§ Q4. Mr. P. Noel-Bakerasked the Prime Minister whether he will lay a White Paper before the House containing the text of the Final Communiqué of the recent conference of Commonwealth Prime Ministers, together with the text of memoranda laid before the conference on the creation of a Commonwealth Secretariat, on economic and educational cooperation, and on other similar matters.
§ The Prime MinisterI am arranging to lay before the House a White Paper containing the text of the Final Communiqué of the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Meeting. It would not be proper to publish the texts of the memoranda laid before the Meeting, since these were confidential working documents. But the House will of course be kept fully informed of the progress made, in consultation between Commonwealth Governments, in implementing the various new initiatives which were considered at the Meeting.
§ Mr. Noel-BakerI am obliged to the Prime Minister for that Answer. Would he consider that the real strength of the Commonwealth, which is a democratic institution, depends on the support of its peoples and that if, with the consent of other Commonwealth Prime Ministers, he can tell us more about the new development for a secretariat and other matters that will be of great value to this House and to the public?
§ The Prime MinisterYes, Sir. The communiqué has of course appeared in the OFFICIAL REPORT already, but I thought that it would be for the convenience of some hon. Members to have it as a separate paper. Therefore, I am arranging for a White Paper to be published.