§ Mr. Sheermanasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the number of foreign language assistants in British schools in the current year; and how many there have been in each of the last 10 years.
§ Mrs. RumboldThe number of foreign language assistants in schools and colleges in the United Kingdom in the current academic year is 2,490.
154W
£000 1982 33,287 1983 29,461 1984 26,203 1985 17,316 1986 15,345 Sri Lanka also receives assistance from multilateral organisations such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Community and several United Nations agencies, to which Britain contributes resources.
The level of our aid to Sri Lanka has declined from the exceptionally high level reached while we were helping finance the Victoria dam project. No conditions relating to human rights have been attached to our aid, which is intended to benefit all sections of the community in Sri Lanka. The observance of human rights is a factor which we and other Western donors take into account in giving aid to any country. All our aid programmes are regularly reviewed, but we have no plans at present to reconsider the amount of aid we give to Sri Lanka.