Below is an interesting article on aid. Personally I think if we want to donate we should do so voluntarily rather than compulsory "giving" we now do via the tax system and a patronising Government. It is "nanny state", "state knows best" approach and should stop. Anecdotally it's thought the 0.7 percent target may have caused problems for domestic charities as people think they are already "forced" to give and so do no more. I can see a role for state involvement for overseas aid as it can be in our interests but not this daft target:-
"Concerns were raised today over the amount of UK foreign aid being funnelled through expensive outside organisations.
An investigation by The Times found that the government was paying some professional aid staff up to £1,000 a day to work in Africa and Asia as part of a "spending frenzy" to meet targets.
Earlier this year, the UK passed a bill that enshrined in law its commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of the country's gross national income (GNI) on overseas aid. The commitment was established by the UN in 1970, but it was not until 2013 that the UK became the first in the G8 to meet the decades-old promise.
Essentially, it means that 7p of every £10 of taxpayers' money is spent on overseas development. In 2013, this amounted to £11.4bn. Provisional figures for 2014 suggest the figure has risen to £11.8bn.
The Times claims the legal commitment has led to a "rush to spend all the money", with the government "shovelling" billions into outside agencies because it does not have the resources to pick its own projects.
So what are political parties saying about the 0.7 per cent target ahead of the election and where does the money actually go?
How does UK foreign aid compare to other countries?
Only five other countries – Sweden, Norway, Luxembourg, Denmark and the United Arab Emirates – met or exceeded the 0.7 per cent target in 2013, although The Netherlands had consistently met it in the past, reports The Guardian. In terms of volume, the UK was the second largest overseas aid donor out of the 29 OECD Development Assistance Committee members in 2013. The USA was the largest."
See here for the rest of the article: http://www.theweek.co.uk/63394/foreign-aid-where-does-uks-overseas-development-aid-go#ixzz3XqovmzLO
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