§ Mr. StreeterTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what financial support for St. Helena has been provided by the British Government in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement. [131757]
§ Clare Short[holding answer 21 July 2000]: Expenditure figures for UK assistance are published in Statistics on International Development which is in the Library of the House.
In January of this year, my Department agreed a new £29 million programme of assistance to the St. Helena Government (SHG) for the three year period 2000–01 to 2002–03. A DFID team is currently en route to the island 532W to discuss the public sector investment programme in more detail. DFID has recently recommended to SHG consultants to carry out the comparative costs study of air and sea access to the island. We expect the consultants to start work within the next month.