§ Mr. MackinlayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what contribution was received in the latest available year from the Governments of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man towards the cost of his Department, and British embassies and consular services.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are not part of the United Kingdom but are internally self-governing dependencies of the Crown. The United Kingdom Government are responsible for the islands' defence and their international relations, and the Crown is ultimately responsible for the islands' good government. These responsibilities are constitutional, not a matter of financial contract. None the less, in recognition of the fact that expenditure on defence and international representation is incurred by the United Kingdom, Jersey maintains a local Territorial Army unit, at a cost in 1992 of £1.7 million, and Guernsey makes payments to, or in lieu of, the United Kingdom Exchequer, which in 1992 totalled £541,000. And, as a contribution to defence and other common services, the Isle of Man annually forgoes a proportion of the revenue due to it under Customs and Excise agreement; the value of this contribution to the United Kingdom in 1991–92 was £1.9 million.