Falklands : Executive Council Meeting Report (22/02/07)
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 28.02.2007 (Article Archived on 14.03.2007)
Find out what happened during this very important meeting.
PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Executive Council
Gilbert House
Stanley
Falkland Islands
Tel: 27454
Email: aclausen@sec.gov.fk; msummers@sec.gov.fk; mrendell@sec.gov.fk
Summary of Executive Council Meeting 22nd February 2007
About half of the papers discussed this month at Executive Council were either of a personal or commercially confidential nature or were referred to the Budget Select Committee for further consideration. Papers in the latter category included budget proposals for the Falkland Islands Museum and National Trust, the Media Trust, The Falkland Islands Tourist Board, Falklands Conservation and Environmental Studies.
A proposal seeking additional funding of £217K for this financial year for the Falkland Islands Meat Company was approved and referred to Standing Finance Committee. Considerable discussion took place on this subject, and whilst members recognised that a large proportion of the operating costs finds its way back in to the farming economy, there was a clear recognition of the need to identify possible cost reductions. A number of options were considered and will be passed to FIMCo for further discussion. Additional costs have arisen partly because of the planned separation from FIDC, and partly from overstatements in 2007 export volumes and prices and in local meat sales revenue.
The fee schedule for services provided by the Department of Agriculture from July 2007 was then approved. A 5% increase for treatment of recreational animals will be the main change, and there will be no increases in fees for working animals or OAPs. Increased charges will also be made for the importation and exportation of pets. Members were told that the number of importations is steadily increasing and takes up a considerable amount of veterinary officer’s time, particularly when animals arrive on vessels berthing at Mare Harbour. Inspection fees for fishing vessels remain at the levels introduced in 2005, but will be reviewed again in 2008.
A request from the Director of Health Services for capital funding of a replacement endoscopy system for the KEMH was approved. Members were advised that the current endoscopy equipment is coming rapidly to the end of its useful life, and that visiting specialists have commented that the system is becoming increasingly unreliable.
The Falkland Islands Economic Report 2006 (prepared by the FCO Economic Advisor and Oxford Policy Management) was received and noted, without any substantial comment. Copies of the report will be published and made available to the general public on request.
Another report, the Fire Service Review, conducted by Chris Gannon (Fire Service consultant to the FCO Overseas Territories Department) last December was received and noted. Members agreed that a further report be brought to Executive Council on the prioritised implementation of the recommendations that the report makes, and that the urgent capital and operating expenditure implications of the report be referred to the Select Committee on the Estimates. Copies of this report will also be published and made available to the general public on request.
Members then approved a proposal made by the Director of Civil Aviation recommending that FIGAS be subject to regulatory charges for Personnel Licensing, Aircraft Nationality and Registration Marks and lastly Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation. The new Air Navigation (Fees for Certificates and Services) Regulations 2006 allowed the Falkland Islands Civil Aviation Department (FICAD) to introduce fees to the industry and begin to generate revenue for services provided. When these fees were approved, FIGAS was exempted from any charges. Members were advised that if the recommendation was accepted internal transfers between FIGAS and FICAD would create an additional administration burden. It was however agreed that on balance it was important to show the true operating costs of FIGAS and allow FIG to demonstrate to Air Safety Support International (ASSI) that FICAD is generating as much revenue as possible. If FICAD is to achieve full designation the additional revenue received would be able to allocate additional regulatory resource, thus speeding up the process.
Another proposal from the Director of Civil Aviation was also approved. This recommended that the total cost of travel, accommodation, audit, report and man hours be recovered from organisations requesting a certificate in accordance with the Air Navigation (Overseas Territories) Order 2001. In particular FICAD has to plan and carry out audit functions in relation to one of the conditional designations, ‘Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air’, and members agreed that the ‘user pays’ policy should be followed, rather than FICAD being funded from FIG funds.
Members then approved a paper from the Acting Attorney General in which legislative drafting priorities were recommended. Recognition was made of the severely restricted drafting capacity of the department as a result of staffing shortages, which were likely to persist for some time. Members asked that every opportunity be taken to outsource legislative drafting work where possible, and highlighted the urgent need to make progress in a number of areas, one in particular being the amendment of existing telecommunications legislation.
Members then considered a very comprehensive paper, titled ‘Taxation of Defence Contractor Employees’ which was also presented by the Acting Attorney General. Members approved the recommendation, which was to remove reference to holding Falkland Islands status or a permanent residence permit as a determinative factor for eligibility for tax exemption, but which would instead depend on an employee being genuinely recruited from overseas. The justification for this is that the original policy intention had been to ensure that persons who had been genuinely recruited from overseas remained eligible for the exemption from tax. As the law currently stands, that eligibility criteria is subject to the overriding factor that a person with Falkland Islands status or a permanent residence permit is not eligible for exemption from tax, regardless of where that person is recruited from. Re-drafting the law to ensure that being genuinely recruited from overseas could be an overriding factor to determine eligibility would mean that the criteria currently found in the law relating to Falkland Island status and permanent residence permits would fall away. If the determinative criteria was to be the place of recruitment, this would potentially mean that the law was still discriminatory on the basis of place of origin, but could be justified having regard to the law and the special circumstances which apply to defence contractors, i.e. it is necessary to treat persons recruited from overseas favourably in order to attract workers from the international job market by providing financial incentive in the form of a tax exemption. A Certificate of Urgency was given so as to ensure that the amendment to the Taxes and Duties (Special Exemptions) (Amendment) Bill 2007 could be placed before Legislative Council on Friday 23 February.
Members then approved a recommendation to approve the publication of the 2006 Census Report. Due to the late production of the census members did not have time to consider the results and it therefore received little discussion. The census report will be published in CD format and will be available for the general public from the Attorney General’s Chambers in the near future.
The last paper to be considered was from the Government Secretary and gave recommendations as to the format and costs for Falkland Island Status ceremonies. Members agreed that the maximum numbers to attend would be up to eight family members plus the Governor, a councillor and the Principle Immigration Officer. Duration of the ceremony would be one hour including an introduction by the Governor, the making of the Status Pledge by grantees, the signing of two copies and presentation of Falkland Islands status certificates by the Governor, the option of words by the councillor for immigration, and finally a champagne toast to HM the Queen and the Falkland Islands.
This concludes the Executive Council summary for February 2007.
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