§ Mr. Foulkesasked the Secretary of State for Defence what aspects of strategic planning apply to the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man; and whether, in the event of war, these territories would be declared to be "demilitarised" as the Channel Islands were in the Second World War.
§ Mr. BlakerThe Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are dependencies of the Crown and accordingly the Crown is responsible for their external defences. Comparisons between the position in 1940 and what might be faced in any future war are misleading.
§ Mr. Foulkesasked the Secretary of State for Defence whether the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are territories that are included in the protection of the nuclear defence of the United Kingdom and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation; and whether the residents of these islands make any financial contribution towards this defence stategy.
§ Mr. BlakerThe Channel Islands and Isle of Man are dependencies of the Crown. The Crown is responsible for their external defence and they benefit from the United Kingdom's membership of NATO. The question of residents' financial contributions to defence is a matter for my right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
§ Mr. Foulkesasked the Secretary of State for Defence whether the Government have any plans to change the terms of the existing financial arrangments with the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man for the provision of fishery protection or other peace-time military services for the islands; and what are the current costs.
§ Mr. BlakerThe offshore protection activities of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force are paid for out of the repayments made by the Fisheries Department and the Department of Energy for offshore protection generally. There is no separate provision within the defence budget for such activities in relation to the Isle of Man and Channel Islands. Other peace-time military services are paid for by the appropriate authority on the usual repayments terms.
§ Mr. Foulkesasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement as to the military role of the lieutenant governors as commanders in chief in the islands of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.
§ Mr. BlakerThe title commander in chief, which applies only to the lieutenant governors of Jersey and Guernsey, is a purely honorary one. The lieutenant governors do not have a military role, although their responsibilities extend to home defence arrangements.