Written question asked by Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 12 July 1999, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 26 July 1999. It was answered by Clare Short (Labour) on Monday, 26 July 1999 on behalf of the Department for International Development.

Dept for International Development

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much overseas aid is being spent on democracy-building in the current year; and what percentage this constitutes of total overseas aid. - Includes figures.

Answer: Mr. Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much overseas aid is being spent on democracy building in the current year; and what percentage this constitutes of total overseas aid. [91338] Clare Short: We do not record expenditure on democracy building on our Policy Information Marker System (PIMS) which covers all bilateral projects with a commitment over £100,000. However, we do record expenditure to promote good government which includes activities to support democracy. Records of expenditure in the current financial year are not yet available. We are therefore providing figures for 1998-99 where we spent just over £300 million on projects which recorded good government as an objective. This represents almost 40 per cent. of total PIMS marked expenditure. Nearly £70 million or 8 per cent. of PIMS marked expenditure was spent on projects for which good government was the principal objective of the project. Projects may have more than one objective.

Secondary information