Written evidence submitted by the Department
for International Development
FOLLOW UP
QUESTIONS FROM
THE INTERNATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
FOLLOWING THE
SECRETARY OF
STATE'S
EVIDENCE SESSION
ON 15 JULY
2010
1. The source of the additional funding—are
other country programmes being reduced to enable the increase
in aid to Afghanistan?
DFID is currently undertaking a review of the
Department for International Development's (DFID) aid programmes,
which will inform the allocation of aid to different countries
for the next Comprehensive Spending Review period (2011-12 to
2014-15).
Most of the additional £200 million funding
for Afghanistan will be allocated as part of this review. Any
allocation during 2010-11 will come from unallocated contingency
funds, including savings from low priority programmes and efficiency
savings.
The Bilateral Aid Review (BAR) will focus the
UK's Aid more tightly and look at where and how DFID can have
the biggest impact. DFID will focus on fewer countries, where
the need is greatest and DFID has the best capacity to effect
change.
2. The relationship between the ongoing review
of bilateral programmes and the decision to increase the bilateral
programme in one country ahead of the review's findings.
The Secretary of State took the decision to
increase the scale of DFID's programme in Afghanistan in advance
of the BAR because of the urgency of the situation in Afghanistan.
The decision to allocate additional funding in advance of the
BAR was an exception which is most unlikely to be repeated in
other countries. The recent decision to increase the programme
in Afghanistan will be accommodated in the BAR.
17 August 2010
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