§ Mr. Tom Clarkeasked the Prime Minister if she will publish in the Official Report the letter to her from the hon. Member for Monklands, West of 11 February and her reply to him of 27 February relating to figures for overseas aid.
§ The Prime MinisterYes.
11 February 1986
Dear Prime Minister,
I am concerned about an apparent discrepancy between your reply to me in the House of Commons last October and published material from the Overseas Development Administration. Perhaps you could clarify the position for me.After your statement on the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting on 29 October, I asked about Britain's plans to meet the UN target for aid spending of 0.7 per cent. of GNP (Hansard, col. 821). You replied as follows:'The United Kingdom aid programme, at 0.33 per cent. of GDP, is close to the OECD average, which is 0.36 per cent. of GDP. To that has to be added the considerable private flows. Taking the official and private flows together, the United Kingdom figure is 1.25 per cent. of GNP, which is well above the United Nations target of 1 per cent.'However, the ODA annual review, British Overseas Aid 1984 which was published in July, said that total flows had now fallen to 0.89 per cent., incidentally the first time that I can remember them dropping below the 1 per cent. target.I would be glad to know which of these figures is, in fact, correct.
Yours sincerely, Tom Clarke. 27 February 1986
Dear Mr. Clarke,
Thank you for your letter of 11 February about overseas aid. You are of course quite right to point out that the 1984 figure for total flows, both official and private, from this country were 0.89 per cent. of GNP. The figure of 1.25 per cent. to which I referred reflected the approximate position in 1982 and 1983. The point I was seeking to make is that when one looks at private flows as well as official flows this country has a particularly good record.
Your sincerely, Margaret Thatcher,