§ Viscount Craigavonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have studied a copy of the resolution passed by the National Council of Women at its 1992 annual conference calling on the government to quadruple its assistance to family planning programmes within the overseas aid budget; and what is their reaction.
§ Baroness Chalker of WallaseyWe have received copies of this resolution. I have told the President of the National Council of Women that, whilst we fully agree on the importance of supporting effective population programmes in developing countries, we do not believe spending targets of this kind ensure that our programmes have a real impact. We will aim to provide more, and more effective, support in this area.
The amounts we spend will depend on the nature and potential of the particular projects we can agree with individual developing countries, as well as the pressures of competing priorities.