International Development (Reporting and Transparency) Act 2006

The 2006 International Development (Reporting and Transparency) Act obliges the Secretary of State to report annually on total expenditure on international aid and on the breakdown of that aid. It asks in particular for annual reports on progress towards the target for expenditure on official development assistance to constitute 0.7% of gross national income (ODA/GNI).

It also states that those reports should contain information about expenditure by country, the proportion of money spent in low income countries, the effectiveness of aid expenditure and the transparency of international aid.

The information to be provided is categorised under four headings:

• Progress towards United Nations 0.7% expenditure target
  
• Aid effectiveness and Millennium Development Goals 1 to 7
  
• Policy coherence and Millennium Development Goal 8
  
• Transparency 

If you would like to more about the Act, the full text is available on the HMSO website (click on the link, right).