To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the policy of the Overseas Development Administration on taking account of potential costs of pollution from United Kingdom-funded development projects.

ODA's manual of environment appraisal includes advice on taking account of the potential costs of pollution in project formulation as does the HMSO 1991 publication "Values for the Environment: a guide to economic appraisal" commissioned by the ODA. Copies of both have been placed in the Library. It may be difficult to pinpoint the costs of pollution accurately but ODA continues to promote research to develop methodologies for valuing and monitoring the environment in all our work.