International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) (Amendment) Bill [HL]: Briefing for Lords Stages

Following the Pearson Commission in 1969, an official development assistance target was formally recognise by a UN resolution in 1970. Whilst in 2005, members of the European Union pledged to meet the ODA target by 2015, the UK Government, as part of its 2004 spending review, aimed to meet it by 2013. This was endorsed by successive administrations and the International Development (Official Assistance Target) Act 2015 put the annual ODA target on statutory footing. The UK met the ODA target for the first time in 2013, again in 2014 and in 2015. There had been concerns however regarding the management of an ODA target on an annual basis. In 2015, the National Audit Office examined how the Department of International Development (DFID) managed the ODA target in 2013 and published their report with analysis relating to DFID’s budget and accounting systems.