By J. Brock (FINN)

A meeting of the General Purposes Committee took place at Gilbert House on Wednesday, 21 February 2007. Cllr Mike Summers summarised the meeting for the meeting on Monday.

Firstly the GPC discussed the possible translating of the brochure entitled "Securing the Future," into Spanish so that it could be widely distributed in Latin America. It is thought it would help explain the Falklands case and inform Latin Americans about the economic progress present in the Falklands.

Next there was a wide discussion about what should go into the Governor’s "State of the Nation" address given at the budget session of Legislative Council. It was suggested that just to give a run-down of Government Departments was rather boring but the private sector developments should be included in the speech. The Islands plan would also be focused on during the speech.

There was a debate about a suggestion by a member of the public about giving Government Employees time off to help out with youth organisations. This was thought to be impractical because Councillors felt that time off can be used for voluntary work. It could be done if flex time could be looked at again.

It is thought that Argentine journalists coming to the Falklands might benefit by using FIG’s accreditation process. Various programmes could be organised for visiting journalists. FIG will not recommend invitations for Argentine Journalists due to the possibility of having to put money towards expenses.

Cllr Summers commented about the Mental Health Strategy group presentation he attended at the Chamber of Commerce on Monday, 19 February. He was impressed with the fact that 20% of the population suffers from mental health problems - mainly stress related. The incidence of stress related mental incidents are more prevalent in Camp. He also said that Councillors were unaware of many mental health problems because it was a taboo subject and people rarely talked about their problems. An additional CPN post has been earmarked for the Health and Medical Services Department.

Finally, Cllr Summers said he felt there would be no ill will from his speech about the Criminal Justice system at Legco on Friday. He is keen to ensure there is proper separation between legislative, executive and judicial parts of the Falkland Islands Government. He feels that the Royal Falkland Islands Police needs to be answerable to another entity and not the Governor.