§ Mr. StreeterTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on the recipient projects in Uganda of the £67 million for educational assistance [56535]
§ Clare Short[holding answer 26 October 1998]: The £67 million is to be disbursed over a five year period in support of the Government of Uganda's Education Sector Investment Plan (ESIP). The main priority of the ESIP is the achievement of Universal Primary Education by 2003, which is itself an important component of Uganda's broader poverty eradication effort.
The ESIP has been developed with UK assistance in partnership with the Government of Uganda and other donors. It is to run from 1997 to 2003 and is expected to cost some £430 million in recurrent expenditure (1998–2001) and at least £370 million in new investment proposals. £60 million of our overall commitment will be disbursed as budgetary assistance towards these costs. The remaining £7 million is to be used for technical co-operation in support of the overall programme (including audit and financial reporting). As such, our contributions will not be tied to any particular projects but are intended to support the realisation of the ESIP programme as a whole.