HC 268-i Developments in UK Foreign Policy

Supplementary written evidence from David Quarrey, Director, Near East and North Africa,
Foreign and Commonwealth Office

I am writing to clarify the level of funding for the MENA Conflict Pool programme this year.

As you know, the global Conflict Pool receives a settlement from HM Treasury at each Spending Review and these funds are then distributed geographically according to Building Stability Overseas objectives. This year the settlement for the global Conflict Pool was £232.3 million and the MENA programme was allocated £39 million in January 2013 for FY 2013–14. The Foreign Secretary, on behalf of the three Conflict Pool Departments (FCO, MOD, DFID) announces these allocations each year by way of a Written Ministerial Statement. This year the WMS was made on 13 June.

Since that original allocation was made, it has become apparent that £39 million would not be enough to deliver our objectives in the region, particularly in Syria (and surrounding countries) and Libya. A decision was made by the three Departments, and agreed by all three Secretaries of State, to "top up" the MENA Conflict Pool through three mechanisms:

1. £25 million from DFID’s departmental budget as a one-off contribution.

2. Up to £12 million from the Early Action Facility (a centrally held part of the global Conflict Pool used for unforeseen needs in-year).

3. Up to £5 million from reallocating funds from other regional Conflict Pool programmes.

This took the total MENA Conflict Pool to £81 million. This increase was announced by the Foreign Secretary at the Foreign Affairs Select Committee on 16 July.

I agree that the 13 June WMS does not provide the full picture on current funding for the MENA programme, and I apologise for that. As explained above, the majority of the uplift to the MENA programme is coming from DFID’s departmental budget and not the original HM Treasury Conflict Resources settlement. Departmentally-funded uplifts of this type have been made in the past. The Early Action Facility’s allocation of £20 million was included in the WMS. The EAF is a short term contingency fund and Parliament is not usually notified when it is allocated to fund activities in a particular region. The final £5 million of the uplift (which makes up the total of £81 million) is a potential re-allocation of funds from the other Conflict Pool programmes, if needed. No funding has yet been transferred. Such re-allocations are a regular part of Conflict Pool in-year management to ensure that funding is used for the highest priorities. They are usually made without informing Parliament.

I hope this provides the Committee with a clear explanation of how the funding for the MENA Conflict Pool programme has been sourced. We will seek to add a footnote to the transcript of the Foreign Secretary’s evidence, to make this clearer.

27 August 2013

-- END --