Falklands : Executive Council Report for August 2006
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 29.08.2006 (Article Archived on 12.09.2006)
Find out what happened during this vital Committee Meeting.
Executive Council: 24 August 2006
There were a lot of weighty matters on the agenda for Executive Council this week. Many of them will be of special interest to listeners and readers in Camp.
The Chief Executive and Deputy Financial Secretary gave Members an update on Island Shipping. They confirmed that the arrangements were in place to provide a continued service and advised that although Island Shipping was now in liquidation any outstanding invoices from the company should be paid. This money will be received by the liquidator and put towards payment of the company’s debts.
Councillors also discussed the tender exercise for the new coastal shipping service. They were very aware of the fact that this is a vital part of the Islands’ transport infrastructure and that it is important to make the best decision possible for the Islands. They very much appreciated the work the tender board had done to evaluate the tenders. However, given the high importance of this contract, they wanted a chance to meet the tenderers and discuss aspects of their proposals face to face. They thought that this would give both companies a good opportunity of clarifying any points to FIG and also make sure that FIG’s concerns and requirements were fully understood. In view of the potential for military use of the new shipping contract they asked whether a member of CBF’s staff could be present at the interviews – in an advisory capacity only – in order to clarify to Councillors any relevant points. They also considered it would be useful to have an adviser to hand who had experience of working with boats in Falklands waters and a number of people were identified who may be approached on this. Given the urgency of this matter they requested that the Chief Executive set up these meetings without delay and I agreed to recommend to the new Governor that he hold a special ExCo to take a decision on the next steps so that the matter need not wait for another month.
Another issue of interest to campers was a discussion on the Wool Review. Councillors have deliberately refrained from comment on this so far because they did not wish to influence discussion. However in view of some of the comments which have been made recently they wanted to show support for the work which is being done. They agreed that it was important for David Lambert to visit the Islands again in September to discuss further details of the scheme in more depth with those interested. In particular they thought that more work was needed on the specifics of the business case. In the light of those further discussions they would consider again the request from FIDB to provide £120k of funding for the coming year.
Turning from wool to meat, Councillors took the view that the continued running of the abattoir was for the overall good of the Islands. They therefore approved further funding for FIMCO, but did so subject to a number of conditions. They recognised that government support for FIMCO was likely to be needed for the foreseeable future and wanted FIG to agree definite targets with FIMCO to enable monitoring and review of its operations. To help FIG monitor the finances of FIMCO they would like the chair of Standing Finance Committee to be invited to FIMCO Board Meetings in future. They also stressed that FIMCO should continue its close work with the Department of Agriculture and Landholdings to maintain strategic linkage between all interested parties.
Of more general interest Councillors took a number of papers which showed work was in progress on several issues. One was on a review of the Dental Department and another included some ideas to be presented to the October meeting about support for Camp. They are still very much work in progress, so I won’t comment any further at this stage.
They took note of papers on the development of the Dockyard as a tourist attraction and will be inviting public comments on this. There will be information in Penguin News, on FIRS and a presentation and exhibition coming up in the near future.
On fisheries issues Councillors decided to waive fees charged for licences to tranship onto FIPASS. Licences will still be issued because these provide a way of regulating operations, but there will be no charge in future. They also agreed the licence fees for many of the licence types for the next season. Most of these remain unchanged, although finfish and restricted finfish will increase by 10% and toothfish will increase by 30%. They asked for more work to be done on the ‘S’ licence for surimi.
The next regular meeting of Executive Council is scheduled for 28 September, when the new Governor will be in the Chair.
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