§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has any plans for the Overseas Development Natural Resources Institute to become an executive agency under the Next Steps programme.
§ Mrs. ChalkerI have decided that it would be right for the Overseas Development Natural Resources Institute to become an executive agency. I believe that the freedoms and disciplines which agency status will bring will further enhance the institute's contribution to the British aid programme and development of the poorer countries, and will reinforce its position as an international centre of scientific excellence. We are planning for ODNRI to become an agency on 1 April 1990. Mr. Anthony Beattie, the present director of the institute, will be appointed as the agency's first chief executive.