Mr. Robert G. HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonweath Affairs whether he will make a statement on the allocation of funds raised for Kurdish refugees by the Simple Truth appeal.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThe British Red Cross, which helped to distribute the funds, confirms that all of the £57,042,000, including the £13,832,000 raised in the United Kingdom, has been accounted for. The Government were pleased to contribute £10 million. We are satisfied that these funds have been properly used. Of the £10 million, we contributed US$10 million to United Nation agencies and £5 million to the British Red Cross.
The British Red Cross figures show that of the £57,042,000, £56,098,000 has been distributed, leaving £396,000 in reserve earmarked for programmes in Iraq this winter; £250,000 of that sum was dispatched early last week to supplement winterisation programmes already in being. The difference of £548,000 represents British Red Cross's commendably low expenses.