Leading aid agencies urge UK to stick to aid spending commitment

By Astrid Zweynert LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Britain must stick to its international aid spending target despite criticism about transparency and efficiency to ensure it can lift millions of people out of poverty, a group of 20 British aid agencies and advocacy groups said on Sunday. In a letter to the Observer newspaper, charities such as Oxfam, Save The Children and International Rescue Committee said British aid improves and saves millions of lives every day. Central to the petition, launched by the Mail on Sunday newspaper in March and signed by 230,000 people so far, is the spending by private contractors hired by Department for International Development (DFID) to deliver aid.