§ Tony BaldryTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what representations she has made on identifying the financing gap for basic education within national Education for All plans. [31669]
§ Clare ShortDFID's "Children out of school paper" makes clear what action we believe should be taken on this. The main approach for delivering on the Dakar resource commitment should be through nationally owned poverty reduction strategy papers and similar planning frameworks. They should indicate how country plans to move towards the education Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will be met, including through the release of HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Country) savings and with the assistance of the international community. So far as possible, this should be through sector-wide approaches and budget support.
This approach should be underpinned by detailed analysis of the funding implications for achieving UPE and gender equality in schooling at a country level. The World bank is supporting work of this nature, including the tracking of expenditures from debt relief and identification of the scope for additional national resources within countries. Where necessary, assistance should be given to help countries undertake resource analysis of this type. The bank's findings will he submitted to Governors at their spring meeting in April. We are consulting with the bank about this work.