§ Miss LestorTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what consultations were held with UN agencies before publication of the Overseas Development Administration's fundamental expenditure review and the senior management review. [16398]
§ Mr. HanleyAt the outset of the fundamental expenditure review exercise, a member of the FER team had discussions in New York with senior officials from the UNDP, UNICEF and with the UK Mission to the UN. Copies of the FER were passed to UN agencies on publication.
No separate discussions with UN agencies took place at the time of the senior management review, but as the SMR followed shortly after the FER, it was able to take account of the discussions and conclusions of the FER.
The FER conclusions are recommendations only. We are now considering how policies should be changed to respond to the recommendations. At present, we have no plans to withdraw from any multilateral agencies. In autumn 1996, we shall be reviewing progress of reform in UN development agencies and coming to conclusion about our future relationship with those agencies.