To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 20 April 2009, Official Report, column 485W, on departmental public expenditure, which projects funded by the Returns and Reintegration Fund counted as official development assistance; what the cost of each project was; and if he will make a statement. (272379)

I have been asked to reply.

One Returns and Reintegration Fund project counts as official development assistance. The Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Offenders and Deported Persons programme supports the Jamaican Department for Correctional Services in rehabilitating and reintegrating Jamaican ex-offenders including former Jamaican prisoners returning from the UK. The project's aim is to reduce reoffending and improve security in Jamaica, and thereby to remove one of the main constraints to long-term economic development.

The total budget for this three year project is £2.97 million, with £2.035 million currently being financed from the fund. Project spend in financial year 2008-09 was approximately £170,000.