§ 9. Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Minister of Overseas Development what plans she has for increasing the aid given to the International Planned Parenthood Federation; and what other steps are being taken by Her Majesty's Government to assist in the solution of the problem of population growth in under-developed countries.
§ Mrs. HartI have been making a special study of aid to developing countries in evolving and applying their population policies, including support for the very important activities of multilateral agencies such as the International Planned Parenthood Federation. I hope to be able to make a statement shortly.
§ Mr. HamiltonWill my right hon. Friend confirm that the British Government are giving £100,000 to the Federation and, if that is so, what proportion of the total is it? Does she agree that this is probably the most important problem of the under-developed areas and, unless we solve it, further aid would be like trying to go up a down escalator?
§ Mrs. HartMy hon. Friend's figure is not quite right. My Ministry is at present making a grant of £50,000 a year to the Federation and this is to be continued for five years. We are now considering what further assistance we can give, and it is on this that I may be able to make a statement later. On my hon. Friend's second point, I would be very happy to send to him, if I may, a copy of the speech which I made two weeks ago at the meeting of the Food and Agriculture Organisation in Rome, in which I dealt very strongly with this matter.
§ Mr. Carter JonesDoes my right hon. Friend realise that the Estimates Committee in looking at overseas aid was most concerned about the emphasis which her Ministry was laying on having its own organisation for this? The Estimates Committee felt that it would be better for this to be done by international co-operation rather than by a specialised national agency.