Baroness Northover – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Northover on 2016-02-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Verma on 1 February (HL5238), what proportion of UK aid spending on water, sanitation and hygiene is targeted at the maintenance and upkeep of existing facilities.

Baroness Verma

Our WASH programmes take an integrated approach to both provision and maintenance of existing facilities, involving building national, local and community capacity and systems to ensure that services continue to function over time. In 2014, total UK bilateral ODA spending on water supply and sanitation was £181 million. UK aid expenditure is reported in Statistics on International Development report at table A6a which I have attached for your convenience.

We do not collect data separately on the amount of funds allocated to installation of facilities and their subsequent maintenance. In most countries responsibility for financing operation and maintenance is passed to the community where services have been installed, after appropriate training has been provided.