Democracy Building (Hansard, 26 July 1999)

§ Mr. Menzies Campbell
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much overseas aid is being spent on democracy building in the current year; and what percentage this constitutes of total overseas aid. [91338]

§ Clare Short
We do not record expenditure on democracy building on our Policy Information Marker System (PIMS) which covers all bilateral projects with a commitment over £100,000. However, we do record expenditure to promote good government which includes activities to support democracy.
Records of expenditure in the current financial year are not yet available. We are therefore providing figures for 1998–99 where we spent just over £300 million on projects which recorded good government as an objective. This represents almost 40 per cent. of total PIMS marked expenditure. Nearly £70 million or 8 per cent. of PIMS marked expenditure was spent on projects for which good government was the principal objective of the project. Projects may have more than one objective.

§ Mr. Menzies Campbell
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much funding(a) has been provided for and (b) is earmarked for future democracy-building in the Eastern Adriatic. [91337]

§ Clare Short
In Albania we have provided about £20,000 over the last year to establish citizen's advice information services.
In Bosnia, we have provided some £8 million on democracy building projects since 1996. This has been provided through the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and for reform of the police, the media and government systems.
In Croatia we have provided £690,000 since 1996 on support to reform of local and national government, the police and judiciary, and the media.
In Macedonia, we have spent £25,000 in the last year to assist with the regulation of the media.
New strategies are currently being developed for Bosnia, Albania and Macedonia to support economic and social reforms and promote democracy.
In Kosovo, we are providing financial and in-kind support to the UN Civil Administration, some of which is used for democracy building. We are supporting independent media organisations and have contributed $1 million to the UN Trust Fund. We are now carrying out assessments of the region's needs for future reconstruction and longer-term development.