The Minister said that he would like to see the work of the United Nations more widely known throughout the country. Since there is a UNESCO committee in existence would the Minister like to indicate to the House what support he can give that committee or what his views are about UNESCO and the problem UNESCO is having at the moment?

I answered that here the last time this matter came up at Question Time. My view is that the reform of UNESCO is necessary. Unlike other countries we believe that that reform will be best brought about by remaining as a member and trying to bring it about internally, rather than choosing to resign as some countries have done and try to force reform in that way. I do not think that is the correct way.

What about the UNESCO committee? Are the Minister's Department in a position to fund that committee in order to make the activities of UNESCO and the United Nations generally better known, which he stated he would like to do?

At the moment my Department could not take on the responsibility of funding any other committees than the ones we are funding at the moment. It is quite a long list.