§ Mr. Gouldasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is yet able to announce the result of his consideration of the recommendations made by the Royal Commission on the Constitution in respect of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsThe Royal Commission commended the proposals put forward by the Home Office and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for earlier consultation with the Island Governments about proposed international treaties by which they may be affected. It also recommended that a Standing Committee similar to that with the Isle of Man should be established for any other island that wished to have one; that, preferably, there should be a single Committee for all the Islands; and that such an all-Islands Committee should be expanded to form an all-Islands Council, with an independent element and the rôles both of consultation and of reporting to the Privy Council on any petitions from the Governments of the Islands or from individuals there that the Privy Council might choose to refer to it.
Following consultation with representatives of the Island Governments, arrangements are being made to implement, as soon as practicable, the proposals concerning international treaties. The recommendation that further consultative bodies should be established did not, however, find general favour and will not, therefore, be generally implemented. I have agreed, however, that a Standing Committee should be established on those common interests of the United Kingdom and Alderney that do not impinge on the 273W functions exercised in Alderney by the States of Guernsey.