March 3, 2023

Minister.

Hon. Vance Campbell: There are a number of concerns around sensitiv ity to the local environment and
the impact that it would have on the surrounding ar eas. But again, the driving factor is whether or not they
can marry those factors in with running an operation
that will be profitable and bring a return on their i nvestment.
Now I do not know what else to say beyond
that, Mr. Speaker, because when you get in business
one of the primary factors is profitability. So if a largescale —if a developer who sits before us says a largescale development will work within their model and
bring profitability as well as address other local issues, then we will work with them. But until we have that
materialise, you know, we will just continue to sit with investors with the plan that they bring to the table,
help them in any way that we see fit that it could be


Bermuda House of Assembly modified to both benefit the developer and Bermuda
as a whole. We will continue to do that.

Thank you.
Minister, those are all of the questions for you
this morning.
We will now move on to the next Statement.
Minister of Education, there are quite a few
Members who have indicated they would like to put
questions to you this morning. The first one is MP Wade.
MP Wade, would you like to put your question? MP Wade, MP Wade.

What is the maximum number that
we can have in classrooms right now, Minister?

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: The maximum number varies. It actually is decided on on a year -by-year basis
by the Minister. And we have not decided what our
maximum numbers will be this upcoming year. For the
year that we are in now, from P1 through P3 it is (g oing from memory, I believe it is) 16. And from P4
through P6 it is around 26, between 26 and 28.

Minister.
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you.
As part of the implementation plan, the Commissioner and her team have worked directly with
school leaders to determine how we can move for-ward. We have had meetings with both schools’ PTAs
664 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly and staff this week. And the final implementation of
the plan will depend on the feedback that we get from
parents along the lines of what their particular needs
for those students are and what schools they [desire
to transfer] to. And with the teachers, it is discussing with them, what are their preferred schools to be
transferred to? What are their preferred subjects? And
those types of things will happen.
But because of the number of staff and chi ldren that we are talking about , the intention is that
there will be individualised meetings with each and
every one of them, the students and their parents, to
have those discussions.

Minister.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Speaker, we have already initiated a school voucher programme that will
be in place. The final amounts will not be determined
until we have the conversations with the parents and
determine exactly where each of those children will
land. But the intention is to soften the blow of having
to purchase any new uniforms with uniform vouchers.

Minister.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Yes, Mr. Speaker.
In the conversation with the Clearwater staff
and parents, and it was identified in the Statement, it
is intended to use Clearwater as a signature school in
the east. So the understanding is that it will be easier
for us t o do the necessary things that have to be done
at the site with it cleared out. So as Members would
know, as well as the listening public, the Gover nment’s reform plan was to introduce up to five signature schools. And so with the already -made announcement that we will be introducing a signature
school at Sandys Secondary Middle School in Sep-tember 2024, this is just another movement forward in
where the next signature school will be. And the one
that we want at the east will happen at Clearwater Middle Sch ool, the Clearwater Middle School site.

Yes. Yes.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: I do. We do know what is
going to be down there. It is —and now you have really
got me. I will commit to get that exact, the name of it.
But it will be the school that deals with climate, climate issues, as well as social issues. And one of the reasons for picking Clearwater is its proximity to BIOS
[Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences] and BAMZ
[Bermuda Aquarium, Museum & Zoo], for which we
already h
ave memorandums of understanding in terms of developing our signature programmes. And the proximity
of that school to those locations bodes well for actually having it there.
There is also a programme between the Ar izona State University and BIOS that we have had
conversations with Arizona State University over the last couple of years on how we can integrate some of
the things that they are doing along with BIOS into
what the new signature would be.

Minister.

Hon. Diallo V . S. Rabain: Thank you, and that is a
very topical question. We are in the process of completing what we are calling the master plan. And we
anticipate—I set what I consider an unrealistic date for
the team to have it ready, by the end of February. But they have done an extremely good bit of work on that,
and we are in the process of dealing with the neces-sary things of actually presenting it to Cabinet. And
then shortly it will be shortly presented to the general
public and obviously presented here.
But there will be a master plan that talks about
when schools will phase out, when schools will phase in and the like. Ideally, we are looking at about two
years for that school to come into play.

Minister.
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Yes, Member, that is a
question that does come up. As colleagues would
know, and we are in budget session, so that is actually quite topical, about 90 per cent of the budget that
goes to schools is salary. So for the regular thought
process that closing a school will save money is not
along the l ines of what we would traditionally think, as
we would not be spending those monies out, because none of these teachers will be made redundant. They
will be re -integrated back into the system.
But where the savings comes is we are ma king better use of the funding that we have. So where
we would have a case of, at one school we would
have a class of nine or ten children per class, and at
another school we would have a class of eight chi ldren per class, we can combine those classes to
make a normal -sized class. And now that leaves us
with human resources that are able to be put back into the system to fill gaps that we were unable to fill b ecause we simply do not have the funding for it.
But this is where we are. This is where the
savings comes in. We are able to take what we are spending and spend it much more efficiently and in
places where we can assist our children so they can
do the things that need to be done within the school system.

Minister.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: And that is a good question. So for Clearwater, as I said, about 90 per cent of
the money is for staff. We will retain the staff. So a
typical electricity bill for Clearwater would be in the
region of about $350,000 per year. Other things that
we would save on are repairs. Clearwater is an ageing
facility, and I believe over the last couple of years we have spent maybe close to about —just over $1 million
in doing little fixes here and there. And so having it
emptied would be something that we can definitely
move forward with.
Just as an example of the necessary expend iture for a school regardless of the number of students in it, because especially at the middle school level
there is a requirement to provide the middle school
curriculum. So whether there is on e person in the
class or there are 30 people in the class, you still have
to provide a teacher for that. So Clearwater, with its
71 students, actually represents a cost to the Berm uda taxpayer of $39,500 per student.

Okay.
I just wanted to ask, Did the Minister say that
at Clearwater 90 per cent of the staff would be r etained there?

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: And thank you for that
point of clarification. What I did say was that all per-manent staff will be retained. But there will be discussions as the public system operates, persons on work
permits that are expiring, they can apply for positions.
And if there is not a Bermudian, then typically that position is reallocated to them. So all teachers who are
on permanent contracts wil l be retained. Teachers
who may have expiring work permits this academic
year will be invited to apply for positions. And they will be processed the same way they are normally pr ocessed from year to year.
We also have other staff who are on year -toyear c ontracts because of the type of work that they
do. And those staff will be evaluated as they are eva luated on year to year.
But all staff who have permanent contracts
will be retained.

Thank you.
I just want to make absolutely clear. So when
you are saying “retained,” it is retained within the whole, wide education system in Bermuda versus being retained at Clearwater for those teachers?

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Well, they cannot be r etained at Clearwater because Clearwater is closing. They will be retained inside the system, and they will
be reallocated. And in the Ministerial Statement, I did
speak to the process that the Department of Educ ation will hav e of one- on-one meetings with all of the
permanent employees, as well as the work permit [holders] and all of the employees to have a convers ation about what is their desired location, where they
would like to be within the system, to hopefully accommodate them as much as possible.

He just answered that.
But go ahead.
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: The average size at Heron
Bay is around 10 per class. And it is a little bit more
difficult to calculate the average size of class at middle school because it is a different ty pe of schooling sy stem. And so you may have the M3 class, but some of
them may be in one course while some of them are in
a different course. So it is not particular. But what I
can say is that Clearwater Middle School has 71 st udents, and 71 students, [compare that] with all of the
other middle schools averaging 225 students.
As an aside, the maximum enrolment in any
of our middle schools is 300 if you want to make that sort of comparison.

Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
So there has been this growing trend since I
went to schoo l that smaller classes are better, fewer
students, more attention that the teacher can spend
on each child. So why is it that we already have these classes that are small, but when you are combining,
moving these children to other schools, you are going
to make these classes bigger? Is that not reversing
the trend that we want?

Minister.
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Speaker, as our
schools, as our population has shrunk and people
have had fewer children, I believe the birth rate has
been in decline since the mid- 1970s in Bermuda.
People do not realise that. People do not realise that it
has been in decline since the mid- 1970s and we have
been going in the opposite direction.


Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Speaker, to speak very candidly —

Yes.
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: In 1988, and trust me, I am
losing my mind reading all these data all the time. In
1988 we had nearly 8,000 students within our student
population. In 2023 we have just over 4,000. Interes tingly, in 2023 we have more buildings and more educators than we had in 1988. But I think what has ha ppened is that persons have become accustomed to
smaller classes. And there is this growing trend that
says, The smaller the class, the better outcomes for
the students. But, Mr. Speaker, there are vir tually no
data that support that [saying].
What data do support is that the best outcomes for students within the school system is (1) the
quality of teaching; and (2) the quality of the parental
involvement. And when we have those two clicking over, you look at any of our schools that people consider doing (quote –unquote) well, you will see that this
combination is really working well.
So when we talk about the number of st udents within classroom periods, there is what the
OECD calls sweet spots. But hav ing nine and ten in a
class is far below what that sweet spot is. And so
sweet spots are determined by age. In certain ages more socialisation is needed than actual academic
work. And as they get older, the academic work becomes more important than the act ual number [of st udents] in the class. But you are able to have more
children within a class as they get older because they
are more independent and they require less attention.
So the idea that the smaller the class aut omatically equals better outcomes i s a misnomer. All
data show that this is not the case.

Minister.
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Speaker, it is quoted
from the data from 1988 to 2023. In fact, the Member
is right. The numbers in private schools have declined as well. It has not declined as much as public schools,
but there is a decline in both sides. We attribute that
to the lowering birth rate. There is attrition between public and private. And of course, when I talk to my
private counterparts, what they are finding is that their
students are being sent overseas to boarding schools
a lot earlier than they normally would in their process,
for whatever reason.

Yes. Back to my question,
Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister tell us, is there a max imum number of students that should be in a class?

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Speaker, I did answer
that earlier on. The maximum number is set by the
Minister every year. Currently right now in the lower
primaries it is, I said I believe it was around 16 or 17.
And in the upper primaries it is about between 25 and 28.

Minister.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Speaker, as I stated
earlier, the maximum enrolment at middle school is
100 per year, 100 per year. Currently at Clearwater
we have 21 M1 students and 26 M2 students who will
need to be transferred because the M3 students will
be going off into signat ure school. At Whitney currently, in M1 there are about 77 M1s and 82 M2s. Now, I
am leaving space there. And at Dellwood, both c ohorts are actually in the middle- 60s. So there is space
at both schools to accommodate the children from Clearwater.

Yes, Minister, that was part of
it.
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Yes. And so— and I have
read that in the paper as well. Someone had called the news and said that they had heard that Whitney
and Dellwood were full and my child would have to go to Sandys , and how is my child going to go to Sandys
while staying in St. George’s? So there is space at
Whitney and there is space at Dellwood to accomm odate—I believe [there is space] at both schools to accommodate all of the students if that is where they wish to go. But we anticipate Whitney would be the
preferred location unless there is an issue with Whi tney.
And we did have that. One par ent said that
they do not want their children to go to Whitney; they preferred Dellwood, when we met with them. So there
will be some persons going to Dellwood, it looks like.

My question is, the M1 st udents who are at Clearwater, is that the projected e nrolment into M1, number of children? Because we have got three, M1, M2 and M3, right? So M3 is going
to go to a signature school. So the M2 children, they
definitely have to find another middle school because
they have to go, right? But the M1 children will be the
incoming population from the area primary schools.
And you have already projected that to be the 60 or whatever it is, right?

[Inaudible interjection]

Minister.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you.
The projected . . . as Francis Patton is becoming a parish primary school, which is one of the feeders into Clearwater, there will be no students from
Francis Patton going to Clearwater. That leaves St.
David’s, East End and Prep [St. George’s Preparatory
School]. Between St. David’s, East End and Prep, in
Ps, the total number of P6 students, if my memory
serves me correctly, there are 18 at Prep, there are 7 at St. David’s and maybe 9 at East End. The predicted
total of students coming out of those schools in St.
George’s who will enter into public middle school is
estimated to be around 18.

You had answered the question
from MP Tyrrell about the people who are moving who
are the M1 now, M2 now and the incoming. And you
had indicated Dellwood and Whitney. Will there be choice given to those parents . . . You have answered
the question on spac e. Will they be able to choose
between Whitney and Dellwood? Or will that be de-cided?

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Interesting that you said
that. And that is one of the reasons why someone
complained about Sandys. Because when we met
with them they said the y will have a choice between
Whitney, Dellwood or Sandys, if they wanted to go to
Sandys for whatever reason. So the choice is theirs.

[Inaudible interjections]



Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: It is interesting that in the
data that we looked at, one of student’s address was
an SN, which means Sandys, I mean Southampton
. . . So we just figured if that is where they actually do
live, they may want to go up there. But what we do
recognise is the numbers that I gave you, there may
be a situation where if all of them want to go to Whi tney, they may not all fit. So there will have to be accommodations along those lines.
But the choice is going to be theirs, and we
are going to try and accommodate them and accom-modate everyone’s first choice as much as we can.
As I said, it was very interesting to watch and
listen to a parent say, Absolutely not Whitney for my child. I want to go to Dellwood in the meeting with the
parents. So obviously parents have some idea of what
it is their children want or need.

Thank you.
So just to that answer and the point you gave
about, if everybody wanted to go to Whitney, not ev erybody would necessarily have space, and some might have to go to Dellwood. So in that sort of ci rcumstance, is a preference of priority going to be gi ven to locational requests? So for example, if someone
is in St. David’s, are they goi ng to have preference
over Whitney than someone who is further west?

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: That is a very good question, and it is something that we will have to factor into
how this happens. We are hoping that we will have a
smooth transition because there are sufficient spaces
between the two schools. Some people— you know,
there are different reasons. Some people say, I work
in town. I’d rather go to Dellwood because it’s right there. One of the reasons of Clearwater being the way
it is is a lot of p arents from St. George’s, particularly
the St. George’s area, put their children in Whitney and not Clearwater because it is on their travels to
town.
So there are lots of reasons around why parents want to make the decisions that they make. But
our intent on this is to give them as many options as
we can possibly give them so it is as smooth a trans ition for their children as it is for them.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to my
feet to send condolences, and I may be associating
because I have been away for quite some time. But
again I was talking to one of my dear friends, and we were chuckling about someone. He said, Oh, you
know they are gone? I said, Gone where? Well, Mr.
Speaker, I stand to my feet to give condolences to
[the family of] my dear friend, the late Albert “Pioneer”
Francis from St. George’s. And I wish to be associated, Mr. Speaker, because sadly I did not know Pi oneer had passed.
And he was one of the first characters I got to
know when I actually came to work in St. George’s
proper when we took a trip together with a group of
golfers in 1987, two days after or the day after Hurr icane Emily hit. And we went to Cape Co d on a contingent with the Bermuda versus the New England PGA group. And stories from that trip go on today. His
family, he had two sisters who married Whale Bay fellows. One is still living in there, married a Lambert.
And Noel Van Putten was his brother -in-law. I knew
his brother Bobcat. I knew his late brother Bobcat and
his late brother Kingsley Francis. His two sisters I
have mentioned as well, and his family, his grandchi ldren.
Mr. Speaker, I am very sad to have learned
this way that my good friend Pioneer had passed
away. When he was St. George’s go- to fellow for
trucking. And he came with any number of stories,
Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it has been done, but not done by me because this is my dear friend whom I am
associating my comments with. And I am giving him
due respect because I got to know him very well. He
was part of my family, part of my life and very much a
part of my St. George’s connection.
And I want his family to know how much I will
miss him, how much I will miss connecting with him
down on the bridge, in the square, talking about our
times and travels and t he like, Mr. Speaker. And I
670 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly thank my good friend, Brutus, for sharing with me that
he had passed, this morning when I gave him a call to
say hello.
And all I would say in closing to my cond olences associated with Pioneer, Albert Pioneer Francis, is, G oody -goody .

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge
some birthdays in my constituency . Ms. Gloria
Greene , she is 86 years old, Mr. Speaker. Juliette
Spence, she just celebrated her 65th birthday. Mr.
George Hayward, Albert “Soda” Green e, Elaine Smith,
John Hodson, Sandy Tucker -Scott, Morris Rogers,
Vera Mills, Mr. Speaker. Joan Hodg kins, Rosalie Robinson, Valerie Richmond, Charles Dill, Keijon Goin s,
Diane Philpot t, Eleanor Brown (she is 93 years old,
Mr. Speaker), A queelah Simmons, Donna- Mae
Gomes, Cora Wilson, Denton Scraders and Derrick Wilson. Those are the last two weeks’ birthdays for
constituency 14.
Thank you for allowing me to acknowledge
the great people in constituency 14, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would just like to send condolences to the
family of Vernon “Vernal” Davis. He was a great tennis player, a great sportsman. And certainly my introduction to Mr. Davis was . . . And there are Members here
who would like to be associated, so I am going to go
with the whole House would like to send condolences and our sympathy to the family of Vernal Davis.

I first met him when I got
married. I happened to have married a tennis player.
And so my entire soc ial life was built around weekend
tennis tournaments, practicing throughout the week and very close- knit tennis community at that time. And
I believe that the tennis community remains a tight -
knit community.
But Vernal was always the feature. He had a
wonderful personality, and he always had a smile.
Very good- natured, and certainly he had his signature
style on the tennis court as well. And so he certainly
did provide and set himself up as a legacy within the
community.
One of the pieces about Vernal Dav is—and I
knew this in my heart when I was reading the article in today’s paper. But I noticed that his daughter had
made mention of this as well. And I would like to just
put this out there, that one of Vernal’s pieces was that
if he had just had the resources, if somebody had just
invested in him that he would have loved to have seen the professional circuit in tennis. And so even if one
day in the distant future it becomes his legacy that we
are able to put an investment into those people, those
athletes who really take tennis as a lifestyle, and certainly Vernal walked around in his tennis shorts until he was in his retirement years. Like he just did not give it up. And if we could find an opportunity to support our young people so that maybe one or two m ight
reach that professional level, and he would be able to
see his goal achieved from heaven, I believe that this
would certainly sit well with Mr. Davis.
And so with that, I would like to take my seat.
But again, my deepest sympathy and condolences to the family.

Mr. Speaker, I would like
to start off with some condolences to the family of Mr.
Llewellyn Eugene O’Neill Hackett of Collector’s Hill.
He was one of my constituents. His daughters , Ulys
Burch and Dionne Hackett and a few others.
Also, Ms. Beatrice Elizabeth Palmer -Hodgson,
commonly known as “Betty.” She was and will always be a Devonshire person. Born on Jubilee Road, lived
on Green Acres and now resides at Christ Church,
Devonshire. Mr. Speaker, her service was uplifting, and it had a true turnout of al l of the Devonshire fam ilies. Her daughters, Claudette and Amy, were there
and much of her extended family, Christ Church fam ily, some of the Hodgsons. You know, they took some
of our people.
Mr. Speaker, moving to a different tune, I
would like to congratulate Ministers, Lt. Col. Burch,
the Attorney General, Minister Tinee Furbert and Mi nister Vance Campbell for the vision in transforming
what some people know as police barracks down the
east. Some call it the garrison. Yesterday the Ministry of Works and Engineering, Department of Child and
Family Services and quango Bermuda Housing Corporation were present when there was an opening for
what we call now the Independent Living Centre.
What it is, Mr. Speaker, in one minute or less, is as
our children who w ere in the foster system aged out,
they often had nowhere to turn to. And some went in
ways that they should not have gone to.
This Government in the 2020 pledge to give a
home to some of these children —there are now 12
units down there for six males and for six females.
And I just want to thank the Ministers and all of their departments, especially the Attorney General for her


Bermuda House of Assembly vision and drive in getting this done. Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.

Members, and particularly for our li stening audience, we are now at that stage again today
where we will resume the economic debate on the
expenditure of revenue for the coming year. And this
morning the first Ministry up will be t hat of National
Security.
And, Members and particularly listening aud ience again, as you know, there are eight hours set aside each day for these debates. And the first five hours are for the National Security. And the remaining
three hours will go to You th, Culture and Sport.
This morning, as you know, once we go into
Committee, the Speaker is out of the Chamber. And
the House is turned over into the hands of the Chai rman, led by a panel of Chairmen. This morning, MP
Pearman will be the first Member of t he Panel of
Chairs in the Chair, and the House will be under his
direction when we get into the first debate, which is
National Security.
Deputy Premier.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Yes, Mr. Speaker.
I move that the House do now resume in
Committee of Supply to consider the Estimates of
Revenue and Expenditure for 2023/24.

Thank you, Honourable Members and
the listening public. We are now in the Committee of
Supply for further consideration of the Estimates of
Revenue and Expenditure for the year 2023/24.
This is t he debate on National Security, and
we will be considering Heads 83, 6, 7, 12, 25 and 45, which are all the Heads of the Ministry of National S ecurity. The Honourable Minister Michael Weeks is the
Minister in charge.
I call upon you to proceed, Minister. You have
the floor. It is a five- hour debate, and it is now 11:25.

MINISTRY OF NATIONAL SECURITY

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I move the following Heads:
83—Ministry of National Security; 6— Ministry of D efence; 7—Police; 12—Customs; 25—Department of
Corrections; and 45—Fire Services be now taken under consideration.
Mr. Chairman and Honourable Members, I am
pleased to present the current accounts estimate for
the Ministry of National Security Headquarters, Head 83, which can be found on pages B -257 through B -
260 of the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure
Book. Mr. Chairman, I will briefly discuss the Ministry
as a whole followed by the information for Head 83—Ministry Headquarters, and then in detail for each of
the Heads under the Ministry, namely, Head 6 —
Defence, Head 7—Police, Head 12— Customs, Head
25—Department of Corrections and Head 45—Fire Services.
Mr. Chairman, five hours have been allocated
for this Ministry, and I intend to give sufficient time to the Opposit ion to ask questions or seek clarification
on the financial year 2023/24 Estimates of Revenue
and Expenditure. Mr. Chairman, the mission of the Ministry of
National Security Headquarters is Working together to keep you safe. Mr. Chairman, the mission statements,
programmes and budgets within the Ministry are
aligned with this overriding mission.
I will briefly set out some of the priorities of the
Ministry for the next financial year before moving to
the expenditure overview.

Priorities
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Violence and antisocial behaviour continue to plague our community. Combatting it continues to be a primary focus of this Ministry,
and the budget for the departments reflect this focus.
This includes the following:
• increased funding for addition al officers at
Customs and the Coast Guard to tighten our borders to interdict and deter the importation
of weapons and drugs;
• increased funding for a refurbished dock
scanner to interdict and deter the importation
of weapons and drugs;
• increased funding for additional officers at the
Bermuda Police Service who will get criminals
off the street and deter criminal activity;
• increased funding for the Gang Violence R eduction Team to provide focused programmes
for at -risk youth to assist those vulnerable
youth with better life choices and options ot her than gangs, violence and antisocial beha viour; and
• a new Island- wide CCTV system, an upgraded CCTV system that will aid in the identific ation of suspects in the event of criminal activ ity, serve as a deterrent to potential criminals
and provide increased safety for our comm unity.
Mr. Chairman, this Government recognises
the major role that information and communication
technology plays both in business and in our personal
lives. With that dependency comes risk. T o mitigate
that risk, I will shortly be tabling cybersecurity and c ybercrime legislation. I will speak in more detail on
these further on in my presentation.
Mr. Chairman, I would now draw your attention to page B -257 of the Estimates Book where you
will note that the Ministry of National Security budget
for the financial year 2023/24 is $131,334,000, an i ncreas e of $6,621,000, or 5 per cent, which will be di scussed in more detail in the individual heads. This
increase is mainly owing to the funding of vac ant and
previously unfunded posts, which will be addressed in
the respective departments’ budget briefs.
Mr. Chairman, page B -257 shows a revenue
estimate for the Ministry of $1,468,000, a $414,000
increase, or 39 per cent over financial year 2022/23,
which will also be discussed in more detail in the ind ividual heads.
Mr. Chairman, page B -257 also details the
current account expenditure of the departments that
make up the overall budget for the Ministry by Head, as follows:

HEAD Department FY 2022/23 FY 2023/24 Estimate
83 Ministry H Q $ 2,018 ,000 $ 2,683 ,000
6 Defence 7,857,000 8,558,000
7 Police 62,158,000 62,625,000
12 Customs 16,575,000 17,696,000
25 Corrections 22,893,000 24,892,000
45 Fire Service 13,212,000 14,880,000
Ministry Total $124,713,000 $131,334,000


Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, page B -257
also details a capital budget of $5,000,815, which I will
address in more detail in the respective heads of the
budget estimate. Mr. Chairman, we als o note on page
B-257 that the employee numbers are increasing for
2023/24, from 1,065 to 1,106. This is an increase of 41 funded posts, or 4 per cent. I will address the
changes that make up this total in each of the heads’
budgets.

HEAD 83 —MINISTRY HEADQ UARTERS

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, I now turn to
the current account estimates for Head 83— Ministry
Headquarters, which can be found on page B -258.
Mr. Chairman, the objectives of the Ministry
Headquarters are to ensure the Minister’s policy objectives are met; to ensure that the Ministry and D epartments deliver services effectively and comply with
relevant legislation, policies and procedures; to pla n,
mitigate and respond to threats to security; to reduce
crime and antisocial behaviour; and to promote public
safety.
Mr. Chairman, the Ministry of National Secur ity Headquarters’ budget allocation of $2,683,000 for the financial year 2023/24 represent s an increase of
$665,000, or a 33 per cent increase, over the 2022/23
budget allocation. This is primarily due to providing a $325,000 increase to the Gang Violence Reduction
Team programmes; $150,000 to recover the fees for
the Liquor Licensing Authority ; and $190,000 for legal
fees and incidentals.

General Summary

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, on page B -
258 of the current account estimates you will note that
there are seven business units within the Ministry
Headquarters. The estimate for business unit 93000,
Administration, is $1,567,000, an increase of
$360,000, or 30 per cent. This comprises $150,000 to
cover the fees for the Liquor Licensing Authority,
$190,000 for legal fees and incidentals; and $20,000 for maintenance fees for radio equipment.
Mr. Chairman, the estimates for business
units 93002, 93003 and 93004 are for the Parole Board, Treatment of Offenders Board and Police
Complaints Authority, respectively, and are unchanged from the original and revised estimates for
financial year 2022/23.
Mr. Chairman, all of the costs that make up
the $20,000 associated with [business unit] 93007 have been included in 93000.
Mr. Chairman, business unit 93008 relates to
the Gang Violence Reduction programme with an es-timate for financial year 2023/24 of $946,000. This represents a $325,000 increase, or 52 per cent i ncrease, over financial year 2022/23 in order for the team to expand programmes to tackle the scourge of gang violence in our community by early intervention
with at -risk youth.
Mr. Cha irman, the final business unit in the
General Summary on page B -258 is for a business
unit that is not being funded this year. This is 93997,
the National Health Emergency, which was created for
COVID -19 response including the Quarantine Hotel
costs which are not anticipated in financial year
2023/24.

Subjective Analysis

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, I would now
like to address page B -259 of the current account estimates. This page includes the subjective analysis of
current account estimates and t he employee numbers, or full -time equivalents.
Mr. Chairman, four of the object codes see no
change in estimates for financial year 2023/24 over
the original budget of 2022/23, and I will therefore limit
my comments to the other nine that have been
change d. Salaries increased by $72,000, or 10 per
cent, to reflect a regrading of a job description and
filling of an administrative post which was previously
held by a temporary employee. Training has been d ecreased by $16,000, or 44 per cent, to reflect the decreased need for training for national security risks.
Further decreases are also reflected in travel, by $20,000, or 33 per cent, as meetings and training continue to take place remotely.
Increases are reflected in communications by
$15,000, or 63 per c ent, for cybersecurity; professional services by $533,000, or 61 per cent to cover fees
for the Liquor Licensing Authority, legal fees and
short -term counselling services for victims of gang
violence. Repair and maintenance has increased by
$2,000, or 200 per cent, mainly for photocopier
maintenance fees. Insurance of $20,000 is for the r adio tower equipment, which was initially allocated to
business unit 93007. Material and supplies have i ncreased by $30,000, or 33 per cent, to support the
increase in programmes for the Gang Violence R eduction Team.
There has also been an increase of $29,000,
or 17 per cent, in other expenses primarily for an expansion of cybersecurity capabilities.
Mr. Chairman, in respect of revenue for Head
83, it should be noted that the Liquor Licensing A uthority transferred to the Ministry of National Security
on the 4
th of April 2022. It is anticipated that the fees
will increase to $450,000 as the country resumes to near-normalcy in the opening of restaurants, bars and
special events following the COVID -19 pandemic.
Mr. Chairman, the employee numbers or full -
time equivalents has decreased to seven with the
elimination of one post, the personal staff post, in or-der to make savings.
Mr. Chairman, I will now move to page C -15
for C apital Acquisitions.
674 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Capital Acquisitions

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the estimate
for 2023/24 for the Ministry of National Security Hea dquarters, $1,310,000, which comprises $13,000 for
computer equipment, a carry-forward of $1,036,000
for the upgraded Island- wide CCTV system that I
spoke to earlier and $261,000 toward the Cybersec urity Incident Response Team programme.
Mr. Chairman, I will now speak to some of the
accomplishments that the Ministry had in 2022/23 fo llowed by the plans for financial year 2023/24 before
moving to the other heads under the Ministry.

Cybersecurity

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, to ensure
that Bermuda’s critical services such as our energy
supply, telecommunications, water infrastructure and
government are adequately protected against increasing cyber threats, a Cybersecurity Bill has been draf ted and will be shortly tabled in the Honourable House.
This Bill will establish the minimum standards for the protection of critical national information infrastructure,
a cybersecurity governance board to oversee the pr otection of these entities and a national cybersecurity
incident response to assist government and private
sector entities with preparing for and responding to
cyber attacks. This Bill will be shortly followed by the
tabling of a Cybercrime Bill.
Mr. Chairman, Bermuda currently has at least
13 legislative Acts that speak to cybercrime with the
main piece of legislation being the Computer Misuse Act 1996. Yes, Mr. Chairman, 1996. Cybercrime has
come a long way since 1996. Each of these Acts r equires upgrading and amalgamation to meet the international standards established by the Budapest Convention. The Cybercrime Bill will ensure that Berm uda’s legislation meets the requirements of the Buda-pest Convention. This legislation will provide modern
definitions of cybercrimes and will provide an effective
foundation for investigating and prosecuting cybercrimes.
Mr. Chairman, we are increasingly dependent
on information technology to store sensitive infor-mation and support critical services. Cyber texts rep-resents a significant threat to organisations, Bermuda
and our economy. We must continue to improve our
ability to detect, respond to and recover from cyber
attacks. Our cybersecurity strategy provides the a ppropriate framework for the Government of Bermuda to ensure that Information and Communications Technology (ICT ) systems across all critical segments
of our society and economy are designed, implemented, operated and maintained with adequate security.
As we continue to develop our FinTech sector
and pursue our digital transformation ambitions, we must continue to implement our national cybersecurity
strategy to ensure Bermuda’s prosperity and safety. Mr. Chairman, the cybersecurity key accomplishments during financial year 2022/23 are here i ncluded as follows:
• The Ministry of National Security after exten-sive cons ultation with Bermuda stakeholders
completed a first draft of the new cybersecur ity legislation that I just spoke to.
• The Ministry continues to lead the development of a comprehensive information system
risk-management programme, working as part
of the Cross- Ministry Cyber Risk Management
Team that includes the government, IBT Chief Information Officer, Head of the PATI/PIPA
Unit, representatives from Libraries and A rchives and other key stakeholders.
• The team identifies cyber risks impacting go vernment inf ormation and systems and deve lops strategies, policies and standards to e nsure the risks are adequately addressed.
• The security manager during financial year
2022/23 provided cybersecurity guidance and
assistance for heads of departments, go vernment staff, vendors and contractors. This
also included presentations to heads of organisations, boards and committees within the government and private sector, including the
Seaport and Civil Aviation Security Commi ttee.
• National Security also provided support to government departments for securing their IT
systems and information; providing guidance
for appropriate planning, design, and doc umentation to comply with approved policies
and standards; and meet security requir ements and defined security objectives. This
included identifying threats to information, IT
systems, components and processes; identif ying vulnerabilities impacting IT systems, architecture, components and data flows; identif ying attack vectors and assessing the likel ihood and impact of attacks. Thi s work inclu ded providing recommendations for secure design and appropriate administrative, oper ational and technical safeguards to meet sec urity requirements for protecting information
and IT systems and preventing, detecting, r esponding to and recovering from cybersecurity
incidents.
• The Security Manager and representatives from the Bermuda Police Service attended a
UK Overseas Territories Cybersecurity Conference in February. The Security Manager
gave a presentation at the conference on C ybersecurity Programmes Implementation,
which included good cybersecurity gover nance and management practices. The presen-tation was well received, with many partic ipants indicating that they found the subject
matter and guidance to be very valuable.


Bermuda House of Assembly • The Ministry held a Cy bersecurity Incident
Response Capacity -Building Workshop with
the International Telecommunications Union
and Bermuda critical information infrastructure
organisations, that included incident response
exercises and training related to best practi ces.
• The Mi nistry performed a national cyber risk
assessment of Bermuda’s critical national i nfrastructure sector entities in collaboration
with an independent international team of c ybersecurity experts. This assessment included
one-on-one meetings with more than tw o
dozen Bermuda critical information infrastructure organisations. The results of the asses sment are being collated now in a report due
by month’s end and will be used to update the
Bermuda cybersecurity strategy and prioritise high-risk areas for protecti on against cyber
threats.

Gang Violence Reduction Team

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, I made a
Statement to this Honourable House on the 20
th of
May 2022, where I advised my honourable colleagues
that since taking up the role of Minister of National
Security at the beginning of April 2022, addressing
violence in our community has been my highest prior ity. Not more than 48 hours after my appoint ment, I
found myself performing the grim task of offering condolences to two families who were grieving the loss of
their young sons to gun violence. On that occasion, I
expressed that the issue of gang violence and antis ocial behaviour is one for all of us to tackle. It has been
said before, and it warrants repeating: The eradication
of violent crime in Bermuda requires us to work t ogether as a community. We will not police our way out
of this.
Mr. Chairman, the root causes are a painful
reflection of generations of economic and social in equality in Bermuda and the mind- set that it creates.
This, combined with a number of other factors, including the breakdown of the family unit, lack of or limited
education and employment opportunities make it very difficult to break this cycle and enable meaningful s ocial mobility. However, we can and must address these root causes to stop the cycle of youth turning to
gangs.
Mr. Chairman, the Ministry Gang Violence
Reduction Team [GVRT] led by Bishop Leroy Bean
has worked tirelessly throughout the year to provide a number of programmes including the following:
• The Redemption [Farm] Programme, a pr ogramme aimed to be socially restorative and discourage this criminal behaviour. The pr ogramme includes case management serv ices,
educational services and post -training sup-port. The trainees receive a weekly stipend for
their work.
• School Outreach—The team continues to f ocus resources on school outreach. The
schools are a primary recruiting space for
gangs and antisocial behavi our. The team
provides services and support, including ind ividual student case management, mentoring
check -ins, specialised small groups, specialised programmes, mediation and negotiation,
and incident management support services.
The team also conducts weekly visits to pr imary and middle schools, daily visits to high
schools to be on hand to offer guidance and
assist with interventions.
• Workplace and Mentoring programme is a job
placement programme that employs and targets at -risk youth who participated in the High
School Intervention programmes.
• Early Intervention Programmes include the
Hype Kings and I AM programmes, which are
delivered at the primary and middle school
levels that target at -risk boys and girls. The
team has selected six schools by the Ministry
of Education. The initiative is designed to r educe risk factors, enhance protective factors
and increase participating youth academic
motivation and developmental factors.
• Street -level outreach work and case management. The [Gang Violence Reduction] Team continues to lower community tensions by this outreach programme with a focus on
prison, in school and at the street level.
• The Coordinated [Crisis] Response Team is available following a crisis or a serious inc ident to restore peace in the community and
assist family members, relatives or witnesses
to violent crimes. The community team pr ovide crisis counselling to residents following a violent incident. The team goes door -to-door
offering support and offering guidance on ser-vices to area- affected res idents. There is a
hospital team that attend the hospital to sup-port family and friends following a serious vi olence incident that results in hospitalisation.
Both teams not only provide support, but calm
tensions to reduce the risk of further violence.
• Mediations and negotiations. The team assists where needed to bridge gaps and foster
relationships.
• Community services are available to support
young people in obtaining their court -
mandated community service hours.
Mr. Chairman, the team also provides nontraditional counselling sessions and family group ses-sions; monitors court sessions and provides client a dvocacy support during court; connects clients to var ious social supports including Financial Assistance,
Legal Aid, and food support; provides clients who are
676 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly seeking employment with assistance in developing
résumés and applying for jobs; and provides conflict
resolution services and mediating between clients to
prevent further incidents.
Mr. Chairman, in our schools the [Gang Vi olence Reduction] Team provides incident manage-ment support. This includes facilitating multi -agency
department meetings to strategise the development of
violence mitigation plans where there is high tension
or incidents between students. It delivers ongoing
mediation sessions, [conducts] daily school lunch vi sits to our high schools and delivers individual youth
sessions.
Mr. Chairman, the Gang Violence Reduction
Team’s key accomplishments include the following:
The Gang Violence Reduction Case Management and Outreach Services have supported hundreds of young men in our community. Clients are
placed with a case manager who assists them with
securing housing, food, employment and court support, and in making healthy life choices. The [Gang Violence Reduction] Team operates with client -led,
strength- based programmes that meet client’s indivi dual needs and provide a sense of belonging, consistency and impartial guidance. The team directly
supported over 78 at -risk clients between the ages of
18 and 35 within our Case Management and Outreach
Services.
The Gang Violence Reduction Team delivered
another successful full Redemption Programme in
2022/23. Some 15 trainees completed the 25- week
programme. The programme is a specialised ther apeutic, incentivised programme for at -risk train ees
aged 18 to 35. The Redemption Programme trainees
received a weekly stipend to participate in a training
programme that includes Case Management Services, Educational Services and Post Training Su pport.
The Gang Violence Reduction Team conti nues to foc us resources on School Outreach to prevent
gang and antisocial behaviour in school children. (I will use, Mr. Chairman, the “GVRT” for short, going
forward.) The GVRT provides a number of services and supports to schools which include individual st udent case management, mentoring, specialised small -
group meetings, specialised programmes, mediation and negotiation, and incident management support
services. The GVRT provides post -incident support
which includes security meetings, school administr ation strateg y meetings, creation of mitigation plans,
and coordinating and leading multi -agency meetings
to assess and disseminate information pertaining to
gang- related incidents.
The GVRT delivered another successful full
Work Placement and Mentoring Programme in f iscal
year 2022/23. Fifteen students completed the eight -
week training programme. The Work Placement and
Mentoring Initiative is a job placement programme that
selects and employs targeted at -risk young people who have participated in our High School Inter vention
programme and targeted students in alternative ed ucation programmes. The programme provides st udents an eight - to ten- week paid work experience
within different local companies, and mentoring support to ensure their success in the workplace. The
students are paid $350 per week.
Mr. Chairman, the work of the team also i ncluded the following:
• 50 to 60 mentoring/casework sessions per
quarter;
• 20 to 25 family meetings per quarter along
with over 60 direct contacts with families;
• The team attended court daily and advocated
for between 20 to 25 clients quarterly;
• The team held between 25 to 30 mediations
and negotiations quarterly;
• In 2022/23 the team was called out 56 times
to various violent incidents in the community;
• The Hospital Team was activated 32 times to
provide support to family and provide post -
incident support;
• The Community Team was activated 15 times to provide immediate crisis counselling to residents and post -incident door -to-door neig hbourhood check -ins to offer affected residents
further support;
• The team has delivered 85 individual case management/job coaching sessions with the
Redemption Programme trainees;
• The team has also supported trainees through
18 crisis situations;
• The programme delivered 52 sessions covering key areas which inc lude job readiness
skills, life skills, career exposure, goal setting
and general personal development;
• Three trainees are completing the Redem ption Programme;
• 10 trainees were offered a full -time or part -
time job during their training placement and
have r ecently transitioned into their new roles;
• Three of our current trainees are actively
seeking full -time employment and/or part -time
employment. The team is supporting these
trainees to prepare r ésumés and apply to various businesses for jobs;
• 172 young people from various services were
directly supported by our services in 2022/23;
• The team quarterly provided 50 to 60 indivi dual and small -group employment support sessions, education sessions, personal develo pment sessions, youth leadership and monthly
check -ins;
• 25 to 35 meetings were held quarterly with
outside agencies including the Bermuda P olice Service, Court Services, Workforce D evelopment, Financial Assistance, Department
of Child and Family Services (DCFS), legal


Bermuda House of Assembly support, counselling services, food s ervice
support, employers and Immigration;
• On average, 20 family meetings quarterly
along with the 30 to 35 contacts with families;
• 15 to 20 mediations and negotiations were
held each quarter;
• Each quarter there were 20 to 30 Restorative
Circle Groups with young people and parents.
Mr. Chairman, of note is the following:
• 100 per cent of students completed the Work
Readiness Workshop, and 13 of the 14 st udents completed the entire six -week pr ogramme;
• 9 of the 15 students never missed a sched-uled workday;
• Business partners demonstrated their engagement with the programme with 89 per
cent completing weekly evaluations and
coaching meetings with students;
• A total of 130 job- coaching sessions were
held by the programme manager;
• 90 per cent of the business partners have i ndicated they would participate in the pr ogramme again;
• 100 per cent of students would recommend this programme to others;
• 100 per cent of parents saw personal growth
in their child o ver the eight -week period;
• 13 students were offered an additional two weeks of paid work based on their weekly performance reports and supervisor satisfaction;
• Six of the students have subsequently been
hired in part -time or full -time positions by the
comp anies;
• The [Gang Violence Reduction] Team made
five referrals to additional emotional and s ocial support services and supported students
through eight crisis incidents; and
• 100 per cent of students in the programme
stayed clear of antisocial behaviour or c riminal
activity for the length of the programme.

Disaster Reduction Risk Management

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, in 2018 the
Ministry of National Security formed the Disaster Risk
Reduction and Mitigation team (DRRM). (Mr. Chai rman, I will be sa ying “DRRM” to stop myself from getting tongue- tied.) The mission statement of the
DRRM team is to build national disaster risk reduction
and mitigation capacities with our community, par tners and stakeholders by identifying and reducing the
underlying dri vers of risk to save lives and protect
property.
Disasters are the result of natural occurrences, human intent, error or as a result of failed sy stems. They can be divided into categories such as terrorism, technological hazards, environmental inc i-dents, epidemics and transportation hazards. The
DRRM functions as the coordinating body between first responder agencies, governmental agencies,
non-governmental agencies and other organisations.
The goal of the team is prevent new and to
reduce existing disast er risks through the implementation of integrated and inclusive measures that pr event and reduce hazard exposure and vulnerability to
disaster, increase preparedness for response and r ecovery and thus strengthen resilience.
The DRRM team is responsible for harmoni sing the national disaster plans and ensuring that all
agencies and government departments are aware of,
engaged in and fully committed to continuously updating their plans, training their staff in the execution
of those plans and ensuring that wh en the need ari ses the plans work. Many departments do not have business continuity plans, and the DRRM team is an
integral part of the Bermuda Government’s commi tment to ensuring that there are adequate mitigation measures in place to address identified r isk, whether
it be man- made or naturally occurring. The DRRM
consists of employees who are reassigned from var ious departments.
The key accomplishments of the DRRM team
for this current budget cycle include coordinating the Emergency Measures Organisation (or the EMO) executive meetings for Tropical Storm Alex, Hurricane
Earl and Hurricane Fiona. The DRRM team was r esponsible for the operation of the EMO Operations
Centre, which is currently located at the Hamilton Fire
Station. This serves as the multi -agency coordinating
centre during any major incident.
The DRRM team continues to work with
Skyport Corporation on the updating and training r equired for the airport emergency plan. Small exercise
modules are planned each year with a large live exercise ever y three years, the last being in November
2021. The DRRM team has been assisting the Ber-muda Civil Aviation Authority with the civil aviation
investigation of air accidents, with incidents regul ations enforced in each of the territories. The provision requires, amongst other matters, that there shall be
established in the territory a comprehensive system
for providing assistance to aircraft, and accident vi ctims and their families. A plan to address the afor ementioned requirement is being developed, and all of
the supporting agencies have to add additional sec-tions within their plans to facilitate the assistance as
required in the event of an aircraft accident.
Some of the requirements of this plan are addressing potential immigration challenges, visa r equirements, et cetera; accommodation; transport ation; reunification centre location; psychological assi stance; disaster victim identification, et cetera.
Hurricane season 2022 saw another active
season in which the DRRM team prepared public
messaging. The team also stood up the EMO oper ations centre at the Hamilton Fire Station and par t678 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly nered with the Ministry of Public Works to use a webbased hurricane reporting tool for responding age ncies. The team also chaired the monthly supply chain
meetings with stak eholders including government departments and the private sector since the beginning
of the COVID -19 pandemic. The meetings have
proven to be very informative and important. The collective data provided an understanding of the global
supply chain challenges to local businesses that have
impacted prices on imported goods such as shortage
of overland trucking and rail in the US, fuel rate i ncreases, climate challenges impacting food supply,
importers sourcing items and negotiating prices, local
importers competing with larger market and also
sourcing alternate supplier, China’s zero- COVID -19
policies, Avian bird flu impact on the poultry and egg
sectors, regional issues with supply as a result of
conflict, availability of 20- foot shipping containers,
and microchip shortages impacting vehicle and electronic production. This information enables gover nment to assess the availability of resources, food and
other essential items including emergency supplies.
In November, the DRRM team worked with
the Department of the Environment and Natural R esources in coordinating a multi -agency tabletop oil
pollution exercise which involved 16 local agencies. This will develop into a multi -agency live exercise
scheduled for Tobacco Bay in May 2023.
In January a planning conference was held on
the memorandum of understanding [MOU] between
the UK, the USA and Bermuda for the response to a
serious risk to public health or safety. This will lead to
a live tabletop exercise in March (this month) to test this MOU.
In February 2023 th e emergency broadcast
frequency, FM 100.1, was upgraded with a digital
component complementing the analogue station for
listeners to tune in online. This project has been
made possible by collaborating with the Department
of Information and Digital Technol ogy and the D epartment of Communication. The DRRM team was
responsible for a radio interoperability presentation
and tabletop exercise held in November 2022 for agencies on the Government Public Safety Radio
System to be able to communicate with each other
when coordinating responses to incidents. The DRRM team is also assisting with the updating of the
Government Public Safety Radio System standing
operating procedures.
With the BELCO national power outage,
which occurred in February 2023, the DRRM team
had the emergency broadcast frequency, FM 100.1,
live within 40 minutes of the outage at the emergency
broadcast facility. Mr. Chairman, 100.1 FM has supported the Chairman for EMO Executive Actions.
In February the DRRM coordinated along with
Government H ouse the training of approximately 30
staff from EMO Executive Agencies on a four -day
Multi -Agency Gold Commander incident training course. This training will lay the foundations for the
senior commanders to lead major incidents and interact with the many other agencies that it will take to
bring a major incident to its best conclusion possible for Bermuda. Incorporated with this training was trai ning for 40 senior leaders within government and from
outside agencies who will head up departments that
would be responding to major incidents so they will
have the knowledge to understand the role of the
Gold Commander.
In March 2023 there will be three training sessions held on oil [spill] response training for 70 staff, over two two- day training sessions to train them to
level one and level two of the International Maritime
Organisation Oil [Spill] Response Training certific ation, one session to train 35 staff to level three of the International Maritime Organization Oil [Spill] R esponse Training certification. After each training session, there will be a practical exercise in oil spill trai ning.
Mr. Chairman, the event coordination occurred during this past year for the following events where agency continuous planning was coordinated
by the DRRM team:
• SailGP in May;
• Bermuda Day activities in May;
• Queen’s Jubilee celebrations in June;
• Heroes weekend held in June;
• Newport to Bermuda race in June;
• Cup Match weekend held in July/August;
• PRIDE events held in August;
• Rugby Classic in October;
• PGA that was held in Oct ober;
• International Triathlon held in November; and
• Boat Parade in December.
Mr. Chairman, in keeping with our mission of
working together to keep you safe, we will for the next
financial year . . . (Just give me a second, Mr. Chai rman).

Thank you, Minister.
And as you find your place, I will just remind
the members of the listening public that we are in the
Committee of Supply for further consideration of Revenue and Expenditure for the year 2023/24.
And you are currently listening to the debate
on the Ministry for National Security being presented by the Honourable Minister Michael Weeks. This is a five-hour debate which will conclude at 5:55 pm.
Minister, when you are ready to proceed,
please proceed.

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I
have some duplicate papers.
Mr. Chairman, the cybersecurity plans for
2023/24, in addition to the legislation already mentioned, will include the following:


Bermuda House of Assembly National Security will establish the dedicated
Cybersecurity Unit. The unit will provide independent
assessments, guidance, threat intelligence, threat
hunting, IT systems security testing, IT systems monitoring, incident response and investigation to help government ensure that IT staff, vendors and contractors are implementing, operating and maintaining
IT systems with adequate security in alignment with
industry standards. Having these functions performed
independently is a recommended cybersecurity best
practice and will help ensure government information and IT systems are protected against both external
and internal threat actors.
The Cybersecurity Unit will also establish and
operate a National Cybersecurity Incident Response
Team in alignment with the recommendations from
the International Telecommunications Union. The
Cybersecurity Incident Response Team (or CIRT) will
work with government and other critical infrastructure
entities to help ensure that they are adequately pr epared to respond to cybersecurity incidents. CIRT will
perform monitoring and threat -hunting within the government IT environment independent of government IT staff, standards and contractors to detect and i nvestigate cyber attacks and breaches by internal and
external actors.
To ensure the government has an adequate
capability to detect and investigate cyber attacks and
breaches of government information in IT systems,
the Ministry of National Security will implement, operate and maintain a secure centralised logging and
monitoring system. Implementing this capability independent of the IT staff, vendors and contractors who
operate and maintain the government IT system is a
recommended cybersecurity best practice and necessary to ensure the government is able to detect
and investigate cyber attacks and breaches by internal threat actors. The Security Manager w orking
closely with the Chief Information Officer and head of the PATI/PIPA unit improves the government’s ability
to identify, protect, detect, respond and recover from
cyber threats.
National Security will also continue to work
with the Cybersecurity Go vernance Board, supporting
the implementation of the Bermuda Cybersecurity
Strategy. This will include an updated Bermuda C ybersecurity Strategy to build on the work performed
under the Bermuda Cybersecurity Strategy 2018 to
2022. Critical national infrast ructure planning for all
key locations on the Island will be ongoing with the second national cybersecurity risk assessment to be
started at the end of 2023 and completed at the be-ginning of 2024.
Mr. Chairman, I am about to go into the Gang
Violence Reduction Team, and I noticed the time.

Good afternoon, Members. We are in
Committee of Supply for further consideration of the
Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the year
2023/24. We are presently in heads for National Sec urity, Heads 83, 6, 7, 12, 25 and 45. These will now be debated.
I call on the Minister in charge to proceed.
Minister, you have the floor.

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Thank you, Madam Chai rman.
Madam Chairman, I am moving on to the
Gang Violence Reduction Team.

Thank you.

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Madam Chairman, the mi ssion of the Gang Violence Reduction Team is to
• aid in the transition of at -risk individuals away
from delinquent peer groups and toxic env ironments with the aim of reducing violent crime in Bermuda;
• change the pattern of behaviour of individuals
involved in group and gang violence and rei ntegrate them back into mainstream society;
• to prevent preteens and adolescents from joining gangs and engaging in antisocial be680 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly haviour by re- establishin g positive social
bonds;
• create opportunities of employment for young
people and individuals who have previously
not been employable due to antisocial bac kgrounds;
• connect at -risk youth, men and women with
the necessary helping agencies that will aid in
addressing mental and social health issues;
and
• place more focus on fostering and sustaining
positive interpersonal relationships.
Madam Chairman, it is important to understand that our clients carry life histories marked by poverty, family violence, marginalisation, and intergenerational abuse and neglect. Many have incarceration experiences or have pending charges and
cases. The young [people] we support face additional
challenges presented by institutionalisation, discrim ination, community judgment, major educational gaps,
negligible work history, and criminal records or crim inal proceedings which preclude even the hope of employment. For many of our clients, substances are a
way of coping with the pain of gang involvement,
homelessness and mental health issues.
Madam Chairman, the Gang Violence Reduction Team will continue to work in our community to
reduce gang tensions and provide a way out of gang
life as well as provide children with alternative life
choices to gang life. We must give the next g eneration
a viable alternative to gang life.
Madam Chairman, the [Gang Violence Reduction] team will launch the Stop the Violence campaign;
launch the specialised counselling support services to
the Coordinated Crisis Response Team clients. Following vio lent incidents such as a shooting or sta bbing, there are shock waves sent throughout our
community and many different groups experience
trauma. Witnesses, family members, community
members are all significantly impacted by these vi olent incidents. Members in need of extra support will
be eligible for counselling services. Continued targe ted school support services include individual student
case management, mentoring check -ins, specialised
small groups, specialised programmes, mediation and negotiation, and incident management support services.
The team also will, Madam Chairman, conti nue to provide the Safe House programme; continue to provide the Redemption programme, a 25- week therapeutic incentivised programme for the next group of 15 trainees; continue the fifth cohort of the Work
Placement and Mentoring programme, a structured 10-week paid work experience providing selected,
targeted, at -risk young men and women, targeted
youth with opportunities for career exploration and
skills development, employees who have participated
in our High School Intervention programmes. The team will continue the Hype Kings and
the I AM programme for primary and middle school
groups around the Island. The programme is built up of a specialised 14- session experiential curr iculum
which is unique to each 15 -student cohort. The initi ative was designed to reduce risk factors, enhance pr otective factors, increase academic motivation and i ncrease developmental factors in the young people
participating.
Madam Chairman, despite the stellar work of
the Gang Violence Reduction Team, we still are losing lives to violence. Part of the reason for this, Madam
Chairman, is quite simply that all violence is not gang
related. There are persons in the community who do
not come from the seemi ngly typical deprived bac kgrounds associated with violence in Bermuda. It is for this reason, in July of 2022, this Ministry hosted a town hall on community violence and antisocial behaviour. We had that town meeting, Madam Chai rman, at the Bailey’s Bay Cr icket Club.
Madam Chairman, people speak through their
actions. If they show up, it is an indication of genuine
interest and concern. On that day in July 2022, when
people were still nervous about coming out in public
after COVID -19, the church hall . . . (Actually, it was
the second one, Madam Chairman. The second one
was out at St. Paul [AME Church] Centennial Hall.)
That hall at the time was full. Not only was it full of people, but it was also full of emotion on a topic that
people genuinely care about . Members of our co mmunity are living in fear of violence. They are frustrated because there seems to be no end in sight to the violence which leaves others feeling hopeless.
At this time, Bermuda has seen more than 88
deaths —

[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: At this time, Madam Chai rman, Bermuda has seen more than 88 deaths due to
violence. They were well within their rights to feel as
they did.
Madam Chairman, at the same time, I saw
glimmers of hope in that room, as members of the
public who have been touched by violence showed that they are willing to work on solutions, even if it
means doing some of the hard work and heavy lifting
themselves. The message that I took away from that
town hall meeting, Madam Chairman, was that the
Berm udian public wanted something to be done.
However, many were unsure of what exactly that
something should be. People were looking for action
on this topic; however, this is clearly not an issue with
a one- size-fits-all or a simple solution.
Violence in Bermuda is complex and has
evolved over time. A dynamic, adaptable solution is
required that encompasses all aspects of the issue, and that solution could not come from the Ministry of
National Security alone. In order to acquire a joinedBermuda House of Assembly up response, we wil l have to pull from several areas
outside of this Ministry. I have said it before, and I will
say it again, Madam Chairman, to drill this point
home: We cannot and will not police ourselves out of
this violence. By the time persons are made known to the police, it is already far too late. Tougher laws have
minimal impact, and those kind of knee- jerk responses do nothing to tackle the root of the issue. A fresh
approach is required that takes into consideration the
full spectrum of service needs and requirem ents in
order to create solutions that have lasting impact on
the Island when it comes to the issue of violence.
This is a community issue that needs a community response. And without a joined- up community
response, we will see no resolution in the violen t acts
we as a country have experienced. It is with this u nderstanding, Madam Chairman, that the idea for the Strategic Planning Workshop was originated. Madam
Chairman, the fact of the matter is Bermuda needed
this workshop for a number of reasons. There are a
number of persons who work with young people who have big hearts and do great work. They are to be
commended for their efforts.
At the same time, however, their efforts on
this particular issue are disjointed. It is through no fault of their own; we are talking about separate ent ities. Individual private charities, government depar tments, the many denominations of churches across the Island and sports clubs have their own mandates,
their own visions which, while they may pull from the
same pool of persons, have different overall aims. It is
because these individual aims do not necessarily
have the reduction of violence as its core focus that many programmes, services and interventions do not
go far enough.
Despite the excellent work of these organis ations, the reality is that there were still children who
were falling through the cracks. There are children on
this Island who need services and programmes, and
they are not getting the assistance they need, and we
needed to understand why. We needed to l ook at our
services not only to provide assistance to these chi ldren specifically, but in order to improve service deli very overall.
Madam Chairman, I want to be clear: I am not
finger -pointing. I truly believe that there is always
room for improvement, and there were improvements
that could be made in service delivery if we chose to
focus our efforts on this topic on behalf of our children
and young people. And it was with that thought in
mind that the purpose of the two- day workshop was
set.
Madam Chair man, the two -day workshop on
community violence was to bring together as many agencies as possible who work with young people
who were involved in or impacted by violence and a ntisocial behaviour. The aim was to have all of these
persons come together to examine services and ser-vice delivery in this specific area in order to do the
following:
1. create a clear picture of what it is that is offered by these agencies to the Bermudian
public;
2. provide an assessment of the services and
programmes provided;
3. identify any gaps, redundancies and/or overlap in service provision;
4. identify opportunities; and
5. provide a basis for the National Strategic Plan
on Community Violence in Bermuda.
Madam Chairman, on the last two days in
September of 2022, over 110 persons conver ged on
the Hamilton Princess to do the mental work of finding
solutions to this complex issue. Their professional
backgrounds were as diverse as the organisations they represented. In the room were staff from expected government departments such as Child and
Family Services, Education and Court Services, but
also Financial Assistance, Workforce Development
and the Bermuda Regiment, as well as several others. We reached out to charitable organisations and were
pleased to welcome the Family Centre, Rally to B ermuda, the Transitional Community Services and
more. Our reach extended to organisations that saw
more than their fair share of violence, such as the sporting clubs.
The representations of X -Roads Warriors and
Boulevard Blazers Football Clubs, and Bailey ’s Bay
and North Village Cricket Clubs were greatly apprec iated. Clergy were also contacted, and we were happy to have representation from the AME, the Seventh
Day Adventists and Muslim faiths. Social activists —
individuals who care deeply for their communi ty and
want to be a part of positive social change, like Glenn
Fubler and Ras Mykkal, who also stepped up. And we
welcomed them.
Madam Chairman, we even extended invit ations across the political divide.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Yes, because of the sheer
importance of this particular issue to our country. I am
grateful to all who attended because we needed all of
these persons at the table to identify the solutions that
we need.
Of note, Madam Chairman, all invitees were
Bermudi an or Bermuda- based. This Ministry was not
seeking assistance from outside of our shores to pr ovide us with a made- to-fit solution. The time for looking out for solutions has come and gone. It was and is past time to take a hard look at ourselves and find the
answers that we seek within. We have capable, intelligent Bermudian professionals who care about the
future of this Island who understand how our people work, play and live on this Island. We needed their
682 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly homegrown Bermuda- specific solutions for this B ermuda- specific issue.
Madam Chairman, with such a diverse selection of individuals, the expectation is to have diverse
thoughts and responses. To aid in that objective, at-tendees were intentionally seated to ensure that persons from the same organisation were not seated at
the same table. The thinking behind this is that the
divergence of experience and understanding will i nspire new ideas around tackling the issue of violence, as well as create improved understanding of how di fferent organisations functi on.
Madam Chairman, when discussing the pr ogrammes and services that are offered, it is important to deal with these services in context. Earlier I spoke of the spectrum of services required to tackle the i ssue of violence. I need to dig into that spectrum a bit more. The programmes and services offered by all of
the organisations present fell into at least one of three
categories of the dimensions of care. Several fell into
more than one dimension. The categories, Madam Chairman, are as follows:
1. prevention;
2. intervention; and
3. reintegration.
Prevention are those programmes and services designed to identify potential issues, stop issues from arising or provide skills and knowledge in the
hopes that if an individual is presented with a challenging situation, they will have the ability to make
positive decisions.
Interventions are those programmes and services that are provided for individuals for whom problematic behaviours have been identified, in an attempt
to steer them in a more positive direction and/or r esolve the issue that is causing the problematic behaviour.
Reintegration are those programmes that attempt to assist individuals re- enter society after engaging in violent acts that have resulted in their being
separated from society through incarcerati on.
Each area on the dimensions of care has a
different objective. And it was important to be able to
give that dimension its needed focus. To that end,
over the course of the workshop attendees were
moved into these groups to be able to complete work in their particular area of focus.
Madam Chairman, the conversations were
rich and thought -provoking. Topics discussed were
varied and complex. There is much that we as indivi duals living our day -to-day lives do that contributes to
the situation that we find ourselves in currently. Again,
this is not about placing blame, but how we as a country can come together to have better results in our
community.
The topic of mental health has proven to be a
topic of serious concern for Bermuda. Several at-tendees spoke on how the responses to mental health
challenges in the past have led to our challenges in the present. While as a country we are learning to be
more understanding of mental health challenges, the
progress in this area is slow. The fear and stigma attached to these challenges were found to be a major
roadblock in persons obtaining the help and support
needed. It is the untreated trauma, the undiagnosed
disorders and denied challenges that may be seen
early in life that manifest into the social ills we see
today. If we as a nation cannot be understanding,
supportive and normalising of mental health challeng-es, we may doom ourselves to not resolving our community violence issues.
Madam Chairman, today we debate the
budget of this Ministry. But there are famil ies and individuals in this country who cannot or do not budget
because they do not know how, or their budgets consistently come up short. Financial constraints are known to cause a plethora of social issues and community violence. There is no exception. I f young people see their families struggling to make ends meet, if they feel that material possessions determine their
self-worth, then it can be understood why some may
do all in their power to obtain what they need for their
own survival, or hit out agai nst what they may deem to
be receiving the short stick in life. Attendees of the
workshop all predominantly agreed that the economic
constraints exacerbated our issues around violence in
our community.
Bermudians as a whole can be some of the
sweetest, mo st caring, giving people. However, Madam Chairman, we can be some of the hardest and unforgiving people as well. If we as a people cannot learn to open ourselves up to forgiveness , if we ca nnot see a way to provide spaces for those who have done wrong to m ake amends and re- enter society, we
doom them to being on the periphery. We simultaneously doom ourselves, as it is on the periphery that
persons who commit acts against the community
dwell. Attendees at the workshop showed a great pr opensity for openness and forgiveness, with their support for restorative justice as a means to allow persons who existed on the periphery, who have commi tted acts against society to re- enter mainstream Bermudian life as contributing members.
Restorative justice is defined as a system of
criminal justice which focuses on the rehabilitation of
offenders through reconciliation with the victims and
the community at large. It is far wiser to reconcile and
invest in people who have strayed from societal norms
than to keep them at ar m’s length where they have
less support and are more likely to re- offend and rebel
against society. It is true that prevention is cheaper than reintegration. If we do not invest in the means to
keep people on the straight and narrow, we will be
forced to deal with the costly consequences.
Madam Chairman, participants did not just
look out; they looked within. Participants did not just look without; they looked within. Service delivery was
discussed, enabling people to discuss not only how


Bermuda House of Assembly their organisatio ns worked, but also how they worked
or did not work together. A common theme throughout
all dimensions across all programmes and services
was the need for resources. Whether it was financial
resources, human resources or organisational r esources, attendees stated more was needed across
the board
Having this kind of information is invaluable to
the strategic plan going forward because it will be
known that these are factors that must be considered
when formulating any solution going forward. Addi-tionally, t hese kinds of objective conversations allow
us to identify ways in which we can work better t ogether in the future.
Madam Chairman, what was surprising was
the convergence of thought on several topics over the
course of those two days. Outside of the need for
more resources, data were seen as a much- needed
tool that was needed in the arsenal to combat community violence. Not just any data are required. Bermuda- based data are needed. Just as we cannot expect someone to come into our shores and fit a foreign solution to our local problems, we cannot expect
foreign data to be completely applicable in the Bermudian context. Bermuda is in its third generation of
gangs on Island. And with each generation, the perpetrators change and evolve. As they change and evolve, we too as service providers must do the same
in order to be effective in meeting their needs and creating positive change.
Up-to-date data are a requirement needed to
ensure that the programmes and services offered truly have the ability to do what i s needed in our community. It would make no sense to expend monies on services not knowing if they will have the desired result.
What we have recognised coming out of the workshop
is that there are data out there held by organisations
which need to be shar ed. However, policies need to
be put in place to enable the ability to do so, which is something we are looking to do in the upcoming
budget year.
Madam Chairman, just as thoughts managed
to converge on what was needed in order to do the
necessary work to make our community safe, so was
there convergence in thought on the ways in which organisations, public and private, carried out their du-ties. It was recognised that in most instances, despite
organisations working with the same client, working
on the sam e issues, several attendees recognised
that they did not work together as partners to provide holistic support for individual clients. This is a situation
that needs changing. This silo mentality sees organi-sations duplicating services or making recommendations that run counter to another organisation. Where
holistic service provision is considered best practice
and resources are known to be scarce, it is the desire of this Ministry to see these impediments removed in
order to make our community safer. Madam Chairman, this Ministry intends to
work in ways that support the strategic aim. In the upcoming budget year, the Ministry will work to create a
database of individuals who have identified to have
been perpetrators or victims of community violence. We re cognise the importance of understanding what
has taken place in the past and how it impacts what
happens in an individual’s future. The answers found
in the personal histories of individuals can impact the
ways in which programmes and services are selected
and delivered. The database will also provide the
much -needed Bermuda- based data that are required,
as well as shed light on behaviour patterns that are
local to Bermuda.
Madam Chairman, as you can see, much
came out of those two days. As was promised t o the
participants then, the work has not stopped. It was
after the workshop that the deeper, harder work began. After the workshop was completed, the thoughts,
ideas, insights and observations were consolidated
into a questionnaire survey on which partici pants were
asked to respond.

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Yes, Madam Chairman. The
purpose of the survey was to not only verify the outcomes of the workshop but also prioritise the r esponses received to aid the more intense work of the
strategic planning committees.
The work to create a strategic plan on community violence is now underway, Madam Chairman.
Like with the workshop, persons from varied fields in
and outside of the government are working together
on the national response to the violence in our communities. Also like with the workshop, participants ar e
divided into three groups reflecting the dimensions of care of prevention, intervention and reintegration.
While there is overlap between the three, they are working together to ensure that there is a cohesive
strategy to a national issue that we all are vested in. I
am grateful to their bi -monthly commitment and dedication to best practice in Bermuda.
It is important, Madam Chairman, to not lose
hope, to not grow numb to the plight of violence on
our Island. For some, when there is quiet between
inciden ts a false sense of security comes like there is
no issue, like there is no untoward behaviour taking
place. For others, they are waiting for the other shoe
to drop. Just as the pain of losing a loved one does
not go away, I want the community to remain vi gilant
on this issue. It is why in the upcoming budget year
this Ministry will commence a “ Stop the Violence”
campaign across the Island. I want to instigate conversations within the community around what this vi olence is doing to our country. Whether it i s in the
schools, while you are out and about, or on your d evices, I want the end to community violence to be on
everyone’s mind. And for young people especially I
684 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly want them to know that not only is violence not the
answer, but it has serious consequences to their lives.

Disaster Reduction Risk Management
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Madam Chairman, the Di saster Reduction Risk Management [DRRM] team will (1) assist government ministries in developing bus iness continuity policies and plans for implementation
post impact of a disaster; and (2) through the Emergency Measures Organisation coordinate the gover nment’s response to a disaster (whether natural or man- made) where the local community has been i mpacted greatly.
This will require the Disaster Reduction R isk
Management team to meet with both government mi nistries and external stakeholders in developing and
exercising emergency plans such as the following:
• Hurricane Planning;
• Shelter Planning;
• Cybersecurity Plans;
• Cruise Ship Incident Planning;
• Airport Eme rgency Plans;
• Marine Contingency Plans for Oil Pollution;
• Major Event Safety and Security Plans;
• Testing Interagency Command, Control and
Communications;
• Mass Casualty Plans;
• Chemical Facility Plans;
• Pandemic Plans; and
• Critical National Infrastructure Pla nning.
Madam Chairman, the DRRM Team (as I will
refer to them going forward) will continue to work on
the following exercises and planning processes:
Cruise ships planning. With the cruise ship
season for 2023 scheduled to be over 220 cruise ship
visits, a record for Bermuda, the DRRM Team, in c oordination with the port agencies, Marine and Ports,
the cruise ship agents and multi -agency stakeholders,
will host five multi- agency tabletop exercises with the
five regular callers in April and May to test and deve lop contingency planning.
The suggested scenario for these tabletop
exercises will be a grounding. As many may or may
not be aware, there was a grounding of a cruise ship
in the Dominican Republic in March of 2022. That ship was a regular caller in Bermuda previously. The ship
took seven hours to re- float. Once it was re- floated
and the hull examined, the passengers had to be off -
loaded in the Dominican Republic and flown to their respective destinations. This process took three days.
What would happen if a similar situation were to occur
in Bermuda? What would we do as a country? These
are the types of scenarios that the DRRM Team helps
to coordinate planning for.
For airport exercise planning, the DRRM
Team will assist all of the airport agencies in 2023 and 2024 with tabletop and live modular exercises that are required by the Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority. Two
days of training are scheduled for May 2023. The next
large- scale live airport exercise has to be scheduled
by November 2024.
The DRRM Team are assisting the Depar tment of Environment and Natural Resources with c oordinating a live oil spill exercise in Tobacco Bay
scheduled for May 2023.
For tsunami exercising, Bermuda will again
participate in this annual event in March of 202 4. This
exercise is organised by UNESCO under the umbrella
of the United Nations and NOAA, and is a regional
multi- country tsunami exercise involving approximat ely 30 countries.
The DRRM Team will hold training for major
Incident commanders which may be incorporated into
exercises or held separately.
The DRRM Team will liaise with BHB [Berm uda Hospitals Board] to assist in coordinating the multi -
agency mass casualty exercise to be held in 2024.
Madam Chairman, the DRRM Team will work
with event organis ers in developing their event safety
plans for large and/or complex local and international spectator events, as follows:
• Agricultural Show in April;
• Bermuda Day and weekend activities in May;
• Heroes or Carnival Weekend events in June;
• Cup Match in St. Ge orge’s in July;
• Rugby Classic in October;
• PGA Golf in November;
• International Race Weekend in January; and
• International Triathlon scheduled for April
2024.
This involves key stakeholders such as Bermuda Police Service, Bermuda Fire and Rescue Se rvices, me dical services such as Bermuda Hospital
Board and St. John’s Ambulance and, subject to type
of event, other government entities meeting with the
organisers to ensure that they are in compliance with
applicable legislation and regulations.
Madam Chairman, this concludes Ministry
Headquarters, and I will now move to Head 6, which is
Defence.

And while we are giving the Minister
just a moment, I would just like to remind the listening
public that we are in the Committee of Supply. And we
are li stening to the Ministry of National Security. This
is for further consideration of the Estimates of Rev enue and Expenditure for the year 2023/24. We are
listening to the Minister of National Security who is giving an overview of his Ministry, which include s
Head 83, 6, 7, 12, 25 and 45. He is just about to begin his second Head 6, Ministry of Defence.
Minister, you may proceed.



Bermuda House of Assembly HEAD 6 —DEFENCE

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Thank you, Madam Chai rman.
Madam Chairman, I am pleased to present
the estimates of reven ue and expenditure for Head 6,
Defence, which can be found on pages B -261 through
B-265 of the current account estimates book.

General
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Madam Chairman, Head 6
comprises the Defence Department and the Royal Bermuda Regiment (or “the Regiment” as we refer to
it). The Regiment’s irreplaceable role is to provide o perational and surge capacity to support Bermuda, the
government and its people i n routine matters or in
times of emergency.

Mandate

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Madam Chairman, under
the authority of the Defence Act 1965, the Royal Bermuda Regiment’s mandate is to be a military force
maintaining the necessary standards of manpower,
training and equipment to enable it to protect Berm uda’s interests at home and overseas. It conducts its
training and operations whilst also acting as a centre
of excellence for all Bermudians to be able to personally and professionally develop whilst serving t heir
country.

Mission Statement

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Madam Chairman, the mi ssion of the Department of Defence is, The Royal Bermuda Regiment is to provide military resources in order to protect Bermuda’s Interests.
Madam Chairman, under direction of t he
Governor as Commander in Chief and in consultation
with the Minister of National Security, the Regiment’s
finances are used to execute its mission of protecting
Bermuda’s interests. It achieves this mission by con-ducting the following mandated tasks:
a. Force Protection. These are the means and
measures to minimise the vulnerability of
people, infrastructure and high- value assets
from threats and hazards. This ranges from military security and public order to explosive ordnance disposal.
b. Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief. This is the organised military response to alleviate the results of a man- made or natural catastr ophe, the consequences of which put lives and
livelihoods at risk. Ranging from hurricanes to
oil spills and fires, the priorities are savi ng life,
relieving suffering, limiting damage, restoring essential service and setting the conditions for recovery. c. Ceremonial. The Regiment provides the only
local professional standard military band and
accompanying troops to conduct national ceremonial and civic events.
d. International Assistance. Upon request, the
Regiment can provide military skills and r esources to assist the UN, NATO and regional
Peace Support Operations or training which
enhances Bermuda’s reputation in the international community.
e. Enhancing Bermudian Society. Since its i nception, the Royal Bermuda Regiment has provided an important role by supporting the
integration and development of Bermudian
society in the form of the following:
• a common military experience for vo lunteers from across Bermuda’s soci ety;
• the opportunity to enhance life and vocational skills through direct prov ision of training or providing funding support for specific qualifications;
• involvement in regimental and wider
community sporting and social activ ities;
• youth e ngagement through Junior
Leaders, and in partnership with the
Bermuda Police Service the facilit ation of the Outward Bound Adventure
Training Centre.
f. Coast Guard. The Coast Guard will secure
Bermuda’s territorial waters out to 12 nautical
miles and defend the exclusive economic
zone, the EEZ, (200 nautical miles).
Madam Chairman, the Royal Bermuda Reg iment conducts the majority of these tasks in partner-ship with or in support of other government depar tments, specifically the Emergency Measures Organ isatio n [EMO], Maritime Operations Centre, Depar tment of Environmental Protection, HM Customs Bermuda, Disaster Risk Reduction and Mitigation [DRRM] Team, Bermuda Police Service, Bermuda Fire and
Rescue Service, and Bermuda Hospitals Board.

Current Account Est imates
General Summary

Original Estimate 2022/23 $7,857,000
Estimate 2023/24 $8,558,000
Increase $ 701,000
Percentage change 9 per cent

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Madam Chairman, I will now
address the individual business units as they appear
on page B -263 of the estimates book. The original
budget for 2022/23 was $7,857,000. The budget est imate for 2023/24 is $8,558,000, which in an increase of $701,000, or 9 per cent.
686 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Business unit 16000, Finance. Madam Chai rman, the Finance business unit covers the Defence
Department which holds the civilian full -time staff and
the accounting function for the Royal Bermuda Regi-ment. The 2023/24 budget estimate is $312,000, which represents no change over fiscal year 2022/23.
Business unit 16005, Recruitment. The R ecruitment business unit covers the advertising, prom otion and local training expenses. The 2023/24 budget
estimate is $113,000, which is an increase of $26,000,
or 26 per cent increase, over the 2022/23 financial
year. The reason for this increase is primarily i ncreased funding for the recruitment team with the f ocus of attracting more Bermudians into the service.
Business unit 16010. Madam Chairman, the
Regimental Headquarters cost centre covers all of the
Regiment employees for Defence, Head 6, employeerelated expenses, marine fleet, vehicle fleet and i nsurance. The 2023/24 budget estimate is $4,135,000
which is an increase of $349,000, or 9 per cent, over
the 2022/23 financial year. This increase is primarily funding for the Coast Guard to its approved employee
ceiling of 14 and funding the Quartermaster post.
Business unit 16020. Madam Chairman, the
Quartermaster cost centre covers all of the operation-al and log istical services for the Regiment in relation
to facilities for land and sea forces. The 2023/24
budget estimate is $1,501,000, which is an increase of
$158,000, or 12.0 per cent, over the 2022/23 financial
year. This is due to an increase in the part -time wages
and operational expenses. It should be noted that
wages did not increase with the rest of the civil service
back in 2018. Therefore, the increase for part -time
wages of 4.5 per cent was not reflected in budget year
2022/23. For this budget year 2023/24, all part -time
rates have been updated and the estimate now i ncludes the 4.5 per cent increase in part -time wages
which provides a more realistic remuneration for the
commitment as well as provides a financial incentive
to volunteer.
Business unit 160 30. Madam Chairman, the
Ceremonial business unit covers the ceremonial and the Humanitarian and Disaster Relief [HADR] training expenses. The 2023/24 budget estimate is $288,000,
which is an increase of $45,000, or 19 per cent, over
the 2022/23 financial y ear. This is increase is again
due to the increase in the part -time soldiers’ wages.
Business unit 16040. Madam Chairman, the
Internal Security business unit covers the training ex-penses related to internal security and Military Aid to
Civil Authority [M ACA]. The 2023/24 budget estimate
is $211,000, which is an increase of $28,000, or 15
per cent, over the 2022/23 financial year. This again is
due to an increase in the part -time soldiers’ wages.
Business unit 16060. Madam Chairman, the
Bermuda Cadet Corp business unit provides for the
Junior Leaders programme, training and youth e ngagement. As part of the curriculum, staff of the Royal Bermuda Regiment facilitate adventure training, drill, camp cr aft and similar military activities to young Bermudians below the age of military enlistment. The main aim is to enhance the leadership and decisionmaking skills of school -age cadets in order to make
them better citizens. It also provides a positive exper ience that will attract some to serve full -time or part -
time in the Regiment when they reach the age of m ajority. The programme runs weekly throughout the
school year and incorporates meetings, weekend
camps and an annual exercise. Madam Chairman, the
2023 /24 budget estimate is $52,000, which represents
no change over the 2022/23 financial year.
Business unit 16075. Madam Chairman, this
year the overseas camp will take place in Guyana in July 2023 as part of the multinational Exercise
Tradewinds with other Caribbean nations. Since the
formation of the unit, the overseas camp has been the culmination of the annual training cycle and remains a
mandated requirement by the Governor. The exercise
provides tangible evidence that the Regiment is fit for
role and able to operate at the scale and intensity r equired to complete their missions and tasks. The
complexity and range of activities conducted on land
and at sea are not possible to achieve within Berm uda. It is therefore necessary that the camp is conduc ted a broad. It is also a primary component that encourages retention of Regiment personnel. Madam
Chairman, the 2023/24 budget estimate is $820,000, a $26,000, or 3 per cent, increase over the 2022/23.
This increase funds more soldiers to attend and ben efit fro m the annual overseas camp.
Business unit 16080. The Training and Validation cost centre covers the expenses related to the
training of recruits and promotion courses. To ensure
our military personnel are current, qualified and competent it is essential that the selection and training
system provides robust development and transparent assessment at all levels and for all trade groups. The
Training and Validation budget ensures these courses and qualifications are delivered in the most appropr iate and cost -effective way possible, only seeking external instruction when it is not possible through local resources. All routine training exercises subscribe to
the UK Armed Forces recognised assurance system,
the Defence System Approach to Training, to ensure safety and consistency. Madam Chairman, the
2023/24 budget estimate is $531,000, which is a decrease of $7,000, or 1 per cent. Savings are being
made through more on Island courses, savings in ai rfares and other expenses for overseas courses.
Business unit 16085. Madam Chairman, the
Marine Operations cost centre covers the costs ass ociated with the Regiment Coast Guard’s operating expenses and part -time wages. The unit has eight full -
time soldiers and one officer. They are supported by
part-time staff who tra in and operate on weekends
and public holidays in order to provide safety and s ecurity on and in Bermuda’s waters 24 hours a day throughout the year. Madam Chairman, the 2023/24


Bermuda House of Assembly budget estimate is $595,000, which is an increase of
$79,000, or 15 per cent, over the 2022/23 financial
year. This increase is primarily due to the proposed
increasing in the training and increase in the part -time
wages for the unit.

Subjective Analysis
Current Account Estimates

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Madam Chairman, I now
draw your attention to page B -264 of the current account estimates book. Salaries have increased by
$418,000, or 12 per cent. This increase is attributable
to the funding of four full -time staff salaries, and wa ges saw an increase of $134,000, or 7 per cent. These
two increases will allow the Regiment to fully staff the Coast Guard to its approved manning levels of 14
employees for inshore operations, increase the trai ning periods for all part -time staff, and allow the Regiment to support training and operations in accordance
with the Governor’s and Commanding Officer’s direc-tives.
Travel has seen an increase of $46,000, or
10 per cent, and this is due to putting back the funding
for the aircraft charter of $300,000, as the Regiment
will be participating in Tradewinds 2023 which will be
held in Guyana in July 2023.
Repair and Maintenance has increased by
$76,000, or 20 per cent, mainly due to the ageing f acility at Warwick Camp, [upgrades to] Scenic House
and the new Coast Guard substation that will come
online at the old St. David’s post office.
Madam Chairman, the decreases in Employer
Overhead of $35,000, or 28 per cent, and Clothing,
Uniforms & Laundry by $20,000, or 9 per cent, are
due to a reallocation between the object codes of Salaries and Wages to once again ensure that the Regiment is able to carry out their responsibility as directed by the Commanding Officer.

Personnel

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Madam Chairman, the Regiment currently employs 39 full -time staff of which 3
are civilian. You will note t hat the original estimate for
the 2022/23 budget year was 44 employees. The
2023/24 estimate will provide for 44 employees inclu ding 4 additional Coast Guard employees, which is an
addition to the current full -time staff of the Regiment,
and a part -time st rength of 261.

Capital Development

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Madam Chairman, I now
draw your attention to page C -7, Capital Development. The Regiment has budgeted funds for Capital
Development of $350,000 for the following Defence
projects: a. Coast Guard Maintenance shed $50,000.
These funds will be used to start the mechanical and engineering support for the new
maintenance shed to be built at Scenic House
in Dockyard.
b. Officers Mess Bathroom, $150,000. Since the
start of the Bermuda Regiment, now the Royal
Bermuda Regiment, the Warrant Officers and
Sergeants Mess was not designed with f emales in mind. These funds will be used to
carry out the renovation of the male bat hrooms in order to provide female senior noncommissioned officers their own shower and
toilet facilities.
c. Coast Guard Unit St. David’s, $150,000. This
is to help reduce operational costs for the
Coast Guard and to better support the East End mariners. It was prudent that the Coast
Guard establish an East End operating loc ation. The cost and the l ogistics of launching a
boat and crew out of Dockyard every day is
cost prohibitive, which has worsened due to the increase in fuel and the time required to
move boat and crew on and off shift. These
funds will be used to renovate the old St. D avid’s Post Office into a serviceable substation
for the Coast Guard.

Capital Acquisitions

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Madam Chairman, I now
draw your attention to page C -15, Capital Acquis itions. The Royal Bermuda Regiment have budgeted
funds for Capital Acquisitions of $191,000 as follows—

[Mr. Scott Simmons, Chairman]

Thank you, Honourable Minister.
Minister, if you just would not mind pausing
just for a second as I take over the Chair of Commi ttee from the Honourable Susan Jackson.
Honourable Members, we are in Committee of
the Supply for further consideration of the Estimates
of Revenue and Expendi ture for the year 2023/24 u nder Heads 83, 6, 7, 12, 23 and 45. I am prepared to
take the Honourable Minister of National Security under his Ministry.
And, Honourable Minister, you have the floor.
Minister, if you do not mind my mentioning, you have
used about two hours of your time. There are a further three hours. I do believe the debate does end at
5:55 pm. Thank you, Minister. Under Capital Expenditure.

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
and welcome.
Mr. Chairman, I move on to Capital Acquis itions. I now draw your attention to page C -15, which is
688 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Capital Acquisitions. The Royal Bermuda Regiment
have budgeted funds for Capital Acquisitions of
$191,000 as follows:
a. Residential Equipment, $27,000. These funds will be used to replace a number o f failing and
end-of-life air conditioners within classrooms
as well as barrack room accommodations.
These are essential due to year -round training
and camps which are part of the Regiment’s
contemporary training and operations proc edures; and
b. Shelter Syst ems, $164,000. It has been over
30 years since the Royal Bermuda Regiment
has replaced or upgraded its shelter systems
(which are, in effect, military tents). They are
beyond their lifespan and are now in disrepair.
These funds will be used to replace and u pgrade a portion of their shelter systems.

Output Measures and Objectives

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, I would like
to highlight some of the output measures and objectives as found on page B -265 of the estimates book.

Yes, Minist er.
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: The Regiment successfully
completed its preparations and training for the past
hurricane season. In February, the Regiment had a
successful Recruit Camp with 19 volunteers. There
will be an additional Recruit Camp in September
2023. Although COVID -19 restrictions caused the
Regiment to conduct some of its training in Bermuda
earlier this financial year, they dispatched training
teams to deliver sub- lethal Public Order training to the
seven- nation Regional Security Service based i n Ba rbados. The Regiment is also intending to send 120 soldiers to Guyana on overseas camp to develop advanced soldiering and tactical skills.
Mr. Chairman, through a targeted recruitment
and retention plan the Regiment has been able to r ecruit 19 volunte ers and in June 2023 is forecasting to
retain at least 80 per cent of their long- serving soldiers. Although statistics for soldiers passing Annual Training Tests appears static or as a decline, this is due to an increase in testing standards.

Major Achi evements for 2022/23
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, in addition to
its public roles including continued development of the Coast Guard, the Royal Bermuda Regiment has
achieved the following:
a. Actively committed to realising the Gover nment’s commitment to Blue Belt/BlueShield.
During this financial year the Royal Bermuda
Regiment has worked closely with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the UK Marine Manag e-ment Organisation [MMO] to commence the
Blue Belt programme in local waters. Under
the remit of the UK Marine Management O rganisation, this programme is to be impl emented in all of the UK Overseas Territories, and Bermuda is one of the first territories to
commit. This programme is committed to assisting Overseas Territories to better control,
protect and enforce the laws of its territorial
waters. It is also important to note that this
programme is fully funded by the UK gover nment and is of no expense to the Bermuda
Government.
To date the Royal Bermuda Regiment has
been able to receive the f ollowing equipment
which is moving the programme forward:
• Night vision goggles, $46,000;
• Body cameras, IT equipment and
software to support operations at
Coast Guard Headquarters, $23,000;
• IT and furniture for the new East End
Coast Guard Substation, $37,0 00;
• 20 new radios, base station and the
ancillaries, $40,000; and
• Two new outboard engines, $42,000;
b. The first tranche of equipment has been r eceived and is now part of daily operations. As
the Coast Guard develops capability toward further defending the EEZ, this programme
will play a vital role in supporting their role in
environmental protection.
The Regiment has also
a. received a third- party external assurance r eview of their Coast Guard by a Ministry of D efence maritime evaluation unit. This highlighted current areas of strengths and other areas
that require new or enhanced policies and procedures in order to reduce operational and
reputational risk;
b. developed Adventure Training instructors to provide increased capacity to working at
heights and conduct cliff rescue as well as
engage with Bermuda’s youth;
c. hosted a review by Air Vice- Marshal Smeath,
the UK’s two- star Defence Attaché to the
United States with a portfolio including Bermuda;
d. deployed two platoons of soldiers to train in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, in May;
e. deployed soldiers to conduct Ceremonial d uties at Royal Palaces in London with the Ro yal Gibraltar Regiment;
f. implemented a new Annual Training Test for
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion;
g. organised the first Bermuda Overseas Territ ories Commanding Officers Conference;
h. delivered Public Order training to forces from
St. Vincent and Grenadines, St. Lucia, St. Kits


Bermuda House of Assembly and Nevis, Grenada, Dominica, Barbados,
Antigua and Barbuda;
i. organised joint training with the Turks and
Caicos Islands for Junior Non- Commissioned
Officers Leadership Camp.

Coast Guard

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, I am pleased
to report that as of Monday, the 1st of February 2023,
the Coast Guard has completed a second successful
year of operations. It represents a meaningful co mmitment by the Government to provide safety and s ecurity on and in Bermuda’s waters for recreational us-ers and those who depend on our blue economy. During their last 12 months they conducted 1,093 patrols,
recorded activity of over 21,145 vessels, cond ucted
85 search- and-rescue missions and enforced env ironmental protection laws across the inshore area.
These are significant achievements from a relatively
small resource. Working with local and international
partners, including US Coast Guard, HM Coast G uard
and Royal Navy, they continue to provide the following
services:
a. search- and-rescue or recovery;
b. interdiction of illegal marine operations;
c. deterring criminal activity on the water;
d. enforcement of natural resource regulations;
and
e. enforcing regulations in relation to maritime
border and port security.
The intention is to increase the scope and
breadth of Royal Bermuda Regiment Coast Guard
tasks to beyond their current 12 nautical mile remit.

Some Plans for 2023/24

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the Royal
Bermuda Regiment is looking forward to this upcoming year as this is the highest budget that they have
received in years outside of the COVID -19 response.
This budget reflects the continued investment in the
Department of Defence and the Royal B ermuda Regiment since moving from conscription to an all -
volunteer Regiment. Some of the key activities that the Royal Bermuda Regiment are looking forward to are as follows:
a. Increased interoperability with Departments of Environmental and Natural Resources under the Blue Belt/Blue Shield programme. This
joint initiative creates the conditions for greater interoperability between US Coast Guard [USCG], UK Marine Management Organis ation, DENR [Bermuda Department of Env ironment and Natural Resources] and the Mar-itime Operations Centre to coordinate, enforce
and monitor Bermuda’s EEZ; b. Hosting the Commanding Officers of the Bri tish Overseas Territories in Bermuda for a con-ference in May;
c. Expanding youth engagement initiatives and
assisting with the Outward Bound programme;
d. Hire four new full -time staff into the Royal
Bermuda Regiment Coast Guard, which will
fulfil the approved manning levels from 2016.
This will also allow us to staff the new East
End Substation at the former St. David’s Post
Office and give bett er coverage and enforc ement of the East End of the Island;
e. Stand up an eastern operations base for the
Royal Bermuda Regiment Coast Guard located in St. David’s. This initiative will reduce fuel
costs from operations and enhance productiv ity as the transfer of vessels and crew would
be reduced to get staff on shift as they will not
originate out of the West End facility in Doc kyard. This will also allow the Coast Guard and the fisheries wardens, when working on joint
operations, to allow for better response time
and coordination;
f. Recruit 50 new soldiers over a series of two
recruit camps (September 2023 and February
2024). As the Royal Bermuda Regiment has
an official mandate to ensure that it is able to
carry out its missions and task, its goal is to return to its operational strength of 360 personnel. Although the retention of current personnel is high, recruiting and retention remain
a high priority for the Regiment;
g. Under the direction of the Minister of National Security, examine options for implementing a
national cadet programme to assist in recrui ting competent young Bermudians into our un iform services;
h. Delivery of an annual test for all personnel
which includes Diversity, Equity and Incl usion—the only government department to
have this as a mandate;
i. Execute a significant review of unit policies and publications to enhance transparency and
treat operational risk;
j. Deploy on overseas camp (Exercise
Tradewinds 2023) with 120 soldiers to Gu yana in July 2023. This is anticipated to cost
around $275,000 in c harter fees and
$300,000 in troop wages. While in Guyana the
soldiers will undertake training in the following
areas: Explosive Ordinance Disposal [EOD],
Civil Military Coordination, Cybersecurity,
Public Relations and Internal Security. The
Royal Bermuda Regiment Public Order Trai ning Team will also deliver training to multiple
nations. This annual deployment is a key contributor to soldier retention as well as defence engagement with 27 partner nations; and
690 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly k. Develop and mentor potential new Royal
Bermuda R egiment full -time staff and officers
within the Coast Guard and Regimental
Headquarters. This will ensure the continuity
of the Royal Bermuda Regiment and its con-tinued investment in its people.

Closing Remarks

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, in the past
year our Regiment has continued to distinguish itself
as a professional, dependable and adaptable r esource on land and sea in Bermuda and with Cari bbean partners. The Regiment has continued to ex-pand the operating capability of the Coast Guard Unit whilst providing significant personal and professional
development opportunities for soldiers.
Mr. Chairman, this past year has once again
proven that the Royal Bermuda Regiment remains a
proud, dependable and professional organisation that
continues to provide an essential service to Bermuda in routine matters and during times of emergency,
both on land and at sea. Our Regiment continues a
125-year military legacy as a pillar of our community
of which we should all be proud.
For those of us who have had the honour to
serve in the Regiment, the lessons learned, values
instilled and the friendships made will last a lifetime.
Mr. Chairman, I can attest to that. I did my three years and two months.

You may, Minister. You are two and a
half, almost two hours and twenty m inutes into your
brief.
And that is [to say] that we are in Committee
of Supply for further consideration of the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the year 2023/24. The
Minister has completed Heads 83 and 6, and he is
now going on to Head 7. And he then will move on to
Heads 12, 25 and 45.
Honourable Minister, you have the floor.

HEAD 7 —BERMUDA POLICE SERVICE

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman and Honourable Members, I am
pleased to present the current account estimate for
the Bermuda Police Service, Head 7, which can be
found on pages B -266 through B -270 of the estimates
of revenue and expenditure book. Mr. Chairman, the
Bermuda Police Service’s mission is Making Bermuda
safer .
The objectives of the service are to
• maintain the confidence of the community;
• treat all persons fairly, with dignity and r espect;
• protect vulnerable victims;
• reduce crime, particularly focusing on serious crime and gang- related criminality;
• reduce anti -social behaviour; and
• enhance road safety.
Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda Police Service
[BPS] carries out its objectives by aligning its organisational structure to maintain its community safety
agenda and the prevention of criminal risk (locally and
internationally) through a funded establishment of 492
employees.
Mr. Chairman, the BPS continues to advance
its 2021– 2026 Strategic and Operational Plan. This
budget estimate for financial year 2023/24 will allow a
number of key initiatives to progress. They are as follows:
The BPS Gang Targeting T eam continues to
work with the Ministry of National Security’s Gang Vi olence Reduction Team to reduce the threat in this area and seek to divert persons from gang- related cri minality. However, significant risk remains from
gun/gang- related violence to whic h the BPS continues
to deter such acts through effective use of intelligence
and specialist policing.
Staffing of the previous marine section, on a
temporary basis, continues to support the Coast Guard as it journeys toward its full complement of
staff. The BPS continues its work regarding standards of professional behaviour and anti -corruption po licy and procedure to which relevant best practice is
being utilised by the National Anti -Corruption Commi ttee in support of other government departments and
the United Nations Anti -Corruption Self -Assessment
for Bermuda.
The BPS also continues its work in support of
the National Anti -Money Laundering Committee
(NAMLC) to prevent financial crime, money laundering and counter -terrorism funding, with a strategic focus


Bermuda House of Assembly to maintain its excellent Caribbean Financial Action
Task Force (CFATF) grading.
The BPS further continues its work in support
of the National Cybersecurity Governance Board to
prevent and respond to cybersecurity matters and maintain Bermuda’s reputation as a premier intern ational financial jurisdiction.
The BPS is working to implement a framework
for greater multi -agency collaboration on the problem
of domestic abuse. We seek to enhance communic ation and improve training with a view to improving se rvice and reducing victimisation.

Expenditure Overview

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, I would now
draw your attention to the current account estimates
for Head 7, which can be found on page B -267. A total
of $62,625,000 has been allocated for Head 7 for the
financial year 2023/24. This represents an increase of
$467,000, a 1 per cent increase, over the budget for
the previous financial year. Mr. Chairman, in order to
meet these responsibilities, the Bermuda Police Service operates six programmes:
• Programme 0701—Commissioner’s Office;
• Programme 0702—Corporate Services Div ision;
• Programme 0703—Community Policing Div ision;
• Programme 0704— Support Services Division;
• Programme 0708— Serious Crime Division;
and
• Programme 0710— Bermuda Reserves P olice.
Mr. Chairman, I will now address each pr ogramme and business unit as set out on page B -267.

Go ahead, Minister.
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Programme 0701, the Commissioner’s Office.
Mr. Chairman, the Commissioner’s Office is in bus iness unit 17000 and has an estimate for the fiscal
year 2023/24 of $47,150,000. This represents a decrease of $272,000, a 1 per cent decrease, from the
fiscal year 2022/23. The decrease reflects a planned
decrease in overtime by increased recruit ment and
operational efficiencies.
Programme 0702, Corporate Services Div ision. Mr. Chairman, the Corporate Services Division
has an estimate for the fiscal year 2023/24 of
$6,907,000. This represents an increase of $322,000,
a 5 per cent increase, over t he fiscal year 2022/23.
In the 2023/24 budget the Professional Co nduct Unit has been re- aligned and merged into the
Commissioner’s Office. Offsetting this re- alignment
are increases in the following:
• Business unit 17010, Human Resources, an increase of $33,000; • Business unit 17020, Finance and Administr ation, an increase of $91,000;
• Business unit 17025, Information Manag ement Services, an increase of $250,000;
• Business unit 17190, Training and Develop-ment, an increase of $68,000;
• Business unit 17310, Uni form Stores, an i ncrease of $50,000.
Business unit 17020 funds the cost of repairs
and maintenance to the various properties housing
policing units. Buildings in Prospect are ageing and in
constant need of repair, and it is estimated an add itional $91,000 will be required. The costs of these r epairs have drastically increased as a result of inflation, but in particular due to the age of the various properties.
Business unit 17025, an increase of
$250,000. This business unit funds the various tec hnological needs of the BPS. Technology continues to
play a vital role in policing. The cost of this technology
with respect to computer hardware and software is
continually increasing as well as technological needs.
Business unit 17190 funds police training.
Owing to the pandemic in 2020, policing has lagged in
its training requirements and we are in a period of
catch -up. As a result, an additional $68,000 is bud geted to ensure officers have access to training.
With respect to the $50,000 increase in bus iness unit 17310, the BPS is updating its uniforms to
be more in line with international standards as well as
comfort needed for our men and women in uniform.

Programme 0703, Community Policing Division

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the Comm unity Policing Division has an estimate for the fiscal
year 2023/24 of $2,165,000. This represents an i ncrease of $77,000, a 4 per cent increase, over the
fiscal year 2022/23. The increase is mainly due to i nflation, additional officers and the various needs r equired for the three police facilities in Hamilton
(17040), the eastern end of the Island (17041) and the
western end of the island (17042).
Programme 0704, Support Services Division.
Mr. Chairman, the Support Services Division has an
estimate for the fiscal year 2023/24 of $3,488,000.
This represents an increase of $60,000, or 2 per cent,
from the fiscal year 2022/23. Due to policing priorities,
business unit 17055, Tape Transcribing, was merged
into business unit 17090, the Court Liaison Unit. This
results in a r eal increase of $20,000 for the Court Liaison Unit. In addition, business unit 17120, Tactical
Operations, was merged with business unit 17105,
Police Support Unit. The increase of $37,000 is solely a result of the merger.

Programme 0708, Serious Crime D ivision

692 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the Serious
Crime Division has an estimate for the fiscal year
2023/24 of $2,583,000. This represents an increase of
$280,000, or 12 per cent, from the fiscal year 2022/23.
The increase is due to the increasing need for professional investigative services. The increasing need for experts mandates that the Bermuda Police Service
obtain some of these services from outside of the
BPS, including overseas.

Programme 0710, Bermuda Police Reserves

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda
Police Reserves have an estimate for the fiscal year
2023/24 of $332,000 and represents no change in the budget over the 2022/23 fiscal year. The Police R eserves support frontline officers on watches, working both full day and full night shifts to support BPS service delivery. They are equipped at the same level as
career officers and trained in most aspects of patrol
duties. They work alongside career officers in duties including roadside sobriety and speed checks.

Subjec tive Analysis

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, I would now
like to address page B -268 of the current account estimates. This page includes the subjective analysis of
current account estimates and revenue summary.

Subjective Analysis of Current Account Estimates

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, 11 of the object codes see no change or a change of less than
5 per cent in the estimates for the financial year
2023/24 over the budget for 2022/23. I will limit my
comments to salaries and the five that i llustrate mat erial changes. Mr. Chairman, salaries have decreased
by $892,000, or 2 per cent. Salaries includes various
benefits and payments mandated under collective bargaining agreements. The most expensive cost item
is overtime. The proposed budget ref lects the planned
reduction in overtime by recruiting additional officers
and operational efficiencies.
Mr. Chairman, Other Personnel Costs has a
proposed budget of $2,707,000, an increase of
$227,000, or 9 per cent, to meet the increasing costs
of medic al benefits for officers. Training costs i ncreased by $69,000, or 22 per cent, to offset training
that was unavailable during the pandemic.
Mr. Chairman, advertising and promotion
costs have increased by $19,000, or 29 per cent. The
BPS is seeking innovat ive ways to enhance service
delivery by leveraging the opportunities created by
social media and alternative media outlets.
Mr. Chairman, professional services are
budgeted to increase by $578,000, or 23 per cent,
owing to the increased need for professional services
and increasing litigation. Repairs and maintenance increases of $406,000, or 18 per cent, are a result of
the ageing BPS properties combined with inflationary pressures in the costs of labour and materials. The
proposed increase of $46,000, or 2 per cent, in Mat erials and Supplies is to reflect increases in both fuel
costs and increasing costs necessary to repair an
ageing vehicle fleet.

Revenue Summary

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda
Police Service has estimated to collect $698,000 in
revenue for financial year 2023/24. The revenue is
generated from police clearance certificates (bac kground checks), firearms and security guard licences.
This represents no change over the current financial
year.

Employee Numbers (Full -Time E quivalents)

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the funded
employee numbers, or full -time equivalents, are being
increased by 20 to 492 over the revised estimate for
financial year 2022/23. This increase is to ensure the
BPS has sufficient funded posts t o meet operational
needs. Currently, the BPS is staffed by 371 police officers and 68 support staff. Unfortunately, the BPS is
49 police officers below the funded establishment. This shortfall impacts the level of policing activity in
response to crime, as well as the welfare of officers
who are delivering the service while short staffed. U nfortunately, the current local recruitment drive is only
expected to yield about 10 Bermudian officers. In addition to the 10 local officers, 15 trained officers from
both the Caribbean and UK will be recruited to au gment investigative and firearms capacity.

2022/23 Accomplishments

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, I will now
speak to some of the accomplishments the Bermuda
Police Service had in 2022/23.

Operation V ega
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, it is also noted that during the immediate periods preceding cur-few compliance the community experienced an i ncrease in road traffic incidents. To calm traffic, deny
criminals the use of our roads and encourage better
driving choices, the Bermuda Police Service respond-ed with Operation Vega. Since the inception of Oper ation Vega, over 5,000 traffic tickets and 840 Motorist
Advice Notices have been issued. In 2023 alone, 68
traffic tickets have been issued for persons driving
more than 70 kilometres per hour. Additionally, the
Bermuda Police Service has increased its communi-cations with the public through mainstream media and
social media platforms. The department looks forward


Bermuda House of Assembly to seeing how this level of engagement will positively
affect driver behaviour.

New Recruit Foundation Course
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, February
2022 saw the start of a police Recruit Foundation Course with 21 new student officers. These officers
should take to the streets in earnest this summer, and
the new officers will bring welcomed relief to their colleagues and reduce demands on the overtime budget.
Mr. Chairman, I will now provide this Honourable House with some sobering statistics on what the
Bermuda Police Service dealt with over the calendar
year Ja nuary to December 2022.

Very well, Minister.

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, in making
Bermuda safer, between 1 January 2022 and 31 D ecember 2022, the service responded to 13,305 events
or incidents of which 1,480 were Licence Premises
COVID -19 compliance checks.
Mr. Chairman, there were 2,451 arrests during
the period, which is a 49 per cent increase over the
1,639 arrests in 2021, which was impacted with
COVID -19-related restrictions, including curfew, on
the community.
Mr. Chairm an, in 2022 there were 3,362
crimes recorded and investigated that include nine
murders, five of which by a firearm. Of the 23 murders
recorded from 2020, ten involved a firearm and nine
involved a knife.
Mr. Chairman, the service dealt with 1,268
road t raffic collisions, of which 11 were fatalities and
120 involved serious injury. This compares with 17
fatalities and 106 serious injury road traffic collisions
in 2021. The long- term context of road safety, which
Operation Vega is addressing, is that since 2013 there
have been 115 fatal road traffic incidents and 1,032
serious injury road traffic incidents recorded. This high
rate of death and injury to Bermudians and visitors
means that we are faced with the prospect that every 31 days a person will die on our roads, and that every
3.5 days a person will have a serious road traffic coll ision.
Mr. Chairman, 9,174 tickets and 1,205 Stop
and Search forms were issued that help to change
driver behaviour and reduce opportunities for vi olence. In addition, roads ide sobriety opportunities
have been used to positively change the culture of
drink driving in Bermuda.
Moving to the issue of gang violence, Mr.
Chairman.

Minister.

Gang Violence
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda
Police S ervice is the law enforcement entity respons ible for preventing and detecting crime and have
adopted a robust approach to tackling gang and gun
violence. As early as 2009 the Bermuda Police Ser-vice recognised the significant challenge of tackling
gangs and guns and that it required high levels of
community engagement, as enforcement alone could
not address the systemic issues. Mr. Chairman, since
2009 the BPS has made a number of adjustments in
response to the gun and gang problem and continue to evolve wit h a focus on leveraging community support and technology to assist in bringing offenders to
justice.
The BPS has implemented a Gang Violence
Reduction Strategy with a core focus on partnership. It
consists of three pillars;
• Prevention (Education and Aware ness);
• Catch and Convict, which is police focused (targeting and suppression); and
• Resettlement and Rehabilitation—that is col-laboration.
Mr. Chairman, the strategy of prevent -anddeter is to stop young offenders escalating into prolific
offenders and to prevent children and young people
from becoming involved in criminality in the first place.
The BPS deploys a schools resource officer, primarily to the senior schools, who meets with school gui dance counsellors, teachers and students to build rel ationship s and share information that is used to ease
tensions. Additionally, opportunities to mediate di sputes and model effective problem -solving are impl emented. The BPS arrested 22 persons aged between
12 and 15 years in 2022, with the most common reasons for t he arrests being violence and/or carrying a
bladed article in public. I am going to read that again,

Go ahead, Minister.
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: The BPS arrested 22 persons aged between 12 and 15 years in 2022, with the
most common reasons for the arrests being violence
and/or carrying a bladed article in public.
Mr. Chairman, with Catch and Convict, the
BPS deploys a Police Support Unit and a Gang Targeting Unit that are primarily focused on disruption
and enforcement activity specifically as it relates to those involved with gangs. Further, the approach with
our partners is to focus on the same key groups of
offenders who are causing the most cr ime. The BPS
chair the inter -agency gang enforcement team that
provides an opportunity for information- sharing and
joined- up enforcement efforts.
Mr. Chairman, with Rehabilitate and Resettle,
the BPS chairs the multi -agency offender management team that provides ongoing assessment and supervision for high- risk offenders in an effort to en694 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly courage effective rehabilitation and resettlement of
persons leaving prison services.
Mr. Speaker, the BPS continues to adapt and
evolve in tackling the issues of gangs w ith the necessary emphasis on an evidence- based approach to
policing. This includes the use of information, intell igence and lessons learned. This has resulted in mul-tiple arrests for murder and firearms -related offences,
as well as significant seizures of illegal drugs and fir earms. Multiple persons have been prosecuted with
over 40 men incarcerated, receiving life and/or long-term sentences for murder, attempted murder and
firearms -related offences.

2023/24 Plans

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, in keeping
with our mission statement, Making Bermuda safer ,
the Bermuda Police Service will engage in the follo wing:
Policing Issues for 2023/24

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the scourge
of gang and gun violence continues to play out in our
communit y. Sadly, more recently we have seen males
and females as young as 14 involved in violent exchanges, often using knives to resolve their disputes. The Bermuda Police Service is currently and will co ntinue to temporarily divert resources from community policing to bolster its enforcement efforts to catch and
convict those involved in these crimes. However, this
cannot be sustained. Until we as a community examine and act on the issues that would cause our young people, some as young as 15, to think that armi ng
themselves, stabbing or shooting another person is an
appropriate way to solve a dispute, we will continue to
experience tragic and unnecessary violence and
death in our community.
Mr. Chairman, the summer months will bring
challenges to community safety across the Island as
residents and visitors seek to socialise in larger numbers on beaches, on the water and within bars and
restaurants. These challenges will include, but are not limited to, increased tensions and risks between
gangs, antisocial behav iour, residential and beach
parties and drink driving. Additionally, organised
events that do take place may present greater policing
challenges in comparison to previous years as
COVID -19 restrictions continue to be lifted.

New Initiatives in the Police Service

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda
Police Service has a Strategic and Operational Plan
for the period 2021– 2026 with five key priorities, as
follows:
• reducing serious crime;
• protecting vulnerable persons;
• raising confidence in the po lice; • reducing harm on our roads; and
• developing digital policing.
Additionally, seven new Strategic Ambitions have
been set to support members of the BPS in achieving
their full potential and assisting their professional de-velopment. The plan will be gov erned by the Bermuda
Police Service Strategic Executive Group and shared with the public.

Capital Projects
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, I now move
to page C -15 and Capital Acquisitions. The budget for
2023/24 is $1,308,000. This has been allocated as follows: There is funding of $718,000 to replace the
software that the Bermuda Police Service uses to
maintain its operational records. The Record Ma nagement System [RMS] replacement will serve the
country’s operational policing platform and partner
agency record management system across the crim inal justice system board and other BPS partner agen-cies. This includes Bermuda Customs; Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service; and the Departments of Imm igration, Child and Family Services, Court Services and Corrections.
The Record Management System project will
maximise the synergy between agencies and enhance
BPS efficiency and effectiveness in serving the public
and making Bermuda safer. A newly revamped network infrastructure will aid the BPS in protect ing Bermuda’s international reputation as a sophisticated
centre for international business, which is ably su pported by BPS’s capabilities and capacity. The local
community’s expectations on standards of BPS customer services will also be met.
Mr. Chairman, there is an increased need to
support specialist police units in their day -to-day job,
such as the Digital Forensic Unit, Forensics Support Unit, Financial Analyst Unit and Intelligence Depar tment, all with a focus on making the Bermuda Police Service m ore efficient and effective. The implement ation of the RMS will allow BPS to produce digital case files and interface with a multitude of partner age ncies, providing real -time intelligence products and
analysis of hotspot policing to help deploy operation units in the most efficient and effective way.
In addition, the improvements will support the
increased use of body -worn cameras and dash camera footage, with each officer being able to download
files in a quicker and more efficient manner. This will
better support case file creation and submission. The
existing RMS is no longer being developed or supported by the provider and absolutely needs to be r eplaced. The aim of this project is to replace our ageing
Record Management System and to leverage effectiveness and efficiency by moving toward digital case
management and including our partner agencies to
build capability and capacity.


Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Chairman, $400,000 is being used to r eplace five marked police vehicles and five unmarked
motorcars in addition to a pas senger van. The purchases of these vehicles are considered a priority for the police. Including last year’s purchases, this will equate to a total of 15 cars, seven motorcycles and a
passenger van being replaced. For context, the Bermuda Police Service conducted an audit of their vehicle fleet in early October 2022. The fleet currently has
189 marked and unmarked vehicles in the fleet. This
includes 44 marked cars, 34 unmarked cars, 19 m otorcycles, 61 scooters, 20 vans, one truck, eight land
cruisers and tw o Public Support Unit [PSU] Sprinter
transports.
There are presently 44 marked police cars in
the BPS fleet. Sixteen of these vehicles are beyond their serviceable life. Only 32 are actually operable.
There are presently 34 unmarked vehicles in the BPS
fleet. Of these, 19 vehicles have passed life expectancy. Additionally, it should be noted that a total of 22
marked and 13 unmarked vehicles were disposed of within the last several years and not replaced. In 2017
the average lifespan of a police vehicle was 10 years
or 250,000 to 300,000 kilometres. At present many
vehicles are exceeding 300,000 kilometres within
three to four years because of continuous driving with
no rest period and the limited number of vehicles.
Mr. Speaker, this creates challenges i n mai ntaining the number of working vehicles in the Bermuda Police Service fleet and daily impacts on the BPS’s
ability to carry out operations. The fleet provides 24
hours a day/seven days a week operation throughout
the Island. These vehicles experience a tremendous amount of wear and tear in a short span of time. This
year’s funding will allow for some of the patrol vehicles
to be replaced. The Government of Bermuda is committed to ensuring the BPS has the equipment it
needs to keep Bermuda safer.
Mr. C hairman, $189,000 is budgeted to begin
to replace various aspects of the Bermuda Police Service’s IT hardware, $40,000 for computers and
$149,000 for network servers. The BPS relies heavily
on technology to deliver services to the public and
achieve its mi ssion of Making Bermuda safer. The
network supports over 700 users and over 400 computer systems Island- wide. Unfortunately, most of the
critical components of the network are both end- of-life
and end- of-support. Daily there are network and ser ver stabilit y issues that impede work, and the systems
have been assessed at medium to high risk of failing.
Mr. Chairman, fundamentally the problem is
that the switches, firewalls and core servers are all past their usable life, and many are no longer supported by t he manufacturer. Some of the equipment is
18 years old or more. This year’s capital allocation will
enable the replacement process to begin.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Commissioner Simons and his team at the Bermuda Polic e Service for making Bermuda safer.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes the current and
capital accounts estimates for Head 7, and I will now move to Head 12, which is Customs.

Thank you very much, Minister.
I just want to remind Members that we are in
Committee of Supply for the further consideration of
the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditures for the
year 2023/24.
The Minister has completed Head 83, which
was the Ministry Headquarters; Head 6, Defence; and
Head 7, which he just completed under Police.
Minister, under Head 12, you have Customs.
Honourable Minister, you have the floor. You are three
hours into your debate, sir.

HEAD 12 —CUSTOMS

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Now I will move on to the Customs Department, which
is Head 12.
Mr. Chairman, Honourable Members, I am
pleased to present the current account estimate for the Customs Department, Head 12, which can be
found on pages B -271 through B -274 of the estimates
of revenue and expenditure book.
Mr. Chairman, the Cus toms Department’s
mission is Protecting Bermuda’s border and promoting
economic development . The objectives of the depar tment are
• to assess and collect customs duty and fees
on imported goods;
• to enforce customs laws and administer other
statutes controll ing the international mov ement of goods and people;
• to prevent the smuggling of drugs and other i llegal commodities, enforcing international
conventions for environmental protection and
money laundering, and agency work for Imm igration, Health, Transport C ontrol and Env ironment; and
• to provide information and assistance to the
public regarding customs laws and regul ations.
Mr. Chairman, the Customs Department’s
vision is to be a modern, effective and efficient customs administration offering professional service to all
stakeholders, using international best practices, maximising revenue collection and protecting the borders
of Bermuda. Mr. Chairman, to make this vision a real ity, strategic goals have been set for Customs.

Strategic Goal 1: Staffing, Stabi lity and Training

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, in order for
the Customs Department to carry out its mission, the
department will continue to provide an environment
696 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly that supports the highest level of integrity. Enhancing
the department’s integrity as a respected law enforcement arm of the government is vital to performing
our enforcement functions and will continue to be i mproved by ongoing training and officer development.

Strategic Goal 2: Legislation and Operational

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. C hairman, to advance
Customs’ mandate of facilitating legitimate trade, assessing and collecting the government’s revenue and interdicting drugs and other contraband, the depar tment will continue to review existing legislation and
propose enhancements that will progress Customs’
capability to fulfil its mandate in a rapidly changing
environment.

Strategic Goal 3: Policy, Procedures and Future

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the depar tment’s Policies and Procedures are a vital portion of
its foundation, and the consistent programme of updating these will enhance the department’s positive
work environment. One such example is the revision
of the memorandums of understanding with the d epartment’s law enforcement counterparts that will enhance the shared understanding of the department’s
comparable duties, aims and objectives.

Expenditure Overview

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, I would now
draw your attention to the current account estimates
for Head 12, which can be found on page B -271. A
total of $17,696,000 has been allocated for Head 12
for the financial year 2023/24. This represents an i ncrease of $1,121,000, or a 7 per cent increase, over
the original budget for the financial year 2022/23. Mr.
Chairman, the Customs Department operates one
programme listed as 1201, General, with seven bus iness units. I will now address the business units as
set out on page B -271.

Business Unit 22030, Airport Arrivals/Travellers
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr, Chairman, Airport Arr ivals/Travellers has an estimate of $4,621,000. This represents an increase of $225,000, or 5 per cent.
The increase is due to planned recruitment, with the
most significant driver being salaries.

Business Unit 22050, Investigations/Audit

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, Investigations/Audit has an estimate of $923,000. This repr esents an increase of $45,000, or 5 per cent. Again, the
increase is due to planned recruitment, with the most
significant driver being salaries.
Business Unit 22070, Hamilton
Commercial Operations

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, Hamilton
Commercial Operations has an estimate of
$1,015,000. This represents an increase of $36,000,
or 4 per cent. Again, the salary increase is as a result
of planned recruitment.

Business Unit 22080, Administration

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, Administr ation has an estimate of $5,083,000. This represents an increase of $484,000, or 11 per cent. The Admi nistration business unit is deemed the headquarters of
the department, and a majority of the operational
budget is allocated to this unit. For brevity and to
avoid repetition, I will elaborate upon all of the notable
budget changes during my presentation of page B -
272; however, the variances of note are as follows:
• a decrease in salaries of $51,000;
• an increase in overtime of $31,000;
• an increase in consultants of $110,000. This
is specifically in connection with the introduction of the export control programme;
• an increase in rent by $81,000. This is due to
the recent occupancy by Customs of the
Southside facilit y;
• an increase in repair and maintenance for
equipment by $102,000, which pertains to i ncrease in maintenance fees for the Hamilton
Dock Gantry X -ray scanner;
• an increase in contractors of $132,000. This is
in connection with the increased use of retired
customs officers providing immigration prim ary services at the airport;
• an increase in software maintenance by $23,000; and
• an increase in electricity by $31,000.

Business Unit 22090, Vessel Clearance
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, Vessel
Clearance has an estimate of $1,019,000. This repr esents an increase of $78,000, or 8 per cent. The i ncrease is due to an increase in salaries as a result of
planned recruitment. The increase is particularly warranted as we anticipate an increased number of cruise
ship visitations as well as private yachts during the
upcoming season as we recover from the global pa ndemic. And it is vessel clearance, along with the interdiction unit, which provides the front -line response to
these arriving vessels.

Business Unit 22100, Interdiction

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, Interdiction
has an estimate of $3,994,000. This represents an
increase of $277,000, or 7 per cent. This is also due


Bermuda House of Assembly to an increase in salaries as a result of planned r ecruitment.

Business Unit 22110, Seaport Enforcement Team

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, Seaport E nforcement Team has an estimate of $1,041,000. This represents a decrease of $24,000, or 2 per cent. The
decrease is connected to an expected reduction of
overtime.

Subjective Analy sis of Current Account Estimates

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, turning to
page B -272, on the table headed Subjective Analysis
of Current Account Estimates, we see how the all ocated funds are intended to be spent. A total of 84 per
cent of the budget, $14,847,000, has been allocated
to pay for salaries, and a further $18,000 for wages.
The allocation for the salary expense line has i ncreased by $439,000, or 3 per cent. If we momentarily
turn our attention to the table headed Employee Num-bers Full -Time Equivalents, we observe no movement
in the number of estimated Customs staff from the
2022/23 original of 184 to the 2022/23 estimate. However, it should be noted that only 174 positions had
budgetary funding in 2022/23, a difference of 10 FTEs [full-time equivalents].
Mr. Chairman, as of February 2023, the Customs Department had 166 staff members. Owing to
retirements and resignations there is a need to recruit
additional officers especially as we move further from
the height of the pandemic and we see an increase in travellers crossing our borders, which inevitably leads
to the increased likelihood of legitimate imports as
well as attempted smuggling activity.
Mr. Chairman, of the remaining expense lines
the more significant changes are as follows:
Other Personnel Costs are estimated to be
$191,000, an inc rease of $177,000, or 1,264 per cent.
The Other Personnel Costs in question are primarily
allowances provided for customs officers being on- call
and called out. As you will be aware, the Customs
Department has to be prepared to respond around the
clock to provide its border control service. From time
to time, unscheduled flights and vessels arrive into Bermuda, and therefore the Customs Department
pays an on- call allowance to retain a skeleton crew to
respond to emergency out -of-hours calls. For the
2023/24 fiscal year these expenses are expected to
increase significantly with the increased arrivals of
flights, cruise ship arrivals and private yachts. With an increase in activity, we should expect an increase in
delayed and diverted arrivals, and therefore w e have
budgeted an increased contingency for that purpose.
Travel Costs are estimated to be $14,000, an
increase of $11,000, or 367 per cent. One of the i mpacts of the pandemic has been the reduced ability to
travel. It is anticipated that [travel costs] will increase during the upcoming financial year as Bermuda Customs participated in the World Customs Organization
and Caribbean Customs Law Enforcement Council
conferences.
Professional Services are estimated to be
$332,000, an increase of $246,000, or 286 per cent.
There are two main drivers of this increase:
• First, Mr. Chairman, a budget of $110,000 has been set aside to engage a consultant to conduct a scoping study and introductory pr ogramme for the export control project. Export
control has been identified by the National A nti-Money Laundering Committee as a recommended action to take in response to Berm uda’s assessment by the Financial Action Task
Force (FATF). This will help bolster Berm uda’s reputation as a premier financial services location, as well as mitigate against the risks
of being perceived as a centre for money laundering and the financing of terrorism. It is
hoped that these measures will enhance
Bermuda as a jurisdiction for future inves tment. Since Bermuda does not currently have
an ex port control function, it will require the
Customs Department making some significant
adjustments, and we need to have a clear and
specific plan to introduce the programme,
which will include adjustments to legislation,
adjustments to IT systems, staff training and
educating the public as to the nature of the
changes and the implications;
• Mr. Chairman, the second main driver of this
increase is the increased use of retired customs officers to perform immigration primary
functions. These support officers hav e the
training and years of experience but are employed at a reduced cost rate and on a part -
time basis. As a result, this allows the department to work more efficiently as it frees
full-time customs officers from performing
some immigration functions and allows them
to focus on the core aspects of the customs officer role.
Mr. Chairman, Rentals are estimated to be
$581,000, an increase of $83,000, or 17 per cent. This
is primarily due to the occupancy of the Building 110 at Southside. Building 110 is a re placement for the
training and administration space that Customs formerly occupied within the old airport buildings. At the
airport, Customs only paid $700 per month for a storage room; however, the department was directed to vacate the airport space. Cons equently, the Estates
Department of Public Works was engaged to find al-ternative accommodations for Customs. A space was
located at Southside which would meet Customs’
needs. Estates negotiated the terms of the lease with
a rent of approximately $8,000 per month.
Repair and Maintenance is estimated to be
$1,144,000, an increase of $146,000, or 15 per cent.
698 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly This increase is due to the introduction of the planned
overhaul of the Hamilton Dock X-ray scanner. The
scanner will have been in operation for 10 years in
September and is approaching the end of its expected
useful economic life. The overhaul is expected to pr ovide Bermuda with a refurbished scanner.
Energy is estimated to be $146,000, an i ncrease of $31,000, or 27 per cent. This is partly due to
the rising costs of energy over the past year and partly
due to the occupancy of the new Southside facility. When Customs occupied the space at the airport, they received no charge for electricity.
Clothing, Uniforms and Laundry are estimated
at $75,000, a decrease of $17,000, or 18 per cent.
This is due to finding a lower cost supplier of several uniform items including shirts.
Materials and Supplies are estimated at
$214,000, a decrease of $10,000, or 4 per cent. This
category of expense is broad and divers e and i ncludes office supplies, cleaning supplies, personal protective equipment, food and supplies for canines, computer supplies, consumables for detection equi pment and other miscellaneous items. The estimate is reflective of the actual expenditure in t he preceding
financial period.

Capital Expenditure

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, on page C -
15 you will note that 2023/24 Capital Acquisition amount of $20,000 has been allocated to the Customs
Department on line 76328, Customs Development.
This is an amount provided to upgrade the hardware
for the Global Travel Assessment System. The system
plugs Customs into a real -time global database of advanced passenger information and allows the Customs Joint Intelligence Unit to review details about
arriving visitors into Bermuda. That information is an alysed and has proved highly useful to Customs in bor-der control.

2022/23 Accomplishments

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, during
2022/23, Bermuda has seen an increase in the numbers of travellers crossing our borders both via air and sea as restrictions arising from the pandemic have
eased. To illustrate the increase, the Customs D epartment served 125,000 air travellers during the 2021
calendar year and over 273,000 during the 2022 calendar year, a 118 per cent increase. I am pleased to
advise that the Customs Department has responded
to this return in fine form. In addition to collecting over
$200 million of revenue, during 2022/23 Customs
successfully made five currency seizures totalling
$180,000.
In the year 2022, Customs made a total of
178 drug seizures at our respective border entry points. These seizures ranged from personal use to commercial importations with intent to supply. While
we await analyst certificates from the government
analyst with th e actual weights and drug identification
for most seizures, one seizure alone contained almost 120 pounds of cannabis, which has an estimated street value of $5 million. That is all for Customs.

Yes.

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the depar tment also played an important role in assisting with
the response to COVID -19. During the 2022/23 year,
Customs, by way of its Joint Intelligence Unit, assisted
the Health Department’s COVID -19 Surveillance Unit
with the tracking of travellers on 11 2 occasions.
Mr. Chairman, protecting our borders requires
the Customs Department to work seamlessly with a
number of other agencies domestically and intern ationally. Customs continues to engage in an ad hoc
inter-agency working group initiated for the sharing of
targeting- and-seizure intelligence data. The working
group includes representatives from the US Drug E nforcement Agency [DEA], UK National Crime Agency
[NCA], Bermuda Police Service, the Canada Border
Services Agency [CBSA], the Royal Canadian Mounted Police [RCMP], and Homeland Security Investig ations [HSI/ ICE]. This group has further improved the response time for foreign requests received and the sharing of information as it relates to Immediate Outcome number two [IO2].
Mr. Chairman, during the dates May 9 to May
11, the Royal United Services Institute [RUSI] sevenmember team visited Bermuda on the invitation of the
Customs Department to deliver training. The customised workshop entitled Countering the Financing of
Proliferation was present ed on May 10 and 11 at the
Grotto Bay Hotel and Resort.
The agenda was developed to fit the needs of
Bermuda and included the following topics: counter
proliferation financing, cyber threats and the use of
crypto currencies, designated non- financial business
and professions and the exposure to proliferation f inancing. Also discussed was the role of Customs in counter finance proliferation and export control i mplementation. A discussion on the proliferation financing national risk assessment, along with an exercise
to identify threats, was held. The training was i mportant, as the Financial Action Task Force in October
2020 revised Recommendation 1 to require countries
to examine their proliferation financing risks.
Mr. Chairman, the critical subject of mari time
sanctions evasion and proliferation financing was di scussed, highlighting a nexus to the Bermuda Maritime
Registry. Based on the findings, Bermuda Customs
initiated a formal introduction between the Royal Uni ted Services Institute and the Bermuda Shipping and Maritime Authority. A virtual meeting was held on the 24
th of June 2022 and mutual interests were shared.
Formalised steps have commenced between the


Bermuda House of Assembly stakeholders for targeted training, which commenced
in December 2022.
Mr. Chairman, Customs teams attended a
four-day virtual workshop hosted by the Bermuda
Drug Information Network in association with the N ational Criminal Justice Training Centre of Fox Valley
Technical College. The workshop focused on drug
trends and the new forms of illicit drugs entering the
market. The course provided officers with awareness
to the changing drug trends, equipment and precursor
drugs that persons may attempt to import.

Initiatives for 2023/24

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, in harmony
with the Customs Department’s strategic goals, the
following initiatives are planned:
With respect to Strategic Goal 1, Staffing,
Stability and Training, as mentioned earlier the Customs Department intends to run two recruitment exercises during 2023/24. This will bolster the activities
across the department, but with particular focus being
placed on enhancing marine and airport operations.
The department will continue to utilise the excellent
training modules developed by the World Customs
Organization, which are provided as part of Berm uda’s membership. Additionally, Customs will engage
with the UK Home Office for strategic planning and
training opportunities.
With respect to Strategic Goal 2, Legislation
and Operational, the Bill in relation to Advance Pas-senger Name Record [PNR] data is a high priority in
the importance of cross border movements and sec urity.

Yes. Minister, you are on Head 12,
Customs, this runs from page B -271 through B -274, I
believe.
Minister.

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Thank you, Mr. Chair man.
With respect to Strategic Goal 2, Legislation
and Operational, the Bill in relation to Advance Passenger Name Record [PNR] data is a high priority in
the importance of cross border movements and sec urity. Work has already started, and progress on draf ting instructions will advance in the coming year. O perationally, the department will continue to move t oward a trusted trader programme, where recurring
legitimate importers with a good track record of Cus-toms compliance will benefit from a reduced clear ance
time following a reduced upfront review which will be
substituted with a post -clearance audit.
With respect to Strategic Goal 3, Policy, Pr ocedures and Future, during 2023/24 it is our intention to continue to work to provide support to the National Anti-Money Laundering Committee in its important
work of preventing money laundering and terrorist f inancing. Customs plays a highly important role in this area as the enforcement body responsible for the
cross border movement of cash and goods. As mentioned earlier, it is also our intention to develop an export control process which will further mitigate the risk to our reputation and society arising from money laundering.
Mr. Chairmen, the department will collaborate
with Skyport in the redevelopment of the Air Cargo
Terminal to ensure that Bermuda has a first -rate, eff icient and secure facility to receive air importations.
Mr. Chairman, I wish to thank the Collector of
Customs, Ms. Lucinda Pearman, and her team for
their continued service to Bermuda in protecting Bermuda’s border and promoting economic development.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes the current and
capital estimates for Head 12, and I will now move to
Head 25, the Department of Corrections.

Thank you very much, Minister.
This concludes the Heads 83, 6, 7 and 12. As
the Minister just takes a brief minute, Head 83 is the
Ministry Headquarters; 6 was Defence; 7 was the P olice. The Minister just completed Customs. And he is
moving into Head 25.
Minister, Head 25, the Department of Corrections. You have the floor, Minister.
There is by my recollection it looks to be one
hour and a half, one hour and thirty minutes left to the debate.
Minister.

HEAD 25 —DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, it is my pleasure to present
fiscal year 2023/24 estimates of expenditure for Head
25—the Department of Corrections, which are found
on pages B -275 through B -277 of the Approved Est imates of Revenue and Expenditure book. Mr. Chai rman, the Corrections Department’s mission is to pr otect the public and provide rehabilitative services . The
department objectives are to
• strive to maintain high standards of security, as this is essential to the safe operation of our
facilities;
• provide a humane but demanding regime
aimed at reducing re- offending by presenting
inmates with a range of opportunities in which
reward is linked to effort, incentives and
earned privileges to prepare for life after r elease; and
700 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly • aim to have robust and disciplined regimes
and systems in place in order to achieve operation efficiency at all levels.
The department carries out its objectives by
providing rehabilitative services across its three i nmate facilities, employing a high level of security to
ensure the safety of its staff, inmates and the comm unity.
Mr. Chairman, the current account estimate
for Head 25 begins on page B -275. A total of
$24,892,000 has been allocated for Head 25 for fiscal
year 2023/24. This represents an increase of
$1,999,000, or 9 per cent, over the original budget for
financial year 2022/23.
Mr. Chairman, at present there are 174 full -
time staff with an authorised strength of 215 funded
posts. The variances are due to r etirements, resign ations and, sadly, two deaths. In addition to full -time
employees, the budget will fund facilitators and teac hers for inmate programmes.
Mr. Chairman, the Department of Corrections
faced many pandemic -related challenges during fiscal
year 2022/23. Public health restrictions have required
innovation in the delivery of the department’s rehabil itative programmes and services. During fiscal year
2022/23, the department’s Pandemic Response Team
met on a regular basis to ensure the continued safe operation of the facilities. The department’s efforts to
safeguard staff and inmates have resulted in the performance of over 4,112 COVID -19 tests and the administration of 376 doses of the Pfizer -BioNTech
COVID -19 vaccine over the past 12 months. I am
pleased to note that despite the high- risk environment
for transmission of the coronavirus, the department’s management of its pandemic policy has continued to
be successful, with minimal cases and no hospitalis ations over the past year.
Mr. Chairman, fis cal year 2022/23 has been a
busy year for recruitment and saw the commenc ement of the recruitment process for the basic officers to fill vacant posts: the education officer; one nursing
officer, which will complete the full complement of
nursing staff; one psychologist post; facility manager;
finance manager; administrative assistant; and princ ipal purchasing officer.
Mr. Chairman, as the Department of Corrections moves toward living with the COVID -19 pandemic, there have been necessary adaptations in the delivery of rehabilitation programmes. The department increased its use of the computer labs at the facilities.
Mr. Chairman, the Department of Corrections conti nues to maintain a high level of security at its facilities.
In fiscal year 2022/23, the depart ment completed upgrades to the CCTV systems at the Farm, Westgate
and Co- Educational Facilities with funding from capital
acquisitions. Razor wire was installed and repaired at
Westgate and Co- Ed. Upgrades to the facilities’ Black
Creek Security System wer e carried out to ensure that officers are able to maintain internal communications and operate the internal security system.
Mr. Chairman, there were some operational
efficiencies created in fiscal year 2022/23. The Animal
and Garden programme at the Farm and Co- Ed facil ity produced eggs and produce for consumption within
the facilities, resulting in a reduction in food purchases.
Mr. Chairman, physical plant upgrades over
the 2022/23 fiscal year included refurbishments and
repairs to one of the housing units at the Westgate Facility. Also, repairs and replacements have been
made to the air -conditioner units at Westgate. R eplacement of cell and security doors at the Co- Ed facility has been completed, whilst the replacement of cell and security doors at We stgate is ongoing.
Mr. Chairman, I would also like to mention the
repurposing of the old Right Living House Facility which was located at the Farm Facility. The building
has been renovated and is now used as the depar tment’s new training facility, which h as been named
the Clarence Davis Training Facility in honour of former Assistant Commissioner Clarence Davis (who is
deceased).
Mr. Chairman, I would now like to draw your
attention to page B -275 of the Approved Estimates of
Revenue and Expenditure book, which sets out the
current account estimates for 2023/24.

Yes.
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Here, under the General
Summary, you will note that there are 12 business
units within the Department of Corrections. With the
exception of 35000, 35020 and 35109, nine business
units remain unchanged from fiscal year 2022/23. I
will address each of the business units in turn.

Headquarters and OTS

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the estimate
for business unit 35000, Headquarters and OTS, is
$18,831,000, an increase of $1,887,000, or 11 per
cent, over the 2022/23 budget allocation. This bus iness unit is 76 per cent of the department’s budget
allocation. The allocation will fund salaries and operating expenses for Corrections Headquarters and all
custody staff. The major increase in this business unit
is attributed to the increase of 168 custody staff for the
facilities. Please note, all of the salaries for custody
staff were reallocated to this business unit in the fiscal year 2022/23, as the s taff can be transferred amongst
the facilities at a moment’s notice and this reduced the
administrative task of changing the business unit with
every transfer.
In fiscal year 2022/23, the United Kingdom
Ministry of Justice continued to provide training, and more than 163 staff members attended. Training i ncluded the following:


Bermuda House of Assembly • Introduction to Mental Health Awareness;
• Personality Disorders;
• Defensible Decision- Making;
• Investigation;
• Counter Corruption Conditioning and Manip ulation;
• First on Scene and Hostag e Taking; and
• Introduction to Intelligence.
Mr. Chairman, additional training opportunities
saw the following:
• 53 staff members complete CPR training;
• 27 staff members participate in the Emergency Response Training;
• Use of Force was attended by seven staf f
members;
• Canine Certification was attended by two
staff;
• 19 sessions held for the Promotion Qualifying
Exam [PQE]; and
• 12 weeks of recruit training was held for eight
recruits.
Mr. Chairman, in fiscal year 2023/24, the Corrections Senior Management Team will continue to
implement a strategic plan aimed at restoring morale
throughout the department through clear communic ation and improved work environments. Staff development will be encouraged and supported as opportun ities arise.

Farm Facility

Hon. Mi chael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the estimate
for business unit 35020, Farm Facility, is $437,000.
This represents a $3,000, or 1 per cent, decrease
when compared to the 2022/23 fiscal budget. This is
due to the decrease in the salary scale of the admini strative assistant. The substantive administrative assi stant retired at a higher scale, and the new administr ative assistant will come at the starting scale.
The Farm Facility is an adult male minimum
security facility with a capacity to house 90 inmates.
Inmates must have completed their core sentence
plan requirements and be classified as minimum low risk to be housed at this facility.

[Pause]

I note the Members’ generosity.
Members, we continue in Committee of Supply for
further consideration of the Estimates of Revenue and
Expenditure for the year 2023/24 under Heads 83, 6,
7, 12, 25 and 45. And the Minister is currently on the Department of Corrections under Head 25. He r emains on page B -275.
Minister.

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, colleagues. Mr. Chairman, where was I? The Farm Facil ity is an adult male minimum security facility with a
capacity to house 90 in mates. Inmates must have
completed their core sentence plan requirements and be classified as minimum low risk to be housed at this facility.
Mr. Chairman, in the fiscal year 2022/23, the
Farm Facility gardens got off to a slow start this plant-ing season due to our tractor breaking down. We have
finally been able to get the gardens ploughed and have planted corn, beans, pumpkin, butternut squash, lettuce, mustard greens, onions, beets, spinach,
Swiss chard and turnips. The Animal Programme was
also successful, producing nearly 2,201 eggs for consumption.
Mr. Chairman, in fiscal 2022/23, the Work R elease programme resumed in May 2022 with four i nmates participating. In an effort to minimise COVID -19
risks, inmates are antigen tested twice a week while
on work release.
Mr. Chairman, the Farm Facility has received
three large pieces of carpentry equipment to be ut ilised in the inmate workshops. This equipment will
provide more opportunities for inmates to learn and
hone their woodworking skills in a safe sett ing. In a ddition, it will provide options in developing the Inmate
Co-Operative.

Co-Educational Facility

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the estimate
for business unit 35030, Co- Educational Facility, is
$300,000. This represents the same budget as t he
budget allocation for the fiscal year 2022/23. This f acility, with a capacity of 56 cells, has separate and
distinct provisions to house 40 adult females and six
young male offenders between the ages of 16 to 21.
In addition, it houses the department’s residential
substance abuse treatment programme/therapeutic community, the Right Living House. Educational and
vocational programmes are offered based on the
needs of the inmates and trainees who are identified
through the case management process.
Mr. Chairman, in fiscal year 2022/23, the CoEd Facility offered carpentry classes to male and f emale inmates. New carpentry equipment was recently
purchased during this fiscal year for the department.
This will not only benefit the inmates at the Co- Ed F acility, but it will benefit the Farm Facility and Westgate
Facility as well in the instruction of carpentry.
A chicken programme has been established
at the Co- Ed Facility. The purpose of this programme
is therapy in that the inmates care for the chickens.
The Right Living House Residential Substance Abuse
Treatment programme continued to provide core
treatment interventions/service elements. During the
fiscal year 2023/24, the Right Living House will be fully managed by the Department of Corrections, and
plans are being made for this transition.
702 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Chairman, in fiscal year 2023/24 the CoEd/Right Living House facility would like to initiate the
following:
• Fishing Initiative —to have the inmates catch
fish, which will reduce/eliminate the amount of
fish that is ordered from outside agencies.
This will also serve as outside recreation for
the inmates.
• Bee Initiative —to have beehives housed at
the Co- Educational Facility. This would allow
inmates to learn the full process of yielding two products of bee husbandry. As there are
limited beekeepers in Bermuda and Bermuda honey is very popular, this could create a vi able option for employment upon release for inmates. Also, the wax which is generated
could be used to make candles, crayons, hair
products, et cetera —

[Laughter]

He is riveted.

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Yes.
• Expand the animal programme at the CoEducational Facility to include goats animal
therapy as well as to breed rabbits with a view
to selling rabbit meat.

Westgate Correctional Facility

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the estimate
for business unit 35060, Westgate Correctional Facil ity, is $1,120,000. This represents the same budget as
the budget allocation for the fiscal year 2022/23.
Westgate Correctional Facility is an adult male establishment with the capacity to house 208 inmates classified as maximum, medium and minimum security , as
well as males on court remand. The majority of assessment and treatment programmes for male i nmates take place at this facility.
Mr. Chairman, in fiscal year 2022/23 it was
challenging for the Westgate Facility as a result of the
COVID -19 pandemic. C OVID -19-related illness and
quarantine impacted the facility with varying degrees
of staff absences and limited access by the pr ogrammes’ vendors at various phases of the pandemic which limited both service delivery and the opportunity
for inmates to conti nue their case plan recommendations. Additional COVID -19 measures were put in place in an effort to minimise the disruptions caused
and to normalise activities and services.
Mr. Chairman, in spite of our challenges, the
Westgate Facility continues to stri ve for every opportunity to provide activities and outlets to our clients.
The completion of the computer lab allowed inmates
to gain access to additional online educational and
technological programmes and assisted those i nmates who required an alternativ e style of educational
learning to enrol in academia. Also, the lab has expanded its capabilities to offer inmates access to legal statutes and documents that allow the inmates to pursue appeals and their current cases. An organised
Fathers Christmas Event was held in the visits area
and allowed inmates and their children to have an extended period of time to bond and reflect, as well as
the children receiving gifts donated by the Prison Fe llowship outreach programme. Fathers and children
were able to memor ialise the event with pictures taken
by staff. Mr. Chairman, the Culinary Arts programme
was reintroduced this fiscal year and was a resounding success. Both staff and inmates received instruction in all aspects of basic commercial kitchen management inc luding maintaining sanitary conditions.
Kitchen management is a vital part of the daily regime
in the Westgate Facility; hence this programme has
assisted with more efficient food preparation and skills gained to prepare varied delectable [treats] that can
be created from basic ingredients.
Over the past year, the Westgate Correctional
Facility has continued with a weekly antigen testing programme for officers and monthly testing for i nmates. This has proven beneficial to maintaining an effective monitorin g and identification tool that aids in
preventing a large scale of persons becoming infec ted.

Therapeutic Community Centre

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the estimate
for business unit 35090, Therapeutic Community Centre, is $1,036,000, which represents the same budget
as the budget allocation for the fiscal year 2022/23.
The Therapeutic Community Centre, also known as the Right Living House, is located at the CoEducational Facility. The Right Living House is a su bstance abuse rehabilitation programme that is segr egated from the remaining prison population. The pr ogramme has the capacity to house 18 adult male offenders with a history of substance abuse and assoc iated criminality. The programme aims to transition
residents to the broader community w ith an increased
potential for a life free of drug abuse and criminal activity through providing tools and opportunities for
change. The budget allocation funds staffing, oper ational costs and the inmate programmes.
Mr. Chairman, in fiscal 2022/23, the Ri ght Li ving House continued to face some challenges in r eBermuda House of Assembly gard to COVID -19 protocols as we adapt to living with
the new normal. Work release restarted for eligible
phase 3 members in the fall. The Day Release pr ogramme for eligible inmates also resumed in January 2023 with participants following COVID -19 protocols.
This is a critical part of the programme that helps the
clients transition to the community and prepares them
for the aftercare portion of Right Living House.
During Recovery Month in September 2022, a
graduation celebration was held for four men who
successfully completed the residential and aftercare portions of the programme. Despite challenges and
changes during the pandemic, staff and residents
have remained committed to the programme philos ophy, To Build a Future Better than the Past , by living
crime - and substance- free lives. Overall, the inmates
who participate in this programme continue to benefit
tremendously both whilst incarcerated and post -
release by way of the aftercare component of t he pr ogramme.
Social Services and Case Management

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the estimate
for business unit 35106, Social Services and Case
Management, $553,000. This represents the same
budget as the budget allocation for the fiscal year 2022 /23. This budget allocation provides for staffing of
one social worker and four case manag-ers/assessment officers and contracted specific service providers.
Mr. Chairman, the department’s social worker
is a member of the Department’s Multi -Disciplinary
Team and assists inmates and trainees with offencespecific associated problems in order to address behavioural, social and financial problems. The Social Work Team provides a variety of services to the i nmates and trainees, including the following:
• Thinking for a Change;
• Parenting Programmes (Fathers/Mothers and
Children Together );
Grief Counselling.
Health Services
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the estimate
for business unit 35107, Health Services, is
$1,469,000. This represents the same budget as the
budget allocation for the fiscal year 2022/23. This
budget allocation will provide funding for nursing staff
and health care services for inmates. When fully staffed, Health Services is managed by a senior nurse
and five registered nurses res ponsible for providing
services to the inmate population at all facilities. There is currently one vacant post.
Mr. Chairman, during fiscal 2022/23, Health
Services conducted COVID -19 testing for staff and
inmates and provided care to COVID -19-positive cases. The Health Services Team also administered
COVID -19 vaccinations to staff and inmates. The team managed all doctors’ clinics including dentistry,
medical, psychiatric, chiropody and physiotherapy.
The team provided health education for inmates on a
variety of chronic illnesses and COVID -19. Health
Services have commenced working on recommendations provided by an assessment that was conducted
by the UK Health Agency in 2022.
Mr. Chairman, in fiscal 2023/24, the Health
Services team plans to continue de veloping an inmate
health services handbook and increase inmate health
education sessions by 50 per cent. It is anticipated
that the increased education will increase participation
in flu shot and vaccine clinics. The Health Services
team will continue its long-term project of the impl ementing of an electronic medical records system.

Vocational Services

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the estimate
for business unit 35109, Vocational Services, is
$419,000. This represents a $115,000 increase. This
increase in funding will provide for the development of
an Inmate Co- operative Programme, a Throne
Speech Initiative.

Subjective Analysis of Current Account Estimates

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, I would like
to draw your attention to page B -276 of the Approved
Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure book, which is
the subjective analysis of the current account est imates. I will briefly comment on those items which
have a notable variance from the original estimates
from the 2022/23 fiscal year.
Mr. Chairman, Salaries has increased by
$1,914,000, or 12 per cent. This represents the i ncrease in salaries for 15 prison officers’ posts. Mr. Chairman, Professional Services has i ncreased by $91,000, or 4 per cent. This represents
funding for the service provider who will manage the new Co -Operative Programme for Inmates, as mentioned in the Throne Speech.
Mr. Chairman, Rentals has decreased by
$31,000, or 18 per cent. This represents a decrease in
rent, as Corrections Headquarters has now relocated
to Wes tgate and the savings will be used to fund the
POA salary review.
Mr. Chairman, Materials and Supplies has
increased by $14,000, or 1 per cent. This increase
represents supplies that will be needed for the Throne Speech Initiative regarding the inmate Co- Operative
Programme.
Mr. Chairman, the employee number, or full -
time equivalents, for 2023/24 is 223, an increase of eight full -time equivalents when compared to 2022/23.
Mr. Chairman, these additional eight FTEs represent Prison Officers Association [POA ] posts that were
previously unfunded. More inclusive, Mr. Chairman.

704 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Um-hmm.

Performance Measures

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, I would now
like to draw your attention to page B -277 which ou tlines the Performance Measures of the Dep artment of
Corrections. The forecast for 2023/24 is as follows:
1. The average daily inmate population is for ecasted at 128, with 25 of the admissions est imated to be first -time offenders who received
custodial sentences.
2. The number of inmates projected to be released on parole is forecasted to be 10.
3. In the 2021/22 fiscal year 50 per cent of eli gible inmates enrolled in de velopment and
treatment programmes aimed to address the
offending behaviours, address educational
and vocational needs and i mprove skil l deve lopment. The department has a target enro lment of 51 per cent for 2023/24,
4. The Department of Corrections calculates its recidivism rates according to internationally
accepted practices. Based on these standards, the rates include persons who have a
conviction for a new offence within one, two
and three years of their release. The actual outcome for 2021/22 was 18 per cent.

Capital Development and Acquisition

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, I will now
move to page C -7 and capital development. T he E stimate for 2023/24 is $850,000. The allocation will be
used for the continuation of the refurbishment f or the
inmate housing units at Westgate and the repairs to
the facilities as necessary. Page C -15 shows the
2023/24 estimate for capital acquisition is $367,000.
The department will commence procurement for an
Inmate Management System (Phase 1), replacement
of two ageing vehicles and continued components for
upgrades to the CCTV system.
Mr. Chairman, I will briefly set out some of the
priorities of the Department of Corrections for fiscal
year 2023/24.
• The department will continue with recruitment
to fill various vacant posts including civilian
and custodial staff.
• The department will work with other uniformed
services to revamp recruitment strategies in
an effort to recruit suitably qualified candidates and fill the needed vacancies.
• The department will work with management
services to develop a new three- year strategic
plan.
• As part of a plan to engage the community,
the department will partner with community
stakeholders to support the successful reint egration of inmates into the community. The Department of Corrections will also work with community partners to develop projects that
can benefit both the inmates and the wider
community.
• Finally, the department will continue to work
with other government agencies on Criminal
Justice related initiatives. Examples include the Child Safeguarding Committee, the Anti -
Corruption Committee and the Offender High Risk Management Team.
Mr. Chairman, at this time I would like to thank
the Commissioner Joell -Benjamin and her staff who
have, throughout the pandemic, provided exemplary service and delivered on their mission to protect the
public and provide rehabilitative services.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my rem arks on
Head 25. I will now move to Head 45, the Bermuda
Fire and Rescue Service [BFRS] .

Yes, thank you very much, Minister.
This is the debate on the [budget for] National
Security. We are in the Committee of Supply for further consideration of the Estimates of Revenue and
Expenditure for the year 2023/24. These are Heads
83, 6, 7, 12, 25 and 45. The Minister has completed
Heads 83, 6, 7, 12 and 25, and is now going on to
Head 45, Fire Service.
Minister, the time left for this particular debate
is 55 minutes. It finishes at 5:55, fifty minutes.
Carry on Minister.

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: [He’s] offering me some
milk.

[Laughter]

Milk coming from Mr. Dunkley is quite
an offer.
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, I am pleased
to present the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure
for Head 45, the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service
which can be found on pages B -278 through B-280 of
the current account estimates book.

HEAD 45 —BERMUDA FIRE AND
RESCUE SERVICE

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, t he mission
of the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service is To provide
fire protection to life and property through the deliv ery
of fire prevention, airport fire rescue, and emergency medical services to the community. We will deliver this through the dedicated and professional service of our


Bermuda House of Assembly uniform and civilian staff in collaboration with our
community partners.
Mr. Chairman, the Service is committed to
partnering with the community to provide quality ed ucation and fire prevention programme s to identify risks
of fire and life safety; and to respond to all emergencies in an effective, efficient, and professional manner.
The department’s objectives are to
• continue re- certifications in Aircraft Rescue
Firefighting for the Airport Division;
• deliver the 2023/24 foundational recruit
course for trainee firefighters.
• continue leadership training courses for mi ddle managers;
• continue suc cession planning training courses
for senior managers;
• continue with the assimilation of the UK N ational Operational Guidance standard for Pr ofessional Firefighting Practice—
[Mr. W. Lawrence Scott, Chairman]

Mr. Minister, I just wanted to let the
audience know that I heard the word “airport” and felt
as though I should insert myself into this conversation
as the Chairman. You now have roughly about 45
minutes left on your debate.

General Summary

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Good afternoon, Mr. Chai rman.
Mr. Chairman, the total budget estimate for
the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service for the 2023/24
financial year is $14,880,000. This reflects an i ncrease of $1,668,000, or 13 per cent over the 2022/23
financi al year. This increase primarily reflects the i ncreased funding required to meet the revised minimum duty strength at airport operations and the need to hire an additional 24 firefighters for the L. F. Wade
International Airport.
Mr. Chairman, I will now address the main
business units which can be found on page B -278.

Business Unit 55060 —Central Emergency
Fire Service

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: The Central Emergency Fire
Service cost centre covers the provision of Fire and
Emergency Services from the Hamilton, Eastern, and
Western Fire Stations. These stations respond to
fires, road traffic accidents, and hazardous material incidents when required.
This business unit has a budget allocation of
$5,993,000, which is a decrease of $288,000, 5 per
cent over the financial year 2022/23. This decrease is
attributed mainly to a reduction in the anticipated overtime. These savings will be achieved through the ef-fective workforce management of operations and personnel leave to reduce overtime costs.

Business Unit 55 080—Other Services Central
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, Other Services Central, contains the Vehicle Repair services and Maintenance personnel. This unit has a budget
estimate of $817,000, which is an increase of
$263,000, or 47 per cent from the 2022/23 financial
year. This increase is mainly attributed to the increasing maintenance costs of an a geing vehicle fleet i ncluding the extraordinary inflationary costs owing to
supply chain challenges and the increased costs of
the manufacture, and logist ics of procuring and supply
of very specialised vehicle inventory of an older fleet.

Business Unit 55090 —St. George’s Emergency
Fire Service

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: The St. George’s Emergency Fire Service c ost centre covers the provision of Fire
and Emer gency Services to the e astern end of the
Island from the Clearwater Fire Station. This station responds to fires, road traffic accidents, medical
emergencies, and hazardous material incidents when
required.
This business unit has an estimated budget
allocation of $107,000, which is an increase of
$18,000, or 20 per cent from the 2022/23 financial
year. This increase is attributed to the increased cost of electricity, and repair and maintenance of the st ation.

Business Unit 55100 —Emergency Medical Services

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the Emergency Medical Services business unit is responsible
for equipment and supplies associated with the de-partment’s Emergency Medical Response throughout
the Island. The unit has an estimated budget of
$150,000, w hich is an increase of $43,000, or 40 per
cent. This increase reflects the increased costs of medical personal protective equipment, medical supplies, and training and certification of Emergency Medical Technicians during the 2023/24 financial
year.

Business Unit 55110 —Eastern Volunteer Division

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: The Eastern Volunteer Div ision’s role was to provide additional support to full -
time firefighters during protracted incidents.
This business unit has not received any fun ding for the 2023/2 4 financial year, which represents a
reduction of $20,090, or 100 per cent from the
2022/23 financial year. This reduction is part of the
organisational redirecting of resources to support the
recruitment and training of 24 new Airport Rescue Fire
706 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Fighters . Consequently, funding for the 2023/24 fina ncial year will be targeted to the most critical operations
which include the airport and domestic obligations.
The future direction of the Eastern Volunteer
Division will be considered by His Majesty’s Inspec-torate for Police and Fire and Rescue Service who will
conduct a comprehensive review of the Fire Service
during the 2023/24 financial year.

Business Unit 55120 —West End Emergency
Fire Service
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: The West End Emergency
Fire Ser vice cost centre covers the provision of Fire
and Emergency Services to the western end of the
Island from the Port Royal Station. This station r esponds to fires, road traffic accidents, medical emergencies, and hazardous material incidents when r equired.
This business unit has an estimated budget
allocation of $144,000, which is an increase of
$80,000, or 125 per cent from the 2022/23 financial
year. This increase is attributed to the estimated cost of minimum overtime as a result of protracted emergencies , and other operational expenses such as fuel,
and staff welfare improvements during the 2023/24
financial year. The remaining $64,000 is allocated for building maintenance and general operational cost.

Business Unit 55150 —Training

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the respons ibility of the Training Section is to provide strategic
pathways for initial firefighter qualifications, professional development, and implementation of maint enance of core competencies for firefighters and civi lian staff. The Tr aining Section also facilitates all overseas specialised qualifications and mandatory reval idation in line with both local and international r equirements.
A budget estimate of $1,004,000 for this unit
reflects an increase of $832,000, or 484 per cent.
Mr. Chairman, training during the 2022/23 f inancial year included [the following]:
• national registered emergency medical tec hnicians
• airport firefighters ’ revalidation
• advance incident command course
• hazardous material and environment specialist certificati on
• aircraft watch commander certification
• self-contained breathing apparatus repair
technician certification
• emergency driving courses
• recertification of certified Fire Inspectors and
certified Plans Examiner (NFPA)
• certified emergency vehicle repair techn ician
training (Angloco) • emergency medical technician instructors cer-tification
• emergency medical technician allied health recertification
• CPR recertification
The increased funding for the 2023/24 financial year will support the services’ operational prep aredness and succession planning through the acquis ition of professional qualifications obtained locally and
overseas. Fire o fficers will complete the following
courses during the 2023/24 financial year:
• Foundation Recruit Course
• Emergency Medical Technician Course
• CPR Recertification
• Middle Managers Course
• Senior Management Course
• Airport Rescue Fire Fighters revalidation
• Allied Heath Continuing Education Units
(CEU)
A more detailed explanation of this increase in
funding will be discussed in the Subjective Analysis.

Business Unit 55170 —General Administration

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the General
Administration cost centre is responsible for the funding and support services of the administration section of the depar tment. The budget estimate for this unit is
$3,125,000, which is a modest decrease of $1,000, or 1 per cent from the financial year 2022/23.

Business Unit 55190 —Emergency Dispatch

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the Emergency Dispatch cost centre has an establishment of
14 full -time equivalents. The Fire Dispatch is responsible for answering both fire and medical 911 calls from the community and dispatch of the appropriate
fire and medical resources.
The budget estimate for this business unit is
$970,000. This increase of $105,000, or 12 per cent is
attributed to an additional $100,000 allocated for over-time cost that is anticipated due to staffing shortage.
The emergency dispatch is currently operating with 9
of the 14 established full -time equival ents. The overtime estimation provides a more accurate reflection of
the budgetary requirements for efficient operation of
this business unit.
Mr. Chairman, a recruitment drive to fill the
staffing shortage is ongoing in collaboration with the
Department of Employee and Organisational Development.
Mr. Chairman, during the 2022/23 financial
year, the emergency dispatch answered approximat ely 9,429 calls for service. This represents an increase of 2,017, or 27 per cent from the 2021/22 financial
year.


Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Chairman, emergency medical dispatc hers coordinate resources required for firefighting operations and provide life- saving medical instructions to
the community during a 911 call. The emergency di spatch is operated by a team of highly skilled emer-gency medical dispatchers who provide a reassuring
first link to a person who is experiencing an extreme
event.

Business Unit 55200 —Airport Fire Rescue
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, this business
unit provides Aircraft Emergency Rescue and Fire Fightin g Services at the L. F. Wade International Ai rport, as prescribed by the Overseas Territories Avi ation Requirements (OTAR) part 140. The L. F. Wade
International Airport operates as a Category 9 airport.
The category of an airport determines the maximum
size of aircraft that can land at the airport, the manpower and equipment requirements, and the exti nguishing medium.
Mr. Chairman, the budget estimate for this
unit is $2,548,000, an increase of $627,000, or 33 per
cent. This increase is attributable to th e funding r equired to increase the number of full -time equivalents
to meet the Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority regulat ory requirements for fire protection of the L. F. Wade
International Airport. These requirements were amended after the January 2022 Skyport audit of the
Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service airport operations.
Mr. Chairman, the audit was conducted by a
UK-based aviation expert who determined that the
current establishment of 23 firefighters was insuff icient. Consequently, it has been determined that 48
will be required to safeguard airport operations in
alignment with the Overseas Territories Aviation R equirements (OTAR ). Mr. Chairman, you will recall that
I have provided Ministerial Statements to this Honour-able House on this revised requirem ent and the re ason for the surge in firefighters at the airport.
Mr. Chairman, at the time of the audit compl etion, there were only 13 full -time firefighters at the ai rport station. Coverage was managed through signif icant use of overtime hours. In order to immediately bolster staff and keep the airport open to international
flights, the BFRS contracted 25 overseas firefighters trained in airport rescue and fire- fighting. Funding for
the contract was sourced from the realignment of the
existing BFRS budget and supplementary request. To
date, the service has spent $1,117,495 on contracted firefighters to meet the staffing requirements. In the
2023/24 financial year, the BFRS intends to cease all contracts with overseas fire- fighters and substantively
fill the necessary posts.
The increased funding for the airport fire rescue reflects the cost of recruitment, mandatory initial certifications, and provisioning of 24 additional full -
time equivalents, and the annual revalidation of all tenured Aircraft Rescue Fir e Fighters. This funding will also support the organisational maintenance of pr ofessional competency scheme in alignment with the Overseas Territories Aviation Requirements (OTAR).
Mr. Chairman, I now draw your attention to
page B -279 of the current account estimates book,
Subjective Analysis of Current Account Estimates.

Subjective Analysis of Current Account Estimates

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, I will now
speak to the subjective analysis of current account
estimates and those object codes that show substa ntial changes over the 2022/23 financial year found on
page B -279.
The funding allocation for salaries for the f inancial year 2023/24 is $11,436,000. This is an i ncrease of $391,000, or 4 per cent from the financial
year 2022/23. This increase is attributed to funding of
additional full -time equivalents that will be assigned to
provide fire protection at the L. F. Wade International
Airport, training, and procurement of personal protective equipment.
Training allocation of $989,000 represents an
increase of $831,000, or 526 per cent. This increase
is attributed to new regulatory requirements that raised the manning level for fire fighters required to
protect the L. F. Wade International Airport following
the 2022 Skyport audit of BFRS Airport O perations.
The audit findings determined a new minimum staffing
level that required a 108 per cent increase from a total
of 23 firefighters to 48 firefighters. The increased funding reflects the cost of recruitment, mandatory initial certifications, and pr ovisioning of 24 additional full -
time equivalents, and the annual revalidation of all tenured Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighters. This funding will
also support the organisational maintenance of pr ofessional competency scheme in alignment with the Overseas Terr itories Aviation Requirements (OTAR).
An additional $11,500 has been allocated for local
training at the Bermuda College and private sector
institutions.
Travel allocation for the 2023/24 financial year
is $74,000. This supports the increased travel r equirements for fire officers to undertake specialised
training and recertifications.
Communications allocation of $294,000 is a
decrease of $52,000, or 15 per cent. This decrease
reflects savings and efficiencies as a result of the
Government’s purchase of it s own radio system,
which has eliminated rental fees during the 2023/ 24
financial year.
Repair and maintenance allocation for the
2023/24 financial year is $629,000. This is an i ncrease of $252,000, or 67 per cent. The increase r eflects maintenance of age ing vehicles, supply chain
challenges and the extraordinary inflationary cost due to the manufacture and logistics of procuring special-ised vehicle inventory.
708 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Energy allocation for the 2023/24 financial
year is $429,000. This represents an increase of
$25,000, or 6 per cent. The increase is attributed to
the increase in energy usage at the Clearwater St ation. The Clearwater Station houses both the Struc-tural Fire Fighters and the Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighters. It is anticipated that the increase activity that will
result from increasing the mandatory number of Ai rport Rescue Firefighters from 23 to 48, or 108 per
cent, will increase overall energy usage at the Clearwater Station for the 2023/24 financial year.
Clothing, uniforms and laundry allocation for
the 2023/24 financial year is $173,000, an increase of
175 per cent. The increase reflects the procurement of
work uniforms and heat -resistant personal protective
clothing for the 24 new firefighters that will make up
the expanded workforce required for the Airport Operations.
Materials and Supplies allocation of $333,000
is an increase of $78,000, or 31 per cent. The i ncrease reflects the procurement of medical supplies,
firefighting tools, and equipment. This allocation will
also support the Home Safety F ire Programme. Members of the community can request fire officers to visit
homes to conduct a fire safety inspection. During their visit, officers will install free smoke detectors inside
the home if required. This initiative will increase com-munity fire s afety awareness and reduce the risk in
homes.

Revenue Source

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the estimates
of revenue for the service can also be found on page
B-279. The revenue estimate for the 2023/24 financial
year is estimated at $320,000, a reduction of $36,000,
or 10 per cent. Revenue in 2022/23 was above normal
due to increased licensing and fire certificate applic ations following a lull in applications during the COVID -
19 pandemic.

And Minister, I will just take this opportun ity to let you know that we are at 5:30. You
have roughly 25 minutes left.
For the listening audience, we are in the
Committee of Supply speaking to Head 45, Fire Service on page B -279.
Minister, you have the floor.
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, all commercial buildings and
large residential properties undergo Fire and Life Safety Risk Assessment and submit an application for
a fire certificate. Fire certificates are valid for a period
of one to five years based on the lev el of risk. Re -
licensing occurs over the life span of a building. The
combined revenue generated from fire certificate applications fees and general licenc es for the 2023/24
financial year is estimated to be $170,000. Mr. Chairman, the Service also generates
revenue from airport operations providing fire protection to after -hour aviation flights at the L. F. Wade I nternational Airport. This includes commercial and crit ical care air ambulance flights. Revenue for the 2023/ 24 financial year is estimated at $150,000.

Employee Numbers (Full -Time Equivalents)

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, the employee
numbers or full -time equivalents can also be found on
page B -279 and reflects an increase of 29, from 127
in the financial year 2022/23 to 156 in the financial
year 2023/24. Twenty -four previously unfunded full -
time equivalents will be funded to align with the new
minimum duty strength requirements for the L. F.
Wade International Airport. Five vacant and funded
full-time equivalents as a result of retirements, and
resignations will also be filled. Advertising for these
posts is currently underway and , subject to legislative
approval of the budget, the recruits will be on boarded and begin training at the earliest opportunity.

Capital Acquisition Funding

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, I now draw
your attention to page C -15 where you will note that
the Ministry of National Security has budgeted
$1,419,000 of capital acquisition funding for the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service. This funding will allow
the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service to initiate the
purchase of four special ised major foam vehicles for
the Airport Operations Division to replace those that
have reached the end of their service life.
Funding of $38,000 is also provided for the
procurement of a new command vehicle for the airport
operations.

Achievements for 2022/23

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, although
there have been many challenges during the 2022/23
financial year, the year was also marked by several
triumphs for the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service.
• Three members of the community were given
the Community Heroism Awards by the Chief
Fire Officer for their courageous actions that
prevented the escalation of a boat that caught fire while docked alongside of a gas station in
St. George’s.
• Fire Fighter Dillon Charles received the
Community Heroism Award in recognition of
his extraordinary efforts while off duty to rescue two people after their car went into the
water.
• Ten local recruits recently completed six
weeks of intense training in the United King-dom. The new fire fighters returned on the
26
th of February having successfully obtained


Bermuda House of Assembly certification as A irport Rescue Fire Fighters.
The fire fighters will provide fire protection for
the L. F. Wade International Airport.
• From the 20th to the 24th of February, seven
senior fire officers successfully completed the
Multi -Agency Gold Incident Command (MA GIC) Course that was delivered by visiting Uni ted Kingdom experts from the College of Poli cing in collaboration with the National Ambulance Resilience Uni t and the National Fire
Chief Council.
Key performance operational indicators for
emergency responses for the 2022/23 financial year
indicate that there was a total of 4,169 calls for service, they consisted of
• 614 road traffic collisions;
• 1,057 structural fires;
• 2,031 medical responses;
• 16 vehicle fires;
• 765 responses to hot refuels, aircraft standby,
emergency diversions, and foreign object i nspections at the L. F. Wade International ai rport;
• 300 special service calls to floods, oil spills, and gas cylinder leaks.

2023/24 Financial Year Plans

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, in the
2023/24 financial year the Bermuda Fire and Rescue
Service will continue to advance its objectives of trai ning and assimilation with international standards in fire
safety.
Mr. Chairman, in order to ensure that the
Bermuda Fire and R escue Service is meeting the
needs of the community, I have invited His Majesty’s
Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services to conduct a review of the Service.
Mr. Chairman, over the years the needs of the
community have changed with the maj ority of service
calls now being responses to road traffic accidents
and medical emergencies. This is partly owing to the design and construction of our properties, the fire
code requirements and fire prevention training.
Mr. Chairman, this will be an ind ependent assessment of the effectiveness and efficiency of the
Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service including the services provided and how resources are used. The i nspection assesses how effective and efficient the service is, how it protects the public agains t fires and
other emergencies and how it responds to the same.
They will also assess how well the service looks after
the people who work there.
Mr. Chairman, the objective is to ensure that
we have a future facing fire service that meets the
changing needs of our community. Mr. Chairman, the
review will be tabled in the House and assist us to
ensure that the service is properly resourced and its
services aligned with the needs of the community. Mr. Chairman, in the 2023/24 fiscal year the
public can expect that the Bermuda Fire and Rescue
Service will
• implement a robust maintenance of competency programme to support professional d evelopment of all fire fighters;
• recruit additional local fire fighters to provide
critical fire protection for the L. F. Wade International Airport;
• introduce new technology to deliver and rec-ord all training activities, professional development, and incident command competencies;
• develop a business community risk profile
through fire safety inspections and the fire
certificate application process;
• continue to educate the community about fire
safety awareness and installation of smoke detectors in homes of selected population;
• commence the procurement process for four specialised major foam vehicles for fire pr otection at the L. F. Wade International Airport.

Community Risk Reduction

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Chairman, to address
the risks associated in our community, fire officers and
fire inspectors are conducting risk assessments in
accordance with the Fire Safety Act 2014. The risk
assessments are necessary to identify the risks in the community. This data will help formulate targeted fire
safety programmes to increase community education ,
reduce fires and other related emergencies and with
the objective of reducing the c alls for service.
Mr. Chairman, in addition to the home fire
safety visit programme, the BFRS will introduce a home smoke alarm programme which will see the fire officers providing and installing smoke alarms in s elected parts of the community.
Mr. Chair man, as I have already mentioned,
the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service is currently advertising for 24 local recruits to join their ranks during the 2023/24 financial year. The selected appl icants will be required to complete a minimum of nine weeks of spec ialised training in Bermuda and the
United Kingdom before replacing the contracted fir efighters who are providing fire protection at the L. F.
Wade International Airport. Once again, I encourage all interested locals to ready themselves to apply for
these positions as they become available.
The men and women of the Bermuda Fire and
Rescue Service are some of Bermuda’s heroes. They
are the first responders we see in our greatest time of need. The service they provide is exemplary. I would
like to thank Actin g Chief Fire Officer, Dana Lovell and
his team for their service to the community. The Mini stry of National Security will continue to support them
as they remain on the frontline of keeping Bermuda
safe.
710 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Chairman, this concludes my submission
for the Ministry of National Security, Heads 83, 6, 7,
12, 25 and 45.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Minister.
Would anyone like to speak on the National
Security Heads 83, 6, 7, 12, 25 and 45, as we have 15
minutes left.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Now I know why the Honourable Member wanted to
speak on the motion to adjourn [the other] night. He
had so much to say in the budget debate, he tried to
get a few minutes off of his chest.
In all seriousness, Mr. Chairman, I enjoyed
the presentation today. But it is difficult to give an a dequate reply when we only have 15 minutes. But let
me hit a few of the high points.
First, looking at Ministry Headquarters . . . but
first let me thank all of the professionals in thi s Ministry and certainly thank the Commissioner and the PS
and others who are in the Gallery today, for their ded ication and commitment to improving the safety and
security of our country. Sometimes we take it for
granted. They are on the frontline and we know it is
not easy work. But it must be done.
Mr. Chairman, in regard to the headquarters, I
am very disappointed that here we are one year on and the CCTV system is now being progressed. It was
in the budget for last year. No funds were used. It was
supposed to have been progressed last year and it
has not been done. Unfortunately, as we have seen with the Honourable Minister’s S tatement just last
week I believe, it seems like a significant number of
the cameras are not in very good service and now we
are paying a price for that inaction. Obviously, in my
view, and I think [a view] supported by colleagues in
this Chamber, CCTV is a critical part of the operation
of the Police Service and other services throughout
the community. So I hope that in this comi ng year we
can actually make some progress because I think
Band -Aids are worn out on the system and it is not
going to work any longer , +the current system. So we
need to replace it.
In regard to other comments in the Ministry’s
heads, quite interestingly , Mr. Chairman, when you
look at the numbers for the past three years through
the Ministry of National Security, you will see that with
final numbers coming out for 2021/22, every depar tment within the Ministry had an overspend from their original budget, every department other than the po-lice. And I raise that because obviously there can be
some circumstances that warrant that. We were just
coming off of COVID -19 in 2021/22, but we did have
[2020] where we could budget for it appropriately so
we should hav e learned from our past experience in
2021/22. But every department other than police was over [budget] and it was significant at that time. Police were actually in good shape at $59
million. They were $2.2 million under their budget. And it looks like in the current financial year (because
this is a budget, so I should raise the number) the overspend within the department , the whole depar tment, all of the different heads, will be estimated to be
$3.4 million and, again, police are projected to come
in on their budget.
I say that specifically because in my time in
politics, in my time as the Minister, I have been i mpressed with the police budgeting process. And the
police have had to deal with a significant reduction in
funding because in 2017/18 (I’m going off the top of
my head), I think the police budget in that year was
$67 million. So now here we are. They are $5 million
below that and still expected to keep Bermuda safe.
So, interesting. And I would hope that we can do bet-ter throughout the rest of the department as we go
forward in this next financial year.
A big focus, quite rightly so, for the Gover nment, and the OBA Government as well, was gang
violence reduction. Mr. Chairman, not being critical of the programmes , because I wish the Honourable Mi nister had given more detail on the programmes because it was a rehash, basically, of what we heard in the last budget again this year without saying much
[about what] was new, other than there was a meeting
down at the Hamilton Princess where they talked
about their goals. But I want to see when the actions
come out of that [meeting] how they are going to handle that. But if you look at gang violence reduction
strategy, Mr. Chairman, we have seen an over -budget
every year.
So, in 2021/22 it was $379,000. The final
number was $499,000, a 30 per cent increase on the
budget. In 2022/23, $621,000. The final number is
projected to be $821,000, a 30 per cent increase in
the budget. In this current . . . the next financial year it
is supposed to be $946,000, a 50 per cent increase
on the budget for this year. Now, it is one thing to
have extenuating circumstances and have to do
something about it; but it is concerning when you see
the last three years over on the budget. So I ask the
Honourable Minister how we ar e going to stop this
creep on the budget every year from what has ha ppened. And generally, throughout the Ministry I have not seen one supplementary estimate tabled yet. The
Minister mentioned supplementary estimates, but I
have not seen one supplementary estimate tabled at
this time.
Before I move on to other important matters, a
police authority was talked about last year. That
seems to have disappeared. Last year we talked
about a national crime plan. That seems to have di sappeared. I am pleased to see that we are going to
continue on with cybersecurity.
Now, generally throughout the Ministry we
have seen a significant commitment by the Gover nment to increase the staffing of the professionals in all


Bermuda House of Assembly departments. And that’s good. But what we are actua lly doing, Mr. Chairman, is catching up for austerity
measures that the Government talked about the past
two years. And we have paid for that with increased
overtime and, perhaps, a reduction of services and safety in certain areas. It is unacceptable.
But here we are now, where we look at . . .
and I just did the back -of-the-envelope numbers on
what it is anticipated through all of those departments
. . . I added up 87 additional professionals. Now, it
might be a bit more because the Minister was going
through all of the briefs and it was hard to keep track
of it. But the number that he actually said was 87.
With all of those professional services pulling from the
same pool, I would believe that it would be very diff icult if not impossible to get those prof essionals trained
and in those positions in a reasonable period of time in this next financial year. Which means that we will
have to pay more overtime and will have challenges
based on that. So, I look forward to hearing (there
won’t be a question period now) the progress on that
on how we are going to fill those professional [positions] .
Let me turn to the Bermuda Police Service
because time is short. Mr. Chairman, I am a big supporter of the Bermuda Police Service. As a former
Minister I am well aware of the challenges that they have. There are a couple of things I want to address
today, and I am going to be very careful in what I say
because of confidentiality and protecting their oper ations. I support Operation Vega, but as a person who
has analysed sy stems for a while, Operation Vega, to
me, is a Band- Aid. It’s been successful; it has appr ehended a lot of people. We see the numbers. But O peration Vega tells me, because it happens on an i nfrequent basis every few weeks or every few months,
that we do not have the road policing unit we need,
because they are probably deployed somewhere else,
like investigations of fatal accidents.
Road safety needs to be a more important
consideration for this Honourable Chamber and the
Government. We focus in on gangs and guns and vi olence, as we should, but the Minister said how many
road fatalities we had since 2017 and I bet you that it
is 50 per cent more than the number of murders. If we
are having more road fatalities , why are we not making sure we stop that? We ar e concentrating on gangs
and guns, why are we taking the professionals and using them somewhere else and then bringing them
out for a mass blitz on the streets? It makes no sense.
What we have now in Bermuda for road safety
is a culture of bad driving. I t is absolutely disgusting.
And we need to, not arrest it (because that is the
wrong word, talking about police), but we need to
make sure that we change it. And the only way we
change it is to have the presence on the streets. So we should support the pol ice in getting them out there
and doing that. The same thing as well. I am hearing concerns within the police in regard to armed response. And I will talk to the Minister off of the record, but I
want it on the record here that I am concerned about
the number of actual firearm officers we have, their ability to be covered by insurance, and their ability to
be compensated for their extra pay for their training.
That’s all I will say in that regard, Mr. Chairman.
You gave me the five- minute signal, so that
doesn’t mean I can touch on too many other subjects,
Mr. Chairman. One thing that I will do is jump right to
airport fire operations.
Now, Mr. Chairman, one of the things that I
am kind of curious about is the challenges with OTAR
[Overseas Territories A viation Requirements] . It
seems to me that it publicly became a challenge in
early 2022. So I ask the Honourable Minister a ques-tion. When was the first time this Government knew of
the challenges with OTAR? He talked about an audit
in 2022. But my sources tell me it was a year earlier
that challenges were identified. And what we are seeing now is because we have, in my view, been slow to address it, we see an overspend in Airport Fire Rescue of over $3 million this past year. And we had to
hire 24 professi onals to fill those positions which, you
know, the way that the recruitment process goes, the
way the training process goes and all of the bureaucracy around it, we might we whistling Dixie on this one.
So, as we talk about getting these services up
to the levels they need within Corrections, which I
know has got very serious morale issues, if we talk about getting the staff needed to run the high expect ations of the public I am going to be holding Gover nment to account to make sure that those positions are
filled, because I have my sincere doubts that they will
be filled, because we do a lot of talk without much action happening. And we are all pulling from the same
pool. Does that mean that of those 85 to 100 people that we need we are going to have to r ecruit them
from overseas?
We have some serious challenges to deal
with there. So I ask the Honourable Minister if we can
have a conversation afterwards because there won’t
be any question time to get more information on that because I cannot believe that OTAR would do an a udit and give you no time to implement it. It just does
not seem like a practical way to operate. So, som ewhere along the line I believe somebody has dropped
the ball.
I am pleased to see that there is going to be a
comprehensive review of the Bermuda Fire Rescue
Service. But the Honourable Minister talked in Corrections about a review. Last year there was supposed to
be an external salary review that has not been talked
about. I would like to get an update on that external
salary review that was talked about last year.
In regard to Customs, last year the X -ray
scanner was talked about, and money being put into
712 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly the repair of that. It was exactly the same words that
were used this year. So my question is, Have we actually done any improvements to that scanner? Have
we given it a longer shelf life? And when will the
scanner repair be finished, rejuvenated, refit or whatever you want to call it, and we can move on and just
have a regular maintenance contract? The reason
why I say that is because every single container that
comes into the Island should be scanned, 100 per
cent. Every single container that should come to the
Island. There should be no down time on it. And if you look at the budget, we are spending a significant
amount of money on repairs and maintenance as we
go through.
Mr. Chairman, I understand that there are
some challenges with air ambulance regulations now
on some of the navigational equipment that they might
have to be required to fly with which could impact the
air ambulances coming to Bermuda. This is serious,
because if there is a withdrawal of some of the craft
that normally come to Bermuda it could impact patient health and safety. So we need to take a look at that.
That is just what some in the industry are telling me,
Mr. Chairman.
You are looking at me like you would like me
to cut off.

You have got roughly 30 seconds.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: About 30 seconds?
So, I will end by asking a curious question
because I am not going to get into something serious
in 30 seconds. But a curious question is, last year in
Customs they talked about a K9 cash dog. I ask the
question of the Honourable Minister , How much cash
has that K9 dog sniffed out?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman

Thank you.
Minister, it looks like we have reached the end
of our time for the debate on National Security, Heads
83, 6, 7, 12, 25 and 45. If you would like to move
those heads . . .

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Before I move the heads, I would just like to
undertake . . . the Member who just took his seat. If he
would submit the questions to me, I will undertake to
get the answers to him.
Mr. Chairman, I move that Heads 83, 6, 7, 12,
25 and 45 be approved as printed.

It has bee n moved that Heads 83, 6,
7, 12, 25 and 45 for the Ministry of National Security
be approved.
Is there any objection to that motion?
With there being no objection, agreed to.
[Motion carried: The Ministry of National Security
Heads 83, 6, 7, 12, 25 and 45 were approved and
stand part of the Estimates of Revenue and Expend iture for the year 2023/24.]

And that brings us to the end of our
debate on National Security, Heads 83, 6, 7, 12, 25
and 45. Next up is going to be the Ministry of Youth,
Culture and Sport, Heads 71, 20 and 52. This will be a
three- hour debate.
I now give the Minister or the person responsible in this Honourable Chamber for the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sport the floor. MP, Kim Swan.

MINISTRY OF YOUTH, CULTURE
AND SPORT

Thank you, very much,
Mr. Chairman.
Once again I am pleased, hum bled and ho noured to be able to present the budget for the year of 2023/24 Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for
the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sport, which can be
found starting on page B -237 of the Estimates b ook.
Mr. Chairman, I will briefly dis cuss the Ministry
as a whole followed by information for Head 71, the
Ministry Headquarters, and then in detail the two departments that fall under the Ministry, namely, Head 20, the Department of Youth, Sport and Recreation;
and Head 52, the Department of Culture.
Mr. Chairman, the mission of the Ministry of
Youth, Culture and Sport is To develop and celebrate
our people. And we truly believe that the uniqueness
of our people and our culture is the country’s greatest
asset, our values, our strength our resilience are ev erything that makes Bermuda the incredible country
that it is today. And our Ministry is committed to developing and celebrating our people.


Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Chairman, before I get into details of the
budget, I just want to share with the Honourable
Hous e some of the successes for 2022 from our Mi nistry. The launch of the National Youth Policy, which was a 2021 Throne Speech commitment, provides a roadmap for this Government to raise the value of
sport in Bermuda and increase the participation and
regiona l success over the next five years. The policy
will outline the steps needed to create an environment
supporting consistent excellence in sport and underscoring the central role of sport in our society. The Department of Youth, Sport and Recreation is prim arily responsible for the implementation of the policy and
will work collaboratively with the National Sports Governing Bodies and stakeholders. Looking back, Mr. Chairman, I also wish to
highlight and welcome the return of the Bermuda Day Heritage Parad e in its regular format. Indeed, quite an
important part of our calendar. As you know, Mr.
Chairman, the first Bermuda Day Parade, held in
1979, was designed specifically to unite the communi-ty and remains an integral celebration of the Island
and our peop le. The Bermuda Day festivities are a
vibrant celebration winding through the streets of
Hamilton full of music, culture and patriotic pride.
Showcasing culture at its very best, the parade features dance groups, bands, majorettes, decorated floats, Gombey troupes, and even locals making food
on the side of the road (because they know the areas we frequent).
While the traditional floats harken back to the
Easter Parade using natural materials, the new cat egories have been introduced to highlight modern ar t
and the creative ingenuity of Bermuda’s floats. Chi ldren showcase their hours of rehearsal from dance
school. Community groups walk alongside a banner
and are cheer ed from the side-lines with hundreds of
people dancing in the streets as Gombey rhythm carries t hem forward united as Bermudians. Truly, Mr.
Chairman, Bermuda Day is a family -oriented day to
celebrate our Island home and the cultures within it.
The Ministry continued to support the production of the Clyde Best film. The overall aim of this init iative is to produce a feature length 90- minute doc umentary film on the Bermudian football legend Clyde
Best. This film will give a first -hand look at overcoming
racial discrimination in sport through the lens of a barrier-breaking player. All that said, Mr. C hairman, in
some sports you see it still being played out today.
So, this particular initiative will certainly serve the
world, as Clyde Best is well known for his breakthrough in football —the first Black role model in English football. He is a Bermudian native who played 221
games for West Ham United [Football Club], my f ather’s team, from 1968 to 1976, scoring 58 goals as a
striker, and in the process becoming one of the trai lblazing Black footballers (soccer players, if you want
to call it so) in the 1970s in the UK and also in the
United States, where I believe he played a bit for the Tampa Rowdies and may have played for one or two
other teams as well as he neared the end of his c areer.
Mr. Chairman, the objective of this initiative is
to distribute th e film on a major worldwide streaming
platform and festival. And I know the good work that
Culture does in this sphere, having had some exper ience with them producing one for the late, great Louis
Corbin out of St. George’s, thanks to a former Minister
(thank you, Ms. Foggo).
Mr. Chairman, Minister Darrell had the opportunity to attend the second World Anti -Doping Assoc iation (WADA) Forum held for Ministers responsible for
Sport in the Caribbean. And it was on the 27
th of January in Kingston, Jamaica. Mini ster Darrell attended
with the legendary Ms. Debbie Jones -Hunter, from
Berkeley, CEO of the Bermuda Sports Anti -Doping
Authority. Mr. Chairman, the intent of the second
WADA forum is to follow up on issues raised at the
inaugural, which included:
• to clear ly define a plan of action for the a dvancement of strong anti -doping programmes
in the region to include testing, education, and
capacity building;
• to receive reports from member countries on
measures that will be taken in respective
countries towards str engthening their pr ogrammes; and
• to identify areas in which WADA may support member countries.
Mr. Chairman, [delegates], including Minister
Darrell and CEO Jones -Hunter were able to tour J amaica’s Anti -Doping Commission’s facilities including
the mobile unit which is the only one of its kind in the
Caribbean and the second in the world. Mr. Chairman, the event provided an opportunity, an excellent one, to
strengthen our engagement in sport within the region.
The benefits of learning more about anti -dopin g issues will prove critical as we continue to strive to raise
the game for clean sport. Indeed, indeed, indeed.
Mr. Chairman, Minister Darrell just returned
from Argentina where he attended the International Cricket Council (ICC) Qualifiers held February 25
through 28. And, Mr. Chairman, as you may know,
Bermuda has won a bid to host the ICC 2024 Men’s
T20 World Cup America Qualifiers in September of
this year.
Now that’s something big, Mr. Chairman, because our young men are really doing well. You don’t
hear as much about it. If they weren’t doing well you
would have heard a lot about it, more about it. But
they are doing well down in Argentina and because
this Government is supporting sport . . . the Minister
has told me that we are supporting the young people
through sport and striving for excellence.
As the Government’s ambassador for sports,
this travel allowed the Minister the opportunity, along
with the attending technical officer to
• assess the regional ICC events on display;
714 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly • engage with key officials and administrators to
gain further insight into the process required
to stage an ICC event;
• signal to ICC executives, the establishment in
cricket, that Bermuda is committed to repr esenting cricket on a global stage, and one that
is exceptional as well.
Mr. Chairman, the Minister’s presence at
these matches underscores that the Bermuda Government is committed to supporting the Bermuda
Cricket Board in delivering a first -class World Cup
qualifying tournament in Bermuda. Furthermore, it highlights the Ministry’s pledge to enhance the deve lopment of sports in Bermuda.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE CHAIRMAN

House visitors

You know, Mr. Chairman,
I tak e this opportunity just to segue, to say it is a
pleasure to be presenting on behalf of the substantive
Minister who has done great work with the youth of
this country through his various professions. It is just
an honour to be able to see these initiatives that
strengthen sport even more and more and making all
types of opportunities available.

Ministry priorities for 2023/24

The Ministry’s priorities
for 2023/24, Mr. Chairman. Next year the Ministry i ntends to continue to devel op and celebrate our people
through a variety of initiatives. And we recognise the
value of sport to our country and continue to explore avenues that will promote Bermuda as a sporting j urisdiction.
Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda Football Associ ation, the BFA, has confirmed that Bermuda is set to
host a Concacaf Nations League game in which Bermuda will take on Guyana on Saturday, March 25,
2023, at the Flora Duffy South Field Stadium. Such
international sporting events can assist in bringing
much -needed revenue to the Island, and, might I add,
exposure internationally as well as people start to find out exactly where Bermuda is.
Mr. Chairman, as indicated earlier, the Go vernment is supporting the Bermuda Cricket Board who
are hosting the International Cricket Council ( ICC)
2024 Men’s T20 World Cup [ America ] qualifier in
Bermuda in Sep tember 2023. Not only will this event
bring a spo tlight to Bermuda as a locale for sports tourism, it puts us in the running to be considered as a
first class ICC trai ning venue for our partners in t he
Caribbean and the world.
Mr. Chairman, it is clear from the realignment
of funds that in this upcoming fiscal year the Gover nment is demonstrating that we value the development
of sport in Bermuda. And that we value the development of young people through sport. There is i ncreased funding for our very popular Summer Day
Camp and Afterschool Programmes. And this will help
in increasing the number of available spots for our young people.
The Department of Youth, Sport and Recreation is also providing inve stment grants this year to
assist young persons who wish to pursue their recreational passions in areas, including art, oration, culinary
arts, science, technology, engineering and math.
Also, Mr. Chairman, during this upcoming fi scal year we will provide support to ensure that our at hletes continue to dominate on the world stage proving
that a small —no, that a very small —population can
create world class sports people. In that regard, we
are offering additional assistance to our elite and high
performing athletes. That bears repeating, because I
am a sports practitioner. And I just want to say that I
hear people say, You don’t put enough money in
sports. I just want to say that the Minister heard you,
because we are going to create world class sports
peopl e and, in that regard, we are offering additional
assistance to our elite and high performing athletes.
Mr. Chairman, in line with goal 2 of the Sports
Policy, achieving sports excellence regionally, our
elite and high- performance athletes need to be pr epared for international competition and we are
pleased to be able to allocate funds to this important Government priority despite the challenging fiscal environment.
Goal 5 of the Sports Policy, establishing a
framework for talent development focuses on lon g
term athlete development, and the Department of
Youth, Sport and Recreation will be working with N ational Sports Governing Bodies so that athletes can
reach their full potential. The department will continue
working with their leadership in the development of
their long- term athletic development plans. The objective in this regard, Mr. Chairman, is to educate the
National Sports Governing Bodies on the importance
of long- term athletic planning and to encourage these
organisations to think analytically about their sport and
how it can be improved.
Mr. Chairman, the Department of Culture has
several initiatives planned to include the creation of a short film series “Gold Bermudians” which will highlight the accomplishments of Bermudians who have
punched above their weight on the international stage,
and partnering with the Ministry of Education to pr ovide “Tradition Bearers in [Schools].” This will be a
programme where we will support a master artisan
who offers workshops to primary and middle school


Bermuda House of Assembly students. It is a great cross -ministry initiative, I might
add.

Report on the Estimates Book

I would like to draw your
attention to page B -237 of the Estimates Book where
you will note that the budget for the Ministry of Youth,
Sport and Culture for the financial year 2023/24 is
$13,718,000. This is an increase of $849,000 or 7 per
cent.
Mr. Chairman, page B -237 shows a revenue
estimate for the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sport is
$751,000. This is an increase of $90,000 or 14 per
cent from the financial year 2022/23.
Mr. Chairman, page B -237 also details the
current account expenditure of departments that make up the overall budget for the Ministry heads, Mr.
Chairman, that is Head 71, Head 20 and Head 52.
The summary shows that for upcoming year Youth,
Sport and Recreation saw an increase in the budget of $1,043,000, or 11 per cent, while both Culture and
Ministry Headquarters saw decreases compared to
the revised budgets of 2022/23 in order to relocate the
funds to Head 20. Mr. Chairman, this reallocation allows the Government’s commitment to sport and the
youth of our country to enrichen t heir lives in the
community in areas of sport and recreation which will
bring together and build unity in our country. Sports
remind us of what connects us and enhances our cultural integrity.
Mr. Chairman, you know that Nelson Mandela
said “Sport has the power to change the world. It has
the power to inspire. It has the power to unite in a way
little else does. It speaks to youth in a language that
they understand.”
Mr. Chairman, as we see on page C -20, the
grants and contributions budget across the Min istry is
$4,052,000, an increase of $784,000. The grants and
contributions for the Ministry of Youth, Culture and
Sport include Head 20, Department of Youth, Sport
and Recreation, $3,619,000 for the development of
young persons, increased funding for elite and highperforming athletes and sports development. This is
an increase of $773,000, or 27 per cent. Well, Mr.
Chairman, there has been a significant increase as it relates to the Youth and Sport budget.
Sport is intricately linked to culture as is stat ed
in our National Sports Policy document. It brings joy. It promotes health and it inspires national pride. This
increase in realignment of funding is a testament to
the Government’s commitment to youth and sport in Bermuda.
Head 52, Department of Cultur e, $328,000 for
community and cultural activities. It is a decrease of $34,000, or 9 per cent. Much of the funding was real-located to the Youth, Recreation and Sport as there
has been a cry in the community that not enough is
being done. Head 71, Ministr y Headquarters, $105,000 to
support Parish Council commitments, and to support Cup Match in St. George’s.
Mr. Chairman, these grants to the community
align with our vision to develop and celebrate our
people.

HEAD 71 —MINISTRY OF YOUTH, CULTURE AND
SPORT HEADQUARTERS

Mr. Chairman, I now turn
to the current account expenditure for Head 71, the
Ministry Headquarters.
Mr. Chairman, the financial year 2023/24 estimates of expenditure and revenue for Head 71, the Ministry Headquar ters, are found on pages B -238 and
B-239 of the Estimates Book. Page B -238 shows that
the budget estimate for the Ministry Headquarters for fiscal year 2023/24 is $1,167,714. This is $104,19[1],
or 8 per cent lower than the original budget for the
prior ye ar due to the reallocation of funds to Head 20
to achieve some of the Ministry’s strategic goals.
The budget estimate includes $45,000 for Cup
Match grants which was transferred from the Cabinet
Office, in anticipation of a St. George’s victory in 2023.
Mr. Chairman, the Ministry Headquarters
comprises a single business unit, 81000, Administr ation, on page B -238, which supports the Minister’s
Office and the Ministry’s Centralised Compliance and
Accounts functions. This unit consists of eight full -time
empl oyees and salaries to provide these services essential to the Ministry’s operations. Mr. Chairman, the
Ministry Headquarters directs the development and
implementation of policy and legislation, has overall
responsibility for the management of the Ministry ’s
budget and provides guidance on programming to the
departments within the Ministry.
Through its centralised account ing section,
the Ministry Headquarters provides accounting and
financial management services to all departments under its responsibility. T he key activities of this depar tment are to
• undertake strategic leadership of Ministry departments;
• manage the Ministry’s accounts and ensure
compliance with Financial Instructions;
• lead and operationalise policy and legislative developments;
• issue and manage ministerial grants aligned
with the Ministry’s mission; and
• appoint and oversee five boards and nine Par-ish Councils.
Mr. Chairman, I now turn to the subjective
analysis of the current account estimates found on page B -239, and I would like to highlight certain line
items in this section.
Salaries: The amount budgeted for salaries
for the fiscal year 2023/24 is $831,000 which repr esents an increase of $15,000, or 2 per cent. The i n716 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly crease reflects the regrading of specific posts within
the Ministry.
Professional services: The amount budgeted
for professional services salaries for fiscal year
2023/24 is $117,000 which represents a decrease of $155,000, or 57 per cent. This decrease reflects the
reallocation of funds to the Department of Youth, Recreation and Sport in order to enhance the financial
support to the young persons elite and highperforming athletes and sports development.
Grants and contributions: The amount budgeted for salaries for fiscal year 2023/24 is $105,000 which represents an increase of $45,000 or 75 per
cent. The increas e reflects the inclusion of the Cup
Match grant which was transferred from the Cabinet
Office.
Mr. Chairman, the Ministry Headquarters performance measures are listed on page B -245, and our
annual indicators reflect the administrative nature of
Headquarter s’ functions. We were able to complete
one of the two compliance reviews i ntended for the
year and three training sessions.
Lastly, we completed 100 per cent of the mi nisterial policy priorities this fiscal year, namely, in the form of the aforementioned National Sports Policy,
and amendments to the Parish Councils Act.
Mr. Chairman, before closing, I would like to
take this opportunity to thank the small and dedicated
team at the Ministry’s Headquarters for the work that
they do in ensuring the Ministry meets its mandate. It
is headed by Permanent Secretary Ms. Marva- Jean
O’Brien, present today, and supported by Comptroller, Ms. Wendy Pond Hunt, and Policy Analyst, Ms. Jane Brett. The Ministry Headquarters is technically supported by the Director of Culture, Dr. Kim Dismont -
Robinson and the Director of Youth, Sport and Recr eation, Ms. Kimberley Charryse Bean
Mr. Chairman, as I look to the year ahead, we
have much to look forward to and our Ministry will
continue to do what we can to ensure that our youth,
cultural and sports communities are celebrated, supported and uplifted. Mr. Chairman, this Ministry has a
great role to play in the fabric of Bermuda’s society and the national identity and we will continue to develop and celebrate our people in every way we can.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my presentation
on the fiscal year 2023/24, budgetary allocations for
Head 71, the Ministry Headquarters, and I will now
move to Head 20, the Department of Youth, Sport and
Recreation, and Head 52, Culture.

Mr. Chairman, I will now
present for fiscal year 2023/24 estimates of the expenditure and revenue for Head 52, the Department of
Culture, which can be found on pages B -248 through
B-256 of the Estimates Book.
Mr. Chairman, the department’s mission is To
develop our creatives, preserve our herit age and celebrate our people. The department’s objectives for
2023/24 are as follows:
• To support Bermuda's cultural, heritage and
artistic communities and institutions through
developmental programmes and partnerships.
• To preserve our heritage by promoting an un-derstanding of Bermuda’s cultural identity
through education, research, publication and
enrichment programmes.
• To celebrate our people and the development
of our national identity by curating cultural festivals, public discussions and educational pr ogrammes.
• To serve as stewards of Bermuda’s cultural
heritage.
Mr. Chairman, the Dep artment of Culture administers two programmes and 12 business units. A
general summary is contained on page B -249 of the
Estimates of Expenditure and Revenue for the financial year 2023/24. The total estimate is $1,891,000.
This represents a decrease of $89,000, or 4.5 per cent, from the 2022/23 original budget of $1,980,000.
Mr. Chairman, for the 2023/24 budget year,
the Department of Culture is focused on delivering innovative programming that provides developmental
opportunities for Bermuda’s creatives engaging in r esearch and film projects that help to highlight the contributions that Bermudians have made to our society
as a matter of national pride and shining a spotlight on
musicians, writers, Gombeys, artists, actors, artisans, designers, dancers, and tradition- bearers who help us
celebrate what it means to be Bermudian.
Mr. Chairman, I will now offer highlights of the
accomplishments, programmatic plans and changes


Bermuda House of Assembly in estimates for the business units associated with the
Department of Culture.

Business Unit 62000 —Grants to Organisations

Business Unit 62000—
Grants to Organisations which comes under pr ogramme 5202 Cultural Affairs.
Mr. Chairman, the total amount budgeted under this business unit for fiscal year 2023/24 is
$230,000. This represents an increase of $17,000, or
8 per cent, when compared with the original budget
allocation of $213,000 for financial year 2022/23. The
increase is the result of grant money allocated to support the Gombey troupes being transferred fr om the
Gombey Festival cost centre into this cost centre.
The Bermuda Arts Council’s grant has been
reduced by $13,000 to $117,000 for financial year
2023/24. One of the primary roles of the Bermuda Arts
Council is to review applications submitted by indi vidual creatives and organisations for developing artistic
projects and further educating themselves about their
craft in ways may not have been able to do without
the support of the Arts Council. This includes projects
such as the creation of musical albums, films, visual
arts exhibitions, as well as the participation in wor kshops and other intensives. The Arts Council repr esents the primary funding body of the department to assist with these kinds of applications.
In the 2022/23 financial year recipients of the
Council’s grants included Jahbarri Wilson, to assist with his first solo show at Masterworks; Hana Bushara, for her forthcoming music album; Eden Furbert for participation in an international summer dance inte nsive; Stephan Johnstone to produce a s hort film about
Bermudian poetry, Wendall “Shine” Hayward to assist
with is staging of a play about Dorothy Dandridge; and
support for a number of other creatives.
In addition to the individual and organisational
grants that were awarded in the 2022/23 fi nancial year
the Bermuda Arts Council also awarded three student
scholarships to students pursuing careers in creative
writing, media arts production, as well as music, ma rketing, media, communications. The recipients were
Alan C. Smith, Layla Williams , and N’Kosi Hollis.
The Bermuda Arts Council’s awards, set t o
take place later this month, will honour five recipients,
including, Patricia Pogson- Nesbitt, and a posthumous
award for Rosheena Beek for lifetime achievements,
St; Clair “Brinky” Tucker and Rick Spurling, for Foun der Awards, and Clement Talbot for the Patron Award.
The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented
to artists who have created a significant body of orig inal work that is representative of the Bermudian spirit.
The Founder Award is present ed to those persons
who have been pioneers in their respective art form
and have been role models for their fellows. The P atron Award is given to those who have been benefac-tors to the Bermuda arts community. The Department would like to acknowledge the ye ars of hard work and
dedication by the outgoing Chair, Ms. Jennifer Phillips who has been a member of the Arts Council since
2012 and chaired for the past five years. She has
done an amazing job ensuring the smooth- running of
the Bermuda Arts Council. We w ish her well on her
future endeavours. And we welcome the new Chair
Ms. Shanna Hollis, a visual artists and graphic d esigner and look forward to her placing her own stamp
on the Council. And we wish them both well in their
endeavours.
Mr. Chairman, in addi tion to the fine work of
the Bermuda Arts Council, the department recognises
the importance of supporting our tangible cultural heritage. Government plays a vital role in assisting Bermuda’s museums and cultural institutions. And al though the department pr ovides three fewer grants
than originally projected, heritage grants were awar ded to the Bermuda Historical Society Museum, the
Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Arts, the St.
George’s Historical Society Museum, the Bermudian
Heritage Museum, the St. David’s [ Island] Historical
Society, the National Museum of Bermuda and the St.
George’s Foundation. And all of these do great work,
Mr. Chairman. But I just have to say that the St.
George’s Foundation has been doing some great
work restoring forts which assist tourism as tourists go to them and it is a hobby horse of mine and I am very pleased that they are doing great work.
The Department of Culture also provided a
grant to the Bermuda National Gallery in part for their stewardship of the Watlington Collection of art owned by the Government of Bermuda.

Business Unit 62001 —Administration

Mr. Chairman, the function of this business unit is to provide for the admi nistration of the Department of Culture, which is located
on the 3
rd floor of the [Government] Administration
Building. Mr. Chairman, the allocated budget for f inancial year 2023/24 for this business unit is
$863,000, as shown on page B -249. This amount r eflects no change as compared to the original budget for financial ye ar 2022/23.
Mr. Chairman, the allocated budget sustains
both programmes of operation, including salaries and
wages. The remainder of the budget provides for office supplies, board fees, website maintenance and
telephone services. This budget also provides funding
for department -wide promotions, specifically using
social media. The 2022/23 financial year was the first time the department has placed a focus on targeted
outreach via social media leading to more awareness
and engagement with programming.
The department also met its performance
measure of establishing initiatives related to digitis ation. A new website “Emancipation Bermuda” was de718 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly veloped and unveiled in July with content to be di scussed in the next business unit’s overview.

Business Unit 62010 —Emancipation
and Cultural Festivals

Mr. Chairman, the total
amount allocated for this business unit in financial
year 2023/24 is $40,000. This represents a decrease
of $35,000, or 47 per cent, compared to the original
budget of $75,000 allocated in the 2022/23 financial year. Mr. Chairman, this business unit focuses on
highlighting the contributions of our African, Caribbean, Azorean, British and St. David’s Island Native
Community core cultures. The programmes in this unit align with the goals of our National Cultural Heritage
Policy.
Emancipation Programme: The Department of
Culture offers an annual commemoration of Berm uda’s Emancipation through programming that explores and researches the history of enslavement and se gregat ion experienced by Bermudians of African d escent. Beyond commemoration, the initiatives of this programme also celebrate our African roots.
The theme for the 2022 commemoration was
“Restoring Community Healing Together.” The calen-dar of events and lectures sponsored by the Depar tment of Culture and stakeholders including the N ational Museum, Titan Express, and Friends of Sandys, featured a focus on the legacy of the Friendly Society,
Mary Prince, and Cup Match. The department also
hosted its third Emancipation Youth Creativity Competition around the theme “How can my community heal itself?” with the winning entry “Never Bound” by Zen
Marley Mello featuring animation and poetry.
In aligning with our performance measures
the department’s signature offering f or the 2022
Emancipation Commemoration was a research project film and exhibition focusing on the history of Black
Bermudian nurses during the era of segregation. The
principal researcher for this project was veteran journalist and former nurse Meredith Ebbin who worked
with Burnt House Productions to create a film entitled “Healthcare Heroines” about Black Bermudian nurses
and the struggle for equality. Complementing this film
was a series of interviews and narratives that co mprised both. The exhibition and the department pr esented a Bermuda Society of Art entitled “Pioneers
who Persevered: Black Nurses in Segregated Berm uda,” as well as the content for the previously men-tioned Emancipation Bermuda website. This project
shone a spotlight on the experiences of trailblazer
Sylvia Richardson, Flora Marlene Trott, Lorraine Dyer
Bizek and Dr. Juanita Guishard Packwood, Edna
Pearman Jones, and Barbara “Lovie ” Davis Wade,
among others.
The 2023 commemoration will feature a film
entitled “Cup Match: Legacy of Honour” by [Bermud ian] filmmaker Dana Selassie. Despite budget reduc-tions in this business unit, partnership with the Somerset Cricket Club and the St. George’s Cricket Club
on this film will help to ensure a robust celebration of
our commemoration of Bermuda’s emancipation.
Mr. Chairman, a “Roots Festival” planned to
meet the department’s performance measure of sup-porting festivals, events and publications celebrating
Bermuda’s diverse cultural heritage was unable to
proceed due to conflicting priorities in the core cultures calendar of events. However, in lieu of this pr ogramme, in 2022 the department hosted an internal “Eggnog and Dialogue” event for all cultural stak eholders to discuss upcoming programmes and prior ities for 2023 and beyond. Funding for this business unit will also help to support the 2023 Pow Wow hos ted by the St. David’s Islanders and the native com-munity returning in June after a four -year pause as a
result of the pandemic.

Business Unit 62020 —Heritage Celebrations

Mr. Chairman, the total
amount budgeted for this business unit for financial
year 2023/24 is $269,000. This represents a decrease
of $4,000, or 1.5 per cent, compared to the original
budget of $273,000 allocated in 2022/23 financial
year.
Mr. Chairman, [this business] unit covers the
cost of both Heritage Celebrations and the Bermuda Day Parade. Heritage Month began in 2022 with the
second annual Cultural Conference engaging cultural
heritage and art stakeholders and reviewing one year of progress on the department’s National Cultural Heritage Policy. The year 2022 was an exciting year that marked the return of the Bermuda Day parade as
normal, after three years of absence, celebrating the
“Togetherness.” While the parade was organised wit hin a shorter ti meframe than normal due to COVID -19related uncertainty, nearly 700 individuals in bus inesses and schools were contacted for participation. Ultimately, there were 37 participants in the Bermuda
Day Parade which attracted a vibrant and enthusiastic
crowd of people.
The theme for Heritage Month and Bermuda
Day 2023 is “A Bermudian Renaissance.” The D epartment intends to host our third annual Cultural
Conference for stakeholders in the creative community as a Heritage Month focus. The department is also
excite d for increased community participation within
the Bermuda Day Parade, and is presently actively reaching out to stakeholders to sign up.

Business Unit 62030 —Cultural Education
Programme

Mr. Chairman, the
amount budgeted for this business unit for financial
year 2023/24 is $4,000. This represents a decrease of
$63,000, or 94 per cent, when compared to the orig iBermuda House of Assembly nal budget allocations of $67,000 for financial year
2022/23.
Mr. Chairman, with the lifting of the pandemic
restricti ons in 2022/23, the department reintroduced
the Tradition Bearer in Public Schools Programme
with a new focus on middle school students. In the
past year the programme has been popular with educating our students on the traditions of woodcraft with
Milton Hill, banana doll making with Ronnie Chameau,
Bermuda Gombeys with Janice Warner, and Bermuda kite building with Mr. Eugene O’Connor. Funding has been allocated in the 2023/24 budget to continue this
programme with a focus on the signature schools. The
reduction in this business unit is a result of other fiscal
priorities within government so the production of a study guide to support this cultural education and pr ogramme will be halted for this financial year.

Business Unit 62050 —National Heroes Day

Mr. Chairman, the
amount budgeted for this business unit for financial
year 2023/24 is $30,000. This represents a decrease
of $15,000, or 33 per cent, when compared to the
original budget in financial year 2022/23, of $45,000.
The decrease in this business unit takes into consi deration that expenses will not be incurred relating to
the naming of a new National Hero, as one will not be
selected this year.
Mr. Chairman, funds associated with this
business unit are used to formally honour and com-memorate a new National Hero when one is named,
and to celebrate our existing National Heroes on an annual basis. In financial year 2022/23, in addition to
a public awareness campaign, the department organised a series of musical tribute showc ases for our heroes also aligned with our Premier’s Concert. Cel ebrating national heroes, the concert features perfor-mances and presentations by Jay III, Dennajye
Paynter, Jesse Seymour, Brixx, Arijahknow Live
Wires, Rated E! Dance Crew, Sabriyya Harvey, T iffany Paynter, Gherdai Hassell, T’aja Williams, Melanie
Eddy, and Ami Zanders.
In financial year 2023/24, the department will
again host a tribute concert celebrating our national heroes.

Business Unit 62060 —Promotion of the Arts

Mr. Chairman, the
amount budgeted for this busin ess unit for financial
year 2023/2 4 is $9 8,000. T his represents an increase
of $3,000, or 3.5 per cent when compared to the original budget for financial year 2022/2 3 of $95,000. The
increase in this busi ness unit can be attributed to
costs relat ed to coordinating and hosting the Bermuda
Literary Award Ceremony.
Bermuda Literary Awards were inaugurated
by the Bermuda Government in 1999 to honour liter-ary achievements by Bermuda’s writers, and is admi nistered by the Department of Culture once every five
years. The five categories for which awards are grant-ed are fiction, non- fiction, children and young adult
fiction, poetry and drama. A Founders Award is also
granted to recognise seminal work of the Bermuda
literary cannon. A $2,000 cash award is granted to the
winner of each category. In financial year 2023/24 the
department will select the winners of these awards
and host a ceremony honouring the recipients.
Writer -in-Residence. Mr. Chairman, the D epartm ent of Culture supports programming to assist in
developing our literary arts. With this aim in mind, the
department hosts an annual Writer -in-Residence
workshop focusing on a variety of genres . In June
2022 the department hosted Dr. Richard Georges,
Poet Laureate of the British Virgin Islands for our first
in-person Writer -in-Residence workshop in 2019. This
year’s programme followed our successful collabor ation with the Bermuda National Gallery in January
2022 when our Writer -in-Residence aided poets to
create poetry submissions for the 2022 Bermuda B iennial.
Dr. Georges was one of three jurors for the
Bermuda National Gallery’s 2022 Bermuda Biennial.
Ultimately, the work of 11 poets, including Yesha
Townsend, Ajala Omodele, Alan C. Smith, Nancy Ann Miller and Andrea Ottley, were selected. For the Wri ter in Residence programme Dr. Georges guided 12
local poets through an intense programme over the
course of nine sessions that focused on poetic form
and challenging themes, including writing about catas-trophe, home and exile.
This year the department marked two firsts for
this programme. For the first time participants benefi tted from a hybrid model with both in- person and virt ual sessions. This allowed us to stretch the sessions
over a longer period which ac commodated more wri ters’ schedules and allowed the writers additional time
to fine tune their pieces to Dr. Georges’. Secondly, at
the conclusion of the programme, the participants
shared the pieces they had honed over the course of
the workshop in a publi c reading.
In financial year 2023/24 the department will
build on the success of the programme by hosting an annual award- winning author from overseas conduc ting an intense workshop for local writers. Additionally,
this year the department will also hold two mini -
workshop programmes to deepen the skills and
knowledge of local artists and creatives.
Madam Chairman, the Art in [Public] Buildings
project was launched in 2019 as part of a Throne Speech initiative. In February 2022, the department
issued an op en call to Bermudian artists to submit
two-dimensional visual art pieces. With the assistance
of a selection committee the department selected 18
pieces created by 16 local artists which were printed and displayed in three government buildings. Fe atured ar tists included Gherdai Hassell, Otto Trott,
720 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Graham Foster, Dr. Dana Selassie, and Shanna Ho llis. The pieces of art from the department’s first Art in
Public Buildings programme were distributed to public
schools to display for the appreciation of students,
teachers and staff.

Business Unit 62070 —Folklife

Mr. Chairman, the
amount budgeted for this busin ess unit for financial
year 2023/2 4 is $63,000. This represents an increase
of $4,000 when compared to the original budget of
$59,000, or 7 per cent for financial year 2022 /23. This
increase can be attributed to the cost of an additional
promotional film for our cultural apprenticeship pr ogramme. Activities that come under this business unit
are the Bermudian Heartbeats Lecture Seri es and the
Cultural Apprenticeship Programme.
Bermudian Heartbeats: Mr. Chairman, the
Bermudian Heartbeats Lecture Series is now in its 20th
year. Originally Historical Heartbeats, the dynamic
series of lectures and events were founded in part by National Hero Dr. Pauulu Kamarakafego to focus on
Bermudian history. It has evolved into an advanced
series that explores all facets of Bermuda’s cultural
history. The series uses non- traditional locations and
a varied method of presentation for an experience that is both educational and memorable.
During financial year 2022/23, our seven
events included a poetry reading to mark the anniversary of the emancipation of the 78 enslaved men and
women who arrived in Bermuda aboard the American
brig, the Enterprise in 1835, a lecture on the history of
the Cottage Hospital and the segregated health care
in Bermuda and a tour of Trunk Island in collaboration
with Bermuda’s Zoological Society.
In keeping with the mission of the department,
the new season has already commenc ed as it follows
the calendar year rather than the budget year and
teaches six scheduled events with up to three add itional events to be added as opportunities arise, Mr.
Chairman. As part of this programme the Department
of Culture will feature such as a panel discussion on
the present and future of farming and self -sufficiency
in Bermuda, a lecture by Professor Michael Jarvis on
the history of Black families in St. George’s before the
1850s, and a special holiday programme of carolling
through the parishes.
Cultural Apprenticeship. Mr. Chairman, the
Department of Culture offers the Cultural Apprentic eship Programme to support the preservation of cultural knowledge and skills from one generation to the
next. The principal objective of the programme is to
foster the growth of a younger generation of tradition
bearers in Bermuda.
The programme pairs a tradition bearer with
interested apprentices. After a pause in this pr ogramme due to the pandemic, the department was
delighted to coordinate two cultural appr enticeships in financial year 2022/23. Tradition bearer Christopher
Faria of AgraLiving Institute worked with two appre ntices to train them in Grow Bio- Intensive sustainable
farming, and Mr. Lawrence Mills, one of our foremost
experts on traditional Bermuda building methods, and Bermuda vernacular architecture, has developed a
dynamic apprenticeship programme with two apprentices. Together they have explored the many aspects
that make Bermuda traditional architecture and buil ding practices so unique. And the department looks forward to connecting more apprentices with master cultural artisans in the upcoming financial year.

Business Unit 62080 —Research and Publication

Mr. Chairman, the
amount budgeted for this business unit for fin ancial
year 2023/24 is $75,000. This represents an increase
of $44,000, or 142 per cent when compared to the
original budget of $31,000 for financial year 202 2/23.
This increase in the business unit can be attributed to the cost of producing three full -length documentary
films.
Mr. Chairman, the Department of Culture is
responsible for supporting and developing materials
that contribute to safeguarding Bermuda’s rich history
and heritage. To this end, the department recognises
the importance of supporting original academic research on Bermuda and is pleased to contribute to the
development of material on Bermudian folklife, culture and heritage.
Mr. Chairman, in financial year 2022/23 the
department is producing the first part of a documentary film series entitled “Gold Bermudians: Profiles in Excellence” which will capture the stories of Bermudians who have excelled on the international stage in a
variety of fields. The first series of five short films to be
launched later in the spring will feature the legendary
film star Earl Cameron; history -making Olympic diver
Katura Horton- Perincheif; musican Lance Hayward;
Olympic boxing bronze medallist Clarence Hill; and
Fraggle Rock creator Michael Frith.
The Department of Culture will continue to
celebrate the outstanding achievements of Bermudians in 2023/34 financial year by continuing with two
parts of this series.

Business Unit 62180 —Special Projects

Mr. Chairman, funding
has not been allocated for this business unit for financial year 2023/2 4, which was also the case for financial year 2022/23.
Mr. Chairman, typically the funds allocated to
this business unit are used to support special cultural
projects. However, funding was dis tribut ed to focus
more precisely on other priorities of the department.

Programme 5203—Community Services
Business Unit 62100 —Uncover the Arts Programme


Bermuda House of Assembly

Mr. Chairman, the all ocated budget in financial year 2023 /24 for this bus iness unit is $1 06,000. This amount represents a decrease of $9 ,000, or 8 per cent, when compared to the
original estimates for fi nancial year 2022/2 3 of
$115,000.
Mr. Chairman, in financial year 2022 /23, funds
associated with this business unit were used to support musicians affected by the pandemic with public
performance known as “Creatives Live”. This pr ogramme provides the dual benefit of giving our artists the opportunity to perform as well as enlivening the
social atmosphere of our current environment. Some
of the performances on the steps of city hall include
Cindy Smith, Toni Robinson, Samantha Smith, Sheila
Smith and the Toni Bari Trio, Layaness , Will B, Cush
Evans, King Size, Charo Hollis, Royalty, Princess Black and Suave .
Mr. Chairman, in financial year 2023/2 4 the
department will continue to build upon the success of
the Creatives Live programme which will be offered
throughout the year with the hosting of our Creatives
Live evening concert series at sports clubs and social
clubs. The series will also broaden the support to performing arts and to sponsor open mic events with cultural partners.
Mr. Chairman, in the financial year 2022/23
the department began building artistic professional development workshops. In these creative cultural lab
workshops creatives were given tangible tools such as
improving their artistic resumes and hosting skills,
honing at -home video production capabilities, and
finetuning auditions. The Department of Culture is also partnering with [DJ] Rusty G to offer an advanced
“Quest for the Best” musicians workshop which f ocused on international song placement, marketing,
song writing, and more. Funding has been allocated in
the 2023/24 budget to continue to develop these
worthwhile program mes to s upport our creatives and
partner them with industry mentors through their
growth.

Business Unit 62210 —Gombey Festival

Mr. Chairman, the
amount allocated for this business unit in 2023/24 is $113,000. This represents a $31,000 decrease, or 21
per cent when compared to the original budget est imate of $144,000 for financial year 2022/23. This decrease is the result of budget reallocation, shifting annual grants for Gombey troupes to the Grants and Organisations Business Unit. This s hift in funds does
not reduce the amount of money allocated to grants
for Gombey troupes, nor does it impact the Bermuda
International Gombey Festival Weekend in any way.
The Bermuda International Gombey Festival
Weekend . Mr. Chairman, in 2022 the Bermuda Gombey Festival Weekend returned for the first time since 2019. This otherwise annual tradition has been held to
provide exposure and education to the folk art and
traditions of the Bermuda Gombey and the wider i nfluences from across the Diaspora.
Mr. Chairman, as part of the Gombey Festival
Weekend in 2022, the Department of Culture succes sfully launched a short film directed by Bermudian
filmmaker Qian Dickinson, “Not a Generic Gombey:
Art, Consumption, and Intellectual Property .” This is
part of the ong oing work that the department is doing
with the Bermuda Gombeys to support the evolution and preservation of their cultural identity.
The highlight of the Gombey Festival Wee kend is the Gombey Festival Showcase held at the B otanical Gardens, which saw fiv e Gombey troupes, two
singers, an African dance group, and three Bermudian
dance groups perform .
Additionally, the Chewstick Foundation continued their “Gombey in the Gardens” mural on the
Jack King Building in the Botanical Gardens with a
tribute to Warw ick Gombeys, marking the fourth
troupe depicted in this ongoing series sponsored by
the Department of Culture. To cap off the Gombey
Festival Weekend, a “Masks Off” event was hosted at
FunZone for the entire community.

[Ms. Lovitta F. Foggo, Chairman]

Madam Chairman, the
allocated budget for financial year 2023/24 will finance
the cost of event infrastructure, financial awards to
participating Gombey troupes, local participating other dance groups, and other weekend events related to
the Gombey art form. There is no change to employee
numbers with the full -time equivalents remaining at
eight as found on page B -251.
Madam Chairman, this concludes my presentation on the budgetary allocation for financial year 2023/24 for Head 52, the Department of Culture.

Madam Chairman, I will
now present the financial year 2023/24 estimates of
expenditure and revenue for Head 20, the Department
of Youth, Sport and Recreation, which can be found on pages B -241 to B -247 of the Estimates Book.
722 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Madam Chairman, the mission of the Depar tment of Youth, Sport and Recreation is To develop
Youth, Sport and Recreation through our services and to celebrate the accomplishments of our people.
Madam Chairman, the objectives for 2023/24
are as follows:
• Provide funding/support for National Sports
Governing Bodies.
• Provide funding/support for National Youth
Organi sing Bodies.
• Manage and maintain government sports and
recreation facilities.
• Provide After -school Programmes for school -
age children.
• Provide Summer Day Camp Programmes for
school -age children.
• Provide Out of School Programmes for school -age children.
• Prepare and manage the budget to ensure i ntended deadlines are met.
• Meet and fulfil the objectives of the two department policies: National Youth Policy and
National Sport Policy
Madam Chairman, the Department of Youth,
Sport and Recreation administers 9 programmes and
21 business units for which a general summary can be found on pages B -242 and B -243 of the Estimates
of Expenditure and Revenue for the fiscal year
2023/24. The budget al location for the Department of
Youth, Sport and Recreation in fiscal year 2023/24, is
$10,658,764, an increase of $1,042,461, or 11 per
cent as shown on page B -243.
Madam Chairman, I will now discuss the individual programmes under Head 20.

Programme 2001— Administration

Madam Chairman, the
budget allocation for business unit 30045, General
Administration is $839,429. The allocated funds pr ovide for the administration and operations of the D epartment of Youth, Sport and Recreation’s Headquarters; which is located in Craig Appin House, situated at 8 Wesley Street, Hamilton. In addition, the admini strative section provides administrative support for eight programmes within the department and is r esponsible for monitoring departmental spending to
ensure that policies and procedures are adhered to in
achieving efficiency and effectiveness.

Programme 2002— Sport Development

Madam Chairman, the
Sport Development Programme is operated through
business unit 30055. The budget allocation is
$427,975, an increase of $9,500, or a 2 per cent increase. This increase represents funding allocated to assist National Sports Governing Bodies with the d evelopment of their long- term athletic development plans. The National Sports Governing Bodies will participate in workshops the department will host over the next year , Goal Five of our National Sport Policy.
The residual funds in business unit 30055,
Sports Development, includes salaries at $269,975,
training, recreationa l services, supplies and other
funds to ensure the efficient and effective administr ation of the sports programmes.
Madam Chairman, business unit 30065,
Sports Investments , is dedicated to highlighting how
the Bermuda Government invests in the community through sport. In 2022 the National Sports Policy was
updated with a five- year promise to raise the value of
sport with a new vision that “Sport Mat ters.” To assist
with the N ational Sports Policy, business unit 30065
has been allocated a total of $2,259,000, an increase
of $773,000, or 52 per cent .
Madam Chairman, funds in this business unit
are allocated to contributions to sports development
which are investments to National Sports Governing
Bodies. The increased funding also offers additional
assistance to elite athletes through special grants and
provides increased free access to the National Sports
Centre for national athletes and teams in advance of
international competition. Additionally, this unit repr esents funding allocated for the hosting of the I CC T20
World Cup Final Qualifier which will be held in Berm uda from 28 September to 8 October 2023, and funding
to the Bermuda Sport Anti -Doping Authority, which is
a statutory authority mandated for Bermuda to be able to compete internationally.
Madam Chairman , during fiscal year 2023/24,
the Department of Youth, Sport and Recreation i ntends to continue focusing on all aspects of sporting
development and to work with various government
agencies to maintain sporting and recreation facilities
that fall under the department’s remit.

Madam Chairman, the
estimate for business unit 30030 Athletic Awards, is
$160,000. This represents the allocated funding for
the Elite Athlete Assistance Programme and the N ational Junior Sponsorships Awards Programme. The
funding will support our junior athletes with important
training and competition that will assist in developing
them into elite athletes. The investment in sport incentives and recognition is vital for the continued deve lopment of s port in Bermuda. This business unit supports the achievement of these goals.

Programme 2004— Sports Facilities Management


Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Hubert (Kim) E. Swan: Madam Chairman, the
budget estimate for business unit 30060, Sports F acilities Administration, is $1,313,0 69. There is no
change from 2022/23.
Madam Chairman, the budget estimate for
business unit 30060 is primarily comprised of funding
for the National Sports Centre. The National Sports
Centre provides internationally certified facilities for
training and competition, as well as a venue for recr eation and entertainment. It is an essential part of the country’s sporting infrastructure and entirely deserving of the funding designated for it to reflect the gover nment’s commitment to sport development.
Madam Chairman, the N ational Sports Centre
continues to have financial concerns. Last year it was stated that the installation of an energy -saving micro
grid system would assist in the critical financial reco very for the N ational Sports Centre. Unfortunately, the
energy project has had a number of delays and is not
complete. These delays include shipping and su pplies, work permits, and inclement weather. The Mi nistry still believes that the energy project when complete will make the N ational Sports Centre energy i ndependent and will be a great benefit in the long run.
The board and management are also still committed
to correcting the audit deficiencies and are actively
working with the Office of the Auditor General to do so.
Madam Chairman, the remaining budget for
the sports facilities business unit 30060 is dedicated
to salaries and wages totalling $194,269, and oper ational expenses.
Madam Chairman, business unit 30075, M ichael Preece Softball Park is allocated $138,099. This
represents an increase of $2,000, a 1 per cent increase of the 2022/23 budget allocation. This alloc ation reflects the cost for industrial staff and funds to
maintain and operate the softball park.
Madam Chairman, business unit 30080 , W. E.
R. Joell Tennis Stadium is allocated $421,477, a d ecrease of $54, or less than 1 per cent over the prior
2022/23 budget. This business unit provides funding
for salaries and wages totalling $337,177. The r emainder of the funds will be used to maintain and o perate the tennis stadium.
Madam Chairman, business unit 30090, the
[Bermuda] Motors port Park is allocated $8,000. The
decrease of $2,000 represents a reduction of 20 per
cent from the 2022/23 budget. The funds are used for
insurance, maintenance and water at the Motors port
Park.
Madam Chairman, business unit 30390,
sports community fields is allocated $47,000. There is
no change from 2022/23. The funds for this unit are
allocated for the maintenance and operation of the
community fields under the department's remit.

Programme 2005— Youth Development

Madam Chairman, the
allocated budget for fiscal year 2023/24 of $415,306 is for two of the business units under the Youth Development Programme. Youth Development Administr ation, business unit 30210, has a budget allocation of
$315,30 6 for fiscal year 2023/24. The funding for this
unit provides clerical and office support, administrative
guidance and staffing for all programmes operated
within the unit.
Madam Chairman, the allocated budget for
business unit 30350 Youth Investments and Grants is
$100,000. These investments are vital and provide
funding to youth service agencies working with young
people. In addition to these investments, Madam
Chairman, this programme is responsible for oversee-ing and execution of the National Youth Poli cy. The
working group for the policy have just completed its
first year of implementation of the eight policy goals
focusing on developing and empowering Bermuda’s
youth. The working group consists of officers from the
Department of Youth, Sport and Recrea tion, repr esentatives from the Bermuda Youth Parliament and
other organisations with a focus on young people.

Programme 2006—Community Centres

The Community Centres’
full-time equivalent count is 18 for fiscal year 2023/24.
These staff facilitate a wide range of programming for
seniors, adults and children providing engagement
and participating opportunities for families whilst pr omoting the philosophy for the department’s mission.
The Eastern Zone Community Centre has a
budg et allocation of $447,179. The Sammy Wilson
Central Zone Community Centre has $517,354, and
the Western Zone Community Centre, $430,044.
Madam Chairman, the three community centres pr ovide safe, structured programmes with trained staff
and an opportunity t o build positive a nd long- lasting
724 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly relationships. The community centres programming
will provide a wide range of sports, recreational, and
social experiences year -round that reflect the needs
and interests of the community. We will encourage
community parti cipation in positive programming that
offers the community desirable and enjoyable alternatives. Residents and visitors of the community, both
young and old, will be provided with the opportunity to
work on special projects such as sporting events, cultural events, recreational and educational pr ogram mes and activities, and much more in a volunteer
service role, thus promoting civic pride and unity in the community.

Programme 2007—Camping

Madam Chairman, the
budget allocation for the department’s Camping Pr ogramme is $940,381, a decrease of $41 ,199. This
decrease represents a realignment of funds to assist
with other programmes in the department.
• Darrell’s Island, has been allocated $311,240
a decrease of $10,382 , or 3 per cent.
• Paget Island, $261,644, a decrease of
$10,182, or 4 per cent .
• Ports Island, $106,547, a decrease of
$12,399, or 10 per cent .
• White’s Island, $89,226, an increase of
$3,618, or 3 per cent increase.
The allocated budget for camping provides for
the staf fing operation and administration and includes
10 full time staff who maintain the facilities and marine
equipment.

Programme 2008— School Age Activities / Summer
Day Camps

Madam Chairman, the
budget allocation for the Summer Da y Camp Pr ogramme is $823,600, an increase of $73,000, or 10
per cent . This increase supports providing assistance
with the burden on working -class parents. The funding
will see an increase in the number of obtainable
placements for students in the Summer D ay Camp
Program me.
Madam Chairman, this programme supports
approximately 1, 500 school -aged children and is pr ovided in various schools throughout the Island. A pproximately 130 part -time workers deliver this pr ogramme, supervised by qualified educators. There is
also a special needs programme that provides care
for children with exceptionalities.
Madam Chairman, the camps in programme
2008 are for preschool age children, which were cr eated specifically for the transition of children from pre -
school to their first year of elementary school, primary
school age children and middle school age children.

Programme 2009— After School Programmes Mr. Hubert (Kim) E. Swan: Madam Chairman, 30125,
previously After School Programme, is expanding to
meet the needs of parents/guardians. The Department
of Youth, Sport and Recreation maintains its commi tment to keep young people safe and protected from
harm. This cost centre has extended to provide out -ofschool programmes during the mid- term breaks, infusing developmentall y appropriate sports and recreation
activities. In support of Bermuda School Reform, safe
spaces and places with experiences (i.e. , Career E xploration) promote healthy social, emotional and phy sical growth are a key focus. This unit is slated to run a before -school programmes pilot in September 2024.
Madam Chairman, this programme’s budget
allocation provides for staffing, communications, m aterials and supplies for 14 youth programmes. The
budget allocation for business unit 30125, Youth Pr ogramme for fiscal year 2023/24 is $1,470,851, an i ncrease of $282,501, or 24 per cent . This increase
supports providing additional spaces for young people
in our programmes via the afterschool and out -ofschool programmes .
Madam Chairman, currently the Youth Pr ogramme supports approximately 450 preschool, pr imary and middle school aged children across 14 facilities, and employs 61 seasonal workers along with 2
full-time senior supervisors.

Performance Measures

Madam Chairman, the
performance measures for the Department of Youth,
Sport and Recreation can be found on pages B -245 to
B-247.
For Business unit 30030 Athletic Awards , 17
junior athletes received awards, an average of $3,000
was awarded to each participant. This year saw Tre y
Mallory become the inaugural Flora Duffy award reci pient and he was awarded $10,000 towards his pursuit
of excellence in the sport of tennis.
Madam Chairman, The Department requires
all National Sporting Governing Bodies to be certified. To date, 25 National Sport s Governing Bodies are
registered with the department. Thirteen of the regi stered National Sports Governing Bodies have r eceived funds to assist with the development of their
sports which includes athlete, coaching and admini strative development.
Madam Chairman, during the Annual Sports
Awards, which was held in -person for the first time in
two years, 30 awards were presented. It was a wonderful evening for all who attended to celebrate sports excellence, with Dame Flora Duffy and Jah- Nhai Pe rinchief crowned as sports persons of the year.
Madam Chairman, business unit 30075, WMC
Preece Softball Park. As the Island gradually returns to some resemblance of normalcy, the use of the faci lity started to increase. The softball diamond saw an


Bermuda House of Assembly average of 220 per sons utili se the facility per month
during the season.
Madam Chairman, in Business unit 30080, W.
E. R. Joell Tennis Stadium , the average monthly use
was lower . It went down from 300 down to 200 persons using the facility each month. This was due to
the damage of the light fixtures during the hurricanes.
This forced the facility to close early when daylight
was limited and drove down the number of partic ipants playing tennis. The repairs to this facility are ongoing, materials have been sourced and the lighting project should be complete by April 2023.
Madam Chairman, for business unit 30090, as
the Island is learning to live with COVID -19, use and
participation has improved at the Motorsport Park.
After the restrictions were eased island- wide, the faci lity came back to life with participants enjoying use
again.
Madam Chairman, business units 30120 ,
30130, and 30146, the Community Centres : The
number of attendees continues to increase from the prior year , from 35,000 to 40,000. This , again, is due
to the Island opening back up safely after the pan-demic. We are pleased with this improvement, thanks
to programming enhancements, but we also recognise
that it was lower than originally forecast at 50,000.
Unfortunately, this was due to the pandem ic and the
lockdowns and restrictions which limited the facilities’
use at the beginning of the year. A bright highlight was
that the programmes delivered increased to 30, more
than the original target of 28.
Madam Chairman, business unit 30125,
Youth Programmes for the department increased its
average number of participants from the prior year,
despite the pandemic. The aggressive target of 450
students was met, and rose slightly to 455. The After
School Programmes and Clubs operate on the same
schedule as the public schools and this year the intr oduction of the Out of School Programme, which ran while schools were on break, helped to ensure that
working parents had another resource for childcare.
Madam Chairman, business units 30150,
30160, 30165, 30170, Camping Facilities, continued
to see a rise in the number of campers. The pr ogramme exceeded its performance target of 1,600,
[increasing] to 1,932. The camping section received
increased requests for our camping facilities. As the
Island opened up entire ly from the pandemic our
number of users increased. Notably, the user -
experience measures reached 100 per cent satisfa ction for 2022/23. The department is very pleased to be
able to serve the country in this way, providing safe, fun and local recreation an d holidays.
Madam Chairman, in business unit 30180,
Day Camps , there was a decrease in the camping
partici pants, from 1,600 to 1,435. This decrease was
due to the number of COVID -19 cases spiking during
the programme's operations. Although the target out-come was not reached, the user satisfaction was 93 per cent, with 95 per cent of users willing to use the
programme again.
Madam Chairman, from the evidence of our
performance measures, the Department of Youth, Sport and Recreation was able to have a succes sful
year delivering valuable, very well -received pr ogrammes to the community.

Year in Review

Madam Chairman, the
National Youth Policy Working Group has completed
a year. Tasked with developing a working plan to
meet the goals , they met on a monthly basis, as well
as sub- committee meetings in between. Across go vernment , departments, key st akeholders, third sector
organis ations and members of the general public have
all been engaged in research and deliberation. The
first annual report will convey the way forward.
Madam Chairman, the youth section launched
the Out of School Programme: Summer. This specialised programme supports the tenets of the National
Youth Policy empowering young people to express
themselves in the area of t he arts, sports, enviro nment and civic engagement. With expert facilitators,
trained actors, camping leaders and sports coaches,
the department is committed to ensuring that the po-tential of every child can be explored through afforda-ble experiences. The department is committed to
providing quality youth programming for preschool,
primary and middle school aged children, ensuring
safe and structured recreational programmes.
Madam Chairman, the Youth Investments and
Grants were reinstated. This year , 13 yout h agencies
received investments. Government recognis es that a
great deal of the work to support youth in Bermuda is
being done by private agencies. Although youth age ncies solicit funding from the private sector, we believe
Government has an important role by standing in the
gap. There were three new organi sations on- boarded
in the area of sport, civic engagement, physical and
mental health.
Madam Chairman, in this past year the department saw the completion and commencement of
implementation of the Nationa l Sports Policy (2022 –
2027). The policy is a five- year promise to
1. increase participation;
2. achieve sporting excellence regionally ;
3. improve access to sports facilities ;
4. increase the value of sport ;
5. establish a framework for talent development .
The department has already started to fulfil
the objectives of this policy and looks forward to solidifying its commitment to Bermuda Sport.
Madam Chairman, the sports section conti nues to produce a monthly sports newsletter, “The
Competi tive Edge, ” to increase awareness of National
Sports Governing Bodies programming, events and
performances that may not reach mainstream media.
726 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly There were many great things accomplished by our
National Sports Governing Bodies throughout the year
which were all encaps ulated within the newsletter.
Madam Chairman, we also saw the return of
the Annual Sports Awards ceremony which saw 30 recipients recogni sed for their accomplishments within
the sporting area. The return of the National Junior
Athlete Sponsorship Program, which saw 10 junior
athletes and 7 National Sports Governing Bodies allocated funding towards their training and junior pr ogramming. These annual ceremonies are aligned with
the department’s mission statement , which is to cel ebrate the accomplishments of our people.
Madam Chairman, the former Director, Mr.
Norbert Simons attended the 49
th CARIFTA Games in
Kingston, Jamaica, where he witnessed many outstanding performances by our junior athletes.
The U20 women’s relay team of Sanaa Rae
Morris, Keturah Bulford-Trott, Shayla Cann, and Cai tlyn Bobb powered their way onto the podium with a third-place finish, setting a National Junior Record in a
time of 3:48.69.
The U17s women’s relay team also took to
the track with a medal clearly on their collective agendas. Madisyn Bobb, S’Nya Cumberbatch, Jaeda Grant
and Elise Dickinson powered the team into 2
nd place
and the silver medal at the games.
The former Director also attended the 2022
Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England ,
where he had a bird’s eye vi ew as he witnessed JahNhai Perinchief earn the triple jump bronze medal, leaping a distance of 16.92 metres. Additionally, the
director was proud to witness our Dame Flora Duffy
secure Bermuda a gold medal at the games. Winning
the gold medal saw Dame Flora successfully defend her Triathlon title at the Commonwealth Games, becoming a back -to-back champion.
Madam Chairman, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the dedicated staff at the D epartment of Youth, Sport and Recreation for the work
they do in advancing amateur sport, recreation and
youth development for all, which enhances the quality
of life for residents of Bermuda. Also, it is important for me to recogni se the significant contributions made by
our sportsmen and sportswomen and th e pivotal role
they play in inspiring our youth to achieve their true
potential.
Madam Chairman, this concludes the presentation on the fiscal year 2023/24 budgetary allocation for Head 20, the Department of Youth, Sport and Recreation. And it concludes the presentation for heads
71, 52 and 20.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.

Thank you, Madam Chai rman. I would like to thank the Member who delivered
the brief. It was comprehensive and very interesting to
hear all of the accomplishments of our young people,
in particular, [those] who are doing so well not only in
the arts but in sport. And also, of course, to thank all
members of the Ministry for the hard work that they do as it is v ery impressive.
But I do have a few questions, so if you don’t
mind, I will work through them and try to keep it as much to direct questions as I can. It’s getting late. But
I would like to start with Head 20, Youth, Sport and
Recreation, [page] B -242 and section 2002, Sports
Development. I would like to move directly to line item
30065.
The Member mentioned part of the increase in
the amount budgeted for sport investment, which is
allocated $2,260,000 . . . there is an increase this year
of $774,000. I am just curious if the [Junior] Minister
can give me the budgeted amount for the ICC tournament that is taking place, because I understand
from the Member who read the brief that that is i ncluded in that increased amount for this year.
I would also like to ask, still with 30065, on
page C -42, whether the Ministry has actually included
in that increase in the budget any additional grants as
well, or if there are any other sports programmes that
are going to be initiated and paid for or costed through that additional amount of funds.
I would like to now move over, or down, to
[business unit] 2003, 30030, and it is still on page B -
242.The Minister had mentioned that there are at hletes who are being supported, in particular the elite
athletes. And I am just cur ious whether we are keeping . . . I do not want to say tracking our athletes, but
for a lack of a better word . . . Are we collecting data
so that we can see the progress of these athletes as
they go through their journey with us and how they are
progressi ng and to be able to monitor their progress
as they proceed?

The Member who delivered the brief had also
mentioned that within that $774,000, it is also inclu ding the National Sports Centre’s solar panel project.
And he had mentioned that there are some delays
that have taken place due to weather and shipping delays and sorting out work permits and such. But I
am just wondering whether there is an estimated
completion date in there at all, given that there are
these delays.
Certainly, I am aware that ther e is a large
framework that is sitting up there. And I am sure that
people would like to know when it is going to be completed and put into use. And just as I am mentioning
the fact that the solar panel is sort of on the boundaries of a residential area, [ I am wondering] whether


Bermuda House of Assembly the Ministry has canvassed any of the residents in the
area just to give them a heads up about what that s olar project is and whether there is any feedback on
how they feel about having a large . . . I always call
them solar farms . I do not know what they are calling
it . . . solar project. But whether the neighbours and
those who are in the immediate area are okay with
that. Whether they have any suggestions or feedback
so that we are sensitive to their surroundings and
[they do] not feel as though we are overwhelming
them in their neighbourhood.
I am not sure. There was not any word said
about this but . . . I am still on 30060 on page [B -]242.
There were LED lightbulbs. There was like a full r eplacement of the lightbulbs at the National Centre. And I am just curious , now that they have all been
installed , whether we are monitoring the electricity and
whether the Minister might be able to give us an indication , maybe month by month, of how the electricity
bills are changing now that we have LED lighting
throughout the stadium. And I think those are all of my
questions for that section.
I just want to quickly move over to page C -7,
which is still the National Sports Centre. Page C -7 and
it is 75128, the National Sports Centre capital grant. So, it is estimated at $350,000. And I am just curious
what that is for and if the Ministry would not mind just giving me an idea of what that $350,000 is toward.
Whether that is part of the solar project or if there is
some other grant that the nat ional stadium might be
working on. And before I leave the —

Or what . . . Yes. Whether it
is either the solar or there is something else.
And I do not want to jump around too much
but the . . . Oh, I know where it is. Just to get all of the
national sports . . . It is the trustees. I think that is u nder grants in the Cs. Yes. Page C -20, line 6884, the
national stadium trustees. So, that has been con-sistent year on year. It is [$1,100,000]. But I am just
wondering if the Minister might be able to give us an
indication of what that general expense allocation is for. So, we have the $1,000,100 on page C -20, and
then we have the $350,000 on page C -7, and then we have the funding within t he sports development.
Thank you.
I would like to now move to page B -243, and
all the way at the bottom of the page, grants and con-tributions. And this is under the subjective analysis. So, there is an allocation of $3,619,000, which is an
increase over l ast year. The increase is $773,000.
And I am just curious with the grants and contributions
if the Minister could please let us know how many applications were received in the past year for the
2023/24 season. And if it might be possible for the Minister t o please list those sports that received
grants and the amounts that were given to each of the
grantees.
I am also curious, as I was going through and
looking at the list of the grants from last year, whether
the Ministry bases their grants on performance or their
participation, the activity of the various associations ,
and whether there are any particular criteria around
performance that are includ ed. And also, maybe like if
they have achievements . . . I do not know if a partic ular association has tournaments or goes away for
tournaments. That kind of accomplishment also gives
weight to getting a grant.
Also, under grants and contributions, and I am
going to move right into page C -20 so we can see
specifically what some of those grants are for. I was
very interested in the elite athlete assistance because
we are about to enter into our Olympic season. Next
year will be the Olympics again, so I wanted to give a
little bit of attention on the preparations, what is going
on with the elite athletes to make sure that they have all of the resources that they need. And certainly, on
page C -20, 6880, the elite athlete assistance has
gone from $20,000 in 2021/22 up to $250,000 in 2023/24 which is most generous and absolutely wo nderful. But I am just curious whether this is including
anything else in preparation for the Olympics or is this
going to be completely 100 per cent for the athletes? I
know that there will be a number of costs . We have
the Olympic Association and such. And I did not know
whether all of that was being folded into the elite assistance or if you will continue to break them out separately.
Still on grants, but I am going to move over to
page C -23. And I am looking at the Bermuda Olympic
Associations. So, I am going to stay with that theme
for a moment. And I am seeing that it is $125,000. Is it
still going to be $125,000 for this year as well? B ecause what is listed here is the 2021/22 grant. So, if the Minister might be able to confirm whether that $125,000 will be granted again for 2023/24, especially
given that we are entering into an Olympic year.
And while I am on page C -23, I noticed that
there is now . . . we have our Bermuda Anti -Doping
Association, and that gets a grant of $550,000 a year,
which I have come to accept over the years that it is
what it is. Madam Chairman would be sensitive to that
as well when she has had her time as Minister. But I
728 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly noticed this year that there is a World Anti -Doping
Agency, and that is a payment of $5,000. But I was
just curious whether that is a membershi p or why we
have to pay the World Anti -Doping as well as partic ipating and investing the $550,000 into the Bermuda Anti-Doping Association.

Thank you very much. And I am
grateful to the Shadow Minister for allowing me to
pose my one question. It is on the same page and the
same topic that she was just addressing. And I know
she says, “It is what it is.” And she recognised that the
Chairman had the same view when she was the Mi nister. But whenever someone says, It is what it is, I am
always wanting to ask, W ell, why ?
If one looks at page C -23, and I put this in a
politically neutral way, the Bermuda Government is
spending $100,000 on cricket, $300,000 on football
and $125,000 on our Olympics. You add those three
up and we are still not at the amount being paid for
the Sports Anti -Doping Association. And to me, that
just does not make sense.
I mean, it is the tail wagging the dog. It is like
building a Formula One motorcar but then spending
millio ns on the brakes. And I am just struggling to u nderstand why. If you add in the World Anti -Doping
Agency amount that my honourable colleague, Susan
Jackson, pointed out, that takes us to $550,000. Well,
to get to $ 555,000, you have to go from cricket, you
add in football, you add in the Olympics, you throw in triathletes and you throw in motorcycle racing. And those are unequal. And it seems like we are focusing
on the exclusionary aspect rather than the participatory aspect.
Again, I am being politically neutral about this.
I am not faulting the Government. But I do ask the question “why?”, and I welcome an answer to why.
Because it just does not seem . . . as I said earlier, it
seems like the tail is wagging the dog. We want people involved. We want peopl e healthier. We want people doing sports. So, to focus so predominately on the
very admirable desire to keep sports clean from
drugs, which is a very admirable desire . . . but it just
seems so unbalanced from a financial perspective.
So, that was my question for the Honourable
Minister. And it is my only question. And I am grateful to Ms. Jackson f or allow ing me.

So, I would like to stay on
page C -23 for a moment. And as the Member who just
took his seat had mentioned a couple of comparisons,
I too was looking at the grants that were given.
I notice, and I understand that the Bermuda
Football Association gets $300,000. They are a na-tional organisation. And the Bermuda Cricket Board
received $100,000 last year, and, again, they are a
national team. But when I looked down further, I noticed that the Bermuda Netball Association is getting
$5,000. So, I looked back a couple of years and I real-ised that this has been decreased by 50 [per cent] . . .
75 per cent. So, they have gone down considerably.
It just seems disheartening to me. And I certainly stand here as a woman speaking to a female
sport, traditionally —netball. How will we ever be able
to advance the sport of netball if the teams are getting a total of $5,000 a year? And this is a traditional Bermuda female sport. I mean, we all played netball. I am
sure we all had our chance. And it was a part of our
Bermudian culture to play netball.
So, not only the fact that it is a women’s sport,
but that it is historically a Bermudian sport. I just feel as though the Minister could explain to us why $ 5,000
is given to the Bermuda Netball Association and if the
Minister might even be able to give us some indication
of what we can do to get ourselves in a position where
we can get more than $5,000. Because I do not see how netball players will be able to get to a point of
competition unless we have the resources.
I do not know if the Minister can give us any
update on the fact that there has been some vanda lism at the netball facilities on the Island and whether
we have other ministries that are helping us keep that
area secure to maybe help offset some of the costs. But I did certainly want to bring it to the Minister’s attention and ask him what we can do so that we might be able , as women, to participate and potentially one
day we can get to the international level of playing this
sport.
I would now like to go back to page B -242.
And I would like to just spend a moment on 2006, Community Centres. So, these are the three comm unity centres —the Western Zone, the Eastern Zone
and the Sammy Wilson Community Centre in the central parishes. And certainly, we have all heard about
the repairs that have been needed at the Sammy Wi lson Central Zone Community Centre, and that toward
the end of February there were repairs that were m ajor enough. I believe they were electrical and water.
And it forced a closure of the community centre for a few weeks, maybe a month, to make those repairs.
So, I would like to ask the Minister if he has a timeline
specifically on when the community centre will open.
And hopefully that w ill happen, and we can get back
to normal especially as we enter into the nice spring/summer [weather] and people are starting to
get out some more.


Bermuda House of Assembly Then I would just like to move to 30146, the
Western Zone Community Centre. And I noticed that
the allocat ion of funds has been decreased by
$53,000, and it is now at $430,000 a year, which is the lowest of all of the community centres. And I am just curious why the community centre is losing the
funding and whether the Ministry is considering the
impact that this might have on the youth who are in
the area. I do not know if there is a particular reason
why the funding is less. But certainly, that is going to
have some effect on the youth who are living in the
neighbourhoods close by.
I will have to wait for t he Minister to give us an
explanation, but I am curious what programmes will be affected by this decrease as well. I mean, will the community centre be closing and not open every day
or will there just be fewer programmes available? I
just have no clue. Bu t it sounds concerning, especially
given that it is a community centre that is supporting
one of our neighbourhoods in the western parish.
I am just giving some thought to the Western
Zone Community Centre. So, I was taking a look on
the next page under t he performance indicators. And I
think it is on . . . yes, page B -246. And this is just the
performance measures for the community centres. Do I have to read all those numbers —30120, 30130,
30146—community centres. And I was just really i mpressed. They are showing here that every year,
40,000 [pairs of] feet walk through our three community centres. That is a lot of traffic. That is a lot of people. [There are] 40,000 people who go in and out of
our three community centres every year and it just
leaves one to wonder, again, whether the Minister
could not consider funding the community centres just
a bit more given the fact that there is so much traffic
and so much activity in the community centres.
Now there are a projected number of pr ogrammes . . . I am s till on page B -246 under the bus iness units for community centres. It has the projected
number of programmes that are run per year, and it is
showing that there are pretty much programmes running all the time. And we are looking. The statistic
here is that they have 30 programmes running per
annum. And there is a target outcome which is like
50 per cent more at 45 programmes for 2023/24. So,
we have 40,000 people going in and out of the three
community centres. We are having a target outcome
of 45 programmes, so we are going to increase . . . 15
new programmes are going to be added to the community centres a nd the budget for these community
centres has relatively stayed the same.
And then the Western Community Centre has
actually decreased. Its budget has been decreased.
So, I am just trying to figure out if the Minister might
be able to give us an explanation of what those add itional programmes are going to be and how the community centres are going to be able to manage their
operations as well as introduce 50 per cent more pr ogrammes into the schedule. I was also curious. (We are still on page B -
246 under Community Centres.) For the last few
years, there have not been any surveys, no sort of satisfaction reports and that sort [of thing] . And I
guess I woul d not ask this other than the fact that so
many of the other programmes within the Ministry do have surveys. And then I noticed that for 2023/24,
there is a target outcome of a 90 per cent satisfaction.
And I understand it is a new measure. But I am just
curious what the Ministry is going to do to get to the
90 per cent satisfaction.
I would like to now turn to page B -243, the
After School Programme. And thank you very much to
the Member who delivered the brief. It was compr ehensive and you did definitely answer quite a few of
my questions. And it is good to see that there has been an increase in budget to . . . as I understood it
from the Member, they are going to be enrolling more
students. But I just wanted to confirm with the Minster
and ask the Minist er if that is the case, that the i ncrease in the budgeted amount for the youth pr ogrammes on page B -243, [line item] 30125, After
School Programmes . . . is that increased budgeting
going to be [because] there is an anticipation or [because] there is a capacity for more students? Or are
fees going to be increased?
I am hoping that I heard the Member who
gave the brief clearly, that it is going to be based on
more students. But if the Minster could just confirm
that the increase is not from a fee increase. Because
when I moved over to page B -244, line item 8665, the
After School Vouchers . . . so, these are the costs that
the parents pay. Back in 2021, and I am sure a lot of
this was COVID -19 related, but there was revenue
generated from the A fter School Vouchers of
$293,000, and that is fine. And then it looks like for
2022/23, the revenue from the A fter School Programmes went up to $485,000 which sounds like it is
getting more healthy. This year, it is estimated that the Ministry will raise $600,000 in reve nue for the After
School Programme.
So again, it was just one other reason why I
felt that I should ask and confirm with the Minister if
this is because there is going to be an initiative to i ncrease the numbers of students enrolled in after
school or whether it is that parents will be paying more.

Thank you.
I am going to move to page B -242, and I
would like to look at [business unit] 2007, Camping.
And while I was on my fee increase piece, I was just
730 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly looking at camping. I remember lis tening to the Mini stry of Public Works’ brief. And there was an a nnouncement that was kind of general that said that
there would be 5 per cent increases. And I heard a
Member kind of chirp, Does that include camping?
And so, I thought when I saw the Darrel l’s Island, the
Paget Islands, Ports Island and White’s Island cam ping, that I would ask whether there was any increase
in fees expected for those particular locations. The
Minister from the previous budget in Public Works
may have been talking about land- based camping
sites. But I just wanted to ask so that there is either a
distinction or so that we know that there will also be a
5 per cent increase in camping on islands as well.
I would now like to move over to page B -245.
And again we are back in performance measures. I
had a few questions about the athletic awards, which
are at the top of the page, 30030, A thletic Awards.
Now, I spend a lot of time in this space. And I believe
part of my question may have been answered with the
announcement and the reminder of the $10,000 Flora
Duffy Award. So, if the Minister could just confirm
whether the Flora Duffy Award came out of this pool
of grants for athletic awards, then that will help definitely clarify things.
But as I was looking at this and as I understand how the athletic awards go, I thought that it was sort of a pot of money and that it was divvied up to
athletes who were performing well. And I start out
looking at the 2022/23 numbers where we had 18 junior athletes. And they were awarded $3,500. And it
sounded wonderful. And then I looked and saw that
there was a revision the same year, that one person was no longer there. So, it dropped from 18 junior at hletes to 17 junior athl etes. And I would have thought
that if there were fewer people, the pot would have
gotten a little bigger, that they would have been
awarded a slightly larger amount of money than the
$3,500. Maybe they would have gotten $3,750 or
something. But instead, I see that the award for less
athletes was less money at $2,941.
So, I am just curious if the Minister might be
able to give some explanation and context around that because that is something that I do not understand.
And when I look within that same secti on, they have
the number of elite athletes who received funding.
And in 2022/23, there were 17 athletes who received
the funding. But at the end of it all, when they revised
the statistic, there were only 10 athletes who ended
up receiving the funds. So, I am now curious to know
if the Minister could just give me some insight as to what happened to the seven athletes who seemed to have fallen off the wayside here between the begi nning of 2022 and the end of 2023.
I would now like to just move down the page.
Still on page B -245, I would like to now move to
30065, the Sports Investment Programme. So, this is
the number of the National Sport Governing Bodies. And my first question was that I see in 2022/23 we had 25 National Sport Governing Bodies . But there i s
a target for 26 [ National ] Sport Governing Bodies for
2023/24. And I am wondering if the Minister might be
able to give us some idea as to what that additional
[National ] Sport Governing Body is going to be for this
year/next year.
My other question is that there are 25 National
Sport Governing Bodies. And in the research that I have done just trying to catch up with all of this, each
one of the [ National ] Sport Governing Bodies would
make an application for the elite athletic award that we
just discusse d. And if there are 25 [ National ] Sport
Governing Bodies, I am just wondering why there
would only be 17 athletes that would be put up for an
award. And is that because some of the [ National ]
Sport Governing Bodies are not producing athletes at that level right now that they qualify for the athletic
awards? Or are we losing athletes and they are just
not there? If the Minister might be able to just give us
a little information on that. I do not know if they are
training internationally. And if they are, if they have left
our shores in order to go to more advanced training
and [get] exposure internationally, if the Minister ma ybe could give us an indication of where those athletes
are.
I guess probably based on the conversation
when I had mentioned that ther e were 17 athletes that
received the awards in 2022 but by the end of 2022
there were only 10, where did those seven athletes
go? And maybe they are. Maybe they have headed off
to more international competition.
When I was talking about the 25 governing
bodies . . . I am still with 30065 on page B -245. When
I was mentioning the 25 governing bodies and yet
there are only 17 junior athletes, I was just also wo ndering if it could be that only 17 governing bodies
have junior athletes to put up for the athletic awards.
But then I was also curious about the number of appl ications that you actually received. And that maybe there were a lot of applications received by the [ National ] Sport Governing Bodies for the athletic awards
but that maybe the athletes did not meet the criteria. So, if the Minister might be able to say how many a pplications the Ministry received for the athletic awards and whether the Ministry feels that we might be see-ing fewer athletes developing, that for some reason
(and it could be COVID -19 related), we are just slow
to get our youth back into the athletic arena, no pun intended.
I just have a couple more questions (page B -
242) about the Motorsport Park. And that number is
30090. I just have a couple of observations , and I am
wondering if the Minist er might be able to answer this
for me. So, I notice that the average number of indi-viduals who use the facility monthly is always 150
people. From 2021 to 2023/24, it is 150 people. So, I
was wondering i f the Minister would break down the
people using the Motorsport Park. Are these the spectators? Are they . . . how many spectators? How many


Bermuda House of Assembly mechanics maybe? How many coaches? How many
riders to make this such a consistent 150 people? B ecause they have events every week. In the performance measures it is showing that they are having
four events a month. So, I do not know whether it is a consistent group of people who are going or if it is
something about the number of people who are going
to the Motorsports Park every week.
I also noticed in the Motorsport Park that the
satisfaction was at 75 per cent pretty consistently, and
then last year in 2022, it dropped down to 50 per cent.
So, I am curious whether the Minister might be able to
give us some reasons f or that dissatisfaction and if we
know what those not -so-satisfied things are. It could
be the track. It could be improving the restroom facil ities. It could be parking. I do not know. But I am sure that at 50 per cent satisfaction, it has been made
known what would raise the satisfaction. Because ,
you know , the Ministry has put in here that they want
their target outcome to be 75 per cent by the end of
this year. So, certainly the Ministry is showing that
they have every intention of doing something to rai se
the satisfaction of the Motorsport Park down there in Clearwater in St. David’s. So, if you might be able to
just let us know what you are planning to do to i mprove the facility so that the survey score rises from
50 per cent to your target outcome of 75 per cent.
Let’s see . . . page B-246. Okay. I am going to
take my seat because I do know there is someone else who would like to ask a few questions.

Thank you, Madam Chairman.
I just have a few questions this evening that I
would like to put to the Junior Minister. I believe my
colleague covered the question with regard to the r eduction of $53,000 in the Western Zone Community Centre. I am a firm believer in community centres within the community. I am actively involved in the one
in mine. And that answer for the $53,000 [decrease] I
will be looking for as well.
I just wanted to know that the summer day
camps, there was an increase . . . I’m sorry. [Business
unit] 2008 on page B -242. There was an increase of
$73,000 and for the After School Programme on the
same page, 2009, there was an increase of $283,000.
And I just want to know what those increases equal in
terms of additional students being able to attend after
school programmes and summer day camps, recognising that the Junior Minister did read in his brief that
this amount also covers two new supervisors. I too had a question on page B -246 with r egard to the performance measures. And I just wanted to know, as well, what information is available in the
programmes, because the amount for the community
centres has not changed outside the western one,
which has now been reduced. But the programme
forecast shows that they expect or they hope to have
more programmes. If they coul d give some indication
of the programmes if there is no additional funding—

No problem.
So, the revised forecast for 2022/23 is 30.
And the target outcome for 2023/24 is 45. So, I am
trying to align it next to the budgeted amount if the
amount has not changed.
On page B -247, under business unit 30350,
Youth Investments and Grants. If you look at the ori ginal forecast for 2022/23, it has 25. But the revised
forecast is 13. So, I just want to know if we could get a
brief explanation on if we budg eted at 25 and the actual was 13, what happened there to have such a
much lower number in our youth investment side of it?
And my last point, Madam Chairman, and I
believe my colleague covered this as well, which is page C -23, and it would be the Bermuda Netball A ssociation, funding in the amount of $5,000.
In the Royal Gazette for November [ 13,] 2021,
there was an interview with the then president, Kimale Evans , and it was headlined as “BNA president
Kimale Evans wants more support for netball.” And
this was at a time when the Government only gave the
Association $20,000 in 2001. And we are now seeing
$5,000.
Just to give a few points of what she points
out is that this is an all -female sport. They have had
success in tournaments. They actually have funding
needs of anywhere between $60,000 to $100,000.
They are limited in the traveling to tournaments due to
the fact that they do not have sufficient funding. But
the major thing that stuck out to me was the fact that
in 2021, there were about 250 competiti ve players in
our netball leagues. So, that would be 250 females.
And I think it is important to note that we are on the
heels of International Women’s Day, next week,
Wednesday, March 8. And this year, the theme will be
#EmbraceEquity. What does that mean, Madam
Chairman? Being a woman and looking at an all -
female sport, it would definitely be something that I
732 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly would contribute in. And knowing that is a 75 per cent
decrease from 2021 . . .
But one of the things that this year’s theme
speaks to is that equity is not just a nice- to-have; it is
a must have. And so, when you hear that, and you
understand what the International Women’s Day 2023
theme is, I just would like for the Junior Minister to
explain. And I am hoping that it has us look at it and
rethink our investment in our young, older, matured,
seasoned females who go out there and religiously put their all in the netball games.
Another part of the 2023 theme for International Women’s Day, Madam Chairman, is that a f ocus on gender equity needs to be part of every soci ety’s DNA, which means what we should not actually have to push that we are an all -female thing, that the
equity would already be there and that persons ma king decisions would immediately look at it in that r egard.
I will take my seat now, Madam Chairman.
Those were my questions for this evening.

Yes. Thank you very much.
Just very quickly, on page B -245, under bus iness unit 30065, Sports Investment Programme. I
have always said that, quite frankly, we do not put
enough money into our sporting bodies when we have
Bermuda producing such high standards of sport smen.
So, I was just curious about the second to last
item there, Number of Investments issued to Sporting
Bodies with initiatives geared toward S ports Development. I was just curious as to who those sporting
bodies are. If you look at the original forecast, it was
18, were revised to 13. Maybe that was due to
COVID -19. I do not know. And then we kind of had a
middle ground of 15, so obviously maybe some spor ting bodies were dropped out. I do not know. But it would be nice to know and let the public know how much they are doing and the different sporting bodies
that they are actually giving these initiatives to, these
investments.

Thank you, Madam Chai rman.
I just have one short, little section left. I am
picking it up on page B -247, 30350, Y outh Inves t-ments and G rants. And this may be dovetailing with
the Member who just took his seat. But here we have
a performance measure of 13 grants being given out
for youth development programmes. And I would like
to know whether the Ministry can provide us with the list of the 13 organisations that received those grants.
And then I would be interested in knowing,
within the same line, what sort of programmes they are looking to introduce and especially what pr ogrammes they are willing to introduce and how they are going to work with those 13 sports organisations to th en increase more programmes to get up to 20,
which is the target outcome for 2023/24. So, if the
Minister would not mind giving us a list of the 13 organisations that got the grants for the youth pr ogrammes. And then how the Ministry is going to en-gage wit h sports associations, period, to find seven
more sports associations which are willing to be qual ified to apply for youth programme grants in the future.
Thank you.

Okay , 20 minutes. Thank
you.
I will start going through some of these. A
question was asked about Head 20 with regard to the
increase in the amount that was budgeted for the ICC
tournament. And the answer for that is that it was
$70,000 in the first instance, and we anticipate corporate support for the BCB by way of sponsorship opportunities, also the Ministry of Youth, Culture and
Sport, additional grants and any other sports pr ogrammes initiated could provide funds. And the grants in this area are for National S port Governing Bodies
that can apply for grants.
There was a question about if we are collec ting data with regard to elite athletes so that we can
track their progress. And the answer to that is yes. We are tracking them alongside the Bermuda Olympic Asso ciation.
There were questions . . . let’s see . . . list of
sports that receive grants and the amounts that are given to grants. We can send this information. The
substantive Minister can also share more about this
during the Budget Debate. And if his Head is not s elected, he can also provide the information in another
place. And if so, I can also table it here. I do not have


Bermuda House of Assembly that answer. But there are criteria that are formulated.
And we can use the sports investment framework that
allows a department to make more informed decisions
when it comes to allocations of funds meeting the objective performance to determine the amount of all ocation.
[There was] a question about the elite athlete
assistance prep for the Olympics . Do they have the
assistance they need? [It is] now up to a $250,000
increase from last year . Is there anything else or is
that just for athletes? And the answer is the BOA [Bermuda Olympic Association] will get $125,000.
That is for the upcoming year , and the additional
[amount] is for elite athlete assistance. And the funding is for elite and high- performing athletes.
Question: Is cricket getting $100,000; BFA
[Bermuda Football Association] $300,000; BOA
$125,000; and then BS ADA getting $55,000? There
was a comparison. WADA [World Anti -Doping Agency] gets more than others combined. I believe two
Members may have gone there. And the funds for anti-doping include testing of our athletes locally and
overseas and operational funding. And the funding for WADA, the $500,000, is for an annual membership.
And I think there was a supplementary question about
the WADA $500,000 is it for membership? And I just
answered that , yes, the yearly fee is for WADA affili ation, which is needed to have a national antidrug or-ganisation.
Netball gets $5,000 and it [has been] decreased over the years. The Member expressed being disheartened, because of female sports traditionally ––
and [asked] how [can] we advance sports if the women are getting smaller amounts. The answer is each National Sport [Governing ] Body must apply for what
they deem is needed for their programme. In 2021/22,
netball was allocated $15,000 but during that year
they only used $5,000. Again, the amount of funding
received is based on performance and meeting the
National Sport [Governing] Bodies’ objectives that assist the department meeting objectives. Netball did not
apply for funding in 2023/24. We fully stand behind
our female athletes. But we cannot provide funding to organisations that do not apply.
Community Centres. The Member asked
about the repairs needed for the Sammy Wilson Centre, the forced closure of the centre, and when the
centre will reopen. And the answer is [the opening] is
projected for early April. I do not want to give a date like the 1
st or 2nd or 3rd, but somewhere within that p eriod as long as the weather conditions are favourable.
And there was a further question about the decreased
[amount for] community centres. I think it was the
30146 cost centre, decreased by $53,000. It is now
$430,000, the lowest of all community centres. What
programmes will be affected by the decrease? And the answer is relief staff has been spread, shared r esources across the three community centres, allowing
for a reduction in salaries. I think there was a follow -up question on page
B-246. 40,000 people go through a year. Could there
be more funding because so much traffic is coming
through the centres? The answer is there could a lways be more funding, and it will be requested as the
programme participation increases. S o, that is a good
observation.
Thirty programmes are running per year with
a target outcome of 50 per cent more. The budget has
stayed the same or decreased. What additional pr ogrammes will there be and how will community cen-tres manage with the same budget? The answer is
through community partnerships and volunteers.
Question. There were no surveys over the last
few years. The target outcome is 90 per cent satisfaction. How will you get there? The answer is quarterly
assessments of new initiatives and the reintroduction of yearly surveys as well.
On page B -23, is the increased budget
amount for A fter School Programmes, is there capac ity for more students or is there going to be an i ncrease in fees? Revenues will be $600,000 in After
School Programmes. Pl ease confirm if that is because
there will be more students. The answer is the i ncrease in the number of students in the programme
and on board of new programme sites , are either the
West End.
The next question was about camping. Will
there be an increase in fees? And the answer is no.
There is not any increase in camping fees for the I sland.
Page B -245 about the performance measures
relating to the athletic awards. Did the Flora Duffy award come out of this area? And the answer is yes.
Yes, it did. And it came out of the . . . (there is an acronym there) NJASP budget. I will have to plead
somebody will whisper that one in my year. Excuse
me. It came out of the National Junior Athlete Sponsorship Programme. Yes, thank you.
There was a question about the [ath letic]
awards, $3,500: why did the pot [not] get bigger? The
answer is less funding was given between previous
performance measures , $100,000 when the average
allocation was higher. Post COVID -19, the budget
was cut. Also, post COVID -19, National Sport [ Governing] Bodies had a choice to either select an ind ividual recipient or bring in a coach to work with c ohorts of junior athletes.
How many applications does the Department
of Youth, Sport and Recreation receive for the athletic
awards and did they not meet the criteria? Does the
Department of Youth, Sport and Recreation think that we have fewer athletes? The answer is 20 . . . I am
sorry. The answer to all of these questions is we can-not control who applies. And funding is allocated to all National Sport [Governing] Bodies who apply for this
sponsorship.
What happened to the seven athletes who fell
off, [what is the] rationale? The decrease of some was
734 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly because of the lack of ability to travel during the pandemic.
The question about the Sports Investment
Programme. The number of National Sport Governing
Bodies, what is the additional? There the target is 26
for 2023/24. The list fluctuates yearly due to perspective and current National Sport Governing Bodies
meeting recognition standards or not.
Why are there only 17 athletes for an award if
we have 25 National Sport Governing Bodies? And,
once again, we cannot control who applies. And n otice is sent out to all National Sport Governing Bodies.
If athletes travel overseas, where are they? In
the US , mostly, and in the UK.
Motorsports Park question came. The average number of monthly users is 150. Do we have a
breakdown number of mechanics, riders and spect ators, and why is it so consistent? The answer is there
are events there weekly —motocross and motorcycle
racing one week and karting the next week. [There
are events on an] every -other -week basis so the park
is heavily used during the season. [There is] no spec-tator participant breakdown.
Satisfaction was 75 per cent in 2022. It is
50 per cent in . . . And the question is: Why is there
dissatisfaction and what will be done to improve it?
The answer is the facility is in need of new bleachers. And the Ministry of Works has committed to fixing this
by the start of the next season which is in October.
On page B -242, there is an increase of
$73,000 and what numbers does this equate to? The answer is After School Programmes has an increase
of approximately 190 students, 16 additional staff [and
the] summer day camp has an increase of approx imately 100 students.
The question from page B -247 with regard to
the youth investment grants. The target was 25 and
the revised forecast is 13. Who were the recipients of
the Big Brothers Big Sisters signature programme?
Children’s Reading Festival, Delta NetFest, Raleigh
Bermuda, Tomorrow’s Voices, WindReach, 4D Pr omotions, Bermuda Overseas Mission, Bermuda Sloop
Foundation, Troika, Devonshire football, Skills Deve lopment Programme, Bermuda Sea Cadets, and Bermuda Alumni Chapter.

I am trying my best.
The guidelines shifted with the national sloop
policy now requiring the department to only provide
funding to organisations with safeguarding policies in
place.
Please explain the equity in sport with respect
to women in sport. Gender equity should be in all facets of life, mentioning again netball. As stated earlier,
netball did not apply for the funding and we cannot
provide funding to an organisation that does not apply. But we are very much on board with gender equity
right there.
Sports investment. It was asked why we do
not put enough money into sport. Who are the spor ting bodies? I believe Mr. Cannonier might have asked
that [question] . The budget was simi lar to when the
OBA was in power. Again, we cannot force organis ations to apply for the funding. Unfortunately, some choose not to apply because they do not need it. It
was down to 13 due to COVID -19 and lack of travel
and international events.
What progr ammes are we looking to intr oduce? And how will we work with 13 sport organis ations to increase to 20, which is the target outcome for
2023/24? Facilitation of fundamentals in all sports
provide an initial exposure to assist parents in determining extracur ricular activities.

I would like to thank t he
Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture for the sterling
work that they are doing on behalf of our young people. The theme of this budget presentation was certainly the reallocation of funds to provide greater access to improvement in sport for our elite a thletes.
And we wish them well during 2023/24, those young
people with these opportunities. It certainly makes me
want to jump into a time machine and go back and be
young all over again. But we know that is not possible.

The machine broke down.
It saw me coming.
With that, Madam Chairman . . . any que stions that I was unable to get to, I am sure the Minister
will provide answers to be either tabled here and/or
dealt with in another place.
With that, Madam Chairman, I move H eads
71, 20 and 52 be approved as printed.


Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: It has been moved that Heads 71, 20
and 52 be approved.
Are there any objections?
Approved.

[Motion carried: Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sport,
Heads 71, 20 and 52 were approved and stand part of
the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure 202 3/24.]

Good afternoon. Good evening, M embers.
Are there any objections to rise and report
progress and to return to the H ouse?
There are none. Thank you.
We will now move on to the other orders on
the Order Paper today. And we are going to do the
second reading for the Fire Safety Amendment Act.
Minister of National Security.

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Yes. Good night, Mr.
Speaker.

Are there any objections?
There are none.
Proceed, Minister.

BILL

SECOND READING

FIRE SAFETY AMENDMENT ACT 2023
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Speaker, the Bill before
this Honourable House seeks to amend the Fire Saf ety Act 2014 to clarify that the National Fire Prot ection
Association [NFPA] standards and codes do not apply to the operation of air crash and fire rescue services in Bermuda.
Mr. Speaker, under the Fire Safety Act 2014,
the NFPA standards and codes apply to premises.
And it was never intended that the s tandards and
codes would apply to the operation of air crash and
fire rescue services in Bermuda. Mr. Speaker, the operation of air crash and fire rescue services currently
and will continue to comply with the UK Air Navigation
(Overseas Territories) Order s or any Overseas Terr itories Aviation Requirements (OTARs) made thereunder in relation to air crash and fire rescue services.
Mr. Speaker, the purpose of this Bill is to
amend section 7 of the Act to provide expressly that
the NFPA codes do not apply to air crash and fire rescue services at the Bermuda airport. This change will
not affect the safety of the travelling public. The air crash and fire rescue services will continue to meet
the UK Air Navigation (Overseas Territories) Orders.
The Air Crash and Fire Rescue Service will
continue to meet UK Air Navigation (Overseas Territ ories) Orders and any Overseas Territories Aviation
Requirements [OTARs].
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister.
Does any other Member wish to make a contribution at this time?
MP Dunkley.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the Honourable Minister for that overview.
Mr. Speaker, I remember in 2014 when the
Act was passed that it had gone through perhaps a
dozen drafts. I think it has been through two admi nistrations at the time, and it was always discussed that
there would be some changes to it through time and
so this one here seems logical. And I am surprised
that it hasn’t been raised up until this time and it has only been raised because of the audit by Skyport of
the airport operations. So, if the Honourable Minister
could give some clarification on that we certainly would appreciate it.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
And thank you to the Honourable Minister for
his presentation this evening on this amending Act.
Just a few brief points. The reason that the
National Fire Protection Association [NFPA] exists, their mission is to help save lives and reduce loss with
information, knowledge and passion. And the codes
exists to contribute to the safety of the general public.
What this Bill tonight is seeking to do is to clarify the
scop e of the 2014 Act, specifically sections 7(3), 7A
736 3 March 2023 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly and 7B to carve out the airport from the National Fire
Protection Association Codes. So the airport is being
carved out expressly when those codes, it would appear, apply to the rest of the Island as a whol e. Add itionally by reason of section 3 of the Bill, this carveout
of our airport from these codes is retrospective to
January 2018. So it is going back five and a half years
and validating the absence of the application of those
codes for that period.
So the questions I would have to the Honou rable Minister are these: What is the reasoning behind this change? Is it as my honourable colleague Michael
Dunkley has just indicated, part of the audit by Aecon
or those affiliated with the airport? Or is it in rel ation to
something else? Because as a matter of logic, it is
difficult to understand why health and safety codes
that are intended to protect public safety are applic able to all of Bermuda except for our airport. And I guess it begs the question, What woul d happen if
something were to go wrong with our airport? Are we
exposing ourselves reputationally as a jurisdiction?
So, in short, our understanding is that . . . or
my understanding anyway, I should say, is that these codes are reflective of best practic e in relation to Fire
Safety. And if we are departing from best practice and
we are respectively departing for five and a half years
(going backwards) what is the compelling reason for doing that? I just ask because obviously we want to
be very, very caref ul to make sure that we maintain
our jurisdictional reputation at the highest levels of
best practice.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Good evening, Mr. Speaker, and to those in the listening audience, and my colleagues who are here in the Chamber.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be able to give a
few comments in term of the Fire Service Amendment
Act and in context for me this really speaks in terms of
an insurance programme in that the ability to now i ncrease the number of persons who are on each shift at the airport, would help to ensure that, or at least
minimise, the impact of any instance of accident or
near accident. So, I stand obviously to support the
amendment.
I also want to thank the Minister because he
took time to ensure that many of us, myself included, understood that as some of the earlier speakers have
said, that this does relate only to the airport. What
they are doing is specifying that the airport can now
be operated a little bit differently from the rest of the Island.
And in terms of impact, I do declare my interest, Mr. Speaker, in the sense that I am very often at the airport and I often interact with some of these F ire
Service persons. And as recently as yesterday there was actually an example whereby the Fire Service
kicks in in that they had fuelled an aircraft and for
whatever reason some of the fuel started to leak onto the tarmac and they had to call the Fire Service down
to clean it up. And that was one of those times wher eby you realise, you know what, before they might have
had, say, only five persons on a shift and now they
have increased it to 12, it enabled them to come and
do one task and in the instance of an accident or an-other requirement, you have more people to go in and
respond. And so in this instance what is happening is
we are in fact increasing the safety of the overall ai rport and the ability for them to respond in a timely
manner.
Mr. Speaker, as I started talking about the
idea of this being insurance, we can think about it, I suppose, but none of us can really appreciate the i mpact of an aircraft accident at the airport. Depending upon the actual aircraft itself, depending upon the time
of the day, and of course depending upon the time of
the year, we would not know how many people would
be on that aircraft. So if you think about it, immediately
there is going to be a claim in terms of the loss of life.
There is also going to be the less import ant, but
equa lly significant damage to the actual aircraft. And
also, depending upon the time of year and time of day there is going to be a short - to medium -term interruption to air traffic. Because obviously, if there is an ai rcraft on the runway then ot her aircraft will not be able
to land at that time. And so you would have a circum-stance whereby all the aircraft have to go back to their
destination or abort the actual departure where they
are.
So again, I am just emphasising to everyone
here and also to the general public that this actually
speaks to an insurance programme. And yes, there
may be some comments in terms of the actual ex-pense and the timing and what have you, but we
could imaging the alternative which would be an acc ident that could occur .
Mr. Speaker, it is also timely in my mind because we are going through the budget process and
there are lots of comments in terms of stimulating the economy. And what some persons might not know is
that the ability to have the Fire Service fully staffed at
the airport, it actually also adds to the ability for Bermuda to market itself. Because sometimes what happens is that when there are aircraft intending to come
to Bermuda, and that will be both military and general aircraft, they may call ahead and as k what the category of coverage is at the airport. And when we are able
to respond and say that it is category 9, which gives
them some relief even if they have a smaller aircraft,
because they know that there is going to be sufficient
manpower to attend t o any potential incident.
I also speak from experience in terms of
sometimes what happens is even overseas military


Bermuda House of Assembly aircraft will call in advance and ask what the category
is of cover at the airport and there have been instances whereby they will call (not in the recent past but in
the near to distant past) and they will actually ask
what the current cover at airport is. And based upon the fact that it was less than the highest category, category 9, they would actually not come to Bermuda.
And the impact of that is that Bermuda loses out. The
hotels will lose out. Obviously, the transport loses out.
The restaurants, bars and the like [lose out]. So there
is actually a tourism component or a stimulus compo-nent that is tied to this legislation tonight. So, again, I
stand to support it.
Mr. Speaker, in more recent times it has been
interesting. The Minister has come to this House and
talked about the fact that the Fire Service has had to
recruit persons and they ended up recruiting a signif icant number from C anada who are now on- site and
doing their training. And I do say, and I smile, and I
smile in support of all of the females who are currently
in the House because several of the recruits have been female and it does bring a smile when you see a
fire truck traveling at high speeds and you look up and
guess what? There is actually a female driving some
of these fire trucks. And so it does add to the incentive
to encourage right now for persons —

[Inaudible interjections]

Yes, the comment is the
recruits at the airport, some of them are male and
some of them are female. And yes, they do have f emales doing everything.
But my more major point, Mr. Speaker, is that
as part of this process there are more firemen per
shift. A nd the Minister spoke already about the need
to get more Bermudians, so I want to encourage all
those in the listening audience, if you have any incl ination to do this type of work —it is exciting, it is diffe rent, it is important, and it is valuable—to go ahead and make an application and move forward in this
process.
Mr. Speaker, I will say this also. The Minister
is aware that he talked earlier about potentially having
up to 100 recruits for the uniform services that it will
be interesting if we are suf ficiently forward- thinking to
establish a cadet programme for these services. Mr.
Speaker, I happen to be one of those who benefited
from the foresight of the Honourable Member Simons’
father -in-law, Mr. Penny Bean (who is now deceased),
because at the tim e he was responsible for the police
cadet programme. And when I was going through the programme, at one level it was said [that] persons like me should not be part of the programme because the
chances are we would not stay in the process. But he
had the foresight to say that the benefits of going
through the cadet programme actually extend beyond
qualifying as a policeman because you learn and you become more responsible. And so I hope we are able
to move in that direction to ensure that we are able to
get sufficient Bermudian recruits to fill the ranks of all
of the uniform services.
Mr. Speaker, as I close I want to commend
those who currently work at the airport. The current
and some of the past watch commanders, Commanders Bailey, Haynes, Burgess and De Couto, they do
go out and do things beyond the call of duty. And
sometimes we forget that they are on duty way into
the late- night hours and sometimes very, very early in
the morning. And they do it in some respects as a
thankless task, but they know that their role is to ensure that the airport is kept safe from any potential
harm and in the event that something does take place,
that they will be there to do their best to minimise any
impact.
And so with those comments, Mr. Speaker, I
will say thank you and again insert that I do support
this amendment to the Fire Service Act. Thank you.