HC Deb 15 July 1994 vol 246 cc787-8W
Ms Armstrong

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what amount of the United Kingdom's bilateral aid programme was spent last year in(a) sub-Saharan Africa, (b) India and (c) South Asia; and how much the Oversease Development Administration plans to spend in each year to 1996–97 in these places in (a) cash prices, (b) real terms and (c) as a percentage of the relevant year's bilateral aid programme.

Mr. Lennox Boyd

Actual expenditure figures for the last financial year, 1993–94, are not yet available. United Kingdom bilateral aid expenditure figures in 1992–93, the latest year for which actual data are available, are:

1992–93 Prices £ million Percentage of Total Bilateral Aid
Sub-Saharan Africa 509 137
of which: Country Programmes 285 21
Other Bilateral Aid2 224 16
India 115 18
of which: Country Programmes 92 6
Other Bilateral Aid2 23 2
South Asia (excluding India) 145 111
of which: Country Programmes 99 7
Other Bilateral Aid2 46 4
Other Regions 439 132
of which: Country Programmes 174 13
Other Bilateral Aid2 265 19
World Unallocated3 166 12
of which: Other Bilateral Aid 166 12
1 The corresponding figures as a percentage of bilateral aid allocable by region are higher.
2 Other bilateral aid is made up of Aid and Trade Provision, Food Aid, Disaster Relief, Debt relief, Non-Project Technical Co-operation, Drugs Assistance and CDC Investments.
3 "World Unallocated" comprises block grants to the British Council, Natural Resources Institute, VSO, NGOs, Research Institutions and Commonwealth Organisations based in the United Kingdom.

For 1993–94 and subsequent years, no breakdown is available for sub-Saharan Africa, India or South Asia. Figures are available for Africa, including North Africa and the middle east, and for the whole of Asia and the Pacific. The table shows planning figures for bilateral country programmes only for these two areas. These figures are not directly comparable with the figures for 1992–93.

Country programmes only Percentage of total country programmes
Cash prices 1992–93 prices
Year £ million £ million
Africa (including North Africa and Middle East)
1993–94 330 320 47
1994–95 344 324 45
1995–96 315 286 45
1996–97 284 252 44

Country programmes only Percentage of total country programmes
Cash prices 1992–93 prices
Year £ million £ million
Asia/Pacific
1993–94 254 246 35
1994–95 248 233 33
1995–96 227 206 32
1996–97 217 192 33

These planning figures include an allowance, additional to the overall figure agreed in the public expenditure survey, to compensate for expected slippage of expenditure. For this reason, and because of the many detailed changes that take place over a period at country level in the rate of spending, actual spending will vary from the figures shown.

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