To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress has been made to fulfil the statement made by his predecessor at the Overseas Development Institute that Her Majesty's Government had plans to increase annual expenditure on overseas aid. [37363]

In his speech to the Overseas Development Institute on 15 February 1995, the then Foreign Secretary reiterated the Government's plans for increased aid spending announced by my right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his Budget statement on 29 November 1994.In common with all other areas of Government expenditure, these plans are reviewed each year during the public expenditure survey.