The British government’s use of overseas aid for domestic refugees will come under political scrutiny after an inquiry was announced on Wednesday.
Parliament’s International Development Committee stated that it would examine the financing of Afghan and Ukrainian refugees after reports that Britain was spending more on aid at home than in the world’s poorest countries.
The investigation is likely to prove difficult for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak when as chancellor he controversially cut the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget from 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) to 0.5 per cent, as a post Covid-19 pandemic budget saving.
Announcing the inquiry, the cross-bench committee of MPs said it would investigate whether spending the aid budget on refugees within Britain was an “efficient, effective and ethical use of public money”.
While countries are allowed to devote foreign aid to the domestic costs of refugees and asylum seekers this can only last for the first 12 months. Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in August 2021 and the Ukraine conflict is now approaching nine months duration.
While the government was as yet not technically breaking international aid rules, Britain was “unique among the world’s largest donor countries in counting all of its in-country support for Ukrainian refugees as ODA”, the committee said when it announced the inquiry.
It also pointed to media reports suggesting the government was on course to spend more on aid in Britain than on humanitarian assistance abroad.
There is now growing concern that the underfunded £11.4 billion ($13.4 billion) ODA budget will be routed away from the world’s poorest to domestic ministerial departments to support refugees in Britain.
Recent reports have put hotel costs for asylum seekers who have crossed the English Channel on small boats at nearly £6 million a night.
MP Sarah Champion, the committee’s chairwoman, said they would scrutinise the ODA spending to examine precisely where the cash is going.
“The UK’s aid budget is already constrained with a freeze on all non-essential aid,” she said. “Transparency and accountability are essential and this inquiry will look across government departments to understand how this aid is being spent and who might lose out as the balance shifts from the world’s poorest people to the UK’s internal priorities.”
The cuts in aid are now having a tangible effect on the world’s most impoverished, with Britain’s budget for tackling Aids, tuberculosis and malaria reduced by almost a third, it emerged on Monday.
In 2019 former prime minister Theresa May was widely praised for pledging £1.4 billion over three years — or £467 million a year — on disease financing, a move that was welcomed by the Global Fund for “saving millions of lives around the world”.
On Monday, Andrew Mitchell, the Minister for Development, announced that the renewed budget would be £1 billion, or the equivalent of £333m a year.
“The UK and others founded the Global Fund because we refused to accept the loss of millions of lives every year to preventable and treatable diseases,” Mr Mitchell said, without mentioning the 29 per cent cut in funding.
“This fund gives hope and opportunity to millions who would otherwise suffer. Malaria kills a child nearly every minute of every day. These are wholly preventable deaths, and the UK is dedicated to preventing them.”
Difference between fractional ownership and timeshare
Although similar in its appearance, the concept of a fractional title deed is unlike that of a timeshare, which usually involves multiple investors buying “time” in a property whereby the owner has the right to occupation for a specified period of time in any year, as opposed to the actual real estate, said John Peacock, Head of Indirect Tax and Conveyancing, BSA Ahmad Bin Hezeem & Associates, a law firm.
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
Most wanted allegations
- Benjamin Macann, 32: involvement in cocaine smuggling gang.
- Jack Mayle, 30: sold drugs from a phone line called the Flavour Quest.
- Callum Halpin, 27: over the 2018 murder of a rival drug dealer.
- Asim Naveed, 29: accused of being the leader of a gang that imported cocaine.
- Calvin Parris, 32: accused of buying cocaine from Naveed and selling it on.
- John James Jones, 31: allegedly stabbed two people causing serious injuries.
- Callum Michael Allan, 23: alleged drug dealing and assaulting an emergency worker.
- Dean Garforth, 29: part of a crime gang that sold drugs and guns.
- Joshua Dillon Hendry, 30: accused of trafficking heroin and crack cocain.
- Mark Francis Roberts, 28: grievous bodily harm after a bungled attempt to steal a £60,000 watch.
- James ‘Jamie’ Stevenson, 56: for arson and over the seizure of a tonne of cocaine.
- Nana Oppong, 41: shot a man eight times in a suspected gangland reprisal attack.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5
Haircare resolutions 2021
From Beirut and Amman to London and now Dubai, hairstylist George Massoud has seen the same mistakes made by customers all over the world. In the chair or at-home hair care, here are the resolutions he wishes his customers would make for the year ahead.
1. 'I will seek consultation from professionals'
You may know what you want, but are you sure it’s going to suit you? Haircare professionals can tell you what will work best with your skin tone, hair texture and lifestyle.
2. 'I will tell my hairdresser when I’m not happy'
Massoud says it’s better to offer constructive criticism to work on in the future. Your hairdresser will learn, and you may discover how to communicate exactly what you want more effectively the next time.
3. ‘I will treat my hair better out of the chair’
Damage control is a big part of most hairstylists’ work right now, but it can be avoided. Steer clear of over-colouring at home, try and pursue one hair brand at a time and never, ever use a straightener on still drying hair, pleads Massoud.
The most expensive investment mistake you will ever make
When is the best time to start saving in a pension? The answer is simple – at the earliest possible moment. The first pound, euro, dollar or dirham you invest is the most valuable, as it has so much longer to grow in value. If you start in your twenties, it could be invested for 40 years or more, which means you have decades for compound interest to work its magic.
“You get growth upon growth upon growth, followed by more growth. The earlier you start the process, the more it will all roll up,” says Chris Davies, chartered financial planner at The Fry Group in Dubai.
This table shows how much you would have in your pension at age 65, depending on when you start and how much you pay in (it assumes your investments grow 7 per cent a year after charges and you have no other savings).
|
Age
|
$250 a month
|
$500 a month
|
$1,000 a month
|
|
25
|
$640,829
|
$1,281,657
|
$2,563,315
|
|
35
|
$303,219
|
$606,439
|
$1,212,877
|
|
45
|
$131,596
|
$263,191
|
$526,382
|
|
55
|
$44,351
|
$88,702
|
$177,403
|
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Lewis Hamilton in 2018
Australia 2nd; Bahrain 3rd; China 4th; Azerbaijan 1st; Spain 1st; Monaco 3rd; Canada 5th; France 1st; Austria DNF; Britain 2nd; Germany 1st; Hungary 1st; Belgium 2nd; Italy 1st; Singapore 1st; Russia 1st; Japan 1st; United States 3rd; Mexico 4th
RedCrow Intelligence Company Profile
Started: 2016
Founders: Hussein Nasser Eddin, Laila Akel, Tayeb Akel
Based: Ramallah, Palestine
Sector: Technology, Security
# of staff: 13
Investment: $745,000
Investors: Palestine’s Ibtikar Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Gothams and angel investors
