§ Mr. JenkinTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what funds have been transferred from the Department for International Development to the Ministry of Defence in each of the last four years; and for what purposes. [104030]
§ Mr. IngramThe cross-departmental Conflict Prevention Fund was established in the 2000 Spending Review. This joint approach by the Ministry of Defence, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development maximises the impact of the conflict prevention work done by each Department by ensuring it is based on a shared strategy and common objectives. It also allows the United Kingdom to react flexibly and more rapidly to emerging crises and to opportunities for peace building.
Conflict prevention expenditure from the three Departments was brought together in two pooled budgets—one for sub-Saharan Africa and one for the rest of the world. Programme funds for conflict prevention in sub-Saharan Africa are included as a ring-fenced element in the Department for International Development's Departmental Expenditure Limit. Programme funds for conflict prevention in the rest of the world are included in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Departmental Expenditure Limit. Both pools are managed jointly by the three departments and funds are transferred between relevant Departments to cover expenditure incurred in pursuit of commonly-agreed objectives. Since the pools' inception 13W there have therefore been a number of transfers between pool partners associated with their management. The amounts and purposes of these transfers are set out in the relevant Estimates, all of which are available in the Library of the House.