HC Deb 17 May 1994 vol 243 cc409-10W
Mr. Battle

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what was the unweighted average of official development assistance of(a) EC countries and (b) Development Assistance Committee countries, as a proportion of gross national product in (i) 1992 and (ii) 1993; how much the United Kingdom spent by the same measure; and by how much the United Kingdom would have needed to increase its assistance in cash terms in those years to have reached (1) EC and (2) DAC average expenditure.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

Figures for official development assistance are not yet available for 1993. In 1992, the unweighted average official development assistance as a proportion of gross national product for EC countries and DAC countries was 0.45 per cent. and 0.48 per cent. respectively—the weighted averages are 0.44 per cent. and 0.33 per cent. respectively.

The United Kingdom official development assistance as a proportion of gross national product in 1992 was 0.31 per cent. In cash terms, the United Kingdom would have needed to increase its assistance by £844 million and £1,012 million to have reached the unweighted average expenditure levels for EC countries and DAC countries respectively.

Mr. Battle

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of British aid was spent on(a) primary health care, (b) nutrition, (c) basic education, (d) family planning and (e) safe water and sanitation in (i) 1992 and (ii) 1993; and how much in cash terms would need to have been spent in each year in order to increase the amount spent on those basic needs to 20 per cent. of official development assistance.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

Figures for official development assistance are not yet available for 1993. In 1992, the specified sectors as a proportion of the United Kingdom's bilateral official development assistance that can be allocated to a sector was:

Per cent.
Primary health care 4.7
Nutrition 0.06
Education 20.4
Family planning 0.4
Per cent.
Safe water/sanitation 2.9
Total 28.0

Our bilateral aid programme also includes a large amount of assistance which cannot be allocated by sector, such as debt relief, economic reform programmes and humanitarian assistance, but which also helps the poorest.