Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Questions

The Government published a white paper titled ‘International development in a contested world: ending extreme poverty and tackling climate change’ on 20 November 2023 setting out this Government’s approach to international development to 2030. The white paper says the Government is “increasing the number of UK development diplomats”.

At Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Questions on Tuesday 12 December 2023, I asked the Minister for International Development and Africa Andrew Mitchell MP a question: “The White Paper also talks about development diplomats. How many will be trained and what will be the cost?”

The Minister for International Development and Africa answered by saying: “Yes, the right hon. Lady is quite right: we are increasing the number of development diplomats—I thought she mentioned something about water, but I may have misheard. The point about the White Paper is that it sets out very clearly the aims and aspiration that Britain has to drive forward the sustainable development goals and ensure that we increase climate finance at this critical time. She will be pleased to have seen that and will note that we are now driving forward that agenda.”