§ 89. Mr. Onslowasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he has taken to investigate the causes of the increase in unrecovered expenditure on the repatriation of distressed British subjects from 10 per cent. of total expenditure in 1964–65 to 37 per cent. of total expenditure in 1968–69.
§ Mr. LuardRecoveries of repatriation costs are under constant scrutiny. While costs are necessarily incurred at the time, many of the repatriates are in straitened circumstances and can only repay, if at all, over many years. Over recent years there has been an increase in the total number of cases and a greater proportion of repatriations have been from distant countries, with larger sums therefore involved; the percentage of unrecovered sums, expressed on an annual basis, has, therefore, tended to rise.