1. The majority of UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) is delivered through DFID’s budget. The 2002 International Development Act makes reducing poverty the core purpose of UK aid. As such, the vast majority of DFID aid expenditure is included in ODA; only a small amount of expenditure on non-ODA eligible countries and multilateral institutions is excluded. Figures for the DFID programme are produced from a combination of data held on DFID’s internal accounting and management information system (ARIES) and the UK attributions of EC budgetary spending.
2 DFID’s Overseas Pensions Department is also responsible for the payment of colonial pensions made to ex-members of the UK Overseas Civil Service who were employed directly by developing countries. A small element of this is permitted to be classed as ODA and GPEX. From 2010/11 this has been reported as non-DFID expenditure; this change being consistent with DFID’s Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL).
3 The Conflict Pool provides programme resources which are governed and jointly managed by DFID, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Ministry of Defence (MoD). It brings together the UK government’s development, diplomatic and defence expertise in an integrated response to conflict prevention, stabilisation and discretionary peacekeeping. Part of the Conflict Pool’s expenditure is ODA eligible. In these statistics all Conflict Pool funds disbursed through DFID are ODA-eligible and are included as part of DFID expenditure. The remaining ODA figures comprise the aggregate of FCO and MOD funding. Data on the ODA eligible Conflict Pool funds disbursed by the FCO and MOD are collected by DFID in liaison with programme officers in the relevant departments.
4 Under the same joint conflict settlement, on behalf of the three departments, the FCO manages HMG’s Peacekeeping Budget. This covers the UK’s assessed peacekeeping costs – a legal obligation as a member of these organisations – for UN Peacekeeping (UNDPKO), the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Field Missions, European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) Military and Civilian Missions, NATO operations in the Balkans, and the International Criminal Courts and Tribunals. In line with DAC rules 6% of the funding to UNDPKO and 74% to the OSCE are allowed to score as ODA. Funding to ESDP Civilian Missions is also reported as ODA.
5 The International Climate Fund is a jointly managed fund, created in 2010 to reduce poverty while supporting developing countries tackle the challenges posed by climate change. Ministerial responsibility is joint between DFID, the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC), HM Treasury and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra - for forestry). The fund will spend £2.9billion over four years (2011/12 – 2014/15); £1.8billion by DFID, £1billion by DECC and £100million by Defra. This arrangement brings together expertise from across Government on international development, climate change adaptation and mitigation, and forestry.
6 The Environment Transformation Fund was established in 2008 to support development and poverty reduction through better environmental management and help developing countries respond to the realities of climate change. The fund is managed jointly - by DFID and DECC - who contribute equal amounts to the fund all of which are assessed as ODA-eligible.
7 The FCO contributes to UK ODA in a number of ways:
8 In addition to contributing to the International Climate Fund and Environment Transformation Fund, DECC also makes annual contributions to the International Atomic Energy Agency. A proportion of this support is deemed ODA eligible.
9 In addition to contributing to the International Climate Fund, DEFRA is responsible for the Darwin Initiative, which is a programme aimed at assisting the progression of environmental goals in developing countries. Eligible expenditure is included in UK ODA statistics.
10 The Scottish Government runs its own bilateral aid programme which aims to directly support the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and economic growth in a number of developing countries. The Welsh Assembly’s ‘Wales for Africa’ programme also aims to help deliver the MDGs and provides small grants to organisation based in Wales.
11 The Department for Culture Media and Sport works closely with DFID to deliver a range of initiatives to help address wider social issues encompassed by the MDGs; including contributing towards addressing gender inequality and acting as an effective medium for conveying educational messages relating to health.
12 The estimates of the costs incurred by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) of supporting refugees from developing countries during there first 12 months in the UK are included in the ODA statistics. This brings the reporting of UK ODA fully in line with OECD definition and improves the overall comparability of the international data. DFID and the UKBA are also contributing to ongoing methodological work in the OECD to clarify guidance on refugee costs to further improve the consistency of donor estimates. UK ODA statistics also include funding from the Home Office to the International Organisation for Migration.
13 The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) provides the Medical Research Council (MRC) with ring fenced support for overseas development. The MRC uses this funding to support peer reviewed global health research administered by UK institutions or in MRC Units and Institutes on research studies that are aimed at improving health in developing countries
14 Other government departments also make direct contributions to the UN system, a proportion of which is reported as ODA. The Department for Work and Pensions makes an annual contribution to the International Labour Organisation and the Department for Health makes an annual assessed contribution to the World Health Organisation.
15 CDC Group PLC is wholly government owned and the conditions under which it operates means that its investments must have a clear development objective. The net amount (i.e. equity purchase less equity sales) of CDC investments in ODA-eligible countries is reported as ODA and the gross amount (i.e. equity purchase only) is reported in GPEX.
16 Export Credit Guarantee Department (ECGD) is an agency of BIS and provides insurance for exporters against the main risks in selling overseas. It also negotiates debt relief arrangements of commercial debt. The relevant amounts of any debt relief are included in UK ODA statistics in line with OECD DAC definitions.
17 The majority of the External Assistance Budget of the European Commission is deemed to be ODA eligible. The vast majority of the relevant UK contribution to this budget is attributed to DFID and reported as part of DFID’s own ODA statistics. The estimate of the remaining UK share of overall EC ODA is reported separately in these statistics.
18 The Gift Aid scheme allows UK charities to reclaim tax from HM Revenue and Customs on donations made by UK taxpayers. The proportion of additional support provided to UK NGOs via this scheme to deliver developmental objectives is estimated by DFID as explained in the glossary. The Gift Aid figure is included in UK ODA statistics. Further methodological development of the estimate is scheduled to take place in 2013.
19 In addition to the aboves, ODA reporting requires data on export credits (both official and private) provided by ECGD; on direct investments, provided by the Office for National Statistics; and on bilateral securities and other claims, provided by the Bank of England.
20 Data for the international comparisons contained in Tables 7, 8, 16 and 17 are from the DAC website http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats .
21 The statistics on recipient countries given in Annex 1 are taken from the World Bank and DAC websites.
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