Foreign aid: Now civil service bill has soared to £133m

THE wage bill at the foreign aid department has soared by 40 per cent in seven years.

It stands at £133million – £38million up on 2010 when David Cameron took power.

His target of diverting 0.7 per cent of national income abroad saw spending reach £13.3billion last year.

The huge sums were disclosed as a Tory former minister said part of the aid budget should instead go on pay rises for police and nurses.

In 2010-11, the Department for International Development had 1,822 staff. By this April this had leapt to 2,208, when other ministries were cutting jobs and budgets.

Half of the 386 extra employees have been added since Priti Patel took charge of the ministry last July. The pay bill on her watch has risen by 7 per cent.

Dfid hands out the highest salaries in Whitehall, averaging £53,000 a head, and is one of only three of all 19 government departments to keep recruiting.

Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said: ‘When the nation’s finances are under such strain, it is troubling that it costs so much to spend taxpayers’ money.’

Alex Wild, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance lobby group, said: ‘It is absurd that the Government has taken the tax burden to a 30-year high while still borrowing more than £6.5million an hour, only to spend the proceeds on wasteful projects overseas and higher salaries for Dfid staff.’

A Dfid spokesman said: ‘The International Development Secretary is leading a robust efficiency review which is estimated to save £500million by 2019-20, higher than the target set in the 2015 spending review.’