Turks and Caicos Post Cabinet Meeting Statement
His Excellency the Governor, Dr John Freeman, chaired the 17th meeting of the Cabinet on Friday, 30 June 2017, at the N J S Francis Building on Grand Turk.
All Ministers were present.
At this meeting Cabinet:
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noted the draft legislative agenda for the period July 2017 – March 2018
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advised His Excellency the Governor to approve the commissioning of a review of all the TCI Statutory Bodies to commence in mid-July 2017 and to be completed within 90 days
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advised His Excellency the Governor to appoint Mr Ashwood Hall as a member of the District Board for Middle Caicos with effect from 1 July 2017 until 31 March 2018
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advised His Excellency the Governor to approve funding for the purchase of two generators and two mobile satellite internet systems to enable the Ministry of Finance to continue to operate in critical areas of business in the event of a disaster
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advised His Excellency the Governor to revoke the appointment of Ms Leandra Garland as Secretary of the Zone 1 Work Permit Board and to appoint Ms Shirlene Smith as her replacement with effect from 1 July 2017 in accordance with the Immigration Ordnance
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noted for information amendments to the 2002 TCI Tourist Board Staff Policy and Procedures Manual, now called the 2016 Staff Policy and Procedures Handbook, to be finalised by the Tourist Board after further discussion with the Attorney-General’s Chambers
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advised His Excellency the Governor to approve the reallocation of $250,000 from within the Tourist Board budget for the purpose of new marketing activity. Cabinet further approved the commencement of negotiations with IBC Airlines about air services between South Florida, Grand Turk and South Caicos for further consideration by Cabinet
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advised His Excellency the Governor to approve emergency funding for the replacement of equipment stolen from the Department of Disaster Management and Emergencies (DDME)
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advised His Excellency the Governor to approve amendments to the Adoption Ordinance 2015 as set out in the draft Adoption (Amendment) Bill 2017 for forwarding to the House of Assembly for approval
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advised His Excellency the Governor to approve the Multi-Agency Protocol for the Prevention, Reporting and Management of Child Abuse and Neglect and to endorse the policy on the supervision of practitioners working on child safeguarding in the Department of Social Development
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approved amendments to the National Scholarship Policy relating to the list of approved institutions to which scholarships may be awarded and the provision for scholarships for online studies
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received and endorsed an information paper by the Hon. Minister of Education, Youth, Sports and Library Services on plans to introduce the Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence (CCSLC) programme for students in Forms 1 to 3 of secondary schools in TCI
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received an information paper by Her Excellency the Deputy Governor on TCIG’s Annual Recruitment Strategy for FY 2017/18 and an up-date on recruitment for the first quarter of the financial year. Cabinet noted that 74 positions remained vacant at the end of FY 2016/17 and that an additional 80 posts were created for FY 2017/18. Of the 154 vacancies, 60 posts have been filled in the first quarter of FY 2017/18
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advised His Excellency the Governor to approve the establishment of a National Mental Health and Criminal Justice Steering Committee to address the need to improve the provision of mental health services in TCI including to those in the criminal justice system
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noted an information paper by the Hon. Minister of Health on the need for additional resource to boost efforts to tackle the increasing threat from mosquitoes and the transmission of other vector-borne diseases which would be discussed further by Ministers
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received an up-date by the Hon. Deputy Premier on the National Skills Audit
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received an up-date by Her Excellency the Deputy Governor on the current status of project contracts as at the end of June 2017
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received a presentation by the Director of the Department of Environment and Coastal Resources on proposed changes affecting parts of TCI’s National Parks and other protected areas.
Further information on these matters will be provided by Ministers in due course.