28. Mr. Harveyasked the Secretary for Technical Co-operation how many young volunteers from this country are working in Malaya; and how many will be going there under the programme for 1964–65 and 1965–66.
§ Mr. R. Carr17. Under the 1964–65 programme, 19 volunteers have been recruited for Malaya. The numbers for 1965–66 have not yet been settled.
Mr. HarveyMay I, first, congratulate my right hon. Friend on his personal approach to his important post and the great importance which he plainly attaches to engendering all-party support for and interest in the work of his Department? But is not the answer which he has given me as disappointing to him as it is to the House? What can be done to improve on these figures?
§ Mr. CarrI should greatly like to see more volunteers going to Malaya. The situation depends, first, on requests for suitable vacancies from Malaya, and we should remember also that the graduate programme is only now getting into its stride. I hope that there will be an expansion in about a year.
§ Miss HerbisonDoes the right hon. Gentleman ensure that there is the closest co-ordination between the work of the students and young people who go out and the work of the British Council in Malaya?
§ Mr. CarrThe hon. Lady can be reassured on that point because the British Council plays a very large part in keeping in touch with the volunteers in their jobs and thus is well aware of what we are doing in relation to what its own representatives are doing.