Aid Spending

HL Deb 17 June 1997 vol 580 c105WA

Lord Lucas

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How the United Kingdom's current aid spending compares with the United Nations target.

Lord Whitty

Provisional figures for 1996 show that the UK's performance against the UN 0.7 per cent. official development assistance/GNP target was 0.27 per cent. This compares to a level of 0.51 per cent. in 1979. We are firmly committed to reversing the decline against the UN target. However, as promised during the election, we will work within existing departmental resource allocations for the next two years.