Official Development Assistance in the 2021 Spending Review

In June, the Microbiology Society responded to a call for written evidence from the House of Commons International Development Committee about the impact of UK aid cuts, highlight the far-reaching consequences of the decision to reduce the funds available for Official Development Assistance (ODA) and calling on the Government to confirm its stated commitment to expand investment in research and development (R&D).

ODA gets several mentions in the Autumn Budget and Spending Review, with the allocated spending continuing to be set at 0.5% of gross national income (GNI), so rising from £10 billion to £12.3 billion over the next three years. The size of the increase dashes hopes that the aid budget would be restored in the near term to 0.7% of GNI.

Professor Fiona Tomley is the Director of the UKRI GCRF One Health Poultry Hub, a programme that saw its 2021–2022 budget reduced from a profiled spend of £4.7 million to a capped limit of £1.8 million – a reduction of almost 70%. About the Budget and Spending Review announcement, Professor Tomley said:

“Whilst the upturn of the economy means the 0.5% GNI will increase more rapidly than we might have predicted, the overall situation for ODA-funded research remains very difficult. Specifically for GCRF, including the 12 global challenge-focused interdisciplinary research hubs, our future beyond March 2022 remains uncertain. We await more detailed information on the ODA allocation within the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s day-to-day spending, how this will be distributed and what it means for our funding.”

You can read our full response to the future of UK aid inquiry and CaSE’s comment on what the Autumn Budget and Spending Review mean for science. 

Image: iStock/TomasSereda