His Excellency the Governor confirmed that his next quarterly report of progress against each of the Interim Administration’s milestones will be published in early May at today’s Advisory Council (AC) meeting in Grand Turk, Wed, 18 Apr 2012.
As part of his personal commitment to speaking directly to the people of Turks and Caicos, Governor Todd will again hold public meetings on each of the inhabited family islands during May to provide locals with an opportunity to hear from him and to raise their issues directly.
Following his previous round of public meetings, for example, The Governor was able to accelerate the start of repair works on the Caicos Causeway after the people of North and Middle Ciacos expressed their concerns to him earlier this year.
Other matters discussed at this morning’s AC meeting included:
An update on the Consultative Forum led public consultation on acquisition of TCI Islander status:
-
- The AC was told that the Consultative Forum has reviewed the views offered through the extensive public consultation, and confirmed the main messages received. These messages will now inform a revised legal framework to be ready by summer 2012, to allow this milestone to be met too.
- This will form part of the ongoing change and reform programme in the Ministry of Border Control and Labour, supported by technical assistance resources from the UK, to strengthen the border, improve enforcement, to deliver effective employment services, streamlined case management, and to ensure robust delivery of identity, permanent status and citizenship documents.
- An update of the fee structure payable by companies in the telecommunications sector, such as broadcasters and mobile phone network providers, was also approved. This structure had not been updated since 2007.
- The AC was introduced to both the Employment Bill 2012 and the Health Regulation Bill. These will be discussed in greater detail at the next meeting.
- The Employment Bill seeks to remedy the deficiencies of the 2004 Ordinance which contains a number of defects in relation to the content of the law and how the law is expressed, which have led to frequent litigation and adverse comments from the Courts.
- The Health Regulation Bill which would see a Health Regulation Agency set up to regulate health facilities and a Health Profession Board to regulate individual health professionals. The Bill would establish, for the first time in the Turks and Caicos, a mechanism whereby members of the public can bring complaints of negligence or improper conduct against medical practitioners and be entitled to some form of redress due to the disciplinary powers given to the Health Professions Board.
