialist Journalist of the Year’ in 2021 by the British Journalism Awards. He can be reached at william.worley@devex.com.
