UK MPs to investigate £302m aid given to Pakistan

LONDON: The International Development Committee (IDC) of the British Parliament has re-launched an inquiry to assess the effectiveness of its government’s development policy towards the country and investigate the £302 million aid given to Pakistan by the United Kingdom.

The inquiry will be conducted by the parliamentary select committee responsible for scrutiny of the UK aid, which is made of MPs from different parties. The UK’s aid to Pakistan came under focus after the Daily Mail published an article in 2019 alleging that "millions” of UK taxpayers’ money was stolen by former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif and his family. The PML-N leader is already suing the paper and contesting the claim as "baseless".

Pakistan has been part of the Department for International Development's (DFID) largest country programme for the last five years and has received around £302 million in 2019/20. During 2018 and 2019, the UK aid to Pakistan saw 53 percent spent on human development (including health and education), 29 percent on economic development, 10 percent on governance and security, 5 percent on climate and the environment and 3 percent on humanitarian aid.

The British MPs have invited written submissions by April 1 to assess the impact of the UK aid to Pakistan. The MPs will investigate whether UK's strategic aims for its Pakistan programme are clear and appropriate and if other aspects of the UK-Pakistan relationship are coherent and well-coordinated with the aid programme and its aims and objectives. They will check to what extent is UK aid spending in Pakistan integrated, coordinated and responsive to the priorities and commitments of the Pakistan government.

The inquiry will assess whether aid is focused on the poorest, most marginalised. They will also investigate if the UK's aid spending in Pakistan is appropriate to achieve long-lasting change.

The inquiry into the UK aid to Pakistan was launched in June 2019 but did not take any oral evidence as the Parliament was dissolved. This inquiry follows from that work, according to a statement from the parliamentary committee.