Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Minister for the Middle East of 18 April 2018, Official Report, column 309, how and by whom spending is audited to ensure that there is no diversion to fund terrorist tunnels or other terrorist activity.

DFID has a zero-tolerance approach to fraud and has robust controls against the diversion of aid including towards terrorist activity. These include extensive due diligence of partners, mapping the flow of our funds and where required, tight earmarking of funds. DFID’s project spending in the OPTs is subject to annual, independent financial audit. The overall programme is also subject to the regular audit cycle of DFID's Internal Audit Department and the National Audit Office. DFID complies with UK and international counter terrorism legislation and our funding agreements commit partners to understand and comply with international counter terrorism legislation.