Written question asked by Baroness Coffey (Conservative) on Thursday, 17 February 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 28 February 2011. It was answered by David Lidington (Conservative) on Wednesday, 2 March 2011 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

AIRE Centre: Finance

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much funding his Department has provided to the Advice on Individual Rights in Europe Centre in each of the last five years.

Answer: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has funded rule of law projects, run by the Advice on Individual Rights in Europe (AIRE), in both Serbia and Montenegro in the recent past, and continues to do so. The Government attach great importance to the development of effective rule of law in the countries of the Western Balkans, in particular in the area of judicial reform.In Montenegro, the FCO will have allocated £132,500, over the 2008-12 period, to fund two AIRE projects on rule of law and judicial reform. In Serbia, the FCO will have allocated, over the period 2004-12, £449,256 for a further two rule of law and judicial training projects.We estimate that over the last five years (2006-11) the FCO has provided, in total, approximately £455,500 in funding to AIRE.

Secondary information