Asked by: Hugh Bayley (Labour - York Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 10 March 2015 to Questions 226471 and 226472, if he will publish by way of further written Answer the further information he has requested from NATO before the dissolution of the present Parliament.
Answered by David Lidington
NATO has recently adopted a more open policy to the publication of financial information. The UK has welcomed this move towards improved accountability and governance.
Twenty four sets of accounts for common funded expenditure by NATO and its agencies for 2013 have been completed. The International Board of Auditors for NATO (IBAN) has finalised its audit for all but one. Three of the financial audit reports completed by IBAN were published in September 2014. A further three reports should be published in the coming weeks. NATO expects IBAN to audit the remaining accounts by the end of April 2015. The North Atlantic Council will make decisions on the public release of the remaining audit reports before the end of July 2015. NATO’s policy to release unclassified or declassified financial information was only agreed in January 2015 but it is not retrospective which is why none of the 2013 statements have been published so far.
The 2014 financial statements are currently being finalised but have yet to be audited. Based on the current timetable we would expect them to be released between autumn 2015 and summer 2016.
Asked by: Hugh Bayley (Labour - York Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information his Department holds on (a) how many sets of accounts for expenditure in 2013 by NATO and its agencies have been completed, (b) how many such sets have been audited by the International Board of Auditors of NATO, (c) how many audited accounts have been published together with their audit reports, and on what dates, and (d) what the timetable is for (i) publishing the remaining audited accounts and audit statement and (ii) auditing and publishing any as yet unaudited 2013 accounts.
Answered by David Lidington
The UK scrutinises all financial audit reports conducted by the International Board of Auditors of NATO (IBAN) on NATO and its entities. However, the Department does not hold all of the information referred to and has therefore requested it from NATO.
NATO recently decided to publish all unclassified NATO audit reports as well as a range of other financial information. We welcome this positive step towards improved financial transparency within the Alliance.
Asked by: Hugh Bayley (Labour - York Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information his Department holds on (a) how many sets of accounts for expenditure in 2013 by NATO and its agencies have not been finalised and (b) what the timetable is for completing those accounts and passing them to the International Board of Auditors of NATO; and what assessment he has made of when such accounts will be audited and published.
Answered by David Lidington
The UK scrutinises all financial audit reports conducted by the International Board of Auditors of NATO (IBAN) on NATO and its entities. However, the Department does not hold all of the information referred to and has therefore requested it from NATO.
NATO recently decided to publish all unclassified NATO audit reports as well as a range of other financial information. We welcome this positive step towards improved financial transparency within the Alliance.
Asked by: Hugh Bayley (Labour - York Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the (a) total Allied and (b) UK financial contribution to the Afghan National Security Forces will be in the current year; and how much is pledged for each contribution in each of the next three years.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
On 4 September 2014 at the NATO Wales Summit NATO allies and ISAF partners renewed their financial commitments to support the sustainment of the ANSF, including to the end of 2017. At the Wales summit the UK confirmed in principle an annual financial contribution of £70 million to help train the ANSF until at least 2017. This is part of an overall commitment from the international community of around $5 billion per year for the next three years. The majority of this will be provided by the US who have requested up to $4.1 billion in their 2015 budget.
Asked by: Hugh Bayley (Labour - York Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will list the occasions on which Russian state servants or military personnel are believed to have committed offences against national security in the UK, or to have infringed UK airspace, territorial waters, land or cyberspace without the legal right to do so, or otherwise to have challenged or threatened UK sovereign interests in the last five years; on what date each such event occurred; what the nature of each such event was; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
It is the long standing policy of successive Governments not to comment on intelligence matters including matters related to national security.