§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what funding is given by his Department to the(a) British Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, (b) the Inter-Parliamentary Union and (c) the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe for election observing; and when this funding was last increased. [148326]
§ Mr. WilsonThe full title for the 'British Commonwealth Parliamentary Association' is 'Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (UK branch)'. The FCO provides no funding to this organisation. The branch is a registered UK charity and is one of 141 branches world-wide. Each branch is autonomous, raising its own finance. The UK branch relies on 90 per cent of its funding from HM Treasury.
The 'Inter-Parliamentary Union' is again funded directly by HM Treasury; the FCO provides no funding.
567WThe UK provides at least 10 per cent. of the requested personnel for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe's office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Electoral Observation Missions. In 2000 the cost of this was £562,546. In addition the FCO pays assessed contributions amounting to 9 per cent. of the OSCE core costs for election observation, as detailed in the organisation's annual budget. In 2000 this amounted to £187,043. The size of the UK contribution rises or falls each year according to the size and number of election observation missions mounted.