The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
highlighted
that need. Funding for such activities had typically been
found
from the
GCPP, crowding out other planned spending. The allocation for
the
Stabilisation
Fund would be £65m in 2008/09, £65m in 2009/10 and
£115m
in 2010/11.
In total, £50m/£50m/£100m of that allocation would be
ring‑fenced
within the
MOD’s 2007 Spending Review settlement. The balance (£15m in
each
year) would
be transferred from the GCPP. Any unspent funds could be
switched
to core
defence spending.397
644.
The Treasury
told the Inquiry that it had no record of a response to that
advice.398
645.
Mr Burnham
wrote to Mr Browne the following day (24 July), to record the
outcome
of the 2007
Spending Review for the MOD.399
Mr Burnham
stated that the MOD’s
settlement
included £50m in 2008/09, £50m in 2009/10 and £100m in 2010/11 for
a
“Reconstruction
Fund”. Mr Burnham described the Reconstruction Fund as “one
step
in a
planned re‑ordering of the way the Government handles planning and
expenditure
on the
prevention and stabilisation of conflict”.
646.
Following a
conversation between Mr Miliband and Mr Alexander,
Mr Miliband’s
Private
Secretary wrote to Mr Alexander’s Private Secretary on 26 July
setting out the
challenges
faced by the FCO in securing funding for its work in Iraq and
Afghanistan,
and
expressing the hope that DFID and the FCO could work together to
develop a
mechanism
which would more effectively support the comprehensive
approach.400
In the letter,
which was not copied to any other department, Mr Miliband’s
Private
Secretary
rehearsed the arguments made in Mr Lyall‑Grant’s submission of
9 July.
647.
DFID has told
the Inquiry that it does not have any record of replying to
that
648.
Mr Burnham
wrote to Mr Miliband in October, to record the outcome of the
2007
Spending
Review as it affected the Conflict Prevention
Pools.402
Mr Burnham
stated that
the Review
provided a “healthy increase” in the funds available for conflict
prevention
and
stabilisation, and set out key reforms in the way that conflict
issues were handled
within
Government:
•
From
2008/09, the GCPP and ACPP would be merged into a single
Conflict
Prevention
Pool.
397
Minute
Treasury [junior official] to Chief Secretary, 23 July 2007,
‘CSR2007 – Conflict Prevention and
Post‑Conflict
Stabilisation’.
398
Email
Treasury [junior official] to Iraq Inquiry [junior official], 17
April 2014, ‘Further Queries Relating to
Resources’.
399
Letter
Burnham to Browne, 24 July 2007, ‘Comprehensive Spending Review
2007: Ministry of Defence
Settlement’.
400
Letter FCO
[junior official] to DFID [junior official], 26 July 2007, ‘Funding
a Comprehensive Approach
in Iraq
and Afghanistan’.
401
Email DFID
[junior official] to Iraq Inquiry [junior official], 8 April 2013,
‘Inquiry Query’.
402
Letter
Burnham to Miliband, October 2007, ‘Comprehensive Spending Review
2007: Settlement for the
Conflict
Prevention Pools and Stabilisation Aid Fund’.
550