Falklands : Public Meeting Tuesday, 16 December 2008
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 20.12.2008 (Article Archived on 03.01.2009)
A public meeting was held in the Court and Council Chamber of the Town Hall at 1700hrs on Tuesday, 15 December 2008. Present were Councillors Summers (Chair) Birmingham, Cockwell, Robertson Hansen, Stevens and Rendell.
PUBLIC MEETING TUESDAY, 16 DECEMBER 2008
By J. Brock (FINN)
A public meeting was held in the Court and Council Chamber of the Town Hall at 1700hrs on Tuesday, 15 December 2008. Present were Councillors Summers (Chair) Birmingham, Cockwell, Robertson Hansen, Stevens and Rendell.
Cllr Summers said that there would be 15 minutes of questions after the first presentation on means testing. However, he said that after the first presentation there would be 15 minutes to discuss items relating to it and another period to discuss items after the Education presentation by Director of Education, Mrs Barbara Booth. Cllr Summers also asked for other topics and Mike Forrest brought up the subject of the public accounts committee.
First on the agenda was a power-point presentation on means testing presented by the Chief Executive, Mr Tim Thorogood and Financial Services Manager, Mr Simon Wilkie. The presentation dealt with means testing for Health and Medical Services and Education. There were some services that would require means testing and others that would not. This depended on family income. The alternative would be taxation. Charts showed that there was income distribution of 0 to £12,000.00, £12,000.00 to £42,000.00 and above £42,000.00.
Former Councillor Richard Davies did not want means testing applied to education because some parents may not wish to contribute to their child’s education. But we don’t want to discourage children from higher education. Roger Spink, however, said that means testing – not needing means testing - could target the wrong people and that the system in place is not working. Phil Middleton asked about how we determine what the poverty line is? But Mr Spink also said that as there were people who made a lot of money child allowance should be directed at more needy families. The money is put straight into bank accounts where anyone can use them for other than the intention of child allowance.
In her brief presentation about further and higher education Mrs Barbara Booth, Director of Education, said that students at Chichester College and Peter Symonds received pocket money of £50.00 per week as well as the other payments for their education placed into their accounts. It seemed to her that Falklands’ students had more disposable income than those from the UK. There were alternatives to government funding and students could get loans for their education but this was not ideal as people had to be chased up for payments.
Paul Robertson said that parents and students had a casual attitude to further education and people would focus if maintenance grants were withdrawn. Phil Middleton wanted to know about mature students and Cllr Robertson said that this was discussed at an Education Board meeting.
Last on the agenda was the creation of a public accounts committee. Cllr Summers said that this week the Attorney General had been questioned about why the policy paper hadn’t appeared. The Chief Executive said that the paper has been produced and will be presented to Executive Council next week. The paper should be out for public consultation in the New Year.
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