S.Atlantic : Executive Council Report for May 2006
Submitted by SARTMA.com (Juanita Brock) 30.05.2006 (Article Archived on 13.06.2006)

H. E. the Governor Mr. Howard Pearce updates us on the latest Executive Council meeting.

GOVERNOR'S REPORT ON THE MEETING OF EXECUTIVE COUNCIL ON TUESDAY 23 MAY 2006

I chaired the monthly meeting of Executive Council on Tuesday 23 May.  The May meeting each year is a little different from the normal monthly cycle, since its principal focus is on the annual budget and the other issues to be addressed by the budget session of Legislative Council later in the week.  We therefore only consider non-budget and other non-LegCo issues which are urgent or which for some other reason cannot wait until June.

I need say little more about our budget discussions, since the outcome has either already been or will be covered fully in the media reports of  the subsequent debate and decisions in Legislative Council.  The same applies to the draft legislation remitted by Executive Council to Legislative Council.  It is nevertheless worth mentioning a couple of issues addressed by Executive Council which were subsequently reflected in the final version of the 2006/07 budget:

-       Executive Council discussed at its April meeting the need for work to be carried out on FIPASS in order to extend its useful life.  We had a further discussion of this important subject last week, and decided to recommend that a sum of some £327,000 should be included in the capital programme for 2006/07 to carry out essential immediate work.  Discussion of expenditure in future years has been deferred until Executive Council receives and considers a Port Development Strategy.

-       Executive Council also considered the next steps in connection with the proposals for construction of administrative offices for government and for the refurbishment of the police station and prison.  Executive Council agreed to recommend the inclusion of design costs for both these projects in the capital programme, and to instruct that a further report on site selection for new administrative offices, including single and twin site solutions, should be submitted to the September meeting of Executive Council.  Public consultation will of course be an important part of the process of identifying an appropriate site or sites.

From time to time Executive Council has to consider recommendations from the Financial Secretary to write off (ie effectively to cancel) debts owed to government which he judges will never be recovered.  On this occasion the Financial Secretary recommended that Executive Council should approve the write-off of debts totalling just over £9,600.  Executive Council agreed the majority (but not all) of these recommendations, and also noted a paper describing recent changes in the Treasury's credit control procedures which are intended to reduce the risk of incurring unrecoverable debt.  This paper is being published.

A small number of employees or former employees of Falklands Landholdings and of the Falkland Islands Government have pension arrangements which fall significantly short of reasonable modern expectations, particularly in respect of widows' and widowers' pensions.  Executive Council agreed that financial provision should be made in order to address these shortcomings, but noted that the costs could be met without any additional expense to the exchequer because of a surplus of assets over liabilities in the Pensions (Old) Scheme Fund. Executive Council also noted that the UK Government Actuary's Department continues to provide advice to FIG about a number of other inadequacies in pension arrangements, and that a further report is likely to be submitted to the July meeting of Executive Council.

Executive Council agreed a recommendation by the Chief Executive that Mrs Melanie Chilton should be appointed ex officio as Law Revision Commissioner with effect from 1 November 2006, the date on which she succeeds David Lang as Attorney General.  The Law Revision Commissioner's responsibilities include the important duty of ensuring that Falkland Islands legislation is kept up to date and is available for consultation by the public in easily accessible form.

The Chief Executive submitted a paper about the employment of overseas contract officers. Executive Council agreed to extend the maximum period for which overseas contract officers may be employed on full overseas terms to 7 years.  However, such an extension would have to be approved by Executive Council in each case, and it would be a condition that the post had been advertised locally in the 6 months preceding the completion of the contract officer's fifth year in post and that there was no suitably qualified and experienced local applicant. Executive Council decided not to accept the recommendation that FIG should meet the costs of higher education for contract officers' dependent children where such funding was not available from their 'home' government.

Executive Council considered the membership of three committees/working groups:

-       it was agreed that the membership of the Working Group on Children and Young People established at the April meeting of Executive Council with the task of prioritising action in this area should be as follows:

Councillor Richard Cockwell

Councillor Janet Robertson

Nikki Osborne (Director of Health Services)

Vicki Butler (Team Leader, Social Services)

Barbara Booth (Director of Education)

Melanie Chilton (Principal Crown Council) or Ros Cheek (Crown Counsel (B))

-       The Stamp Advisory Committee: Executive Council agreed that Mr Rex Browning should be reappointed for a term of 3 years from 1 May 2006 and that the post of Administrative Officer should be formally included in the membership with immediate effect, in the latter case because of the involvement of the incumbent in philatelic sales and local marketing.

-       Executive Council agreed the arrangements for industry representation on the Fisheries Committee for the period 1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007, based on an electoral process proposed by the fishing industry.  Arrangements for alternate or substitute industry representatives in the event that one or more of the principal representatives were unable to be present were also agreed.

Finally, Executive Council had a brief discussion of the proposed policy on firearms.  In the light of the large number of critical comments by members of the public on the draft policy, it was decided that the issue should be returned for further consideration to the Police Committee.  Meanwhile no further steps would be taken to implement the current proposals as they presently stood.  Arrangements would be made to ensure that the Camp community were properly represented on the working group which would take forward consideration of this issue.  It was noted that Farmers' Week in July would also provide an excellent opportunity to carry the discussion forward, and arrangements would be made with the Rural Business Association for the subject to be included on the agenda for Farmers' Week.