Tristan : St Helena: EXCO REPORT 81 – 30th August 2011
Submitted by Tristan Times (Public Relations Information Office) 31.08.2011 (Article Archived on 14.09.2011)
This EXCO was not one of our longer meetings as most of the issues were routine.
However under Matters Arising from the minutes of the last two meetings some useful issues touched on were:
EXCO REPORT 81 – 30th August 2011
This EXCO was not one of our longer meetings as most of the issues were routine.
However under Matters Arising from the minutes of the last two meetings some useful issues touched on were:
· The confirmation of the Appointment of the initial members of the Board of the new St.Helena Broadcasting Corporation (Guarantee) Ltd. This Board is tasked to take forward the setting up of a community radio station and a newspaper to replace the Herald. The Chairman is John Styles. Stuart Moors and Stedson George are also Members representing the Chamber of Commerce and the Citizenship Commission respectively. Other members will join the Board as other civil society organisations select them.
· There was discussion on how we often seem to miss opportunities by not getting on with projects that are already funded, and the building of the ossuary to house the mortal remains of slaves exhumed in Rupert’s Valley was mentioned as an example. The general issue is a management one that will be taken up within the public sector.
· Under the new Constitution there can be a change in EXCO membership after two years and it was agreed that there will be a LEGCO in November when that election can take place.
We then considered the brief Order Paper for the Legislative Council due to be held this coming Friday. The prime purpose of that meeting is to elect a new Chairman for the Education Committee. However the agenda also contains receipt of the Annual Report of the National Trust and a Paper outlining the response of the Government to the Public Accounts Committee Report that was presented to the last LEGCO. Although there won’t be any questions or major debates on Friday there will be an adjournment debate so I do not doubt that current concerns and issues will be raised.
Under AOB I was able to mention the detailed reports recently received following the visit of a team of six in connection with the Education Sector Support Programme. These reports contain a great deal of information as well as some very practical ideas as to how we should measure and monitor our education. They will be discussed in detail with the new Chairman of the Education Committee shortly after Friday’s election.
The subject of untargeted subsidies was raised in a general manner. Councillors felt that the disbanding of the Working Group that had identified where there were efficiencies to be gained by the more thoughtful targeting of subsidies had happened too soon. It was suggested that the Economic and Finance Committee should form a sub-group to spearhead this particular set of reforms. I undertook to take this matter forward.
We also discussed certain aspects of the fishing industry and particularly the protection of our own fishermen
.
This was a relatively brief meeting compared with some that have been held recently and it closed at 12.15 pm.
Andrew Gurr
Governor
30th August 2011
|
