Pearson and Jackson Reports

HC Deb 19 March 1970 vol 798 cc583-6

6. Mr. Judd

asked the Minister of Overseas Development what specific action she has taken to secure the comments and advice of British experts and administrators in the field on Government policy towards the Pearson and Jackson Reports; and whether she will now publish a Green Paper on the future of the British aid programme.

10. Mr. St. John-Stevas

asked the Minister of Overseas Development whether she will publish a Green Paper on the future of the British Aid Programme.

13. Mr. Willey

asked the Minister of Overseas Development whether she will publish a Green Paper on the Pearson Report and its effect on Government policy.

21. Mr. Prentice

asked the Minister of Overseas Development by what stages and in what form she proposes to announce Government policy on the recommendations contained in the Pearson and Jackson Reports.

Mrs. Hart

I am considering publishing a White Paper during this Session which will take account of these points, although international discussion on many aspects of both the Pearson and Jackson Reports will continue for some time. In determining our approach on the recommendations of both Reports, there has of course been a wide measure of consultation with our posts overseas, which have been able to reflect views in the field.

Mr. Judd

Is my right hon. Friend aware that many will receive that Answer with great joy since is suggests that in the light of those two Reports we shall now be able to have an intelligent and constructive debate on the future aid programme?

Mrs. Hart

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I am sure that it would be wise to set out some of the considerations affecting the aid programme in the light of those Reports for the benefit of the House.

Mr. Willey

In joining in the tribute to my right hon. Friend, I hope that the interest in these reports that is being shown in my constituency will be matched throughout the country. In preparing her White Paper, does she not agree that the objective of her Department will be assisted if there is a wider knowledge of the problems involved and of what is being done to solve them?

Mrs. Hart

I am sure that this is so. There has been a great interest in aid, primarily as a result of the efforts of the Church and the aid lobby, but there are still a whole lot of problems which need explanation.

Mr. Prentice

May I ask my right hon. Friend to ensure that the White Paper deals specifically with the main recommendations of both the Pearson and Jackson Reports, remembering that those Reports rightly have raised expectations throughout the world about the momentum towards development? If this momentum is to be kept up, could the donors not spell out what changes are to take place in policy to meet the recommendations?

Mrs. Hart

I hope that in the White Paper we shall be able to cover a number of the main recommendations of Pearson and Jackson. These add up to a large number of recommendations, some of which will still be matters for international discussion.

Mr. Braine

I am sure the whole House will be grateful to the right hon. Lady for agreeing to give us much more information about aid policy than we have at the moment. Would she not agree, however, that there is something to be said for not rushing into new declarations of aid policy until the Select Committee on Overseas Aid has reported? Is she not aware that the Committee has been taking a great deal of evidence and will be making recommendations in its report?

Mrs. Hart

Yes, I am very much aware of how intensely the Select Committee is carrying out its work on this matter. Clearly I shall wish to discuss with the Chairman of the Select Committee the timing of that report and of my own White Paper.

26. Mr. Barnes

asked the Minister of Overseas Development what is the policy of the British Government towards the Pearson target of 1,000 million dollars a year by 1972 for the third replenishment of the International Development Association, which has been accepted by the United States Government and several other countries; and whether this figure has yet been finally agreed.

Mrs. Hart

At the meeting in London on 9th and 10th March, the British delegation expressed our readiness to meet our share of a replenishment of up to 1,000 million dollars a year for the three years beginning 1st July, 1971. I am glad to say that this initiative of ours was supported by the U.S. and several other delegations. Further international discussions will, however, be taking place and I do not expect either the amount or the manner of the replenishment to be finally settled before the middle of the year.

Mr. Barnes

I welcome that reply. What assurance can my right hon. Friend give that the Governments involved will speedily ratify the replenishments, so that there will not be the sort of delay that there was in putting the second replenishment into effect, which had such a bad effect on I.D.A. loans in 1968?

Mrs. Hart

The lesson was learned from that, I believe, and those countries which needed specific legislation have now made provision to carry it through speedily.