Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the change in the level of (a) service efficiency and (b) effectiveness of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency delivered through its Medium Term Strategy.

DFID assesses the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) effectiveness and levels of service efficiency as part of the yearly Annual Review process, most recently completed in June 2018. The annual review states that major efficiency gains were made between 2015 and 2017. UNRWA was able to save a total of $197 million through the implementation of Medium Term Strategy (MTS) reforms, including family health team reforms, centralisation of medicine procurement, school class formation, and the move from food to e-cards in Jordan and Lebanon, whilst improving the quality and impact of its services. Most recently we had an update on UNRWA’s service efficiency and effectiveness against the MTS in November 2018, at the bi-annual Advisory Commission, which reported further gains in improving programme delivery.