Falklands : Falklands Legislative Council 14/11/08 Part 1
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 16.11.2008 (Article Archived on 30.11.2008)
A meeting of Legislative Council took place at 1030hrs on Friday, 14 November 2008 in the Court and Council Chamber of the Town Hall.
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL MEETING FRIDAY, 14 NOVEMBER 2008
Part 1: Election of EXCO Members, Papers and Questions for Oral Answer
By J. Brock (FINN)
A meeting of Legislative Council took place at 1030hrs on Friday, 14 November 2008 in the Court and Council Chamber of the Town Hall. Present were Cllrs Summers, Cockwell, Birmingham, Hansen, Rendell, Robertson and Stevens. Cllr Clausen is in the UK. Also present were the Attorney General Mr David Pickup QC, the Financial Secretary Mr Keith Padgett, the Chief Executive, Mr Tim Thorogood, the Clerk of Council Ms Claudette Anderson – Prior and the Speaker Mr Lewis Clifton, OBE.
Prayers were said by Rev Dr Richard Hines of Christ Church Cathedral.
The Attorney General and Chief Financial Secretary then acted as tellers for the election to Executive Council. Cllr Mike Summers was elected to Represent Stanley with Cllr Rendell representing Camp and the Hon Dr Andrea Clausen elected to represent Camp and Stanley constituencies.
The minutes of the meeting of Legislative Council held on Friday, 26 September 2008 were confirmed.
PAPERS TO BE LAID ON THE TABLE BY THE HON CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Copies of Subsidiary Legislation Published in the Falkland Islands Gazette since the last sitting of Legislative Council and laid on the table pursuant to Section 34.1 of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance 1977:
- Wearing of Seatbelts (Amendment Regulations) 2008
- Customs Fees (Amendment) Regulations 2008
- Capital Equalisation Fund No 2 Order 2008
QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER:
Question No 17/2008 by the Hon Ian Hansen (IH):
Can the Honourable John Birmingham advise this House on the current progress at the airstrips at New Island, Beaver Island and Westpoint Island? Can he also inform this House on costs incurred on surveys and works undertaken to date? And, is the Honourable Member able to indicate the final costs expected before these strips are deemed operational again?
Answer by Cllr the Hon Mr John Birmingham (JB):
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, initial surveys were carried out at the three air strips by the assessment team who were: officers from Stanley Airport, the Falkland Island(s) Air Service and Civil Aviation Department and the Public Works Highways Section and Design Office.
The potential to lengthen these airstrips was identified. However, in each case a considerable amount of earthworks will be necessary. The PWD now needs to make a more detailed assessment of and for each airstrip with the aid of earth-moving equipment in order to be able to provide a reasonable, accurate cost of completing works to lengthen the strips. It will be necessary to move the equipment to each of the islands on the Concordia Bay so that these more detailed site inspections can be carried out. The first attempt to do this had to be abandoned due to unsuitable weather conditions for the Concordia Bay.
It is yet to be decided when a second attempt will be made. It is necessary to interrupt the Concordia Bay’s scheduled service to allow time to get the equipment on to the islands. So this has to be planned carefully
The costs incurred to carry out the above survey work to date have been £9,650.00. And, additional costs of up to £20,000.00 are anticipated to enable the full assessments to be carried out. Once the complete assessments are carried out it would then be possible to estimate the costs of the required works to lengthen the airstrips. It is not possible to make any estimates at this stage.
IH: Does the Honourable Member share my concern that costs may escalate to the point that it’s simply unaffordable to service these locations? And, does the Honourable Member know if there is any consideration or will there be any consideration considering to reverting to servicing these islands using the limiting loading and take-off factors that were in use?
JB: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, on the first question regarding the costs, and whether it would be worthwhile or not – that, I would imagine – would be a political decision. On the second, the use of these airstrips is regulated by the ASSI and it’s under those regulations that FIGAS are operating at the moment.
Question No. 18/2008 by the Hon John Birmingham:
Mr Speaker, Honourable members, can the Honourable Janet Robertson confirm that the number of medical consultants visiting the Islands in this financial year is equal to previous years? And that those consultants clearly make more than one visit and will continue to do so?
Answer by the Hon Mrs Janet Robertson (JR):
I am pleased to confirm that the number of Medical Consultants’ planned visits to the Islands in this financial year remains unchanged and is equal to that of previous years. Outline plans also include two additional consultants to visit. It is planned for the ophthalmologist and an oral surgeon will visit.
Every effort will be made to ensure that consultants who make more than one visit to the Islands in a year will continue to do so.
However, the visits are normally arranged according to clinical demand. It should be noted that all visiting consultants for the next financial year will be reviewed as part of the whole budget process.
JB: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I thank the Honourable Janet Robertson for her answer. I have no further questions.
Supplementary by the Hon Mike Summers (MS):
Mr Speaker, would the Honourable Janet Robertson advise the House what arrangements are normally made to advise the public when the visiting consultant? It’s my observation that visiting consultants come and go without the large majority of people knowing that they’ve been here.
JR: me Speaker, Honourable Members, I couldn’t actually say for sure. I would have to certainly go back and get clarification for that. My understanding is that usually referrals made to visiting specialists by our local medical doctors and therefore they are probably not widely advertised as you would suggest.
Question No. 19/2008 by the Honourable John Birmingham:
Mr Speaker, Honourable members, will the Honourable Mike Rendell please explain the feasibility and the approximate cost of introducing an island(s)-wide mobile phone network?
Answer by the Hon Mr Mike Rendell (MR):
Mr Speaker, Honourable members, Government is aware and very much appreciates that the extension of the mobile phone network to Camp is seen by many to be important for social, business and safety reasons. Accordingly discussions regarding the extension of the mobile network to other locations in Camp have been taking place with Cable & Wireless for some time, particularly as a roll-out of the new Camp network takes place, which provides some new opportunities for the location of mobile equipment.
The term, islands-wide should be used with caution. It is very doubtful that total coverage of the Islands could ever be achieved and it is unlikely that all the outer islands could be covered.
As a point of comparison, total mobile coverage does not exist in the UK. However, some preliminary considerations have been given to extending coverage to the majority of the main settlements and road networks. There are a lot of variables and power is a requirement of mobile systems, thereby substantially increasing operating costs apart from the capital outlay. In very 2ball park” terms, it could cost anything from £1 to £1.5 Million to extend mobile coverage widely throughout Camp and involves from 6 to 10 new sites. The central part of West Falkland would be very difficult to cover and at least one completely new major site including 24-hour power with diesel back-up would need to be built. This is because of the existence of imposing mountain ranges.
However, in order to commence consideration of a programme to extend mobile coverage to Camp, Cable & Wireless was asked to provide FIG with a proposal and outline costing for the establishment of mobile stations on Sussex Mountain and Malo Hills. These locations were chosen because they would provide coverage to large areas of the most often travelled parts of Camp and provide in-fill to existing coverage from stations in Stanley and Mt Pleasant Peak.
Proposals from Cable & Wireless have now been received and they will also contain options to provide repeater nodes at Port Howard so that both sides of the Ferry Route will be covered.
Coverage predictions include areas including much of the North Camp roads infrastructure, Teal Inlet and Extancia, the track to Volunteer Point, San Carlos,, Newhaven and much of Lafonia.
Whilst this project is being evaluated the cost estimates are strictly confidential in confidence – commercial in confidence – sorry – and subject to confirmation in due course so they cannot be revealed today. Government is currently considering these proposals including seeking views from other organisations with the intention that a table for the paper will be presented to the Executive Council in due course.
The key issue is whether we can afford to spend the money for this project in this current financial climate with so many other calls on the budget. If agreed, this will be a matter for inclusion in the 2009/10 budget. With the current emphasis on completing the Camp upgrade project work on extending the mobile network cannot realistically commence until Quarter 3 of 2009 in any event in the 2009/10 financial year.
JB: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I thank the Honourable Member for his very comprehensive answer.
MS: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, as the Honourable Members, does the Honourable Mike Rendell agree with me that mobile phones are a blight of privacy and orderly life. But nonetheless they do make a contribution to safety and the art of gossiping will be much enhanced by the mobile service and will be a very fine judgement as to whether we shall proceed?
MR: That would be a political decision, to be taken by colleagues. I would just like to make it known that I don’t even have a mobile phone but that’s my own personal situation.
Question No. 20/2008 by the Hon John Birmingham:
Speaker, Honourable Members, can Honourable Mike Rendell confirm that there are plans to speed up the immigration/emigration procedures on Lan Chile flights into and out of MPA by computerising the current system?
Answer by the Hon Mr Mike Rendell:
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, there are no immediate plans to speed up the immigration/emigration procedures at Mount Pleasant airport in respect of LAN flights into and out of MPA by computerising the current system.
This has not been seriously considered as a high priority at this current time by reason that the Immigration/emigration Policy Working Group and immigration staff are fully engaged in the completion of a comprehensive immigration policy review. A major overhaul of the existing immigration computer databases is also currently in progress. As time and other priorities permit a range of airport processes including those as applied to passengers, will be reviewed. However, in the case of computerising the records of relevant passenger information at the point of arrival or departure, initial thoughts are that whilst it might be technically feasible, the cost of so doing for the relatively small number of passengers involved will be very high, whilst the degree of efficiency improvement and time saving achieved may well be minimal.
JB: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, can the Honourable Mike Rendell tell me whether I am the only one going through immigration that finds it strange to have to hand my passport over so that an individual who I know very well has to look at it – look at my photograph to see whether I am the same person – exciting as that might be – but also then to write down by hand – not quite quill pen – but to write down by hand my passport number that has probably gone through there countless times before?
MR: I would agree with the Member that it’s very strange.
Supplementary by the Hon Mr Richard Cockwell (RC):
Can the Honourable Mike Rendell inform me whether the opinions about the effectiveness of computerisation and speeding up the process is the opinion of somebody is inexperienced in the process of computerising and the understanding in the benefits of it or is it just the opinion of somebody who doesn’t think it’s a good idea.
I personally agree with the Honourable John Birmingham that the passage through the customs and immigration when one arrives at the airport is just another irritation. The airport is not the best place to be hanging around. And, if it is delaying people coming through, particularly tourists, it isn’t doing our reputation very much good.
MR: Yes. I would agree with the sentiments made by the Honourable Member. And, having recently coming through myself – a matter of two or three weeks ago – it seems to me that the issue is much broader than just computerising immigration details when people arrive. It’s the whole design of the area. It’s the way in which baggage is collected – brought through, the way in which inspection of baggage is carried out. There are a host of issues which completely need to be revised. In my opinion the current system is abysmal. And, although there have been a number of studies over the years to try and improve things I just don’t think we are getting anywhere at all and I do believe that a total change needs to be considered.
Supplementary by the Hon Mr Mike Summers:
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, the Honourable Member has re-confirmed what I was first going to say, which is that the regular chaos at the terminal as occasioned by the physical restrictions of the terminal – can I therefore address my supplementary to the Honourable Richard Cockwell and ask him whether the Development Corporation is still working together with the Ministry of Defence on alternative lay-outs and designs that we might be able to consider to improve the situation?
Answer by the Hon Richard Cockwell:
I am very pleased that the Honourable Mike Summers asked that question. My understanding is that there is continuing discussions with MOD between the Development Corporation and the MOD about options to improve the facilities. And, I totally agree that it is necessary to get this forward rapidly and I hope once we have a new General Manager – a substantive General Manager in the Development Corporation this is one of the issues which he will take very seriously.
Supplementary by the Hon Janet Robertson (JR):
Yes Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, could the Honourable Mike Rendell confirm if he agrees with me that when looking at all these procedures whether we might not also look at the reason – the rationale behind having a stamp in your passport when you also have a status stamp and whether one of the whole purposes of the Status Stamp is not to make things simpler for immigration and emigration purposes and whether the two are really required?
MR: I agree with the Honourable Member that this should be examined. It does seem odd that in those circumstances that more ink would need to be wasted.
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