Written Answers
Non-Governmental Organisations: Relief Operations
asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they will list (
a) the contributions or grants that the Overseas Development Administration has made towards relief operations, including help for refugees, through non-governmental organisations since 24th September 1981; and ( b) the amount of the contributions and the percentage of such contributions which were directed through British non-governmental organisations.
Her Majesty's Government have contributed as follows through non-governmental organisations:
| Organisation | Contribution |
| £ | |
| (a) REFUGEES | |
| International Committee of the Red Cross: | |
| Nicaragua | 20,000 |
| Thai/Cambodia | 125,000 |
| El Salvador | 100,000 |
| Africa | 750,000 |
| Agency for Cooperation and Research in Development: | |
| Sudan | 290,000 |
| Special Projects in Christian Missionary Areas: | |
| Uganda | 50,000 |
| Action Aid: Sudan | 125,000 |
| YMCA: El Salvador | 2,500 |
| YMCA: Thailand | 3,500 |
| Christian Outreach: Thailand (3 grants) | 11,500 |
| British Red Cross Society | 2,451 |
| Save the Children Fund: | |
| Thailand (2 grants) | 24,750 |
| Hong Kong (3 grants) | 10,000 |
| Afghans (3 grants) | 19,250 |
| Somalia (3 grants) | 27,825 |
| Ethiopians (Sudan—3 grants) | 11,500 |
| Ockenden Venture: Sudan (3 grants) | 13,000 |
| World University Service: Djibouti | 500 |
| VSO: Eritreans in Sudan | 4,000 |
| OXFAM: Sudan | 3,000 |
| (b) EMERGENCY RELIEF | |
| *Angola Red Cross Society, drought | 89,800 |
| BRCS/League of Red Cross Societies Famine, Mozambique | 50,000 |
| Floods, Bolivia | 5,000 |
| Floods, Nicaragua | 20,000 |
| Floods, Honduras | 10,000 |
| BRCS/ICRC, post-conflict, Lebanon | 73,100 |
| BRCS/League of Red Cross Societies, cyclone, Cape Verde | 2,000 |
| Chad Red Cross Society, post-civil strife | 123,700 |
| Christian Aid/SCF, medical teams, Lebanon (approx.) | 100,000 |
| Catholic Fund for Overseas Development/CARITAS, floods, El Salvador | 10,000 |
| Mozambique Red Cross Society, drought | 57,200 |
| OXFAM, air freight, Labanon | 29,800 |
| Refugees in Rwanda (approx.) | 35,000 |
| Spanish Red Cross Society, floods | 2,000 |
| *Tunisian Red Crescent Society, floods | 60,000 |
| *As a joint response with one or more British Non-Governmental Organisations. | |
Eye-Testing: Mentally Handicapped Patients
asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they are satisfied that ophthalmologists and opticians have adequate specialist training and equipment to allow them to assess, objectively, the visual capacities of mentally handicapped persons under the age of 30 years.
The assessment of mentally handicapped patients can be extremely difficult. I am confident, however, that any optician or ophthalmologist would refer a patient with problems beyond his own skills or facilities to an appropriate colleague. In the General Ophthalmic Service an optician or ophthalmic medical practitioner is required to do this by his terms of service, via the patients GP in the first instance. In hospitals, many orthoptists are specially trained in the problems of assessing ocular muscle balance (squints) in mentally and physically handicapped children. However, perhaps if the noble Baroness has a particular case of difficulty in mind she would like to write to me.
Category A Prisoners
asked Her Majesty's Government:How many prisoners were in security Category A on the latest convenient date, and on the same date in each of the last five years.
The information requested is given in the following table:
| Category A prisoners in prison department establishments in England and Wales on 30th September | |
| 1977 | 257 |
| 1978 | 246 |
| 1979 | 255 |
| 1980 | 276 |
| 1981 | 265 |
| 1982 | 260 |