Tristan : St Helena EXCO REPORT 64 – 15th March 2011
Submitted by Tristan Times (Juanita Brock) 15.03.2011 (Article Archived on 30.03.2011)
Yet another EXCO and one with a full agenda. Cllr.Isaac continued to deputise for Cllr.Yon and Gilly Francis for the Chief Secretary.
EXCO REPORT 64 – 15th March 2011
Yet another EXCO and one with a full agenda. Cllr.Isaac continued to deputise for Cllr.Yon and Gilly Francis for the Chief Secretary.
In the open part of the meeting our first item was consideration of the Welfare of Children (Amendment) Ordinance. Christine Coleman was present for this subject. This particular legislation modernises the legal framework surrounding the fostering of children and brings a very practical approach to the issue. It contains details of the Special Guardianship Order which streamlines fostering and minimises the impact of the state on that process. Members recommended that the legislation should now go out to consultation in readiness for consideration at the June LEGCO.
Then we agreed with a Memorandum that had been through the Natural Resources, Development and Environment Committee proposing a new Scale of Fees for Development Applications. It was emphasised that the scale relates to the situation here in St.Helena and is not based on those in the UK.
Finally in the open section we reviewed the draft Order paper for the next Legislative Council that is taking place on Monday and Tuesday of next week. This is the sixth meeting of this Council and the subject matter includes among others: road traffic, social security and income tax, as well as Value for Money reports from the Audit Service on the Energy Division, the use of empty buildings and contracts for works and services. There are also 15 questions and 8 motions. The Council will of course spread over two days and may run into three.
In the closed part of the meeting we discussed the possible disposal of Wranghams. Although we decided recently to sell this property, our new Estates Management Adviser had produced a very interesting paper suggesting that we considered a broader range of options at this stage. We felt that his Paper would be most useful in considering other property that we wish to dispose of, but that we should proceed now to the sale of Wranghams by auction once we have determined a reserve price.
Our next consideration was a landholding application that was approved, but I will not be more specific on this for commercial reasons.
Then we decided to defer the next two papers that were to do with water and drainage charges and Electricity Tariffs. Although both these papers have been endorsed by the Infrastructure and Utilities Committee, they have not been discussed by all elected members and therefore we agreed to delay consideration of them until Friday. This additional EXCO is because of the LEGCO on next Monday that will be debating the budget for the coming year.
We then looked at the details surrounding the transfer of the staff at the Bottom Woods Meteorological station to the government. We decided to accept this transfer some time ago subject to us not having to subsidise the operation in any way. The purpose of the agreement is to ensure that is the case. In return for taking on these staff we will be receiving a daily weather forecast. Such forecasting is not easy on an island where the weather is so variable, yet the major trends should be identifiable in a form that is useful to us.
We then confirmed the minutes of the meeting held on 22nd February from which there were few Matters Arising as that was in fact three meetings ago, and most actions have already been taken and reported.
Under Any Other Business the Financial Secretary reported that the financial situation after eleven months of the financial year is satisfactory. Our annual surplus at the end of the month will be smaller than expected owing to some costs in the health sector of which we were unaware. Nevertheless we will have collected more tax than budgeted during the year and have controlled our expenditure, and indeed spent what we had to, within existing plans. We were warned that the coming year will not be so buoyant as our forthcoming DAPM negotiations will be carried out against the fact of severe cuts backs in public sector funding in the UK.
This was a good humoured and business-like meeting and it finished at 12.40 pm.
Andrew Gurr
Governor
15th March 2011
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