Falklands : Executive Council Report for November 2004
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 02.12.2004 (Article Archived on 16.12.2004)

There were two special sessions of Exco held last month in addition to the normal meeting. Governor Howard Pearce (HP) explains.

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 2004

Compiled by J. Brock (FINN) from a 2-Part Report on FIBS 01/12/04 and 02/12/04 by Corina Goss (CG)

There were two special sessions of Exco held last month in addition to the normal meeting.  Governor Howard Pearce (HP) explains.

HP:  First of all, let me just explain why we had these two special sessions.  They were held in order to address two specific issues.  The first was the state of the negotiations on the re-structuring of Stanley Services Ltd.  These have been going on for quite a long time.  It appears now that the outstanding issues have, in fact, been resolved.  There is, however, some further work, which needs to be completed.  We hope that that’s not going to take very long and a public announcement will be made in due course.

The second issue we discussed was the Gordon Forbes arbitration.  Exco considered some written advice from Counsel in relation to the recent decisions by the Court of Appeal.  Since some aspects of the case remain before the Court, unfortunately, I can’t really say any more at this stage about the details.

CG:  The normal monthly session was held on Thursday.  The Governor talks about some of the issues they dealt with.

HP:  Looking forward to the bicentenary of Trafalgar and the death of Admiral Nelson, which takes place in October next year, Exco agreed a recommendation from the Financial Secretary that a special 1 Crown denomination coin should be minted to commemorate the event.  Members of Exco agreed that this was especially appropriate because of the link between events in the Falkland Islands in 1770 and Horatio Nelson’s decision to join the Royal Navy in the Following year.  The minting of the coin will be carried out by the Pubjoy Mint.   As many people, I think, will already know, such commemorative coins bring useful income to the Falkland Islands Government.  And, we obviously hope that this one will be a great success. 

Discussions on the development of port and infrastructure in the Falkland Islands have been underway for some time.  Executive Council considered a paper reviewing the current situation and making a number of recommendations on the way forward.  It was agreed that FIPASS and the adjacent Falkland Islands Government land should be the long-term focus of Port development and port operations.  We also agreed that a director of port operations should be recruited by the middle of next year.  His job will be to manage and develop the port on a commercial basis.  We envisage that a port authority or similar body should be established in due course to represent the interests of both the Falkland Islands Government and port users.  Meanwhile, we need to find funding for essential maintenance and repairs to FIPASS and also to begin on plans for FIPASS’s phased replacement in the longer term.  We also decided that tenders should be invited for the management of FIPASS with effect from the 1^st of September 2005.  The discussion paper, which we had before us, goes into all of these issues in a great deal more detail.  And, it is being published, so those that are interested in this will have the opportunity to read it.

Executive Council considered a proposal from the Director of Public works, which addressed a project to recover waste heat from Stanley Power Station.  This waste heat would be supplied to the Falkland Islands Community School and the King Edward Memorial Hospital.  An assessment had been made of the proposal and this indicated that the cost, which would be just under £200,000.00, would bring significant savings in running costs.  And, indeed, the project would pay for itself in less than two years.  Executive Council therefore gave the project its enthusiastic approval.

Executive Council approved a new schedule of fees for veterinary and agricultural services.  This covers everything from domestic pets to farm animals.  And, these new fees will take effect from the 1^st of January 2005.  We also approved new fees for services to the fishing industry.  These will take effect from the 1^st of July next year.  The purpose of the new fee structure is to help the Veterinary Department to manage the growing demand for its services – a demand, which has to be met from finite resources.  There is no increases in Veterinary Department resources anticipated.  In particular, the Veterinary Department hopes to discourage out of hours call-outs, except when these are absolutely necessary and also to recover a greater proportion of the Department’s costs.

The public will be aware of the new building development of what is known as the old BFFI site to the rear of Racecourse Road.  Many people will have seen the two houses currently being erected on that site.  These are for Diplomatic service staff, who work at Government House.  But there are also two other plots on that site and Executive Council decided that they should be offered for purchase by the public.  In setting the price for these new plots, the Falkland Islands Government will be looking for a purchase price which reflects the costs to Government providing services to these plots.

With New Year celebrations in mind, and no doubt looking forward to the 5^th on November next year, Executive Council considered codes covering the use and sale of fireworks.  These two codes have been drawn up in consultation with the Chief Police Officer and the Chief Fire Officer.  Members of Executive Council agreed that the codes would provide useful guidance to members of the public and approved both codes for issue and immediate use.  They will be given wide publicity.  And, they should help to ensure that the public can enjoy fireworks displays without the threat of injury.

Next, EXCO considered two papers from the Director of Education about access to training.  Both papers were approved.  The first one recommended the relaxation of the criteria for eligibility for training in order to make training available to non Falkland Islands Status holders working in the private sector in certain limited circumstances.  The second paper recommended the creation of special, customised traineeships, the purpose of this being to help young people with special educational needs to secure access to employment.

Finally, Executive Council received a denoted Director of Education’s Annual Report covering the Academic Year 2003/2004.  EXCO approved the report with certain minor modifications.  The report will be published in due course so everybody will have the opportunity to read it.

(100X Transcription Service)

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