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£4bn of overseas aid spent on UK refugees

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date11 April 2024
Publication titleEvening Chronicle
Provisional statistics published yesterday showed spending on 'in-donor refugee costs' rose by £600million in 2023, while the overall aid budget increased by around £2.6 billion

Aid spending on refugees in the UK amounted to more than a quarter of the UK's total aid budget for the second year running, although its share of the overall budget fell slightly from 28.9 per cent to 27.9 per cent.

International rules allow countries to count first-year costs of supporting refugees as overseas development assistance (ODA).

But the practice has been criticised for reducing the amount that can be spent on developing countries, with MPs on the Commons International Development Committee accusing the Home Office of conducting 'raids' on the ODA budget.

As in previous years, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said the majority of the increase in spending on refugees was 'due to Home Office spend', which rose by £559 million in 2023.

International Development Committee chair Sarah Champion said the increasing spend on refugee costs in the UK was 'deeply worrying.' .

She said: "We have expressed our concerns on a number of...

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