§ 42. Sir Thomas ArnoldTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to change the balance of expenditure between bilateral and multilateral aid.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydThe balance of our aid spending is reviewed every year.
§ Sir Thomas ArnoldDoes my hon. Friend agree that, generally speaking, bilateral aid is more efficient than multilateral aid and should be protected?
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydI very much agree with my hon. Friend's implication that our bilateral aid is extremely well spent on well-targeted and designed programmes. He makes the point that he would like it to be a higher proportion of the overall aid commitment, but he should bear in mind the fact that in some cases multilateral aid is a useful lever. For example, we have managed to persuade the European Community to adopt a family planning resolution; we therefore affected the whole of European Community policy in an important area and we are bringing to fruition policies that we believe in by persuading other member states to adopt them as part of the multilateral effort.
§ Mr. BattleDoes the Minister agree, as there has been a shift towards multilateral aid, that Government bilateral aid is falling further behind each year? If the aid programme is so beneficial to the British economy, why on earth does the Minister propose that it be cut in the Budget?
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydAs the hon. Gentleman knows, decisions on the level of multilateral aid in the European Community are taken by the EC, not by the British Government. That is a fact of life which we respect, but we also have a high regard for the quality of our own programme which, I think, is often even better directed.
§ Mr. Nigel Griffiths (Edinburgh, South)On a point of order, Madam Speaker.
§ Madam SpeakerNot yet.