asked the Secretary for Technical Co-operation what he estimates will be the scale of technical assistance to Pakistan for the current financial year; and how this compares with 1962–63.

Mr. Carr:

Technical assistance to Pakistan is given under a number of different schemes, such as the Colombo Plan, which includes other recipients, and it is difficult to give precise financial comparisons for individual countries. My best estimate is that my Department's expenditure on technical assistance for Pakistan was of the order of £650,000 in 1962–63 and that it will be about 20 to 30 per cent. higher than that this year.

In welcoming this increase, may I ask whether my right hon. Friend can say how this total expenditure is divided up among the various forms of technical assistance? Does he think that more use could be made of British consultants?

Mr. Carr:

In reply to the first point, the expenditure is split more or less into equal parts between the provision of British experts, bringing Pakistan students here for training and the provision of equipment for Pakistan institutions of education. I should certainly like to make more use of British consultants in Pakistan and other countries. We are already making use of their services for feasibility studies, and I hope that this is a tendency which will increase.