Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 20 June 2019 to Question 265408 on Palestinian Authority: Pay, whether his Department's disbursements to the Palestinian Authority (PA) been reduced to reflect the PA's partial salary payments.

DFID has not reduced its funding to the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) health and education sectors for financial year 2019/20. While PA salaries have recently been reduced, our contribution still comprises only a proportion of the PA’s total health and education sector wage bill. UK aid to the PA’s health and education sectors is used exclusively to pay the salaries of vetted health and education public servants, including teachers, doctors and nurses, in the West Bank. The PA’s decision to make partial salary payments to public sector officials does not affect the robust financial safeguards that ensure UK financial aid reaches its intended beneficiaries.