Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information his Department holds on the cost of Tony Blair's work for the Quartet.

Since its inception in 2007, the Office of the Quartet Representative (OQR) has been funded by donations from Quartet members, including the European Commission, EU member states and the US. Donations are pooled in a trust fund which is managed and administered by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

In November 2007 the then Secretary for State for International Development approved a one-off payment of £400,000 from the UK to UNDP to help with the costs of setting up the OQR. Other countries also contributed to the set up costs: Norway gave $1 million; the European Commission $2 million; and the US provided IT equipment.

The UK does not currently provide financial support to cover the costs of the OQR.