To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what management and accounting mechanisms are in place to audit the utilisation of financial aid provided by his Department to (a) Sierra Leone, (b) Niger, (c) Liberia and (d) Mozambique and delivered through the (i) World Bank, (ii) UN and (iii) African Development Bank.

The Government have rigorous systems and procedures to ensure effective financial oversight of funding and to ensure that aid achieves maximum value for money and delivers results for its intended recipients.

We subject all UK aid to rigorous financial auditing, monitoring and evaluation processes. For all grants provided by the Department for International Development (DFID), we require evidence about the use of funds from the partners' own audited accounts, or other audited arrangements as agreed. DFID requirements are built into the funding agreement, which details: the annual audit requirements; the monitoring and review requirements; and the option for the Government to take any reasonable and necessary steps to address the situation in the event that there is any significant failure in the commitments set out in the agreement.

For all new UK aid programmes approved from January this year, the Government have also modified the way DFID programmes are designed so that they are based on rigorous evidence of what works and what maximises value for money and results, through the introduction of a business case model. All DFID projects are scored annually against expected results. Under the new aid transparency guarantee we will ensure business cases for all projects as well as annual reviews and project completion reports are published on the DFID website so they can be scrutinised by the British taxpayer.

The National Audit Office audits my Department's accounts and scrutinises our systems for ensuring effective management and proper use of the development budget. I have also created a new Independent Commission for Aid Impact, the first of its kind, which is able to scrutinise any area of UK bilateral and multilateral aid spending.