Memorandum submitted by the British Council
Letter to the Chairman of the Committee
from Mr David Green, Director-General, British Council, 5 December
2002
Thank you for your letter of 2 December regarding
the ASSIST programme. I am sure that you will already be aware
of much of what is happening, but the following should complete
the picture.
ASSIST no longer exists but the programmes it
was supporting are being carried on through other sources of funding,
including the Global Conflict Prevention Fund.
The Peacekeeping English Project is a programme
of support to strengthen English language training for military
and other services. It operates in 24 countries in Central and
Eastern Europe and Central Asia and has been managed, but not
funded by, the British Council since 1996.
The programme supports the FCO strategic objective
of creating "a secure UK within a more peaceful and stable
world" and the following PSA targets:
— Stability in Eastern Europe, the
Balkans and Central Asia.
— Modernised NATO improving European
security.
— Improved effectiveness of HMG's contribution
to conflict prevention and management.
It supports the MOD's Outreach Programme aims
to assist development of:
— inter-operability and increased regional
capacity for multinational peace support operations.
— better disciplined and more effective
forces, capable of the restraint, judgement and responsiveness
required for peace support operations.
It does this by delivering English language
training to 25,000 military and other security forces; supporting
the development of sustainable local systems; training local teachers
and trainers; and developing specialised curricula, materials
and tests for military, police and borderguards.
The programme is funded from three sources:
| MOD bid to Global Conflict Prevention Fund
| £1,500,000 |
| FCO bid to Global Conflict Prevention Fund |
£160,000 |
| FCO SECPOL funds | £1,200,000 (previously ASSIST funds)
|
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A serious funding problem was communicated orally by FCO
two weeks ago related to the 40% (£1.2 million) of the total
budget which comes from FCO's International Security Directorate.
This could lead to premature termination of projects in three
NATO countries (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic) and three countries
accepted for NATO accession in 2004 (Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia)
and a 50% reduction in levels of activity in Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania and Ukraine.
I understand the issue is still under consideration within
the FCO.
David Green
The British Council
December 2002
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