asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he has received the views of the medical profession about the case for amending the Infant Life Preservation Act 1929; and if he will make a statement.
The chief medical officer has recently received a document on fetal viability and clinical practice which has been prepared by a working party set up by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and including representatives of other medical bodies and the Royal College of Midwives. We understand that the report represents the unanimous views of the professional bodies. I am grateful to them for letting us have their considered opinion that the reference to 28 weeks gestational age in the 1929 Act is now out of date in view of advances in medical techniques.We will be financing the publication of the report and we will arrange for its distribution to nursing homes approved under the Abortion Act and within the National Health Service as soon as possible. I am now considering the report urgently with my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary. I have also asked our officers to convene a meeting with the proprietors of approved nursing homes which at the moment undertake late abortions to discuss the report. I will make a further statement as soon as possible.
| Country | Project | Year of commitment | Allocation |
| Pakistan | Railway development | 1978 | 29,100,000 |
| Bangladesh | Railways rehabilitation: wagons | 1978 | 15,000,000 |
| Bangladesh | Railway wagons and workshop equipment | 1978 | 16,836,481 |
| Malawi | Wagon weighbridges/goods hand | 1978 | 32,955 |
| Sri Lanka | Materials for railway | 1978 | 6,065,000 |
| Malawi | Malawi railways | 1979 | 1,506,851 |
| Kenya | Hopper wagons | 1979 | 1,279,079 |
| Tanzania | Tanzania railway development | 1979 | 9,500,000 |
| Sri Lanka | Locomotives | 1980 | 2,867,172 |
| Zimbabwe | Railway electrification Nos. 1–7 | 1981 | 8,239,515 |
| Kenya | Railway coaches | 1982 | 5,030,040 |
| Kenya | Railways development | 1983 | 3,000,000 |
| India | Railway projects grant | 1983 | 30,000,000 |
| Malawi | Replacement of railway tracks | 1983 | 1,630,000 |
| Sudan | Gezira railways | 1984 | 4,230,000 |
| Swaziland | Swaziland railways | 1984 | 575,000 |