The findings of a parliamentary committee looking into the relationship between Britain and its Overseas Territories are likely to be released within weeks.

Lord Strathclyde, the chairman of the Constitution Committee of the House of Lords, told a final evidence session at Westminster yesterday: “We expect that we will publish the findings of our inquiry by around Easter; in other words, in a few weeks' time.”

He said evidence from the territories, which included contributions from Kim Wilkerson, the Attorney-General, had been “extremely helpful and useful to us in our deliberations”.

A key theme to emerge during the public hearings, which have been held since November, was whether there was a need to “redo” the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s 2012 White Paper on the OTs.

The consensus was “yes” from the territories, with Chris Carnegy, a British representative for Tristan da Cunha, in the South Atlantic, yesterday calling the existing policy paper “essentially not fit for purpose” in the wake of Brexit.

The committee is reviewing a joint 2023 declaration between Whitehall and the 14 OTs.

Committee member Baroness Hamwee told the hearing that the Foreign Office recently confirmed that the 2012 White Paper took precedence over the declaration and any other document.

She asked: “Is another new White Paper needed and, if so, what would be the primary issue or issues that it should address?”

Fabian Picardo, the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, giving evidence by video link, said that during the last Joint Ministerial Council in London in December, there was discussion on whether to have White Papers or continue with the formal written agreements, known as compacts, envisioned in the 2023 declaration.

He said the individual country compacts had yet to be developed but there was a more important question: “Where is this all going anyway? It's all very well to talk about a White Paper or compacts, but what is the future?”

Mr Picardo added: “The question has to be asked, whether it's a White Paper or whether it’s compacts, where is the future of the Overseas Territories in the constitutional architecture of the United Kingdom, because, in my submission, where we sit now does not sit comfortably with the United Kingdom's obligations under the European Convention or, indeed, human rights conventions internationally, or even the Human Rights Act.

“And those are issues that I think would not likely be solved by a compact and would likely require more of the sort of long-term thinking a White Paper requires, although you might nonetheless have compacts alongside that, which are territory-specific.”

David Burt, the Premier, told the House of Assembly in December that Britain had expressed “challenges with producing a renewed White Paper and, as such, specific compacts per territory will be devised to fit the specific needs and circumstances dedicated to each territory”.

The last review of the OTs was conducted by the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee of the House of Commons but did not result in a report.

A House of Commons spokesman told The Royal Gazette: “When the British Parliament was dissolved for the 2024 General Election, both that committee and its inquiries, including the Status of the UK’s Overseas Territories in the 21st Century, came to an end.

“Unfortunately, due to the timing of the election, the committee was unable to produce a report before Parliament was dissolved.”