§ 24. Mr. Grimondasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will expand the Colonial Service into a Commonwealth service available for administrative and technical assistance anywhere within the Commonwealth.
§ Mr. H. FraserFor the reasons given in the Command Paper on Service with Overseas Governments my right hon. Friend does not consider that it would be practicable to change the present Overseas Civil Service into a general Commonwealth Service based on the United Kingdom and ultimately employed by Her Majesty's Government. But we still have before us the recommendation of the Select Committee on Estimates that there should be a study of the possibility of a Commonwealth Advisory and Technical Service and, as my right hon. Friend told Parliament on 19th December last, we hope that this can be examined further after a decision has been reached about the setting up of a joint Department concerned with technical assistance for countries overseas.
§ Mr. GrimondMay I ask first, when the hon. Gentleman may be in a position to give us further information on this project and, secondly, whether he 1735 would also consider making this service available outside the Commonwealth in places where technical assistance is wanted, for instance, in the Congo?
§ Mr. FraserI think the hon. Gentleman should await the statement from my right hon. Friend.