Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 23 November (HL11378), whether they have made any assessment as to whether the non-publication of the audit reports relating to UK direct financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority is compatible with provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Palestinian National Authority and the Government signed on 7 July 2011 and extended on 22 December 2014 relating to the provision of effective public oversight of budget formulation and other key areas.

The Memorandum of Understanding included a commitment to the UK’s Partnership Principles. One of those Principles was about improving domestic accountability through oversight mechanisms for Palestinian citizens to scrutinise budget formulation and implementation. The Principle did not relate to publishing audits of UK contributions. In line with Section 27 of the Freedom of Information Act (2000), we withheld the audit reports of the Palestinian Authority (PA) from 2010 – 2015.