'Dubious' spending under fire

CAMPAIGNERS have criticised the government for spending hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money on "dubious" projects, including a £200,000 grant for the BBC.

The TaxPayers' Alliance says the Foreign Office spent more than 10 million in 2008-9 as part of the "Prevent" strand of the government's counter-terrorism strategy. It said ministers should leave the prevention of violent extremism to the police and intelligence services.

Figures showed the Foreign Office grants included 205,300 to the BBC for an Afghan Women's Hour project for the BBC World Service, which looked at gender issues and women's rights.

Matthew Sinclair, research director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Taxpayers' money has been given to dubious projects, and there is little accountability for this spend.

"The scheme is unpopular with all community groups and has poor results - far too much money has been spent on what is no more than an expensive social experiment."

Mr Sinclair added: "The government now needs to scrap the entire Prevent strategy and focus on our police and intelligence services to combat violent extremism."

A Foreign Office spokesman said its counter-terrorism spending was now "aligned to tackle the threats that the UK faces to its people and interests", and that projects such as the BBC's Afghan Women's Hour programme were unlikely to win such grants today.