Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Verma on 11 May (HL8116), what is their assessment of the view expressed in section 4.1.1 of the Overseas Development Institute’s Final Report of November 2015 <i>Evaluative Review of the Statebuilding Grant and the Palestinian Governance Facility—DFID Palestinian programme </i>that "the manner in which DFID’s funds are demonstrated to have only paid the salaries of PEGASE-approved employees is of questionable efficacy", and the "accounting exercise" "undertaken <i>ex post </i>to show that DFID funds are less than the outstanding amount needed to fund salaries of PEGASE-approved PA employees" "is of questionable robustness, as this kind of notional earmarking provides few fiduciary assurances."

UK direct financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority is used for the sole purpose of paying the salaries of civil servants responsible for providing essential services. Our support is provided through a multi-donor trust fund administered by the World Bank, which carries out close monitoring of PA expenditure. Only named civil servants from a pre-approved EU list are eligible, and the vetting process ensures that our funds do not benefit terrorist groups. The process is subject to independent auditing, which is regularly reviewed and strengthened accordingly.

As the ODI report itself makes clear, UK support to the PA is delivering real results, improving lives and is instrumental in preventing economic collapse and violent escalation.