HC Deb 30 July 1982 vol 28 cc750-1W
Mr. Soley

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many applications he has received from Soviet parliamentarians, or from the Soviet Government on their behalf, to visit the United Kingdom in the past five years; how many of these have visited the United Kingdom; and in what years.

Mr. Rifkind

No deputies of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR have visited the United Kingdom in their official parliamentary capacity in the last five years, although ideas for such visits have been put forward from time to time from various quarters.

Mr. Hooley

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much of the grant-in-aid of £89,000 to the Great Britain-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Association in 1982–83 will be spent on facilitating visits by parliamentarians from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to the United Kingdom.

Mr. Rifkind

I understand that the protocol signed between the Great Britain-USSR Association and the USSR-Great Britain Society in Moscow on 1 April 1982 envisages that the association will receive a group of deputies of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. It is of course for the association to decide what financial allocation to make for this visit when it takes place. It is one of a number of projects envisaged in the protocol.

Mr. Hooley

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if Her Majesty's Government will take steps to encourage visits by parliamentarians from the Soviet Union to the United Kingdom.

Mr. Rifkind

The Government believe that visits by deputies of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR have a part to play in Anglo-Soviet exchanges, but that the desirability of positively encouraging such visits depends among other things on the state of Anglo-Soviet relations and the Soviet Union's international actions.