TNAG-1851-FCO40-2626-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-enquiry-1989 — Page 4

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4.

But the Clerk to the Committee has made it clear to us that a response by the end of August is not expected in this case, for the

following reasons:

(a) When the expiry of the two month deadline falls in the middle of the summer recess, it is not unusual in such circumstances for the Government's reply to be held over until Parliament

reconvenes.

(b) The Committee understand that following the Cabinet

reshuffle it would be unreasonable and unrealistic for a response to be produced when new Ministers have been in their jobs for such a

short period.

(c) The Chairman of the Committee has let it be known through the Clerks that the Committee would prefer the Government to reply "when we have something to say". In advance of any decisions on nationality or representative government, we are clearly not in that

position yet.

5.

The Clerk has told us that all that is required at this stage would be a letter to him from the Head of Parliamentary Relations Unit explaining that following the Ministerial changes in the FCO, and given that we are now in the midst of the holiday period, we do not propose the publish our reply to the Report until the autumn. There is no need to be more precise than that.

6.

There remains the question of what precise publication date we should aim for. I had originally envisaged producing a reply by mid September, on the assumption that we would be ready to announce the nationality package by then. But although officials are still aiming to finalise their proposals for Ministers to consider by that date, there is some doubt about when we shall be ready to make an

For the reason given in paragraph 4 (c) above, I do not think we could publish our response without making a clear statement of our intentions on the nationality front.

announcement.

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