§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is his estimate of the funds which return to the United Kingdom for every £1 spent on(a) bilateral development aid and (b) multilateral development aid.
§ Mrs. ChalkerOn the basis of the figures for procurement now provided by the multilateral agencies, I estimate that for the period 1982–89 average procurement of British goods and services amounted to £1.40 for every £1 contributed by the United Kingdom to multilateral aid funds. Because the origin of goods and services purchased under the untied element of the bilateral aid programme is not recorded, it is not possible to make a similar estimate for bilateral aid.
§ Mr. Campbell-SavoursTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the proportion of the bilateral aid budget fully and freely available for worldwide procurement, and untied, between the years 1979 to the present day.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThe proportion of the gross bilateral aid programme which was untied in the years 1979–1990 (the latest year for which figures are available) is as follows:
United Kingdom untied aid as a percentage of total United Kingdom gross bilateral aid 1979–1990 Year Per cent. 1979 19.6 1980 26.0 1981 28.9 1982 25.1 1983 28.9 1984 34.8 1985 33.4 1986 25.3 1987 26.2 1988 29.7 1989 28.0 1990 28.7