§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he received the United Nations report, "The State of the World Population 1990".
§ Mrs. ChalkerThe Overseas Development Administration received an advance copy of the UNFPA report on 10 May and attended the UNFPA's executive director's press conference to launch the report in London on 14 May.
We welcome the report and strongly support the urgent need for reduction in global population growth rates. Population will continue to be a priority issue in Britain's aid programme. Our spending on activities directly related to population concerns has increased from £6.5 million in 1981 to over £17 million in 1989. We are considering ways of increasing this assistance, but much depends on the willingness of recipient Governments to give population concerns a high priority in their own spending and action plans.