British Phosphate Commissioners

Sir Bernard Braine

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action is being taken to use the residual assets of the British Phosphate Commissioners for the benefit of Commonwealth countries in the south Pacific.

Following the distribution of the residual assets of the former British Phosphate Commissioners in February 1987, £750,000 pa is available for use by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for the benefit of small Commonwealth states.In the financial year ending March 1988, the FCO was able to:

(a) contribute £150,000 towards the setting up of the joint United Nations office for small Commonwealth states in New York. We expect to continue to contribute to the costs of this collaborative Commonwealth venture, which gives the smaller countries an opportunity to make their voices heard more effectively, without the otherwise prohibitive costs involved in representation at the United Nations;

(b) provide training for police forces in South Pacific island countries;

(c) add £100,000 to the FCO scholarships and awards scheme (FCOSAS), all of this additional money going to small Commonwealth states, half to those in the south Pacific;

(d) contribute £150,000 as extra-budgetary aid to the South Pacific Commission, particularly for use on their inshore fisheries and plant protection (coconut palm) projects which have an application in all the island countries;

(e) contribute a further £150,000 through the ODA to aid programmes for small Commonwealth states;

(f) contribute £50,000 towards the United Kingdom military training assistance scheme. This has enabled us to increase the help offered to small Commonwealth states in sending members of their security forces on training courses in the United Kingdom.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make statement on his Department's scholarship awards scheme in the Commonwealth, and in particular in the south Pacific; and whether any of the residual British Phosphate Commissioners funds are being used for the purpose of this scheme.

£100,000 from the income generated from the British share of the residual assets of the former British Phosphates Commissioners is added annually to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office scholarships and awards scheme in order to increase the number of awards made specifically to overseas students from Commonwealth small states, including those in the south Pacific.In 1987–88 the FCOSAS provided a total of 290 awards worth £1·8 million to overseas students from all Commonwealth countries. 28 of those awards, worth £141,000, went to students from Commonwealth countries in the south Pacific.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the residual assets of the British Phosphate Commissioners will be used for the benefit of the Banaban community on Rabi Island, Fiji.

The income generated from the British share of the residual assets of the former British Phosphate Commissioners will continue to be dedicated to assisting the development of small Commonwealth states. These include the island nations of the south Pacific, among them the Banaban community on Rabi Island, Fiji, who have benefited in the past from funds arising from the phosphate mining industry.

Volume 136: debated on Tuesday 5 July 1988