Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the National Audit Office report of 9 February 2017, entitled Investigation into the Department's approach to tackling fraud, how much of the two-thirds of the reported fraud loss recovered since 2003 was recovered between (a) 2003 and 2009 and (b) 2010 and 2016.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The value of reported fraud loss recovered between (a) FY2003-2004 and FY2009-2010 was £1,833,832 and (b) FY2010-2011 and FY2016-2017 was £9,300,064.
Year | Value Recovered (£) |
2003-2004 | 1,972 |
2004-2005 | 65,278 |
2005-2006 | 40,535 |
2006-2007 | 981,963 |
2007-2008 | 93,058 |
2008-2009 | 452,385 |
2009-2010 | 198,641 |
2010-2011 | 477,031 |
2011-2012 | 1,986,911 |
2012-2013 | 837,381 |
2013-2014 | 566,991 |
2014-2015 | 1,552,292 |
2015-2016 | 2,235,169 |
2016-2017 | 1,644,289 |
Total | 11,133,896 |
Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to tackle the fraudulent use of aid disbursed by her Department.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The Department for International Development has robust measures in place to protect, prevent, and detect the fraudulent use of aid. We have controls embedded throughout the programme cycle, from design through mobilisation, delivery and closure; this includes a comprehensive risk management framework which requires risks to be identified prior to any disbursement of aid.
All organisations that receive funding from DFID are required to provide evidence about the use of funds, including audited financial statements which are examined as we monitor programme performance and delivery.
We have a zero tolerance approach to fraud and this applies to all those within the delivery chain who are entrusted with UK taxpayers’ funds. When fraud is identified we respond swiftly and effectively to recover funds wherever possible.
Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department and its agencies and non-departmental public bodies have spent on infraction proceedings in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Nick Hurd
I refer the my hon. Friend to the answer given by my Rt Hon. Friend the Minister for the cabinet Office today to UIN: 36288
Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many infraction proceedings the EU has initiated against her Department in each of the last 10 years; what the reasons were for each such proceeding being undertaken; and what the outcome was of each such proceeding.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
The information requested is publicly available on the website of the European Commission where the infringement cases for each member state can be found. This includes the infringement and the decision. These records go back to 2002 and can be found here.
http://ec.europa.eu/atwork/applying-eu-law/infringements-proceedings/infringement_decisions/?lang_code=en
Asked by: Anne Main (Conservative - St Albans)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the Clean Clothes Campaign memorandum, published on 28 January 2016; and if she will raise the matters discussed in that memorandum with the Bangladeshi government.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
Ensuring the safety of garment sector workers around the world is of critical importance. Whilst progress has been made since the Rana Plaza factory collapse in 2011, the Clean Clothes Campaign is right to say safety improvements in factories in Bangladesh need to speed up. The second review of the EU-US-Bangladesh Sustainability Compact, conducted in the first week of February, acknowledged the complexities involved in making improvements across the garment sector and highlighted it as a priority area where all involved – brands, factories and the government – need to work together to make progress.
The UK is addressing this sector-wide issue in two ways. Firstly, our programme is improving the institutional capacity of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments to enable this government body to follow up on Corrective Action Plans; there are now 270 inspectors in place (up from around 90 in 2013) who are trained and equipped to do their jobs. We are also active in the 3+5 high-level platform that meets periodically to monitor progress of the Sustainability Compact action plan. Through future 3+5 discussion, we will continue to emphasise the urgency of taking forward remediation in factories.