My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (David Miliband) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office requires a cash advance of £90,000,000 from the Contingencies Fund to cover ongoing operational costs such as the payment of suppliers until Parliament has approved the Spring Supplementary Estimates towards the end of March 2010.

Parliamentary approval for additional resources of £134,619,000 has been sought in the 2009-10 Spring Supplementary Estimate for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £90,000,000 will be met by repayable cash advances from the Contingencies Fund.