The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
38.
Sir Suma
Chakrabarti, DFID Permanent Secretary from 2002 to 2007, told
the
Inquiry
that DFID’s funding for Iraq was found by reallocating funding from
DFID
programmes
in other middle‑income countries, rather than from programmes
in
39.
Sir Mark
Lyall‑Grant, FCO Policy Director from 2007 to 2009, summarised
the
situation
in his evidence to the Inquiry:
“… you have
the MOD which can call on the Reserve for unforeseen
military
expenditure.
You have DFID, who have a large amount of programme money
...
and you
have the Foreign Office that doesn’t have any
money.”8
40.
The Treasury’s
priority throughout the period covered by the Inquiry was
to
avoid any
suggestion that other departments should have access to the Reserve
on
the
same basis as the MOD. In February 2007, a senior Treasury
official advised
Mr Stephen
Timms, Chief Secretary to the Treasury from May 2006 to June
2007:
“Arguably
this [the different arrangements for funding military operations
and civilian
activities]
can lead to perverse outcomes ... if it incentivises
decision‑makers to
prefer
military responses to civilian ones. But it is a useful safety net
for us and not
to be given
up without careful thought.”9
41.
The
arrangements for funding military operations (including Urgent
Operational
Requirements
– UORs) worked as intended, and did not constrain the military’s
ability to
conduct
operations in Iraq.
42.
All the MOD’s
claims on the Reserve in respect of UORs and other
additional
military
costs were met.
43.
There are no
indications that Mr Brown, Mr Boateng or Treasury
officials acted to
delay or
distort the provision of funding for UORs and other additional
military costs.
44.
There are no
indications that DFID’s activities in Iraq were constrained by a
lack of
resources.
The constraints imposed by the disproportionate cost of providing
security for
civilian
staff and contractors in Iraq are addressed in Section
15.
7
Public
hearing, 22 January 2010, pages 38‑40.
8
Public
hearing, 20 January 2010, page 35.
9
Minute
Quinault to Chief Secretary, 13 February 2007, ‘DOP Meeting on Iraq
and Afghanistan,
14 February’.
576