§ Viscount Craigavonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have received a copy of the European agenda for action on world population, agreed at the recent European parliamentarians conference in London, and what is their response.
The Earl of CaithnessWe have received a copy. We welcomed the decision to hold this conference, and we fully support the general principles and broad objectives in the agenda for action. We hope that it will help to encourage the fuller involvement of those European governments which so far have not been very active in supporting population programmes. We are aiming, especially during our Presidency later this year, to encourage more involvement of European Community development aid in support for population programmes. We have significantly increased our own assistance to overseas population activities, and we are trying to do more. These efforts are explained in ODA's publicationChildren by Choice not Chance, and illustrated by our recent announcement of a £9 million contribution to the United Nations Population Fund in 1992 which represents a 50 per cent. increase over the previous level.