HC Deb 07 April 1959 vol 603 c13
24. Mr. Hayman

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will make a statement on the annual grant made to the United Kingdom Branch of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. J. E. S. Simon)

As the hon. Member will have seen from the Estimates, the grant-in-aid for 1959–60 to the United Kingdom Branch of the Inter-Parliamentary Union will be £11,500.

Mr. Hayman

Will the hon. and learned Gentleman ask his right hon. Friend to take into account that even with the grant of this amount hon. Members who represent this country abroad often have to find a substantial part of their own expenses? The Inter-Parliamentary Union is an important body. Will he ask his right hon. Friend to bear this fact in mind?

Mr. Simon

I will certainly draw the hon. Gentleman's observations to the attention of my right hon. Friend. I know that there are difficulties of the sort he has indicated, but when I saw a deputation from the Inter-Parliamentary Union last summer its members indicated that they were not asking for more money. I have certainly not had any recent representations on the matter.