Colombia: Military Aid

Mr. Hoyle
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answers of 25 November 2008, Official Report, columns 1195-6W and 12 January 2009, Official Report, column 358W, on Colombia: armed forces, for what reason the per capita cost of providing training to members of the Colombian armed forces decreased between 2006-07 and 2007-08.

Gillian Merron
An increased number of individuals attended training workshops in 2007-08, which decreased the per capita cost, but not the overall cost, of this training. The cost of our bi-lateral human rights and demining programmes with the Colombian armed forces covers flights, expenses and administration costs of the UK trainers involved.