§ 2.52 p.m.
§ Lord MolloyMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress has been made on redistributing the ownership of land in the Falkland Islands.
§ Lord SkelmersdaleMy Lords, the Falkland Islands Government have decided to buy a three farm estate on West Falkland owned by Packe Bros. This will be subdivided in due course. They are now considering in detail the requirements of those 59 Falkland Islanders who have expressed an interest in acquiring land.
§ Lord MolloyMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord for this reply. Is he aware that the report of the Select Committee on the Falkland Islands, which has featured in today's Times, says that the fortress Falklands policy is wholly untenable, and that it is now urgent for the Government to proceed with a better land distribution, particularly in view of the fact that many of the people who visited the Falkland Islands recently wished to return there and be at home, so to speak, in the land were their loved ones fell?
§ Lord SkelmersdaleMy Lords, I disagree entirely that there is an urgent need for the Government to consider a leak of a draft report which even the chairman of the committee involved said he has not yet seen.
§ Lord BishopstonMy Lords, is the Minister aware that the Government policy, or perhaps the lack of Government policy, on this vital matter is leading to land speculation, and also to the acquisition of what will become unviable units? I understand that the noble Lord has had correspondence on this matter. If he has read it and studied it, as he might, is he aware that there is a great deal of concern about this matter? It is being claimed that for a sum of about £60,000, either raised by capital, loan or mortgage, it is possible to buy a house, and to have 3,000 sheep running on 10,000 acres of land?
Is he aware that the Shackleton Report commands considerable support not only in this country but in the Falklands? Will he deal with the matter urgently, and not in the terms of his noble friend's definition of a few moments ago? There are a lot of people committed to the Falklands who want to stay there, and many others who would like to come in if they saw progress through the Falklands Development Agency and with the Government initiatives.
§ Lord SkelmersdaleMy Lords, as I said the last time we discussed this matter, the Government believe that it is right to have a gradualist approach to land reformation and redistribution on the Falkland Islands. So far as the non-Falkland Islands Government estates are concerned and the offers of land which have been made by private people and private companies, of course it is for prospective buyers to evaluate the particular scheme and to decide for themselves whether it is economically viable to take up the offers that have been made.
§ The Earl of LauderdaleMy Lords, will my noble friend agree that it is likely to be counter productive to base an argument in this House on a rumour of an incomplete report of a Select Committee of another place?
§ Lord SkelmersdaleYes, my Lords. I am grateful for that support for my supplementary answer.
§ Lord BrockwayMy Lords, relating to the Question on the Order Paper, will the Minister tell us who these absentee landlords are?
§ Lord SkelmersdaleMy Lords, there are various absentee landlords, of which I believe the greatest is the Falkland Islands Company.
§ Lord Hatch of LusbyMy Lords, I wonder whether the noble Lord saw the television programme put out by the BBC on 14th February in "Panorama" on this subject? If he did not, may I suggest to him that he asks for a copy of the script? Is he aware that that programme showed clearly in direct interviews with the islanders that there was a great concern among the islanders that if they were going to remain on the islands, and particularly if there was going to be any chance for their children to remain on the islands, the crucial issue was their ability to get land, and that that ability was at the moment frustrated by absentee landlords?
§ Lord SkelmersdaleMy Lords, no, I did not see the "Panorama" programme, I believe it was, to which the noble Lord, Lord Hatch, referred, which I understand was on 14th February. However, I have had details reported to me. I am endeavouring to get hold of a script of the programme, and of course will study it most closely. Regarding the land issue which was described in that programme, it is my understanding that there are very few islanders—as I said in my original Answer, only 59—who have expressed an interest in buying land. Of course, we now have to find out whether the finance is available, and indeed what particular land each particular person of the 59 wishes to buy. It could be that they are all after three or four particular pieces of land on the Falklands, which of course would not help in the slightest.
§ Lord BishopstonMy Lords, will the Minister recognise from correspondence of which I have received a copy—and I know that he has had a statement from people representing the independent farmers there—that there is a great deal of 402 complacency in the Government's policy? Will the Government get down to the job of restoring and rejuvenating the Falklands with the same sense of urgency as they set about re-acquiring the Falklands when they lost them?
§ Lord SkelmersdaleMy Lords, we are pursuing this with great thoroughness, otherwise there would have been no questionnaire sent out to 300 islanders, of which 59 replied positively. Yes, I most certainly recognise the correspondence to which the noble Lord has just referred. I think now I have had three letters and an annotated copy of an article from the gentlemen concerned, and of course replies have been made to them.
§ Lord AveburyMy Lords, is not the Falklands Islands Company a wholly owned subsidiary of the Coalite Company, which is registered in the United Kingdom? Would it not be a good idea if the Government at least asked the board of Coalite whether it is their long-term intention to retain all the land they own in the islands, or whether they are prepared to sell off part of it, and if so how much, so that at least this information would be available to potential purchasers?
§ Lord SkelmersdaleMy Lords, yes, I had heard that the Falkland Islands Company was now a subsidiary of Coalite. I am grateful to the noble Lord for his suggestion, but as I was at pains to point out both today and the last time we discussed this question, the Falkland Islands Company is currently offering plots of land situated along the Stanley to Darwin road.
§ Lord MolloyMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that the British Farmers Weekly of the 15th of this month included a report from specialist correspondents who have spent a number of weeks in the Falkland Islands? They wholly support the Falkland Islands Legislative Council in believing that they, the Legislative Council Members, should have powers of compulsory purchase over some of what are termed as the "farm companies", so that there would be a fair distribution among the general people of the Falkland Islands.
§ Lord SkelmersdaleMy Lords, the Falkland Islands Land Ordnance gives the Civil Commissioner power to acquire compulsorily any land for a public purpose, which includes any purpose—and I quote:
connected with or ancillary to the public interest and includes any other purpose which the Governor in Council may resolve to be in the public interest".So the power is already there in the hands of the Falkland Islands Government.