Aid to India

Dear Department for International Development,

I should be grateful if you can furnish me with your detailed
response to the following questions:

a. What amount of aid has been granted to India for each of the
past 15 years?

b. For each of these 15 years, how was the grant distributed, to
whom and how much?

c. Which organisations attracted the funding, how much did they get
and what was the purpose - information required for each of the
past 15 years?

d. How much does it cost the DFID to administer this particular aid
to India (please provide data for each of the past 15 years)?

e. How many FT and PT employees does DFID have who are working to
oversee the aid to India (data for each of the past 15 years)?

Whilst this is a topic that is of course of interest to everyone
nationally, I should be grateful if you can purposefully ensure
that your response is not only full and detailed, but that should
you have supporting data/information that you are aware off - that
you offer that at the same time.

Yours faithfully,

K Dudakia

Dear John McGinn,

I must say that I am astonished that a Government Department that
is spending Billions of Pounds per year on such aid - is so
incompetent that it does not seem to have a ready made database
that gives access information and respond to the questions that I
have asked rightly.

If DFID is incapable of responding to some very basic questions on
its expenditure - how on earth does it feel or believe that it can
command the respect of the public?

So that we are clear - I am asking for my FOI to be opened again
immediately. If you are having problems with the 15 years of data
that I have requested - then please provide data/information to my
FOI for the past years that are readily available to you.

Certainly the legal obligation is on DFID to ensure that it
provides me with as much information on the FOI as it can do so
easily. It is improper to decline the FOI on a technicality and I
ask that you should be mindful of your legal and moral duty to
offer all information in hand that begins to address the FOI
request.

If this request is not dealt with in a timely fashion then I am
sure you will appreciate that both my MP, and no doubt our media,
would be interested to pursue this in a more public fashion.

I trust you have understood the point I am making and do hope for
the sake of civil servants at DFID and the respective Director in
Charge - that you take this request seriously, and respond
correctly and quickly.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

K Dudakia