But the queen of the Committees - the Treasury and Civil Service Select Committee - has carried out major inquiries into the intellectual basis of the Government's monetary policies which it found barely existed, into the International Debt Crisis, and into the exchange rate.

My second point concerns the seriousness of the International Debt Crisis, which is still far from over.

The previous Chancellor has gone, as Foreign Secretary, to face on the international scene the consequences of his policies - high interest rates that have produced the International Debt Crisis that the developing world is facing, domestic deflation which has meant a depression of the demand forprimary produce of the developing countries, and the collective refusal to act to take the world out of a depression for which he was partly responsible as Chancellor.

The Chancellor's statement pales into insignificance besides the International Debt Crisis.

My right hon. Friend has produced his Budget in the face of the great international difficulties that he outlined - probably the worst recession in a century, an International Debt Crisis, fluctuations in the oil market, and so on.

I do not think that we can simply hope to muddle through the International Debt Crisis.

While there is a probability that we could muddle through the International Debt Crisis, there is a danger that things could go wrong and that there would be a financial catastrophe.

They claim that it is inappropriate for it to be involved with issues such as the International Debt Crisis.

I want to discuss the International Debt Crisis and its effect on Latin America - which is the largest debtor region in the world - and also the concept of that debt.

We have been surrounded by an International Debt Crisis for several years and it is growing all the time.

Does the Minister, with his wide responsibility, agree that seemingly cheap imports of raw materials from Africa may eventually prove extremely expensive if they are bought at the price of destabilising the Western banking system by exacerbating the International Debt Crisis?

the Government therefore have a duty to ensure the maximum prudent protection by preventing banks from taking imprudent risks, as was done, for example, in the case of the International Debt Crisis.

On a case-by-case basis, to assess how best to handle the extremely difficult problems posed by the International Debt Crisis.

I want briefly to consider the International Debt Crisis because a solution to that crisis is of vital importance to the continued health of world trade.

What will be the Government's attitude to the International Debt Crisis faced by so many Third world countries?

Mr. Tom Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he expects to meet Oxfam, War on Want and other aid agencies to discuss the International Debt Crisis and its impact on developing countries.

Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the World Bank concerning the alleviation of the International Debt Crisis.

The motion refers to the "International Debt Crisis".

However, the International Debt Crisis, and more recently the events in the Gulf, have shown the risks which are assumed by ECGD to be potentially very significant.

Secondly, he said:the International Debt Crisis, and more recently the events in the Gulf, have shown the risks which are assumed by ECGD to be potentially very significant".

That, too, is a very complicated matrix, against the bizarre background of the International Debt Crisis, which is not only in Europe but elsewhere.

First, the International Debt Crisis is pushing up the debt repayments of poor countries by about one-third.