Secretary-General meets with Susan McLurg, Chairperson of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ).

UN regular budget for the 2009-10 biennium

The UN's Regular Budget is set every two calendar years. It funds UN core activities, including staffing costs, in eight headquarter locations. These headquarters are in New York (USA), Geneva (Switzerland), Vienna (Austria), and Nairobi (Kenya), as well as the HQs of the Regional Economic Commissions for Africa (in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia), for Europe (also in Geneva), for Western Asia (in Beirut, Lebanon), for Asia and the Pacific (in Bangkok, Thailand) and for Latin America (in Santiago, Chile). UN activities financed by the Regular Budget include holding conferences, economic development activity, UN public information work and human rights promotion. The UN Regular Budget also pays for special UN missions in countries such as Afghanistan, Sudan and Iraq.

The Regular Budget for 2008-2009 was $4.865 billion.   This autumn the Fifth Committee will debate a budget proposal for 2010-1011.

The Scale of Assessments

The Scale of Assessments is the system which sets out what percentage share of the UN’s budgets are charged to each Member State. The present system is based on a complex formula which takes into account the population of the country and its Gross National Income (GNI). The share of the budget that each Member State is charged is known as its assessed contribution. The Regular Budget scale is negotiated every 3 years; the Peacekeeping scale, however, has not been negotiated since 2000: both are on the agenda of the Fifth Committee this autumn.

The UK is the fourth largest contributor to both the Regular and Peacekeeping Budgets, currently paying 6.64% and 7.95% respectively. The five Permanent Members of the Security Council (UK, US, France, Russia, China) pay a premium on peacekeeping activity on top of their regular assessments.

UN management reform

The World Summit in 2005 agreed that action was needed to improve the effectiveness of the UN Secretariat. In the intervening years some significant steps have been taken: the establishment of an Ethics Office, establishment of an Independent Audit Advisory Committee, strengthening of Peacekeeping Capacity, agreement to modernise Information and Communications Technology, agreement to adopt International Public Sector Accounting Standards, and the achievement of major Human Resources reforms relating to streamlining contracts as well as an internal justice system . Much remains to be done. There is still insufficient capacity for the Secretariat to respond to the greater demands and responsibilities placed on the UN.  Despite having some limited autonomy to do so, the Secretariat is unable to shift staff and financial resources within the organisation to ensure priorities are delivered. There are also gaps in the level of controls and the degree to which Member States are genuinely able to hold the Secretariat accountable for the delivery of priorities. The priorities for the sixty-fourth session of the UN General Assembly are:

• To examine proposals to overhaul and strengthen the system of safety and security management for UN personnel and offices worldwide
• Continue to modernise ICT across the UN by deciding how to move forward with a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.  
• Ongoing reforms of Human Resource Management to ensure the establishment of a motivated, mobile, cadre of staff with the right contracts and conditions of service. 
• Improve the management of UN Procurement and ensure an efficient and accountable system which really means best value for money from across the world. 
•  Continue to examine the role and functions of UN internal oversight to improve the effectiveness and accountability of the organisation
  

Refurbishment of the UN HQ

The Capital Master Plan is the $1.9 billion project to renovate UN Headquarters complex in New York to bring it into compliance with building and fire safety codes and modern standards for security, energy efficiency, sustainability and accessibility. Building began in 2008 with the construction of temporary conferencing facilities on the North Lawn of the UN complex and the renovation is now well underway. The project is scheduled for completion in 2013. The UK will continue to work to ensure the project remains on schedule and within budget.