Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of implementation of the recommendations made in the Commission of Inquiry report for governance reform in the British Virgin Islands.

Progress on implementing the British Virgin Islands (BVI) Commission of Inquiry recommendations has been too slow. I (Minister Rutley) was in the BVI from 4-6 February to discuss how to speed up delivery with the elected BVI Government and others working directly on governance reforms. The Premier gave a firm commitment to accelerating matters with a target of the end of May for completion of the reforms. Over the coming weeks, I will continue to engage closely on implementation in order that the people of BVI get the good governance they deserve.