The Earl of Carlisleasked Her Majesty's Government:
How much of the £3,651,000 expended since 1991 on retraining projects for unemployed former Soviet Army officers in Russia has come from the United Kingdom defence budget; how much of the total amount has been illegally diverted by Russian organisations or individuals to other purposes; and how much money is to be expended on these projects in the financial year 1998–99. [HL1199]
§ Lord GilbertOf the £3,651,000 spent by the British Government on retraining projects for unemployed former Army officers in Russia since 1994, £3,155,000 has come from the United Kingdom defence budget and £496,000 from the Know-how Fund, currently managed by the Department for International Development. The estimated provision for such expenditure from the defence budget for 1998–99 is £1,000,000.
Over the course of the resettlement project we have taken appropriate steps to ensure that funds are used for the purposes for which they have been provided and that the interests of the British taxpayer are protected. These steps include the establishment of agreed budgets for retraining courses at each resettlement centre, and their close and systematic monitoring by the UK project officer based in Moscow. We have no direct evidence that funds have been illegally diverted by Russian organisations or individuals, but, where our monitoring suggests that funds are being managed unsatisfactorily or inefficiently, it is our policy to terminate our involvement with the centre concerned. So far this has happened on two occasions.