HC Deb 18 July 1985 vol 83 cc249-50W
Mr. Michael Morris

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what are the rules laid down by both the general agreement on tariffs and trade and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development against which projects applying for aid and trade provision support are measured.

Mr. Rifkind

To conform with the requirements of the general agreement on tariffs and trade and the export credit arrangement, a tied aid credit, whether a mixed credit (a combination of aid and export credit) or a single integrated aid loan, must have a grant element of at least 25 per cent.

Additionally, under the guiding principles agreed between OECD members for the use of official

Provision Opening Provision in Main Estimate 1984–85 (all activities and recipients) Expenditure on African Famine-Related Activities—1984–85 £m Total
Expenditure against opening provision Additional Expenditure financed by allocations from the Contingency Reserve Additional Expenditure financed from allocations made possible by slippage elsewhere in aid programme*
VOTED
European Development Fund 85 12 12
National actions food aid 19 15 4 2 21
Bilateral Disaster relief Token or working provision only 8 4 12
Refugee and other relief assistance Token or working token provision only 5 4 9
NON-VOTED
UK share of European Community budgetised aid 110 35 35
62 17 10 89
SOURCES OTHER THAN AID PROGRAMME
Cost of Ministry of Defence of RAF Hercules operation in Ethiopia 6
95
* Allocations arising from slippage are made when forecasts of aid programme spending in aggregate permit; they cannot meaningfully be related to reduced forecasts for individual programme items.

Mr. Spearing

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) in respect of his observations on the second report of the Foreign Affairs

development assistance in association with export credits and other market funds, the members of the development assistance committee of the OECD undertake to confine such transactions to priority projects and programmes which are carefully appraised against the developmental standards and criteria applicable to official development assistance programmes and which form part of the recipient country's development programme. These agreed guiding principles are set out in full on page 43 of the ODA's annual review "British Overseas Aid 1983", a copy of which is in the House of Commons Library.