0.7% target ‘under threat’

THE Whitehall mandarin in charge of Britain’s foreign aid yesterday said the Oxfam crisis had dented public trust in his department’s 0.7 per cent spending target.

Matthew Rycroft, permanent secretary of the Department for International Development, told MPs the ‘reputation’ of the entire aid sector had been affected.

Speaking to the aid select committee, Mr Rycroft admitted the Government had to do a better job of explaining why sending 0.7 per cent of Britain’s GDP overseas is good for our security and prosperity. ‘This is a huge crisis for the aid sector,’ he said. ‘The reputation of the sector, the reputation of aid, the reputation of the 0.7 per cent commitment have been pulled into the mix.’

The Archbishop of Canterbury said yesterday the abuse perpetrated by some aid workers was ‘wicked’. Justin Welby condemned an aid ‘culture which occasionally slips into doing bad things’. But he said it would be a tragedy if Britain abandoned the 0.7 per cent aid target.

The Church of England has close links with Oxfam and is a partner with the charity in a campaign called End Hunger UK.