Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to Answers of 10 November 2020 to Questions 112063 and 112064, for what reasons the disclosure of the number of (a)projects applied to by individual departments under the Integrated Activity Fund (IAF) in the 2018-19 financial year and (b) IAF projects delivered solely within the named states in financial years 2018-19 and 2019-20 would compromise the confidence or confidentiality of Gulf partners in light of the decision to disclose similar information for the 2017-18 financial year; and what assessment he has made of whether withholding that information is in line with the Government's commitment to transparency and good governance.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
I refer the Honourable member to my response on 27 October to question 106366 and on 7 December to question 124318. Disclosures are in line with the Government's commitment to transparency and good governance and to the maintenance of international relations with our Gulf state partners.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how many projects his Department applied for under the Integrated Activity Fund (IAF) in each financial year since 2016-17; and what the (a) allocated budget and (b) actual spending was for each project.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
We do not disclose information related to Integrated Activity Fund projects to maintain the confidence and confidentiality of our Gulf partners.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many projects were delivered under the Integrated Activity Fund in the financial years (a) 2016-17 and (b) 2017-18; and what the (a) budget and (b) spend was for each of those projects.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
I refer the Honourable Member to my response of 10 November 2020 to question 112065. 30 projects were delivered in 2017/18. The budget for each financial year was £20 million. Total spend was £10.5 million in 2016/17 and £13.9 million in 2017/18.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many of the projects delivered through the Integrated Activity Fund in (a) 2016-7 and (b) 2017-18 were delivered solely within one country; and what those countries were in each of those financial years.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
I refer the Honourable Member to my responses to questions 112065 on 10 November and 113155 on 12 November.
Asked by: Wayne David (Labour - Caerphilly)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2020 to Question 114083 on Gulf States: Overseas Aid, how many applications were made to the Gulf Strategy Fund in 2020-21 by (a) the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, (b) the Department for International Trade, (c) the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and (d) HM Revenue and Customs; and how many of each Department's applications were for activities delivered in one country.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The Department for Environment Food & Rural, the Department for International Trade, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and HM Revenue and Customs each made one application to deliver a regional programmes. The application from DCMS was not approved. Country-specific programmes are operated by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.
Asked by: Wayne David (Labour - Caerphilly)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2020 to Question 114083, with regards to Gulf Strategy Fund activities in the financial year 2020-21, in which countries the six country-specific projects were conducted; and how many projects were conducted in each of those countries.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office applied to the Gulf Strategy Fund to operate a programme in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. As of December 2020, the programme teams in each country will oversee delivery of nine projects in Bahrain, four in Kuwait, nine in Oman, two in Qatar, six in Saudi Arabia and seven in the United Arab Emirates in 2020/21.
Asked by: Wayne David (Labour - Caerphilly)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2020 to Question 114083, to which countries his Department made six country-specific applications for funding from the Gulf Strategy Fund in financial year 2020-21; and how many of those approved applications were for projects in each of (a) Saudi Arabia (b) Bahrain (c) Kuwait (d) United Arab Emirates (e) Oman and (f) Qatar.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office applied to the Gulf Strategy Fund to operate a programme in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. As of December 2020, the programme teams in each country will oversee delivery of nine projects in Bahrain, four in Kuwait, nine in Oman, two in Qatar, six in Saudi Arabia and seven in the United Arab Emirates in 2020/21.
Asked by: Wayne David (Labour - Caerphilly)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, further to the answer of 17 November 2020 to Question 114083, how many regional applications made to the Gulf Strategy Fund in the financial year 2020-21 were approved for each of (a) the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, (b) the Department for International Trade and (c) HM Revenue and Customs.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The Department for Environment Food & Rural, the Department for International Trade, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and HM Revenue and Customs each made one application to deliver a regional programmes. The application from DCMS was not approved. Country-specific programmes are operated by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.
Asked by: Wayne David (Labour - Caerphilly)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2020 to Question 106364 and the Answer of 17 November 2020 to Question 114083 and with reference to the CPS response of 19 November 2020 to the Freedom of Information Request reference 9433 that state that the CPS made applications to the Integrated Activity Fund/Gulf Strategy Fund in financial years 2018-19 and 2020-21, for what reason that information was not disclosed in the Answers to those Questions.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) did not apply directly to the Integrated Activity Fund in 2018-19 or to the Gulf Strategy Fund in 2020-21. Any CPS activities undertaken in those years would have been as part of an application by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office to operate a country programme.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 23 October 2020 to Question 106362 on Gulf States: Overseas Aid, which of the 47 projects delivered through the Integrated Activity Fund in financial year 2019-20 were delivered solely within one country; and what those countries were.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
In 2019/20, the Integrated Activity Fund delivered 33 projects solely in the Gulf States including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.