§ Mrs. SpelmanTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what volume of aid in(a) Africa,(b) Central America,(c) Caribbean,(d) South America,(e) middle east,(f) Asia and(g) European countries has been unallocated in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement on underspend in each of these budgets. [80606]
§ Clare ShortDFID's entire budget has been fully allocated over the past five years. Each year our initial budget includes a modest Contingency Reserve, and in some years we have initially allocated funds for separate reserves for geographical divisions, but these reserves have always been re-allocated to specific programmes in the course of the year.
The budget and outturn figures for each of the named seven regions for the past five years are (in £ 000s):
§ Clare ShortIt is difficult to obtain precise information on the humanitarian situation in the Central African Republic particularly in the areas of the country under rebel control. Inter-agency missions to assess the situation further than 30km north of Bangui have not been able to take place due to security concerns. We do know that the World Food Programme (WFP) has sent 45 metric tonnes of food to Northern Bangui and that nine tonnes of this has been distributed in the area directly to the north of the capital, to those 201W most seriously affected by the recent fighting. We are also aware of World Health Organisation and CAR Red Cross society reports indicating that hospitals and health centres in the country's northern provinces are short of medicines.