§ 2.42 p.m.
§ LORD NAPIER AND ETTRICKMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether it is now their intention to integrate fully the Commonwealth Office with the Foreign Office under a single Secretary of State for External Affairs; and if so, when.]
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, I have nothing to add to the Answer given in another place on June 21 of this year by 1831 my right honourable friend the Prime Minister.
§ LORD NAPIER AND ETTRICKMy Lords, while thanking the noble Lord, Lord Beswick, for that reply—which does not surprise me—may I ask him two supplementaries? Would not the Government agree that there is a very real danger of an amalgamated portfolio becoming too great a responsibility for a single individual, however brilliant he maybe? And do they believe that such an integration, if it took place, would in the final event be in the best interests of the Commonwealth, bearing in mind the very special relationship that the Commonwealth holds with the United Kingdom?
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, I am very interested in the supplementaries which the noble Lord has put, especially in view of his experience. I am myself certain that, despite what has been said by other noble Lords in this House, this question of the work-load on one Secretary of State is a very important one. As for the noble Lord's second supplementary, I think the consideration he put there was in the minds of the Plowden Committee when they said that the time was not now opportune for the unifying of the two Departments.
§ LORD HARLECHMy Lords, as there is no longer a Colonial Office, could the noble Lord tell us when there will cease to be a Secretary of State for the Colonies?
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, I should not have thought, even with all the expertise of the noble Lord, that he could make that relevant to the Question on the Order Paper.