§ Mrs. Betty WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support her Department is giving to basic education. [81167]
§ Clare ShortThe Government are strongly committed to mobilising the international community to meet the education and gender equality targets within the Millennium Development Goals. We have fully achieved the goals in this area set in our current Public Service Agreement, but recognise that there is still a huge challenge in getting to the 2015 objectives.
Since 1997 we have committed £700 million to basic education and forecast support amounts to £1.3 billion over the next five years, either through education sector support or direct budget support. Of this, about £500 million will go to Africa and £800 million to Asia. These spending figures are forecasts, not targets or commitments, and depend on agreeing high quality programmes with our partners.