United Nations

Tony Baldry
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate his Department has made of the annual recurrent costs of maintaining a high level of preparedness among UN agencies.

Mr. Thomas
United Nations’ agencies ensure, with support from DFID and others, that they are prepared to lead the humanitarian response to natural disasters and longer term crises caused by conflict. DFID provides institutional and operational funding (which can often include preparedness activities) to UN humanitarian agencies, including the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the UN Children's Fund, the World Health Organisation, the World Food Programme and the UN High Commission for Refugees. The UN agencies do not have an agreed definition of preparedness and do not budget for this on a consistent basis. It is not therefore possible to estimate the annual recurrent costs of maintaining a high level of preparedness for UN agencies.