March 10, 2023

Mr. Speaker, thank you.
I have a question for the Minister of Education
around independence. And I do not mean this as a criticism, and we are a small population, and he has
subject -matter experts who are right at hand. But the
Minister on page 2 had mentioned that “As we pr epare to introduce an Education Authority, we are i ncreasing the independence and decision- making authority of the Committee, co- chaired by myself and Mr.
Philip Butterfield, Chair of BermudaFirst,” which is f ine.
But as we continue to listen to the rest of the
Statement, and I do not mean this as a criticism , but it
seems to me that . . . is the Minister just reshuffling the same players on the board and putting a different
name to it? Albeit they may be doing different tasks , I
am just wondering at what point we are going to be
losing our independent decision making.

Minister.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you, Mr. Speaker,
and thank you for that question.
As we have continuously stated about educ ation reform, and the reason we are doing this in phases is to reflect on what was previously done and how
we can do it better. And so, in some cases you will
see the same persons. But we have recognised their
skill sets and what it is that they can do to be more effective, and giving them more power to actually do
that work versus . . . So, what we went from before
was a group of persons who were doing this virtually
part-time. They wer e still doing their regular jobs and
then doing this. We have now gone to a unit that is
doing this education reform work [full -time] and they
have been released from their previous position so
they can be more effective in what it is they were do-ing.
What we found prior was in some cases some
of the things that we were doing in education reform challenged what has been the norm. And when you
have a person who is doing a job that still is to mai ntain the norm, and discuss what is going to actually
change, there is internal conflict there. Because their
job description is to ensure that the education system
as it currently exists is robust. But you also have them
thinking about things that are going to be done in the
reform that actually, in some places, are completely,
totally different from this over here.
So, the idea of trying to get persons who continue to balance between that just proved to be unwieldy. So, we put persons who say, This is what
you’re going to work on, and forget about this over
here. Y ou are now released to just move ahead with
this and even make those decisions that might not be
considered the popular decision. But they are the best
decisions. And when it comes to the Governance
Committee, the idea is that eventually, as we continue
to hash out what the Education Authority looks like,
the Chair of that Governance Committee will be r eplaced by whoever is the Chair of the Education A uthority. So that is the forward movement for that.
But the idea of the Governance Team is mos tly to look at what is happening in the Education R eform Unit, what is happening in education. And when
there is a conflict, [this] team is able to kind of talk
about how we resolve those conflicts.

Yes.


Bermuda House of Assembly So that was a lot of information. So, I completely understand. If one member has a contradiction
in their workload, they are constantly having to give
out blue crayons, but they know that yellow crayons
are what we really should be giving out, that this can
be a really difficult situation. And the Minister also
mentioned that they are sort of checking their own
work, is what I understood him to say, which still begs
the question why we would not have an independent
eye, or an independent resource within or without that
could kind of give that double check.
I mean, when we prepare something, it is always nice to get somebody else’s eye to have a look
at it. Because sometimes we just do not see the error of our ways or changes that could be made. So again,
I am asking why we are not sort of considering some
independent eye. I will give it that the Innovation Unit
is there. But again, they have been a part of this pr ogramme now for a number of years. So, they may not
be able to see as objectively as an independent.

Minister.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: It was more of a statement
than a question. But it is a good one as well, because it does kind of probe into some of the things that we
are trying to create here.
The creation of what we ar e moving forward—
when you say the independent eye, also remember everything that we do, everything that we say is governed by our stakeholders as well. They have i mmense input into what it is that we are doing. We are
always continuously out there saying, Okay. This is
what is being proposed. What is your input? So we
can ask for that. The Education Reform Unit —I will
gladly speak to you. We can speak offline on some of
the things they are doing.
One of the workstreams of that, which has
been critically im portant of getting developed, is the
data and metrics evaluation of what it is we are doing,
how it is working and how it can be done better. That
team, the teams that work on these things are not just
persons within education. They are persons within the
private sector, they are parents who can volunteer,
they are educators amongst all of our different
schools. Even students give some input into that. So,
we are casting the net as wide as we can to get the
ideas back. So, it is not just the same people who
have been running the system. It is purposely done in
a way so those persons who are outside of the system
are able to give back and actually tell us this is what
we should be doing.
One of the things you will constantly hear me
say when I am out there i n the public is, We want to
hear from the people who do not believe this is wor king. Those are the persons whom we actually need to
hear from, not the people who are already working on it and kind of see, This is the direction we’re going.
We need to hear from those people so they can ask those questions so we can find answers for those
questions and satisfy them.
And this is a plea to anyone who is out there
listening: We are always looking for that input. Just today I was reading something in the Royal G azette.
And we have been working on this for three and a
half, going on four years. And someone had a question, and one of the comments was, Does anybody
even know what signature schools are about? So we
know that there is a lot more work to do, because if
persons are asking those questions they obviously
have not been tuned in to virtually anything that we
have done over the last three and a half years. So, we
need to get that out there.
So, it is critically important as you were saying
to get external persons within this so we can generate that type of buzz amongst all Bermudians and not just
the people who are doing this day in and day out.

Second question. And it is a
quick one.
And that is, Will we be looking furt her afield
for a head of the Education Authority in much the same way as we have cast a broader net for the President of the Bermuda College? Like are we going to
look further afield for an Education Authority head? Or
is it going to come from within the r anks of the Mini stry?

MP Jackson, MP Jackson.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Honourable Member Jac kson. I am sorry. I thought we were talking in the hal lway.

[Laughter]

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Like we do about educ ation.
The idea is we need to understand that our
children deserve the best. And sometimes we need to
cast that net as far and wide as we can in order to get
912 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly the best persons for that. It is obvious t hat we have to
take into account cultural sensibilities as well. That
also has to come into effect. As a matter of fact, you
know, even when we talk about this there are legal
aspects of it. But there are also cultural aspects of
some of the things that we are doing. So we are constantly balancing that.
So, the short answer to your question is that
net has to be cast as far and wide as we can to get
the best possible person. But there also have to be
cultural sensibilities attached to that to ensure that w e
get the best possible people in there who want to see
our people move forward.

Would any Member wish to speak this
morning?
There are none?
Minister Furbert, I will allow you your three
minutes, I will say. You almost lost out that time.

Hon. Tinee Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am on my feet today because I do want to—I
did not have the opportunity to experience some of the events for International Women’s Day because I
was traveling. But I want to send a special congratul ations out to the Woman of the Year who was recognised, Patrina O’Connor -Paynter, who is —

[Desk thumping]

Yes.
Hon. Tinee Furbert: Patrina O’Connor -Paynter, who
is the Director of Big Brothers and Sisters, but has
done quite a bit of charitable work in our community
and giving much of herself to our community to elicit
change for many young people in Bermuda. And she
goes way beyond the call of duty in putting herself out
there to assist and help many people in our commun ity. So, I want to send a big, big congratulations. Ms.
O’Connor -Paynter and [we] attended primary school
together. And we were good friends in primary school. After primary school we parted ways and went to di fferent high schools. But we have still been able to
keep in contact and speak with each other and sup-port one another. So, I do want to again recognise her for being
selected as Woman of the Year.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Members, and again for our listening
audience, we are at that point in the debate today
where we will resume in the Committee to discuss the budget for this coming year, the Estimates of Revenue
and Expenditure. This morning the first Ministry up will
be the Ministry of Finance, and the second Ministry to
be debated later in the day will be the Ministry of
Home Affairs.
Finance has three hours; Home Affairs has
five hours, so that is a total of eight hours for our li stening public that we have set aside for the daily debates on our budget. And during that period, again for
the listening audience, the Speaker is out of the
House and the House is in the hands of the Chairman,
who sits to run the Committee debate.
This morning the first Member in the Chair will
be MP Jackson. But the Premier is going to move us into Committee, and then MP Jackson will take control
of the House.

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now
resume in Committee of Supply to consider the Est imates of Revenue and Expenditure f or fiscal year
2023/24.

Honourable Members, we are now in
Committee of Supply for further consideration of the
Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the year
2023/24. This morning we will be hearing from the
Minister of Finance, Heads 10, 11, 12, 28, 38, 39 and
58 of the Ministry of Finance. These are all going to be debated.
I call on the Minister in charge to proceed.
Minister, you have the floor. Hon. E. David Burt: Good morning, Madam Chai rman.
I move that the following heads, Head 10,
Ministry of Finance Headquarters; Head 11, Accountant General; Head 12, Customs; Head 28, Social I nsurance; Head 38, Office of the Tax Commissioner;
Head 39, Registrar of Companies; and Head 58, Debt
and Loan Guarantees be now taken under consider ation.

You may proceed.

MINISTRY OF FINANCE
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
And I give my apologies to Honourable Members and
the listening public, as I am not feeling 100 per cent
today. So, I am going to do my best to certainly make
it through this extensive brief. And hopefully by the
time we get to lunch I will be able to get a little bit of
rest.
Madam Chairman, the 2023/24 budget est imates for the Ministry of Finance are found in section B of the Estimates Book on pages B -104 through B -
124, and in section C on pages C -4, Capital Development; C -11, Capital Acquisitions; and C -18, Capital
Grants.
The Ministry of Finance comprises six departments, led by the Ministry of Finance Headquarters, and includes the Accountant General, C ustoms
in relation to revenue, Department of Social Insurance, the Office of the Tax Commissioner and the Registrar of Companies. Allocations to cover the i nterest on government debt, contributions to the sinking fund, guarantee management and pension comm ission are also included in the Finance Ministry’s budget.
Madam Chairman, the Ministry has the total
staffing establishment of 155 posts and an aggregate current account budget of $236.4 million and is r esponsible for collecting $1,035,000,000, or 90 per cent
of all government revenue. A snapshot of key infor-mation for the Ministry of Finance is shown on page
B-103 of the Estimates Book. The Department Current
Account allocations are as follows:
• Head 10—Ministry of Finance Headquarters, $6.79 million, a decrease of $153,000, or 2 per cent;
• Head 11—Accountant General, $82.21 mi llion, a decrease of $5.1 million, or 6 per cent;
• Head 12—Customs. The Customs expendi-ture budget sits under the Ministry of National
Security, although the Ministry of Finance
maintains responsibility for the customs tariff
and revenue collections;
• Head 28—Social Insurance, $3.53 million, a decrease of $410,000, or 10 per cent;
914 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly • Head 38—Office of the Tax Commissioner,
$3.9 million, a decrease of $212,000, or 5 per
cent;
• Head 39—Registr ar of Companies, $9.54 mi llion, an increase of $1.94 million, or 25 per
cent; and
• Head 58—Debt and Loan Guarantees, $130.4
million, an increase of $650,000.
Madam Chairman, the presentation of the
National Budget Statement on Friday, February 17,
marked t he official start of the Budget Debate in the
House of Assembly. It certainly now gives me great
pleasure to present the budget for the Ministry of F inance. And this is a very good brief which should have a lot of information for members of the public
and Members of the House, and also for the Shadow
Minister of Finance.
Madam Chairman, the Finance Ministry plays
a pivotal role in the ongoing stability and prosperity of
Bermuda, particularly in light of the serious local and
global uncertainty currently faced by our country and
others around the world. Over the past six years since
this Government has taken office, you would have
noted a recurring theme, that is, the Government’s resolve to a consistent strategy to diversify and
strengthen Bermuda’s economy and provide support
to its people, while stabilising the Island’s debt. The
following key areas of focus in this strategy are:
• targeted investment and tax policy to enhance economic growth by attracting investment that
creates jobs;
• making Bermuda’s tax s ystem fairer while r educing the tax burden for the working class;
• modernising Bermuda’s regulatory regime;
and
• maintaining fiscal discipline by meeting budget targets.
We have a responsibility to the people of this
country to provide the best fiscal and economic management possible. And to this end we will continue to
make the necessary decisions required to grow Bermuda’s economy to continue our work, which has
been demonstrated over many years, to reduce the
tax burden on workers in this country.
Madam Chairman, on the heels of a lasting
global pandemic, Bermuda continues to be faced with
significant challenges which if not appropriately managed can damage our economic security and stability.
To that end, the Finance Ministry’s budget has been carefully constructed and appropriately built to ensure
that the Ministry’s in- house team supported by various
external stakeholders are able to lead the Gover nment’s fiscal and economic policies aptly and responsibly.
In light of the ever -increasing threats and expanding obligations which Bermuda must address, ensuring that the Ministry is appropriately resourced
continues to be a priority. To this end, during the past
year, reviews of resources in key areas were done, and active steps have already been taken to address
the identified gaps. The additional funding required has therefore been included in the cost estimates for
relevant units and departments contributing to the si gnificant increases in some areas. Key initiatives which
will have to be addressed or progressed include banking, tax and pension reform, more targeted debt collection, expanded compliance and regulatory oversight, and enhanced adherence to international r equirements. The Ministry will also continue with its
internal structural reform for more effective collabor ation, operation and management.
These structural changes include the establishment of two directorates led by the Deputy Finan-cial Secretary, one of which we focussed on domestic
and economic matters, the other on international and
regulatory matters. The various units and departments
of the Ministry will fall under one of these directorates.
These directorates will be supported by a central unit
which will assist with finance, administration and pol icy support for the Ministry, and par ticularly the Financial Secretary and the Minister.

Mission Statement, Key Goals and Objectives

Hon. E. David Burt: Madam Chairman, the mission
statement of the Ministry of Finance is found on page
B-103 and reads as follows: To supervise the economy of Bermuda generally and to provide overall financial management and control of all government activ ities. In line with this, I highlight some of the Ministry’s
key objectives as follows:
1) Formulate and adhere to sound and prudent fiscal policies to achieve fi nancial stability and
promote stable and sustainable economic
growth.
2) Provide strategic direction and an overall
framework for effective financial management
and control of government activities and provide an appropriate framework for effective
compliance.
3) Oversee and ensure the prudent management
of public funds.
4) Arrange all government borrowing requir ements at the most competitive rates.
5) Prepare, implement and closely monitor the
national budget.
6) Maintain effective relations with credit rating
agencies.
7) Play an effective and appropriate role in advancing Bermuda’s national ESG [environmental, social & governance] strategy.
8) Ensure and support the fair, coherent and
predictable development of financial services
and other relevant regulation, and appropr iately monitor its implementation consistent
with international standards.
9) Monitor the internationally agreed tax standards, seek to influences changes thereto, adBermuda House of Assembly here to its compliance requirements and be
proactive in treaty negotiations with respect to
tax information exchange agreements and the
exchange of tax information.
10) Advance the government’s anti -money laundering [AML] and anti -terrorist financing [ATF]
policy initiatives and monitor for changes in i nternational standards and for other relevant
global developments that will affect Bermuda.
11) Support legislative and policy developments
to address such changes and coordinate
measures to enhance Bermuda’s AML/ATF
regime.
During the past year we were able to move
forward in a number of key areas. And in this brief, we
will seek to highlight the key accomplishments. These
include a successful refinancing of almost $1 billion of
debt and effective advocacy meetings with key persons in the United Kingdom, the European Council
and Commission, as well as other off icials in leadership roles in EU nations. And of course, Madam
Chairman, an unqualified audit of the consolidated
fund. Positive interactions with rating agencies resul ted in the maintenance of our strong credit ratings and
provision for relief of the people in Bermuda in muchneeded areas in the face of 14-year-high global infl ation. Completion of a successful year as Chair of the
Caribbean Financial Action Task Force and continued
prudent management of the public purse in execution
of an effective debt and deficit management strategy.
As we go forward into this coming year, we
will continue to build on the strong foundation that has
been established with the focus on economic growth,
maintaining Bermuda’s reputation as an internationally
respected financi al centre, executing a prudent fiscal
strategy balanced by our commitment to appropriately
meeting the needs of the people of Bermuda—all of
this while seeking to build a fairer and more just soci ety.
I will now speak to the various units which
comprise t he Ministry of Finance, starting with Head
10, the Ministry of Finance Headquarters.

HEAD 10 —MINISTRY OF FINANCE
HEADQUARTERS

Hon. E. David Burt: Madam Chairman, the Ministry of
Finance Headquarters’ core functions are conducted
under Head 10, Ministry of Finance Headquarters,
which can be found on page B -105. The work undertaken by the Ministry [HQ] is carried out through the
following units: Policy, Planning and Management;
Fiscal Planning and Control; International Affairs and Regulatory; Domestic Affairs and Economic Policy;
Treaty Management and Administration; and the O ffice of the National Anti -Money Laundering Commi ttee, better known as NAMLC.
The Ministry of Finance Headquarters’ mi ssion is as follows: Achievement of economic prosper i-ty and to ensure the financial security of Bermuda. In
discharging its functions under the overall policy direction of the Minister of Finance, the Ministry of Finance
Headquarters seeks to achieve the following outcomes: a Bermuda that maintains its position as a domicile of choice for international business; a Bermuda where citizens have confidence in the Gover nment’s stewardship of the public purse; a Bermuda where funding and resources are available for key
programmes and initiatives; and finally, a Bermuda
where c itizens regard Government’s policy responses
to economic and financial challenges as appropriate
and in the national interest.
Madam Chairman, in seeking to fulfil this
mandate, the Ministry of Finance Headquarters has a staff establishment of 22 permanent full -time posts,
and its total budget for 2023/24 is $6.79 million. This
allocation is reduced by $153,000 from the prior fiscal
year, primarily due to a reduction in funding for regul atory quangos in keeping with the principle that regulated entities bear the cost of compliance, as well as
various operational costs including travel as more
business is conducted remotely.
Madam Chairman, the budget for Ministry
Headquarters includes an operational element for
each of the six programme areas within Minis try
Headquarters, plus grant funding to the Pension
Commission and the Bermuda Public Accountability
Board. Detailed information on these cost centres, as
well as the other departments who form part of the
Ministry of Finance are incorporated into the pres entation that I will be giving today.

Policy, Planning and Management

Hon. E. David Burt: Starting on cost centre 2000,
Policy, Planning, and Management, $2.3 million, an
increase of $408,000, or 22 per cent. Madam Chai rman, the 2023/24 budget estimate for the Policy,
Planning, and Management Unit is $2.303 million, an
increase of $408,000, or 22 per cent, over 2022/23.
This unit, under the leadership of the Acting Financial
Secretary, provides advice and support to me, as Mi nister of Finance, as well as overall strategic direction,
oversight and management of Ministry Headquarters
and the departments that comprise the Ministry of F inance. In addition, this unit manages the administr ation of other activities associated with the daily oper ation of the Mini stry of Finance Headquarters. It plays a
key role in financial accountability of various quangos,
as well as overseeing general financial and fiscal
oversight and accountability throughout the Gover nment.
The $408,000 proposed increase in expenditure is necessary to support the cost of external r esources to assist the Ministry in accomplishing its
mandate in the area of innovative policy development.
These resources will fill resource gaps in the Ministry
and provide specialist expertise when required, suc h
916 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly as professional firms who undertake special projects
such as the ongoing project to move from the pilot
mortgage guarantee scheme to one where we see a
reduction of mortgage rates across all banks in this
country. Additionally, work is being done on the critical
matters of advancing the issue related to the global
minimum tax.
Further included in the Ministry of Finance
Headquarters is a $300,000 grant to the Bermuda Public Accountability Board, which is unchanged from
the prior year’s allocation. The pr imary objective of the
Bermuda Public Accountability Board is to oversee the
supervision and enforcement of auditors who carry on
audit business in Europe and in the United Kingdom in accordance with the Bermuda Public Accountability
Act 2011.
Moving to c ost centre 20010, Fiscal Planning
and Control Unit. Madam Chairman, the budget for
the Fiscal Planning and Control Unit in 2023/24 is
$549,000, which is $35,000 lower than the original
budget for the previous year. A salary provision of
$428,854 accounts f or 73 per cent of the Budget
Team’s allocation for this year. The provision covers
the post of Director of Budgets, Principal Budget O fficer, Budget Officer and Budget Assistant.
The Fiscal and Planning Control Unit, or the
Budget Team, is primarily responsible for the management, collection and collation of the annual budget
of the Consolidated Fund; the monitoring and control
of overall government expenditures on both capital
accounts and current accounts; and the achievement
of government revenues. The unit is also tasked with
the responsibility of reviewing and developing the
government’s annual capital expenditure plan.
The Director, Ms. Tina Tucker, who we know
is a long- serving public officer, continues to give great
work and support to the Ministry and the Government.
The Director also represents the Ministry on key
quango boards to ensure appropriate financial management and governance. The Budget Team provides
advice and guidance to department heads and controllers on both the formulation of minis try budgets
and on budget monitoring and control. The team pr ovides two formal training sessions each year, designed for ministry/departmental staff who has r esponsibility for budget preparation and/or budget monitoring control.
As part of the budget moni toring control exercises, all ministries and departments are required to review expenditure performance and to confirm on a
monthly basis their current and capital account expenditure performance with the Budget Office. The
budget monitoring exercises incl ude a detailed media
review of all expenditures and revenue to provide updated fiscal projections for the year and the relevant
budget actions to sustain the budget deficit target. As
part of a detailed mid- year budget review exercise,
ministries were able to identify savings in revenue
achievements to offset the additional funding for ec o-nomic relief, COVID -19-related expenditures, Berm uda Hospitals Board grant and additional expenditure delivery on services to the people of Bermuda in
2022/23.
Madam Chai rman, controlling government
expenditure has been and still remains a significant
commitment of the Government. In order to determine
high policy priority programmes, the Budget Office has
continued to use and to require the use of zero- based
budgeting met hodology for the development of
2023/24 estimates. Policy prioritisation at the start to the budget process will facilitate a better alignment of
the allocation of limited resources with Government’s
overall policy initiatives and objectives. Zero- based
budgeting is a method of budgeting in which all expenditures must be justified, along with a systematic
review of performance of current programmes.
The fundamental aim of zero- based budgeting
is to reflect the current and proposed future pr ogrammes and ser vices required by the Government’s
national plan. It is important to note also, Madam
Chairman, that included in this aspect is something
that I mentioned in the Budget Statement, which is also the public value assessment which is a tool that
has come out of the Government reform initiative,
which is to be applied to ensure that services are being delivered to the public in the best way possible.
For fiscal year 2023/24, the department has
set objectives to provide support for the open budget process; enhance budget monitoring and reporting;
continue the development of budget preparation
methodology website; and in addition, Madam Chai rman, to commence budget preparations earlier as the
Government is going to be reforming the Cabinet Capital Committee to make sure that we are mapping out
a sound capital plan that can enable the budget pr ocess to be a little less stressful in the months of N ovember, December and January.
Madam Chairman, moving on to cost centre
20020. The budget estimate for the International A ffairs and Regulatory Unit may be found in section B of
the Budget Book on page B -105. Accordingly, the
budget for this unit is $468,000, which represents no change from the previous fiscal year.

The Regulatory Unit
Hon. E. David Burt: Madam Chairman, the Regulat ory Unit is the lead policy division within the Ministry of
Finance Headquarters in relation to the financial services sector. The Regulatory Unit is accountable to
the Financial Secretary for the effective discharge of
the unit’s functions and through the Premier/Minister
of Finance to Cabinet and Parliament. The head of the
unit, the Assistant Financial Secretary for Regulation,
carries out financial services policies, working closely
with other teams in the Ministry of Finance, particularly the Treaty Unit, the Registrar of Companies, the
Office of NAMLC, as well as the Bermuda Monetary


Bermuda House of Assembly Authority, the Attorney General’s Chambers, the N ational Anti -Money Laundering Committee, the Berm uda Gaming Commission, the Bermuda Public A ccountability Boar d, the Chartered Professional A ccountants of Bermuda and specialist global partners.
In this way the Regulatory Unit works to strengthen
the financial services supervisory framework and key
institutions that enable access to the domestic economy and the gl obal economy.
Madam Chairman, the Regulatory Unit operates in response to a broad range of opportunities and risks, which allows the Ministry to contribute actively to
a continuous flow of information on potential threats
and opportunities to Bermuda and its reputation. Those opportunities and risks are constantly changing. The Regulatory Unit’s planned response to these
challenges through various goals focuses on advancing the unit’s priorities and reflecting the outcomes the
people of Bermuda desire and deserve. Working
closely with the Premier, the Acting Financial Secr etary and the relevant entities, these goals are to
1. ensure and support the fair, impartial, efficient
and transparent development of regulation at
the national and international level;
2. strengthen the capacity to secure regulatory
solutions to economic security issues; and
3. strengthen the public diplomacy and support
bilateral and multi -lateral engagement.
Madam Chairman, the Regulatory Unit is i nvolved in a variety of policy management areas from regulatory reform in financial stability to anti -money
laundering and market access issues at home and
abroad. In general, the scope of information requir ements is broad within the area of digital money and financial services regulation, and superv ision exec ution must be better and smarter. The scope of the
Regulatory Unit’s activities are to
• support the Minister of Finance and the F inancial Secretary in coordinating the financial
services regulatory policy initiatives of the
government;
• oversee the Ministry of Finance component of
the financial services legislative programme,
together with the Bermuda Monetary Authority
and the Ministry of Legal Affairs and Constit utional Reform;
• provide policy and strategic advice to the Mi nister of Finance and the Financial Secretary
on anti -money laundering policy initiatives t ogether with the National Anti -Money Laundering Committee, pursuant to section 49 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 1997;
• provide policy and strategic advice to the Mi nister of Finance and the Fi nancial Secretary
on matters related to transparency, financial
services directives and other related directives
issued by the European Union working t ogether with the Cabinet Office, the Brussels Office, the London Office and EU Special List Advisors; and
• provide advice to the Financial Policy Council
together with other domestic agencies and/or
committees regarding matters related to f inancial services.
Madam Chairman, in 2022/23 the Regulatory
Unit was primarily focused on technical and strategic assist ance regarding the financial services sector at
home and abroad. Additional milestones achieved by
the Regulatory Unit in 2022/23 included the following:
• Maintained regulatory stability by ensuring
completion of the Ministry of Finance component of 12 financial serv ice sectors Bills
and/or statutory instruments including but not
limited to banking, governance, enforcement,
insurance and investment business .
• Proposals submitted by the Bermuda Monetary Authority in 2022 related to digital assets and other aspects of banking having various
levels of complexity. These proposals have
been prioritised for completion in 2023.
• In collaboration with the Ministry of Finance
colleagues, the Regulatory Unit provided
technical and strategic advice on supervisory
assessme nts, sovereign- rating meetings, as
well as the 2022 Bermuda Bond refinancing.
• As appropriate, the Regulatory Unit provided
input on relevant UK, US and EU matters, as well as assisted in advocacy in domestic and
external engagement activities.
Madam Chair man, the Unit’s primary role going forward in the next year will be to continue to work
with the relevant finance teams, the Cabinet Office,
Attorney General’s Chambers, Monetary Authority,
Gaming Commission and the Bermuda Public A ccountability Board to m eet Bermuda’s domestic and
international commitments and to implement the struc-tural adjustments for the coordination and oversight of
the International Unit, as outlined in the main body of
this brief.
In order to achieve its priorities and pursuant
to the Ministry of Finance business plan, the Unit will
undertake the following key strategic goals in 2023/24:
First, the Regulatory Unit will work with rel evant parties to coordinate Bermuda’s compliance with the various, numerous (and sometimes . . .I will leave
that alone) various EU directives and assist with pr eparing for visits by the Minister of Finance to meet
with key European Union stakeholders. Next, the
Regulatory Unit will contribute to and support the i mplementation of Bermuda’s anti -money laundering
strategy in relation to compliance with Financial Action Task Force requirements.
Next, ongoing work with UK authorities will
include matters related to equivalence and transpar-ency. The Unit will also work closely with the Treaty
Unit, Registrar of Companies and the Office of
NAMLC and others as appropriate to coordinate the
918 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Finance Ministry’s response to the OECD as and
when required. Finally, Madam Chairman, in 2023/24
the Regulatory Unit will work closely with the Bermuda
Gaming Commission to reassess the supervisory
framework including in relation to compliance with
AML/ATF requirements.
Through this work the Regulatory Unit helps
supervisors and businesses articulate the regulatory market access and related challenges they face [to
the] government and the public. Additionally, we will
finalise matters related to banking and fee regul ations
to make sure that customers, banking customers in
this country, are not subjected to random or conti nued
fee increases by Bermuda’s banking sector.
Madam Chairman, a salary provision of
$396,516 accounts for 85 per cent of the Regulatory
Unit’s allocation for 2023/24, which covers three
posts.

Domestic Affairs and Economic Policy

Hon. E. David Burt: Madam Chairman, I would now
like to move on to cost centr e 20030, Domestic Affairs
and Economic Policy. Madam Chairman, the 2023/24
budget allocation for the Domestic Affairs and Ec onomic Policy Unit is $431,000, which is unchanged
from the original allocation in the previous fiscal year.
This unit provides research and analysis of economic
and financial conditions to help facilitate sound dec isions on public policy and fiscal debt and guarantee
management. The Unit also manages the relationship
with credit rating agencies and assists other gover nment entities wi th addressing financing needs. Repr esenting the Ministry on specific quango boards is also a key responsibility.
Madam Chairman, as mentioned in last year’s
Budget Statement, a key challenge at the time was
related to the need to refinance almost $1 billi on in
debt within 24 months. This was successfully
achieved in July and August of 2022, and as a result
no new refinancing is now expected to be needed by
the Government of Bermuda until 2027—without
question, a positive result in this uncertain interest
rate environment.
In the upcoming year this Unit will play a
greater role in the coordination and oversight of all domestic and economic matters. It will ensure proper
collaboration and cost -efficient approaches in debt
collection, which has been a key area focus for this
year. It will also assist in tax reform work, enhanced
financial reporting and more focused debt and guarantee management and monitoring.
Other key initiatives include continuing to i mprove the sustainability of the government’s funds, the Public Service Superannuation Fund and the Contri butory Pension Fund in the updated framework that
allows for progressive contributions. Work is currently
being finalised on the strategies that will help ensure
the sustainability of the funds, and this w ill be followed by another round of stakeholder engagement with
employees, unions and taxpayers to discuss the var ious options and agree on a way forward. In addition to
the proposed change in the contribution structure, adjustments may have to be made to other levers, namely, retirement age and benefits.
Continuing to work on the development of
economic models for the forecasting of key economic indicators in government medium -term fiscal data to
enhance, amongst other things, the execution of the
Governm ent’s fiscal and economic management
strategy in consideration of the reform of the tax sy stem. And this is a very important point because we are
developing a number of areas of economic models
that can help to not only predict where economic
growth is goi ng, but we are also going to be able to—
and this will help certainly in better financial planning.
And this work is being assisted by the Economics Unit
also with assistance from members of the Financial
Policy Council.
In conjunction with the Minister of Public
Works, the launch of the government -owned captive
insurance company to further reduce costs and create efficiencies in relation and provision of insuranc e for
government assets called—
[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. E. David Burt: Next, working w ith quangos to
strengthen financial accountability and governance.
Madam Chairman, the Opposition Leader is
over there whispering that I must have read his
speech. And I just want to make a note that, you
know, this Government is committed to sound governance in advancing our initiatives. And I am pleased
that I will have the support on some issues, of course,
as I know that earlier you, Madam Chairman, were
commenting and complimenting the Government on
progress on a number of initiatives. And we are
pleased to continue to work and progress forward. Let
me get back to the brief.
Working with other teams to assist the anal ysis and costs and to assess the financing options of major capital expenditure projects including the area of education reform and also the refurbishment of
Tynes Bay.
The salary provision of $315,000 accounts for
approximately 73 per cent of the Economic and F inancial Intelligence Unit’s allocation and covers two
posts.

The Treaty Unit
Hon. E. David Burt: Moving on, Madam Chairman, to
cost centre 20040, Treaty Management and Admi nistration. Madam Chairman, the 2023/24 budget est imate for the Treaty Management and Administration
Unit (shortly known as the Treaty Unit) may be found
in section B of the Estimates Book. Accordingly, the


Bermuda House of Assembly budget for this Unit in 2023/24 is $1,549,000. This
represents a decrease of $385,000, or 20 per cent, of
this budget allocation for this period compared to the
original 2022/23 budget.
Madam Chairman, as the [INAUDIBLE ] Unit
continues to diversify from the original core activity
that led to its creation, which was the negotiation and
processing of international tax cooperation on the by -
request basis. Madam Chairman, the Treaty Unit’s
remit is to negotiate and administer agreements related to the bilateral t ax information exchange with
member countries of the European Union, G20, O rganisation for Economic Co- operation and Development [OECD], and other jurisdictions and key coun-tries. Participate in the OECD multi -lateral tax information exchange treaty with m ore than 100 participating countries. Manage and administer requests for tax-related information received under the provisions
of Bermuda’s tax agreements, ensure that Bermuda
operates in keeping with the common reporting standard for the OECD, the country -by-country reporting
standard by the OECD, the tax information and exchange of information on the by -request basis standard for the OECD, and any new tax reporting standards by the OECD. (And for sure there will be a new
one very soon.)
Madam Chairman, t he Treaty Unit, in addition
to negotiating and managing international tax treaties, has also increased the work of Bermuda’s international business stakeholders to address international tax
policy threats. The international business sector in
particular, t he insurance and reinsurance industry
continues to be an important part of our economy, and
therefore the work of the Treaty Unit is critical protec-tion of this significant industry.
Madam Chairman, the Treaty Unit’s main
achievement in the current fiscal year was to play a
key role in Bermuda’s response to the emerging OECD global tax standard. The Treaty Unit provided
policy advice and input into Bermuda’s submissions
into the G20 OECD inclusive framework on the twopillar solution on base erosion and pr ofit shifting, better known as BEPS. Madam Chairman, the most well -
known element of this work is the G20 OECD global
minimum tax of 15 per cent, which represents one of
the biggest challenges in the history of Bermuda’s
international business sector and thus also is a signif icant threat to Bermuda’s economic stability. Ther efore, the Treaty Unit, on behalf of the Minister of F inance, has been working in close consultation with
various international business stakeholders for almost
the past three years on a constant basis. Some of
those international business stakeholders are now
members of the newly appointed International Tax
Working Group, to which the Treaty Unit provides
support and advice in their critical deliberations on the
appropriate implementation of this new global agreement. Madam Chairman, the Treaty Unit’s management of Bermuda’s compliance to the OECD and E uropean Union international tax policies has become a
majority component of the Treaty Unit’s work. And
although the Unit continues to negotiate and manage tax treaties and updates to Bermuda’s tax treaty rel ationships when required, the Unit is also involved in
managing aspects of the threat posed by the EU lis ting process which represents a constant activity that
the Government must be aware of and must manage.
Madam Chairman, there are at least five separate but equally volatile doors to e- listings. They are
the EU and OECD economic substance, which is
handled by the Registrar of Companies and also the
four regimes which are handled by the Treaty Unit,
which is the OECD common reporting standard, the
OECD country -by-country reporting standard, the
OECD tax information exchange of information on the
on-request basis standard and also continued partic ipation in the OECD Multilateral Tax Treaty.
Madam Chairman, there is also a likelihood
that the OECD global minimum tax regime, which has
been approved by the European Union and which has
issued a European Union directive and with plans being announced by other countries, will be added to the
OECD standards, which the EU monitors for their f amous list. Madam Chairman, although the timing and
implementation of any such measures in various
countries remain uncertain, the potential impact on
Bermuda’s international competitiveness is of signif icant note. Therefore, the work of the International Tax
Working Group is pivotal to Bermuda’s future success.
Madam Chairman, the Treaty Unit has potentially identified additional resource posts needed to effectively administer the four OECD regimes’ compl iance requirements. However, given the need for experienced resources, the Unit has traditionally chosen
external resources that exist to administer these r egimes until the resource analysis has been completed.
Thus, currently there are three Treaty Unit staf f and
one vacant budgeted post. And there is a projected
cost for the temporary use of external resources. The
aggregate budgeted annual salary cost is $438,769,
and there is a $689,000 budget which is included in the Treaty Unit’s budget to cover the combined costs
of legal and advisory experts to assist the ongoing
work related to the global minimum tax and other EU
initiatives.
Additionally, $300,000 is allocated to the
Unit’s core administrative function related to the nec-essary IT software services of the Ministry’s IT assets
in the international tax reporting portal to keep the software updated in compliance with the OECD
standard for the automatic exchange of tax -related
information, for the OECD automatic exchange r egimes of the common reporting standard and for the country -by-country reporting standard.
Madam Chairman, given the strong linkages
between the work of the Treaty Unit and the Registrar
920 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly of Companies it is proposed that there will be an appropriate amalgamation over the next few years. This
is seen as an opportune time, given the significant
changes that have already taken place in relation to
the OECD and EU initiatives and the expectation that
there is more to come. It should also create better
costs and operational efficiencies, which are important
given the related complexities and comprehensiv eness of the requirements. In the meantime, the Treaty
Unit will continue the following initiatives during the
next fiscal year:
1) Continue to negotiate tax information exchange agreements and other agreements r elating to tax information exchange and ass ociated agreements or negotiate revisions to
existing tax agreements to maintain Berm uda’s tax agreement relationships with member
countries of the EU, G20 and OECD.
2) Seek to keep Bermuda compliant wit h the
OECD tax standards especially during a per iod of possible revisions to Bermuda’s domestic tax regime. And that is just an important
note because with the EU economic substance and other items, any change to our
domestic tax now needs to have the bles sing
of other bodies (a continued erosion of tax
sovereignty).
3) Administer requests for exchange of tax -
related information on the by -request basis
received by Bermuda’s over 100 partner
coun tries.

National Anti -Money Laundering Committee (NAMLC)

Hon. E. David Burt: Madam Chairman, I will now
move if I may to cost centre 20100, which is the Office
of the National Anti -Money Laundering Committee
[NAMLC]. Madam Chairman, the Office of the NAMLC budget for fiscal year 2023/24 is $889,827.87, a decrease of approximately $41,172, or 4 per cent, from
last year’s original allocation.
Madam Chairman, the purpose of the Office
of the National Anti -Money Laundering Committee is
to provide secretariat support to NAMLC and to enable the Ministry of Finance to achieve the objectives of
• advancing the Government’s anti -money
laundering and anti -terrorist financing
[AML/ATF] policy initiatives;
• monitoring for changes in the international standards or for other relevant global developments that will affect Bermuda;
• supporti ng legislative and policy development
to address such changes; and
• coordinating measures to enhance Bermuda’s
AML/ATF regime.
This requires the Office to be responsible for
the administration of NAMLC’s national initiatives such
as the assessment of Bermuda’s national anti -money
laundering and terrorist financing risk, and managing the reviews of Bermuda’s anti -money laundering and
antiterrorist financing regimes by external bodies. Through its established coordination and cooperation
mechanisms, NAMLC ens ures that Bermuda has a
strong, effective regime to combat money laundering,
terrorism financing and the financing of proliferation.
And the competent authorities assist international
counterparts in the effort to address these issues on a
global scale.
Madam Chairman, during the current fiscal
year, NAMLC has continued its critical focus on mai ntaining and where needed enhancing the effectiv eness of Bermuda’s AML/ATF framework. This is nec-essary to sustain the achievements noted in Berm uda’s 2020 Mutual Evaluation Reports, as well as to
address recommendations made by the assessors in that report. NAMLC’s priority is thus on attaining a
technically compliant and broadly effective AML/ATF
framework, the goal of which is to combat and minimise the occurrenc e of money laundering and terrorist
financing in Bermuda.
Madam Chairman, during 2022/23 Bermuda’s
first report to CFATF [Caribbean Financial Action Task Force] following the publication of the 2020 Mutual
Evaluation was presented at the CFATF plenary
which was held in May of 2022. Therefore, at the start
of this fiscal year NAMLC engaged with the CFATF
Secretariat in the finalisation of this report. In cons equence of the progress reported by Bermuda, CFATF
maintained Bermuda in a regular follow -up, unlike the
majority of CFATF member states who were in enhanced follow -up. Bermuda’s second follow -up report
will be considered two years after the first report at the
May 2024 plenary. However, Bermuda will be subject
to being reassessed for compliance with thr ee of
FATF’s 40 recommendations as the Financial Action
Task Force has made changes to two of the recommendations since 2020.
Bermuda will be required to submit full written
submissions and supporting evidence six months prior to the plenary in November 2023, which means that just in a few months we will have to submit another
report.
Madam Chairman, during the follow -up pr ocess, Bermuda must report on our progress and address the assessment’s recommended actions and
remediate the deficiencies which were noted by them
in the 2020 Mutual Evaluation Report. For the upcoming second follow -up report, given the re- rating pr ocess, NAMLC has already commenced work on this
during the current fiscal year. The following work has
been undertaken by the Office of NAMLC in fiscal
year 2022/23 to support this:
1. Provide support to one NAMLC agency whose
legislative intent and collaborations were identified by the assessors as having deficiencies,
leading to the rating level requiring a subs equent re- rating. This work is ongoing and will


Bermuda House of Assembly involve legislative amendments to advance
during the upcoming fiscal year.
2. Lead a project to help NAMLC implement actions to address new technical requirements
imposed by the Financial Action Task Force
for the second of three recommendations for
which Bermuda will be re- rated. Thus, coordination of support from the Privacy Commi ssion and the PATI and PIPA Units in the Cab-inet Office has already started to bring
NAMLC’s agency’s coordination and domestic
cooperation practices in line with dat a protection standards. Significant additional work to
progress this will continue into the new fiscal year.
3. Support the Bermuda Monetary Authority with the conduct of the first sectorial risk asses sment for the digital asset business sector.
Thus, the Off ice is coordinating involvement of
other NAMLC agencies and leading the tec hnical analysis necessary for their contribution to this assessment. This sectoral risk assessment recently commenced and is part of
the technical work required to address substanti al new requirements imposed by the F inancial A ction Task Force, better known as
FATF, in relation to the remaining recommen-dations to be re- rated. That risk assessment
will co ntinue into the new fiscal year and must
be finalised before the November deadline for
submission of Bermuda’s report to the CFATF
Secretariat.
During the fiscal year 2022/23, NAMLC also
carried out work to review and update Bermuda’s N ational Anti -Money Laundering/Anti -Terrorist Financing
and Counter -Proliferation of Financing Action Plan.
During this year the National AML policy was also updated and approved by the Cabinet. This updated national action plan reflects actions Bermuda needs to
take to enhance the effectiveness of the AML/ATF
regime and to remediate inefficiencies identi fied in the
most recent national risk assessments undertaken in
2020. The updated national policy is also risk -based
and provides a roadmap for Bermuda’s competent
authorities on how to operate to achieve the goals and
objectives of an effective AML/ATF regime.
These initiatives are essential components of
Bermuda’s fidelity to international standards which require countries to maintain an updated understanding of their risks and regularly update their national
policies and strategies to reflect the identi fied risks.
Madam Chairman, as previously noted,
NAMLC conducted national risk assessments in 2020
to assess Bermuda’s exposure to terrorist financing
and money -laundering risks. These assessments
were completed in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Full
techni cal reports on the outcome of these asses sments have been finalised and approved by the Cabinet. But a consolidated version of these reports is be-ing prepared for publication with the expectation that
the report will be published shortly.
Madam Chairman, approximately 90 per cent
of the budget allocation represents the minimum level of funding to achieve the provision of secretariat ser-vices to NAMLC, including to meet Bermuda’s financial obligation to the Caribbean Financial Action Task
Force, better know n as CFATF. The remaining
$88,062, or 10 per cent of the budget , funds ancillary
items required to enable NAMLC to fulfil its statutory mandates.
Madam Chairman, for 2023/24, NAMLC’s f ocus will continue to be on ensuring that Bermuda
maintains its position as a global leader in the fight to
combat money -laundering, terrorist financing and pr oliferation financing, especially in the face of rather si gnificant changes being made by FATF to international standards. Remaining compliant is essential to Bermuda’s current standing in the CFATF follow -up pr ogramme, but it will also be an important aid to Berm uda as we look forward to FATF’s upcoming fifth round of mutual evaluations, which is due to commence in
2025. The Financial Action Task Force has already made important changes to the standards and to the
assessment methodology in preparation for this. And
Bermuda will soon need to take steps to implement
those new requirements.
In accordance with the national AML/ATF policy, action plan and strategy, Bermuda’ s AML/ATF
programme will continue to be advanced during this
period to avoid undoing the achievements that have
already been recognised.
Madam Chairman, most of the budget alloc ation comprises funding for three full -time employee
posts and the Chair of t he National Anti -Money Laundering Committee. The remainder of this portion of the
allocation goes toward local training initiatives for
NAMLC, $50,000; the annual CFATF membership
contribution, $68,360; attendance at CFATF plenaries
and other conferences, $25,000; and miscellaneous
administrative costs. The remaining 10 per cent of the
allocation is project funding, representing approx imately a quarter of the cost for NAMLC to conduct
national risk assessment exercises to start in January 2024. The remainder of the cost of that assessment
will be covered during fiscal year 2024/25. Although
no project funding was allocated specifically for Bermuda’s second follow -up report, agencies will have to
appropriately contribute to share any required costs.
Madam Chairman, the key initiatives for which
the Office of NAMLC will provide support during the
fiscal year, this new financial year 2023/24 are as follows:
• Continue to coordinate the input of relevant NAMLC agencies and provide technical leadership in part of t he analytical work for the
money -laundering risk assessment of the digital asset business sector and as appropriate the legal person assessment.
922 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly • Finalise and submit Bermuda’s written submissions to CFATF Secretariat required for
Bermuda’s second follow -up report due in N ovember 2023. This will involve coordinating
and keeping NAMLC’s agencies accountable
for completing outstanding actions required to
address the assessor’s recommended actions
to the 2020 report and to remediate the ident ified deficiencies.
• Lead or provide necessary support for completing the actions needed to facilitate Berm uda’s successful re -rating for three FATF recommendations, namely, recommendations 2,
15 and 32, and coordinate the preparation by
NAMLC of written submissions to report on
the progress made to satisfy the technical
compliance requirements needed for these reratings.
• We must plan for, coordinate, and commence
in January 2024 the first consolidated money -
laundering/terrorist financing national risk assessment in accordance with Bermuda’s national AML/ATF and CTF policy. An updated
national risk assessment for money -
laundering and terrorist financing is required
to be conducted every three years. For the
first time, NAMLC has decided to consolidate the risk assessments given the availability of
an optimised tool to facilitate this.
• The Office will organise and conduct specialist
money -laundering and terrorist financing trai ning for NAMLC members and for private sector participants in the national risk assessment
as a precursor to the launch of this asses sment. As NAMLC has decided to commence
the first proliferation financing risk assessment
at the end of [the] 2023/24 money -
laundering/terrorist financing national risk assessment, a suitable assessment tool and methodology wil l have to be identified and
procured along with preliminary training for
NAMLC members. This will facilitate effective
planning for this assessment.
• Undertake private sector consultation in rel ation to the proposed reform of the appeal tr ibunal framework established under the Pr oceeds of Crime legislation. The Office will also
manage the legislative development process
for this initiative.
• Organise foundational digital assets, or cry ptocurrency, training for all NAMLC agencies to
sensitise technical officer s to various categories of digital assets and how they are being
misused in money -laundering and terrorist f inancing regimes.
Madam Chairman, if I may move on to 20070,
the Pension Commission [grants].

[Pause] The Chairman: I would like to take this moment just
to remind the listening public that we are in Committee of Supply for the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the years 2023/24. We are presently in the
Ministry of Finance brief, and we are listening to Heads 10, 11, 12, 28, 38, 39 and 58. The Minister of
Finance is reading the brief for Head 10 now, and he
is about to begin the National Pension Commission.
Minister, you may proceed.

The Pension Commission

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you so much, Madam
Chairman, for that.
Madam Chairman, the proposed grant for the
Commission for 2023/24 is $600,000, a 14 per cent
decrease from the previous $700,000 grant in the pr evious year’s budget.
Madam Chairman, the Pension Commission
is a corporate body established under the National
Pension Scheme (Occupational Pensions) Act 1998
and has the following functions:
• to administer the Act and the Regulations;
• to consider and determine applications for the
registration of pension plans;
• to consider and determine financial hardship withdrawal applications;
• to promote and ensure compliance by pension
plans for the provision of the Act and Regul ations;
• to monitor the administration and funding of
pension plans and to enforce the provisions of
the Act and Regulations in respect of such
administration and fundi ng;
• to verify the payment of the benefits under the
pension plans;
• to promote public education on pension plans
and their benefits;
• to advise the Minister on any matter relating to
pensions, including the development of new
laws relating to pension plans;
• to provide such information relating to its functions as the Minister may require;
• to investigate complaints relating to a pension
plan and a pension fund; and
• to perform any other functions provided for in or under this Act.
Madam Chairman, the Pension C ommission
also has responsibility for the administration of the
Pension Trust Funds Act 1966 and pension trusts established and administered under this Act.
Madam Chairman, like many other organis ations in Bermuda, the Commission’s operations were
impact ed by shifting its focus away from responding to
the changing demands of the COVID -19 pandemic in
the previous two years. The Commission moved from remote to in- office working, but still had to be vigilant
in protecting staff from the virus. The previous i ntroBermuda House of Assembly duction of more online applications and communic ation platforms still proved beneficial in handling var ious transactions from active and retired plan members, employers and pension plan service providers.
The Commission also maintained its responsibili ty in
the Bermuda Government’s continued provision of
both temporary and permanent financial relief via access by active and retired plan members to their pension fund balances. The Commission’s income has
benefited from enhanced regulatory fees that were
first received in 2020 and when combined with r educed budget expenditure resulted in a net positive
outcome for the year.
During the year the Commission recognised it
would be increasingly important to become more f inancially sustainable by reducing its r eliance on government grant funding to cover its operational expenses. To this end, it continued to build up its capital
reserves and examined potential sources of additional
independent sources of regulatory income. This pr ocess will continue in 2023.
Madam Chairman, recognising the continued
challenge of economic impact that the pandemic
caused in the domestic economy, the Government
introduced a further temporary pension refund benefit
under the Act last year. In particular, the legislation
was amended to allow plan members under the age of
65 to withdraw up to a further $6,000 from their occ upational pension plans. Applications made to a mem-ber’s private pension plan administrator, where needed, have to be submitted by the 30th of June of 2023.
In other words, it is still open. The temporary refund
provided by the Government is in addition to the
$12,000 provided in 2021 and the $6,000 provided in
2022.
Madam Chairman, these and other related
additional refunds provided timely and substantial f inancial support to Bermudians, and I am pleased to
provide the following summary of the approved refund
payments up to the 31st of December 2022:
• temporary refunds in the amount of $235 mi llion;
• small pension refunds. This is not the temporary thing that we did, but just small pension
refunds, $8.43 million; and
• 25 per cent lump sum refunds, $45.1 million.
Madam Chairman, in relationship to other areas of activities and responsibilities of the Commi ssion, I can advise the following:
• During 2022, the Commission registered 91
plan amendments compared to 63 in 2021.
• Approved one plan trustee in comparison to 27 in 2021.
• Wound up 31 plans compared to 21 in 2021.
• Initiated two civil actions against delinquent
employers and their directors and officers
compared to twenty -one in 2021. • Conducted 21 compliance meetings with employers and plan members compared to 19 in
2021.
• Held eight compliance meetings with plan
administrators compared to only one in 2021.
• Participated in two public and/or advisory
committee meetings compared to four in
2021.
• Completed 19 transactions under the Pension
Trust Fund Act 1966 compared to 31 in 2021 .
As of the 31st of December 2021, based upon
the most recent data available from plan administr ators, the National Pension Scheme contained 48,679
plan members and former members. There were a
total of 3,157 employer plans, 3,142 defined contribu-tion plans and 15 defined benefit plans. The total value of assets under the National Pension Scheme was $3.85 billion. There were 548 self -employment plans ,
and $267,000 of plan assets were transferred to overseas retirement vehicles compared to $1,040,000 in
the previous year.
Madam Chairman, Honourable Members will
recall that the National Pension Scheme (Financial Hardship) Regulations 2010 were introduc ed to help
Bermudians with real financial need to get access to a
portion of their private sector pension funds based on
prescribed criteria for hardship. The Regulations were
further amended in 2011 to permit rental arrears as an
additional category of fi nancial hardship. Additional
hardship refunds for funeral expenses were added
effective the 2
nd of January 2020. In 2012 the Commission also became responsible for the administr ation of financial hardship applications for public offi cers under the Public S ervice Superannuation Act
1981.
Accordingly, refunds for the five following ci rcumstances of financial hardship are permitted:
• eligible and uncovered medical expenses;
• threat of loss of principal residence due to de-fault;
• threat of eviction from home due to arrears of
rent;
• eligible fees payable for tertiary education;
and
• eligible funeral expenses, which is only avai lable for private sector pension plans.
Madam Chairman, I am pleased to provide a
summary of the financial hardship application stati stics p rovided by the Commission for the 2022 financial
year from inception up to the 31st of December 2022
as follows (I will provide them for 2022, but I will also
provide for [from] inception. So we will start with
2022.):
• 117 total applications were received;
• 77 applications were approved;
• 25 applications were denied;
• 15 applications are still pending or withdrawn;
• Total amount approved was $1,563,403.
924 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly (I hear the Opposition Leader saying that
they are down. This is because the economy is getting
better.) Applications approved by type:
• eligible education expenses, 46;
• imminent loss of principal residence, nine;
• imminent eviction from the home of rental ar-rears, 16;
• eligible medical expenses, four;
• funeral expenses, two.
Since inception there have been 3,827 applications. Of those, 3,088 were approved; 577 were denied; and
162 were withdrawn or pending. And the total amount
approved under this scheme since the beginning of
this plan is $38 million. Applications approved by type
since the beginning, eligible education expenses,
1,215; imminent loss of principal residence, 486; i mminent eviction from home for rental arrears, 1,182;
eligible medical expenses, 199; and funeral expenses,
six.
Looking ahead, Madam Chairman, for the
upcoming year the Commission has a number of goals. I will go through them. There are 11:
1. the establishment of a revised strategic plan;
2. to advance and enhance its human resource
levels;
3. to undertake a series of review on critical i ssues and challenges facing the occupational plan sector in Bermuda in order to make recommendations to the Minister on necessary
legislative and/or policy adjustments;
4. to continue the work to improve the understanding and compliance by regul ated entities
with key regulatory issues and requirements;
5. to introduce a financial awareness campaign
on the importance of saving and retirement
planning and the significant role occupational
pension plans play in achieving these successful outcomes;
6. to continue to enhance the Commission’s f inancial independence and sustainabi lity via
the identification of additional sources of revenue;
7. to continue to strengthen its corporate governance at both the board level and the operational level;
8. to complete outstanding audits;
9. to complete the work to expand options for
pension investments as well as to finalise the
work (which I expect to bring to this House
this year) on pension fee charges;
10. to continue to review and recommend to the Minister of Finance further legislative enhancements to the Act and Regulations as r equired; and
11. to update the Commission’s website and con-tent.
Madam Chairman, if I may, I want to go back
to point 9, which says “To complete the work to expand options for pension investments . . . .” This is something that, as you know, Madam Chairman, it is something that we spoke about in Opposition. So as the Government, it is something that this Government
will deliver this year. It is of considerable bother to me
as Minister of Finance that this matter has not yet been addressed. And as we are here examining and
scrut inising government finances, it is something that
the Pension Commission has been directed that they must advance this year. There is a range of inves tments, as I said, $3.8 billion of private pension assets
almost exclusively invested overseas to benefit other
economies rather than being invested locally to [benefit] ours.
It is something I have spoken about, and it is
something that we will ensure that we deliver this year. Because it is inexcusable that we have all of the
savings assisting other countri es and not directing
[those savings] here. It has been spoken about by this
Minister of Finance. It has been spoken about by the
[Shadow] Minister of Finance on the other side. And
the Pension Commission has been directed to ensure
that this is delivered t his year. Because we have been
waiting too long, and it is inexcusable.
[Desk thumping]

Hon. E. David Burt: Madam Chairman, the Commi ssion’s projected total revenue for the year is
$2,010,000, which consists primarily of the gover nment grant of $600,000 and regulatory fees of
$1,400,010. Madam Chairman, the Commission’s pr ojected total expenses for the year are $2,077,000
consisting of $1,515,000 for salaries -related benefits;
$262,000 for office expenses, including rent; $300,000 for other operational expenses. The resulting projec ted position is a net deficit of $67,000.
I would like to extend my thanks to the staff at
the Pension Commission for their work during the past
year, and I look forward to their ensuring that we deliver on the mandate which I have stated and which
Honourable Members in this House would expect, that
these funds that are being given by the government
will achieve [benefits for Bermuda], as it is important
that now that we have a massive pot of close to US$4 billion, we deploy some of those savings and make it
possible for persons to invest in this country.
Madam Chairman, this concludes the est imates for Head 10. I would like to say as I move on from Head 10, I am happy, privileged to be supported
by a dedicated but severely understaffed team, as is
the case in just about every single government department. And I know I speak for all Ministers. Al though there will be comments from the Opposition
about being bloated and expanding [the] government,
it is complete nonsense, as was s tated in the Budget
Statement. But the public officers inside the Ministry of
Finance go above and beyond, working in incredibly
difficult circumstances, and through personal circumBermuda House of Assembly stances as well, to make sure that they deliver for this
Government.
And I want to extend my thanks to the Acting
Financial Secretary, Ms. Cheryl -Ann Lister; to the entire team; the Budget Director, Ms. Pamela Burrows, who leads the International Unit; Mr. Wayne Brown,
who leads the Treaty Unit; Ms. Crystal Burgess, who
is worki ng inside of the office and managing matters
relating to domestic policy; the Permanent Secretary
related in Finance, Ms. Jennifer Attride- Stirling; and all
of the administrative, whether it is Ms. Debbie Harris,
whether it is Ms. Carol Martin; and all of the persons who continue to work day in, day out to continue to
deliver to support the Minister of Finance and support the work of which we continue to do. So I just want to
ask the whole House to extend our thanks to them, as
they are doing great work.

[Desk thumping]

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. E. David Burt: You agree, Cole. That is good! A
point of agreement.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.
I will excuse if members of the public hear a
little bit of grumbling. That is my stomach, but it is
okay. I have 26 more minutes left until lunch.
I will now move on to Head 11, the Accountant General.
Cole, just so you know, I am just about hal fway through.

[Inaudible interjections and laughter ]

Hon. E. David Burt: You are laughing! I will not leave
five mi nutes. I will leave a little bit more. I want to hear
the Shadow Minister of Finance. I want to see if he has improved from his Budget presentation, giving
false and fictitious numbers. You know, if it is the real
thing.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. E. David Burt: Oh, do not even start, Cole. Now
you are going to get started. Let me move on.

Members, Members.

[Laughter]

HEAD 11 —ACCOUNTANT GENERAL
Hon. E. David Burt: Madam Chairman, I would now
like to present the budget for Head 11, t he Accountant
General’s Department, which is found on pages B -108
through B -111, and C -11.
The Accountant General’s Department was
established under section 4 of the Public Treasury (Administration and Payments) Act 1969. It has r esponsibilities for the administration of the consolidated
fund. The functions and responsibilities of the A ccountant General’s Department are critically important in the role of governance. The department is key in helping to undergird the financial controls and pr ocesses that are in place with respect to the public
purse. The department’s mission is To develop and
maintain quality financial reporting, employ ee health
insurance, treasury function, internal control, and ef-fective use in technology to aid in decision- making.
In line with its mission statement, the depar tment’s objectives are:
• to improve the efficiency of the financial statement process, enabling publication of
consolidated fund financial statements within
six months of the government’s financial year end;
• to provide quality service to all stakeholders;
• to safeguard the assets of the government by
ensuring adequate internal controls are established and are being followed by all sectors of
the government;
• to provide financial matters with oversight,
guidance and support to government mini stries and departments.
The department is divided into two pr ogramme centres as follows: 1101, Consolidated Fund
Administration, which oversees all of the activities of
the consolidated fund, and this is further broken into
six secti ons. I will go over the six sections:
1. Policy Planning and Management. Setting the
strategic direction in general administration of
the department.
2. Financial Reporting. Accounting and reporting
on the consolidated fund and other public
funds.
3. Compliance and Disbursement. Execution of payment for purchased goods and services.
Revenues —receiving, collecting and recor ding of government revenues including fees
and taxes.
4. Treasury Management. Cash management
and forecasting, administration of the inves tment of pension funds under management,
and risk management and insurance, and the
total pension funds investments under management is $2.61 billion broken out as follows:
a. $592.8 million for the PSSF [Public
Service Superannuation Fund]; and
b. $2.016 billion for the contributory
pension fund.
5. Bank Reconciliation. Reconciliation of all of
the government’s bank accounts.
6. Financial Systems . Management of the Enterprise system supporting the government’s ac-count ing platform.
The other programme centre is 1102, Fund
Admi nistration which represents the government’s
926 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly share of employee benefits programmes, namely, the
Public Service Superannuation Fund, the Contributory
Pension Fund, the Government Employees Health
Insurance Scheme, and administration of the scheme
and payment of health claims, which report will soon
be modified and combined into one, as was stated
inside of the Throne Speech, along with HI P and F utureCare. And also the Ministers and Members of the
Legislature Pension Fund (MMLPF).
The department continues operating at staf fing levels below its total complement of 40 post -
holders with there being 10 current vacancies. Nonetheless, the department persists in efforts to identify
efficiencies within its approved organisational struc-ture.

General Accomplishments in fiscal year 2022/23

Hon. E. David Burt: General accomplishments in fi scal year 2022/23 are as follows:
The compliance and disbursement in Financial Systems Section worked with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance to facilitate various
relief programmes implemented by the Government.
Vendor payments and supplemental unemployment
benefit payments were paid timely and accurately
notwithstanding significant staffing challenges.
Moving on, the Financial Systems Section
completed the E1 tool set upgrade. This upgrade pr epared the system for the application upgrade currently
underway and addressed several outstanding bugs
that were inside of the current application workflow. The CAPS —that stands for the Customs automated
processing system —
[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. E. David Burt: Ah, yes, that is right.
Interface utilised by the Customs Department
was reengineered to bring the interface current with the latest programming methods.
Next, working closely with the Office of the
Auditor G eneral, the Ministry’s annual audit of the
consolidated fund was completed and signed off on December 15, 2022. While this was outside of the ti ming per the borrowing covenant, it was in compliance
with the extension approved in advance by notehol ders.
And then finally, treasury functions and other
operational service levels were maintained.
Madam Chairman, the Accountant General’s
Department has been allocated a total budget of $82,330,000 for fiscal year 2023/24, which is broken out as follows: Consolidated Fund Administration, estimate of $5.91 million; Fund Administration estimate,
$76.3 million; and Capital Estimate, $125,000. This
budgetary allocation represents a decrease of $5.38
million, or 6.1 per cent, below the 2022/23 original
estimates. The 2023/24 revenue estimate is $750,000, a decrease of $415,000, or 38 per cent,
below the 2022/23 original estimate, and this revenue
primarily relates to interest earned on investments in
the sinking fund.
Current account estimates can be found on
pages B -108 through B -109. I will go into some signi ficant programme expenditure changes if I may. We
start on page B -108, [cost centre] 1101, Consolidated
Fund Administration, the decrease of $103,000, or
2 per cent. The current year’s request or estimate r eflects a decrease of $103,000, which is primarily r eflective of the decrease in funding levels for vacant posts currently existing within the department. With
the recruitment of these posts scheduled to commence in the new fiscal year, it is anticipated that ful l
year’s funding would not be required and the budget
has been proportionally adjusted to reflect this.
It should be noted that the items that drive the
department’s overall expenditures are salaries, tec hnical support, maintenance fees for various software
systems used by the Accountant General’s Chamber
or Accountant General, and rent.
Moving on, still on page B -108, [cost centre]
1102, Fund Administration, $76.3 million, a decrease of $4.98 million, or 6 per cent, from last year’s original
estimates. T his programme represents the cost for
employee benefits. These costs are a function of the number of government employees and the rates related to respective benefits, employer overhead (for example, contributory pensions, social insurance is directly rela ted to the national contribution pension rates
of contribution). As the employer, the government ordinarily matches its employees’ contributions to the
PSSF, social insurance contributions, the CPF, GHI
contributions and premiums with the exception of
some departments for which the government pays
both the employer and the employee share. And the
Ministers and Members Contributions to the MMLPF.
Contributions made to the PSSF and CPF are
invested to fund future pension payments to vested retirement governm ent personnel. The rates of contr ibution are 9.5 per cent of salary for uniform services
personnel, and 8 per cent of salary and wages for
other government employees. The current combined employer and employee contribution for the con tributory pension fund is $71.84 per employee per week.
The decrease in the 2023/24 estimates (be cause I
know you have questions on this, Cole) for the government before the government’s costs of em ployee
benefits is primarily reflective of decreased staffing
levels throughout the service. Though there is an i ncrease in budgeted posts, our experience has demon-strated that due to the process of hiring and natural
turnover, this figure has been often over -estimated.
This reduction is a realistic estimate for the amount in
this upcoming fiscal year.
And as you will see, of course, the revised
amount for the last year is $75.3 [million]. So there is
$1 million extra on that one, and that is why we beBermuda House of Assembly lieve the figure is realistic. (Because I am sure you
might have had questions on that, Shadow Minister.)

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. E. David Burt: Do not worry. I got you. We hav e
been doing this for a while.
Moving on to Capital Estimates, page C -11.
(You are wrong, you know.) Business unit 76805, JD
Edwards Enterprise One project, $100,000, a decrease of $200,000. Technical support and ongoing
maintenance will be required in the 2023/24 fiscal
year in the JD Edwards Enterprise One—sorry. I
should call it as it has been renamed. It is the Oracle E1 E nterprise Resource Planning [ ERP] System . It is
continually enhanced to improve the business pr ocesses and other important services provided.
Of the 2023/24 CAPA occasionally used to
progress the following projects: Completion of the
vendor self -service module implementation and complete the application upgrade for E1 9.2. In addition,
just to serve notice as there may be some additional matters, we are going to be looking to do possible additional upgrades to the Oracle E1 system this year,
Madam Chairman. There have been noted, duri ng the
budget consultation process, that there were some
modules that were previously active that allow for
there to be self -service for vendors and specifically for
matters related to the Ministry of Public Works on the
areas of recharge.
One of the things of which I am particularly
committed to this year is to advancing plans. Because
the Oracle E1 system is a very powerful system that
runs some of the largest companies on the planet.
And I do not believe the government is using it as ef-fectively as poss ible. So we are going to be looking
and examining that to see how we can expand what is
necessary to expand the use of that. So for various
things, they could be far more self -reporting. And
there may also be more information that we may be
able to provide for the general public to have updates
on, regular things related to government finance, et
cetera. So this is certainly something that I am looking
forward to advancing this year. It is not the highest
priority in the Ministry of Finance, as we have tax r eform and other things. But it is something that the A ccountant General’s Office, when staffed up, will be able to hopefully advance.
Madam Chairman, the key initiatives plan for
the Accountant General’s Department for fiscal year 2023/24 are to
1. complete the audited consolidated fund financial statements no later than October 31,
2023;
2. continue to work to clear the backlog of out-standing financial statements audits of public funds; 3. work with the Cabinet Office to determine and mitigate the government’s ex posure for the
PIPA Act;
4. continue to deliver scheduled financial instruc-tions training in conjunction with the Depar tment of Employee and Organisational Development;
5. timely process outgoing vendor payments;
and
6. ensure that 100 per cent of clean health i nsurance claims are being paid within 30 days,
in line with legislation.
Madam Chairman, I would like to extend my
appreciation for the work undertaken by the management staff at the Accountant General’s Department.
They have had to do a lot over the last f ew years. It is
not easy in a very (I would say) strict environment with
an (I would say) Auditor General who will give audit
challenges on the government trying to make sure
that we provide support. And I say that in the area that
the complex processes which are required for benefits
payments, unemployment payments, et cetera, r equire a lot more energy, effort, work and human r esources than would be required or desired in an ideal -
circumstances scenario.
But the department has risen to the occasion,
has done the work in addition to the regular work which they have had to do while they are understaffed. And I just wanted to make sure that I extend
my appreciation to the new Accountant General, Ms.
Dionne Morrison- Shakir , and her team for their work
and efforts.

Yes, we have a few more minutes.
For the listening public, we are in Committee of Supply for further consideration of the Estimates of Rev enue and Expenditure. We are just listeni ng to the
briefs for the Finance Ministry. The Minister of F inance has covered Head 10, and he has covered Head 11. And he is now beginning Head 12. We still
have Heads 28, 38, 39 and 58. We will be breaking for
lunch in approximately 10 minutes. But if the Minister
would like to introduce his next head, Head 12.

928 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly HEAD 12 —BERMUDA CUSTOMS

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much, Madam
Chairman.
Madam Chairman, I will now speak to the
Bermuda Customs Department revenue, which is i ncluded under the Ministry of Finance. Customs expenditures are included along with the Ministry of N ational Security, which was debated on Friday, March
3.
Madam Chairman, the pandemic has certainly
placed a strain on a number of businesses in Berm uda. And in recognition of this, the Customs Depar tment, following the direction of the Ministry of F inance, is continuing to make available a programme of duty payment deferment for local businesses that
are experiencing financial hardships. I want to say it
again, Madam Chairman, because a lot of people say
that we do not do this. The Government has a duty
payment deferment for local businesses experiencing
financial hardships. The programme allows for temporary deferral of duty for up to six months for qualifying
businesses; however, i n exceptional cases arrangements can be made for even longer deferment per iods. The Customs Department is proud to be involved
in this programme which has given a helping hand to
businesses in the community.
Also during 2022/23, the Customs Depar tment has launched an online auction for imported
goods that have been abandoned or seized in order to
recover the duty owed on them. The website customs.bm was established to provide further detail on
available items and is a way to submit offers for those
items.
During 2022/23, the following policy initiatives
were introduced:
1. The creation of specific national tariff codes
for cash and negotiable instruments. This i nvolved the introduction of separate national
codes for bank notes, cheque forms and stock and share bond certificates and similar doc uments of title. These proposed national codes
were intended to make classification of cash
negotiable instruments easier f or imp orters
and to f acilitate mor e detailed statistical r eporting on de clared imports and exports of
currency in sup port of Bermuda’s anti -money
launder ing ef forts.
2. The reduction of rates for LED light sources.
This was done to help cushion the costs of i nflationary pressures arising from energy pri ces. The du ty rate for energy efficient lightbulbs
was r educed. It was expected that the results
from the reduction of price for LEDs would
encourage their use, thereby reducing the
amount of money spent in the community on electricity.
3. There were harmonising amendments to the
simplified tariff currently in use by the Post O f-fice and courier services. And a number of textual changes in the new national codes
were introduced in Chapter 98 of the tariff to
better align to the subheading descri ptions of
heading 9803, with those headings of the first
97 chapters of the First Schedule to the pri ncipal Act. (That is right, 97 chapters.)
4. To expand the scope of duty relief available for the Bermuda Hospitals Board. And a new
duty relief in the Fifth Schedule of the principal
Act was introduced for hospital operating supplies. This was done to assist the Bermuda
Hospitals Board in offsetting operating expenses. The period of relief was restricted to
18 months, from the 1
st of April 2022 until the
30th of September 2023. And we may be di scussing further extensions.
5. New end use relief for fuels. The end use duty
relief for fuels was designed to grant the Mi nister of Finance the ability to vary the rate of
duty for gasoline, kerosene and diesel fuels
that are being removed from bonded war ehouse for use in Bermuda. This flexibility was
granted in order to facilitate the freeze in fuel
prices at the pump which was put forward by
this Government to save consumers money. While other countries around the world w ere
experiencing record- high gas prices, the same
could not be said here in Bermuda. This was
intended to be an effective mechanism which
would allow for relief for families, taxi oper ators, fishermen, tour operators and local bus inesses. The amount of the relief under the initiative for fiscal year 2023, though estimated
to be approximately $6 million, ended up being $11.6 million—a significant amount.
6. Introduction of the zero duty rate for essential
foods. A zero duty rate was introduced for 21
categories of essential goods. And I am not
going to read the whole list, as we have read
it before. But this was one [initiative] pursuant to a recommendation of the Cost of Living
Commission on economic relief initiative for a
basket of essential commodities.
7. Also, as we had a little hiccup as we di scussed in this House when we brought the
Bread Bill, a new end use duty relief for goods
for the local commercial manufacturer of
bread as well. This was added to ensure that
there was end use relief introduced for goods
that were imported for or used only in the local
commercial manufacture of bread or baked
goods by a business organisation that was
approved for that purpose by the Minister of
Finance.
[We will now] go to the Customs r evised pr ojected revenue shown on page B -113 of the Estimates
Book for 2022/23, it is $228.7 mi llion. And the projection for next year, 2023/24, is $231.9 million.


Bermuda House of Assembly Analysis of major revenues are as follows:
The revised forecast for Customs duty collections has
increased by $4 million when compared to the original. We expect that duty collections will return to nor-mal levels in 2023/24, and consequently the forecast
for 2023/24 shows a conservative increase of $2.9
million, or 1 per cent, from the revised 2022/23 for ecast. I will explain why the duty forecast is conserv ative, for the Shadow Minister of Finance. The duty revenue forecast is conservative as we are not antic ipating an $11.6 million shortfall to c ushion the impact
of rising oil prices. However, we do not know what the
future holds. And if there was another spike in global
gasoline prices there may be a need for the Gover nment to implement measures to protect consumers as we did in this current fiscal year.
To combat inflationary and supply chain pressures that affect levels of grow th, such as construction, while also providing relief via adjustments to the
sugar tax, we have tabled legislation relating to a
number of duty rate reductions and duty reliefs. And
for fiscal year 2023/24, the department will pursue the
following initiati ves :
Before I move to those initiatives, which we
will debate at length later (so I am not going to cover
them in detail), what I would say is that it is important
to note for the Shadow Minister certainly that our r evised figure for this year is $228 mil lion. And we were
able to achieve that despite all of the duty reductions that were given last year and despite the fact that
there was the $11.6 million [reduction], which is much
higher than was expected on the fuel duty adjustment to ensure that rates at the pump stayed flat. And that
is a reason why we are saying this is conservative.
We do not know. But if there are no spikes in gas prices and we are able to maintain a steady thing, you
know, if things calm down globally and internationally,
it is expected that there may be some additional rev enue here.
The items that we were going to pursue this
year are the amendments to the sugar tax, and these
changes will represent a reduction of 66 per cent to
the sugar tax in certain categories of products that contain added sugar. Also, the Government will intr oduce a new end use relief for school uniforms where
the duty rate is currently 6.5 per cent. There is going
to be a new customs procedure code [CPC] 4243 for
Aggregate that is used for the local commercial manufacture of concrete. We will have plenty of time to debate that in the main House when we debate the Customs Tariff Amendment Act 2023. But it is important to
note that the normal duty rate for aggregate is 25 per
cent. And the reduction end use reli ef [reduces it] to
zero per cent. It is expected that this change will not greatly impact revenue projections, as Bermuda has
not historically imported aggregate. We typically have
it here. But now we have to import aggregate, as we
are running out of, you know, spaces to mine, or to
get this out of the ground. That is why it is not antic i-pated that this will have a large impact on revenue
because it did not really exist before.
A new CPC 4244, which has been requested
by numerous sporting organisations wi ll be an end
use relief for uniforms and equipment for Bermuda’s international sports teams, where some of those duty
rates are either at 6.5 per cent or 25 per cent. And we
are going to make sure that those things are eliminated because we want to make sure that, rather than
paying duty to the government, they are putting money in their preparations for international competition.
And also a new CPC 4245, which is capital goods r elief for personal care and fitness businesses. And
we—

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. E. David Burt: Sorry?

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. E. David Burt: I know. Which is something,
don’t worry, I am not going to go over it, Cole. I am
trying to give you some time. Be nice. I will read it all,
you know.

[Laughter]

Hon. E. Dav id Burt: Which we covered in the Budget
Statement, which is something to make sure that
these businesses can keep up their particular establishments.
Madam Chairman, other forecasted revenue
sources other than Customs duty are expected to contribute to $5,228,000 during 2023/24, which based on
our forecast will equate to about 2.3 per cent of the
revenue collected by Customs. There is little indic ation that receipts in these areas will change signif icantly from the revenue levels that was received during the 2022/23 fiscal year.
As I close out on the Customs Department
revenue, I wish to give sincere thanks to the Collector
and Customs teams for their work and support of
Bermuda’s economy in this area. Though we only have responsibility for Customs revenue at the Mini stry of Finance, some of these issues are particularly
complex. And when dealing with issues such as
changes to the sugar tax, when dealing with issues
that have to be implemented in order to freeze the
prices for fuel at the pump, these are some complex
issues. But the policy team and the revenue team and
the Customs Department have always been responsive and have always been good and have been able
to deliver. So I want to make sure that we extend our
thanks to them for the work which they are doing to
support us as we do what we can to help our constit uents cope with record global inflation.
With that, Madam Chairman, I am happy to
break for lunch before I move to Head 28.
930 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Thank you, Minister.
We will take our break and we wil l resume in
Committee of Supply to consider the Estimates of
Revenue and Expenditure for the year 2023/24 under
the Ministry of Finance. We will continue this afternoon, and we will be back at 2:00 pm.

Hon. E. David Burt : Thank you, Madam Chairman.

The C hairman: Thank you, Minister.

Hon. E. David Burt: I move that the Committee do
now adjourn for lunch and to return at 2:00 pm.

Honourable Members, we are now in
Committee of Supply for further consideration of the
Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the year
2023/24. We are listening to the Ministry of Finance,
Heads 10, 11, 12, 28, 38, 39 and 58. We are presently
on Head 12, Customs.
Minister of Finance, you have the floor.
[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. E. David Burt: Ha! Ha! Ha! Zero! N o added
sugar. There you are, Cole. You got jokes today.
Thank you, Madam Chairman. Before we left I
had just finished I think it was the Customs revenue,
Head 12. I will move on to Head 28, the Department
of Social Insurance.

HEAD 28 —DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL INSURANCE

Hon. E. David Burt: Madam Chairman, the Depar tment of Social Insurance’s current account estimates
are shown on page B -114 of the Budget Book. The
estimate for 2023/24 is $3.532 million, which is
$410,000 or 10 per cent less than the original budget.
This budget is solely for war pensions and gratuities. The Director of Social Insurance and the staff
administer the department’s contributory pension fund, as well as for benefits to war veterans of the
Second World War. War pension and gratuities are
100 per cent funded by the Consolidated Fund and
the contributory pensions operations within the de-partment are 100 per cent funded by the Contributory
Pension Fund. Expenditures are paid through the
Consolidated Fund and recharged to the Contributory Pension Fund in accordance with section 3(3) of the
Contributory Pensions Act [1970].
The department’s mission statement is To ensure that every beneficiary r eceives a benefit that
meets their basic needs.
Moving on to core functions, the department
operates under two main Acts of Parliament to admi nister the government’s social insurance programmes, as well as the war pensions and gratuities, the first
being t he Contributory Pensions Act 1970 and under
this Act all employed and self -employed individuals
over the age of 18, or age 26 in the instance of full -
time students, who work more than four hours per
week are required to pay contributions. There are two
major classes of benefits paid out of the fund: contri butory benefits for old age pensions and gratuity, wi dow and widowers allowance and gratuity and their
disability benefits; and non- contributory benefits. This
is for old age pension and disability benefit s. Additionally, under the Pensions and Gratuities (War Service)
Act 1947 benefits are payable to Bermudian war veterans or their surviving spouses who served during
World War II. Currently there are 80 veterans or their
surviving spouses in this programme.
Moving to the highlights of 2022 /23, they are
as follows:
On July 15, 2022, the Contributory Pensions
Amendment of Benefits Order was tabled increasing
pension benefits by 2.75 per cent and which was retroactive to August 16, 2021, which fulfils the Gov ernment’s commitment as we promised in our 2017 election manifesto to increase pensions by the rate of i nflation. And it is important to note that this Gover nment has continued to keep that promise and has i ncreased benefits by the rate of inflation or higher as
was done last year.
During December 2022, Management Consulting Services conducted a review of the department
upon a request of the Department of Social Insurance
and this review was to assess staffing needs of the department and to recommend an organisational
structure that would facilitate alignment with its oper ational requirements.
Additionally, the department continues to
maintain an effective work relationship with the Debt
Enforcement Unit, the Department of Public Prosec utions, the Department of Immigration, the Office of the
Tax Commissioner and the Transport Control D epartment with respect to efforts to assist in debt col-lection.


Bermuda House of Assembly Moving on to cost centres and key pr ogrammes , Madam Chairman, the department operates under five main cost centr es, which can be found
on page B -114.
Cost centre 38000, Senior Management and
Administration. The budget estimate for this cost centre is $1.8 million which is a reduction of $47,442 from
original budget of the previous financial year. This
section provi des overall direction and management for
the department.
Cost centre 38010, War Pensions and Gratuities. This administers the benefits under the afor ementioned Act. The estimate for the next fiscal year is
approximately $3,532 ,430, which is $409,927, or
10 per cent, less than the previous year. The budget
is based there being 78 beneficiaries, 14 less than the
prior year. Currently the major benefits provided by
the programme are, all veterans receive a monthly
pension of $1,000, medical benefits covered at
100 per cent, including FutureCare insurance prem iums, hospital visits, hospitalisation, all tests at KMH, air ambulance, prescription drugs in excess of $2,000
covered by FutureCare. Additionally there is palliative
care, long- term care covered up to $7, 000 per month
and a $5,000 funeral grant is refunded to their estate.
Regular and specialist doctors’ visits have small copays which are reimbursed by the programme.
Cost centre 38025, Benefits. The Benefits
section is responsible for the administration of benefits to members of the Contributory Pension Fund under
the Contributory Pensions Act 1970 and the Contributory Pensions and Workmen’s Compensation (Reci procal Agreement) Act 1970. The budget estimate for
this cost centre is $386,245, which is a decr ease of
$58,100 over the original budget of the last fiscal year.
This decrease is due to vacant positions being
budgeted at 75 per cent, while other overhead costs
were reduced by $6,300. Vacant positions are budgeted at 75 per cent because we know that they are not
all going to be filled on day one of the new fiscal
year—accurate budgeting, which is something I spoke
about in the Budget Statement
Total benefits paid from August 2021 to July
2022, which is the Contributory Pension Fund’s finan-cial year, were $188,596,900. This was compared to
$183,278,400 in 2020/21, which is an increase of $5.3
million, or 2.9 per cent. This is in line with the normal
average expected growth rate of 3 per cent.
In 2021/22, the total benefits paid w ere
$154.8 million. Eight y-two per cent, was paid for contributory pensions; $13.8 million, or 7 per cent, was
paid for widows’ and widowers’ allowances. Gratuities of $10.3 million were paid, which represents 5 per
cent of the total pay outs. Non- contributory pensions
paid were $6.7 million and the remaining $3 million, or
2 per cent of benefits were paid during the period for
contributory and non- contributory disabilities. I will not do the full breakdown of the types of
benefits paid, unless you want that Mr. Opposition
Leader.
[No audible response]

Hon. E. David Burt: You do? You wish it?

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. E. David Burt: Do you want the breakdown or
not?

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. E. David Burt: Okay.
• Contributory Pensions: $154,766,956
• Non-contributory P ensions: $6,692,113
• Contributory disability: $1,254,497
• Non-contributory disability: $1,778,774
• Widows’ allowances: $12,527,802
• Widowers’ allowances: $1,234,025
• Widows’ gratuities: $154,647
• Widowers’ gratuities: $112,087
• Overall gratuities: $8,628,280
• Other gratuities: $1,447,732
• Grand total: $188,596,913
Madam Chairman, we commend the manager
and staff of the Benefits section who have processed the benefits on time every month without fail even
throughout the pandemic, including processing i ncreases with almost a year’s retroactive pay.
Moving on to cost centre 38040, Compliance:
The Compliance section monitors the compliance of
employers and employees according to the provisions
of the Act. The budget estimate for this cost centre is
$964,200 w hich is $10,000 less than the original
budget of last year.
From August 2021 to July 2022, total debt for
the private sector and self -employed persons decreased by $4,403,600 from $53,450,000 to
$49,047,000. This is an 8 per cent reduction in debt
compared to the 1 per cent in the prior year and r eflects the increased efforts of compliance inspectors in encouraging employers to keep up with their payment s throughout the year.
Just to repeat, Madam Chairman, there was a
reduction in back payments and debt of 8 per cent
year over year.
The department continues to work with companies to establish practical ways of reducing their
outstanding debt and this includes off -setting amounts
owed for services they provided to other government
departments.
The Attorney General’s Chambers Debt E nforcement Unit works in close collaboration with the
department to assist in the collection of outstanding
contributions and normally employers who the D e932 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly partment of Social Insurance is unable to contact and
who are delinquent ov er 90 days are referred to the
Debt Enforcement Unit.
Outstanding contributions collected for contr ibution year 2022 amounted to $4,080,000. Staffing levels with the Compliance section have led to challenges to effectively carry out both compliance and
debt collection functions as required by legislation,
and the department will continue to work with other
government departments to continue the progress
which it has made this past year to collect the outstanding debt.
Cost centre 38045, Contributions. The Contr ibution section is responsible for the administration of
records and accounts for employers and employees
participating in the Contributory Pension Fund under
the Act. The budget for this cost centre is $484,000,
which is the same as the original budget for last year.
Total contributions, government and non- government,
received from August to July, amounted to
$95,296,300, compared to $60,981,000 in the prior
fiscal period, which is an increase of $34,315,300 or
56 per cent. This increase resulted from the rei nstatement of the one- year suspension for contributions as of August 1, 2021.
Just to go to the Comparative Analysis of Current Account estimates :
• Salaries and wages: the $82,000 decrease r eflects the reduction in estimates for vacant
posts.
• Professional Services a decrease of $410,000
is primarily due to a decrease in war vet med-ical claims and war pension awards due to a reduction of war veterans expected to receive
benefits.
• Receipts credited to the programmes: This
amount represents the cost to operate the
Contributory Pension Fund [CPF] initially paid
through the Consolidated Fund. A recharge
for 2023 /24 is budgeted at $3,694,000 which
is a decrease of $116,000 of the original
budget of the CPF for year over year. As we
mentioned, this decreas e is due to the
$82,000 reduction for vacant positions and also the decrease of $34,000 in other overhead costs.
Moving on to activities and plans for fiscal
year 2023/24 which will be supported by the budget that we are approving in this Honourable House and
in this Committee, the following activities are slated for
the department in this fiscal year:
An Actuarial Review of the CPF is planned for
this year as a review is required every three years per
section 35 of the Contributory Pensions Act [1970].
This review aims to indicate the financial conditions
and long- term sustainability of the fund and to invest igate the potential financial implications of future con-tributions and benefit increases to the fund. Additionally (and this is an important one), the
department will utilise the government portal to do
more self -service public inquiries. One of these pr ojects will be to implement an online look -up for social
insurance numbers. Currently, residents who do not know their social insurance number must call or email
the department to find out what their social insurance
number is. The implementation of this look -up capabi lity will reduce the calls and emails to the department
to allow the staff to focus on core tasks. And this is
just another example of the government continuing to
deploy technology throughout government to drive
efficiencies. The work will continue to have all applic ations online in keeping with the Government’s paperless initiatives and this includes registration and
changes, again, to reduce the need for staff to manually process changes so the focus can be on core
tasks and enforcement.
The department will work with Ministry Headquarters in the development and implementation of the reform of the social insurance system to transfer
from a f lat rate of all contributors to one that is based
on a percentage of income, boosting take- home pay
for low -wage workers while making the social insurance fund more sustainable for the long term.
Additionally, the department will continue to
conduct orientation sessions for newly registered em-ployers as this has proven to be invaluable. And the
department will continue to work with the Ministry of
Finance to enhance the strategy which is clearly delivering results to better target the collection of outstanding contributions that are owed to the CPF. D oing this will establish more cross -ministry initiatives to
develop supporting strategies to close existing gaps in
legislation that allow persons to avoid payment of obligations to the CPF.
The department wil l also work on a succession planning exercise where employees are given the opportunity to be professionally developed and cross -
trained. And there is also the intention to have a trai nee management accountant to ensure that the finance
function is intac t inside of the department. And, of
course, there is a completion of the aforementioned
management consulting services within the depar tment and the implementation of their recommendations.
Madam Chairman, the public officers of the
Department of Social Ins urance are to be commended
for their commitment to providing service to the local
community and overseas beneficiaries as they have
operated in an understaffed position for some time, as
many government departments have operated in an
understaffed position for some time.
The Ministry of Finance and I would assume
the whole House would like to express our gratitude
for the invaluable contributions made by Ms. Karen
Daniels -Ming during her tenure as Director of the D epartment of Social Insurance. Her retirem ent on D ecember 31, 2022, marks the end of two decades of


Bermuda House of Assembly dedicated service to the Bermuda Government and
we wish Ms. Daniels -Ming all the best in her future
endeavours and thank her for her outstanding service
to the Bermuda Government.
Madam Chairman, I would like to thank the D irector and team of the Department of Social Insurance for their work in this important area, and I am now
pleased to move on to Head 38, the Office of the Tax
Commissioner.

For those in the listening audience we
are in Committee of Supply for further consideration of
the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the
year 2023/24. We are now in the Ministry of Finance, and the Minister is covering Head 28. Thank you.

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, very much, Madam
Chairman. I will now move to Head 38. I just finished
Head 28, but I appreciate you nonetheless for giving me a minute to take a sip of water. Thank you.

HEAD 38 —OFFICE OF THE TAX COMMISSIONER

Hon. E. David Burt: The estimates for Head 38, O ffice of the Tax Commissioner begin on page B -117.
The total projected revenue for 2023/24 is approx imately $726 million which is a substantial increase
from the current year original estimate of $627 million.
We of course know that this has been revised signif icantly due to better economic performance in the
country.
The OTC’s total budget allocation for fiscal
year is $4.756 million, and this is comprised of $3.9
million in current account expenditure, and $855,000
in capital expenditure.
The primary responsibility of the Office of the
Tax Commissioner is to effectively administer the
timely and accurate collection of all taxes and stamp
duties in accordance with applicable legislation. The
Office of the Tax Commissioner’s vision is to be a si gnificant contributor to Bermuda’s prosperity and stabi lity by being a progressive, modern tax administration
committed to supplying superior customer service,
continued improvement and collaboration.
The OTC’s mission is , To leverage modern
technology to ensure taxpayers’ compliance through
quality service and effective enforcement .
Madam Chairman, the OTC is strategically divided into four cost centres as follows:
• Cost centre 48000, Administration Team, pr ovides the overall direction and management of
the office which includes str ategic planning,
staff development, training and general office
support.
• Cost centre 48050, Stamp Duties team, r esponsible for the administration and collection
of stamp duties under the Stamp Duties Act
1976. This includes the adjudication and pr ocessing of a variety of legal instruments i n-cluding but not limited to conveyances, trans-fers, leases and mortgages, as well as admi nistering the Primary Family Homestead Designation Programme, a proud achievement of
the Progressive Labour Party.
• Cost centre 48070, Audit and Compliance
Team, is responsible for ensuring that taxpayers are complying with the Tax Acts throughout the life of the taxpayers starting with their
initial registration. The team conducts audits
and inspections of the taxpayer’s books and
records and is responsible for knowledge
management and taxpayer education.
• Cost centre 48080, Operations Team, oversees collecting and reporting on all taxes under the remit of the Office of the Tax Commi ssioner. The team maintains taxpayer ac counts
recei vable balances, levies penalties for late
and insufficient payments and is r esponsible
for debt collection and enforcement.
Moving on to key achievements in 2022/23. In
fiscal year 2022/23 saw continued economic volatility
from the COVID -19 pandemic and t hese conditions
were compounded by the effects of the war in Ukraine
which caused losses in government revenue stemming from global sanctions against Russia, increases
in cost of energy and natural resources and further
disruption in the global food suppli es. The Gover nment, therefore, committed to and delivered various forms of relief for the people of Bermuda either
through lump sum payments or reduced tax rates.
As in previous years, payroll taxes continued
to account for a substantial portion of government
revenue and we have seen an increase in payroll tax
revenues during the past two fiscal years due to i mproved collection efforts with the department and the continued recovery of the economy and, Madam
Chairman, the strongest growth in international bus iness in 15 years despite of what the members of Her
[sic] Majesty’s Loyal Opposition may want the public
to believe.
[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. E. David Burt: His Majesty. Thank you very
much.
Oh, Colonel, look at you.
[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. E. David Burt: This increase has been—

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. E. David Burt: Pardon me?

Continue.

934 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. E. David Burt: Okay, your members are trying
to interrupt; they are trying to take your time.
This increase has been achieved despite payroll tax receipts for these years being impacted by r elief grant ed to certain sectors experiencing financial
hardship due to the global economic climate and last
year’s tax reductions for all workers making under
$96,000 which were not offset by increases in higher
bands.
Payroll tax relief covering hotels, bars restaurants and some retailers were originally implemented
in fiscal year 2020/21 and was extended all the way to
the 30th of September 2022. A further extension of
relief was ex tended to hotels and restaurants through
the 31st of March 2023. Likewise the payroll tax rebate
programme implemented this fiscal year provided r elief for workers earning $96,000 or less . The OTC staff
worked diligently with Ministry personnel to distribute benefit payments to workers who met the programme
eligibility requirements while continuing to do their
day-to-day tasks.
The revised payroll tax estimates for 2022/23
are projected to be $[480] million, or 43.2 per cent of
the total estimated revenue. And this is an increase of
$[20] million, or approximately 4 per cent over the
previous year ’s actual payroll tax receipts of $460 mi llion.
Madam Chairman, we will discuss this on
Monday in the House, but it is important that the i ncrease of $20 million is despite the fact that 86 per
cent of businesses in Bermuda will see their tax liabi lity decrease next year, with small businesses paying
up to 43 per cent less payroll tax. Additionally, 86 per
cent of workers in this country, all of those making
less t han $132,000 will pay less in payroll tax next
year than they paid this year. Those are the sound
policies [of] a Government that is committed to supporting small business and workers, unlike the party
opposite, Madam Chairman, that proposed to intr oduce a new tax on health care services and, of
course, reintroduce travel authorisation fees.
Madam Chairman other key amendments to
tax legislation administered by the Office of the Tax
Commissioner in fiscal year 2022/23 included [the following]:
• Amendments t o the land tax regime to elim inate inconsistencies in the regime and to pr ovide land tax relief for nursing homes and residential care homes.
• Amendments to the Stamp Dut ies Act, 1976,
which eliminated the unnecessary three- year
residential requirements for f irst-time hom eowners.
• Established a pre- qualification process for
first-time homeowners to receive exemptions
from stamp duty thereby eliminating the need
for eligible buyers t o advance funds for stamp
duty as part of the purchase while also clarif y-ing the stamp duty exemption for the refinancing of mortgages.
• Amendments to the Payroll Tax Act 199 5
were done to ensure consistency in the treat-ment amongst employers in the hospitality
sectors of gratuities paid to employees and
the treat ment of payments made to contribut ory pe nsions, health insurance or approved
schemes with respect to self -employed persons and deemed employees.
Madam Chairman, in fiscal year 2022/23 the
Office of the Tax Commissioner continued to focus on modernisation of processes and technologies. The
OTC improved its business intelligence reporting c apabilities enabling the department to have a more accurate view of taxpayer compliance. By approving this
access to and use of information of legacy systems
OTC has substantially increased its effic iency and
effectiveness in tax administration which has resulted in better tax collections.
Collection of tax in arrears has been a priority
for the OTC during the past year and, as such, the OTC has identified the Debt Management section as a
key area wit hin the department for implementing i mprovements operations, infrastructure and reporting
systems. In this year the department was able to lev-erage the new OTC data warehouse and best practi ces for debt management to complete a review and analysis of outst anding tax debt with a focus on ident ifying uncollectable debt and prioritising debt collection
efforts. The insights discovered during this analysis
resulted in increased efficiencies that have facilitated
more successful debt collection.
This outcome enables the OTC to identify
taxpayer non- compliance faster and take the necessary actions to address the non- compliance earlier,
thereby minimising the risk of increased tax arrears for many taxpayers. More specifically improvements to
address underlying iss ues that can lead to increased
tax arrears include the following:
• Identifying at -risk taxpayers early when they
show indications of financial difficulty in pay-ing their taxes and helping them establish
payment plans in earlier stage.
• Enhancing the capabil ity to form ongoing
monitoring of the debt collection process
thereby enabling OTC to better track the effectiveness of debt collection and adjust as
needed to improve debt collection efforts.
• Better tracking of non- compliant taxpayers
which allows for fas ter initiation of debt enforcement activities, thereby increasing the
likelihood of successful collection of debt .
• Filing claims against non- compliant taxpayers
who refuse to engage with OTC or enter into
instalment plans to eliminate their outstanding
tax debt.
While the OTC is committed to working with
taxpayers to establish payment plans and avoid havBermuda House of Assembly ing legal action taken against them, the agency has
begun working more effectively with the courts in rel ation to claims for recovery of outstanding taxes .
Key plans for fiscal year 2023/24 revenue and
estimates are as follows, Madam Chairman. During the upcoming year the goals for debt management are
to
• ensure the limited resources of OTC are f ocused on collection and compliance efforts
that are most li kely to be successful;
• ensure that all debt collection activities are
done in a consistent process, time and framework;
• increase successful enforcement action, such
as an increase in court appearances for those
taxpayers who are financially able yet refuse
to be complaint with tax laws; and, as mentioned in the Budget Statement,
• collect at least $7.5 million in outstanding
debt.
The goals and improvements of the Debt
Management section, including those that are currently being implemented, are intended t o help facilitate
greater taxpayer compliance and greater success in
enforcement efforts at the administrative level.
The continuation of debt collection and other
changes related to revenue generation, in addition to
a record cruise season that is predic ted this year , provide a base support for projected increase of rev enues of more than $726 million, which is nearly $100
million more than the original estimate for the current
year of $627 million ( $99 million to be exact, just under $100 million).
As detailed in the 2023/24 Budget Statement
several legislative changes are proposed for impl ementation in the upcoming fiscal year that are antic ipated to increase the revenue generated by the OTC
in this projected level. I am not going to go into detail
on al l of these items, Madam Chairman, as it has already been done. And I want to make sure the Opposition Leader gets a little bit of time.
• Stamp duty rates will increase by 5 per cent .
• Land taxes will be increased by 5 per cent for
high- value properties which will only impact
4 per cent of properties on the Island.
• Changes to the maximum amount of annual
remuneration subject to payroll tax will i ncrease to $1 million from $900,000.
• Adjustments to the table of standard rate
bands which will be revised to reflec t the
higher tax remuneration levels and accordingly the number of taxable payroll brackets will
be increased from four to five and tax rem uneration of more than $200,000 will be separated into two different bands which will then
comprise the top two annual remuneration
bands.
• Finally, changes to applicable marginal tax rates for employees will facilitate the collection of increased revenue from employees with higher remuneration.
Payroll tax revenue for the upcoming fiscal
year projects a rise to $512.5 mi llion. This represents
an increase of approximately $59 million, or 13 per
cent over the original estimate, and nearly 7 per cent
above the revised estimate for the current fiscal year.
It is important to note, Mr. Opposition Leader
that $512.5 million al so includes the 7.5 per cent in
collection of back taxes. And it has been allocated to
that specific line. Therefore, the revenue that is est imated to be collected from payroll tax is $505 million
plus the $7.5 million on top of that.
Meanwhile, Madam Chai rman, other changes
are intended to reduce . . . sorry, the projected rise in
payroll tax revenue is supported by both increases to
marginal payroll tax rates for employers in the fiscal
year, continued economic growth and the decision to
maintain existing rate levels for exempted employers
while at the same point in time reducing taxes for ev ery other business in the country who was paying tax. We cannot reduce taxes for those who are already at
a zero per cent rate, but everyone else will see a r eduction.
Meanwhile, the other changes are intended to
reduce tax burdens on employees and employers in certain categories, entrepreneurs engaged in certain
trades and more generally for local businesses. My
brief, of course, covers all of the various changes. We
will skip those because we know them very well. But I
will say that we are doing payroll tax relief for employers for [their employees on] maternity and paternity
leave. We have provided up to 13 weeks in the case
of maternity leave and up to 5 days in the case of paternity leave. Previously, employers were paying
those taxes even though the workers were not wor king while they are paying somebody else possibly to
fill those roles. Also, changes to applicable payroll tax
rates for employers will provide wides pread payroll tax
relief to local businesses, hotels, restaurants, retailers,
self-employed farmers and fishermen as they were
covered in the Budget Statement. I will not go through
the detail of all of those particular changes. We will be
debating those on Monday.
Additionally, Madam Chairman, I think Honourable Members of the Opposition will certainly appreciate this. This one is for you, Cole. The maximum
purchase price which first -time homeowners can
prequalify for exemption from stamp duty will be i ncreased from $750,000 to $1 million. In addition, all
first-time homeowners will benefit as the rate will now
be marginal. The reason why I bring that up, Madam Chairman, is because before, if you had a mortgage,
bought a house that was [$]740[,000] you did not pay
stamp duty , [but] if your house was [$]760[,000] you
paid stamp duty on the entire thing. We are going to change that so that only amount of stamp duty that
you pay is the amount that is above the limit which
has been set.
936 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly [Mr. Scott Simmons, Ch airman]

Hon. E. David Burt: Similar changes are being applied to mortgages which are being refinanced or transferred. These changes are intended to accommodate changes in market conditions within the real
estate market that now sees first-time homeowners
paying up to $1 million for a home. We will also fulfil
our promise to make the purchase of housing less
expensive. During the debate to eliminate the res idence requirement enabled pre- qualification of the
exemption from stamp duty for first -time homeowner s
during last September, at least one Honourable Member suggested that we consider increasing the max imum purchase price for purposes of this exemption
due to increased sale values. As I often say, Mr.
Chairman, we are a Government that listens. We
heard t he request to consider making this change, we
considered the issue and we are responding as appropriate because that is what a Government that li stens does.
Our record in this area is sound and we will
continue to press forward to ensure that first -time
homeowners get relief and those who want to transfer
their mortgages to more competitive rates at local
banks also get relief. And I look forward to debating
that amendment later.
Mr. Chairman, in relation to fiscal year
2023/24, the Office of the Tax Commis sioner will co ntinue its work on modernising technology, reporting
capabilities and operations to support effective debt
collection, improve customer service and successful resolution of taxpayer compliance. The OTC budget
allocation is $4.756 million, and this includes $3.9 mi llion in current expenditure and $855,000 in capital
expenditure. The capital expenditure budget will be
used to complete the OTC data warehouse analysis,
applications and support for further improvements to
modernisation efforts within the departments.
For fiscal year 2023/24 the OTC salary budget
has been reduced by 4 per cent, or $108,000, as part
of the department’s efficiency measures, and funding
allocation for professional services has been reduced
by 21 per cent, or $98,000, al so as part of efficiency
measures. The investments in technology will ensure
that these reductions will not impact the work of the
OTC in improving its tax collection efforts.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank the staff of
the Office of the Tax Commissi oner, led by the Tax
Commissioner Mr. Derek Rawlins, and the assistant
Tax Commissioners for all of their hard work and dedicated service to the Government and the people of
this country.
And I would now like to move on, with your
permission, to Head 39, the Registrar of Companies.

Thank you, very much, Mr. Premier.
And thank you very much to the Honourable Member
who stood before. The Chairm an has changed, and the Premier has just completed Head 38, the Office of
the Tax Commissioner, and he is going on to Head 39 which is the Registrar of Companies.
Premier, go right ahead, sir.

HEAD 39 —REGISTRAR OF COMPANIES

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I now present the budget for
Head 39 the Registrar of Companies which is found
on pages B -121 through B -124 of the Budget Book.
The Registrar of Companies is allocated a t otal budget of $9.45 million. And this is up by
$1,938,000, or 25 per cent from the original budget of
last year. The revenue for this department is on page
B-123 and will be $76,648,000.
Mr. Chairman, the Registrar of Companies is
government’s third largest revenue generating de-partment and is projected to collect approximately $76
million of revenue in fiscal 2023/24. Its operations are
regulated by sev eral legislative mandates, including
but not limited to the Companies Act 1981, the Limited
Partnerships Act 1883, the Exempted Partnership Act
1992, the Limited Liability Company Act 2016, the
Overseas Partnerships Act 1995, and the Government
Fees Regul ations of 1976. These provide the fram ework for maintaining the Registrar of Companies and
the timely collection of associated registration fees.
The department is also responsible for the
administration of liquidations and personal bankrupt-cies as well as the regulation of Bermuda’s real estate
and dealers in high- value goods sectors.
The legislative framework for the Registrar’s
mandate in this capacity is the Companies (Wind ingUp) Rules 1982, Bankruptcy Act 1989, Bankruptcy Rules 1990, Real Estate Brok ers’ Licensing Act 2017,
Real Estate Brokers’ Licensing Regulations 2017, and
Registrar of Companies (Supervision and Regulation)
Act 2020.
In recent times Bermuda has been impacted
by the ever -increasing pressures and imposed r equirements from other juri sdictions or regions, mounting challenges from our competitors and increasing
scrutiny from global and regional standards setting and oversight bodies, such as, the Organisation for
Economic Co- operation and Development [OECD],
the Financial Action Task Force [FATF], and the E uropean Union oversight bodies.
This changing landscape has driven ROCs
evolution as a regulator and this legislative mandate
has been underpinned by the Registrar of Companies
(Compliance Measures) Act 2017 and the Economic
Substance Act of 2018. Indeed, Bermuda’s implementation of the Economic Substance regime is closely
monitored or reviewed on a regular basis by both the
European Union and the OECD.
Similarly , FATF and CFATF [Caribbean F inancial Action Task Force] have looked to t he Regi strar of Companies to enhance its AML/ATF [Anti -


Bermuda House of Assembly Money Laundering and Anti -Terrorist Financing] compliance framework with respect to legal persons as
well as in the real estate and dealers in high- value
goods sectors as the competent and supervisory authority that is charged with their oversight.
Remaining in the regulatory lane, beneficial
ownership is another evolving space with policy pos itions emanating from the United Kingdom, the Eur opean Union, the OECD, the IMF [International Monetary Fund] and FATF, and commitments have been
made to both the EU and the UK. Beneficial ownership also features prominently in Bermuda’s AML/ATF
and economic substance regimes of which the Regi strar of Companies has been designated to oversee, as
well as OECD regimes which the treaty unit is currently responsible for.
Mr. Chairman, despite external pressures
Bermuda’s corporate register remains resilient. The total number of new companies and partnerships on
the Register showed marginal growth in 2022, ending
the year at approximately 16,000.
Mr. Chairman, the Registrar’s mission is to
leverage technology to enhance user experience and to facilitate regulation, accurate data collection and
analysis. The department’s mission objectives can be
found on page B -21 and the objectives are listed here
in my brief, there are 11 of them, and Opposition
Leader, I will allow you to read those yourself so that I
do not have to repeat them for the benefit of the listening audience. I will now move on to major achiev ements.

The Ch airman: Go ahead, Premier.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much.
Mr. Chairman, the department has been active in this fiscal year and some highlights include the
following: First, e- registration system. The new eregistration system has greatly increased the depar tment ’s speed to market by reducing the processing
timeframe for applications. Users can now conduct
searches from the convenience of their home or
workplace thanks to the upload of approximately
7,500 digital files into the online registry sy stem. The
transition to a paperless workplace for corporate
transactions is steadily advancing.
Most businesses in the corporate sector have
already registered on the Registrar of Companies’ portal and currently there are over 7,000 registered
units and nearly all applications are made using the
online registry system. Yes, Mr. Chairman, as has
been a common theme throughout my presentation
today, this Government continues to invest in technol-ogy to ensure that service provision across gover nment is more ef ficient and user -friendly.
Second is Insolvency and Liquidations. The
department added two full -time staff and one support
staff to facilitate the administration of court ordered
liquidations and personal bankruptcies for which we have been appointed over to facilitate faster pr ocessing.
Moving on to Real Estate. The department
continued the implementation of a compliance inspection plan for the real estate sector to ensure that Ber-muda continues to meet its international AML/ATF
obligations during the pandemic, adopted strategies to
address Bermuda’s AML/ATF national action plan
items, which involved collaboration with other superv isor authorities that actively engage with the real estate sector throughout webinars and to enhance their
understanding of their obligations. And finally, successfully completed numerous live webinar trainings
on money laundering through the property sector and
information sharing with a focus on understanding the
problem of money laundering through real estate. And
then on to c ompliance.
The department began the implementation of
the Economic Substance Compliance Programme in keeping with Bermuda’s commitment to cooperation
with the European Union and the OECD in the impl ementation of the International Tax Governance standards. They successfully completed the monitoring assessment conducted by the OECD’s forum on Harmful
Tax Practices secretariat. They successfully partic ipated in the OECD cybersecurity assessment and
began the implementation of the Corporate Gover nance Complianc e Programme. Yes, there are numerous assessments taking place by global agencies .
The Ministry of Finance and the government as a
whole are currently engaged in 14 separate asses sments.
Mr. Chairman, the ROC is pivotal to the continued success of the inter national and domestic bus iness sectors in Bermuda and stemming risks related
to the EU’s Annex I (I am not going to call the racist
name that they call it) and Annex II, the grey list, for
non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes , the
EU’s AML l ist and the FATF high- risk jurisdictions,
subject to a call for action of the FATF list. At least
they call it the action list.
Bermuda, consistent with its reputation as a
quality international financial centre is committed to having a robust and comprehensive risk -based compliant framework with the adequate resources to give
it full effect. This budget process continues to provide
the increased resources for the effective implement ation of the department’s expanded mandate, and to appropriately address t he significant threats that Bermuda is facing.
I will now move on to the expenditure overview and analysis by cost centre. The budget for the
Registrar of Companies is set out under six cost centres:
• Policy Planning and Administration;
• Finance and Revenue;
• Entity Registration;
• Insolvency and Liquidations;
• Real Estate and Licences; and
938 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly • Compliance.
The total current account expenditure can be
found on page B -122 and is estimated (as I mentioned
before) to be $9.54 million, an increase of $1,938,000,
or 25 per cent more than the original budget of fiscal
year 2022/23. This increase is primarily due to the
additional resources required by the Registrar of
Companies in support of its extended role to enforce compliance under the Economic Substance Act, the
Companies Act, and other relevant Acts.
Cost centre 49000, Policy Planning and A dministration: This is $6.3 million, and this is up $2,049,000, or 48 per cent over the previous year. Mr.
Chairman, the Policy Planning and Administration cost
centre includes planning, strategic direction, admi nistration and other activities associated with the daily
operation of the Registrar of Companies.
The information technology, financial and administrative support, budget development, accounting,
personnel administrati on and general office admi nistration are also included in this cost centre. Expenses under this cost centre include the salary of the
Registrar and all operational costs of the department.
The budget increase that I mentioned for this cost
centre for the f iscal year will be primarily used to boost
the human resource needs of the department in order
to facilitate the Registrar’s expanded mandate. And
the department has completed a comprehensive r eview of its operating structure and staff needs and the
increased budget represents an investment of additional resources to provide the required manpower
needs while the full -time staffing options are advanced
and onboarded.
With the continued increase in personnel the
Registrar of Companies has outgrown its office space
located at the Government Administration Building.
The Estate section of the Ministry of Public Works,
which is a very busy department, identified alternative accommodation for the Registrar of Companies’ offi ces and are currently negotiating terms w ith the landlord. Rental costs for this new accommodation are included in these estimates.
Cost centre 49010 on page B -122, Finance
and Revenue: Finance and Revenue cost centre is responsible for the collection of the annual fees submitted by companies in accordance with the various
Acts. The Registrar of Companies has historically collected about $68 million annually. To ensure adequate
controls around completeness, accuracy and timel iness of collecting revenue, the staff and processes
come under the direc t oversight of the departmental
comptroller.
Moving on to cost centre 49020, Entity Regi stration: This cost centre includes 10 persons involved in the registration of companies and the processing
and maintenance of statutory and legal documents
which must be registered and available for public i nspection in accordance with the prevailing legislation.
The cost decrease under this centre is minimal. Insolvency and Liquidations, there is no
change from the previous year. This cost centre is
responsible for t he execution of court orders to admi nister liquidations in accordance with the various Acts. The expenses of this cost centre primarily come from the salaries of three full -time staff. Other expenses
include the cost of various professional services, legal
accounting, contracts, et cetera, in administering court appointed corporate liquidations and personal bankruptcies. The estimated revenue for this cost centre is
reflected on page B -123 is $894,000 which is the balance of the total estimated revenue ment ioned earlier.
Cost centre 49050, Real Estate and Licenc es:
Mr. Chairman, this section is responsible for the pr ocessing and issuance of licences and permits to exempted local and overseas companies who carry on
business in Bermuda; the processing and iss uing of
licences to and the regulation of real estate brokers
and agents and ensuring industry compliance through
active monitoring and enforcement. Expenses under
this cost centre include the salaries of three persons.
Cost centre 49080, Compliance: The Compl iance cost centre is responsible for encouraging compliance via powers executed through the Registrar of
Companies (Compliance Measures) Act [2017], and
other relevant Acts, most notably the Economic Substance Act [2018], and the Companies Act [1981]. And
it includes the adherence to filing, registration and
other corporate governance requirements of the rel evant Acts, to inspect registered entities for the afor ementioned purposes and to investigate instances of a registered entity’s failure to comply with the provisions
of the Registrar of Companies (Compliance
Measures) Act 2017 or any other relevant Act.
The Compliance Unit is being enhanced as a
consequence of the requirements placed on Bermuda by the international organisations, which I already
spoke about, and it is the expectation from these i nternational bodies that Bermuda not only have suff icient people to fulfil its compliance requirements, but that those resources have adequate prerequisite skills and training. Consequently, the existing com pliance
posts have been amended to recruit an increased number of technically proficient individuals.
Expenses under this cost centre include 11
persons. The human resource needs in this section
may further supplemented through external resources
with the required skill sets.
Mr. Chairman, I now refer you to page B -122.
As a result of the previously mentioned expansion in the department’s compliance function, professional
services have seen a net increase of approximately
$1.78 million. These funds will be used in expanding
the compliance team and funding increased policy
development costs associated with the interpretation
and implementation of activities related to the ROC’s
compliance regime.
It is important to note, Mr. Chairman, that it is
a very big number and it had to be placed somewhere


Bermuda House of Assembly as the posts, which are set to be approved and then to
move to the department which will be filled, are not yet
there so once those things are filled, those items will
move out and be assigned to the individual pos ts. But
the increase is for mainly the additional persons that
the Registrar of Companies is going to be recruiting,
hence they were reflected there. They were not r eflected in the Budget Statement, but they will be r eflected shortly and will certainly be reflected next year
in the adjusted numbers. So I just wanted to make
that point.

Thank you, Mr. Premier.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much.
Additionally, $240,000 has been anticipated
for rental of appropriate office space. There ar e no
other significant changes between the budget est imates for 2023/24 fiscal year.
Moving on to Revenue, which is page B -123,
the department is forecasting overall revenue just over
$76 million. This is a $8,932,000, or a 13 per cent i ncrease in project ed revenue over the original revenue
estimate for 2022/23. In 2020, the Registrar undertook
a review of the department’s corporate fee structure
and identified potential fee changes that would expand its revenue base. The department initially pr oposed to i ntroduce these fees in October 2021. However, following consultation with stakeholders the pr oposed fees continue to be reviewed and modified and
their introduction was delayed.
In line with the Registrar’s increasing regulat ory function the department intends to implement a new
corporate regulatory fee in 2023 /24. This fee is pr oposed to be applied in an annual fee payable at $150
for local companies, and $500 for non- local companies. This initiative is expected to add $6 million of
revenue.
Mr. Chairman, I make the deal about the $500
for non- local companies as I will note that there was
great talk about how the Government has massively increased the cost of business by driving up company
fees. And $500 for a large international company I do not think is a great deal.
Additionally, the Registrar will implement a
5 per cent increase in transaction fees and will intr oduce new fees for transactions currently being performed at no cost. These changes will provide the additional expected revenue for 2023/24 and will come
into effect from April 1, 2023. The new fees and rates
will be updated in the amended Government Fees Regulations 1976.
The department’s budget supports an establishment of 37 full -time equivalent positions, and the
importance and need for further increase in resources
to meet the increasing external threats has already
been highlighted. The department must have the r esources to ensure that Bermuda’s corporate citizens
are in compliance with the legislation in carrying on of business in Bermuda. As I mentioned, additionally,
roles that were previously performed by contracted
resources are to be converted into substantive posts
to generate greater operational oversight, efficiency
and, most importantly, cost savings.
Over to capital funding, Mr. C hairman, on
page C -11. This has to do with the new electronic registry system. In line with this Government’s continued modernisation efforts the department introduced its
online economic substance declaration platform and
implemented its full online regis try system in June
2021. This system now provides real time access to publicly accessible company data and has also
streamlined the registration process.
The Registrar of Companies has been all ocated $1.6 million in capital funding for expanding the funct ionality of the system to include the beneficial
ownership register and to provide for other improv ements in system efficiencies. These improvements were initially expected to be completed in the current
year; however, some development work has been
deferr ed and the previously approved funding has
been carried forward to 2023/24.
Plans for the upcoming year, the department
has now become a bona fide regulator, having evolved from its primary purpose of being a repository
for corporate filings. As noted prev iously, international
pressures being exerted on our jurisdiction, the department has had a need to review its organisational
structure and resources with a view of staying ahead
of the various international sanctions that may have
detrimental impact to our economy.
Additionally, Mr. Chairman, as I have spoken
about before, there will be modifications to the legisl ative framework, specifically in regard to amendments
to section 129A of the Companies Act [1981] to r emove the requirement for data licence com panies to
apply for a 129A licences and to be in line with the government’s vision that Bermuda be a test bed for
innovative technology and FinTech and amendments
to apply to penalties for carrying on business without
129A and 114B licences.
We are also going to be modernising amendments to support the electronic registration and further
we are going to make sure that we streamline the
Registrar of Companies process to reduce red tape by
replacing antiquated legal processes that require
companies to incur l egal fees for routine interactions
such as corporate leasing of office space.
I’m skipping over quite a few things . . .

Honourable Members, we resume in
Committee of Supply for further consideration of the
Estimates of Revenue and Expendit ure for the year
2023/24. The Premier is currently on Head 39, which
runs from pages B -121 (if I am correct, Registrar of
Companies) on to page B-124. The Premier will then
be going on to page B-125.
Premier.
940 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you.

You have about 27 minutes left.
Hon. E. David Burt: It is important to note that the
Registrar of Companies will be taking on the ultimate
responsibility for receiving and publishing information
on beneficial ownership and there is significant work
that is going to have to be done this year in order to
make sure that we complete the new electronic beneficial ownership registry portal.
Mr. Chairman, as I close out on this section, I
would like to extend my appreciation for the work un-dertaken by the Regis trar of Companies, and to the
entire management staff of the department. The Registrar, Mr. Kenneth Joaquin, has gone above and beyond ensuring that this department delivers for Bermuda. He is an exemplary public officer and is a credit
to this Island.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This concludes my
remarks on the Registrar of Companies and I now move on to Head 58, Interest on Debt and Guarantee
Management.

Go right ahead.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much, Mr.
Chairman.

HEAD 58 —INTEREST ON DEBT AND GUARANTEE
MANAGEMENT

Hon. E. David Burt: This can be found on page B -
103 and the 2023/24 budget allocation for interest on debt, Head 58, is $130.4 million. Of this estimate, $129.5 million represents ongoing debt service costs
of the various debt instruments held by the Gover nment of Bermuda, while $400,000 is allocated to facil ity fees and other related costs. The remaining
$500,000 is for the costs associated with management of government’s guarantees.
Mr. Chairman, a key achievement in 2022/ 23
was the successful refinancing of almost a billion dollars’ worth of debt which was due to mature before
2024. And certainly, as interest rates began to rise,
Bermuda was able to get into the market and issue
debt with extremely tight spreads. This exec ution did
increase our interest expense by just over $2 million.
However, it must be noted that the government will
repay $50 million of debt this year. I know there was a
statement that said that the government has not paid
down any debt. We will repay $50 million of debt this
year. Which will see annual interest payments r educed in the next fiscal year, Mr. Cole Simons . . . sorry, Mr. Shadow Minister.

Honourable Member.

Hon. E. David Burt: Honourable Member, thank you. Mr. Chairman, movi ng on to the amount
budgeted for guarantee management, significant work
was done in fiscal year 2022/23 to assess financial
commitments related to the proposed redevelopment
of the Fairmont Southampton Hotel. Additional funding has been allocated to suppor t these final efforts towards document ing this $400 million project to bring a
close to project financing and facilitate commenc ement of construction in the first quarter of the fiscal
year.
Mr. Chairman, additionally , funds are being
set aside to continue the work required to ensure that
the Morgan’s Point project is developed in a manner
that will be cost -effective and of maximum economic
and social benefit to the people of Bermuda. As noted
previously, it has already been necessary to expend
considerable resources on this project. Additional
funding is required to progress transition of all activ ities for this project to the Morgan’s Point Development Company Limited. In future years this expense will be
nearly eliminated.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I wish to again
thank all of the teams who are part of the Ministry of
Finance for their dedication and professionalism.
There have been many challenges faced this past
year but the team has persevered. This submission
has highlighted the various threats and challenges
facing Bermuda. We will continue to proactively address these matters to ensure continued stability and
security. We remain committed to serving and protec ting the people of Bermuda through fiscal prudence
and effective management of resources and to pr ovide a basis for continued economic growth.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you very much, Premier. There
are about 22 minutes, or 24 minutes left in this debate.
Does any other Member wish to speak?
I recognise the Honourable O pposition Leader, Shadow Minister of Finance, Mr. Simons.
Honourable Member, you have the floor.
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I would just like to pick up
where the Premier left off before I actually get into my
present ation.

Go ahead.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: He indicated that $50 mi llion was to be repaid. I think he needs to make it abundantly clear that the $50 [million] repayment was
coming from the Sinking Fund and the Sinking Fund
was funded by borrowed capital when they went to the
capital markets. So we are repaying the $50 million
from the money we borrowed from the capital [market]. So we are repaying our loan with loan proceeds


Bermuda House of Assembly received in July 2022. It is not from judicious management of our financial prudence.
Now, let me just go back to the beginning.
First of all , I would like to commend—

Go right ahead, sir.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: First of all, I would like to
thank the employees of all of the branches of the Mi nistry of Finance. I think they are doing a great job. And
you cannot negate their commitment and dedication.
They have a difficult road ahead of them and they are
doing their best under the circumstances and they
have my full support. So, I am not going to this mini stry by ministry because I have limited time.
We in the Opposition generally support the
zero-based budgeting. We have made that clear before and we support the route in which the Gover nment is heading when it comes to that type of admi nistration. We also commend the Chair when they took
on CFATF. I mean, that is a responsible task. Again,
we send our congratulations to the team in the Mini stry of Finance. In addition, we also acknowledge t hat
the [audited unqualified] statements for the Consol idated Fund, that is the standard that we are looking
for. I would not let that go unrecognised.
Okay. So now let me go to my questions. The
first thing, Mr. Premier, last year we had $10 million in
the Ministry of Finance Headquarters allotted to
COVID -19. I listened attentively to your presentation
and my question is, Do we have an allocation for
COVID -19 this year? Because we still have that di sease with us and people are still dying. I actually went
to a funeral a couple of days ago for a young lady who
passed away from COVID -19. So, do we have an allotment to support the COVID -19 challenges that still
persist in this country? The Regulatory Authority. Again, they are doing very important work. C an the Minister in essence
provide a framework across a range of financial services? He said he was going to address the reformation of the Bermuda banking sector and provide the
appropriate legislation. I would like to see the type of
legislation that he is talking about [being] expanded
and defined. He also spoke about the banking codes,
and he is working on the reduction of mortgages. I have seen that.
He spoke about the banking fees and he will
be establishing parameters for the banking fees. So I
look forward to that development and how he is going
to have that on board. I wonder if he will be arriving at
that conclusion with the input from stakeholders.
In regard to the continuing of work with the EU
Council and the EU Audit Directive, are there any pending items that are new that will raise a red flag for
us and compromise our jurisdiction?
As I said, as for the capital markets and the
renewal of the debt, we support this transaction. Yes, it costs us a bit more, But, as you know, the interest marke ts and the capital markets were crazy last year
and the interest rates were skyrocketing. So, I think
they took the defensive action as required, and I
would have done the same thing if I were in their
shoes.
Well, the gift to me, Mr. Chairman—
The Chair man: Yes.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: The gift to me today, Mr.
Chairman, is the new captive. I, as you know, have
been a proponent of that —

You are bubbling with enthusiasm.
Carry on.
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: I am! Because I have been
asking f or this for 20 years, since I have been in the
House. And the OBA has been asking for this, so f inally, the Government has succumbed to our wishes
and [given us] a delivery on a captive insurance company.

[Laughter]

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Let me give y ou some st atistics, Mr. Chairman.
This year, 2023/24, we are paid $9.5 million.
Then I did some research. Again, it is in the Budget
Book. For the past 10 years we have paid $86 million
in premiums for insurance. And that has been the
case for captive, day -one. We are the captive centre
of the world, and we should have done this years and
years ago. And that is why I am saying that there was an opportunity for us to more effectively manage our
insurance profile across government.

[Crosstalk]

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Mr. Chairman, we are here.

Their agenda?
[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Okay. Let’s go forward. But
I thought that was my gift. I mean, I can go tomorrow
now. I am so happy that —

[Laughter]

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: —I received something that
I have been asking for for years.
[Laughter and inaudible interjections]

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Mr. Chairman—

Stay with me. Stay with me.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Mr. Chairman, now comes
the matter of geopolitics. The Minister was talking
about the Treaty and Management Unit. And that is
line item 19105 . . . sorry, page B -105, and line 20040.
My question is this when it comes to geopolitics. We
have a number of TIEAs [ Tax Information Exchange
Agreements ] out around the world.

Yes, sir.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: And you have seen what
has transpired between China and the US in regard to
tension and spying and so on and so forth. And China’s relationship with Russia. So, my question is, Are
we reviewing our TIEAs with the partners of the
world? Are we ensuring that we are in bed with countries that have a good reputation and protect democracy? And so, are we in bed with people involved
[with] the Putin regime? And I want to make sure . . .
and this is why I raise this. Because we have a TIEA
with the Republic of China. And are we going to r eview that to ensure that we are not compromised when it comes to those types of international geopoli tical risks?

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: No, I didn’t see it. I looked
for Russia but I didn’t see it.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Okay. The Premier gave us
some insight on the BEPS [Base Erosion and Profit
Shifting] and so I will just pass on that one and not
spend much time on that.

Stay within the confines of the heads
of course.

Hon. N. H. Cole Sim ons: I am. I am.
We spoke a lot about the tax framework. And
last year the Minister made a commitment to have the
tax reform, the local tax reform committee embodied.
Now, I know that we are waiting to see what transpires with BEPS and the 15 per cent tax harmonis ation. So, the question is, Where are we on the reformation or re- embodiment of the local tax reform commission? We know it is due and we know that it is i nevitable that we have to have it restructured because
our taxation system isn’t restructure d. So can we in
essence get that in place now for when we finalise our
position in regard to the tax harmonisation ( 15 per
cent) we would have the tax commission up and running already instead of waiting until decisions are
made and then have it up and running. So I would like
to get an update in that respect.

Keep me in the debate.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: NAMLC. And that is line
20100, page B -105. We had the peer assessment
mutual review and there were deficiencies, and we
were sending a report to the OECD in regard to our
mutual assessment. And so I am just wondering if we
could have that report made public so that the community can see what is going on in that space and
they are positioned to move with the country in ad-dressing these challenges. And I am aware that a
second follow -up report is due in November. But my
main question here is, Can you give us an update as
to what deficiencies there were? Because those are
kept closely to the Ministry’s chest.
In regard to the National Pensions Commi ssion, 20070. My question is, Do we have any professional liability for the trustees and the portfolio managers? Because at some point we can be exposed by
participants in the programme. And it might make
sense with our new captive that we have a professional liability covered in here to protect some of our
employees or some of the community members who
are in a fiduciary role from a professional point of view
even though they are trying to work and help the Government and the people of Bermuda.
Time, please?



Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: There are about 10 minutes left in the
debate.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Okay.
Now, the other issue that I would like to raise
is that the Minister spoke about investing 5 per cent of
the contributory fund in Bermuda.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Hang on . . . let me get the
. . . let me find . . .
[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Okay. Percentage. But
5 per cent . . . You may have said that last year.
[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: And so my point is this, we
have Bermudians on managing the portfolio. Professional people are managing the portfolio. And so if we want that, somehow we have to change the inves tment mandate of the structure.
In addition, when we look at Bermuda as a j urisdiction, as far as institutional investor s are concerned, we have to look at liquidity, sustainability, and . . . I am sympathetic and I am supportive of the pri nciple, but there are some dynamics in our small market that is going to make it difficult from an institutional
investment point of view. I know the players who are managing portfolios and they are committed to Bermuda. But they are putting their professional hats on.
And like I said (in my former role), we have a Berm uda fund. And again, we had problems getting liquidity
because investor s want to know that they can get their
money in and get it out. And sometimes they cannot get it out in a timely fashion with some of these Bermuda companies. And so what you see on the Bermuda fund was listed companies or some of the rei nsurance companies . I suspect that the Premier is tr ying to help small businesses and medium sized bus inesses, and I accept that.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: I am just saying.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Okay. Well —

The Chai rman: Keep the Chair in it.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Private pension is the same
thing. They want some of this money. And I am saying
to you, we have to look at the dynamics of the Berm uda market. Are we large enough to make it work? [A bell -like noise w as heard.]

Members of the public, that was not a
bell ending the debate. There is another . . . you have
seven more minutes left.

[Crosstalk]

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: The other issue that I would
like to raise is the issue that is on page C-38. Government Rentals. It is almost in line with the insur-ance. This year we are paying $13.478 million in rentals, rental properties. Over the past 10 years we have
in essence paid $124 million, almost $125 million in
rentals for properties across this country. Again, how
can we address this? Do we sell some of the real estate so that we both sell and develop real estate so
that we can reduce the $13 million we are paying
each year for rentals? I know this may be a way of
stimulating the economy by havi ng government rent
all these places. But from a taxpayer efficiency and prudence point of view, it does not make sense for us
to pay $125 million in rentals across the Island for 10 years.
Time, please.

Five. Just about five minutes.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: The other issue that I would
like to speak to is the contributory fund. We spoke
about the size of the assets in the portfolio, and I think
the 2020 net asset value based on the actuarial report produced by Li feWorks was $1.97 billion. But they
also said that the accrued and future liabilities w ere
estimated to be $5.5 billion. Again, things have been quiet in that space from the Government in regard to
the accrued and future liabilities and the deficiencies
between the assets and the liabilities, and I would
have liked to have heard more as to what the Minister
of Finance is doing to reduce this gap.
But, Mr. Chairman, on our current trajectory
they say our pension plan will be empty in 10 years’ time. I am del ighted that we have seen progress in the
debt management and the account receivables management. And quite frankly, we have screamed loud
enough about the quantum of the accounts receiv able, and I was confident in knowing that the Premier
spent more time t han normal on what is transpiring on
the debt management process.
We are on page B -117, line 48000, tax enforcement. I think when it comes to taxation in Berm uda . . . Bermuda is special because our tax culture is
different. We put our taxes at the bottom of the bills,
quite frankly. Not even in the middle. We say we will pay that tax when everything else is paid. And I think
somehow we need to have a conversation in regard to
our tax culture. Because, at the end of the day, we
944 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly need money to pave our roads , to help our seniors, to
get our schools going. And we can ill afford to have
our accounts receivables from our tax base to grow
exponentially year from year.
As for the Registrar of Companies, I would
like to ask the Minister, in essence, to provide det ails
on the number of cases that went into liquidation. And
the number of personal bankruptcies that transpired
last year, and also showcase some of the challenges
faced by the high- value goods section, be they jewellery and real estate. There were challenges last year
and I would just like . . . and this is line item 49050.
When it comes to the beneficial owner regi ster, Mr. Chairman, it has come to my attention that
there is a draft amendment to Bermuda’s Order -inCouncil when it comes to the Beneficial O wnership
Register. There is concern. And I have been advised that they have a draft, as I said, an amendment to the
Order -in-Council that will force our hands. So I will ask
the Premier if he could speak to that going forward.

For four minutes, yes.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Interest and guarantees.
Oh, yes. The hospital, they have a guarantee value of
$758 million. But before I get to that, Morgan’s Point.
The Budget Book still has a $165 million guarantee on
there. We paid to retire that. And I will ask the Minister
to ask why the Budget Book still retains the guarantee on it. Because he made it quite clear that we had to
spend $165 million to address the liability that was
incurred because of that. So the question is, Why do
we still have the guarantee on there because that basically does not provide the accurate representation of
our guarantees.
Now, the $758 million for the hospital guarantee. I note that last year [this] was reduced by $30
million. Is there a way that we can somehow renegot iate that $758 million based on the debt level today.
Because this hospital has been going for a number of
. . . 15 y ears. The development and the project with
Paget Health Services. And our liability and our accrued expenses and our accrued interest has dimi nished. So I was wondering if we could somehow revi sit the value of our outstanding guarantee, because it is a heavy burden for us and the people of this country.
Morgan’s Point.

There are 120 seconds left.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Oh, 120 seconds?
I think that’s it. I would like for the Premier to
comment on some of these so I will take my seat. The Chairman: Premier.
Hon. E. David Burt: I am going to be nice to the O pposition Leader and tell him that, you know, . . . I know
surprise, right? That the wonderful team, the Ministry of Finance are typing all the responses and they are
right here in a wonderful Google Docs and I might
even sit down and share them with you afterwards so that you can get all the answers to your questions.
But I need to start where you started and this
whole issue of the $50 million. What happens has ty pically happened, as you well know, is when debt becomes due there is no money to repay it. Now, this is
not the 2022 refinancing. Refinancing it was not new
money. So the money of which we are paying is money in the Sinking Fund, yes, but the purpose of the
Sinking Fund is to retire existing debt. And though
there was money in the Sinking Fund that was acquired during the pandemic —

[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. E. David Burt: —it was anticipated that we
would have to refinance this debt, but because of our
financial per formance, and the fact that we have exceeded the financial performance, which was set out
before, there are additional funds so we do not have
to refinance that debt which will lead to lower interest
payments going forward. Whatever you like to say,
they are lower interest payments going forward. I just
want to make sure that you are completely clear on
the issue of guarantees.
I will allow you to refer to the financial stat ements of the consolidated fund 2020/21 on your questions on Morgan’s Point, where t here is a note on the
bottom of the financial statement, it is in the public
domain, and it is clear for you to see what the issue is
there with the $165 million.
In regard to the guarantee on the hospital,
that amount is large due to public account standards. Remember, nothing has changed since you were in Government. And when we were in Government, it
was the same guarantee, but when you were in Government, it was recorded as $200- something and
when we were in Government it is recorded at $700something because the Auditor General had actually
changed. So there is no difference in it. The fact is
that the hospital is there, and we will go forward.

You have run out of time.

Hon. E. David Burt: The time for the debate has expired?

The Chairm an: I do apologise, Premier, the time has
expired.
You can go ahead and you can move.

Hon. E. David Burt: Oh, dear.


Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: You can move your Heads.

Hon. E. David Burt: I will caution the Opposition
Leader. He does this every year. He gives me three
hours and gives me seven heads to do on the Ministry
of Finance and almost all the revenue for the Government of Bermuda, I got to talk about it.
That much being said, Mr. Chairman, I move
that Heads 10, 11, 12, 28, 38, 39, and 58 be approved
as pr inted.

It has been moved that Heads 10, 11,
12, 28, 38, 39, and 58 be approved.
Is there any objection to the motion?
There is none.
Agreed to.
Thank you, Mr. Premier.
Thank you, Mr. Opposition Leader.
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Thank you.

[Motion carried: The Ministry of Finance Heads 10, 11,
12, 28, 38, 39, and 58 were approved and stand part
of the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the
year 2023/24] .

Honourable Members, we will resume
in the Committee of Supply for further consideration of
the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the
year 2023/24 under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Heads 93, 29, 32, 49, 79, 89 and 97 are now to be
debated.
I call upon the Minister in charge to proceed.
Minister, you have what is a five -hour debate.
You may proceed, Honourable Minister.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I move the following Heads 93, 29, 32, 49, 79,
89 and 97.

It has been so moved.
Is there any objection to the motion?
No objection.
Continue, Minister.

MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I am grateful for the opportunity
to lead the debate and present the Estimates of Rev-enue and Expenditure for Heads, as I have already
stated, 93, 29, 32, 49, 79, 89 and 97.

[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. Walter H. Roban: This is the Ministry of Home
Affairs, Head 93—Headquarters ; Head 29—Registry
General; Head 32—Department of Planning; Head
49— Land Valuation; Head 79—Environment and Natural Resources; Head 89—Energy; and Head 97—
Land Title and Registration.
I will present each head in turn, Mr. Chairman.

Mm-hmm.

HEAD 93 —MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS
HEADQUARTERS

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, I am grateful
for the opportunity to lead off the debate with the E stimates of Revenue and Expenditure for Head 93—Ministry of Home Affairs, Headquarters. This is found
on page B -295 through B -299, also pages C -8, C-16
and C -21 for the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the fiscal year 2023/24.
The Ministry Headquarters, Head 93, comprises business unit 103000, Administration, found on
page B -297.

Mission and Objectives

Hon. Walter H. Roban: The Ministry of Home Affairs
Headquarters mission statement is We Protect Bermuda’s Resources. To achieve the mission, the Mini stry Headquarters has the following objectives:
• to promote and support the improvement of
the quality and impact of services provided by
the departments within the Ministry;
• to provide logistical, financial, and administr ative support to the Ministry Headquarters and
its constituent departments; and
• to fulfil the Ministry’s mandate via collabor ation/consultation with various Government de-partments and public sector stakeholder
groups.

Expenditure Overview
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, as noted on
page B -297, the Ministry Headquarters has been all ocated a total of $1,918,000 for the fiscal year 2023/ 24,
or 32 per cent less than the original budget allocation
for fiscal year 2022/ 23. This is comprised of a 2 per
cent decrease for the Administration business unit,
which has a budget of $1,918,000 and a 100 per cent
decrease for the Consumer Affairs Administration business unit which has moved to the Attorney General and Ministry of Legal Affairs .
Mr. Chairma n, the most significant changes in
the Subjective Analysis found on page B -297 in the
2023/ 24 Current Account Estimates are explained as
follows:
• The majority of the various areas of expendi-ture have seen a decrease as a result of the
move of the Consumer Affairs Administration
business unit to the Ministry of Legal Affairs.
• The areas with an increase include Transport
with a 100 per cent increase from $1,000 to
946 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly $2,000 to provide for a projected increase in
ministerial travel, and Equipment (Minor Capital), increasing 200 per cent from $5,000 to
$15,000 to provide for anticipated expenditure
for the replacement of minor computer equi pment.

Revenue

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the Revenue
Summary is found on page B -298.
The Ministry Headquarters anti cipates that it
will collect $12,000 for fiscal year 2023/24. This is
$6,000 less than the original estimate for fiscal year 2022/23, representing a 33 per cent decrease. The
revenue of $12,000 comes from planning appeals and
represents an increase of $1,000, or 9 per cent. A decrease of $7,000, or 100 per cent, represents the revenue attributed to the licens ing of debt collectors that
moved with the Consumer Affairs Business Unit.

Manpower
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the manpower
estimate for the Ministry of Home Affairs Headquar-ters, as outlined on page B -298, is nine full -time posts,
an increase of one, or 13 per cent. A temporary post
of accounts assistant was added to assist with the completion of an accounts receivable special project.

Gran ts and Contributions
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, as shown on
page C -21, the Ministry Headquarters has an alloc ation of $20,000 for grants and contributions. This fund is to support local environmental projects.

Output Measures

Hon. Walter H. Ro ban: Mr. Chairman, the depar tment’s performance measures are outlined on page
B-299. For the Administration business unit, the r evised forecast for the outcomes for the fiscal year 2023/24 are
• decisions on planning appeals all communicated within the target 30 days from receipt of
the Independent Inspector’s report;
• submissions for annual planning, monthly performance monitoring, and fiscal end- of-year
accounting documents all meet or surpass the
timelines;
• 100 per cent of all planning appeals acknow ledged within five working days; and
• 100 per cent of independent reviews of planning appeals arranged within 30 days.
Independent planning inspectors used to always be brought in from overseas and thus it was
sometimes difficult to arrange all reviews within the 30
days, as this depends on the availability of the inspec-tors. However, since the institution of travel r estrictions during COVID -19, all documents including
video records could be sent to inspectors. The D epartment of Planning’s EnerGov system now digit ises
all records which makes it possible to submit all elec-tronic records to the independent planning inspectors.
While the inspector may deem it necessary to travel to
Bermuda on occasion, often they can review the
property, plans, and other documents wit hout having
to travel from their home country.

Major Policy Changes and Major Achievements
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, I will now di scuss major policy changes and major achievements
for the year 2022/23.
Economic Recovery Projects: Mr. Chairman,
the Ministry of Home Affairs is the lead Ministry in the
following economic recovery projects:
• the Marine Development Plan;
• the National Space Strategy;
• the Green Energy (Environmental Justice) Fund;
• the Electricity (Innovative) Licence, otherwise
known as the Regulatory Sandbox.
Mr. Chairman, Honourable Members will r emember that I reported that the Integrated Agriculture
Strategy was also added by the Minister of Labour
and Economy as an economic recovery project. I will
discuss the strategy further in H ead 79, under the D epartment of Environment and Natural Resources
[commonly known as DENR] brief. While the Minister
of Labour and Economy normally provides updates of
these projects, I will briefly describe the current status
of our projects.
The Marine D evelopment Act: Honourable
Members will remember during the 2022 Speech from the Throne, it was announced that a Marine Development Act will be drafted to provide the framework for
the management of the Marine Spatial Plan and to
introduce the governance s tructure of the Blue Economy Fund as well as the investment model for the
Green Energy Fund. Consultation of the Marine Spatial Plan and Blue Economy strategy continues with
focus on stakeholder meetings including commercial fisheries, recreational fisheri es, passive recreation
while fishing, aquaculture, tourism and infrastructure themes. I will discuss this further in the Head 79, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources
brief.
The National Space Strategy: While this strategy started with Bermuda’s three orbital slots, there are other strategies related to satellites that will pr ovide investment in Bermuda. Satellites are increasing
modes of communications, and, as a result Bermuda has the opportunity to serve as a base for their earth
stations. To take advantage of this opportunity we are
working with the Regulatory Authority to produce
regulations governing earth stations on the Island. I


Bermuda House of Assembly can also confirm that interest has been shown with at
least two companies contracting with a local provider
and two more companies that are negotiating with a
local provider.
The Green Energy (Environmental Justice)
Fund: Honourable Members will remember during the
2022 Speech from the Throne, it was announced that
amendments will be made to the Electricity Act 2016
to create Community Solar which will create an i nvestment opportunity for Bermudian entrepreneurs and business for solar installers. The proposed
framework for the community solar will be created and
will form the basis for the investment model and also
the basis for the amendments to the Electricity Act.
Mr. Chairman, you will be aware that not all
Bermudians can benefit from solar on their roofs, particularly owners that cannot afford to install solar, tenants and families in need. The financial model for the
fund is also being created to provide benefits to those
families in addition to providing dividends for those
who choose to invest.
The Regulatory Sandbox: Honourable Members will be aware that the Electricity Amendment Act
2022 was passed to i ntroduce the innovative licence.
The Sandbox Regulations have been reviewed and sent back to the drafters to produce the final draft.
Once completed, the regulations can be gazetted, and
the RA [Regulatory Authority] can proceed with pr ocessing the first application.
Mr. Chairman, you will be aware from my pr evious announcements that the first applicant will likely
be Seabased Limited. Seabased is currently working on their Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
which is required as part of their application to the RA.
Their EIA was submitted to the Department of Env ironment and Natural Resources for review and comment. I will discuss the National Space Strategy, the
Green Energy Fund and the Regulatory Sandbox in
further detail in Head 89, the Department of Energy
brief.
Mr. Chairman, I will now turn your attention to
other significant Ministry projects.
The Study on Climate Change: The Ministry of
Home Affairs committed in last year’s Budget Brief to
undertake a comprehensive climate change study
which woul d be the first of its kind undertaken by the
Bermuda Government.
Mr. Chairman, as reported in last year’s
Budget Brief, the Ministry of Home Affairs secured
funding from the UK Government for a comprehensive
climate change study. I hardly need to reiterate the
existential threat that climate change is to humanity
and especially to small islands such as Bermuda. The new study expands on the coastal erosion vulnerabi lity assessment undertaken in 2004 which identified
specific shorelines that were most vulnerable to er osion and storm inundation. The 2004 report was undertaken by Smith Warner International (SWI), and I am pleased to report that SWI have been engaged
once again to undertake the full climate change study.
SWI have been making diligent progress on
the climate change report during the last year. They have been actively engaged with the Climate Task Force established and led by the Ministry of Home
Affairs and includes PS Jasmin Smith formerly of the
Ministry of Transport, PS and Chief Domestic Offic er
for Financial Affairs, Dr. Jennifer Attride- Sterling of the
Ministry of Finance, Members of the Ministry of Public Works, including PS Randy Rochester, Chief Engineer, Kirk Outerbridge, Senior Estate Surveyor, Steve
Conway, Principal Civil Engineer, Tar ik Christopher,
Structural Engineer, Austin Kenny, the Bermuda
Weather Service, Dr. Mark Guishard, and Directors of
the Departments of Planning, Energy, and Environment and Natural Resources, respectively, Victoria
Cordeiro, Jeane Nikolai and Drew Pettit, Environmental Engineer, Dr . Geoff Smith and Project Manager,
David Northcott.
Mr. Chairman, I have taken the time to mention them by name because they have each brought
their immeasurable skills, experience and zeal to this important project, and I thank them for their participation.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) has outlined various pr ojections of change based on low, medium and high
emissions of global greenhouse gases. The SWI cl imate change report will focus on scenarios based on
the IPCC’s medium and high emissions projections.
These are situations where greenhouse emissions are
either only somewhat or hardly curbed.
The final report will outline for Bermuda the
likely conditions for the next 20, 50 and 100 years u nder these medium and worst -case scenario conditions. It will make recommendations for mitigation and adaptation based on the specific findings of their work
on the impacts to Bermuda under these scenarios.
We have already received the “Modelling Report ” and
the full final report will be delivered before the end of
this financial year.
Mr. Chairman, I would be remiss at this juncture if I did not recognise the participation of Gover nment House, Her Excellency the Governor and, in particular, Mrs. Pearl Jos eph, Policy Officer, who has
been absolutely invaluable in obtaining the funding
and support from the UK for the climate study.

Honourable Members, just to remind
[everyone] that we are in Committee of Supply for further consideration of the Estimates of Revenue and
Expenditure for the year 2023/24 under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Heads 93, 29, 32, 49, 79, 89, and 97.
Thank you for the pause, Minister. You may
proceed.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
948 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The Elimination of Single- Use Plastics: The
Ministry continues to make steps toward introducing
legislation to eliminate single- use plastics. As I have
said before, this is an extremely important matter gi ven the interrelated issues of plastics, climate change, ocean pollution and human health.

Following on from public consultations in the
last months of 2021 on the draft policy recommendations, the Ministry released the results of the consult ations in 2022 and has been engaged in a second
round of consultations with the cooper ation of the
Chamber of Commerce with importers, grocers, retai lers, and the hospitality industry, as well as with env ironmental organisations. Additionally, the Ministry has
been engaged in consultation with the Department of
Health, the Customs Department and the Waste Management section of the Ministry of Public Works to
ensure that there is government -wide input and support in helping Bermuda transition away from its rel iance on single- use plastics.
The Ministry has analysed the results of these
various rounds of public and inter -ministerial consult ations and will be making recommendations to Cabinet
for drafting legislation in the coming weeks. This draft
legislation will also be the subject of further public
consultation in order to ensure we strike t he right balance between protecting our economy whilst protec ting our environment.
Pursuing Information Technology Solutions:
Mr. Chairman, p rior to the pandemic, in February
2019, the Strategic Plan for Public Service Reform
was approved by Cabinet. One of the key reform goals is to be paperless by 2023. Although the past 24
months have been rife with challenges to achieving
this lofty paperless target, office closures and disruptions in government operations and revenue collection
have highlighted the need to drive government services online. The Ministry of Home Affairs is no exception, and we find ourselves in a position that requires
swift action.
The Ministry, in response to this challenge,
has committed to exploring and forging new business
partners hips with government technology leaders in
the digital transformation space. We are looking to
deliver services as efficiently and safely as possible to
our citizens. This means that we cannot continue in
the traditional vein in building costly legacy, cus tomcoded software with the technical complexity that
lacks the ability to be scaled or enhanced without i ncurring significant cost.
This growing need for innovative technology
has led the Ministry to investigate and pilot online applications called ” Software as a Service” that will:
(1) significantly reduce the reliance on proprietary i nformation technology infrastructure; (2) reduce tec hnical complexity; (3) avoid key man risks;
(4) significantly increase the time to market; and
(5) reduce the total cost of ownership of information
systems operations for the Ministry. Mr. Chairman, the Ministry of Home Affairs
has communicated an interest in developing and
launching a multi -phase programme to make the public aware of its vision and accomplishments on env ironmental protection and sustainability. The Gover nment wants to initially focus on engaging young Bermudians on key environmental initiatives: the Berm uda Ocean Prosperity Programme; the Elimination of
Single- Use Plastics; the Protection of Endangered
Plants and Animals, and Clean Energy. To achieve
this, the Ministry of Home Affairs will utilise a digital
online interactive platform that will make learning fun
and exciting through engaging interactive content. A
commitment to real -world action, and young Bermudians will be able to observe the real time impact of the
community’s actions, individually and as a whole.

Plans for the Upcoming Year
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the Ministry
Headquarters plans to complete the legislative initi atives outli ned in the 2022 Speech from the Throne and
progress the aforementioned economic recovery pr ojects that I have described. I will also outline some of
the highlights that we will be bring to the general public in 2023/24.
Mr. Chairman, the report on climate change
will be completed in this fiscal year. During 2023/24,
we will review the report and together with my Cabinet
colleagues, we will discuss and strategise how we will
be addressing the critical elements of our infrastructure. However, this report will also highlight some of
the challenges, such as rising tides, which may also
have an effect on our personal lives and properties.
As a result, we will be publishing portions of that r eport that may affect all of us as businesses and individuals so that we can make decisions as to how we
will conduct our personal affairs going forward. Dr. Mark Guishard, in partnership with BIOS, has r eleased an excellent report on how climate change will
affect our lives. As I mentioned previously, Dr. Guis hard is an invaluable member of our Climate Taskforce.
The report done by BIOS, Mr. Chairman, is somewhat
different from the one that the Government is doing.
Its focus is totally different. But together they will pr ovide a very comprehensive profile for everyone to understand around the impact of climate change.
Mr. Chairman, we will be drafting the legisl ation and our proposed first phase in the elimination of
single- use plastics. As we had committed, before the
legislation is tabled we will be consulting with the
stakeholders, including the retail, hospitality and gr ocery sectors in addition to importers, wholesalers and
environmental groups.
Mr. Chairman, during the year 2023/24, we
will be testing and launching the first online system for
dog licensing renewals and onli ne reporting of complaints. I must stress that unlike some online forms that require manual back -office processing, these sy sBermuda House of Assembly tems will be processed digitally from the submission of
the form to the processing and completion of the application, thereby reduc ing paper, processing times
and the need to visit the department.
Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to report that the
interactive platform geared to our young people will be
launched in the first quarter of 2023/24.
Mr. Chairman, in closing, I would like to thank
the dedicated members of staff in the Ministry Head-quarters, including our comptroller, Ms. Denise
Maughn, and her finance team; our policy analyst,
David Northcott; the executive assistant to the Permanent Secretary and myself, Tresa Robinson; and
Proje ct Manager and Acting IT and Business Analyst,
Shawn Lightbourne, currently on loan to us from the
Information Technology Department, and my Perm anent Secretary, Ms. Rozy Azhar, who ably and effectively leads the whole team.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, that completes my
presentation for the Ministry Headquarters Head 93.
I will now go on to the next Head, the Depar tment of the Registry General, Head 29.

Carry on , Minister.

HEAD 29 —DEPARTMENT OF
REGISTRY GENERAL
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chai rman, it gives me
great pleasure to present the budget for Head 29, the
Department of Registry General, found on pages B -
300 through B-303 of the Budget Book. The Registry
General is responsible for maintaining civil registr ations and providing public access to such records.
Under the general direction and control of the Minister of Home Affairs, the Registrar General exercises his
statutory functions and is assisted by such public officers as may from time to time be authorised by the
Legislature.
The mis sion of the Department of Registry
General is , To ensure the preservation of vital and
general records, and the protection of intellectual
property rights. This is achieved via the maintenance
of a reliable system for the storage of public records,
access t o those records and providing an efficient registry service which supports the registration of every
birth, death, adoption, domestic partnership and marriage in Bermuda.
The Registry General also facilitates the regi stration of chattel mortgages; the registration of trade unions, professionals and charitable organisations;
the granting of intellectual property rights such as
trade and service marks, patents and designs, and advising on copyright and related rights; and assumes
all administrative responsibilities with respect to the
registration of Country Code Top Level domain names
for Bermuda (.bm). To meet these objectives, the department has four
business units as shown on page B -300 and are, as
follows:
• Business unit 39000—Administration
• Business unit 39010—Intellectual Property
Registration
• Business unit 39020—Property, Professional
and Organisation Registration
• Business unit 39030—Births, Marriages and
Deaths

Expenditure Overview

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the current
account estimates for Head 29, Registry General, can
be found on page B -300. The Registry General has
been allocated a total of $1,660,000. This represents
a net increase of $11,000, or 1 per cent , from the
amount allocated in the original budget for the financial year 2022/23. Mr. Chairman, the budget estimates
of $1,660,000, allocated to the Registry General, will
allow the Registry to provide the core services mandated by the law.
The allocation of $751,000 to the Administr ation business unit 39000 will ensure that the infr astructure and proper resources are made available to
facilitate the efficient and timely registration of all pr ofessional bodies, intellectual property, organisations, vital and general events occurring in Bermuda during
this fiscal period.
The $587,000 allocated to the Intellectual
Property Unit , 39010, will allow that section to register
or renew the registration of domain names, trade
marks, patents, and designs; and maintain the exis ting registration systems for intellectual property and
.bm domain names.
The department will continue to meet its output measures as it registers documents relating to
charities, professional bodies, chattel mortgages and
other legal transactions with the $61,000 allocated to
the Property, Professional and Organisation bus iness
unit 39020.
The $261,000 allocated to the Births, Marriages and Deaths business unit 39030 will ensure
that all of these vital events occurring in Bermuda will be registered.
Mr. Chairman, the most significant variances in
the estimated budget are f urther explained on page B -
301 as follows:
• An increase of $3,000 in Salaries, listed on
line item 1. The increase is largely attributed
to incremental increases for staff.
• A decrease of $3,000, or 43 per cent , in
Communications, line item 6, represents a
decrease in the amount of money allocated to
telephone equipment and services.
• An increase of $14,000, or 13 per cent , for
Repairs and Maintenance, line item 9 , is
largely due to the office requiring a thorough
950 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly quarterly cleaning of the search room to r emove mould and dust, and inflation cost for
the maintenance of the Intellectual Property
registration systems which are under an annual maintenance agreement with the system
vendors.
• An increase of $2,000, or a 13 per cent , increase for Other Expenses, line i tem 12. This
represents a slight increase in money allocated for other operational costs (that is, for bank
charges and commissions).

Revenue
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, on the revenue
side, page B -302, the Registry General expects to
realise $1, 792,000 in revenue during 2023/24. The
most significant amounts are explained below:
• 8315, line item 1, $63,000 is expected from charity registrations.
• 8323, line item 2, $202,000 is expected from
trade mark applications.
• 8325, line item 4, $139,000 is expected from trade mark registrations.
• 8328, line item 7, $352,000 is expected from
trade mark renewals.
• 8336, line item 9, $183,000 is expected from .bm domain name registrations.
• 8359, line item 16, $176,000 is expected from
applications for birth certific ates.
• 8363, line item 18, $132,000 is expected from
marriage licences.
• 8364, line item 19, $114,000 is expected from
maritime marriage licences.
• 8365, line item 20, $35,000 is expected from
marriage ceremonies.
• 8367, line item 21, $61,000 is expected fr om
marriage certificates.
• 8375, line item 27, $70,000 is expected from
death certificates.

Manpower

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the manpower
estimates for the Registry General as outlined on
page B -302 are 18 full -time posts. Within the depar tment all posts are filled, except three. It is anticipated
that the vacant Legal and Compliance Officer, Trainee IP Manager, and Births and Deaths Administrator
posts will be filled by the beginning of the upcoming
fiscal year. The Registry General consists of the following four sections:
• 39000 Administration, seven staff;
• 39010 Intellectual Property, six staff;
• 39020 Property, Professional and Organiz ation Registration, one staff; and
• 39030 Births, Marriages and Deaths, four
staff. Performance Measures

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the depar tment’s Performance Measures are outlined on page B-303. In spite of the fact that the department is operating under strength with three key posts currently
vacant, and no continuity when the posts are filled as
temporary reliefs, staff members of the Registry General continue to work hard and are dedicated to
achieving these goals.
The department is responsible for discharging
duties conferred under a total of 36 Acts and Regul ations which govern the operations of the Registry
General. The main function of the department is to
ensure the efficient and timely registration of all intellectual property rights, vital and general events occurring in Bermuda. The department continues to meet
these measures and diligently delivers on core services, and all sections have met their deadlines for projects assigned.

Major Policy Changes
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the policy initiatives to be drafted and implemented, which have
been carried forward from the 2022/ 23 fiscal year, are
as follows:
The Registry General has oversight of the l ocal non- profit organisation (NPO) sector which is subject to assessment by the Caribbean Financial Action
Task Force (CFATF). The last assessment was conducted in September 2018, [in] which Bermuda was
extremely successful and received high ratings for its
Anti-Money Laundering/ Anti -Terrorist Financing
(AML/ATF) regime. However, ongoing maintenance is
required to ensure that effective polices and an
AML/ATF framework for NPOs [non- profit organis ations] remains in place. Bermuda is assessed every
five years from the date of the last assessment to en-sure that an effective AML/ATF regime is or remains
in place.
One recommendation highlighted in the initial
draft report from the CFATF Asses sors was the need
for Countering Terrorist Financing training with r espect to NPOs/charities. Specifically, the services/work that the Registry General provides to the
NPO sector can be greatly improved if staff were more
aware of global trends and red flag indicators that
could possibly point to an entity being misused for
terrorist financing. The enhancement of both policies
and procedures for terrorist financing detection and
prevention, specifically for the non- profit sector (via
Countering Terrorist Fi nancing training for charities) is
an ongoing initiative for the Registry General as global risk trends can change annually.
A consultant will be sought to provide staff
with the relevant training to identify risk trends regar ding the NPO sector and assis t with developing polices
to address these risks.


Bermuda House of Assembly Also, following the 2020 update to Bermuda’s
national assessment of terrorist financing risks in the
local NPO sector, it was determined that one aspect
of the exemption granted to Privately Funded Char ities (PFC), that are supervised by either a licensed
trust business or corporate service provider, does not achieve the intended policy purpose of addressing the
gap in the oversight and supervision regime for NPOs.
During this current fiscal year, the Regist ry General
has worked closely with the Bermuda Monitory A uthority (BMA) to assess the PFC sector and determine
which procedures to adopt to ensure that PFC s supervised or managed by corporate service provider s
qualify for an exemption from registration.
A questionnaire was disseminated to PFCs in
August 2022 to assist with evaluating the level of i nvolvement of CSPs with the day -to-day operations of
PFCs. The responses provided were reviewed and it
was determined that if the level of service provided by
a CSP to a PFC does not meet the minimum standard
(i.e., sufficient oversight to ensure the PFC fully complies with the FATF requirements), then the PFC
should not be eligible for exemption from registration
and should thus be subject to the Registry General’ s
direct supervision.
A consultation paper was sent to PFCs in
January 2023 and once the feedback received is r eviewed, approval for the proposed legislative amend-ments will be sought from Cabinet. It is anticipated
that the amendments will come into effect during the
second quarter of the 2023/24 fiscal year.
Legislative and policy oversight of the Charity
Unit is part of the portfolio assigned to the Minister of
the Social Development and Seniors and the legisl ative amendment initiative has progressed this fiscal
year under her remit.

Plans for the Upcoming Year

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the Admi nistration section will continue with the voluntary regi stration of vital events project. To progress this initi ative, I intend to bring the legislati ve amendments to
this Honourable House in the 2023/ 24 fiscal year. This
will empower the Registrar to provide for a voluntary register of [vit al] events for Bermuda’s citizens that
occur outside our jurisdiction. Currently, relevant Bermuda legislation (i .e., the Adoption of Children Act
2006; Registration (Births and Deaths) Act 1949; Marriage Act 1944; Registry -General Recording of Doc uments Act 1955) only require the registration of adoptions, births, deaths, name changes and marriages
that occur in Berm uda. However, Bermudians migrate
to other countries, and in such cases, information r elated to vital events that occur outside of Bermuda is
lost.
The voluntary registration of vital events for
people born in Bermuda or closely related to Bermuda represent s an invaluable opportunity to extend and/or return each person’s footprint back home. In its si mplest terms, voluntary registration will allow the Regi stry General to advance its records of vital registration
by allowing opportunity for generations to not only
record vital events that occur outside of Bermuda but
will also provide an opportunity for the research of
vital events of generations past.
The introduction of a voluntary registration
system provides an opportunity, on payment of a nominal fee, for persons to submit application for registration with supporting documents (i.e. , birth certif icate of chil dren born to Bermudians overseas), i nspect and examine any document recorded, and copy
or make extracts from any document register or index
associated with the voluntary register.
Mr. Chairman, the Administration section will
continue in the upcoming fiscal year with the prepar ation for digiti sation of key office documents and records. The Registry General remains commit ted to di gitising its legacy vital records and general registration
business processes by leveraging advanced Software
as a Service [SaaS ] solutions that will efficiently and
safely promote online business transactions on any
device, from anywhere in the world.
The new vital records and general registration
digitised service will allow for more reliable and highly
available services, online e- Payment, e- Filing and an
[intuitive ] user-friendly front end that will make it easy
for our citizens to use. This includes the Professional and Organis ation section with regard to registration for
charities, trade unions, architects, professional engineers, professional surveyors and apprenticeships.
In addition, the Registry General’s new digi tised online service will reali se a significant reduction
in the total cost of ownership, reduced technical com-plexity and avoid key man support risks which is presently observed with its current legacy services.
Mr. Chairman, the Intellectual Property (IP)
section will continue with the key initiatives and pr ojects that were identified for this fiscal year. The completion of these initiatives will not only be a benefit to
the IP registration regime in Bermuda, but an added
value to the IP registration system globally. At the
forefront of the IP Section’s agenda i s to continue with
application to the UK Government for the provisions of
the Paris Convention, Madrid Protocol, Patent Cooperation Treaty, and the Hague Agreement to be extended to Bermuda; and amend the local intellectual
property legislation to bring the framework in line with
the relevant treaty requirements and global best practices.
For example, amendments to the trademarks
legislation are in the final stages of the drafting pr ocess and the new legislation is expected to come into
effect during the second term in the upcoming
2023/24 fiscal year. The drafting process for amendments to the patent legislation has commenced and it
is anticipated that the new draft legislation will be
submitted to the legislature during the third term of the
952 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly upcoming fiscal year . And amendments to the Copyright legislation to implement a voluntary registration
scheme for copyright works are expected to be completed by the fourth term of the upcoming fiscal year.
Legislative and policy oversight of the IP Unit
is part of the portfolio assigned to the Minister of the
Cabinet Office, and the legislative amendment initi ative has progressed this fiscal year under his remit.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to express my gratitude to the team and dedicated staff members of the
Registry General Department, led by Mr. Aubrey Pennyman, as they continue to take a proactive approach
to ensure Bermuda remains relevant and comparable
with its global partners.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That concludes the
presentation for the Registry General, Head 29.
[Mr. Scott Simmons, Chairman]

Thank you, Honourable Minister.
Members, the Minister resumes in Committee
of Supply for further consideration of the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the year 2023/24. We
are doing the Ministry of Home Affairs under Heads
93, 29, 32, 49, 79, 89 and 97. Minister, you can proceed.

HEAD 32 —DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Yes, Mr. Chairman, I will now
continue with Head 32, the Department of Planning.
Mr. Chairman, it gives me gr eat pleasure to
present the budget for Head 32, the Department of
Planning, found on pages B -304 through B-308, and
[page] C -21 of the Approved Estimates of Revenue
and Expenditure.
Mr. Chairman, the mission of the Department
of Planning is To ensure the sustainable management
of the natural and built environment. The department’s
objectives comprise the following:
• balancing the need for development with pr otecting the natural and historic environment;
• managing the development of land to ensure
its effic ient use;
• ensuring policies and processes are stream -
lined, transparent and consistently impl emented;
• ensuring developments are constructed in compliance with required standards to protect
the health, s afety, and welfare of our comm unities; and
• engaging with, educating and being responsive to the needs of the public.
To meet these objectives, the department has
seven business units as shown on page B -305, which
are as follows:
• Business unit 42000—General Administration;
• Business unit 42020—Front Desk; • Business unit 42050—Enforcement and
Searches;
• Business unit 42060—Forward Planning;
• Business unit 42070—Development Management ;
• Business unit 42080—Building Permits;
• Business unit 42090—Inspections.

Expenditure Overview

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chai rman, the Depar tment of Planning’s total budget allocation, which is shown on page B -305, is $3, 596,000 for the 2023/2 4
fiscal year. This represents an increase of $247,000
when compared to the previous year.
The subject analysis of current account est imates is found on page B -305, and includes the following:
• Salaries for the department is shown on line 1, is $3,147,000, and represents 88 per
cent of the department’s budget.
• Rentals is shown on line 8. The budget of
$239,000 is required to fund the rent assoc iated with a Planning office move during this
next fiscal year to 44 Church Street in the City
of Hamilton.

Revenue Summary

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the depar tment’s revenue is found on page B -306 for the
2023/2 4 fiscal year and is estimated to be $1, 555,000.
This estimate represents a decrease of $93 ,000 when
compared to the projected revenue for 2022 /23 fiscal
year.
Like other industries, the construction industry
is not immune to rising costs of doing business. Whilst
these rising cost s may deter some projects from pr oceeding ahead, there is still a healthy appetite for de-velopment amongst many. Residential and new tourism investment will continue, particularly within the
high- end sector. This is in addition to the recently announced large scale developments such as the Fai rmont Southampton and the Morgan’s Point develop-ments.
An analysis of the projected revenue is as follows:
• Line 8123, Planning Application Fees, shown
on line 1, is projected at $459,000, which r eflects a 2 per cent increase from last year.
Any minor decrease in planning applications
will be offset by the 5 per cent rise in planning
fees.
• Line 8127, the revenue collected from Building Permit Fees as shown on line 3 is projec ted to decrease minimally as fees are remai ning the same. As some projects are not expected to go forward, the revenue is set at
$500,000, which represents a decrease of


Bermuda House of Assembly $50,000, or 9 per cent from the original est imate for 2022/ 23.
• Line 8133, the department continues to observe a healthy real estate market. This is
demonstrated by an increase in planning
search fees, shown on line 5, resulting in a
projected revenue figure of $235,000. This
represents an increase of 28 per cent over the
last fiscal year.
One thing we learned, or certainly I have
learned, Mr. Chairman, is that the pattern of searches
often corresponds with the rate of development because people are searching to see what they can do
with a particular land that they have perhaps initially
purchased. That search usually proceeds the steps
taken to develop. So one way the department is able
to track and determine what the appetite is for development in the country is from the number of searches
being done on a periodic basis.
• Line 8517 projected revenue for elevator l icenc es has decreased by $114,000 or 28 per
cent. This past fiscal year experienced a
higher revenue in this area due to the signif icant number of unlicensed devices which had
additional penalty fees to pay in addition to
the yearly licence fee. As such, for this upcoming fisc al year, the revenue is expected to
be less given most devices are compliant and
current with the licensing requirements.
I think we are all happy to know that most el evators in the city and around the Island are compliant. We would not want that as an unk nown factor for
safety reasons, and other reasons, clearly, Mr. Chai rman.

Manpower
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the depar tment’s employee numbers are outlined on page B -306
of the Budget Book. There are 32 full -time posts, of
which seven are currently vacant. The department is
therefore operating at 78 per cent of its minimum staf fing requirement to provide core services. Two of the
vacant posts, which are administrative roles, are currently not funded. All post holders apart from two are
Bermudian.
The vacant funded posts include Building
Control Officer, Planner (Development Management),
Assistant Planner (Development Management), Appl ications Information Clerk and Heritage Officer. The recruitment process is in train for the planner post and the building control officer post. Recruitment is scheduled to commence for the applications information
clerk in the 2023/24 fiscal year.
Mr. Chairman, it bears mentioning that the
department takes a keen interest in providing young Bermudians with work experience and to train them
for key roles within the field of planning. In this vein, I
am pleased to report that a bursary was awarded to a Bermudian student who has already gained work experience with the department and is expected to com-plete their studies during this next fiscal year and rejoin the department to assume the assistant planner
post. Additionally, I am happy to report that a trainee heritage officer, another young Bermudian, is nearing
the completion of her training plan and is expected to
move into the heritage officer post during the 2023/24
fiscal year.
That’s great news, that we are adding young
Bermudians to the team, Mr. Chairman. It [gives us]
great pride in the department and the Government
that this is being accomplished.

Output Measures

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the performance measures for the department are presented on
pages B -307 through B -308 of the Budget Book.
These performance measures remain largely unchanged from when they were first introduced last
year. Thr ee new measures were added to the Forward Planning business unit, 42060, completion of
2022 Housing Land Audit:
1. preparation of an industrial land review;
2. assisting with the preparation of World Heri tage Site Management Plan; and
3. transitional arrangements.
Mr. Chairman, this past year has seen a slight
reduction in the number of planning approvals relative
to the previous fiscal year. For the information of Honourable Members, I would like to provide statistics that
may be of particular interest.
For the business unit 42070, Development
Management, during the period of April 1, 2022, to
February 10, 2023, there were 310 planning approvals
granted for development. This represents a decrease of 97 approvals, or 24 per cent, when compared to the
same period of the prior fiscal year.
Despite this reduction, it must be noted that
the Development Management team of the depar tment has been operating with two vacant posts, which
represents a reduced capacity of approximately
30 per cent. Similarly, the department’s Building Control team has been operating with a vacant building
control officer post. The workload of each officer has
therefore remained extremely high. The department
has worked tirelessly to process both planning appl ications and building permits to ser vice the construction industry, a key pillar of the economy.
To highlight some key projects, planning permission was granted for the Ariel Sands development comprising 84 hotel keys in 33 hotel guest rooms, 21
villas, and 30 condominiums. Additionally, a f inal plan
of subdivision was approved for the creation of 13
high- quality residential lots on White Crest Hill. Several planning applications for new houses on these lots
are expected to be submitted over the course of the
2023/24 fiscal year.
954 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Chairma n, for business unit 42080, Buil ding Permits, the statistics for both the submission of
building permits as well as the issuance of building
permits has held steady over the course of the
2022/23 and current fiscal cycles.
Of note, building permits have been issued for
the development of residential lots at Riddell’s Bay pursuant of the Special Development Order made in
July 2020. Twenty -eight per cent of the 18 approved
residential lots are now either completed or under
construction, and over $1,000,000 has been spent on
landscaping by the developer, transforming the land
from a disused golf course to a nature reserve and
high- quality landscapes which are now being enjoyed
by members of the public. Building permits have also
been issued for tourism development, including the
ongoing construction at Azura/Nautilus and the refurbishment and reopening of the St. George’s Club.
Mr. Chairman, a breakdown of building permit data reveals the following with totals included from the 2021/22 year as a helpful compari son:
• For the 2021/22 fiscal year, a total of 1,156
permits were submitted, and a total of 888
building permits were issued. Of the 888
building permits issued, 18 per cent were for
commercial developments, 31 per cent comprised residential developments and 51 per
cent represented the minor works form of development.
• For the 2022/23 fiscal year with projections to March 31 based on current trends, a projected
total of 1,144 permits submitted, and a pr ojected total of 868 permits issued. Of the pr ojected tot al of 868 permits to be issued, 18 per
cent are for commercial developments, 30 per
cent comprise residential developments and
52 per cent represent the minor works form of
development.
Mr. Chairman, the department has exper ienced another healthy year wit h respect to the number of planning searches performed under business unit 42050, Enforcement and Searches. Comparing
the figures for the same period used for reviewing
planning approvals and permits, this fiscal year thus
far yields 277 planning searches. This number reflects
an active real estate market despite this being a slight
decrease of 51, or 15 per cent, from last year.

Major Achievements

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, aside from the
general processing of planning applications and iss uing of building permits, the department has completed
several other key projects.
I am pleased to confirm that the North East
Hamilton Local Plan 2022 was adopted in July of last year. This is a significant plan, not just for the area,
but the Island as it is the first land use plan in Berm uda to employ a discretion- based approach to decision-making. From the outset of this project, the depar tment was determined to produce a planning policy document which could be used to facilitate increased
economic activity within the area.
The flexible planning framework employed by
this document achieves just that and ensures that the
plan can respond positively to a wide range of circumstances and development proposals. The plan was
informed by an extensive public consult ation exercise,
and I am looking forward to seeing how this plan can
assist in benefiting the residents and businesses of
North East Hamilton.
Mr. Chairman, last year I reported that the department partnered with the Bermuda Land Development Company (BLDC) to produce a community plan
for St. David’s. The area of St. David’s is recognised
for its expanse of open spaces, wide mix of uses and
valued historical landmarks. The need for St. David’s
to have its own plan is vital to ensure a continued
compatibility of land uses but, most importantly, that
the area can grow sustainably, and future economic
growth is in alignment with the needs of the local
community.
After months of research and consultation
with the residents and business owners of St. David’s,
a draft version of the St. David’s Community Plan was
launched in August 2022 and the public was invited to
provide their input. It is expected that, following the
conclusion of the consultation process, the Plan will
move to a final stage of adoption inclusi ve of a strat egy for implementation.
Mr. Chairman, with respect to legislative
change, amendments to the Development and Planning Act 1974 were passed by the Legislature to allow
for the making of the Development and Planning (Use
Classes) Order 2022. The department has also published new procedures on the Special Development
Order process following the amendments to the D evelopment and Planning Act 1974 which were approved by the legislature in 2021. The first two Pr otected Conservation Areas (Riddell’s Bay and White
Crest Hill) were also approved during the current fiscal
year, which will safeguard this land as nature reserve
and open space, respectively.
Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to confirm that
the department’s efforts to increase awareness of its
funct ions and processes along with a desire to clearly
understand the concerns of the construction industry
have continued with regular stakeholder engagement.
Meetings are routinely held with key groups in the i ndustry, such as, the Institute of Bermuda Archit ects,
the Construction Association of Bermuda, the Chamber of Commerce (Energy Division) and the Bermuda
Economic Development Corporation (BEDC). This
arrangement proves to be key in ensuring the depar tment is acutely aware of the challenges and needs
that the industry and community are facing.
Mr. Chairman, the department has also made
significant progress in improving its website, partic uBermuda House of Assembly larly in respect of the publication of procedures and
guidance notes, to provide clear and transparent i nformation to s takeholders, including members of the
public. Processes have been put in place which make
it far easier to view and comment on planning applic ations and any person is able to sign up on a mailing
list to receive notifications of publications from the department on planning applications.
So, for instance, Mr. Chairman, if you are resident in Sandys, you could register to have all the planning applications that are made in the vicinity of
Sandys to come to you so that you know what’s going
on in Sandys without having to buy a newspaper or
dig or somebody down the street tell you something that’s going on.

It is, Minister.

Plans for the Upcoming Year

Hon. Walter H. Roban: I wish to now address plans
for the upcoming year.
Mr. Chairman, following on from my comments last year, the Department of Planning completed an extensive process of data gathering and anal ysis work in support of a new land use [plan] for the
City of Hamilton. To this end, the department has published the City Survey Report 2023 and City Health Check 2022, both of which c onsider key issues affec ting the City which could be influenced by planning
policy.
The City of Hamilton Plan 2023 Consultative
Draft was published on 20 January, with the public consultation phase running until 24 March. The department has conducted numerous targeted present ations to key stakeholder groups thus far to garner as much feedback as possible, and will be continuing
with various public outreach activities through to the
conclusion of the consultation period.
The consultative draft stage introduces a new
phase to the plan- making process to provide greater
opportunities for public input at an earlier stage in the
plan- making process. I am pleased to report that the
department has received numerous messages of
support for not only the change in th e process, but the
content of the plan. The department is currently targeting moving through to the draft plan stage before
the end of 2023, with an anticipated adoption date for
the plan of September 2024.
Mr. Chairman, the department is nearing the
completion of a comprehensive review of the Listed Building Register, a register that was first established in 1991 and has been subject to limited review over
the years. This is a significant undertaking by the de-partment, the first stage of which was to devi se an
appropriate methodology for the audit. International best practice on reviewing listed buildings is constant-ly evolving and the department had to determine an
approach which was not only reflective of modern
practices within this field but could also be effectively
applied within a Bermudian context.
There are currently a total of 782 listed buil dings in Bermuda, all of which had to be reviewed as
part of this audit. It is anticipated that the review will
be completed by spring 2023, enabling the consult ation processes to begin thereafter.
Mr. Chairman, another item which I anticipate
tabling this year includes the replacement of the D evelopment and Planning (General Development) O rder 2015, which will increase the scope of what is considered permitted development. The new order will
introduce permitted changes of use to Bermuda which
will provide much- needed flexibility to assist business
owners with appropriate limitations to protect res idents. In my continued efforts to encourage renew able and green technologies, changes to increase the
scope of solar PV installations will also be one of the key features of this document.
Mr. Chairman, the department has been making notable progress on updating its procedures and guidance notes, which are essential ongoing streamlining measures whilst providing valuable helpful i nformation to the public. During this year, the depar tment intends to publish procedures and guidance to enable the commencement of the use of civil penalties
to allow for proper measures to be taken against
those who breach planning regulations. Procedures
and guidance will also be issued on Protected Conservation Areas and Emergency Development Orders
pursuant to the amendments which were made to the
Development and Planning Act 1974 in 2021.
Mr. Chairman, the department, under the direction of the Ministry of Home Affairs, has commenced a research exercise to investigate how the
Bermuda Plan can become more flexible and responsive to the changing priorities with respect to land use and devel opment needs. In this regard, there is a recognised need that the plan needs to be a living doc ument. Further, there is a desire to place greater focus on community -based planning to ensure that the var ying and unique needs of individual parishes are accommodated through new policy. This initial exercise
is intended to initiate a discussion on future planning
reform.

[Pause]

Hon. Walter H. Roban: I am just pausing so that the
new Chairman can take her seat without any rush.
[Ms. Lovitta F. Foggo, Chair man]
956 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Thank you, Minister. You may conti nue.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you, very much, Madam Chairman.
The department has been liaising with the
Ministry responsible for municipalities to advance the
adoption of a new World Heritage Site Management
Plan. This document has been finalised and has since been sent to the Department for Digital, Culture, M edia and Sport of the UK State Party.
Madam Chairman, last year I introduced the
concept of a competent person’ s scheme to enable
competent t radespersons to perform certain works
without the required inspection process. In partnership with the Department of Energy, a draft policy focusing
on a pilot programme for PV solar installers has been
completed. This is a key initiative specifically aimed to
support the renewable energy industry whilst also further reinforcing my goal of streamlining the planning
process. Some legislative amendments will be r equired, and I will be tabling the amendments within the
2023/24 fiscal year. Consultation with such entities as
the PV installers and the Energy Division of the
Chamber of Commerce will follow before implement ation.
In conclusion, Madam Chairman, I continue to
be proud of the significant efforts made by the D epartment of Planning staff, year after year. The past
12 months has resulted in substantial progress being
made for various projects and legislative change as
explained earlier. I only expect this progress to con-tinue, and I remain confident that the Department of
Planning will persist in their c ommitment to educate
the public on the important role that planning plays for
our Island home.
I would like to thank the dedicated members
of staff in the Department of Planning, including Ms. Victoria Cordeiro; Director, Mr. Larry Williams, Assi stant Dir ector; Mr. Aidan Stones, Acting Building Control Officer, and their respective teams. It has been indeed a pleasure working with them.
Madam Chairman, this concludes my presentation for Head 32, Department of Planning. I would
like to move on to the next head, Head 49, Depar tment of Land Values.

Yes, thank you, Minister.
I just want to remind the listening public that
we are continuing now in debate on the Ministry of Home Affairs, debating Heads 93, 29 and 32, 49, 79,
89 and 97.
And I want to remind you, Minister, that this
debate does end at 8:24 pm.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you, Madam Chai rman. Can you tell me how much time we have?

Yes.

HEAD 49 —DEPARTMENT OF LAND VALUATION

Hon. Walter H. Roban: It gives me great pleasure to
present the budget for Head 49, the Department of
Land Valuation, found on pages B -309 through B -311
and C -16 of the Approved Es timates of Revenue and
Expenditure [Book].
The mission of the Department of Land Valuation is To proactively maintain an accurate and fair
Valuation List for land tax purposes. The department’s
work ethic, principles and expertise are aptly summ arised in t heir maxim , We value Bermuda, as the department strives to be a model of appraisal and assessment administration with a reputation for delivering impartial, accurate and understandable asses sments that exceed statutory requirements, guidelines,
and international best practices. To this end, the department’s objectives comprise the following:
• maintaining an accurate and current Valuation
List for Bermuda under the authority of the
Land Valuation and Tax Act 1967;
• undertaking Island- wide quinquennial, or fiveyear revaluations, for land tax purposes as
required by the Act;
• providing prompt and accurate valuation ad-vice to the Tax Commissioner and the Regi strar of the Supreme Court on voluntary conveyances and probate matters; and


Bermuda House of Assembly • providing valuation and poli cy advice to other
government departments as requested.
To meet these objectives, the department has
the single valuation business unit, as shown on page
B-309.

Expenditure Overview
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the department of Land Valuation’ s total budget allocation
shown on page B -309, is $855,000 for the 2023/24
fiscal year. This represents a decrease of $143,000,
or 14 per cent when compared to the original budget
of the previous year. There are no increases in expenditure and savings have been made in salaries,
training and professional services as outlined in the
subject analysis found on page B -310 in the 2023/24
estimates and are explained as follows:
• 50 per cent decrease in salaries, line item 1,
due to funds not being allocated to fi ll the v acant valuer and one of the trainee valuer pos itions;
• 83 per cent decrease in training, line item 2, due to funds for overseas training no longer being required as the department’s existing
trainee has recently returned to Bermuda as a
full-time r esident valuer; and
• 17 per cent decrease in professional services,
line item 4, because of reduced professional membership costs.

Capital Expenditure

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the D epartment of Land Valuation’s total capital allocation is
$12,000 for the 2023/24 fiscal year and is found on
page C -16 of the Budget Book . This represents funding for the Revaluation Digitisation Project.
With the growth in demand for digital public
services, the department will continue its work with the
Reform Di gitisation Team as part of Government’s
Paperless Initiative. To this end, the department is
committed to transitioning to the online submission of
the survey forms for the next Island- wide revaluation,
which is scheduled for 2025.
The purpose of the quinquennial, or five yearly revaluation of all properties in Bermuda is to reflect
changes in the property rental values at a point in
time. A critical component of the project is the collection of data on over 36,500- plus valuation units.
In the past, various hardcopy survey forms
were mailed to each taxpayer and where necessary, a second or third mailing was required. Temporary data
inputters are then hired to manually transcribe the data on the hardcopy forms to the department’s IT dat abase. This comprises on average six months of data
inputting and is valuable time that could be better ut ilised for analysing the rental data instead. Making the
forms available online will create greater efficiencies with the revaluation exercise, significantly reduce
overhead and overtime costs and improve the overall customer experience with the d epartment.

Revenue Summary

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the D epartment of Land Valuation’s estimated revenue is
found on page B -310 for the 2023/24 fiscal year and is
forecast at $6,000. This is revenue in respect of fees
that are paid by objectors to have their objections heard before the Land Valuation Appeal Tribunal
when an objection is not resolved following negoti ations with the department.
Whilst it is unknown the number of objections
the department might receive during the 2023/24 fi scal year and how many, if any, will go before the Tr ibunal for a hearing, the forecast revenue is based on an estimate of 10 tribunal hearings.

Manpower

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the D epartment of Land Valuation’s employee numbers are
outlined on page B –310 of the Budget Book. The
number of full -time positions has decreased by two or
20 per cent when compared to the original budget of
the preceding fiscal year. As aforem entioned, this is
due to the valuer and one of the trainee valuer pos itions not being filled. Thus, with a total of eight full -
time positions budgeted for in the 2023/24 fiscal year,
the Department of Land Valuation continues to be one
of the smallest departments in government.
Salaries, at a cost of $806,000, represents a
significant portion of expenditure, comprising 93 per
cent of the department’s entire budget.

Output Measures

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the work
of the Land Valuation team should never be minimised as this small cohesive team is directly responsible for maintaining the annual rental values (ARVs)
in the Valuation List for Bermuda which forms the ba-sis of land taxation and for providing appraisal advice
to multiple government departments for the collection
of stamp duty and property licenc e fees.
Madam Chairman, the performance measures
for the department are presented on page B -311 of
the Budget Book. For the information of Honourable
Members, I would like to highlight these achievements
by providing additional statistics to add context.
Maintenance of the Valuation List ( page B311, line 1): The statutory function of maintaining the
entries in the Valuation List utilises the greater part of the department’s resources. This w ork entails inspec ting, reassessing, and making a corresponding alter ation to the Valuation List on any residential, commer958 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly cial or tourist property that is built, altered, or demolished.
As of December 2022, there were a total of
36,526 units in the Valuat ion List with a combined assessed annual rental value of approximately $1.31 billion.
As of December 2022, a total of 523 maint enance of the list cases were completed, r esulting in
574 proposals to amend the Valuation List in respect
of property alterations.
The department makes every effort to amend
the Valuation List for property alterations within 20 working days of case creation. Despite the extended
leave of key personnel in this section, I am pleased to report that the department completed 63 per cent of
the maintenance of the list cases within 20 working
days. This is just shy of the realistically set turnaround target of 65 per cent.
Appraisal Services ( page B-311, lines 2
through 4): The Department of Land Valuation pr ovides accurate and timely valuation advice to numerous other Government departments, upon request,
including:
I. the provision of valuations to the Registrar of
the Supreme Court ( page B-311, line 2) and
the Tax Commissioner ( page B-311, line 3) for
probate, voluntary conveyances of pr operty
and first -time homeowner purchases respectively, to ensure that the correct amount of
stamp duty is levied;
II. valuation advice to the Economic Development Department ( page B-311, line 4) in rel ation to sales of properties to restricted persons. The department reviews the purchase
price on which the Government licenc e fee is
calculated to determine if the price is an arm’s length transaction and thus, a fair reflection of
the open market value of the property; and
III. appraisal advice to other government depar tments ( page B-311, line 5) when requested,
such as the Insolvency Unit of the Registrar of
Companies and the Estates Sections of the
Department of Public Lands and Buildings,
Ministry of Public Works, for the disposal or
acquisition of properties.
As o f December 2022, the Land Valuation
Department provided a total of 253 open market val uations to other government departments and remar kably met or exceeded all turnaround targets for this section despite the vacant valuer position for the year.
Cases completed included:
• 34 probate cases for the Registrar of the S upreme Court, all within 10 working days of r eceipt. This exceeds the forecast of 85 per cent
listed on page B-311, line 2;
• 126 stamp duty cases for the Tax Commi ssioner, with all but one, or 99 per cent completed within 20 working days of receipt.; • 89 land acquisition cases for the Economic
Development Department, all within five wor king days of receipt, exceeding the forecast of
85 per cent as listed; and
• 4 requests for an open market valuation f or
the Estates Section, Ministry of Public Works,
all completed within 10 working days of r eceipt.

Major Achievements
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, in keeping
with this Government’s commitment to encourage
Bermudians to pursue difficult -to-fill p ositions within
the public service, I am pleased to update this Honourable House on the progress of the Land Valuation
Department’s trainee valuer, Ms. Andesha Busby.
Ms. Busby began her connection with the department in 2016 when she was awarded a Public
Service Bursary for tertiary studies. Upon successful
completion of her three- year Bachelor’s Degree in
Real Estate, Ms. Busby advanced to the trainee val uer position in August 2019, and that same month she
commenced a secondment opportunity with the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) in Southampton, England,
where she was initially part of the VOA’s Graduate
Scheme. This scheme is specifically designed to pr ovide university graduate students with structured work
experience in preparation for the rigorous Assess ment
of Professional Competence (APC) as part of the
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) r equirements for membership.
Ms. Busby sat her APC last year in January
2022, and I am pleased to report that on her very first
attempt, she successfully attained the lofty and disti nguished professional designation of Chartered Surveyor, specialising in valuations. Following this accomplishment and as part of the department’s longterm strategy and succession planning, Ms. Busby continues to be trained and developed and, in January
of this year, she returned to home back to Bermuda,
to her community and government for its investment.
Accordingly, she has deservedly been promoted to
the position of designate valuer within the Land Valuation Department, where she is being further trained
and developed to assume the role of valuer upon
gaining the requisite post qualification work exper ience.
This Government is committed to attracting,
developing and most importantly, retaining young
Bermudian talent like Ms. An desha Busby . [She] is a
testament to this pledge and promise. I congratulate
her and those who supported her on her achiev ements and wish her well in her career progression.
I actually signed off on a press release to publicly announce her achievements. W e are all very
proud that we are adding young Bermudian talent to the ministry and related departments. It is a very good
achievement for the government and the country.


Bermuda House of Assembly Plans for the Upcoming Year

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, over the
next financial year, the priority and focus of the D epartment of Land Valuation will continue to be the
provision of expert valuations which meet the demands of professionalism, independence, impartiality
and objectivity, coupled with the provision of career
opport unities to Bermuda’s best and brightest in the
specialist and expert field of statutory valuations.
Business process improvements will continue with the goal of further streamlining and improving workflows,
thereby increasing operational efficiencies, and i mproving customer service delivery.
The assessed annual rental values in the Valuation List will continue to be utilised by the Tax
Commissioner to collect land tax revenues , and the
department’s appraisal advice to other government
departments is expect ed to generate significant rev enues for various government departments in the sale
of land to non- Bermudians and stamp duty fees.
Madam Chairman, in closing, I would like to
thank the members of staff in the Department of Land Valuation for their resolute commitment and continued
dedication, including Ms. Diane Elliott, Director; Ms. Rachel Hall, Assistant Director, Valuations; Mr. James
Needham, Assistant Director, Appraisals, and their
respective teams of professional hard- working civil
servants. It has i ndeed been a continued pleasure
working with them.
Thank you, Madam Chairman. I would like to
move on to Head 49, Land Valuation.

Head 79, yes.
We are now debating the Ministry of Home A ffairs, Heads 93, 29, 32, 49, 79, 89 and 97.
The Minister will continue by specifically pr esenting Head 79. And Minister, you have approx imately thre e hours and 2 0 minutes remaining.

HEAD 79 —DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND
NATURAL RESOURCES

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, it gives me
great pleasure to present the budget for Head 79, the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources
(DENR), fo und on pages B -312 through B -320, pages
C-8, C16 and C -21 of the Approved Estimates of
Revenue and Expenditure. The mission of the department as stated on
page B -312, is To protect Bermuda’s environment and
responsibly manage its natural resources. The department’s objectives comprise:
• providing strategic direction and management
in the formulation and implementation of legi slation, policy, and standards to protect Bermuda's environment;
• reducing negative impacts to Bermuda's nat ural environment, biodiver sity, natural r esources, and marine heritage;
• increasing the Island’s food security and local food production;
• better ensuring the survival of threatened species and habitats;
• improving humane care and protection of animals;
• improving the quality of Bermuda's ambient air and water quality;
• improving care and appreciation of Bermuda's
natural environment and marine cultural heri tage.
To meet these objectives, the department has
14 business units as shown on page B -313, each of
which comprise a varied c omplement of skilled offi cers. The business units are as follows:
• 89000 Administration
• 89010 Marine Resources
• 89020 Marine Conservation
• 89030 Marine Heritage and Health
• 89040 Marine Enforcement
• 89050 Terrestrial Conservation
• 89060 Veterinary Services
• 89070 Animal Control
• 89080 Plant Protection
• 89090 Agronomy
• 89100 Pollution Control
• 89110 BAMZ Administration (Bermuda Aquarium, Marine and Zoo)
• 89120 Aquarium and Zoo
• 89130 Museum

Expenditure Overview
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, on page
B-313 you will note that the department’s total budget
allocation is approximately $8,475,000 for the 2023/24 fiscal year. This is the largest department in the Mini stry, as may be determined by looking of that. For the
overall budget, this is the largest department. This
represents an increase of $391,000, or 5 per cent
percent when compared to the original budget of the
previous year.
Madam Chairman, the Subjective Analysis of
Current Account estimates is found on page B -314
and includes the following:
The total salaries for the department is shown
on line 1 and is $5,503,000, a decrease of $15,000
960 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly from fiscal year 2022/23. Wages is shown on line 2
and is $1,114,000. The total of salaries and wages
represents 78 per cent of the department’s budget.
Professional Services is shown on line 9 and
is $264,000, an increase of $131,000. The increase
represents the budget for an overseas consultant
agronomist.
Grants and contributions are shown on line 18
in the amount of $275,000. These funds account for the reinstatement of grants to the SPCA, to Bermuda
Institute for Ocean Sciences (BIOS) and to the Bermuda Zoological Society. Further explanation will be
provided under Grants and Contributions.

Revenue Summary

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the department’s revenue summary is found on page B -315.
The department generates revenue from a variety of licences, permits, services and entrance fees including licensing of dogs, lobster and fishing activities,
water rights, crop storage fees and visitor admissions
to the Bermuda Aquarium Museum and Zoo (BAMZ).
The department’s projected revenue is est imated to be $1,280,000. This estimate represents an
increase of $140,000, or 12 per cent when compared
to the original estimate of the 2022/23 fiscal year.
An analysis of the projected revenue includes
the following:
• 8253 Admissions is shown on line 3. Admi ssions are projected to increase by $155,000,
207 per cent over the original estimate from
2022/23. This increase is attributed to rev enue expected from an upward trend in entrance fees into the Bermuda Aquarium M useum and Zoo.
It should be noted that several other revenue
generators are expected to fluctuate either slightly up or down over the coming year. These are a cons equence of realignments as we fully recover from the
impacts of the pandemic. However , one revenue
source I would like to mention is the reduction in the
plant inspection fees (8438) shown on line 4 which is
expected to decrease from $65,000 in 2022/23 to
$15,000. This is a result of the waiving of the fee for
inspections of food crops such as bananas, potatoes
and strawberry plants. This aligns with the Gover nment policy to reduce the cost of importation of food
for the benefit of the consumer. This is also to assist
our farmers because they often have to import certain
products, such as seedlings for planting. Thus , they
can pass on those savings to consumers when we
buy fresh crops which they have to obtain overseas
seeds and seedlings from. This is just how we are
trying to help out in our own way. S o we are forgoing
those fees so that we can ensure that the customer gets a better deal.
Madam Chairman, at this juncture, I would like
to remind the Honourable House of the other conces-sions that are provided to our farmers. While not int egral to the disc ussion of the revenue and expenditures
for 2023/24, it is worth reminding Honourable Members of the commitment we make to our farming
community. Concessions include [the following]:
• Payroll tax: Farmers pay 1.75 per cent payroll
tax on themselves as employ ers as well as
1.75 per cent payroll tax on their employees
which will likely be reduced to zero [per cent]
for this fiscal year.
• Zero [per cent ] for all imports, materials,
equipment, seeds, inspections , et cetera, for
local food production. The only exception for
that is fuel.
• The services provided by the Agriculture Services Centre providing subsidised ice, seeds,
chemicals, cold storage, boxes, banana ripening, et cetera.
• We maintain economic embargos to reduce competition from certain foreign products under the Importation of Fruits, Vegetables and
Flowers Act 1961.
Just clearly outlining there was quite a bit
done to help support the farming industry in Bermuda by the Government. We will continue to do what we
can to support the efforts of our farmers to contribute
to our food security.

Manpower

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the department has 78 full -time equivalent posts as shown
on page B -316 of the Approved Estimates of Revenue
and Expenditure. This is the same as the original
2022/23 budget. Currently the department has five
funded vacancies.
This year several posts have been filled i ncluding two assistant animal wardens, the GIS mapping analyst, fisheries extension officer and a fisheries
warden. Unfortunately, as the department worked to
fill posts several valuable members of the department
resigned for personal reasons, or retired. Priority to fill
the following funded posts this coming year include:
• assistant animal warden;
• agriculture services centre manager ;
• biodiversity officer ; and
• administrative officer .
The department will also look to bring on a
trainee agronomist to provide critical services to our
farmers. That person has actually already been ident ified and we will go into the process of retaining them,
Madam Chairman. So w e are actually on our way to
filling that trainee agronomist post. I can report that.
The department continues to modernise numerous job descriptions throughout the department’s
organisational structure to accurately reflect oper ational need and priorities .




Bermuda House of Assembly Capital Development Expenditure

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, t he capital
expenditure budget for the department can be found on page C -8. The department has two active capital
accounts. [Project] 75271, Minor Works —Environment
and Natural Resources, is a capital minor works budget of $100,000 that will provide for the general
maintenance and upgrading of the headquarters facil ity and plant protection laboratory located in the Botanical Gardens, the Coney Island Facility (for marine
resources management and enforcement), the Government Agriculture Service Centre in Prospect, the
government dog kennels, and improvements in the 200 acres of government -owned nature reserves
managed by the department.
Due to the need for specialised facilities and
educational displays , $100,000 has been allocated to
the Bermuda Aquarium Museum and Zoo for repairs
to exhibits and life support systems. This is shown in
[Project] 75236, Aquarium Refurbishment. The main
project this year will be the replacing of the mesh roof
on the Caribbean Exhibit at BAMZ.

Grants and Contributions
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the department has traditionally engaged several local ent ities to undertake specialised studies, specifically A mbient Air/Water Quality and the Amphibian Research
Project; as well as the Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). The funding for the Ambi-ent Air/Water quality monitoring programme, Amphibian programme and Society for the Prevention of Cr uelty to Animals (SPCA) grants have been reinstated.
As can be found on page C -21, the grant to
the SPCA of $30,000 will assist with the delivery of
their programmes and in doing so assist the depar tment in managing the Island’s dog population.
A grant of $15,000 will continue to identify
persistent organic pollutants impacting our ponds and
other parts of our environment. Lastly, the grant for
$230,000 will enable the department to meet its monitoring requirements mandated by the Clean Air Act
1991 and Water Resources Act 1975.

Output Measur es

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, while a
complete tabulation of the Output Measures for the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources
can be found on pages B -317 through B-320 of the
Approved Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for
2023/24, I will endeavour to highlight some of the
measures of note.

Business Unit 89000—Administration
(Page B-317)
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thirteen biodiversity -related
protected species licenc es were issued to local and
international researchers within five working days in
fiscal year 2021/22. These are in line with the original forecast 2022/23 and target outcomes for 2023/24.
Research topics included the surveys for the
endemic land snail survey, sea horses husbandry,
reintroduction of captive bred skinks and cahow trac king looking at its feeding ranges. All of these were
paid for by our overseas collaborators at no cost to
the Government.
A number of invasive pest species continue to
have a tremendous impact on Bermuda’s ecology and
farming sector. Despite the challenges of the pandemic in fiscal year 2021/22, the department removed
6,959 pest birds, predominantly feral chickens, pigeons, and crows from across the Island. In 2022/23,
the department focused its efforts on assisting local
farmers who were experi encing major crop damage
from feral chickens, as well as efforts to control pigeons within the City of Hamilton and flocks found at
local dairy farms. As such, the DENR is expecting to
improve on its estimate for 2022/23, increasing its t otal to 9,000 feral birds. Results from this can already
be seen with visibly reduced pigeon flocks.
I don’t know if it is appreciated, Madam
Chairman, but feral birds do serious damage to our agricultural biodiversity. As much as they are som etimes pleasant, they do serious damage, and our
famers talk to us constantly about the problem. So we know that there are some people who may not like
hearing about the culling of birds, (which I know some
people do here) but it is something that is necessary,
because they do some seri ous damage, even though
it may seem unpleasant .

Business Unit 89010—Marine Resources
(Page B-317)
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Sustaining our local fisheries
is paramount. In addition to successfully managing the
licensing of numerous fisheries (commercial finfish
fishery, recreational lobster fishery, et cetera) and
providing support to the Marine Resources Board (an advisory body) and the Commercial Fisheries Council,
the Marine Resources section carried out work on
several specialised projects including the Bermuda
Ocean Prosperity Programme (known as BOPP), and
more data was collected on the spiny lobster, guinea
chick, red hind, and black grouper research pr ogrammes.
The section also maintained compliance with
our membership to the International Commission for
the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), as well
as provided support to the Sargasso Sea Commi ssion. Additionally, the section continued to provide
input and advice to the Bermuda Economic Develop-ment Corporation with regard to the Fisheries Development Centre business plan/feasibility study.
962 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly I want to re- emphasise the points that have
been made on this, Madam Chairman. Our spiny lobster population, of which many people enjoy right now
as they go to the restaurants, is at risk. And it is a s erious stress. There is a reason why you pay $120 or
so for a lobster, because they are very hard to catch by those who are licensed to catch them. But there
has been a serious decline year over year in the
catches of spiny lobster, so work has to be done to
replenish and do the research necessary to preserve.
The black grouper, as I mentioned, is almost
non-existent in our waters right now. And this is sym ptomatic in the region, particularly from certain factors
including overfishing and pollution and other env ironmental factors. We must do the work to try and replenish and preserve these fisheries or else we will not
have them. So the work that is being done in this area
by our department is crucial.
And also there is the red hind. Thankfully
there has been work done to keep the red hind strong and that is because of the protections that have been
put in place for some years.
But these are the realities right now. And I
hope that people appreciate the work that is being done in this space.

Business Unit 89020—Marine Conservation
(Page B-317)

Hon. Walter H. Roban: In addition to its many other
duties , the Marine Conservation section reviewed 32
planning applications pertaining to the marine env ironment in 2021/22, presenting them to the Marine
Resources Board within four weeks of receiving the
application. It is expected that in 2022/23 the numbers, which appears under Marine Conservation consultations, will decrease, dependent on development
interest, with 20 applications being received thus far
and 100 per cent being responded to within 20 wor king days.

Business Unit 89030—Marine Heritage and Health
(Page B-317)

Hon. Walter H. Roban: In 2021/22, the revised for ecast of 12 marine heritage consultations were conducted by the section within 20 working days. It is expected that in 2023/24, dependent on development
interest, the numbers will remain about the same as
the original forecast, with 10 applications being r eceived, and 100 per cent being responded to within 20
working days.
Visits to protected dive sit es and use of the
moorings by residents have increased as more people
enter the water after the pandemic. The percentage of
the 40 protected dive site moorings in place for the
summer of 2021 dive season was 97.5 per cent. In
2023/24, it is expected that t here will be 40 dive site
moorings in place and 100 per cent will be assessed within 60 days and repairs made in readiness for the season. This coming summer season is expected to be very active as both commercial and recreational
marine users take advantage of this unique natural
resource. The department and the Ministry are most
grateful to the Stempel Foundation for its support of
this important project.

Business Unit 89040—Marine Enforcement
(Page B-318)
Hon. Walter H. Roban: In budget year 2021/22, t here
were 300 vessels stopped and checked with particular attention to daily bag limits, size, and species r estrictions. This level was below a typical season and
was due to the primary fisheries patrol vessel being
out of commission awaiting replacement engines.
While the replacement engines were a victim
of supply chain issues , I am happy to report that the
required repairs have now been made to the vessel.
Also, efforts to synergise with the Coast Guard continue. As such, the targets for boarding and enforc ement actions are anticipated to increase substantially
this year and in the coming fiscal year.

Business Unit 89050—Terrestrial Conservation
(Page B-318)

Hon. Walter H. Roban: An important part of the Terrestrial Conservation section’s mission is to provide
environmental and habitat assessment advice to the Department of Planning and members of the public for
all matters related to terrestrial conservation zones. In
fiscal year 2021/22 the section undertook 160 consultations on planning applications, Environmental I mpact Assessment Scoping Reports, Conservation
Management Plans, and proposed landscape
schemes. During 2021/22 it was expected that there
would be a decrease of activity in this area, due pr imarily to COVID -19-related issues, but, in fact, activity
remained slightly above the 2020/21 levels. It is expected that activity will likely level off in 2022/23 and
2023/24, however the section is ready to assist as
needed.
The Terrestrial Conservation Crew, despite
difficulties related to the pandem ic, has continued
their important job maintaining Bermuda’s Gover nment Nature Reserves, especially those used fr equently by the public including visitors, such as Coopers Island and Spittal Pond Nature Reserves. This
work includes trail maintenance and control of inv asive species such as Casuarina and Brazil Pepper, as well as replanting with native and endemic species.
Casuarina and Brazil Pepper do extensive
damage to our environment, particularly our coastal
areas. And every effort to extract them proper ly is a ppreciated by any landowners, or anybody, because
despite the well -meaning effort to plant them in certain
places, they do considerable damage. Ironically, it is


Bermuda House of Assembly the Brazil Pepper that is overwhelming, undermining
our mangroves and destroying our natural native
mangrove habitats as they currently exist. So, we
have a lot of work to do and we appreciate any work
that the public can do to support those efforts.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Walter H. Roban: It was a dead tree, not a live
one, Honourable Member.
The number of guided tours and talks provi ded by this section, especially to school and educational groups, has also been substantially affected by the
effects of COVID -19, and it is hoped that this service
will be able to return to more normal levels in due
course.

Business Unit 89060—Veterinary Services
(Page B-318)
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Activities of the Veterinary
Services section were primarily customer -focused on
animal imports and re- visiting the conditions of entry
for various species . The section continued its efforts
to monitor farm production and animal welfare on farms. Matters related to the pandemic led to fewer
on-farm visits than anticipated, but there has been no
indication of declined farm animal welfare standards.
(Which we are very happy to hear.) Additionally, this
section completed legislated amendments to the E ndangered Animals and Plants Act 2006 bringing our local legislation into alignment with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild
Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Business Unit 89070—Animal Control
(Page B-318)

Hon. Walter H. Roban: During 2021/22, the percentage of dogs believed to be eligible for licensure, which
were actually licensed, was at 34 per cent. This low
percentage is likely due to c hallenges being felt in the
community, which have continued from the previous
year. The forecast for 2021/22 was also revised down
to 37 per cent from an expected 65 per cent. Also of
note were the total number of incident and complaints
investigated at 907 incidents and the initial response
to complaints was 0.3 days.
In response to the previous statistics, I can
assure this Honourable House that the department has been sending out its regular reminders to dog
owners, which are sent out on a monthly basis , and
no other procedures have otherwise changed to warrant such a low level in dog licensing.
Recognising that there is a need to address
this as a priority, the department will implement its public education campaign reminding dog owners of
their obligations under the law, complete the hiring of
two replacement assistant animal wardens to bring the team back up to full strength, develop an online
payment system for dog licensing and reconstitute the ad hoc Canine Advisory Committee to assist us in
tackli ng ongoing issues in the community.

Business Unit 89080—Plant Protection
(Page B-318)

Hon. Walter H. Roban: There were 997,897 incoming
items inspected for plant pests and diseases in
2021/22, with 10 per cent of those being found to be
infested. It is forecast that the trend for plant imports
will likely increase slightly in 2023/24 due to the ceasing of travel restrictions caused by the pandemic. Si milarly, it is projected that plant infestations will increase
slightly from 10 per cent to 11 per cent due to global,
seasonal, and emerging infestations and the corr esponding movement of plant products.
Pre-inspection services usually conducted by
DENR staff overseas did not take place during this
current budget year, 2022/23, and the Plant Protection
Labor atory continued to address inspections at the
border. In the absence of the overseas pre- inspection
of Christmas trees, a full -scale inspection was conducted by the team locally.
Pre-inspection services usually conducted by
DENR staff overseas did not tak e place during this
current budget year, 2022/23, and the Plant Protection
Laboratory continued to address inspections at the
border. In the absence of the overseas pre- inspection
of Christmas trees, a full -scale inspection was conducted by the team locall y.
Unfortunately, the main Christmas tree suppliers ceased operation, which is one reason why many people found that they couldn’t find trees. It
wasn’t because of anything in my department. It was
because the sources that many of the traditional
sellers of trees were accessing for years just stopped
being in the business and [local suppliers] had to find
other places to get trees. Some people just decided
I’m not bringing it in. So this created a bit of an issue.
Unfortunately, the main tree suppliers . . . as I
said, consequently the majority of importers were
tasked . . . well, ceased operation and the majority of
importers were tasked with finding alternative suppl iers. The knock -on effect was that some regular
Christmas tree importers did not import t rees last year,
which created an opportunity for new importers. D espite these challenges, for the third year in a row,
through a combined effort of DENR, overseas suppl iers, HM Customs, local importers, and Stevedoring
Services, all trees were inspected wi th minimal losses
and thankfully no unwanted “hitchhikers” [pests] were
found last year.
Last year, I believe, and I will stand corrected
by my team, the carpet ant nests were found in trees in 2021. So, we actually . . . some people have this
concern about why we do the inspections so carefully.
A whole nest of carpet ants were found in one actual
964 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly container. If that nest had become established in
Bermuda, we would have a problem. So, those i nspections are done rigidly for that reason. And because we could not go overseas and do them, the
extra scrutiny just had to be a part of the process.
I am happy to report that despite a number of
challenges clean shipments of sweet potatoes and
strawberries from which next year’s crops will be
grown were successfull y imported. In order to ensure
there will be no hiccups next year the department will
be reissuing and working with farmers with guidance
very soon to provide a proper calendar of alerts for
importers so that they know when they should be
starting their work to bring in their actual importations. So we are constantly working at bettering the system.
When problems arise we work at being better, just as
we require more of others. So we will work to be better at the system so that more people will feel satisfi ed
with the process.
Another challenge that was addressed in
2022/23 [was the] importation of clean banana shi pments. The Plant Protection Laboratory continues to work with the stakeholders to identify practical sol utions to allow for the import of this important food st aple, lower the cost to the consumer, while protecting
the Island’s agriculture sector and its fragile environment. The combined efforts have proven to be pos itive as the Plant Protection Laboratory reports that
incoming shipments are cons istently trending towards
being much cleaner as a result of the efforts of an i mporter and supplier who have nearly perfected the op-erational procedures in the production of mealybug-free bananas.
Further, all fees for regular inspections of
food- related imports undertaken by the Plant Protection Laboratory have been waived in order to assist
with keeping importation costs to a minimum. So we
waived the fees so that this is not an added cost to the
end purchaser, like ourselves. Most people love bananas and that fee would add to the cost at the store.
So we have removed the fee to help out in any way
we can.

Business Unit 89090—Agronomy
(Page B-319)
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Improving the Island’s food
security has taken on added importance since the onset of the pandemic in 2020. The Agriculture Service
Centre is one of the main means by which the Government can provide direct assistance to our local
farmers. The centre provides cold storage for local
crops, ice for farmers and fishermen, packaging mat erials, banana ripening services, seeds, and chemicals.
At this time I would like to extend a big thank
you to all of our local farmers for all of their efforts over the last few years, particularly through the time of
the pandemic, providing local produce that we all can
benefit from when we needed it the most. This past year much of what they produced was in such high
demand that there was no need to store it. It went straight from the farm to the consumer to be purchased. That is because there was such a high volume of appetite for local produce, which is a great
thing.
In 2021/22, the centre handled a value [totalling] $194,000 of produce, goods and services. This general trend, with a small increase, is expected to
continue through the year 2023/24. Similarly , I note
that the economic embargoes for locally grown vegetables are expected to remain consistent, ranging
from 131 issued in 2021/22, increasing slightly to 135
in 2023/34. This tells us that our farmers are able to
supply local demand of certain crops for the entire
Island for periods of time.
We want to see this trend increase and the
Government will play its part to assist our farmers to
produce more good quality food for our Island, thereby
increasing the Island’s food security. We will be also
working with the Board of Agriculture to review potential methods of farming that could help to reduce pr oduction costs and reduce the negative impact caused
by hurricanes.

Business Unit 89100—Pollution Control
(page B -319)

Hon. Walter H. Roban: The Island’s four main fres hwater lenses remain at full capacity, but some allocated sectors continue to be underutilised causing the
excess rainwater captured overflowing to the sea.
Processes to fairly re- allocate water rights to companies who will abstract fully the fresh groundwater that is available to them will be finalised.
All reported spills of oils and fuel were monitored and cleaned up according to the government guidelines. Working closely with the Bermuda Shi pping and Maritime Authority (BSMA) and Marine and
Ports Services, new regulations to address aban-doned and derelict vessels were being drafted that will help to address the associated pollution and aesthetic
issues. The progress made under the Memorandum
of Understanding [MOU] between Government and Keep Bermuda Beautiful (KBB) has resulted in 85
abandoned and derelict vessels being surveyed and
advertised in the official Gazette since 2021 before
Government had given instruction to KBB for these
vessels to be removed to the Airport Waste Management Facility using marine contractors who also drain
fuels/oils and remove batteries.

Business Unit 89110—BAMZ Administration
(Page B -319)

Hon. Walter H. Roban: I am happy to report that the
[BAMZ] facility [Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and
Zoo] had [24,282] visi tors in 2021/22. Given the busy


Bermuda House of Assembly cruise ship season expected, we hope to see that fi gure increase significantly in 2023/24.

Business Unit 89120– Aquarium and Zoo
(Page B -320)

Hon. Walter H. Roban: The Aquarium and Zoo continued to operate continuously throughout 2022/23,
albeit with a number of Zoo closures to the public during pandemic waves to protect both our husbandry
staff and, by extension, the animals that they care for.
Onsite veterinary examinations continued on a fairly
normal schedule with over 281 animals in the government collection receiving preventative veterinary care in fiscal year 2021/22. These numbers are in line
with previous years.

Business Unit 89130—Museum
(Page B -320)

Hon. Walter H. Roban: The number of specimens,
images and research papers added to the natural hi story collection was 2,238 in 2021/22 as the curator
and his team were able to tackle a backlog of entries.
It is expected that the entries will continue at a target
level of 1,000 in the upcoming fiscal year.

MAJOR POLI CY CHANGES AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Developing Our Offshore Pelagic Fishery

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, work continues to develop a regime for the pelagic fisheries
(offshore) similar to the economic embargo system in
place for local agricultural [crops] that will allow our fishermen to better capitalise on their fish catches
when they have sufficient supply. Again, we are continuing to work to support our fishing and farming i ndustries, Madam Chairman.
New regulations were passed to manage
Fisheries A ggregation Devices (FADs) to ensure that
the deployment of such equipment is sustainable and
for the benefit of commercial fishermen. Additionally,
we continue to provide input to the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation (BEDC) in regard to their
feasibility study for a shore side [fish] processing facil ity.

Better Marine Resources Enforcement

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Acknowledging that effective
enforcement is one of the most critical elements of
effective management, the department continued its work with the United Kingdom (UK) on its Blue Shield
Programme, an action plan has been developed in
conjunction from feedback from the department and
the Marine Resources Enforcement Strategy, the
Royal Bermuda Regiment Coast Guard [RBR] and the
Department of M arine and Ports. A partnership con-tinues to build with the United States Coast Guard
resulting in the deployment of coast guard vessels to Bermuda to undertake patrols in both the US and
Bermuda’s EEZ, as well as surrounding high seas. In
addition to the patrols, the US Coast Guard is provi ding daily intelligence feeds on international fishing
vessels operating near our EEZ [boundary] which is
allowing for a better understanding of the patterns of
activity that could affect us.
I would like to take this opportunity to publicly
thank Government House and the US Consulate General, in particular, Karen Grissette, the Council,
and her team for their support in this initiative. Going
forward, 2023 promises to be an exciting year as new
tools and expertise are br ought to bear on better pr otecting the marine resources in our exclusive economic zone.
So, Madam Chairman, it must clearly understood that when the comment is made that we are not working on enforcement, we have the United States
and the British Government supporting us in the enforcement of our waters right now. And so work is being done and we will continue to work with everybody locally, our fishermen and others who use the waters
to advance that effort. But it is happening right now.
The US Coast Guar d and the British Government are
giving us great support in protecting our waters.

Bermuda Ocean Prosperity Programme

Hon. Walter H. Roban: I wish to take a moment to
update this Honourable House on the Bermuda
Ocean Prosperity Programme (BOPP). In June 2019,
the Government, in partnership with the not -for-profit
Waitt Institute and the Bermuda Institute of Ocean
Science (BIOS), embarked on an exciting new pr ogramme that will result in the creation of an integrated
marine spatial plan for the entirety of Bermuda’s 200
nautical mile Economic Exclusive Zone (EEZ). Also
included in this initiative is the Blue Economy Strategy
which will look to identify ways to capitalise on numerous opportunities in our waters, such as fisheries, blue
tourism, and ocean renewable energy.
In September 2022 both the draft —and I
would like to emphasis, a draft —Blue Economy Strategy and draft Marine Spatial Plan were put out for
public consultation as phase 2 of the BOPP plan and
introduced via three town hall meetings. Stakeholders
and members of the public were invited to provide
feedback using the online government forum, partic ipate in a number of focused stakeholder meetings
including commercial fisheries, recreational fisheries,
passive recreation, aquaculture, tourism and infrastructure themes.
Madam Chairman, as you are aware there
has been some (I would politely describe) lively debates on the Bermuda Ocean Prosperity Programme,
especially with our commercial fisherman. A meeting
was held between the Fishermen Associati on of Ber966 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly muda (who represent the fishermen), the Premier and
myself, and as a result, I look forward to continuing to
meet with the fishermen and look forward to the commercial fishermen positively re- engaging with the
BOPP process so that we may find a way forward with
this very important project, which we all believe will
help to advance the value and prosperity of our fisheries, to ensure that not only our current [but] future
generations can benefit from the bounty and beauty
that our marine environment has to offer.
This will mean, as we enter Phase 3 of the
project, we will have the benefit of the input from key stakeholder groups into the draft plans. These plans
will be put out for consultation again as we refine the plans going forward. So, Madam Chairman, it is very
important that all who want to participate in this pr ocess, because whatever contribution any group
makes, it will be factored into the plans and will colour
and shape the plan. If you don’t participate, your contribution and your feelings and your views will be absent. And that is not what we want. We want to have
maximum participation from every sector of the soci ety because this is about the future of the country, not
just certain interests.
At this juncture I would like to extend my si ncere thanks to the Waitt Foundation for its support to
the steering committee, made up of key personnel
from numerous government departments and organisations with a mandate to manage our marine env ironment. I would just like to say that all of the people
driving this work are Bermudians. It is not outsiders.
Bermudians are leading it, they are driving it but they are benefiting from the support of international expertise. But they are leading it, they are driving it. Local
interests are making the decis ions.

Tackling Pest Species
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Work has continued in the
monitoring and management of local pests, diseases
and invasive species that threaten the Island’s economy, human health, and fragile environment . Reco gnising the very real risk [that] alien invasive species
can have on our Island’s biosecurity the Invasive Alien
Regulations and species lists were passed.

Better Protection for the World’s Most
Threatened Species

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Recognising that we have an
important role to play in protecting globally endangered plants and animals, amendments to the Endan-gered Animals and Plants Act 2006 were passed in order to ensure the Island’s compliance with the International Convention on International Trade in Endangered species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES),
which I mentioned earlier.
The Cahow Recovery Project, for Bermuda’s
unique and critically endangered National Bird, con-tinues to be a prime success story, with the breeding population on the Castle Harbour Islands Nature R eserve increasing to a new record number of 155 pairs
in 2022.
Other notable projects include a grant from
the UK Joint Nature Conservation Committee to rei nstate a water quality monitoring program me on the
Bermuda Platform in January 2023 for three months and the Mammal’s Passive Acoustic [ Observatory ]
Project to help detect and identify any whale species
in Bermuda’s waters. This is a collaborative effort be-tween 20 islands in the wider Caribbean and the University of Toulon, France.
I just want to tell a little bit of a story around
this because I think many people who are listening will be interested. Years ago, there was a movie (for those
who are Trekkies) called “Star Trek [IV]: The Voyage
Home” which centred on whales. I won’t go into the
movie’s plot , but just that within the movie there were
sounds used that were from whales. Those sounds
were recorded in Bermuda’s waters. So Bermuda and
the recording of whale sounds in Bermuda’s waters
have been used in many films for decades. Many of us didn’t know this, but this is actually what is the
case. In that very successful movie, the whale sounds
that were recorded in the movie, were whales in Bermuda’s waters. Just a little piece of fact that people
would like to know how much we are influencing the
international environment by things that happened in
Bermuda waters.

Tackling Climate Change with Nature- Based Solutions

Hon. Walter H. Roban: While Bermuda may have a
relatively small impact on causing climate change––
and I am talking about tackling climate change now,
Madam Chairman, with nature- based solutions ––
unfortunately, we will likely bear the brunt of its ef-fects, especially in relation to any sea level rise. To
this end the department has drafted a Mangrove
strategy and action plan that will look at opportunities
for restoring habitat lost to storms, removing invasive
species, and improving good quality woodland and
foreshore vegetation, such as mangroves and button-woods, which provide protection from storm surge.
This plan will be completed this year.

Training for Oil Pollution Response

Hon. Walter H. Roban: The Pollution Control Section
of the DENR has a major role in the maintenance and training of the National Oil Pollution Contingency Plan
in addition to ensuring that the local oil spill emerge ncy plans of Bermuda’s licensed ports and oil handling facilities are aligned to this National Plan. This section
also manages the spill response equipment, in addition to maintaining links with various organisations
that can offer overseas assistance in the event of a
large spill.


Bermuda House of Assembly The UK Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA)
recognises this effort with over $166,376 provided in
2021/22 for offshore oil spill response boom and
skimmer equipment. This year, 2022/23, the MCA
provided funding to Bermuda of over $135,[448] for oil
spill dispersant for the new tug vessels Powerful and
Faithful and funding to run more oil spill response
courses in Bermuda in March for 100 personnel from government, ports and other colleagues who will visit
from other Overseas Territories.

BELCO Monitoring

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Coinciding with the commi ssioning of the new BELCO North Power Station engines in February 2020, the Pollution Control Section
has continued to see many complaints by the public
related to air quality issues from soot emissions and
down drafting of exhaust fumes in addition to concern
these impacts may cause to residential water tanks.
The Pollution Control Section has sought advice from
independent experts, regulators in the UK and tec hnical publications to best inform the Environmental
Authority, which has resulted in annual revisions to
the conditions of the BELCO operating licence and
numerous letters to BELCO seeking further information and actions.
DENR continues to work with the Bermuda
Weather Centre to identify periods when the appropr iate meteorological conditions for downdrafting may
occur, before visiting the Ocean Lane and Whitney
Avenue area of impact to identify the next location for the portable monitoring station. BELCO continues to
select BIOS for the independent water quality [tests]
of residential water tanks, which is conditioned in their
operations licence. Data for the 35 properties analysed to date has shown compliance to the “primary”
UK drinking water standards and World Health Organization guidelines for fuel combustion- related contaminants.
“Secondary” standards for aluminium and iron
have been exceeded in five properties to date, with
the iron probably originating from the metal exhaust
flues of the BELCO North Power Station when combined with the soot emissions. “Secondary” standards
are set to address the aesthetic qualities of water, i ncluding clarity and taste.
With the completion of the modifications to the
dual-fuel North Power Station engines it is apparent
that the unacceptabl e soot emissions continue. The
Pollution Control Section continues to seek the best
regulatory practice from other developed jurisdictions
to monitor and legislate such soot emissions but, to date, this can only be described as an unacceptable
nuisance. In the coming year, the Pollution Control will
oversee an independent contractor to provide oversight of the BELCO monitoring stations in addition to
air quality monitoring at other key sites. The Pollution Control Section has submitted
the drafting instruc tions for the amendments to the
Clean Air Act and Regulations in addition to creating
new odour regulations applicable to controlled plants
under the Act. Once the odour training of personnel from DENR and the Department of Health is completed, and initial odour assessments have been made
then consultation with key stakeholders will occur.
While this progresses, the air and water quality data
continue to be shared with the public.

Plans for the Upcoming Year

Increased Food Security and Reduced Cost of Li ving

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, this year
the department will continue to focus its efforts on i ncreasing local food production and assisting industry in reducing local production costs, which will translate
into increased food security for the Island and reduced
cost of living for our residents.
The department and the Board of Agriculture
will develop an integrated agriculture strategy in con-junction with the Ministry of Economy and Labour
which will include a review of the National Crop Strategy 2016– 2021 and the draft Dairy Strategy and complete [new] livestock/poultry, honey and aquaculture components.
The department will update the Agriculture Act
1930 and its attending regulations, which will include regulations to register farmers in order to better mit igate the selling of crops stolen from our hardworking
farmers.
Further, the Government will provide direct
support to farmers via a highly experienced consultant
agronomist, supported by a local trainee, who will pr ioritise the needs of t he sector with specialised expertise in key issues such as soil management, pest and disease surveillance, procurement of seeds and supplies as well as the development of a variety trial pr ogramme. Further, the DENR will implement measures
to assist farmer s to reduce “night -time farming” of their
crops through better surveillance of their fields and improved enforcement.

Planning for Long- Term Sustainable Use and
Conservation of Our Marine Resources in Our
Exclusive Economic Zones

Hon. Walter H. Roban: As I mentioned previously, as
we continue to refine the draft Marine Spatial Plan and
Blue Economy Strategy, I would encourage . . . and
again, I will say this again, as I have said it many
times, we encourage every member of the public to
give [as much] feedback as possible as these i mportant strategies will play an important part in the
shaping of our economy and overall environmental
health of our Island.
968 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly As part of the BOPP, data collection and
analysis of important commercial species such as
Spiny Lobst er, Black Grouper and Red Hind, will be
conducted to update management plans for these species. Recognising the need for [better] integrated
management for fisheries, a new programme will be
implemented to license recreational fishing from vessels. The goals of a recreational licensing system are
to provide fisheries managers with more quantitative
information from which to make management dec isions and to improve sustainability of our reef fish
stocks. Efforts will continue to protect our critical
seagrass and mangrove habitats through better management of existing groves and through new plantings.
Madam Chairman, Integrated and Effective
Marine Enforcement . . . in fact, no. I am going to go
on.

Tackling Pest Species

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Work will cont inue in the
monitoring and management of local pests, diseases
and invasive species that threaten the Island’s econ-omy, human health, and fragile environment. A public
awareness campaign will be developed to help the
public and stakeholders better understand the recently
passed Invasive Alien Species Act and the [Invasive
Alien Species] Regulations, as well as the listed pest
species.

Ensuring Clean Air and Good Ground Water

Hon. Walter H. Roban: The department and the Env ironmental Authority will amend the Clean Air Act 1991
to align with best practices to better manage pollution
and to include nuisance events to advance higher
standards and penalties for infractions.

Better Management of Dogs

Hon. Walter H. Roban: I recognise that recently there
has been an increase in irresponsible dog ownership and management incidents. I also note that the animal
control section has been working diligently to address
these issues. But the responsibility cannot just be
shouldered by the Government. The management of
dogs is a community issue. Dogs are supposed to be
man’s best friend and we need to treat them as such.
With that in mind, I will be reconstituting the ad hoc
Canine Advisory Committee under the leadership of
Senator Lindsay Simmons. The committee will be
made of the stakeholder groups that have advocated for dog welfare. I need to hear their ideas on what can
be done and how they can help to ensure Bermuda’s
dogs are more responsibly managed and the comm unity kept safe from dangerous dog attacks.
The Anim al Control section will continue to
implement the Dogs Act 2008 with a view to improve the keeping of animals and promote the prevention of
bites and injury. This year the department will conti nue its work to implement the new ticketing and cit ations regul ations that will provide more efficient enforcement, and mandatory bite reports for better data collection and informed management. As noted, the
department will also be implementing a campaign to
increase public awareness of the Dogs Act and r esponsibilit ies of owners.
Madam Chairman, how much time do I have?

Minister, you have two hours and 25
minutes.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Okay. Thank you.

Increased Environmental Education

Hon. Walter H. Roban: A new exhibit focusing on
conservation and research on Nonsuch Island will be
opened at the Aquarium [BAMZ] in early June 2023 in time to celebrate both World Oceans Day and World
Environment Day.
Numerous smaller jobs are also in process to
ensure the safety of the animals and enhance the [enjoyment] of our visitors to the facility.
Additionally, as part of the Marine Resources
Enforcement Strategy, the department will develop a new campaign to raise awareness of the rules and
regulations governing use and interaction with threatened marine resources.
Madam Chairman, in closing, I would like to
thank the hardworking and dedicated members of staff of this very large department, the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources, including Director, Andrew Pettit, Dr. Tammy Warren, Dr. Sarah Manuel, Dr. Philippe Rouja, Dr. Jonathan Nisbett, Dr.
Mark Outerbridge, Dr. Ian Walker, Dr. Geoff Smith, Mr. John Edmunds, Ms. Terry Lynn Thompson, Mr.
Jeremy Madeiros, and Ms. Maria Trott and their very
able teams. I am extremely honoured for the pleasure of working with them. I am also quite proud to say that
this department has the most PhDs in Government.
And they are all mostly . . . I think they are all Berm udians. So we should be proud of that department.

Indeed.
I would like to advis e the listening pubic that
we are continuing the Budget Debate for the Ministry of Home Affairs. We are debating seven heads. The
Minister has completed five of the seven heads and
he has approximately two hours and 25 minutes [r emaining]. He will probably resume with the Head for
Energy. Is that correct, Minister?
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Yes, Madam Chairman, you
are absolutely correct.

Thank you.


Bermuda House of Assembly You may continue, Minister.

HEAD 89 —DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you.
Madam Chairman, I am pleased to present
the budget Head 89, the Department of Energy found on page B -321 through page B -323, also pages C -8
and C -16 of the Approved Estimates of Revenue and
Expenditure.

Mission
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the mission of the Department of Energy is , To promote, advocate, and develop policy and legislation for the
Space, Energy and Telecommunications industries on
behalf of Bermuda. To accomplish this mission, the
department holds the following broad objectives:
• to reduce reliance on fossil fuel imports while
balancing the security, sustainability, and affordability of energy in Bermuda;
• to provide education, advice and guidance on
policy and regulation for the energy and tel ecommunications sectors, including space and satellite matters ;
• to facilitate the growth of industry and bus inesses in Bermuda through supporting the development and maintenance of robust
space, satellite, telecommunications, and energy infrastructure.
To meet the objectives, the d epartment’s work
is supported by one business unit as noted on p age
B-321, implemented by four officers under the heading of Administration, 99000.

Expenditure Overview
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the department total budget allocation for the 2023/ 24 fiscal
year is highlighted on page B -321 and is $482,000, a
decrease of $2,000 over the previous year.
Madam Chairman, the subjective analysis of
current account estimates is found on p age B -322 and
includes the following:
• The salaries for the department are shown on
line 1. A small increase has been made to
salaries, to increase the expenditure for a cting
pay, as the post of director is statutory and
requires an a cting director to be in place on all
occasions when the substantive post holder is
on leave. That incr ease is proposed to be an
additional $3,000 for a line item increase of
about 1 per cent .
• Communications is shown on line 4. Savings
were achieved by reducing the communic ations budget by $4,000, or 67 per cent. This
reduction was achieved by eliminating entirely the budget for overseas calls and data lines, which are no longer necessary with the current network and modes of communicating
with overseas stakeholders, which is done
with various IT tools such as Webex and
Teams. Additional savings were made i n the
reduction of the cell phone budget by about
half, again due in large part to more efficient
modes of communication as noted above.
• Materials and Supplies is shown on line 7.
Various small adjustments were taken to r educe Materials and Supplies by $1,000, or
33 per cent. These decreases were made
largely due to practices of going as paperless
as possible, reducing the expenditures on paper, ink, and other office supplies.

Revenue Summary

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the D epartment of Energy’s estimated revenue is found on
page B -322 for the 2023/24 fiscal year and is estimated to be $17,282,000. This estimate represents an
increase of $342,000, or approximately 2 per cent
when compared to the original estimate of the
2022/ 23 fiscal year.
This increase is mainly due to a projected i ncrease in telecommunications revenues due to in part to new participants and increased volume in the electronic communications sector.

Manpower

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the department’s staffing numbers are outlined on page B –
322. There are four full -time positions within the department, all of which are staffed by Bermudians, with
no vacancies at the moment. The full staff comprises
the director, a research and development officer, an
energy policy analyst, and a telecommunications officer. The total budget for staff salaries of $470,000
represents 98 per cent of the department’s budget.

Output Measures

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the performance measures for the department are presented
on page B -323. In line with public service reform,
these new measures were developed in alignment
with the specific services that are provided. The main
focus of the department has been providing project
management support to other departments while worki ng with the Regulatory Authority [RA] to develop
and amend legislation to support the energy, fuels and electronic communications industry.

Major Achievements

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the D epartment of Energy is evolving to provide an increas970 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly ingly wide range of services to the public and to other
departments. This year the department provided support to the Department of Public Transportation assis ting with the procurement of 30 electric uses. I am
pleased to note that the Department of Publi c Tran sportation has purchased another 40 electric buses .
[They are] expected to arrive this year which will bring
the total to 70 electric buses in service, surpassing
Barbados’ fleet of 49 [ electric ] buses. Once those new
buses arrive and are commissioned, Bermuda will have the largest electric bus fleet in the Caribbean.
Hats off to Bermuda for that! That was a task that was
envisioned in 2017 when we came into Government.
How could we move ourselves forward and deal with some of the issues that we were confronted with by
our bus fleet? So, it was always devised that we
would eventually go electric. Now it is happening. It is
being delivered.
Madam Chairman, the department has also
provided ongoing project management support to the Department of Public Lands and Buildings within the
Ministry of Public Works on the procurement of an
aggregated 6 megawatt of solar photovoltaic install ations throughout the Government estates, beginning
with the Government Post Office and the Government
Administration Building. This project is now in its final
phase of the negotiations with three shortlisted proponents providing their best and final offer.
Madam Chairman, I am pleased to announce
that Bermuda Airport Solar Project won the Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum 2022 industry award for the
Best Utility Scale Project. I am also proud to highlight
that with a total of over 9. 1 megawatts of distributed
generation across the Island in addition to the 6 megawatts installed utility-scale airport solar development, Bermuda now has a total of 15. 1 megawatts
of installed solar development. And that actually,
Madam Chairman, puts us very close to the goal of the IRP, which is about 21 megawatts. So, we are
actually almost there for meeting our own objectives
of the country to how far we are going to go with solar.
So, hats off to Bermuda and those in Bermuda who
have bought into renewal energy.
Madam Chairman, there have also been several legislative accomplishments that I would like to highlight. In May 2022, the amendments to t he Electricity Act 2016, that were intended to create Berm uda’s [Energy] R egulatory Sandbox, were passed by
the Legislature. These amendments will enable energy innovators to conduct the development and testing
of new technologies that could prove useful not just to
Bermuda but also to the rest of the world, while ensuring that we do not risk the stability of our grid. Prev iously, the governing legal framework for the sector
precluded any beta testing, due to an over -abundance
of caution. While remaining ri sk-averse, the Sandbox
allows for some testing while managing and mitigating any risks. Possible energy solutions that may come to
Bermuda range from floating solar photovoltaic instal-lations, floating offshore wind, and ocean wave tec hnologies.
The amendments were introduced in recognition that any of the aforementioned innovations could
be game changers for the future of electricity gener ation in Bermuda if proven to be not only operationally
feasible but economically viable.
Madam Chairman, in October 2022, the Fuels
Act 2022 was passed, which will move the responsibi lity of regulating fuels to the Regulatory Authority (RA).
Currently, and until Fuels Regulations are fully developed and the Act becomes operational, the fiscal regulation of fuels is carr ied out by the Ministry of F inance, and the operational and environmental regul ation of the sector resides with the following depar tments: the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources, the Bermuda Fire Service, and the D epartment of Planning. The new Fuels Act 2022 seeks
to consolidate the regulation of fuels under the [ single]
regulatory structure of the RA. The RA will therefore
be responsible for not only the regulation of the ec onomic aspects of the sector, but also brings broader oversight of environmental, safety and health regul ations under one main umbrella.
Madam Chairman, the work with Energy I nfrastructure Partners (EIP) continued to conclude the first phase of their work, to recommend a sustainable
and workable renewable energy model that can be
funded by a Green Energy Environmental Justice
Fund for Bermuda. EIP have arrived at a solution that
can attract investors of all kinds, and still provide benefit to the community and relief to those most in need
through the development of community solar projects.
Further synergies were forged with Finance Earth, who were engaged by the Waitt Foundation. Finance
Earth has been instrumental in the development of
other similar programmes, such as the Croydon
Community [Energy ] project in the UK. This project
has been successfully running since 2020, reducing
the community’s sole dependence on fossil fuels while
providing power and opportunity to the surrounding community.

Plans for the Upcoming Year

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the D epartment of Energy will continue to provide support to
other ministries and departments. In the context of
providing this support, the Department of Energy has
helped make good strides in increasing the uptake of
renewable energy and electric vehicles. The projects
for which the department will continue to support are
the procurement, testing and commissioning of the
next 40 extended range electric buses, expected to
arrive in July and August 2023, and the deployment of
solar photovoltaic [PV] on rooftops within the Government Estates.
Madam Chairman, continuing its work with
EIP, the d epartment will develop the governance


Bermuda House of Assembly structure and embark upon the development of community solar for Bermuda. While there are many details to be fleshed out, community solar in the Berm uda context will expand the opportunity to own a piece
of Bermuda’s renewable energy future to those who
could not otherwise consider or afford it. With about
48 per cent of residents being tenants, this means that
48 per cent of the population will not be developing
solar at their homes. Community solar allows for that
possibility, as one can own shares without being adj acent to or directly attached to the development, the goal of ensuring that there is equity in solar energy will
be achieved.
Commu nity solar can provide other opportunities that benefit the community, and ultimately can help those who need relief most from the ever -
escalating costs of traditionally produced electricity.
The department will investigate a number of brown
sites that could be developed for a Community Solar
under the licensing threshold of 500 kilowatts .
Madam Chairman, the department will be i ntroducing a suite of amendments to the Regulatory
Authority Act 2011, the Electronic Communications
Act 2011, and the Electricit y Act 2016 to allow the
Regulatory Authority to respond to market forces with greater agility and speed, without sacrificing transparency and public engagement. These amendments will
also further broaden the energy sector, to allow innovators and other par ticipants in different segments of
the market.
At a high level, the amendments will serve to
enhance the already robust governance, ensure the
necessary agility of the organi sation to respond to
market forces, and allow greater vibrancy in the elec-tricity sector with provisions to allow developments
like community solar to be reali sed.
Madam Chairman, the legislation framing the
broadcasting sector must be amended to suit a sector that has changed dramatically within the past few
years due in large part t o the convergence of different
technologies. Consumers no longer depend on cabled
services from which to receive their entertainment, but instead go to the Internet for these services . Trad itional broadcasters find their business increasingly
beleaguered s o the legislation must be adapted to
better suit the modern way of conducting business in
the sector. Reform of the broadcasting sector will ult imately result in the repeal of outdated legislation, i ncluding the Telecommunications Act 1986, and con-solidate the fiscal regulation of the sector to come under the auspices of the Regulatory Authority in due
course.
Madam Chairman, as a part of the Satellite
Implementation Plan, the department in conjunction
with the Regulatory Authority will begin to focus on
finalising regulations governing satellite earth stations
on the Island, which is a growing sub- sector of both
the electronic communications and satellite sectors. The goal of these regulations will be to ensure Ber-muda continues to be a jurisdiction of bes t practice in
all regards, which in turn attracts the kind of business
Bermuda needs to grow and prosper.
Madam Chairman, in closing, I would like to
thank the dedicated team (as small as they are) in the Department of Energy, led by the Director, Jeane N ikolai. It is a small team doing some very big things.
Their consistent diligence to the work at hand has meant that we are making progress in advancing
Bermuda’s reputation as a clean, progressive, forward-thinking jurisdiction for energy, telecommunic ations, and satellites.
Thank you, Madam Chairman. And I wish to
now move on to my final head, [which is] Head 97.

Yes. The Minister will be [presenting]
Head 97 which is Land Title and Registration. And I
am sure many Bermudians are interested in this head
when they look for protections for their homes.
Minister, you have two hours and four minutes
remaining to the debate.

HEAD 97 —LAND TITLE AND REGISTRATION
DEPARTMENT

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you.
Madam Chairman, Head 97, the Land Titl e
and Registration Department, can be found on pages B-324 through B-326, and page C-16.

Mission Statement

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the Land
Title Registration Department’s mandate is: Guaranteeing land titles, simplifying property transacti ons,
and using digital technology to maintain data security.
Madam Chairman, the Land Title Registration
Department is responsible for creating and maintai ning an electronic register of legal estates and land i nterests to provide security for owners and third parties.
The operations of the department protect land owner-ship and provide services and data that support an
efficient and informed property market. The department also maintains the deeds registry and parish
records which have property information f rom the early 1900s. The department, since 2018, has also mai ntained a judgment register.
Madam Chairman, land is one of Bermuda’s
greatest assets and the physical foundation of our
lives. Keeping a definitive and guaranteed record of
land ownership is es sential to a functioning property
market and allows transactions to take place securely and with confidence.
Building up the data on the register is i mportant. The d epartment is essential to Bermuda’s
infrastructure; access to information about land enables individuals, businesses, and the Government to
make plans for the future while meeting the many
972 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly challenges of today, including housing needs, climate
change, and a thriving economy.
To meet these objectives, the department has
a single registration progr amme, 9702, with the business unit 107030, which is found on page B -324 of
the Approved Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure.
The single registration programme comprises
one primary area: Land Title Management

Expenditure Overview
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the total
budget allocation for the Land Title Registration D epartment can be found on page B -324. A total of
$1,380,000 has been allocated to the Land Title and
Registration Department (LT&R) for the fiscal year
2023/24. This allocation represents a decrease of
$12,000, or 1 per cent compared to the 2022/23 original estimates.
Madam Chairman, the Subjective Analysis of
Current Account estimates is found on page B -325
and includes the following:
• The salaries for the department shown on line 1 constitutes the bulk of the department’s
expenditure and the allocated $728,000 represents 53 per cent of the d epartment’s budget.
• Professional Services shown on line 7 repr esents the cost of the four consultants to the department and totals $353,000 and is 26 per
cent of the department’s budget .
• Rentals shown on line 8 of $171,000 pays for
the leasing the Land Title Registration Office
in Milner Place.
• Repair and Maintenance shown on line 9 i ncludes the cleaning contract for $14,000, and
a maintenance li cenc e in the amount of
$38,000 to provide full support to the department for its sophisticated electronic registry.

Revenue Summary

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the Land
Title and Registration’s estimated revenue is found on
page B -325 for the 2023/ 24 fiscal year. The LT&R's
projected estimate is $499,000. This estimate repr esents an increase of $75,000, or 18 per cent of the
original estimated revenue for the fiscal year 2022/ 23.
The property market has been active over the last 12
months. It is forecast to remain very active, with si ngle-family homes under $3 million being the highest in
demand.

Employee Numbers (Full -Time Equivalents)

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the Land
Title and Registration Department employee numbers
are outlined on page B -325. All positions are filled with
seven full -time employees. There are also four con-sultants. The d epartment, however, is going through a
management service review as it is recogni sed that
the department needs to be restructured and that the
long-term consultant positions, subject to Cabinet approval, need to be made into substantial posts.

So, while the Minister is just taking a
brief pause you can expect the Deputy Speaker to come and assume the Chair. He will see the last portion of this debate to its end.
You may continue, Minister.
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you, Madam Chai rman.
I am going now to Capital Expenditure.

Capital Expenditure

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the Capital
Expenditure budget for the Land Ti tle and Registration
Department can be found on page C -16 of the Budget
Book. The capital expenditure allows for the purchase
of one large scanner which is required to scan large
maps and five professional desktop scanners. These
professional scanners will help with scanning very old
and delicate deeds and will maintain the quality of the
image. The scanners will also assist with speeding up
the department’s operational process. The estimated
cost of purchasing the scanners is $66,000.

Performance Measures

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the performance measures for the department are presented
on page B -326 of the Budget Book . The measures are
specific to the services that are provided. Each measure articulates the expected outcome to demonstrate
the public value gained from the service while ensuring accountability.
It has been a strong year for the Land Title
and Registration Department. They have seen an i ncrease in demand for their services compared to the
previous year. Notwithstanding the incr ease, the department has met its key performance indicators for
protecting the integrity of the registers.
The department , like many others , has been
affected by the disruption of normal operations during the last three years due to the pandemic. The department however is actively working to get back on track
with its other key performance indicators, particularly
overall speed of service in relation to its deliverables.
This year has put them well on course to address
these issues sustainably moving forwar d.

Major Achievements

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, land is
one of Bermuda‘s greatest assets. Clarity and security
of land ownership are essential to a functioning propBermuda House of Assembly erty market. I would therefore like to provide statistics
that may be of inter est to the Honourable Members
and the listening public . In the 2022/ 23 financial year
alone an estimate of $470,648,000 worth of property
transactions took place, and the Land Title Registr ation Department is at the heart of the conveyancing
process. In the fiscal year 2022/23 the Land Title Registration [Department] received more than 1,056 appl ications thus far.

[Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr., Chairman]

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, a total of 3,000
parcels of land have been registered, represent ing
13 per cent of the total parcels of land. A further
breakdown reveals some of the more essential stati stics, as follows:

Land Title Registration Statistics

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Market interest: 421 applic ations for conveyances on sale were received. Of those
421 applications
• 125 properties were valued at over a million
dollars ;
• 154 properties were valued between half a
million to a million dollars;
• 119 properties were valued between
$200,000 and $500,000; and
• 23 were valued between zero and $100,000.
Requests to view the register, plans and associated
documents:
• The department holds one of the Island's
largest transactional geospatial property dat abases . It also includes all secured loans and
other property rights. Requests are made daily to search t he register, with the majority answered instantly. The revenue generated for
the fiscal year 2022/23 for these searches is $35,000.
Mr. Chairman, before you can buy or sell any
property, it is critical to check the Land Register for all the information rel ating to it. Their search of the index
map, official copies and official searches provide assurance to property professionals and citizens by pr otecting transactions while they are completed.

Request to Change the Register

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chair man, thus far this
fiscal year we received an 882 application requests to
change the register to accurately reflect property
ownership. This usually happens at the very end of
the transaction after items such as stamp duty and
land tax have been paid, and the property has
changed hands. Only then do we update the register
with new owners’ information and details, such as mortgages or other interests. Plans for the Upcoming Year

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman, the department plans to host a number of training sessions this
year for newly qualified attorneys to host questions
and answer sessions for the more experienced conveyancing attorneys. By providing training, the department hopes this will help reduce delays in completing applications, especially incomplete applic ations that have been presented to the office.
Mr. Chairman, the department will also continue to work with its IT vendor, Trimble, to improve its
database, as it is clear that digital technology is the
key to making the market more resil ient.

Yes, but when you are talking you
must . . . we want to fol low and so I would like to know
what business unit you are talking from.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: I am . . . the last business unit
I referred to was revenue summary. But I am just
highlighting achievements that have been completed
over the actual —

The Chai rman: Well, that is more of the general debate.
Hon. Walter H. Roban: I am almost finished, Mr.
Chairman.

Continue. Continue.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: So, it will be done in a very
short period of time.

Plans for the Upcoming Year

Hon. Wa lter H. Roban: The department plans to host
a number of training sessions this year for newly
qualified attorneys to host questions and answer sessions for the more experienced conveyancing attorneys. By providing training, the department hopes this
974 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly will h elp reduce delays in completing applications,
especially incomplete applications that have been
presented to the office.
Mr. Chairman, the department will also continue to work with its IT vendor, Trimble, to improve its
database, as it is clear that digit al technology is the
key to making the market more resilient.
This includes their own processes, which they
are steadily migrating to digital. It will transform the
customer experience through its digital services and
improved use of technology, making transactions i nstantaneous where possible and simplifying the appl ication process. It aims to meet the need of its cus-tomers, which is about delivering services faster but maintaining quality. This includes optimi sing its oper ations, as well as accelerating t he digiti sation and automation of its services to enable more real -time services and to look ahead at how it can best enable
change in the conveyancing market in the future.
Mr. Chairman, in addition to the long- term
strategy described previously, the department will
continue to improve its day -to-day operations and service. Before the start of the pandemic, the department
was beginning to make headway in reducing its bac klog—

Deputy, Deputy [Premier], I cannot let
you continue because when t he other speakers get up
I will be asking for them to give me the business unit. And if I allow you to do it, I have to allow them to do it
and this thing goes out of whack. That is not what the
rules are.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: I am concluding, Mr. Chai rman.

You can.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I
would like to thank the dedicated members of staff in
the Depar tment of Land Title and Registration, led by
Land Registrar, Debbie Reid. I would also just like to
conclude, Mr. Chairman, that we should be very proud
of this department for a number of reasons. It is one of
the ideas that came out of a former Minister, Mr. A rthur Hodgson, and also Dr. Pauulu Kamarakafego to
create a land register for Bermuda. This has been r ealised. It is a great achievement for Bermuda, not only
the Government. And with that, I conclude my presentation for this debate. I have finished H ead 97, and I
am happy to receive any questions on the budget
presentation.

We allocated . . . we ran short
last year so we gave him a fifth hour this year, Mr.
Chairm an. And you can obviously tell which Shadow
Minister was dumb enough to leave the meeting early
and get assigned an extra five- hour debate at the end.
But the good news, Mr. Chairman, for both you and
for the listening public is that this is the last debat e on
day six of our debate, so we only have one more day
to go—

Mr. Chairman, if I could start by
taking you please to page B -295 of the Budget Book.
And t his is the general overview of the Ministry of


Bermuda House of Assembly Home Affairs. And just a couple of quick observations
on this overview page before we go to headquarters.
This is really just to say that this is the second
smallest Ministry, which some might find surprising
because Home Affairs covers so many different
things. In fact, it is only an $18.4 million budget, which
in contrast to other ministries is very, very small, i ndeed. But there are seven departments, so it does
cover a lot. And also, as the Minister and I both know, he as the Minister and I as the Shadow for this Mini stry, there are a number of hot -button issues in Home
Affairs. It is never without a little bit of excitement.
We are page B -297. If we go over to the Mi nistry of Home Affairs, Headquarters [H Q], which is
Head 93, my first question, Minister, is really on the line item on 103000, which is Administration. And I
note that the Consumer Affairs Department, which is
the line item below that, on page B -297, is leaving
your department and going to Legal Affairs. But my
question really has nothing to do with that departure, it
happens to be why there has been a $1 million i ncrease between 2021/22 and now. Really, is there a
reason for that $1 million increase? What is that administration increase? So that would be my general
overview question for HQ, please.
Turning to the box below, in terms of the current account estimates —

Likewise, in the box below, and I
put this question last year but, unfortunately, I wasn’t
able to get an answer. There was a marked increase
in professional services, which is about half -way down
the list of object codes. And we see that the 2021/22
figure was $360,000, and that spiked at $1 million. It has come down a little bit now on the revised of last
year and indeed your estimate is $810[,000].
I am just curious, what is the professional services there? I declare my interest; I am a lawyer. I
hope that is not legal fees, but perhaps the Minister
can answer what that was. I did pose that last year. It
is at page 816 of last year’s
1Hansard.

1 Official Hansard Report 14 March 2022 While we are here, if we could just turn to HQ
Grant, which is at page 621 [sic] of the Budget Book.
And there is one grant for Headquarters. And that is —

C-21, Mr. Chairman. And that is
Ministry of Home Affairs, underneath there you see
the Ministry of Home Affairs Headquarters, and y ou
see line item 6883, Contribution to Environmental Pr oject (I am assuming). And we see that this was est imated at $30,000 and it went up to $44,000 and it is
estimated for this year at $20,000. And it is not som ething that I caught any detail on during t he Minister’s
brief. The error may have been mine. But if you could perhaps just explain what that environmental project is
and what those numbers relate to.
Going back then to page B -297, still on the
Ministry of Home Affairs Headquarters, Head 93.
There are a number of matters that the Minister addressed in his brief which I assume all fall within A dministration 103000, as they have nothing to do so far as I can make out with Consumer Affairs.
Minister, you addressed the wave power issue
and the company Seabased, and there was an EIA
that has been sent to the Department of Environment
and Natural Resources for comment. And I would just
invite the Minister to give a bit of timeframe on the
Seabased wave power project. When can we expect the [Department of] Environment and Natural R esources to respond to that project? What is the
timeframe we are looking at? Is it weeks, is it months,
is it years?
Another matter that the Minister addressed in
his brief, again, under the Administration section of HQ, was hi s proposal to reduce or alternatively elim inate single- use plastics. And he dealt with that speci fically under Head 93 of his brief. And I would invite to know . . . I know there was a consultation in 2022.
And I know that results have been released on that consultation. I assume, and I will just pause just in
case the Minister is just taking the question. Mr.
Chairman, I will just pause so he hears the question.

And I assume, and Minister I am
on the issue of the single- use plastics and your 2022
consultation which has been released. And you men-tioned draft legislation, so I am assuming that this is something that we would see in this legislative cycle.
And that this legislation will soon be tabled.
Still, Mr. C hairman, under Head 93, under the
Ministry of Home Affairs Headquarters, I am assuming still under Administration because there seems to be
no other line item. The Minister mentioned in his brief
the UK climate change study. And he referenced the
2004 report from Smith Warner, SWI, and gave
thanks to Government House for a revamping of that
976 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly study. I am just curious, was Government House
merely a facilitator for the study or was there funding
also provided?
Still on the same head, Mr. Chairman, at
Head 93, still under Headquarters, again, in his brief, I
am assuming under Administration, it was here that
the Minister dealt with the Bermuda Ocean Project
Plan, I think is the name, BOPP is what he has been
calling it, so I will call it BOPP as well. Minister, you
did finally meet with the fishing industry represent atives. So my question on BOPP is, What is next for BOPP? What is your next step that you envisage with
BOPP?
Those are my questions, Mr. Chairman, under
Head 93 at B -297. And if I may turn now to t he next
head, although in fact I am going to skip on Head 32,
which is Planning. I will come back to the other head.
And that is page B -304, Head 32, Department of
Planning. The department objective that we can see
there on page B -304, is to balance the need for development with protecting the natural environment.
And my general question, Minister, is about your env ironmental vision. Because you have spoken often and
passionately about the environment, so I would like to
know about your environmental vision in accordance
with the department objective of seeking balance. Is
there too much concrete in Bermuda and not enough
green space? Or is the balance rightly struck in your
view at the moment?
Moving on to page B -305, still under Head 32,
Department of Pl anning, under Development Management, which is three business units down. It is business unit 3205 and below it at line item 42070. In
terms of that issue, and where you see the encouragement or restraint of building, you are an advocate for green space. H ow are you reconciling that with the
increased construction and the desire to meet the r equests and demands of the construction industry? Still on that page, if we go down to . . . and
that page is B -305. If we go down to the current account estimates and we see, firstly, that the salaries
level will remain more or less as it was with last year’s
original and revision, albeit, quite high compared to
how it was in 2021/22 when it was at $2.5 [million].
Below there is Rentals. Now, if I understood you correctly, the Department of Planning is moving to, I think
you said, 44 Church Street. Which I believe is over
there by . . . across from the cathedral. Is that a government property? And if it isn’t, was it considered that
Government property would have been appropriate? I ask because I did look on pages C -26 and C -27 for
the list of properties, and I couldn’t actually locate the
Department of Planning on pages C -26 and C -27 of
the Budget Book. Hopefully, that is not an impertinent
question.
In terms of the r evenue summary, which is still
Head 32 for Planning, and it is over to page B -306.
We are seeing a general drop in revenue; it is not a
huge drop, I accept. It is about $250,000 loss in rev e-nue. It is about a 15 per cent drop overall. And if you
look at the line items there, under the revenue box,
you can see where those numbers really fall. And one
is Building Permit Fees, 8127. And the other drop is
8517, Elevator Licences.
I was slightly surprised by the elevator licence
drop because your last year budget was $414[,000]
and you actually hit that right on the nose on the rev ision, $414[,000]. But that has dropped all the way to
$300[,000] for this year. A drop of $115,000- odd. And
I am just curious why that is because one wouldn’t
expect any reduction in the number of elevator licences. You wouldn’t expect much of a reduction in elev ators, generally. And so I am just curious, what has
gone wrong for you to anticipate that loss of revenue
in relation to the elevator licensing? Likewise, on
building fees, I accept that it is a much smaller number. But is the building permit fee drop owing to a r eduction in building? Perhaps you could clarify that question.
It was in relation to Planning that we find the
BLDC comes under. And I guess technically the line item would be back on the Administration number,
which is business [unit] 3203 on page B -305. But one
of the hot -button issues of the year, and the Minister
and I know that well, was the incinerator plan in St. David’s. So, I would be grateful for clarificati on from
the Minister, whether or not that plan is to be pursued
or abandoned or just general a high- level update. I am
not looking for a deep dive, but if you could please
give some specifics as to whether or not the inciner ator plan in St. David’s will pr ogress.
Pausing just for a moment, still under the
same head, and with your leave, Mr. Chairman, you
were dealing with a section here called “Major
Achievements” in your brief for Planning. And you di scuss, and I quote, “ [T]he Department’s efforts [conti nue] to increase awareness . . . to clearly understand
the concerns . . . with . . . stakeholder engagement.
Meetings are routinely held with key groups in the i ndustry” and then you named a number of key groups
that you are routinely meeting with. I note that in contrast to last year’s brief some of those key groups that were featured last year included the Audubon Society, Bermuda National Trust, and BEST, but they were
omitted from your brief to Parliament this year. And I
am just curious why they were l eft out. And more specifically, does the Minister agree with me about the
importance of participation by these environmental
stakeholders. I think you would. So I was just curious
that they were omitted this year. But I would be grat eful for your answer on their importance as environmental stakeholders.
This concludes my questions for now on Head
32. With your leave, Mr. Chairman, I am going to now
turn to Head 79. And that is the Department of Env ironment and Natural Resources. This is, as I understand fr om the Minister’s brief, the largest department
in the Ministry. And that can be found at page B -312.


Bermuda House of Assembly And before I go to specific questions, I think it is i mportant just to pause and look at two of the depar tmental objectives that can be found at page B -312.
And that is in the first bullet point to protect Bermuda’s
environment. And in the third bullet point to increase
the Island’s food security and local food production.
Those last two items, food security and local food
production, again being something of hot buttons in
the last few years.
And I now turn to page B -313 which is the
general summary and again, doing the best I can, I
mean, obviously, we have animal control so I know
where those questions will come, but I think most of
these are in Administr ation, at the top under business
unit 7901. Given the mission statement and depar tmental objectives to protect Bermuda’s environment,
the Minister has recently updated the House on food
security and on food production. And the Minister had
indicated that he was not terribly concerned about the
food security issue. And I know that this comment
came in for some observation in the media. And I
would just invite the Minister to perhaps clarify his
thinking on that because it does seem to me that perhaps the Minister may have misspoke and, I hope,
does appreciate the importance of food security for an
Island which is the second or third most isolated place
in the world and is virtually dependent on shipping
food in. I mean, I know we have some excellent far mers b ut we really are dependent on food to come in.
So I would invite the Minister to sort of revisit that top-ic and see if he still has the same view or perhaps his
thinking may have evolved.
Turning then to . . . still at page B -313, down
at 89070, Animal Control. Another hot button. It is
amazing how . . . and I think it is the same for all of us,
all 36 of us in the House, but there are certain issues
where constituents are incredibly passionate. Rats is
one, garbage is another, potholes is another, and
dogs. It is amazing how often, if they want to know
anything about politics, they want to talk about dogs.
I note at page B -313—

[Inaudible interjection]

Yes, feral chickens is another.
Yes, and I will come to that in a bit. But let’s s tick with
dogs, please, MP Cannonier, before we get to chic kens or rats.
Page B -313, and we see the money being
allocated for animal control and we see that last year
there was a budgeted estimate of $305[,000]. Again,
you hit it right on the nose for your revision at
$305[,000]. And the estimate for this year for 2023/24 going forward is again $305[,000]. So, I conclude from
this that the financing for this department or this bus iness unit is not going up because it is the same number as last year.
During your brief, you mentioned that you
were hiring. I wasn’t sure if you had hired, or you would be hiring an assistant animal warden. No doubt, even if that is the case, it is filling an existing role be-cause if we turn over the page to look at page B -316,
where you see the employment numbers, under ani-mal control, [which] is in the middle there at 89070, and we see no change in the employment numbers
although those four may not be filled roles. So despite
the fact that there is to be or already is a new as sistant animal warden, the numbers do not appear to be
going up and the employment rolls do not appear to
be getting bigger.
I ask that because in August of last year you
publicly announced that there would be greater legi slative powers for dog wardens. S o I would invite you
to clarify how that is progressing. I am not aware of having seen a Bill come through the House. If it did,
perhaps I missed it. But is that still your intention? And
I ask that additionally because today you gave your
brief to the House and you said, apparently, for the
first time, although maybe you had announced it pr eviously and I missed it previously, that you would be
constituting a committee to be chaired by a particular
person from the other place to look into this. And so it does seem slightly contradictory that some seven
months ago you promised legislative changes for
powers for dog wardens and today you are announcing a committee to look into it. So perhaps you could
clarify how those two seemingly contradictory pos itions could be reconciled.
Still under this head but turning to the grants,
Mr. Chairman, which is page C -21. And again, we are
under Environment and Natural Resources and there
are four grants that appear there. There is an SPCA
grant which you discussed in your brief. There was a
BIOS Air Water Quality Study which you discussed.
There is a Bermudian Amphibian Research Pr ogramme which I assume is the BZS programme, al though it doesn’t say it. And then there was the sum-mer student programme which is falling away. And the
question I have is that if we look at the grants two
years ago, on the left -hand side, $230,000 was all ocated. You are allocating it again for the Air Water
Quality Study, and my question, I suppose, is why did
it stop? Because it does seem like a very important
thing, not just because of the BELCO issues but generally because of the concern that everyone has for
our natural environment.
While I am there as well, and I am trying to
find where to pigeonhole this question, Mr. Chairman, so if I am in the wrong spot, I am sorry. But this is the
best place I could look for it. How is the Environmental
Authority [EA] funded? Because it doesn’t appear to
have a grant from Environment and Natural R esources. So, if we go back to page B -313, I wasn’t
sure where the EA funding came in. I note that there is a business unit 7906, Pollution Control. And I note
of course there is the general administration business
unit 7901, but I wasn’t sure where the EA gets their
money. And if you could clarify that, please.
978 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Additionally, while we are on pollution control,
still at page B -313, 7906, line item 89100. I do see
that there is a significant increase in that budget from
last year’s revised of $372[,000]. It is now going up to
$616[,000]. And I am assuming, and I don’t know, I
may be wrong, but I am assuming that there is going
to be some element of air monitoring there in addition
to the grant air monitoring that we just looked at on
page C -21 to be carried out by BIOS. But if you can
perhaps confirm what that increase of $245,000 is for
. . . is it for air pollution monitoring or is it for som ething else?
Still on Head 79 and still at page B -313, I am
trying my best to read my own handwriting. You announced a policy change in your brief, or you announced . . . and it i s not really changed because you
mentioned it last year. It is the Blue Shield Pr ogramme. I think it comes under business unit 7902, the Marine Management Section. But you spoke
about the Blue Shield Programme, and you spoke
more specifically about the ass istance from the United
Kingdom. And indeed, you then identified . . . I believe
you said you were getting daily reports from the Uni ted States, and you said that it was a better situation
that Bermuda’s territorial waters are being assisted by
both the UK and the US.
So, I suppose my question is, you mentioned
the EEZ, What is happening if someone is 200 miles out on the EEZ, or within the 200 mile zone and they
are fishing and the United States spots that, what enforcement steps are taken and who by? I m ean, is the
United States merely monitoring, or are they then taking enforcement steps . . . I don’t know of Bermuda
taking enforcement steps, so what is actually being done about that policy development? I am not critici sing the policy development in any way, I am just wondering what the reality is (you could say) on the
ground? But presumably I mean on the sea.
You then went on . . . still under Head 79 and
I think still under Marine Management, 7902. You were talking about whales. And you mentioned this
last year and you mentioned a grant that came from a
department, a UK entity.

That’s right. Exactly.
And here it is; yes, I have it. So, w ith you
leave, Mr. Chairman, I am reading from the
2Hansard
of last year’s debate, page 809. And you said this, “Other notable projects include a grant from the UK
Joint Nature Conservation Committee to reinstate a
water quality monitoring programme on the Bermuda
Platform in January 2022 for three months and the

2 Official Hansard Report , 14 March 2022, page 809 Mammal’s Passive Acoustic Observatory project to
help detect and identify any whale species in Berm uda’s waters. ”
The question is, having mentioned them again
this year, Are we to understand that there has been a
renewal of the water quality programme monitoring?
Is that grant now coming back again for a further three
months in 2023? Or is it done? Secondly, also in this quote, Is the Acoustic Observatory programme project
still going and is that having continuing external fund-ing? And I said I would get to feral chickens. We
are still under Head 79. I think we are probably now
under business unit 7904, Animal Management. But I
will take the Minister’s guidance as to specifically
where feral chickens come. You did announce that it
was a considerable concern. And what I would like to
know is, again, and not just dealing with the issue because I entirely support your view on the issue and
your concern about the problems that they are causing. I too have heard from farmers about crops being
eaten, et cetera, and Mr. Chairman, I heard you from
behind me express some support for the Minister’s
view about getting rid of some of the feral chickens
and crows, et cetera.

And my question is this. I am
told—and I can’t verify this or not —that if you try to
report the issue, the conservation office response
when a report is made is to say that no one is actually
monitoring this at this time.
Now, I don’t know if this is correct or incorrect,
but that is a concern from a member of the public and I would be grateful if you could clarify, because obv iously . . . I know there is a management plan online. I
think it dates from 2013. But really, again, in principle we entirely agree, the Minister and I, about the need
to deal with the issue. In practice, what is really happening on the ground?
Also, while we are on that topic and still under
the same head, you have mentioned that you are going to redouble your efforts on night farming. And
again, with your leave, Mr. Chairman, I would just like
to refer to the Hansard from last year’s debate. And it
was there that the Honourable Minister said last year that he would
3“develop measures to assist farmers to
reduce night -time farming (commonly known as “night
farming”) of their crops through better surveillance of
their fields and improved enforcement .”
Now, you did come to the Honourable House
not too long ago and make an announcement about
the availability of cameras that were being imported.
Beyond that, are there any other specific measures
that you are deploying or delivering to try to stamp out this incorrigible issue?

3 Ibid. page 810


Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Chairman, those are my questions for
Head 79. I would like to go now, please, to Head 89
which is the Department of Energy. And I, too, would
like to commend the staff at the Department of Energy, as the Minister did in his Statement. I know they
are a small team. I had the pleasure of working with
them and being briefed by them during the Fuel Bill
that came through. And I was grateful for their expertise and knowledge on the subject.
Head 89, Energy, appears at page B -321 and
there is only one line item, Mr. Chairman, and that is
business unit 8901, General Administration 99000.
And so it is here that I wi ll pose my question on the
issue of BELCO.
Minister, in August 2022, you made a public
statement about BELCO in response to a public
statement that I had made about BELCO. And your
statement was, you said, that it was a matter for the
Regulatory Authority to deal with the issue. At that
time I suggested that the Government could not wash
their hands of the issue and leave it simply to the
Regulatory Authority.
Since that conversation through the media between us, the Regulatory Authority has come out and said that actually it is not their job to police pollution
coming from BELCO, that they are responsible for
BELCO’s licence but that any emissions or soot, or
whatever expression we want to use (discharge, perhaps) from BELCO is not the Regulatory Authorit y’s
responsibility, as you suggested, but in fact, the r esponsibility of the Environmental Authority.
So, my question for you, Minister, is, Do you
agree with the Regulatory Authority’s assessment that
it is not for them to deal with? Or do you still maintain
that it is for them to deal with? And it is there that I would again sort of repeat the earlier question about
where the money is coming for the Environmental A uthority because I did look at page C -21 and the grants
from the Ministry of Home Affairs, going back to page
C-21, and there is no obvious grant here for the Env ironmental Authority and there is no grant at all, unless I have missed it somewhere else from the Energy D epartment.
So, is the Environmental Authority the r esponsible agency? If so, what sort of money did they
have to deal with this very, very important issue and how can we find out what they are doing about it?
Still under Energy, and still under Head 89,
and still under business unit 8901 on page B -321, but
changing to a different topic. In your Throne Speech in
2021, Minister, ono of the points in the Throne Speech
Debate that you are reported as having said was that
you wished . . . I am paraphrasing, but I will read the
direct quote in a moment, with your leave, Mr. Chai rman. But you wished to tell Bermudians about how we
were going to get to 100 per cent renewable energy.
The specific quote, Mr. Chairman, with your
leave, this was Minister Roban, the Deputy Premier in the Throne Speech Debate, quote,
4“I hope . . . to be
able t o tell the country how we are going to get to
100 [per cent]. And I look forward to telling that story.
. . . [I]t will take innovation. It will take new technology.
. . . But that will also add new skills, new investment
and diversity to our energy sector .”
Minister, I absolutely share your view. I have
gone out of my way in the past to praise what I think is
your authentic belief in environmentalism. And I share
your view on the desire to have renewal energy. And
the unfortunate circumstance with BELCO s hows just
how important the possibility of renewable energy in
Bermuda is for us.
Unfortunately, it is probably a long- time coming and I am not sure that we will have the desired
achievement of 100 per cent renewable energy any
time soon. And so I guess my question would be, taking that statement at face value, and believing that
you do believe it, how are you going to make that a
deliverable? How are you going to deliver on that?
What are your plans?
Mr. Chairman, still on the subject of energy,
still on Head 89, and still on the only business item
8901, the Honourable Minister announced during his
brief that the solar plant up by the airport, which is
lovingly known as t he Finger, won an award. And I
think that this is what you meant. I think it was t he
Finger that won the award. If I misunderstood and it
was some other aspect up at the airport that won the
award, forgive me, but I thought it was t he Finger. And
that is obviously excellent news and that was a project
that I think both sides of the House were supportive
of.
That said, there were issues involving the
Finger in terms of financing and ownership, et cetera. And I guess, just again, a high level (I don’t need a
deep dive, but a high level), Do you feel that the i ssues with the Finger are now resolved and that we
can now pat ourselves on the back for the award and move on and see a greater amount of solar energy
production for the Island? My last question on energy, Head 89, and that
is that you mentioned EIP. And just so I am not throw-ing initials around, let me remind everybody that means the Energy Infrastructure Partners who are
some consultants that you mentioned in your brief
who you have been working with. Last year, and again
with your leave, Mr. Chairman, the Hansard at page
813 in last year’s debate, the Honourable Minister
spoke first to the Rocky Mountain Institute,
quote,
5“who provide advice and guidance free of
charge” and then went onto speak of the support “With the support of consultants, namely Energy Infr astructure Partners, the department examined ways in
which solar technologies could reach a broader spec-trum of the population, providing some resilience to

4 Official Hansard Report , 12 November 2021, page 68
5 Official Hansard Report, 14 March 2022, page 813
980 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly those who have the most to lose in the face of i ncreasingly s evere climate events.”
I was just trying to establish from the Budget
Book whether EIP provide their services like Rocky
Mountain did, for free. Or if they are . . . you have r eferred to them as consultants, so if they are paid consultants, and if they are paid consultants, where would
one find what they are pai d? At page B -322 of the
Budget Book, still under Head 89, I note that there
were professional service providers of $310,000 back
in 2021/22. But then, if you follow that line item along,
it goes to zero. So I don’t know if that was EIP or if
maybe they do provide their services for free. In which
case, God bless them.
On page B -322, under Revenue Summary,
you mentioned, Minister, the good news, which is that
under 8431, the first line item under Revenue Sum-mary, you mention the general fees are going to be
going up by $322,000. So that is nice to see, and I
commend the Department of Energy for increasing
their revenues. You then said that the reason why
those were going up was Telecoms revenue. Again,
the mistake may be mine, but it just seemed an unusual place for Telecom’s revenue to feature when
three or four down we have 8434 Carrier Fees. And so I would have thought Telecom’s revenue would
have gone to Carrier Fees. But perhaps there is a di stinction that I am missing, and I appreciate that you
are the Minister and I am merely trying to Shadow
things from outside.
Mr. Chairman, those are the questions that I
have for the Honourable Minister under Heads 93, 32,
79 and 89. Given that we did run out of time last time I
think I will take my seat. I may have more questions
under other heads or follow -up questions under those
heads, but I thank the Chair for the time available.

Thank you.
Are there any further speakers?
Minister.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you, very much, Mr.
Chairman.
There were a number of questions posed by
the Honourable Member and I will steadily go through
all of them. I think his first question had to do with
page B -295, the general overview, in relation to the
amount of nearly $1 million that he was referring to.
The first question, the $972[,000] was what was act ually spent in the fiscal year 2021/22. That is not the
budgeted figure. It does not have to do with legal fees
at all. Oh, I’m sorry. I am advised that the legal fees
were not spent in relation to what the Honourable Member referred to.
Going on to another question that the Honourable Member had about the rent for Planning, the rent for Planning is associated with the rental that we
are taking up in 44 Church Street, Hamilton. This is a
government -owned building. And so we will be even-tually, once that building has been properly fitted, we
will move there from where we are currently . . . the
Planning Department [will move] from the Dame Lois
Building to that building. But that building is owned by
the Ber muda Housing Corporation and so we will be
paying rent to them. But it is for all intents and purposes a building under the government assets.
Going on, Mr. Chairman, elevator fees. I know
that the Member raised an issue around elevator fees.
As I stated in my brief, the reason why there is going
to be a reduction in the revenue for elevator fees is
because a lot of work was done to get rid of outstanding fees. So, rather, the outstanding fees are going.
That was a very high volume of intake of revenue. B ut
now that everybody is regularised that will be a much
lower figure because there will be a regular pattern of
fees being paid for elevators. So that is why we pr edicted there will be less of an intake of those amounts
of fees.
There was another questi on that the Honourable Member raised about building permit fees which are projected to be lower this year. Building permits
and their volume track the pattern of development. But in some cases, people will get their development permission but then won’t pursue the building of the actual property perhaps for a year or two years. So you
might have one year, let’s just say, if I can hypothesise. You might have one year where you have development applications passing one hundred, but maybe
50 buildings going on. But then some of those . . . like
approval, which can last for up to two years. The person will do it the next year. So you will often have an
up-and-down of building permit patterns and thus that
will change the variance and the fees coming in.
So, you can’t always just align DAB applic ation approvals with building permits. Because som etimes people have time to actually exercise their act ual opportunity under the building permit, they may delay it for different reasons. So that is my answer to
that ques tion.
Let me just move on with some other questions that were asked. The Honourable Member r eferred to . . . there was a question that the Honourable
Member raised about the incinerator in St. David’s
and the proposed incinerator that is being built there.
My understanding from that, because the role that the
Department of Environment played, and Planning
played were very clear on reference to the Environmental Authority and an application was made and I
think that this process was quite heavily covered in
the media.
My understanding is that this development
has moved on. It was . . . all of the appropriate steps
were made properly in its development. And my understanding . . . because it is not something that didn’t
go through the planning process in a way that r equired the Minister to have any knowledge of it. It was solely a matter where planning approval was applied
for and received according to the requirements for that


Bermuda House of Assembly type of control plan. And the licence and regulations
were, and the approval of that process, was properly
followed.
So, my understanding is that this process
went forth, the actual development itself has moved
forth and it is now on its way to being completed. I
have no real knowledge of it because as the Minister I
have a statutory responsibility around these matters,
and I don’t get directly involved unless there is an appeal. So that is what I can tell you at this point. If you
have some other specific questions on it, I can certainly pass them on to the Environmental Authority
and t hey can provide them to the Honourable Member
if he so wishes.
Going on with some other questions. The
Honourable Member mentioned some questions on another head around the stakeholders of the Bermuda
Ocean Prosperity Programme (BOPP). I don’t know
. . . the Honourable Member said something about
stakeholders being left out. I would be happy to get a
clarification on that from the Member as to which
stakeholders he was referring to. I could sit down and
get clarification from the Honourable Member on that.

Yes, I am happy to clarify. What I
was pointing out was that in your speech to this Honourable House last year, when you were going
through the list of important stakeholders that you felt
you should talk to, you included a number of enviro nmental stakeholders. When you gave that same el ement of your brief this year, those environmental stakeholders were omitted. I am sure it wasn’t the Minister’s intention to say that they weren’t a valuable
stakeholder, and I invited the Minister to c larify that
environmental stakeholders are equally as important to the process of consideration, and I am sure that
you will give that clarification. Thank you.
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The omission of their names was of no intention. As was articulated in my brief, the Bermuda
Ocean Prosperity Programme is an open process.
Those stakeholders, I think a couple of them actually
are observers on the BOPP Steering Committee already, so they participate fully in it. All organisations
have the opportunity and can continue to actually give their submissions and feedback to the Bermuda
Ocean Prosperity Programme.
I know that the Honourable Member did raise
a question about what is next with that, I believe. And Honourable Mr. Chairman, I c an answer that question.
We have gone through one, two phases of the Bermuda Ocean Prosperity [Programme] which included getting stakeholder engagement and stakeholder
feedback. That is continuing. We are now I believe in
[phase] 3 which will include having focus groups and
other stakeholder engagement activity based on the
information gathered. We will continue a process of once all of this information is brought together, it will
then go back and will continue further engagement.
The goal is that ultimat ely what the Bermuda
Ocean Prosperity Programme will reflect is the feed-back and also contribution and knowledge and expe-rience of all of those who have participated. And we
welcome all groups in the country to be engaged in
this process. But we are now in phase 3 and we are
taking all the information that we have gathered so far
from a variety of participants, the people who have
participated in the Steering Committee, those who
have participated in the Ocean Village Concept which
included a number of diff erent areas which I mentioned that included aquaculture, it included renewal
energy which included infrastructure. All those groups
are going to be . . . that information is being brought
together and it is going to be represented to the public
to get furt her feedback.
So, we are very much in a phased approach
at this. Each phase will include further engagement with actual parties until we get to a point where we
have a plan, a proposed draft plan that does reflect
what the aspirations of all interests ar e, including our
fishermen. Because it is our intention as I did state
(and I will just jump to questions about their involv ement) we are in the process now of arranging discussions with [our fishermen], following on our January
meeting with them. And I, t hrough the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources, will be convening a meeting with [our fishermen] to further discuss
the issues that they have and how we can chart a
path for them to re- engage with the process giving
them full consideration of t heir issues.
One of those I can . . . and I am quite happy
to say it here, is that they will have additional partic ipation in the Steering Committee. That is one of the
things that we have agreed to. The fishermen will
have that. And we hope that this wil l move one step
further to ensure that they feel that they are being
equally and fairly engaged in this process.
I will just seek to go further, Mr. Chairman.

Sorry. Just . . . we were at cross
purposes, the importance of the stakeholders, environmental stakeholders, wasn’t in the context of BOPP. It was in the context of Planning. The BOPP
set of questions was separate. And I think we were at
cross purposes. But thank you for your answer on
BOPP. And I am sure you answer on planning and
stakeholders is the same, but I didn’t want us to be at
cross purposes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: No problem, Mr. Chairman.
982 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly One of things that has been going on with
Planning for a number of years now, and which is why
I constantly refer to it in our submissions in budget, is
that we have an ongoing engagement with key industry stakeholders. As I mentioned, the Institute of [Bermuda] Ar chitects, the surveyors, the Construction A ssociation of Bermuda, [they had] regular meetings and
the only thing that interrupted the pattern of those meetings was actually COVID -19 because you
couldn’t meet. But that was a regularly scheduled engagement t hat we had worked out with the Planning
Department. So we would meet regularly with them
and in some cases they would meet but then I would
also meet with all of these stakeholder groups.
There is an ongoing involvement with the environmental groups with Planning. So it is never a di fficult thing to meet with them. I meet with them either informally or formally on an ongoing basis. The only
reason that some of the pattern that we had established prior to COVID -19 hasn’t resumed is because
obviously getting that going just has been slower than
we would have expected. But those engagements with BEST [and] with Bermuda Natural Trust are an
ongoing activity of our department and I will ensure
that we continue with that even more often than we
have had. Obviously , COVID -19 is what really slowed
that pattern for us, and we are going to resume it , if
that is helpful to the Honourable Member.
I will go on, Mr. Chairman, with further answers.

Yes.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: There was a question about
the Environmental Authority and where are they funded and which line item or where it comes out, that the
Honourable Member did not see a grant. Well, the
Environmental Authority is board under the Ministry.
They do operate independently under the Environmental Act. But their enforcement and the body that
carries out their deliberations is the Pollution Control
Department.
So, essentially, the Pollution Control Depar tment’s budget is what facilitates the activities and actions of the Environmental Authority. S o technical persons, like Dr. Geoff Smith and his team, and others
within that, are the ones who actually exercise and
carry out the work and administrate the Environmental
Authority. So, looking at that budget, that is where you
would see their activities . And their support in funding
is built into the Pollution Control Department’s budget.
Let me just move on. There was a question
about the work that is done by EIP. They are a consultant . . . they are a paid consultant for the depar tment. And the work that they do I clearly described in
the budget which had to do with creating the fram ework upon which we are going to be deploying community solar around. They are a paid consultant that
comes out of the Ministry. Am I correct?
Yes. So their budget comes out of our Ministry
budget. That is why you see a zero there. That is
funding for that particular consultant was shifted and
some other ones had been shifted to the Ministry
[and] not in the Department of Energy.
Moving on with some of the other questions
that were asked. There was a question I remember about why the water and air quality monitoring
ceased. Again, it was a matter that was quite well di scussed I believe in the last budget. Budget priorities
due to the cuts that we had to deploy meant that we
had to [end] that particular grant funding to BIOS for the independent assessment of the water quality and
for the air quality assessments.
From that point on we did realise the concern
that had been expressed by the public and we worked tirelessly thr ough the year to try and recover some of
that funding through the year. We weren’t able to do
that but we have ensured the $230,000- or-so that we
have allocated in our budget will go toward supporting
that funding. So we will allocate funding to BIOS and
they do . . . there is particular funding that they are . . .
there is particular activity that they are supporting.
It is not so much that they are monitoring
emissions from BELCO, Mr. Chairman. They are ac-tually independently monitoring the assessments
which BELCO are required to do under their licence,
for one. They are operating some monitoring (i.e.,
down at the foot of the lane) and also some other air
quality monitoring in other parts of the Island that
would take up the incinerator and other parts.
So, they are not directly involved with the
monitoring of BELCO. It must be understood. And I
am only saying that even though it is not a budget
item, I think it is important for the public’s understanding is that at no point was any monitoring of BELCO
halted. This is a requirement under their licence. It is
the independent assessment of that monitoring that
wasn’t being paid for. But that monitoring is required
as they are a controlled plant. It is within their licence. And so we were getting constant monitoring.
There is some monitoring that was done independently that was situated around Ocean Lane and other parts in Pembroke. That was concluded not because of funding but because the actual site was not
made available because a tenant did not want the
monitoring on their site. So, I think that is something
that we cooperated with BELCO on. So, we needed to
find a new place to put it. And that is the only reason that this monitoring was delayed. I believe we have
made progress and that monitoring will resume in any
event. But at no point was any monitoring halted of
BELCO’s emissions. This is a requirement of their
licence. And I can certainly say that they fulfil that r equirement of their licence.
Moving on, Mr. Chairman, if I can, for other
questions that were asked.



Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Yes.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: The climate study, and the
Government facilitated the grant of $400,000 from the FCDO [Foreign, Commonwealth and Development
Office]. That is the support of Blue Shield, and that is
fully funded by the UK Government. There is not a
dime of that being paid for by Bermuda. And we are
steadily acquiring the resources that Blue Shield is
going to provide to us. We are the first territory to
have signed on to that programme, so we are benefi ting from it .
There is also the question that came up from
the Honourable Member, Mr. Chairman, about the role of the US Coast Guard. We are very pleased with that
relationship and arrangement we have with the US
Coast Guard. And the Honourable Member asked
questions about, Well, if they’re out there doing this
support for us, then somebody has found either (I
guess) an incursion into our 200- mile zone or counter -
activities that are contrary to law. What happens?
Well, our own fishing wardens are actually on those
vessels. So the enforcement is carried out by our fis hing wardens with the support of the United States.
But I also believe that we have recently come
to some agreement that they also would do some en-forcement for us at some level. But I think this is
something that is in the works. But essentially our
wardens are on those ships with them. So our wardens are carrying out the enforcement. And we are
very happy because our wardens are getting the benefit of that training and experience because we, Ber-muda, have no vessels that can continuously patrol
the outer edge of our EEZ. It is just not available to us. So the fact that we have the support of the UK Gov-ernment and in particular the US Coast Guard, and
they are very happy and honoured to be providing
support to us.
Our actual fishing wardens and our own Coast
Guard––because the Bermuda Regiment is involved as well, even the Department of Marine and Ports is
involved—all of those persons who are connected
with that are actually participating in this programme.
So, we are getting the actual real experience, our own
people, with going out that far. And the reality is, and I
can just segue, none of our fishermen are out fishing
that far. So, if any fishing is going on out there, it is by
the Taiwanese and Chinese and other large commercial trawlers. And in some cases they are not even necessarily in our waters; they are actually throwing
their lines and nets out, and then those nets move into
our waters and take the resources out.
So we are very happy that we hav e that benefit. And yes, we do have the benefit of the intelligence, another resource that this particular relationship is
giving to us. Our own Coast Guard, our own pilot wardens have the benefit of the intelligence that the
Americans are gathering through satellite and through
other types of ways around what is going on there. So we are better informed. It is a great partnership. The
Americans are keen to continue with it because of our closeness and proximity to each other, the closeness
of their EEZ wit h ours. It provides them with another
place where they can position themselves to police
their own waters, as well as our own.
I will go on to some of the other questions, Mr.
Chairman, that were asked. There was a question asked about the balance between environment and
development, the Honourable Member raised. I think
what is my own vision is the balance between development and the environmental protection being
struck. It is a very good question. It is a good question
because I think it is one [for whi ch] there is no straight
answer to. There is a constant effort to balance. Balancing is a constant vigilance. And I say it not because I would say that anybody in Bermuda is trying
to overstep themselves. But I think that what Bermuda
has built up over the years is a very robust planning
and environmental protection framework. And they
both actually provide good coverage for Bermuda.
One might argue that we are overdeveloped.
And I can appreciate people who may feel that concern. But you know, we are a suc cessful jurisdiction
because we have made certain choices as a country.
But at the same time, we have also made a choice as
a country to develop, but also protect. And I would
contend that we have one of the best systems in the
region for doing that. But i t is not perfect. There is a
constant vigilance required. That is why our Planning
Department does the work it does. That is why the
Department of Environment has 70- odd people who
are constantly, daily monitoring and actually supervi sing the activities in our environment.
And yes, there are often stresses and strains
with that. But when it comes particularly on the terrestrial side, I think that most Bermudians appreciate the
protections that we put in place. Yes, there was a
pressure to develop because c onstruction is a very
important industry. But I also believe that most people
respect the rules. I would not say that we have people
rampantly trying to break the law. So yes, it is a constant vigilance, Mr. Chairman, which I think that Bermuda, compared t o other jurisdictions, is doing very
well.
But we have 22 square miles. And I think we
have to remind ourselves of that [because] how do we want these 22 square miles to look 100 years from
now? So, as we pursue the quest of profitability and
prosperity now, we have to know that we have to save
some of that for the future and make sure that when
we all pass, if we come back 100 years from now, we
want to see some of the green that we have come to
enjoy. I would hope; I do not know what the future
holds. But I, as the Minister, will continue to carry out
the enforcement of these measures to the best of my
ability.
And yes, there was a question from the Honourable Member of what my vision is. I am not sure I
984 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly can answer that in a very compartmentalised way, M r.
Chairman—

You do not have to.

[Laughter]

Hon. Walter H. Roban: —but I will give a very succinct answer. Perhaps I would implore the Honourable
Member to go back and look at my Ministerial Stat ements and the things that I have done. I t hink you will
see the vision encapsulated in the things that I have done and said over the last three years since I have
been Minister of the Environment. So I am not trying to dismiss his question, but I think that is where he will
find [the answer].
Going on, there was a question concerning
Smith Warner [International]. Just so the Honourable Member knows, yes, the British Government funding
is supporting the Smith Warner report. We are expec ting that report shortly (I think I may have stated this in
my brief). And we look forward to seeing it because it
will be a public report. It will share things that are i mportant for the public to actually understand about the road we need to take on, some of the balance that the
Honourable Member was pursuing in his question. It
will allow us to ensure that not only can we mitigate
climate change, but also do things to ensure that
Bermuda balances her needs with what the future of
the change of climate will potentially bring upon us.
The Honourable Member also raised a question in relation to (let me just go back and find it) . . .
One moment, Mr. Chairman, if you can.

The plan for feral chickens.
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Oh. That is an ongoing pr ogramme. I think everybody knows the challenge that
feral chickens and birds bring to the envi ronment. I did
impress in my brief, Mr. Chairman, that they are a s erious challenge for our agricultural industry. Our far mers, despite doing, I believe, the best that they are
able to do, are constantly confronted with stresses to
the ability to produce f ood efficiently. Other than
weather, other than supply chain issues, other than
the cost that is associated with agriculture, it is some of the natural, unanticipated consequences of feral
chickens and even rats, I would argue. And it is an
issue that our farmers bring to us all of the time.
We have tried our best to have a balanced
approach with this. Yes, there is a culling which is done, and often people hear the shooting in certain parts of the day or week. That is a necessary activity,
as unpleasant as it may seem. We try our best not to use methods that are imposing any poisons into the
environment because as one knows if you put down
some sort of poison for chickens and rats, that can potentially find itself with a dog or [cause harm in]
some way that is unanticipated. We do our best to
avoid using those methods because they have uni ntentional impact.
But as I stated in my brief, we will continue
that programme. We will try and be efficient, but there
are a couple of different methods used. There is a
culling, but there is also the cage catching. And we get some support in the private sector from that. But
we will continue to be vigilant at it. It is not an easy
task. Unless Bermudians who love their chickens are
going to stop, you know, having chickens in their yard,
this is what is going to be happening. So it will be an
effort that we continue on with.
Let me just move on to some of the other
questions, Mr. Chairman. There was a question the Honourable Member raised, and I did hear the Honourable M ember raise a question around something
that I had said around BELCO previously and around
. . . I guess this had to do with the emissions. And he
then made reference to something that the RA [Regulatory Authority] has said, which the Honourable
Member seems to believe is contrary to what I said.
Well, let me just provide some clarity to the
Honourable Member because I understand it is a fair question. Because there is the Government, and then
there is the Regulator. And the Government and the
Regulatory s it somewhat independently in this pr ocess of their worlds that they play with the supervision of the licensed sectors, one being energy in particular.
There is a considerable protection mandate under the
Regulatory Authority Act that requires the RA to act in
the interest of the public. I can tell you, Mr. Chairman,
and you and I have had some discussion in the past
about this. I have been very focused on ensuring that
the RA upholds that mandate. And there is often a tendency to want to rigidly follow the law rather than
listening to what the public has to say or the public’s concerns sometimes.
So, I have pressed the RA to remember, You
have a consumer protection mandate. If you wish the
public to be confident in your role not only as a supervisor of industry, but also a protect or of the consumer
interests, you need to sometimes show people that
you are doing something on their behalf. Even if at
times it may cause you to clash with the regulated
entities. Sometimes the people just want to know that
a body whic h , they are told, watches out for consumers is looking out for them. So I have impressed that
upon the RA. But at the same time, I think it is important as another part to my answer that in the
change- in-control agreement between Liberty and the
regul ator, there are provisions there that require them
to follow the laws, the environmental laws of the counBermuda House of Assembly try. So there is actually a responsibility for the regul ator to ensure that they do that. I am not suggesting
that BELCO is going against the regulations of the
country or even the agreement for change- in-control.
But I think that is also mindful of the regulator to ensure that people know that it is watching the situation,
it is monitoring their concerns and that the regulator
has a role in that.
And t his is something that I have impressed
upon the regulator. So when I say that they have a role and a responsibility, I know because it is a part of
the agreement around a change- in-control that they
signed when there was allowance for them to purchase BELC O. They have to follow the law and be
mindful of the health and safety of their provision of
electricity or whatever they are licensed to do. So I
stand by what I said in that there is a role for the RA to
maximise its duty around consumer protection. Even if
it is just to let people know, We’re watching. That is
my view on it, and I stand by that.
If I can go on?

Continue.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: There was a question about
money allocated for animal control and about whether
there are more s taff and about the changes in laws
that will be done to create more ability of enforcement
in light of the situation around dogs that has unfort unately arisen. We are in the process of finalising some
negative resolutions that will bring greater powers to
the actual dog warden. So that is being worked on now. My statement toward the reconvening of the ad
hoc committee does not have to do with that. That has
to do with consulting with the same people who are strong advocates for the care and protection of dogs
and sitting with them as the experienced people in the
community who handle dogs, who deal with dog behaviours and are trainers of dogs to give us some
feedback as to how we might be able to deal with this
issue that has arisen around dog behaviour.
As I outlined––and I will be doing perhaps a
Ministerial Statement coming up which may provide
more clarity, Mr. Chairman––but I will just say this, as
I stated in my brief, this is not a dog problem; it is a
community problem. And it is more a problem of the
behaviour of human beings in their mishandling of
animals. Dogs are who we train them to be. And that
has to be understood. So this is a community problem. It is a problem of human responsibility primarily.
But we also may have to make some tough decisions
about how we handle animals that may have just unfortunately, due to factors, are not able to be in the presence of human society.
I do not take pleasure in that. I stand here as
a dog lover and not as somebody who even seeks to contemplate euthanasia or other methods at all. So I
want to find solutions that can bring down the fear of
the community, because I am mindful. I am sure in your district there are people who are fearful of being
even around dogs and certain breeds of dogs in par-ticular. And we need to deal with that. This is a community problem, and I will be dealing with many of the people in the community who are experts at this to come to some solutions that we can work with. So I
hope this is helpful to the Honourable Member and his
[questi ons]. So, no, there is not more money allocated
to get more staff. But we are going to first start with
trying to generate some solutions in the community so
that we can work with others to actually bring a better
situation than what currently people are experiencing.
Okay, there was another question in relation
to single- use plastics from the Honourable Member. I
will sit down and perhaps we can provide some clarif ication. He had a question about single- use plastics.
And I will just sit down and get some clarification.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, I
am very happy to clarify.
The question had been in relation to the si ngle-use plastics issue and the results that had been
released from the 2022 consultation. And my understanding from the Minister was that there was some
draft legislation envisaged. And I was just really looking for a timeframe from him on that, the high- level
timeframe.
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you. That consultation
process, as I did [mention], I think I spoke to in my
brief, continues. We have chosen a deliberative con-sultative approach with this. It will be very easy to just
go forth and say, There will be no more of certain
plastics in the country. And that may satisfy certain
advocates, and certainly myself and s upporters, as I
believe most of the community is supportive, Mr.
Chairman, of the elimination of unnecessary singleuse plastics. But that is not the approach we can take.
It is not like we manufacture any plastics here. They
have to be procured from somew here else, or even
products that could replace them have to come from
somewhere else. So, then we get into the same old
process of, Well, if you’re not bringing in this, you’re
bringing in something else. Is that affordable? And what I have found, even in the work that
has been done ably by the Ministry under the gui dance of Mr. David Northcott, is that many alternatives are costly. And so imposing this process on our bus iness community and those who are reliant on disposable items would bring about a level of business
stress that I do not think we need to do. I think we
need to just take a deliberate approach and work with
them. Yes, I think we do need to eliminate spoons and
straws and other items that we oftentimes proliferate
that are unnecessary.
But I also would say that I must raise my hand
to those who have already made the steps. There are many businesses in the country that have already begun to make the transition. You go and you get items
986 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly from them, and they are made of paper. They are like
containers. Or they ask you, Do you want a spoon and
knife? as a way to eliminate [waste], so that it does
not just go in the bag. So there are things being done
by many restaurants and food companies. And I applaud them. Even our grocery stores are doing thei r
best to eliminate the unnecessary. Because they see
value in it.
And just as another piece of education, most
of the plastic that we find in Bermuda actually finds itself into the waste stream. And you as a former Mi nister of Public Works would understand this, Mr.
Chairman. Most of this finds itself into the waste
stream and is burned by the incinerators. And thus, we get the benefit of the energy that comes from the
incinerators. So, what you find on the beaches, what
you find often on the shoreline is not plastic from
Bermuda. It is from other places. And yes, that in itself is a problem, and we must do our best to combat that.
And I am satisfied there are many people who
understand this. But we are going to take a very de-liberate and phased approach with this because it is
not to be disruptive any more than necessary. It is
about making a transition. So disruption is not the pr eferred way. Transition is the preferred way. And there are some products that for a while are not going to be
able to be transitioned. So we are working with those
in the community and taking the phased approach at it
that we believe will ultimately be successful, Mr.
Chairman.
I will go on to some of the other questions. I
may have answered most of what the Honourable
Member . . . Did I answer your question about EIP
[Energy Infrastructure Partners ]?

I am not sure you indicated
where, but yes. You did indicate it had moved. It is
page B -297 if you are able to indicate.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Yes. It has gone to the—all of
our consultancy budget numbers that you would have
seen perhaps in other areas of the Ministry under Pr ofessional Services have been sent over, whereas the
handling of all those consultancy budgets are now
handled from the Ministry. So they are all handled by
the Ministry now. That is why you would find zero under any other department heads. So all of the consul tants, by and large, are handled through the Ministry. If
I did not answer it already, that is the answer.
You did ask a question concerning the night
farming and what we are doing. And you made refer-ence to statements that I had made in previous budget debates or in Throne Speeches around it . There
are two initiatives that we are focusing on, which I did speak to. One is, yes, the acquisition of the cameras
of which we have taken it on ourselves to acquire, Mr. Chairman, and because this is kind of the way that we
can help farmers because usi ng the purchasing c apacity of government to purchase it in bulk. And even though the farmers could purchase their own cameras
themselves, we felt duty -bound because we want to
help them. [We decided] that we would purchase the best-possible option that would be suitable for them.
And then for those who wish, they can purchase it
from us at cost. There is no profit involved. So yes,
they can go online, and a few have done that, to purchase their own cameras.
But we made this conscious effort because
we appr eciate the challenge that they have, and some
of the situations I have seen are very dire. Dire in the
fact that this activity actually has a real economic i mpact, Mr. Chairman, in that because most of our far mers are not like the huge farmers in other countries who have acres and acres and tens of acres of land to
farm. Going and taking out a couple of rows of crops
still actually impacts the bottom line. And actually,
they themselves lose, and then they have to [raise
their prices], when they sell it onto the consumers, to
the grocery store or to the consumer by the roadside,
[resulting in] a higher cost we pay. So that night far ming has a real economic impact. And the margin from
those farmers is not big. I think you would appreciate
that. It is not big.
So yes, we have a few big farmers. But most
of them are a little smaller. And they are there be-cause of their passion for the industry. And so we are
doing these things to help. And I outlined a whole slew
of activities which are to support farmers, the duty r elief they get on equipment. They are going to be paying zero payroll tax coming forward. We support them
with the acquisition of seed. We are responding to
their request for the scientist who is going to come in
and work with them. These are things t hat they desire.
And we are looking for every possible way to support
them.
So, the other measures that I will speak to
that we are doing is that we are going to amend the Agricultural Act to require the same levels for com-mercial farmers to have the same level of confirmation
of them as a commercial practitioners as we do with
fishing. There is a varying, strict, rigid process for a
commercial fisherman to become a commercial fis herman, to actually identify themselves as a commercial fisherman. That has not traditionally been on the
farming side. So we are going to require them to have
an identification so that when you, Mr. Chairman, go
to get your carrots by the roadside, you can ask them,
Where’s your identification card that you’re a commercial farmer? Because only people with either a
vendor’s licence or a licensed commercial farmer can
sell by the roadside.
If they are selling by the roadside and they
cannot prove to you that they can identify themselves,


Bermuda House of Assembly they are probably stolen goods. And that is t aking out
of the mouths of a farmer and his family and ultimately
from the Bermuda public.
So those are some of the things that we are
doing to advance farming, as well as part of the work
that we will do with the integrated agricultural strategy,
is cons ult with the farmers on different farming met hods that they think can work in Bermuda, along with
technology. So we are going to do a lot of work to
work with them. But these are some of the steps we
are taking to deal with the issue of night farming in
particular so that we can help them out. And we already have some cameras that we are testing, and we
are just going to be working to make them more wide-ly available.
Let me see some of the other questions that
the Honourable Member put to me, and I will see . . .
Yes, the Honourable Member raised a question about the solar Finger. That project, just for a bit
of history, started actually under the previous Admi nistration. The preferred contractor was chosen under
the previous Administration. We continued with that
arrangement, and it was a project where the Gover nment actually invested no money. It was a design build, commission, operate and decommission project.
So the only thing the Government had to actually i nvest in was the preparation of the acreage, the 20 or
so acres at the Finger for the deployment of the actual project itself. The rest of it was the investor.
Now, yes, it has changed hands, I believe, in
ownership since the original Saturn Power —I think
was the company that originally commissioned it. It has changed hands and ownership. But it actually has
been operational I think since November of last year.

[Pause]

Hon. Walter H. Roban: And I advise that the deal —it
was my understanding that they had changed hands. I
do not want to misinform the public, Mr. Chairman,
that that did not happen. So, I will withdraw that comment. But it was my understanding when I last heard that there was an arrangement where it was going to
be changing hands of ownership. And that also is subject to regulatory approval. But again, I would not be
involved with that directly.
But it has been in operation since November
of last year, and fully operationally since the previous year, 2021. Yes. In 2021, it was fully operational, Mr.
Chairman. So, what is happening is that the power
produced by the Finger is under a power purchase
arrangement with BELCO. And they purchase that,
and they use that and store it, I believe, perhaps in their storage facility, the power that is generated. And
they use it to actually ensure t hat at times when there
is peak load, that they do not have to turn on their engines with the fuel, which often comes back to us in
cost. So that 6 megawatts of power edges a slight bit
off of the cost of each kilowatt. Our goal is to move forward with that, and if I
can just touch on this. Part of the vision that we have
is that that project was developed by an overseas
contractor. And I believe and firmly believe that those
opportunities should be afforded to Bermudians of that
type. So as we spoke about the community solar and
that project, we have identified a number of sites for
utility -scale solar development in Bermuda, which will
further add to our complement of solar generation that
will be financed by Bermudians, operated by Berm udians and managed by Bermudians in the first i nstance. If those Bermudians who we believe should lead those projects want to partner with an overseas
person, that is on them. But those particular projects
will go out to first tier to Bermudian investors so that
we can have an ownership stake in our energy future.
So this is the direction we are going with solar energy
in Bermuda. And so I look forward to that moving beyond. You can see that the Finger is the first gener ation of this. The next generation will see greater Bermudian ownership in energy generation. I hope that is
a satisfactory answer to the Honourable Member’s
question.
There was a question, the fund of $20,000 is
for ad hoc projects. Last year it helped fund the SPCA
[Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals],
which was not funded, and the aquacultural farm at
Sandys Middle School. [We are] very much aware of
the Sandys Middle School project. We have not had
any direct involvement with that, but we are in the
process of developing aquacultural regulati ons, Mr.
Chairman. And as aquaculture is a component of the
blue prosperity plan, we intend to see how aquaculture can be expanded in Bermuda. As is the case, the
Department of the Environment has the expertise
within them to move forward with this, but we will be
consulting internationally. I am not saying we are going to bring in anybody to develop it, but to get the
knowledge on Island so that we can develop our own
aquaculture framework. Because that can be very
beneficial to the management and control of fisheries
going forward, and in some cases aquaculture can
help to replenish fisheries that are depleted.
I mentioned this during the debate that we
have serious concerns about our lobster fisheries and
other species of fish that have not had the benef it of
marine protection, and in the region there has been
some work done on using aquaculture to potentially
replenish fisheries. So perhaps some of the more depleted fisheries in Bermuda could benefit from a certain type of aquaculture, not just the one w here you
farm fish and you sell in the market, but actually aq-uaculture that actually helps the replenishment of
fisheries and some of the species that we might want
to see grow in Bermuda. So we are going to be looking at that. But we have aquaculture regulations coming down the pike to deal with that.
The other part of the question was the Honourable Member [asked] about the funding of the
988 10 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly SPCA. This [grant] is being returned because the
SPCA is a valid partner for us in our efforts around the
management of the dog situation. So, we are going to
return the grant to them so that they can help us do the work that we need to do. So that is why we have
brought that funding back, because they are a partner,
and we want to be able to benefit from their work and
their commitment to the protection of animals.
The Honourable Member also asked a question around, I guess, the vision to reach 100 per cent
renewable energy. We have an integrated resource
plan, Mr. Chairman, that contemplates Bermuda being
85 per cent renewable by 2035. For some that may
not seem that long away, a long time away. But as I
have already described, we are very much on our way
to moving forward than we were five years ago. We
have now the goal of, I believe, 50 to 21 megawatts of
solar. We are not at 15. We were not there five years
ago. We also have contemplated the potential for 60
megawatts of wind as well. The RA is currently going
through the process of putting in place an investment -
grade wind study so that we can attract potentially t he
opportunity to develop that wind.
But at the same time the Honourable Member
raised—and I will touch on this. We have the potential for other technologies to come into place. One thing
we have found is the renewable energy space is developing quite rapidly. There are things that 10 years
ago seemed aspirational; they are actually coming to
reality right now. So wind is of a part of the feature of
our integrated resource plan. Solar is. And between
the 21 megawatts of solar and the 60 megawatts of wind, a lot of our energy needs will be potentially satisfied. And the 60 megawatts of wind, the expectation is by 2026 we will have gotten some way to getting that.
So, we are working steadily. I am not predic ting that we are going to get to 100 per cent by 2025.
But I do believe that we will get there, and I actually
believe that if projects like what we are doing with
Seabased [Limited] can actually see themselves
through, we could get there, because wave technol ogy 10 years ago was almost an impossibility. T here
are now a number of different companies around the
world that are actually bringing test examples of wave
energy out there, particularly in the North Atlantic and
also in Europe—that and Asia are where most of the
big innovations in solar energy and also renewable
energy are going on, Mr. Chairman. And there is no
reason why Bermuda cannot attract some of the innovation that is actually [happening].
And the investment. Because with the inves tment comes not only the opportunity to test that, it
also comes with training of Bermudians to participate
in the actual test product, which is a part of what . . .
And I will just segue to the question about Seabased
that the Honourable Member raised. It is that we have
passed the legislation for the Regulatory Sandbox.
We are in the process now very soon to finalising the regulations that will govern that. In the meantime,
Seabased is now completing their environmental i mpact assessment [EIA], which is a core component of
the innovation licence process. Once they complete
that, and it was always known that from the time that
they got their approval, it is going to be about two
years for them to deploy —in fact, 18 months. They
advised us that once they got their approval, 18 months from their approvals they could have their
wave project operating in Bermuda. So they have not
got through the whole approval process yet. Our expectation is that once they complete their EIA, once
we have deployed the regulations they will move
quickly to approval.
Bermuda remains right now, Mr. Chairman,
the first of this type of project in the world. And you will hear more about that in the upcoming weeks, more
about that. But Seabased is very proud of what they
have been able to accomplish in Bermuda, and they
are actually taking the B ermuda model on the road
internationally so that people can see what we have
done here in an innovative way and that it can create
other opportunities for innovative renewable energy projects in other parts of the world. But you will be
hearing more about that in the upcoming weeks. But
at the moment, Seabased is completing their EIA. We
are completing some regulations that have to be put in
place. And they are right on target for getting what
they need to get done.
Again, this is a project that, even though Seabased is an international company, its presence in Bermuda is led by a Bermudian, Mr. Wendall Brown.
He is the one who brought this to Bermuda. He is the
one who is leading it in Bermuda. He is the one who
has brought his enthusiasm and passion to this Go vernment. And we are making it happen. So it is a
Bermudian- led project here in Bermuda so people do
not think Seabased, yes, they are an Irish company.
But Wendall Brown is their agent and their represent ative in Bermuda. And he is leading the charge here in
Bermuda to see this happen.
I will stop there in case—and the Honourable
Member can remind me if I have not dealt with any of
his questions. But I will sit so that he can either pr esent more questions or bring me back to anything I
have not answered.