Falklands : Standing Finance Committee Report for March
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 02.04.2006 (Article Archived on 16.04.2006)
Find out what happened during this vital committee meeting.
STANDING FINANCE COMMITTEE REPORT FOR MARCH
By J. Brock (FINN)
A meeting of the Standing finance Committee took place at 0800 on Thursday, 30 March 2006 in the Liberation Room of the Secretariat. Present were Cllrs Summers (Chair) Cockwell, Davies, Rendell, Hansen, Robertson, Stevens and Clausen. Also present was the chief Executive, Mr. Chris Simpkins, the Financial Secretary Mr. Derek Howatt, the Deputy Financial Secretary, Mr. Keith Padgett and Mrs. Hulga Burroughs, who took the minutes.
After confirmation of the minutes of the meeting held on Friday, 24 February 2006 was signed, matters arising from those minutes were discussed.
The Virement Report 2005/2006 was discussed followed by the Financial Management Report. Keith Padgett mentioned that the abridged report this month was different because there was more investment income and corporation tax. Cllr. Summers asked if MPA were going to pay corporation taxes and Derek Howatt said they would be due in September 2006. Fishing licence revenue is up from £13.7 Million to £14.1 Million. The committee will keep an eye on the trend for the next month or two and no more. Cllr. Summers felt that it was highly unlikely that revenue from Illex could reach £16 Million. The report was agreed.
Applications to incur supplementary expenditure were discussed. The expenditure was requested for FIGAS for items such as aircraft spares, fuel and lubricants. Prices for fuel had risen from 69p to 91p per litre and the cost of parts had risen as well. The expenditure was approved.
It was agreed that repair costs for the Tamar would be paid. Some of the costs were due to the exchange rate at Punta Arenas as the Chileans require payment in US Dollars.
The final item before press and public were excluded was the release to the public domain of EXCO papers. The paper on the replacement of culverts revealed that the project would cost £650,000.00 all together. A paper on improving camp economy showed that an overall budget of £77,430.00. The new apprenticeship grant scheme and a report on the Stanley Dairy were also released. Exco had recommended that Loligo licences reflect a return of 10% revenue return. The committee didn’t want it to be increased in one go so they left the increase at 7.5%. It was also agreed that the paper about civil aviation regulation fees be released as well as a paper about staffing issues in the Environmental Planning Department.
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