31.
asked the Minister of Overseas Development what evaluation she has made of the impact on British engineering of any likely increase in overseas aid arising from Great Britain's improved balance of payments situation.
As my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer informed the House on 26th October last, the previously announced amount of the aid programme in 1978–79 is to be increased by £20 million. The programme is planned to increase further in real terms in subsequent years. I would expect this to lead to increased orders for British engineering products, but no precise evaluation of such an effect is possible.
But if there is to be this increase, cannot the Minister accept that there is a duty on the Government, who, by delaying investment decisions on the British Steel Corporation, for example, have held up much of the work of the metallurgical plant industry in this country? Therefore, given the Third World interest in becoming steel producers and the BSC commitment to those developments, cannot the Minister say that the Government are determined to try to ensure that at least some part of that comes back to our hard-pressed plant makers?
It is the Government's policy to consider the interests of British industry. In 1976 about £180 million of United Kingdom exports were directly financed from our bilateral capital aid programme. This represented about 5 per cent. of United Kingdom exports to developing countries. If the hon. Gentleman has in mind a problem of a particular industry, and if he writes to me about it, I shall look into it, but I am sure that he would not expect me to be able to give a detailed response now.
Is my hon. Friend aware that a small but important British engineering product is the Medresco hearing aid, and that there are tens of thousands of those aids now available in Britain because they are being phased out to be replaced by a more sophisticated model? If they were given to developing countries they would solve the problem of deafness for many thousands of people in those countries. Therefore, will my hon. Friend discuss the matter with my hon. Friend the Minister with responsibility for the disabled to see what can be done about giving away these technically efficient models?
I was not aware of the availability of those hearing aids, but now that my hon. Friend has drawn my attention to the matter I shall look into it and see whether it is appropriate to enter into discussions with my hon. Friend the Minister with responsibility for the disabled. If my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent, South (Mr. Ashley) has further information that he would like me to consider, I look forward to hearing from him.
Are not some of the positive arguments put by the Minister to my hon. Friend the Member for Arundel (Mr. Marshall) a few moments ago examples of the sort of arguments that should be put more forcefully to British public opinion as a whole? Therefore, is it not regrettable that only about £150,000 goes towards the Government's Development Education Fund when, if we matched the Dutch, for example, on a proportional basis we should be spending about £12 million on such a project?
I appreciate what the hon. Gentleman said. It is lamentable that the whole of our development assistance receives so little attention in the media and in public discussion. I have taken every opportunity to see what other nations are doing in development education. I welcome the creation of at least the small beginnings of our Development Education Fund. We are considering its report.