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Guernsey’s President of the Policy & Resources Committee, Deputy Gavin St Pier, accompanied by fellow member of the Policy and Resources Committee, Deputy Jane Stephens, met with political leaders from Ireland, the UK, the devolved administrations and the Crown Dependencies today at the 26th British-Irish Council (BIC) Summit, hosted by the Scottish Government in Glasgow.
Scotland’s First Minister, the First Minister and deputy First Minister of the Northern Ireland Executive and the First Minister of Wales were in attendance, along with the UK Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and An Taoiseach from the Irish Government.
The Summit meeting took place today, chaired by the First Minister of Scotland, the Rt. Hon. Nicola Sturgeon MSP. The Council reflected on the recent elections held across Member Administrations and discussed the government priorities for each jurisdiction. They also noted the forthcoming UK referendum on membership of the European Union and the positions of Member Administrations.
Government representatives from across Member Administrations with particular responsibility for social inclusion, met prior to the Summit and discussed the integral role that carers, who care for family and friends, play in our communities, and how the Council could build a better shared understanding of how to promote and support this role.
The Council also observed a minute silence following the tragic events in Birstall, West Yorkshire, resulting in the death of Labour MP Jo Cox.
President of the Policy & Resources Committee, Deputy St Pier said:
“It was the first opportunity for me to meet with fellow heads of government across the BIC Member Administrations following my election as President of the Policy & Resources Committee. BIC is important for sharing information, but it also provides us with an opportunity to demonstrate our strengths. We have been a world leader in regulatory standards and have much experience to bring to the BIC forum, and wider global community. For example, in relation to how our establishment of a beneficial ownership register will be building upon the system we already have in place which includes a legal obligation for corporate service providers to know beneficial ownership information. We can already provide accurate verifiable data. It was also a very important time to engage with members of the BIC family given the proximity of the UK’s EU Referendum.”
Deputy Jane Stephens commented:
“I was delighted to represent Guernsey at the British-Irish Council Summit in Glasgow today. We can learn a lot from fellow Member Administrations and today was a further demonstration of that. We are all facing similar challenges in relation to the changing demographics and resultant changing needs of our societies. The role of people who care for family and friends is the ongoing focus of the British Irish Council Social Inclusion work stream and is integral to Guernsey’s community. We must do all that we can, including working with the Third Sector, to ensure that carers’ role is encouraged, but also appropriately supported and protected.”
