The Foreign Office has been accused of going to “great lengths” to withhold information on up to £25 million of aid money that went to the Palestinian Authority in 2015.
In 2023 advocacy group We Believe in Israel lodged a Freedom of Information request (FOI) with the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) about its contributions to the “Palestinian recovery and development programme” – a World Bank-run, multi-donor trust fund – between 2015 to 2022.
Although the FCDO had information within the scope of the request, it withheld it.
The reports, which the FCDO released in late April following an intervention in March from Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), show that the UK gave the PA up to £25m worth of aid in 2015, but no more in the period up to 2022. They also reveal that the Foreign Office did not divulge the request out of concern for the UK’s relationship with the PA.
When their FOI was rejected, We Believe in Israel asked the government to consult an internal review of their decision, which upheld the original refusal notice.
The complainant escalated the issue to the ICO, which investigates such complaints, and concluded that the government had unjustly withheld information. It agreed that the FOI was in the public interest.
“The FCDO argued that disclosure of the withheld information would be likely to damage the bilateral relationship between the UK and the PA,” according to the Commissioner’s report.
“[The] FCDO explained that it had consulted the PA about the request and the PA had made it clear that it did not consent to this information being disclosed under FOIA.
“As a result, the FCDO argued that disclosure of the withheld information, against the express wishes of the PA, would be likely to cause a breakdown of trust and confidence which would affect not just its relations with the PA but would be likely to prejudice wider UK-PA relations.”
The Commissioner’s report concluded: “There was a clear public interest in the disclosure of information which would contribute to the public’s understanding of how taxpayers’ money has been used to fund overseas aid, and in particular to provide reassurance that such money had been used appropriately”.
The documents were released nearly a year after the FOI was lodged. They cover the final year of British aid contribution to the PRDP and how it was audited.
Documents show that UK funds were disbursed on PA salaries.
We Believe in Israel director Luke Akehurst said: “We are grateful to the ICO for their decision notice and ongoing support. Given the disclosure’s relatively underwhelming contents, it is remarkable that the FCDO went to such lengths to prevent its publication and speaks volumes about their aversion to public scrutiny.”
Jeremy Havardi, Director of the Bureau of International Affairs at B'nai B'rith International added: “At every point until now, the FCDO has attempted to prevent the publication of underwhelming data and audit report details as well as unlawfully failing to respond to our FOI request on time.
“We are glad that the ICO has set another precedent in our favour, and will keep asking the right questions to ensure that British taxpayer monies are being appropriately spent on and administered to the Palestinian Authority”.
A FCDO spokesperson said: "The FCDO takes its responsibilities under the Freedom of Information Act very seriously and have complied with the process in full.”
