To ask Her Majesty's Government what projects they are supporting to build parliamentary institutions in Burma.Baroness Warsi: The Government see Burma's Parliament as crucial to the country's reform process and to the long term development of an effective democracy. We began our engagement by hosting a visit from the Lower House Speaker Shwe Mann to the UK in April 2012. The Department for International Development is funding the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) to facilitate exchange visits between the UK and Burmese Parliaments. The first stage of this project included a scoping visit by cross-party British MPs in July 2012. WFD will facilitate a visit by the chair and key members of the Burmese Public Accounts Committee to the UK in spring 2013, to be followed up with a training session for MPs in Burma. In December 2012, at the request of Aung San Suu Kyi, we also facilitated a visit to the UK by three Burmese MPs from the Draft Bills Committee. Following that visit, we are working with Aung San Suu Kyi and Shwe Mann to identify where else the UK could in future best support the development of Burma's Parliament. Asked by Baroness Goudie To ask Her Majesty's Government what expenses the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has incurred in relation to Spitfires allegedly buried in Burma. Baroness Warsi: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not incurred any expenses, over and above those attributable to the normal day-to-day activities of operating our embassy in Rangoon, in relation to Spitfires allegedly buried in Burma.
Overseas Aid
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the annual United Kingdom aid budget for (1) 2012-13, and (2) 2013-14 Baroness Northover: The United Kingdom's aid budget is set on a calendar year basis to align with the Government's commitment to spend 0.56% of gross national income as official development assistance in 2012 and 0.7% from 2013 onwards. Based on projections of gross national income updated at the 2013 Budget, the estimated funding required to deliver this commitment is £8,651 million in 2012, £11,164 million in 2013 and £11,609 million in 2014.