Falklands : General Purposes Committee Report
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 26.11.2007 (Article Archived on 10.12.2007)
Cllrs Summers and Robertson updated the media on what happened at this important monthly meeting.
GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE REPORT
By J. Brock (FINN)
Cllrs. Summers and Robertson briefed the media about what happened during this month’s General Purposes Committee Meeting held on Wednesday, 21 November 2007. Cllr Summers went over a list of the meeting’s contents.
1. Cllr. Richard Cockwell raised an issue about multi-lingual signage which has appeared at Gypsy Cove.
2. There was a discussion about the re-draft of the Department of Agriculture business plan.
3. There were discussions with the Acting Chief Executive, Dr. Michael Blanch about the Islands Plan.
4. We agreed that Gus Meikle should visit at the end of January
5. During the month there were meetings with Sarah Beaver and Alan Nesbitt from PGHQ
6. A visit from the Command Secretary
7. The visit from SAMA.
8. A Meeting with Derek Twigg (Veterans Minister)
MULTI-LINGUAL SINAGE:
The issue with the multi-lingual signage dealt with the fact the signage was only in English and Spanish and should have reflected several other languages. “It also raised the question as to why things are being put up at Gypsy Cove by the Environmental Planning Department without planning permission. That needs to be dealt with. Cllr Richard Stevens will be looking into this.
DOA BUSINESS PLAN:
The DOA Business Plan had been reviewed compared with the budgetary performance by Neil Judd, prior to his departure from the Falklands. He produced something different than what was expected. He suggested a number of amendments to the business plan in terms of how the Department of Agriculture might look forward. It was decided that it should go to the Agricultural Advisory Committee for comment instead of going straight to Councillors. In due course it can be accepted into the Islands’ Plan once it has been accepted as a way forward. Cllr Summers said that the Agriculture Department had responsibility for setting targets for improvements in agriculture - lambing rates, ewe numbers, They don’t actually deliver those things but they are responsible for creating the overall plan for Falklands’ Agriculture and providing support to it through extension advice and breeding programmes. “Performance against it has been as I guess you might expect. Some things have been achieved, certainly over-achieved and some things have been underachieved,” he said.
Another very important issue is that FIMCO was asked some time ago to ensure that its business plan objectives are based on the same group of assumptions that the Agriculture business plan is (based on). “So, the whole issue of dual purpose sheep and farmers getting more money from killing sheep as opposed to keeping them alive is an important issue,” Cllr Summers said. It will become a public document in due course.
DEREK TWIGG:
The Veterans’ Minister was given a presentation about the Falkland Islands Government followed by discussions about Constitutional issues along with some observations about some of the experiences he had during the visit. Largely the discussion was about the Falklands and Falklands’ issues. There were discussions about the air-bridge.
ADDED:
There were discussions within the Chilean Community as to whether it would be appropriate to choose their own representative here to act as Counsel. This was an idea Councillors raised given there have been issues, especially labour issues, that need to be dealt with. Cllr Robertson added that if any Chileans wanted to come to her to discuss being a counsel, she would be happy to hear from them. She also suggested that Chileans could also talk to the FIGEU about labour problems.
ISLAND PLAN:
High-level aspirations were agreed by Councillors. Tangible objectives for the next two years are being worked out. There were discussions with the Chief Executive on Thursday to look at key areas and there will be discussions about other objectives. It is hoped it will be published early in the New Year. “We have nine areas that are very similar to the current plan,” Cllr Summers said. The other issue is that the budget strategy that we are currently working on will come to Executive Council in December or January. There is a medium term financial plan as well as a medium – plan action plan.
“What the new Chief Executive does when he arrives is to cast a new eye on the structure of Government and the way we do our business and see if he thinks there are more efficient and effective ways that we can do it,” said Cllr Summers. He said we could continue as we are or we can adopt a plan to reduce expenditure year on year until we can operate independent of Illex revenue and treat that money as a windfall. Effectively you can only use windfall money for capital projects and not for current expenditure.
ADDED:
Cllr Summers has said that there are some key issues that he will be taking up when he goes to Brussels this week. One will be the long-term relationship between the OCTs and the EU that runs out in 2112/13.
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