Turks and Caicos Post Cabinet Meeting Statement
His Excellency the Governor, Dr John Freeman, chaired the 2nd meeting of the Cabinet on Wednesday, 25 January 2017, at the Hon. Hilly Ewing Building on Providenciales.
All Ministers were present.
At this meeting Cabinet:
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advised His Excellency the Governor to approve the draft Bribery Bill 2017 for forwarding to the House of Assembly
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reviewed an information paper from the Ministry of Finance on the expenditure outlook for the financial year ending March 2017. Cabinet noted areas of significant underspend. It called for a review of the recruitment process to address unfilled vacant positions in the public service and for the introduction of an in-year mechanism to review expenditure and spending plans
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noted an information paper from the Ministry of Finance providing an up-date on implementation of the capital programme for the financial year 2016/17 and called for the capital programme monitoring team to report back to Cabinet on progress. Cabinet further agreed to conduct a review of how the capital programme is operated and monitored in future
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advised His Excellency the Governor to approve the Supplementary Appropriation Bill No. 4 with adjustments made by Cabinet for forwarding to the next meeting of the House of Assembly
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discussed spending requests for the financial year 2017/18 and expressed concern at bids submitted. Cabinet called for all ministries, departments and agencies to resubmit more realistic budget bids including prioritising bids and identifying savings to help offset new funding requests. Cabinet will consider revised funding requests at its next meeting on 1 February
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advised His Excellency the Governor to approve amendments to the Immigration Regulations to address errors and omissions, to make clearer the process for the application of various types of permits and certificates, to introduce new fees for the implementation of improved ID cards for word permits, residence permits and PRC certificates and to amend the current work permit application form
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approved the renewal of the rental agreement for the Chalk Sound Police Station on Providenciales for a period of 5 years commencing 28 February 2017 subject to identified structural repairs being carried out by the landlord
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advised His Excellency the Governor to approve the Miscellaneous Amendments (General) Bill 2017, which makes amendments to various pieces of existing legislation, for forwarding to the next meeting of the House of Assembly
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approved an amendment to the Registered Land Ordinance to provide for new means for service of notice
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approved the introduction of an Express Desk at the Land Registry to provide an expedited document registration service for a user fee of $75 and for the Registered Land Ordinance to be amended
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advised His Excellency the Governor to approve the grant of a 25-year lease at commercial rates over Crown Land Parcel 10405/174 and 197 (combined) at East Suburbs, Grand Turk, to Mr Dennis Swann for the construction of a commercial retail store and car wash facility
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advised His Excellency the Governor to approve an amendment to the Climate Change Committee to include the Director of Planning and the Director of Works of the Ministry of Infrastructure, Housing and Planning as members of the committee
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received an information paper from the Ministry of Health, Agriculture and Human Services and noted up-dates on the management and financial situation and audit of the National Health Insurance Board
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discussed the TCI statutory bodies and was informed by the Hon. Premier that a review of all statutory bodies would be taken forward soon
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discussed measures to remove the recently beached cargo vessel on Governor’s Beach on Grand Turk
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received an up-date from His Excellency the Governor and the Hon. Premier on developments connected to the Haitian sloop which was discovered at North West Point on Providenciales on 24 January
Further information on these matters will be provided by Ministers in due course.