To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the reasons are for the change in his Department’s (a) bilateral expenditure on and (b) imputed multilateral shares for the Central African Republic between 2006-07 and 2007-08. (266332)

Between 2006-07 and 2007-08, the Department for International Development (DFID) bilateral spend reduced because this period saw an increased donor interest in the Central African Republic (CAR), and a corresponding reduction in UK burdenshare.

DFID provides core contributions to the general budgets of multilateral organisations and cannot then track the funds directly to individual countries. DFID uses the figures reported by multilateral institutions to the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) to provide an estimate of what proportion of DFID’s core contributions are spent in each country. The multilateral institutions themselves determine which countries should receive an allocation from their funds in any given year, and the size of any allocation. The UK’s imputed share of multilateral official development assistance (ODA) accordingly reflects increases or decreases in the allocation by multilateral institutions to each country in the years in question.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development when he next expects an allocation from his Department’s regional programme for aid to be made to the country programme for the Central African Republic. (266333)

The allocation for 2009-10 has been made. In addition to the Department for International Development’s (DFID) imputed multilateral share, an envelope of up to £2 million will be available for the Central African Republic during the coming financial year, from the Department’s wider regional humanitarian programme.