HC Deb 17 July 1996 vol 281 cc537-8W
Mr. Rogers

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the work of the United Nations Compensation Commission since the Gulf war, with numbers of claims received in each category and funds accumulated in all accounts; and if he will make a statement on the work of the panels of commissioners, with particular reference to British claims. [37511]

Mr. Hanley

The United Nations Compensation Commission in Geneva was established in 1991. More than 2.6 million claims with an estimated asserted value of more than $180 billion have been submitted, and almost 2.2 million of these have already been assessed. Claims have been submitted by individuals, corporations and Governments.

Her Majesty's Government have forwarded 4,990 claims from 3,418 claimants. These claims are broken down into the following categories:

Type of claim Total number of claims received by UNCC Total number of claims submitted by UK Value of UK claims in US$
Category A 922,796 1,148 4,035,000
Category B 5,949 258 710,000
Category C 417,557 2,746 122,907,312
Egyptian Bank transfer claims 1.24 million
Category D 9,673 381 133,253,256
Category E 6,455 457 1,189,325,112
Category F 212 1 11,237,641
Totals 2,602,642 4,990 US$ 1,461,468,321

All category B claims have been assessed and full payment made.

The assessment of all category A claims will be completed by October this year. The next instalment of British category C claims are expected to be approved by the governing council in December this year, with the remainder to be completed by the end of 1997.

The UNCC is hoping to set up panels of commissioners this summer to start work on categories D, E and F.

As at 20 September 1995, the compensation fund had $31,151,700 available to meet running costs and payment of claims; 30 per cent. of the revenue under Security Council resolution 986 will be paid to the UNCC enabling it to make at least interim payments on approved A and C awards.

1995 1996
Company Number Value £ Area Number Value £ Area
Diplomatic wing
Coopers and Lybrand 3 316,100 1FMAS 0
KPMG 3 < 77,440 Pay and grading private finance initiative 2 56,000 Pay delegation
Price Waterhouse 3 394,092 Information technology FMAS 5 462,220 FMAS Resource accounting and budgeting
Ernst and Young 1 7,000 Purchase of property 0
Deloitte and Touche 0 1 215,000 Information technology
BDO Stoy Hayward 3 195,000 FMAS 3 102,675 Benchmarking efficiency
Pannel Kerr Forster 1 25,000 FMAS 2 78,750 FMAS
Total 14 994,632 13 804,645