Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 13 December 2017 to Question 118369 what assessment she has made of the whether the UK will continue to use EU funding mechanisms for its development assistance to the Palestinian Authority after the UK leaves the EU.

The UK has assessed that, having decided to focus our support solely on Palestinian Authority health and education public servants in the West Bank, the EU Palestinian-European Socio-Economic Management and Assistance Mechanism (PEGASE) offers the best value for money and the most effective way of directly providing support to Palestinians in need, whilst providing strong safeguards for UK funds. DFID constantly reviews expenditure to ensure value for money; this is no exception. The UK’s ability to use the EU PEGASE mechanism will not be affected when we leave the European Union (EU). Non-EU countries are able to channel funding through this mechanism.