Make sure £12bn aid bill’s not being wasted, says Chancellor

GEORGE Osborne has launched a root-and-branch review of foreign aid spending f ollowing concerns that billions are wasted every year.

The Chancellor wants all departments to prove that their overseas development funds provide ‘high value for money’.

However the Government will stick to its controversial pledge to spend 0.7 per cent of national income on foreign aid – but the review will address concerns that not all the annual £12billion bill is spent effectively.

Speaking to the Treasury select committee, Mr Osborne defended the commitment to ringfence the foreign aid budget, but added: ‘We want to make sure that we are saving lives.’

Mr Osborne is understood to be unconvinced that departments have done enough to ensure money is spent well. The crack- down was unveiled as part of the launch of the Treasury’s spending review.

The vast majority of aid goes through Justine Greening’s Department for International Development, but more than £300million a year is also dished out by the Foreign Office.

It emerged last month that the Foreign Office was spending millions on projects such as an anti-littering drive in Jordan, a TV game show promoting British values in Ethiopia and l essons i n how to use Facebook for people in Laos.

Hundreds of millions in aid are also funnelled through Amber Rudd’s Department for Energy and Climate Change; Sajid Javid’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills; and Liz Truss’s Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Smaller amounts are spent by the Home Office, the Department of Health, the Ministry of Defence and the Department for Work and Pensions.

Jonathan Isaby of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘The Chancellor is absolutely right to demand value for money.

‘Every penny of foreign aid is a penny from a British taxpayers’ pocket, and the least they can do is ensure it actually helps the world’s poorest rather than just allowing a metropolitan elite to feel better about themselves.’