Overseas aid watchdog criticises handling of R&D cuts

Independent Commission for Aid Impact condemns government communication around funding cuts and aid efficacy

The UK government has failed to act on recommendations to ensure investments in overseas aid are effective and provide value for money, according to the Independent Commission for Aid Impact, which also criticised the government’s handling of cuts to aid-funded research.

In a follow-up to its 2020 review of the government’s spending on overseas aid, the ICAI attributed the government’s lack of progress in implementing the commission’s recommendations to the Covid pandemic and the 2020 merger of the Department for International Development with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.