OT 352: Letter from Gillian Merron MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

 

I promised to come back to you about the process for passing draft Overseas Territories Constitutional Orders in Council to the Committee. As you know, in an exchange of letters between the Foreign Secretary and the Chair of the FAC in 2002, we undertook to make arrangements for the Committee to be shown, where appropriate, draft Orders on Overseas Territories constitutions for information before they are made. The Foreign Secretary, in his letter of 14 November 2002, said that we would try to send Orders to the Committee at least 28 sitting days before they are made, where possible.

 

As the Committee noted during its meeting on 6 May, the final draft of the Constitution was published in the Cayman Islands on 11 February. In this case, therefore, we could have passed it to the Committee well before 21 April, and should have done so. I am sorry that this did not happen on this occasion. I have asked my officials to ensure that in future, where possible, we make Constitutional Orders available for the Committee's scrutiny at the earliest opportunity.

 

The Cayman Islands Constitution Order [2009] was passed to the Committee on 21 April. We do not know when this Order will be made. But if it is accepted at the forthcoming Cayman referendum on 20 May,

 

The Cayman Government may request that it be submitted to the 10 June meeting of the Privy Council. If so, I am sorry that this would allow 27 sitting days' instead of the full 28 days' consideration by the FAC. This was due to a miscalculation on the FCO's part, for which I apologise.

 

I am grateful to the FAC for its continued, constructive role in our work on the Overseas Territories.

 

 

 

12 May 2009