St Helena : St Helena EXCO Report – 12th October 2010
Submitted by Saint Helena Herald (Public Relations Information Office) 17.10.2010 (Article Archived on 31.10.2010)
I was pleased to be able to Chair an EXCO so soon after my return from the UK as it enabled me to catch up on what has happened in my absence as well as giving me the chance to give Hon. Members more detailed information about my meetings in London.
St Helena EXCO Report – 12th October 2010
I was pleased to be able to Chair an EXCO so soon after my return from the UK as it enabled me to catch up on what has happened in my absence as well as giving me the chance to give Hon. Members more detailed information about my meetings in London.
I began by thanking all concerned, Members and Officials, for the tremendous amount and high quality, of work done in my absence. The response to the airport decision in the preparation of our Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), has been both quick and appropriate. The Council Committees have also been working well and are increasingly able to steer us by providing that essential political dimension.
We began by inviting David Taylor to join us in the discussion over the external finishing of the new buildings on the wharf. You may recall that the National Trust’s original suggestions were for two single storey buildings that were very much in the historical style and that EXCO had decided to pass one single and one two storey building as approved by the Planning Board. The National Trust and David Taylor had both supported a white lime-wash finish on both buildings, but the single storey one has been built with a stone skin and there have been varying views on whether it should be whitewashed or not. It is clear that the passenger terminal (the two storey building) is to be rendered and whitewashed and at a previous meeting of EXCO it had been decided to await the completion that building before making a final decision.
Councillors felt that the white finish for both would be the most appropriate outcome but that they would stick to their initial decision to actually make that judgement after the completion of the second building which is scheduled for next July.
Next we turned to a first draft of the headline management accounts of the government for the first 6 months of the financial year. Once again the prompt production of this information is to be applauded as we feel at last that we have a much tighter control over our financial performance.
Up until the end of September our Grant in Aid was right on target and our Local Revenue was up by over £300,000. Subtracted from that is our expenditure to date, which was down by over £300,000. That all sounds like good news, but in fact under spending is not always what we want. However it was pleasing to note that our Development Expenditure had in fact beaten our target. That is due to large projects being forthcoming like the rockfall protection which has now started.
However, most Departments of government are predicting increased expenditure during the second half of the year and the cost of fuel remains a concern. In addition to that we have lost freight revenue on the RMS due to the MOD ship being able to bring freight, and so our year end position is predicted to be worse than budget. So the overall picture is one for neither panic nor rejoicing, and we anticipate that control of our finances will get far tighter next year when we introduce accrual accounting.
Next we had the minutes of the last two EXCO meetings to approve. The process of approval and Matters Arising has improved greatly as a result of increasing efficiency in the use of a tracker as well as Members’ cooperation in producing them.
The issue of the contract negotiations with Cable & Wireless was covered and although the Chamber of Commerce has recently advised that we should have an open tender of this, the decision was made nearly three years’ ago when these negotiations began, that we would operate on the basis of a single tender on this occasion, but that it would be overseen by a technical consultant. Dr. Chris Doyle has been involved now for many months and the whole process is reaching its end shortly. We are anticipating that the resolution of this situation will boost the improvement of all communication services, and I am sure that is something that we all want.
There were a number of issues under Any Other Business. Cllr. Gunnell raised the matter of small businesses being asked for stage payments of tax when in fact they had no profit to declare for the period in question. It was explained by the Financial Secretary that such notices had been sent out by the government based on last years’ record and that any business could speak to the tax office if they feel that they are being asked to pay too much, or even too little if they so wish!
We also had a very helpful discussion about how we manage public consultation as Members felt that some of the meetings that are being held result in one or two people dominating the floor and not really proving as useful as they would like, in getting information across, or reacting to responses. This matter is especially important given the whole range of policy initiatives that will form part of the forthcoming (MOU) between us and DfID on the matter of the airport. Cllr. Buckley put forward an idea that received the support of all of us that we should produce a White Paper which dealt with those matters of general policy that this Council would like to bring together in the public arena. We tend to consult on separate issues and that sometimes means that we fail to grasp the bigger picture. The White Paper would enable us to do just that.
Such documents are used by governments to signal intent and are fairly general in nature. The more detailed consultation would come when individual subjects, mentioned in the White Paper, are brought forward in more detail.
It was felt that this idea would enhance our ability to communicate with the public and added a very worthwhile technique to our ability to consult with purpose and direction. It is likely that the first such White Paper will be published early in the New Year and will, among other things, tie together much of what appears in the MOU.
I was then able to provide more detail to Hon. Members regarding my London visit. I covered my meetings with both DfID and the FCO and underlined the present atmosphere of stringency and cut-back that dominates much of Whitehall. It is hard to understand how important that is to the British Government. In many ways we are protected from it, but it does impact on those who concentrate on our affairs there and affects much of what is being discussed about the airport.
I have said all along that I have no doubt of the intent of the DfID Secretary of State to progress our airport, but he has placed clear conditions on us and if we fail to meet them, then the lack of progress will be due to us. In other words, to a large extent our future is in our hands, and we would hardly want it elsewhere.
I stressed that my personal view is that we should think big. 30,000 tourists a year sounds a huge number, but it should mean no more than 1,200 in even the most popular week and the population of this island has exceeded 6,000 in the not too distant past. However our physical, social and financial infrastructures must be enhanced to be able to cope with this challenge and that is just what the MOU is all about.
I indicated that we must concentrate particularly on how Saints and home-based businesses can benefit from the opportunities that will be presenting themselves, and I know that work has already started on that.
We also talked about the successful national Trust Strategy launch, the future of the RMS (Julian Morris’s report is due any day now), and how we are going to ensure that our health service enjoys the confidence of the people that I know it deserves. I will be meeting with Cllr. Gunnell’s committee in the near future to discuss that issue.
I found this a very encouraging meeting. There is a genuine atmosphere of teamwork between Councillors and Officers that bodes well for the future.
The meeting finished at 1.30 pm.
Andrew Gurr
Governor
12th October 2010
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