§ Mr. Sutcliffeasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what were the proportions of United Kingdom bilateral and multilateral aid, respectively, in 1970 donated for the specific purpose of promoting and implementing programmes of population control.
§ Mr. WoodApart from expenditure on family planning through the Medical/Health Sector which is not readily identifiable, less than 0.1 per cent. of British bilateral aid—which includes loans as well as grants and is allocated in accordance with the priorities established by the recipients—and about 1.8 per cent. of British multilateral aid—including in the present context aid to the International Planned Parenthood Federation—was provided in the calendar year 1970 in support of population and family planning activities.
§ Mr. Sutcliffeasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth 409W Affairs whether the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has now completed its draft scheme for the untying of aid; and if he intends to make a statement before Christmas.
§ Mr. WoodSubstantial progress has been made in the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on a draft Agreement for the reciprocal untying of aid, but the work is not complete, partly because of recent developments in the international trade and monetary field. The Development Assistance Committee is meanwhile studying the possibilities of limited action on a reciprocal basis in order to reduce the scope of aid tying.
I do not expect to be in a position to make a further statement before next year.
§ Mr. Sutcliffeasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the countries currently receiving bilateral aid from the United Kingdom which do not operate population policies or programmes.
§ Mr. WoodIt is difficult to provide a definite list because of our incomplete knowledge of these countries' domestic policies, and because no definition of a population policy or programme is yet accepted internationally. As far as I know, 24 countries with about 72 per cent. of the population of the developing world, have an official family planning programme; another 23, with 9 per cent. of the population, give some support to family planning activities; 55 other countries give little or no support to family planning activities and have no official policy for limiting their population growth. Some form of British bilateral aid for development is at present being given to most of these 102 countries.
§ Mr. Sutcliffeasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list current research projects relevant to the problems of developing countries which are receiving financial aid from the Government, stating the sums involved.
§ Mr. WoodAs the number of such research projects is very large, I am arranging for a list to be prepared and I410W will send it to my hon. Friend as soon as possible.