Falklands : Standing Finance Committee Report
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 18.12.2005 (Article Archived on 01.01.2006)
Find out what FIG are doing with their finances.
STANDING FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING FRIDAY, 16 DECEMBER 2005
By J. Brock (FINN)
A meeting of the Standing Finance Committee took place in the Liberation Room of the Secretariat at 0800hrs on Friday, 16 December 2005. Present were Cllrs Robertson (Chair, Clausen, Hansen, Stevens, Rendell and Davies as well as Keith Padgett, Derek Howatt and Chris Simpkins. Hulga Burroughs took the minutes.
Firstly there were certain comments about principle and it was decided to submit the comments at the appropriate time when the items came up in the agenda. This was followed by the confirmation of the minutes of the meeting held on Friday, 25 November 2005. Matters arising from those minutes were also discussed.
The eligibility for rent rebates and the mechanism for offsetting those in the budget received little comment and the purpose of providing relief for people who could not otherwise pay their rent was upheld.
The Virement Report, however, did provoke discussion on several of its general areas. There was a discussion relating to a consultancy that was not allowed but provided for in respect of Education in that additional funds would be needed for the Director of Education’s contract. Additional costs were incurred for the Educational Psychologist that was not allotted for in the 2005/06 Budget.
Cllr Rendell noticed that the fat in the Students’ Higher Education budget was not being used up. Keith Padgett mentioned that it was because one or two students could put a strain on the resources. Derek Howatt mentioned that an excess had always been budgeted. Keith Padgett said that thus far the Education budget had been spared budget cuts though it could be embarrassing if they could not fund an overseas student. Chris Simpkins he thought the Education Department would be able to come up with the money. The Re-advertisement of the Special Education Co-ordinator was not provided for in the budget as re-advertisement was not expected.
Additional funding was required for settling invoices for forensic work for the Police Department additional funding was found for the DNA tests. £2,000.00 can now be paid as money has been found.
A question was asked whether we were still saving money for a new deep water jetty. The money allocated was for New Haven for the ferry port. It was not related to FIPASS and that will be maintained for the time being. Andrea Clausen asked about fire protection and Keith Padgett said funding had been allowed for it and said it would be practical for a protection programme to be initiated in phases
There also had been insufficient funding to cover the 1100 litre bins located at Stanley Growers that needed to be addressed, however it was deferred.
Funding for FIRS brought much discussion as the money had to be transferred into the Media Trust’s area. There were some loose ends because the transfer took place on 15 August and not at the beginning of the financial year on July 01.
Items relating to the Falkland Islands Education and Training Council were discussed. Some who were on the programme were very low skilled and have a difficult time finding work. Immigration policy had to be looked at in respect of people coming to the Falklands purely to find work that a local person could do. There was a suggestion that another method be used to accommodate people who never seemed to be able to get a job but it was decided that the Unemployment Programme was the best option. Richard Stevens mentioned that some on the programme had problems with alcohol abuse. Chris Simpkins said he was not qualified to comment on that but did feel the majority of people on the programme had problems finding permanent, gainful employment. Derek Howatt said that wherever possible the goal of the Unemployment programme was to get people back to work.
Extra funding was needed to cover Honorarium costs for two Acting judges and the Supreme Court Judge. All items relating to the Falkland Islands Development Board were deferred until after their meeting on Tuesday.
Exco Papers to be put in the Public domain include ones on the Budget Framework Strategy, Electricity Tariff, Taxation of Defence Contractors’ Employees, Establishment of the new post of Theatre Nurse and Regulation of Civil Aviation.
Raising the Electricity Tariff to .17p provoked discussion but it was felt unavoidable due to the high costs of hydrocarbons products. There was disappointment in that people who bought cards got a good deal in that each time the rate went up all of the card metres had to be re-calibrated whereas those who had their metres read paid the increase from the beginning. Andrea Clausen asked for a report to see if the problem could be rectified.
The Theatre Nurse had to be multi-skilled in that the Surgeon and the Anaesthetist had Theatre Nurses and there was a difficulty covering if one should be off sick or on holiday. A multi skilled Theatre Nurse would help solve the problem.
Finally, the Civil Aviation Department Audit brought some discussion about self regulation. This is preferred but auditing and inspecting the airframes would be done by the same Canadian Company that does the BAS Aircraft. Privately owned aircraft would also be maintained by the company but at a lower price because the aircraft are smaller.
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