§ Mr. Stanbrookasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the 409W dependent territories of the United Kingdom which (a) enjoy an elected legislature, (b) include an elected element elsewhere in government, (c) include a nominated element to represent unofficial interests on an executive or legislative council and (d) whose executive council consists solely of officials, respectively, indicating in each case what changes have been made within the past five years with a view to providing more representative organs of government in the territories concerned.
§ Mr. Whitney:(a) Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, St. Helena and Turks and Caicos Islands.
(b) As in (a) above plus Hong Kong, Pitcairn and Tristan da Cunha.
(c) Aguilla, Bermuda, Falkland Islands, Hong Kong, Montserrat and Turks and Caicos Islands. All include a nominated element but not necessarily representing particular unofficial interests.
(d) Nil.
Changes affecting the organs of Government in the above mentioned territories during the past five years have been as follows:
Anguilla: since April 1982 the number of other Ministers included with the Chief Minister on the Executive Council has been increased from two to three;
Cayman Islands: in 1984 changes were made in the nationality provision regarding the right to vote, extending this from British subjects to Commonwealth citizens;
Hong Kong: District boards were introduced in 1982 with a partially elected element. All adults over 21 with seven years residence in Hong Kong are eligible to vote. This extended franchise was applied in 1983 to elections to the urban council. New appointments to the Executive Council and Legislative Council have included elected urban councillors and district board members. The Government announced in May that in 1985 they would increase the proportion of elected members in district boards and establish a new regional council, half of whose members would be elected, to cover areas not under the aegis of the urban council.
A Green Paper containing proposals to extend the representative system in the Executive and Legislative Councils will be published this month.
Montserrat: In 1980 the age of francise was lowered from 21 years to 18 years and in 1982 changes were made in the nationality provision to qualify for election to the Legislative Council and to vote extending this from British subjects to Commonwealth citizens;
Turks and Caicos Islands: In 1979 provision was made for the Governor acting in accordance with the advice of the Chief Minister, to appoint not more than two parliamentary secretaries from among the elected members of the Legislative Council. This number was increased to three in 1982.