Letter to the Chairman of the Committee
from Rt Hon David Miliband MP, Secretary of State for Foreign
and Commonwealth Affairs
I wrote to you last year about the changes we
were making to FCO scholarships and the decision to stop funding
scholarships for developed Commonwealth countries through
the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan. This reflects
the vast increase in other sources of funding over the last 20 years.
I will respond in due course in the usual way to the Foreign
Affairs Committee's Report on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's
Departmental Annual Report 2007-08, in which you regretted the
decision and expressed the view that it had caused damage to the
UK's reputation in the Commonwealth (paragraph 242). I continue
to believe that the reforms we have made in terms of ambition
and focus will serve us well.
Meanwhile I wanted to inform you that we have decided
to contribute £500,000 to the new Commonwealth Scholarships
Endowment Fund marking the 50th anniversary of Commonwealth Scholarships.
The Fund is intended to pay for scholarships tenable in developing
Commonwealth countries. I wrote recently to Kamalesh Sharma,
Commonwealth Secretary-General, to confirm the donation, which
I had indicated last May might be possible before the end of this
financial year.
We are pleased to support this initiative, which
will make a major contribution to collaboration within the Commonwealth
and to our links with developing Commonwealth countries. We hope
that this decision will help Kamalesh Sharma and the Commonwealth
Scholarship Commission to promote the initiative among other Commonwealth
governments.
I am putting a copy of this letter in the Library
of the House.
25 March 2009
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