HL Deb 11 November 1996 vol 575 cc79-80WA
Lord Lester of Herne Hill

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answers given by Baroness Chalker of Wallasey on 16th May 1996 (WA 63) and

£000
Technical Co-operation (TC) Aid and Trade Provision (ATP) Financial Aid (excluding ATP) Emergency Aid Total
1991–92 10,369 10,828 — — 21,197
1992–93 11,905 9,304 — 178 21,387
1993–94 10,130 11,625 353 107 22,215
1994–95 9,203 12,182 — 33 21,418
1995–96 8,378 28,888 556 82 37,904

The 1995–96 figure reflects the start of expenditure on four current projects under the Aid and Trade Provision and a change to the financing arrangements for new soft loans whereby the aid element of such loans is disbursed over the lifetime of the project (usually two to three years) rather than the lifetime of the loan (25 years).

Lord Lester of Herne Hill

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether, in the light of the situation in East Timor, they will make aid to Indonesia conditional upon compliance with respect for human rights.

Baroness Chalker of Wallasey

Respect for human rights is one of a number of criteria on which decisions are taken about the allocation of British development assistance and one of the objectives which we seek to promote through the assistance we provide. In the case

11th June 1996 (WA 163), whether they have made further searches in the Public Record Office so as to enable them to discover whether the findings made by the European Commission of Human Rights in their report of 26th September 1958 in Application No. 176/56 Greece v. United Kingdom may now be published.

Baroness Chalker of Wallasey

The report in question is not an FCO document and the file copy should be held in the archives of the Council of Europe. Searches into FCO records at the Public Record Office confirm that the copy of the report sent to the Foreign Office at the time has not been preserved. In accordance with standard procedure papers belonging to international organisations are not kept on British records. Colonial Office files now transferred to the Public Record Office and possibly relating to the case brought by Greece against the UK are being checked to ensure the report was not misfiled or inadvertently preserved elsewhere on Colonial Office files. I shall inform the noble Lord of the outcome of this further search as soon as possible.