Government funded £600,000 project to cut smoking in China
HUNDREDS of thousands of pounds of British taxpayers’ money is being spent on keeping Indian houses cool during the summer and cutting smoking rates among migrant workers in China, a new report has revealed.
Despite a promise not to spend UK aid in nations such as India and China, the £1.5billion Global Challenges Re- search Fund (GCRF), managed by the Department for Business, has been granting large sums to such countries. A report warns ministers must take control of the fund and ensure cash is spent properly and not on projects that do not deserve taxpayer funding.
Other examples, highlighted by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI), include more than £792,000 handed to the School of Oriental and African Studies for a study on the Tibetan verb and more than £121,000 to explore how schools could reduce the consumption of sugary drinks in India, which was granted to the Public Health Foundation of India.
Loughborough University was awarded £537,717 to look at low-energy ways to keep Indian houses cool during the summer. The fund aims to ensure that UK research expertise helps to address problems in the developing world. It was set up in November 2015 and its budget forms part of the UK’S pledge to spend 0.7 per cent of GDP on aid.
But the ICAI warned that money is being handed to projects in parts of the world that are already well developed, mainly because universities around the UK have strong relationships in these areas. As money is handed out through educational institutions ministers do not necessarily have direct oversight.
The report states: “The early rounds of GCRF funding were done in haste, encouraging UK research institutions to rely on existing research partnerships, which were mainly in middleincome countries. The GCRF’S focus on research excellence may continue to advantage developing countries that already have credible research institutions, rather than directing investment towards poorer countries where capacity building may be most needed.” It sets out a number of recommendations for ministers, including more scrutiny and setting out clearer priorities.
It follows a pledge by the Conservatives not to send any more British cash to nations that can support themselves. In one example, the Sun Yat-sen University got £133,584 for a project to reduce smoking among migrant workers in factories in Guangzhou, China.
Another project was given more than £600,000 to monitor and research air quality in China, led by the University of Oxford. More than £150,000 was granted to a project in South Africa that aims to “improve the outcomes in teenage pregnancy” while the University of Brighton is leading a project awarded almost £80,000 to make 12 films focused on art and its role in “cross-cultural translation” in the country.
Tina Fahm, the ICAI commissioner who led the review, said: “Currently there is a real risk that the fund’s resources will be spread too thinly to achieve truly transformative results.”
A Government spokesman said: “As with all overseas development assistance investments, there are robust assessment processes in place for the GCRF which ensures the programme benefits the world’s poorest people and provides value for money for UK taxpayers.”