§ 6. Mrs. Castleasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what announcement Her Majesty's Government's representative made at the United Nations Technical Assistance Conference on 27th February last about the financial contribution which this country is to make for technical assistance in the coming year.
§ Mr. NuttingThe United Kingdom representative announced Her Majesty's Government's intention to increase the British contribution to the Expanded Programme for Technical Assistance to £500,000.
§ Mrs. CastleIs it not a fact that this so-called increase is still less than the sum which we were contributing before last year's cut? Ought we not to be increasing the amount we spent last year in view of rising costs throughout the world which are de-valuing money?
§ Mr. NuttingI do not agree that our next contribution will be less than the contribution which was made at the time preceding the cut. The hon. Lady will remember that although the contribution at that time was £760,000, it covered a period of 18 months and not 12 months, as does the £500,000.
§ Sir R. AclandWould not the hon. Gentleman agree that, as the work gets gradually into its stride, as we ought to be contributing substantially more per month than we were in the early weeks of the work?
§ Mr. NuttingWe are already the second largest contributors——
§ Sir R. AclandNo, the smallest per capita.
§ Mr. NuttingWe are already the second largest contributors to this organisation, as indeed to all these Specialised Agencies of the United Nations; and, as regards the general aspect of contributions to United Nations Specialised Agencies, we contribute even more per capita than do the United States.
§ Mr. Noel-BakerIn view of the very great interest we have in the satisfactory development of this work, will the hon. Gentleman bear in mind that if the work of the Technical Assistance Board develops materially this year, as we think, we should make a further contribution and that the Government should ask for a Supplementary Estimate?
§ Mr. NuttingI will certainly bear that in mind, but I ask the House to recall the enormous commitments this country has to technical assistance under such schemes as the Colombo Plan, which does not figure in United Nations Technical Assistance Agencies, and also for colonial development. The pledges now contemplated by countries may fall short of the target of 25 million dollars voted by the United Nations Assembly, but nevertheless they will be sufficient to enable them to get on with a considerable amount of work in this field.
§ Mrs. CastleIs it not unsatisfactory that the contribution for 1953 should only be voted in February of the year concerned? Would it not be a sensible thing for the business-like running of a programme that there should be a longer-term grant, or that the grant should be made further ahead of the need?
§ Mr. NuttingThe hon. Lady will understand that I do not set the dates for budgeting but am inevitably regulated by a system, followed for centuries in this Parliament, of presenting the Estimates for the following year.