St Helena : St Helena EXCO REPORT 43 – 10th February 2010
Submitted by Saint Helena Herald (Public Relations Information Office) 17.02.2010 (Article Archived on 03.03.2010)
This is the first time in 43 attempts that my EXCO report has been a day late and for that I apologise. The fact is that our meeting finished later than any of the other 42 and the pressure of other issues meant that I simply ran out of time.
St Helena EXCO REPORT 43 – 10th February 2010
By H. E. The Governor Mr Andrew Gurr
This is the first time in 43 attempts that my EXCO report has been a day late and for that I apologise. The fact is that our meeting finished later than any of the other 42 and the pressure of other issues meant that I simply ran out of time.
This was the first of our monthly meetings. We felt that a slightly longer meeting once a month would be more efficient than having one every fortnight. This one was in fact too long but that may well have been the subject matter rather than the weight of business. Time will tell as we agreed to review the new schedule after 3 months.
The full Council was present and our first paper was presented by Ferdie Gunnell in his role as the Chairman of Health and Social Welfare. You will probably be aware that once an ordinance is passed in LEGCO and becomes our law, it is often followed some time later by Regulations which fill in the detail. This paper contained the Regulations that relate to the Welfare of Children Ordinance that was enacted some 18 months ago and it follows a great deal of discussion involving our Social Services and the police among others. The regulations specify the constitution of the Safeguarding Children’s Board as well as providing details of how we intend to deal with the fostering of children.
The paper was not in any way controversial and was agreed. We then dealt with a paper that may well prove to be historic. Indeed the full impact of the changes being brought about by this Pension Reform Memorandum will not be fully felt for forty years.
We have wanted to improve the pension arrangements within the Civil Service for many years, but it has always been regarded as difficult to start. However, this proposal recommends that we should investigate the feasibility of the introduction of a fully funded Defined Contribution Pension Scheme to replace the existing unfunded Defined Benefit Pension Scheme. Unfunded pension schemes are increasingly viewed as being a huge liability for any employer and the St.Helena Government is no exception.
The proposal is that nobody will lose any rights that they have at present. All established and unestablished staff will retain their rights, however new entrants to the SHG workforce will enter a new scheme as from 1st April in order to get the ball rolling. As a working life may well last for 40 years, you can see why the full impact of this move will not be felt for that length of time. In investigating and creating the new scheme we will be very aware of the need for portability so that anyone who ceases to be employed by SHG might well have the ability to transfer their rights to a new employer. It is a very complicated matter and our experts will spend many hours over the coming months finding out what is best for our situation. The important thing for now is the change for new entrants and the fact that no existing civil servant will be disadvantaged in any way.
Our next task was to agree to two special warrants. These warrants are the result of overspends against our original budget. Such money has to be taken from the Consolidated Fund and requires EXCO approval. Both warrants were dealing with situations that are notoriously difficult to forecast, yet the fact that we agreed to pass them is I believe a reflection of the caring nature of our society. The first was due to more being paid out in Income Related Benefit (IRB) and the other because there have been more medical referrals to South Africa than we forecast.
The first paper in the closed part of our session generated some interesting discussion and related to the taxation treatment of allowances that are paid to some Fixed Term Contract Officers and those with Key Posts. Many of these allowances are simply paying for essential aspects of living outside of ones’ home country and reflect the arrangements that existed under the DfID contracts that have now been transferred to SHG. There were some useful points made. One was that we often need to offer a competitive remuneration in order to attract the right calibre of officer, another was that some of the allowances may be viewed as unfair. I stressed that indeed fairness should be the principle underlying this whole issue. The general feeling was that a further paper was required before any judgement could be made. That paper will clarify the legal position especially in relation to the new tax ordinance and will also recommend some clear policies for consideration. Thus there was no recommendation and no decision on this item.
We then dealt with the minutes of the last major EXCO and three subsequent smaller meetings. There were only relatively minor Matters Arising. Then I presented an information paper on where we are up to on the balancing of our media. Hon. Members were able to share some of the concerns that have been expressed to them since the decision was made to stop all advertising in the Herald. It was clear that Councillors had always been of the view that it would be unfair to penalise those in the community who cannot actually receive fm transmissions and so I undertook to contact News Media Services to inform them that they can in fact broadcast advertisements but will not be able to carry them in the Herald.
We had a lively discussion over whether the TV guide is in fact advertising or information and the majority view was that it is information. That being the case, the Herald is once again able to carry the TV guide.
Now, that will be seen by most people as quite a turn-around from a previous decision. As governor I am not especially keen on such a rapid change of mind, but I do feel that our ability to respond so quickly in the event that a decision proves to be either unpopular, or simply subject to a change of view, can be considered a strength rather than a weakness.
This whole media debate is not over yet, and my paper outlined some of the moves that are being made:
The re-forming of the Media Board has already begun, The legal framework essential for responsible public behaviour is nearing completion, The financial details of News Media Services that had been requested by Councillors were provided to the meeting, a fresh look at what is advertising and what is information – in a sense we contributed to that in the meeting, we were able to have a first look at the results of the recent Audience Research Survey and they proved to be very interesting and a useful contribution to the ongoing debate. There were 200 respondents and that means that the results do provide a statistically valid conclusion of what the listeners and readers actually want. For instance this particular broadcasting of what transpired at EXCO scores with 18% of listeners, which is the same as those who like cookery programmes. I make no comment but merely relay the fact. Advertisements and music are universally popular, and when we identify the type of music, pop and easy listening actually come out on top of country and western. As far as the press is concerned, advertisements, letters to the editor and the TV guide are shown to be the most popular.
There are of course different views from different age groups, but it is interesting that only 5% of respondents actually felt that government should not help to fund the media – 62% think that we should. You will gather that the results are very informative and we are most grateful to those of you who took the time to fill in the questionnaire. The report will be available to the public in the near future.
Further matters concerned issues relating to individuals and a matter that is commercial and therefore remains confidential.
Under Any Other Business we discussed what questions would be useful in compiling the Terms of Reference for the new study that is to be done on the RMS. We did so in the light of a previous discussion in the Access and Transport Committee. This issue is the subject of an ongoing discussion with DfID and SHL.
You may remember from the last days of the previous Council that we agreed to look at the government accounts on a monthly basis. Our Financial Secretary introduced the accounts to the end of January, which is a remarkable feat by any measure. He indicated that he has asked every Department to respond promptly rather than behind schedule and all except one had complied. That signifies a very substantial improvement and makes control of our finances much easier.
What the accounts actually show is that our income for 10 months is very close to our budget as indeed is our expenditure. The overall variances are well within single figure percentages, thus revealing a good degree of control.
My overall impression of this long meeting was that the Council is really settling down to some hard work. The new committee system is beginning to flex its muscles and Councillors are prepared to make difficult decisions and indeed to change them if they feel that is right – which can be just as difficult.
The meeting closed at around 2.50 pm.
Andrew Gurr
Governor 11th February 2010
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