HL Deb 04 May 2000 vol 612 c187WA
Lord Avebury

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What information they have received from the United Nations High Commission on Refugees on the proportion of the projects conducted through implementing partners for which audit reports were not received in 1997 and 1998 respectively; how many of the implementing partners whose projects were not audited were through non-governmental organisations whose formation the United Nations High Commission on Refugees had encouraged; and what proportion the unaudited projects represented of the total value of projects carried out through implementing partners. [HL2135]

Baroness Amos

UNHCR is independently audited each year. Its most recent audit report was issued in August 1999. According to this report, UNHCR did not receive audit certificates for 30 per cent of expenditure by implementing partners in 1997. In 1998 the percentage was roughly the same, at under 32 per cent. UNHCR's audit report does not state how many projects these figures represent.

As UNHCR does not keep data on how many non-government organisations (NGOs) it has encouraged to form, we cannot respond on how many such NGOs have carried out projects for which UNHCR has not received audit certificates.