Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, which independent auditor vets UK aid to the Palestinian Territories; and whether that auditor is regulated by any UK regulator.

All organisations which receive funding from DFID are required to provide independently audited financial statements. The United Nations Board of Auditors provides independent external audit services for UN programmes while competitive bidding processes are conducted to appoint auditors for other programmes.

Recent audits of DFID’s programmes in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) have been conducted by Talal Abu Ghazaleh & Co, El Wafa and Price Waterhouse Cooper. Price Waterhouse Cooper is regulated by the UK’s Financial Reporting Council.

Talal Abu Ghazaleh & Co and El Wafa are based in Jordan and the OPTs respectively, and are therefore not regulated by any British regulator. The National Audit Office, the principal state audit body in the United Kingdom, also provides independent external audit of DFID’s spending in the OPTs.