§ Lord James Douglas Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will take steps to assess the prospects of the development of specialised tourism in the Falklands and the extent to which this would be increased by the provision of a runway and facilities capable of taking long haul civilian aircraft, including VC10s.
§ Mr. Rifkind:I am happy to say that two specialist cruise vessels are resuming their summer tours of the South Atlantic and will be calling at the Falkland Islands in November and December. For the longer term, the Government is now considering the recommendations put forward by Lord Shackleton and his colleagues whilst awaiting the views of the islanders themselves. The prospects for tourism, and the associated communications issues, are amongst the questions under careful study.
§ Lord James Douglas Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much was given in grant aid to the Falkland Islands for each year from 1945; and how much tax was received from the Falklands over the same period, giving figures for each year.
§ Mr. Rifkind:For the period 1945–1960 grant aid figures are available in financial years only and are:
261W
£000's 1945–46 1 1946–47 - 1947–48 37 1948–49 64 1949–50 14 1950–51 1 1951–52 10 1952–53 9 1953–54 3 1954–55 37 1955–56 9
£000's 1956–57 55 1957–58 3 1958–59 9 1959–60 52 From 1961 onwards, in calendar years, the figures including technical co-operation are:
£000's 1961 37 1962 15 1963 7 1964 9 1965 17 1966 20 1967 75 1968 52 1969 27 1970 46 1971 88 1972 51 1973 121 1974 1,079 1975 1,373 1976 1,494 1977 1,115 1978 2,043 1979 910 1980 985 1981 1,053 Tax matters are the responsibility of my right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer.