§ Lord Swinfenasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they consider it the best use of taxpayers' money to dispense part of the international aid budget through the European Union rather than through the Department for International Development, given that distribution through the European Union involves increased costs and opportunities for misappropriation. [HL3152]
§ Baroness AmosWe are obliged, under the Treaty on European Union and the Lomé Convention, to contribute to the EC's development assistance programmes. However, there can be no doubt that the EC's development assistance programmes are often poor, and action is needed to address this. This is why we sought to restrict the growth of the external assistance part of the EC Budget in March, and succeeded in holding down the level of growth to 1 per cent. for the period 2000–06. This is in stark contrast to the agreement reached at the Edinburgh Council in 1992, where a 180 per cent. increase was agreed for the seven-year period, 1992–99.
In December 1998, we published our 18-point strategy to improve European Union development spending. We are pursuing implementation of this strategy very vigorously with the Commission and with member states, pressing particularly for more development assistance for poorer countries. The Development Council approved conclusions on 21 May endorsing many of our specific recommendations.