§ VISCOUNT MASSEREENE AND FERRARDMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the first Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether money has been donated from student funds in the United Kingdom to the I.R.A.]
§ LORD BELSTEADMy Lords, my right honourable friend is not responsible for the decisions or activities of individual student unions and would not normally be informed about them. I can neither confirm nor deny that any such donation has been made.
§ VISCOUNT MASSEREENE AND FERRARDMy Lords, while thanking my noble friend for that Answer, may I ask him whether he is aware that my information is that student funds of Aston University, Birmingham, were used for that purpose; and, if this is so, would not my noble friend agree that the British ratepayers' funds should not be used to assist the enemies of the United Kingdom? Would he not also agree that some control of student funds, either by local government councils or by Her Majesty's Government, is therefore necessary?
§ LORD BELSTEADMy Lords, I must apologise to my noble friend that I do not have detailed information concerning Aston University. I entirely agree with him that Her Majesty's Government should, as they do, deplore the donation of student union funds, if that occurs, to the I.R.A. or to any organisation which uses violence to achieve its ends. These funds are provided to enable students to take part in the social, cultual and corporate activities of their educational establishments, and not so that they may make grants to outside organisations. The answer to my noble friend's third supplementary question is that he may have noticed that the Government have published a Consultative Document which indeed is at the moment the subject of consultation by the interested parties.