asked the Minister of Overseas Development what is the Government's current annual spending on aid to underdeveloped countries; how it compares with the aid given in recent years and the aid given by other countries in total and as a percentage of gross national product; in what form it is being given; and to which countries.

Details of our own annual expenditure on aid up to and including 1974, the last complete year for which figures are available, as as follows:

Official Development Assistance (Net)
	£ million	Per cent. of GNP
1970	186	0·36
1971	231	0·41
1972	243	0·39
1973	246	0·34
1974	309	0·38

The following table gives comparable information for other donor countries in 1974:

Official Development Assistance in 1974 (Net)
	£ million	Per cent. of GNP
Australia	184	0·55
Austria	25	0·18
Belgium	113	0·49
Canada	305	0·50
Denmark	72	0·54
Finland	16	0·18
France	700	0·60
Germany	613	0·37
Italy	87	0·14
Japan	481	0·25
Netherlands	183	0·62
New Zealand	16	0·30
Norway	56	0·57
Sweden	172	0·72
Switzerland	29	0·14
USA	1,470	0·25

Further information, including information on the forms in which our aid is given, is contained in "British Aid Statistics", copies of which are available in the Library of the House.