Falklands : LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY THURSDAY, 22 FEBRUARY 2018 (c)
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 27.02.2018 (Current Article)
Motion Number 3 of 2018 by the Honourable Roger Spink:
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY THURSDAY, 22 FEBRUARY 2018
Part 1C: Motions
Report and Transcripts by J Brock (FINN)
A meeting of Legislative Assembly was held in the Christ Church Cathedral Parish hall at 0900hrs on Thursday, 22 February 2018. Present were MLAs Barkman (TB), Bragger (SB), Elsby (BE), Hansen (IH) Pollard (MP) Roberts (LR) and Spink (RS). MLA Edwards is away. Also present were the Commander British Forces, Brigadier Bas Bennett, the Speaker, the Hon Mr Keith Biles (KB), the Clerk of the Assembly, the Hon Mrs Cherie Clifford (CC), the Financial Secretary Hon Mr James Andrew Wilson (JW), the Chief Executive the Hon Mr Barry Rowland (BR) and the Attorney General the Hon Mr Simon David Young (SY).
Motions
Motion Number 3 of 2018 by the Honourable Roger Spink:
That this House accepts the response from the Governor (in Council) on the report of the Public Accounts Committee Report on Review of Quarry Prices –
Mr Speaker, Honourable members, in rising to support this Motion I would like to briefly run through the responses to the points made by the Public Accounts Committee, where recommendation No 1 was the annual budget setting process does not allow for services to carry forward the previous years’ service of deficit balances. These should be taken into account when setting the annual prices to ensure that the consumer does not pay an excess of the cost of the service.
That was not accepted although FIG does take a long-term view of prices; it is considered that this recommendation could lead to greater annual fluctuations in aggregate rates.
The second recommendation is that the Government should explore ways of passing surpluses back to the quarry customers; this should include the possibility of rebates for customers in the event that the quarry and similar ‘user pays’ services make a surplus in a financial year.
That was not accepted and it makes it clear that the profit is not significant over all and indeed would have further costs to administer.
PAC recommendation No 3 that the Government should require a list of services offered by Government on the ‘user pay’ basis should be publicised to allow the public to understand which services are provided on this basis was agreed;
And recommendation No 4 that the Government should ensure that for each service provided on a ‘user pays’ basis, an annual review of expenditure should be performed to ensure that the prices proposed in the annual budget processes are appropriate and that budget proposals submitted to the Treasury for ‘user pays’ services should be supported by the above (mentioned) annual review to support the budget setting process – that was agreed in principal as part of the existing budget process for FIG.
Thank you Mr Speaker.
KB: Can I have a seconder for the Motion please?
LR: I support the Motion.
BE: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I sit on the Public Accounts Committee as an MLA and I took part in this review of quarry prices. Many people and many firms in the private sector believe that the cost of stone is too high, leading to high development costs and possibly deterring some businesses from progressing projects.
There was, and probably still is a belief that the quarry was making excessive profits. I am disappointed that the Government have not accepted the first two recommendations, as I believe the report from the PAC had addressed areas where the cost to the consumer could be reduced.
However, I would like to thank the Chief Executive for ensuring the reply to the report had arrived before EXCO and this House in a more timely manner than has been the norm in the past.
Mr Speaker, the Public Accounts Committee is a vitally important body in ensuring good governance. And its powers are enshrined in our Constitution. However, the Chair and the lay members are unpaid and, as is so often the case in the Falkland Islands, they have other work commitments. I believe there is a commitment from this Assembly and the Civil Service to work together to ensure that the PAC is the strong body we all want to see.
MP: I have refrained from speaking about the specific recommendations of this report due to my portfolio responsibilities at PWD as well as being a Member of the PAC. However, I would like to speak briefly about the importance of the PAC in general if I may? The committee scrutinises FIG value for money, the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of the spending of public money and holds the Government to account for this.
If we are to ensure that our government is accountable to the public then this committee has an essential part to play in this so we need to ensure that going forward the PAC has the powers and resources to carry out this role and I will do my part to ensure that this happens.
Thank you very much Mr Speaker.
KB: I would point out that the full rationale for the FIG response will be in the record that has more detail. If anyone is interested in looking at that detail then they can obtain it from the official record when that’s published.
The motion before the House is that this House accepts the response from the Governor (in Council) on the report of the Public Accounts Committee Report on Review of Quarry Prices –
Is there any objection to passing that Motion?
There was no objection and the Motion was carried.
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