§ Mr. Bestasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assistance he gives to refugees from the Horn of Africa to undergo training and then return to their home country.
§ Mr. RaisonWe provide funds for the work of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which includes training refugees from this area, and we are continuing to give support to the World University Service for training Ethiopian refugees. In general we are finding increasingly that refugees are not allowed to return to their home countries after training.
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§ Mr. Bestasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will give the current level of support through the World University Service for the scholarship programme for Ethiopian refugees; what this will be in 1986–87; and what proposals he has for future funding.
§ Mr. RaisonIn the present financial year our level of support is £375,000. In 1986–87 we expect to give £280,000. The World University Service is aware that I have not yet decided on later allocations but that our planning figure for 1987–88 is £135,000 and that I expect our support to cease in or about 1988–89.
§ Mr. Bestasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will consider a shared funding scholarship scheme for refugees in which his Department would match support with that provided by educational institutions and voluntary agencies.
§ Mr. RaisonI do not think that support for a general shared funding scholarship scheme for refugees would be the best use of aid funds. If we decided on the merits of a particular case to assist the training of a group of refugees, we would be ready to consider sharing the cost with others.
§ Mr. Bestasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what priority his Department gives to refugees within his policy for overseas students.
§ Mr. RaisonSupport for refugee students is considered on a case by case basis and the priority accorded to any particular group depends on the extent to which they are likely to assist the economic and social development of overseas countries. An important factor is the likelihood of their early return home or to a neighbouring developing country.
§ Mr. Bestasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assistance his Department gives to refugees; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RaisonIn the financial year 1985–86 the ODA expects to spend £35 million on refugee assistance—an increase of £13 million over the previous year. Of this total, £20 million has been allocated to relief programmes in Africa.
Most of this assistance is being channelled through international organisations; about half is through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The Government will continue to ensure that Britain plays its full part in assisting refugees.
§ Mr. Bestasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will give the level of funding in constant terms for scholarship schemes for refugees for each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. RaisonFigures are as follows adjusted to the prices of the first year shown:
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£000 A. Through World University Services (calendar year) 1976 1,086 1977 2,126 1978 1,381 1979 2,093 1980 1,906 1981 1,464
£000 1982 840 1983 561 1984 337 1985 291 B. Assistance to a special Afghan Refugees Training Programme (financial year) 1982–83 104 1983–84 252 1984–85 350 C. Assistance to students and trainees from Namibia (financial year). About three quarters of this programme is for refugee education 1979–80 138 1980–81 125 1981–82 175 1982–83 156 1983–84 204 1984–85 254 D. Contribution to United Nations Educational and Training Programme for Southern Africa (financial year) 1975–76 70 1976–77 62 1977–78 62 1978–79 63 1979–80 60 1980–81 50 1981–82 — 1982–83 21 1983–84 21 1984–85 20