Her Excellency the Acting Governor, Anya Williams, chaired the 13th meeting of Cabinet on Wednesday, 6 June 2018, at the Hon. Hilly Ewing Building on Providenciales.
All Ministers were present except the Hon. Minister of Tourism, Environment, Heritage and Culture.
At this meeting Cabinet:
· Approved a business licence application by Griffiths and Partners Attorneys to operate business in an area of restricted business activity in accordance with the Business Licensing Regulations;
· Advised Her Excellency the Acting Governor to approve, with amendments being made, the draft TCIG Contributions Policy Paper governing cash grant contributions by government departments to organisations promoting the interests of TCI;
· Approved the appointment of Mrs Noreane Beatrice Williams-McKoy as the Chair of the South Caicos District Board in accordance with Section 4 of the Caicos District Boards Ordinance 1945;
· Received an information paper from the Hon. Premier, as Minister of Finance, Trade and Investment, updating Cabinet on the ongoing work into the review of the Service Charges (Hotels and Restaurants) Ordinance (2004);
· Approved the draft Immigration (Amendment) Bill 2018 and Immigration (Amendment) Regulations 2018 for forwarding to the House of Assembly for approval;
· Approved the draft Companies (Amendment) Bill 2018 for forwarding to the House of Assembly for approval;
· Discussed a proposal by InterHealth Canada (TCI) to refresh the IT systems at its hospitals in TCI. Cabinet agreed, in principle, that the IT systems should be refreshed subject to further information being provided to Cabinet;
· Advised Her Excellency the Acting Governor to approve, subject to clarifications and amendments being made, the 2018/19 Draft Revenue and Expenditure Budget Estimates of the Self-Financing Statutory Bodies for tabling at the next sitting of the House of Assembly in accordance with Section 52 of the Public Finance Management Ordinance 2012;
· Advised Her Excellency the Acting Governor to approve, subject to clarifications and amendments being made, the 2018/19 TCI Government Draft Revenue and Expenditure Budget Estimates for forwarding to the House of Assembly once approval of the Fiscal Strategic Policy Statement 2018/2022 has been received from the UK Government;
· Was advised by the Hon. Premier of her intention to attend the Pre Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) meeting being held in London from 12-15 June;
· Was advised by the Hon. Premier that the House of Assembly would reopen on 18 June;
· Was advised by the Hon. Deputy Premier and Minister of Border Control of his ongoing dialogue with the UK Border Force Team and their intention to submit their findings by 11 June;
· Was advised by Her Excellency the Acting Governor of the outcome of the 4th State of Preparedness Meeting which she co-chaired with the Hon. Acting Premier and the Hon. Minister of Home Affairs on 30 May on Grand Turk to discuss TCI’s state of preparedness for this year’s hurricane season;
· Received an update from the Hon. Minister of Home Affairs on his tour of hurricane shelters around the islands and the completion of visits to North, Middle and South Caicos and his intended visit to Salt Cay;
· Was advised by Her Excellency the Acting Governor of the receipt of three vector control vehicles from the UK Government Agency, Public Health England, which would be officially handed over to the Hon. Minister of Health and his Ministry for deployment as part of a wider package of vector control assistance for TCI being funded by the UK Government.
Further information on these matters will be provided by Ministers in due course.
