Family Planning (Hansard, 22 January 1970)

§ 11. Mr. Brooks
asked the Minister of Overseas Development what is the present amount of assistance provided by Her Majesty's Government to improve family planning provision overseas; what proportion this represents of the total aid outflow; and what proposals for expansion of this assistance are planned in the light of the Pearson Commission Report.

§ Mrs. Hart
In 1968–69 we spent about £175,000 or rather under 0.1 per cent. of gross official aid. We now plan a sharp increase over the next three years. The main expansion will be in the support of multilateral programmes.

§ Mr. Brooks
While I thank my right hon. Friend for that encouraging indication that we may one day approach 1 per cent. of our total aid on this very worthy purpose, does she agree that this is a far more urgent problem than the figures which she has given might suggest?

§ Mrs. Hart
I agree that it is an urgent problem, and that is why we are anxious to put up our expenditure on it so sharply. The real difficulty has been that there as been a slowness amongst the developing countries to seek this kind of help, and there has been a late entry of the multilateral organisations in this field. They are now moving faster, and that is why we shall now be able to do as much as we would have liked to do in the past.

§ Mr. Longden
Do the Government accept the principle stated by Mr. MacNamara on behalf of the World Bank, that in granting aid special consideration should be given to those countries which make serious attempts to deal with their population growth?

§ Mrs. Hart
I have read with interest all Mr. MacNamara's remarks on that and previous occasions on the subject. I had things to say about it myself at the Food and Agriculture Organisation conference in November last year. We intend to make available as far as we can more help to the multilateral agencies. They are the people who are best able to judge where their help is likely to be most effective. That is why this is a better way of doing it than giving a tremendous increase in bilateral aid, which clearly would lead to problems.