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Written question asked by Mark Hoban (Conservative) on Friday, 6 July 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 10 July 2007. It was answered by Andy Burnham (Labour) on Monday, 16 July 2007 on behalf of the Treasury.

Finance: Iraq

Question
(5) what estimate his Department made before the 2003 Budget of the cost of the (a) war and (b) reconstruction in Iraq in each of the subsequent five financial years.
Answer

By their nature the total cost of military operations are difficult to estimate from the outset. Pre-Budget report 2002 set aside £1 billion for the cost of operations in Iraq. On the basis of MOD forecasts this was increased to £3 billion at Budget 2003 as a prudent contingency.The nature of operations, whether in Iraq or elsewhere, means that they cannot be time-limited from the outset. As a result, HM Treasury maintains a rolling annual estimate of the cost of operations and reviews the costs of and provision for military operations at the time of the pre-Budget report and the Budget. Military operations are routinely evaluated in order to measure progress and capture lessons learnt.By Budget 2003 a total of £240 million had been committed for humanitarian assistance in Iraq, and in addition, Budget 2003 announced a further $100 million to back up the UN and the work of reconstruction and international development. At the Madrid Conference in October 2003, the UK pledged $900 million (£544 million) for reconstruction in Iraq over the period 2003-04 to 2005-06. The 2004 Spending Review allocated funds to enable this commitment to be fulfilled. At the launch of the International Compact for Iraq in Sharm El Sheikh on 3 May 2007, the Foreign Secretary announced that the UK will spend at least £200 million over and above the Madrid pledge, to be disbursed over the next three years.The Iraq reconstruction programme is subject to the standard internal DFID guidelines for the monitoring and evaluation of all programmes and projects. DFID has reporting arrangements in place for each of the projects it runs in Iraq, which means that funding is tracked and monitored throughout the process.Effective performance management and lesson learning is key to how DFID assesses its progress against its value for money target.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
148899; 463 c66-7W
Session
2006-07
Subjects
Finance Iraq Peacekeeping operations Reconstruction Iraq conflict
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk