§ Mr. Hector Hughesasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will state what reciprocity exists between Great Britain and the United States of America and Russia, respectively, for the exchange of scientific and educational and cultural information and personnel; and what efforts have been made, during the last six months, to effect, maintain, and develop such reciprocity.
§ Mr. Ian HarveyThere is and always has been a complete natural reciprocity in personal exchanges and the flow of scientific, educational and cultural publications between this country and the United States. These exchanges, where appropriate, receive active encouragement from Her Majesty's Government and the United States Government.
Her Majesty's Government, desiring that the same situation should prevail between this country and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, proposed to 73W the Soviet Government in April that intergovernmental talks should be held on various aspects of freedom of information. The Soviet Government refused and the scope for exchanges is thus limited. With-in this limited sphere, however, reciprocal exchanges in the educational, cultural and scientific fields are arranged by the Soviet Relations Committee of the British Council, which was set up for this purpose in 1955 at the request of Her Majesty's Government and the scale of these arrangements has increased in the last six months. Reciprocal exchanges of scientific publications have recently been intensified.