Aid Programme

HC Deb 20 March 1978 vol 946 cc965-8

34. Mr. Ioan Evans

asked the Minister of Overseas Development if she will make a statement on the improvement in the official aid programme in order to reach the United Nations target of 0.7 per cent. of gross national product.

The Minister of State for Overseas Development (Mrs. Judith Hart)

Overseas aid is now planned as the fastest growing public expenditure programme, and I hope we shall move faster towards the target as a result. In 1976, official development assistance amounted to 0.38 per cent. of gross national product. It is too soon to give a figure for 1977.

Mr. Evans

In view of the improvement in our national finances, will my right hon. Friend seek to persuade the Chancellor of the Exchequer to increase overseas aid in his Budget Statement? Would it not be better to be spending more on overseas aid rather than on armaments?

Has my right hon. Friend considered the possibility of using trained teachers and other skilled workers in this country to help in an overseas development programme, thereby reducing unemployment?

Mrs. Hart

We try to make maximum use, under the volunteer programme and other programmes, of teachers who may assist in the developing countries.

I have every sympathy with my hon. Friend on his first point, but he will recognise that the proper time for considering these matters is during the public expenditure discussions. Overseas aid did rather well the last time round.

Mr. Rhodes James

Is the Minister aware that the problem of overseas aid is, alas, not simply one of money? Can she give any indication of any development in the Government's thinking about the support and encouragement which can be given to voluntary organisations working on overseas development matters?

Mrs. Hart

I think that the hon. Gentleman will know that two years ago we introduced the pound-for-pound scheme, which has been a very helpful stimulus for us and for the voluntary agencies. It is a question of defining projects which are suitable for support. I think it is true to say that we have supported from ODM a very high proportion of the products submitted to us by the voluntary agencies, but I am always anxious that they should identify more of them.

Mr. Stoddart

Did my right hon. Friend notice the publication of the figure of our net contribution to the EEC of £337 million? That is a contribution, as she will know, to the richest group of countries in the world. Could she say how near to the target of 0.7 per cent. of gross domestic product we would get if we contributed that £337 million to the poorest countries in the world?

Mrs. Hart

I do not think that that point really arises, because our contribution to European Development Fund funding represents part of our own account to the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. It is all contained within the same total. It is true, of course, that we have been anxiously seeking to persuade our colleagues in the EEC to give greater attention and a higher proportion of their budget to the poorest non-associated countries, as against the associates.

Mr. Luce

Although the official aid programme has an extremely important role to play in alleviating acute poverty in the world, does the right hon. Lady recognise and accept that it is a question not only of the work of voluntary bodies but of preferential trade policies, private investment, and technical cooperation from the Western world? All these are very important engines of development in the Third world.

Mrs. Hart

Yes, and I am sure that the hon. Member is familiar with some of the remarks that I have made which repeat his sentiments on this matter.

35. Mr. Tim Renton

asked the Minister of Overseas Development whether she intends to review the overall commitment of Her Majesty's Government to overseas aid in the light of the increasing trend to protectionism among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries.

Mrs. Hart

No, Sir. Our overall commitment is firm.

Mr. Renton

Is it not paradoxical that those of the right hon. Lady's colleagues who are most strident in calling for increased protectionism are among those who are also keenest on increased aid? Does she not agree that there is a clear conflict of objectives here which is bound to become more acute as the worldwide recession deepens?

Mrs. Hart

It is the case that there can be conflicts. I am not sure whether the hon. Member is aware, as the Select Committee on Overseas Development is aware, that the Government have initiated a study on adjustment assistance, which goes to the kernel of this problem and which I hope will assist us in working out what the policy for the future will be. I hope that the Opposition will be equally interested in working out viable solutions.

Mr. Litterick

Is my right hon. Friend's Department prepared to reconsider Britain's overseas aid commitments in certain respects in view of the intensification of State terrorism by certain Conservative Governments in Latin America?

Mrs. Hart

I think that our polices have taken account of this. If I may, I shall write to my hon. Friend with the details of our full programme in Latin America. He will see that very consciously we do not support regimes of a terrorist character. There are one or two countries in which we seek quite deliberately to assist the very poorest groups—for example, in Paraguay, the Paraguayan Indians. But I think my hon. Friend will find that on the whole our policy meets his requirements.