Written questions by Cleverly.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much Official Development Assistance was allocated to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in each of the last five financial years.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) plays a vital role in delivering humanitarian assistance in Gaza and enabling the broader international response through its logistics and distribution network. Figures for the UK Funding to UNRWA for the last five financial years can be found below. The decrease in funding from the Financial Year 2020/21 to Financial Year 2021/22 was due to the move from 0.7 per cent to 0.5 per cent Official Development Assistance.Financial YearTotal Funding2024/25£41,000,0002023/24£35,000,0002022/23£18,700,0002021/22£15,920,0002020/21£63,685,574

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to monitor the effectiveness of Official Development Assistance provided to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

We continue to assess all overseas development assistance robustly against government priorities. In line with standard practice, the UK conducts an Annual Review of UK funding to The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East to assess performance in key areas including service delivery and reforms. All annual reviews are published on DevTracker.

What steps her Department is taking to reduce small boat crossings.

I refer the Rt Hon Gentleman to the Statements made by the Home Secretary when moving the Border Security Asylum and Immigration Bill for its second reading on 10 February 2025, and when reporting on the UK’s hosting of the Organised Immigration Crime summit on 31 March 2025.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the withdrawal of funding for AI auto-contouring technology on (a) cancer treatment waiting times, (b) patient outcomes and (c) the workload of NHS cancer specialists; and whether he has considered alternative funding mechanisms for the rollout of that technology.

The Department supports the National Health Service in reviewing opportunities to utilise artificial intelligence (AI) to transform diagnostic performance, bring down waiting times, and support staff with their workload.Furthermore, the Department is carrying out work to assess the barriers of effective adoption and improve the way AI tools are deployed across the NHS through a number of initiatives, including the NHS AI Lab’s Ethics Initiative, which invests in research and practical interventions that could strengthen the ethical adoption of AI within health and care, and addresses risks and concerns over their use.

What recent estimate she has made of the total cost of providing accommodation for asylum seekers in hotels in each of the next five years; and what these costs were in each of the past five years.

The Home Office publishes information on asylum expenditure in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts at HO annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

What discussions she has had with her international counterparts on third-country processing arrangements for people seeking to claim asylum in the UK.

The Government will continue to work with international partners to tackle the global migration crisis. The Home Secretary has convened an international summit focussed on Organised Immigration Crime, bringing together Interior ministers and law enforcement experts from across the world to develop our combined response to the gangs who facilitate this vile trade in human lives.

How many asylum seekers who have had their applications rejected have been deported from the UK since July 2024; and what steps is she taking to increase such deportations in the next six months.

The Home Office has recently published the number of asylum related returns between 05 July 2024 and 22 March 2025 in Returns from the UK from 5 July 2024 to 22 March 2025 - GOV.UK.

With reference to her Oral Statement of 22 July 2024 on Border Security and Asylum, Official Report, columns 384-387, how many people who would have been eligible for (a) processing and (b) relocation to Rwanda have remained in the UK.

I refer the Rt Hon Gentleman to the Statement form the Home Secretary on 22 July 2024, to which this question refers, and which explains the fundamental flaw in the premise of his question, namely that – during his own time as Home Secretary, he was unable to establish a way to make the Rwanda scheme operational, and as such, the categories referred to in this question do not exist.Nevertheless, the Rt Hon Gentleman will be pleased to note that – since coming to office – this Government has ensured the removal of more than 24,000 people with no right to be in the UK, the highest nine-month total for returns since January to September in 2017.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to support farmers to remain (a) competitive, (b) resilient, and (c) sustainable after the end of the Sustainable Farming Incentive.

The primary responsibility for being competitive, resilient and sustainable rests with farm businesses themselves. The Sustainable Farming Incentive is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package. We remain committed to investing in environmental land management schemes. We plan to launch the new Higher Tier scheme later this year; Capital Grants will re-open in summer 2025; we continue to move forward with Landscape Recovery; and we are increasing payment rates for Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcome. Funding from the farming budget also supports the provision of advice within the sector. The Farming Advice Service can assist farmers to review what advice and guidance is available to meet their business needs.

What steps he is taking to help improve early breast cancer diagnosis.

Improving early diagnosis of cancer, including breast cancer, is a priority for the Government. The National Health Service will hit all cancer waiting time targets, so that no patient waits longer than they should.As the first step to ensure faster diagnosis, the NHS is delivering an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week. To support early detection and diagnosis, the NHS in England carries out approximately two million breast cancer screens each year in hospitals and mobile screening vans, usually in convenient community locations.All women between 50 and 71 years old have the opportunity to be screened every three years for breast cancer, to help detect abnormalities and intervene early to reduce the number of lives lost. Additionally, United Kingdom guidelines recommend that women with a moderate or high risk of breast cancer, because of their family history, should start having screening mammograms every year in their forties.On World Cancer Day, the Government announced a major world-leading trial to demonstrate whether artificial intelligence (AI) can help doctors catch breast cancer earlier to enable faster treatment and save more lives, while freeing up valuable resources and capacity. Thirty testing sites across the country will be enhanced with the latest digital AI technologies, ready to invite women already booked in for routine screenings on the NHS to take part.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the reduction in Overseas Development Assistance on the Commonwealth realms; and what steps he is taking to help mitigate that impact.

The Prime Minister has set out a new strategic vision for government spending on defence and security and Official Development Assistance (ODA). Detailed decisions on how the ODA budget will be used will be worked through as part of the ongoing Spending Review based on various factors including impact assessments.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the reduction in Overseas Development Assistance on the Overseas Territories; and what steps he is taking to help mitigate that impact.

The UK Government remains committed to supporting the Overseas Territories, and is funding programmes to increase long term capacity and capability in the Overseas Territories in receipt of Official Development Assistance (ODA). The Prime Minister has set out a new strategic vision for government spending on defence and security and ODA. We will set out our spending plans following the completion of the Spending Review and departmental resource allocation processes.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if his Department will release a full impact assessment for the reduction in Official Development Assistance.

The Prime Minister has set out a new strategic vision for government spending on defence and security, and Official Development Assistance (ODA). Detailed decisions on how the ODA budget will be used will be worked through as part of the ongoing Spending Review on the basis of various factors including impact assessments.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the reduction in overseas development assistance on the UK’s (a) shareholding and (b) board membership of the World Bank.

The UK's shareholding at the World Bank is based on our paid in capital. We do not anticipate any reduction in our shareholding or any changes to our board representation as a result of the decision to reduce UK aid spending.Detailed decisions on how the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget will be used will be worked through as part of the ongoing Spending Review on the basis of various factors including impact assessments. We will set out spending plans following the completion of the Spending Review and departmental resource allocation processes.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when he plans to restore Official Development Assistance to 0.7 percent of gross national income.

The Government remains committed to returning to spending 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI) on Official Development Assistance (ODA) when fiscal circumstances allow, in line with the International Development Act 2015. Reducing ODA now is a difficult but necessary decision to respond to the pressing security challenges.The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR's) latest forecast shows that the ODA fiscal tests are not due to be met within the Parliament. The government will continue to monitor future forecasts closely, and each year will review and confirm, in accordance with the International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015, whether a return to spending 0.7% GNI on ODA is possible against the latest fiscal forecast.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the projected level of overseas development aid (ODA) expenditure on asylum accommodation is over the next three years; and whether he plans to ring-fence the amount of ODA available for that purpose.

The Government is committed to ensuring that asylum costs fall and has already acted. The Government has taken measures to reduce the asylum backlog, reform the asylum accommodation system to end the use of expensive accommodation in the next Spending Review (SR) period and increase detention capacity to facilitate more asylum removals.Whilst there will always be volatility in asylum forecasts, we expect these decisions to drive down overall in-donor refugee costs over the next SR.All UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) spending is consistent with the international rules agreed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD's) Development Assistance Committee. This includes ODA spent on in-donor refugee costs.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will spend 80 percent of Official Development Assistance on women and girls.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is committed to putting women and girls at the heart of everything we do. We continue to work towards our target of at least 80 percent of the FCDO's bilateral aid programmes having a focus on gender equality by 2030. This commitment is measured by the proportion of programmes, rather than by spend, since this reflects our ambition for gender to be mainstreamed across all FCDO programmes.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much Official Development Assistance funding has been spent on countering extremism in Lebanon in each of the last five years..

The UK plays a leading role in countering terrorism and violent extremism overseas. Lebanon is one of our key CT partners in the Middle East and over the last five years, HMG has spent over £12 million on countering violent extremism in Lebanon. This breaks down to £2,245,000 in FY 24/25; £1,782,421 in FY 23/24; £1,685,998 in FY 22/23; £2,864,343 in FY 21/22 and £4,074,261 in FY 20/21, across the Integrated Security Fund (ISF) and Counter Terrorism Programme Fund (CTPF).

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much Official Development Assistance funding has been spent on countering extremism in Iraq in each of the last five years..

We share with Iraq an ambition to combat terrorism and violent extremism, including Daesh and the threats it presents to our citizens. As members of the Global Coalition to Counter Daesh, we will continue to work with Iraq to ensure that Daesh cannot re-emerge. Since the 2020-2021 Financial Year, approximately £6million of Official Development Assistance has been utilised to support Countering Violent Extremism activities in Iraq. This includes approximately £70,000 in 2020-21, £1,288,808 in 2021-2022, £2,340,550 in 2022-2023 and just over £2,331,889 in 2023-2024.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much Official Development Assistance funding has been spent on countering extremism in Syria in each of the last five years.

The UK is committed to combatting all forms of terrorism emanating from Syria, including from Daesh and the threat they present to our citizens. As members of the Global Coalition against Daesh, we will continue to work with partners in order to ensure that Daesh's territorial defeat endures, and they can never resurge. Since Financial Year 2020-2021, approximately £18.7 million of Official Development Assistance has been used to support Countering Violent Extremism activities in Syria. This includes approximately £1.4 million in 2020-21, £2.5 million in 2021-22, £3.8 million in 2022-23, £5.1 million in 2023-24 and £5.7 million in 2024-25.