The Report of the Iraq Inquiry

HMG funding might be going”. Ms Drew asked whether there were plans to develop

a strategy.

534. The FCO told the Inquiry that it could find no response from the IPU to Ms Drew’s

minute.324

535. The first Iraq project (on prison reform) was agreed for funding under the GCPP

Quick Response Fund by the end of April.325 An FCO official commented that the GCPP

Fund was a global allocation, and there were already other calls on it. It would take

some months to draw up a GCPP Strategy for Iraq that would allow officials to access

the main GCPP budget.

536. Ms Drew chaired a meeting on 1 May to discuss how to handle funding requests

relating to Iraq.326 Officials from various FCO departments, the IPU, DFID and the MOD

attended. The meeting identified several FCO funds that might provide funding for Iraq:

• The GOF Engaging with the Islamic World Programme. A “small amount” was

available.

• The GOF Counter‑Terrorism Programme. £4m was available in the current

financial year.

• The GOF Climate Change and Energy Programme.

• The GCPP. Objectives for the current financial year had already been agreed

and did not include Iraq.

• The GCPP Peacekeeping Budget. All funds were committed in the short term.

• The Human Rights Project Fund. A “very small sum” had been put aside for Iraq.

• The Public Diplomacy Challenge Fund. Funds should be available for Iraq.

537. The meeting agreed that all proposals should be passed through the IPU, to be

assessed against wider UK priorities.

538. In a separate record of the meeting, an FCO official reported: “It was clear that

within FCO little detailed thought has been given specifically to an Iraq programme and

how it might be funded.”327

324 Email FCO [junior official] to Iraq Inquiry [junior official], 25 September 2013, ‘Iraq Inquiry: Queries

Relating to Resourcing’.

325 Email FCO [junior official] to FCO [junior official], 29 April 2003, ‘GCPP‑Iraq’.

326 Minute FCO [junior official] to Drew, 2 May 2003, ‘Co‑ordination Meeting to Discuss Miscellaneous

Funding Requests for Projects in Iraq’.

327 Minute FCO [junior official] to Link, 2 May 2003, ‘Iraq: Post Conflict Programme and Funding’.

532