asked the Minister of Overseas Development what plans she has for ensuring that the proposals of the Pearson Report on aid to under-developed countries are implemented by Her Majesty's Government; and if she will make a statement on plans for the next five years.

asked the Minister of Overseas Development by what year the official British Government aid budget will reach 0·7 per cent. of gross national product recommended in the report of the Pearson Commission.

asked the Minister of Overseas Development in view of the fall in the proportion of the gross national product provided for official overseas aid from 0·53 in 1964 to 0·42 in 1968, what steps the Government will take to reach the targets for official aid set by the Pearson Commission.

The publication of the Pearson Report was immediately welcomed by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister. The Report's recommendations are addressed to developed and developing countries and to all organisations concerned with development. They are now under study here. We fully accept the need to continue the collective development effort, and we intend to play our part in this.

Is my right hon. Friend aware that the welcome given by the Government to the Pearson Commission's Report is very gratifying? Is she further aware that the Government ought to match that with specific figures and targets? Will she give an assurance that she will take fully into account, as a member of the National Executive of the Labour Party, the conference decision on this matter which was, near enough, the recommendation of the Pearson Commission?

I can assure my hon. Friend that it is clear to me that we must now make a fresh assessment of the contribution Britain can make to the world programme of aid and development in the 1970s. We have had quite a good record in the past. With the new challenges presented to us on many fronts in everyday life, I myself regard it as essential that we considerably improve our performance in real terms in the 1970s.

Would my right hon. Friend agree that this is an area in which it is appropriate to speak of the moral obligations of countries like Britain? Could she tell us something of her philosophy towards the question of overseas aid?

If I can condense it in the course of answering a supplementary question, the moral commitment of any developed nation is probably the greatest commitment which it has in any field.

While welcoming the Minister's appointment, may I ask whether she would be more specific about the proportion of our gross national product which the Government are prepared to devote next year to official development aid in view of the gradual decline of the proportion of the gross national product in recent years?

We have the Pearson Report before us, and we have the new U.N.C.T.A.D. target to consider and the Second Development Decade coming up. Clearly all these maters must be considered quite urgently by the Government, but the assessment is bound to take a little time.

May I take this opportunity of congratulating the right hon. Lady on her appointment and of saying at the same time that the House genuinely regrets the departure of her predecessor who always treated us with the utmost courtesy and frankness? Since the Prime Minister has described the Pearson Report as one of the most important documents of the twentieth century, and since the Government's contribution to aid has fallen far short of expectations given us in 1964–65, will the right hon. Lady translate what she has just said into effective action? Can she give an assurance that the study will be completed before Christmas and that an announcement of the Government's intentions on this subject will be made before Christmas?

The proportion of the gross national product will have to be considered in relation to our future estimates of the gross national product, which, as the hon. Gentleman knows, are not published. But the figures for expenditure in 1971–72, which is one of the matters about which the hon. Gentleman is concerned, will be in the white paper in December.

asked the Minister of Overseas Development whether she has reached any preliminary conclusions regarding the scheme of the Pearson Commission on international development for untying aid with a zero balance of payments effect.

The Commission did not itself quite propose such a scheme. Its recommendations on this point call for further study in consultation with other aid providing countries and we shall certainly be glad to consider this more carefully.

Would the right hon. Lady agree that the Government's performance in the aid programme is rather worse than it looks in the sense that the nominal value of aid far exceeds the real value because of tying arrangements? Therefore, will she give particular attention to this matter? She said just now that the Government do not forecast the gross national product. Why does she think that?

The Chancellor of the exchequer makes assumptions in relation to the rate of growth which he foresees ahead, but it is not the practice to publish estimates of the gross national product for the years ahead. We are anxious to move in the context of international discussions on the Pearson proposals and we shall want to continue to work towards the direction recommended; but it must be done in the international context.