§ 16. Dame Joan Vickersasked the Minister of Overseas Development what his Department is contributing in technical aid to help the civilian population in Vietnam; and what arrangements he is making to co-operate with voluntary organisations.
§ Mr. PrenticeWe expect to spend about £367,000 on aid to Vietnam in the current financial year, of which £285,000 will be on the Vote of my Department. Depending on the nature and cost of the requests we receive from the Vietnamese Government, I would expect my Department to spend between £200,000 and £300,000 on technical aid in 1968–69. These figures do not include expenditure from the grant of £250,000 which we are providing for emergency aid.
As regards the voluntary organisations, we are working very closely with them.
§ Dame Joan VickersI thank the right hon. Gentleman for that reply. Does not he agree that the best way we can help to rehabilitate the country is by providing technical aid, and that we should carry on with this for as long as we possibly can?
§ Mr. PrenticeI agree with that. There is a later Question about our future plans in regard to medical aid, in particular, which plays the biggest part in our technical assistance programme.
Mr. Alan Lee WilliamsDoes my right hon. Friend agree that any aid or assistance given should get through to the right people? Will he tell us something about the co-ordination between the British Embassy and the voluntary organisations?
§ Mr. PrenticeIt is true that we must ensure that aid gets through to the people who need it, and the staff of the British Embassy are working hard on these matters. They are working hard both in relation to the official aid, which is financed by Her Majesty's Government, and the aid which is now flowing to an increasing extent from voluntary organisations in this country.
Earl of DalkeithIn view of the great public interest in this matter, will the right hon. Gentleman consider issuing a White Paper or a Report showing in detail how this money is being spent?
§ Mr. PrenticeI will consider that, although I must say that from replies to this Question and others on the Order Paper quite a lot of information will be available to the House.
§ Mr. RankinAs Vietnam consists of North Vietnam and South Vietnam, will my right hon. Friend say how the aid is distributed between those two countries?
§ Mr. PrenticeGovernment aid is entirely to South Vietnam. [HON. MEMBERS: "Why?"] No request has been received from the Government of North Vietnam for official aid from this country. If a request were received, it would certainly be considered. The funds from voluntary bodies are going to both parts of Vietnam.
§ Mr. RankinOn a point of order. In his reply my right hon. Friend said that this aid was being given to Vietnam. He has now said that it is being given to only one part of Vietnam, South Vietnam.
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. Member knows that that is not a point of order.
§ 26. Mr. Goodhartasked the Minister of Overseas Development what medical assistance he intends to send to Vietnam.
§ Mr. PrenticeWe expect soon to increase the British medical team to 26 or 27 for work in the children's hospital and in two large residual refugee camps to be established in Cholon; to provide more equipment and supplies for the expanded activities of the British medical project; and to provide substantial equipment for provincial hospitals to replace equipment destroyed or damaged in the recent fighting.
These proposals conform to requests made to us by the South Vietnamese Minister of Health and are based on advice from my Chief Medical Adviser who has just returned from Saigon.
§ Mr. GoodhartWhile nurses seem to be volunteering in large numbers for service in Vietnam, is there still a shortage of doctor volunteers? If so, will the Minister consider sending some Service doctors to help in civilian hospitals?
§ Mr. PrenticeI think that the sending of Service men, whether doctors or anyone else, would have very great complications. As for the recruitment of doctors and nurses, as I said in reply to an earlier Question, we hope to build up the team to 26 or 27, but it is too early to say what success we are having in this recruitment. It is true that nurses are coming forward more readily than doctors, but we hope to fill all the vacancies in both categories.
§ Mr. Roy HughesWill the Minister consider making overtures to ensure that the aid is equitably spread between North and South Vietnam, because many people in North Vietnam are suffering from the vicious American bombing?
§ Mr. PrenticeI have already made it clear that our aid is going to South Vietnam, that this is in response to requests from South Vietnam and that we have had no requests for aid from North Vietnam.