March 12, 2021

Well, I will assoc iate if
that is the case, Mr. Speaker.
And, Mr. Speaker, I would like for condolences to be sent to the family of Ms. Artemisa Gibbons
from Wellington Slip Road. And I will associate my colleagues Minister Ming and MP Foggo from St.
George’s, and cousin B rother Derrick, and the family
of Ms. Gibbons, whom I knew very well. We all mourn
her passing. She also lived to be in her 99
th year (and
the water is good) down in the East. And we were blessed to have her with us for a very long time.
And on a happier note, [congratulations to] the
family of Dara Alizadeh and the Bermuda Rowing A ssociation for a tremendous achievement of qualifying
in rowing for the Tokyo Olympics coming up. On be-half of the Minister in another place, Dr. Peets, I offer a heartfelt congratulations to an outstanding achiev ement in sport. Thank you.

Yes. Good morning, Mr.
Speaker. I am going to be brief.
I just want to give condolences to the Si mmons family of Devonshire, Roberts Avenue to be
specific , on the sudden passing of Mr. Lloyd Si mmons. He was a veteran taxi driver. He was a staunch
PLP supporter. Just two months ago he was out assisting us doing a clean- up on Roberts Avenue. An yone who has driven to National Stadium or of course
Roberts Avenue would see there is a very bright
green house right on the roadside. And he always
took pride in keeping that area, along with other
776 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly neighbours’ —Harry Andrews was one of them —
keeping that area very clean. And he was looking forward to showing off the neig hbourhood to CARIFTA,
which under normal circumstances would have been this coming Easter. So I just want to give condolences to his wife and his family.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Can you hear me? Yes?
I just want to be associated with the remarks
for Ms. Ramsay. Dianne is a ver y, very good friend. I
have also known Davida for all of my life and
Dupierre, and [INAUDIBLE] I guess if you will, were
colleagues. And the Simmons family itself, they all have suffered a loss [INAUDIBLE]. And so condolences to the entire family.
And I also want to be associated with the r emarks that Honourable Member Kim Swan made, and that is —we called her “Misa,” not Aunt Misa. We
called her Misa. And she was the wife of well -known
Horace Gibbons, who was well known with the Reg iment, Mr. Speaker, [IN AUDIBLE] a well -known . . .

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
This morning I would like to give congratul ations to young Ms. Gherdai Hassell, who has an exhibit at the Bermuda National Gallery. Ms. Hassell is
at present residing in the UK. However, she is a Bermudian born and raised. And I had the opportunity with myself and a fe w others of my sorority sisters
from the sorority of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. to
hear her first -hand speak on the inspiration and the
creation of her exhibit. Mr. Speaker, I must say it
brought many of us to tears because it is —it is called I
Am Bec ause You Are. And it is an ode to ancestors,
Bermudian ancestors. And the work is very, very vi sceral. With that, it just evokes emotion. I would e ncourage anyone—she had a live on Instagram last
night. I would encourage everyone to go and take a
look at t he live, or the recording of the live so that you
can hear her explain the work.
The works themselves are beautiful. They are
pictures of former Bermudians whom she has painted
by hand and has done an excellent job in capturing
their essence. But you have to hear the story around
why she also has pictures of people who may not
necessarily be Bermudian, but whom we can look at
and see that they were of African descent and dressed in maybe Colonial attire. But most of them


Bermuda House of Assembly are unknown to us and unknown to most. She has
given them names. She has given them African
names as well. And she has done a lot of research
through the Bermuda Archives to bring the whole work
together and—

Okay. Yes. No problem. I am
wrapping up.
But to hear her speak about it is —it just does
not do it justice just to go and look. So I am sending congratulations to her because it is a very poignant
and wonderful work. I want all to go and see it, t o
support her, to support a Bermudian artist and enjoy
what she has done. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes. Go right ahead.

FIRST READ ING

RENT INCREASES (DOMESTIC PREMISES)
CONTROL TEMPORARY AMENDMENT
ACT 2021
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Good morning to you. Good
morning to colleagues and to Bermuda.
I wish to introduce a Government Bill. Mr.
Speaker, I am introducing the following Bill f or its first
reading so that it may be placed on the Order Paper
for the next day of meeting: Rent Increases (Domestic
Premises) Control Temporary Amendment Act 2021.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

And again for the clarity of the listening
public, we are now on the third day of the annual
Budget Debate. As you know, the Budget Debate
consists of a total of 56 hours, each day consuming 8
of thos e hours. And today the matter, the Ministry and
department under discussion is the Cabinet Office.
Once we are in Committee, the Speaker is out of the chair. And the proceedings in Committee will be in the
hands of the Panel of Chairs led by the Deputy
Speaker. And I believe it is the Deputy Speaker who
will actually be chairing this first session this morning.
With that said, Minister of Finance, would you
like to move us into Committee? And then the Deputy Speaker will take control of the House.

Hon. Cu rtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Speaker, I move that
the House do now resume in Committee of Supply to
consider the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure
for the year 2021/22.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

House in Committee at 10:47 am
[Mr. Neville S. Tyrrell , Chairman]

COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY

ESTIMATES OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
FOR THE YEAR 2021/22

[Continuation thereof]

778 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The Chair man: Good morning, Honourable Members.
We are now in Committee of Supply for further consideration of the Estimates of Revenue and Expend iture for the year 2021/22.
Under the Cabinet Office, Heads 9, 13, 14,
26, 43, 51, 61, 67, 80 and 94 are now to be debated. I
call on the Minister in charge to proceed.
Minister, you have the floor.

CABINET OFFICE

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Good morning, Mr. Chai rman.
I move the following Heads be now taken under consideration:
• Head 09— Cabinet Office ;
• Head 13— Post Office ;
• Head 14— Department of Statistics ;
• Head 26— Department of Human Resources ;
• Head 43— Department of Information and Di gital Technologies ;
• Head 51— Department of Communications;
• Head 61— Department of Employee and O rganisational Development ;
• Head 67— Department of Information and
Communication Technology;
• Head 80— Project Management; and
• Head 94— Economic Development .

Proceed, Minister.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Chairman, just for organisational purposes, I will do Head 13, Head 61, Head
80. The Pr emier will do Heads 9, 43, 51 and 94.
I will do all of my Heads first; then the Premier
will come in and do all of his Heads. We will then take
any questions from any Member who would like to ask
us any questions.
As we know, eight hours have been allott ed.
So it is going to be a long day, Mr. Chairman, hence
why I have my water in front of me.

[Crosstalk ]

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Point of clarification, Mr.
Chairman.

Yes.

POINT OF CLARIFICATION

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Is the Minister s aying that
after he makes his presentations in regard to Heads 13, 51, 61, 80 we will be able to ask questions then?
Or does he want to do it at the very end, after the
Premier?

[Inaudible interjections ] Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: It is after the Premier. So all
the Heads will be done . . . my four first, then the
Premier’s. And then questions will be done after that.
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: May I ask that you consider
doing the questions after your presentation? And then
we can do the Premier’s after his pr esentation? It is a
request.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: I hear you. But I think right
now it would be more appropriate for us to do it all
together.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Okay then. At least I asked.
Thank you.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Yes. No problem. And I appreciate that.
Members should also be aware that Head 26,
and that is the Department of Human Resources, has
been transferred to Head 61, the Department of E mployee and Organisational Development. So although
it is down, it is zero. So if you check the Budget Book,
it is zero for those particular Heads. And the Head 67,
as we all know as the Department of Information and
Communication Technology, is also zero. And that is because most staff have been moved to the Depar tment of Economic Development, and one person was
moved to PIPA. So those heads are a zero. So there
is no brief for them. But they are all zero—unless you
want to talk about the zero numbers. But they all have
now been included in other department Heads.
So, Mr. Chairman, with those few remarks, we
will now move on to Head 13.

HEAD 13 —BERMUDA POST OFFICE

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Members will find this parti cular Head under pages B -48 to B -52 of the Estimates
of Revenue and Expenditure. First of all, Mr. Chai rman, I would like to first —and that is why I am wearing yellow and blue this morning because I have a
hardworking Permanent Secretary by the name of
Colonel Lamb, who has worked tirelessly to put a lot
of these things together. And I have jumped over my Bailey’s Bay colours and my Som erset colours just to
appreciate him this morning. So this would mean the
blue and yellow is not because I belong to St. David’s
but out of respect for my good friend, Colonel Lamb, who I say has worked very hard. He leaves here late
at night, and when you come back on a Friday he is
still working hard. So, to Colonel Lamb, we appreciate you.
Mr. Chairman, it gives me great pleasure to
present the budget for Head 13— Bermuda Post O ffice, found as I mentioned on pages B -46 to B -52 of
the Budget Book. Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda Post
Office is governed by the Post Office Act 1900, the
Post Office Regulations 1933 and the Post Office


Bermuda House of Assembly (Departmental Administration) Regulations 1933.
Postal services are provided from the General Post
Office (also known as the GPO) l ocated on Church
Street, the Mail Processing Centre (also known as the BMPC) located at New Venture House on Mill Creek, and currently the seven sub post offices located
throughout the Island. These sub post offices are at a
great place in Hamilton Parish called Crawl, at De vonshire, Flatts, Mangrove Bay, Southampton, the
great St. George’s and Warwick. Mr. Chairman, you
will no doubt recall that during 2020 the Perot Post Office was converted to a COVID -19 testing site. As a
consequence, normal postal oper ations there, inclu ding of the Philatelic Bureau, were transferred to the General Post Office.
Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda Post Office’s
mission is to connect the public to an accessible, af-fordable and efficient delivery of products and services. The Bermuda Post Office is a member of the
Universal Postal Union (UPU) and works to ensure
that it meets its universal service obligation to provide access to affordable communication to all residents of
Bermuda. The department aims to deliver mail consistently wi thin four working days and provide the pu blic with other postal services. The Bermuda Post O ffice also plans to increase its relevance in this digital age and to take advantage of global opportunities in e-commerce. Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda Post Office
has set the following as its strategic priorities for 2021/22:
• continue to implement digital solutions for
online Customs clearance and home delivery ;
• introduce strategic alliances with other e -
commerce entities;
• generate additional revenue through the new
philatelic website;
• adjust postal rates and legislation; and
• become a customer service centre for other
government services.
Mr. Chairman, when we talk about gover nment service centres, the BPO would like to distribute,
collect or validate forms and applic ations for depar tments, and look at possibly collecting payment for fees and taxes. There is no reason why we could not
allow individuals to pay things like dog fees, your l icence for a boat or other things at your general post
office. And other taxes that may be charged, instead
of coming into the city, any department that is interested in use of the BPO infrastructure as an extension
of their location, point -of-sale system or online pa yment portal is available.
So, Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda Post Office i s
a continued success story in meeting the mandate
and challenges to reform its business model to meet
the postal needs of people in Bermuda, mandates of
the Government in service centres and the continued international compliance with global postal depar tments for data exchange. The Bermuda Post Office is nine months into
its three- year business plan, which it developed in
conjunction with KPMG and accepted in June 2020.
The Bermuda Post Office, with the support of the
Bermuda Government, started their di gital transfo rmation change in August 2019 with a coastal oper ations solution that consolidated six legacy systems
into one system while improving controls, efficiency,
effectiveness and equity of the revenue collection and
stock management process. In June 2020 the Berm uda Post Office launched their new website
www.bermudapost.bm
and payment portal, which has
the capabilit y for postal account holders, especially
PO Box renters, to set their online accounts to make payments using a credit card. Other online postal services will be continually developed and released
based on demand by the public for other postal and government online payments.
This digital transformation for new systems
has provided a platform needed for the Bermuda Post
Office to introduce new revenue- generating initiatives
and form strategic alliances with other government
departments and external parties on initiatives that are
mutually beneficial. These initiatives include utilising
the Bermuda Post Office’s extensive Island- wide ne twork to enhance the revenue- collection process governmentwide, promoting e -commerce shopping, i mproving the customs declarati on process and expanding courier service for package delivery.
Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda Post Office has
also kept pace internationally in meeting and achie ving UPU’s mandate for all postal operators to become
e-commerce compliant by January 1, 2020. The Be rmuda Post Office’s global compliance will provide a platform for the provision of e- postal products and e -
government services in the future. The Bermuda Post
Office recognises that to remain relevant it must generate additional revenue. If we look over the years,
Mr. Chairman, there has been a significant decline in
revenue by the post office. So the Bermuda Post O ffice’s three- year business plan will introduce new
products and services including online shopping, i mproving customer service, developing st rategic all iances, and introducing a more effective marketing
strategy for new as well as existing products and ser-vices.
The Bermuda Post Office comprises the Corporate Services Division and the Operations Division. The Corporate Services Division includ es Administr ation and Finance, Information Technology and Phil atelic Services, while the Operations Division is made up of the BMPC [Bermuda Mail Processing Centre],
the General Post Office (or the GPO), the Sub Post
Offices, and Courier Services.

Expendi ture Overview
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Chairman, Honourable
Members, if you refer to page B -47, you will notice
780 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly that the total expenditure is expected to be $9.194
million. This amount reflects a decrease of
$1,307,000, or 12 per cent, from the 2020/21 budget
allocation. Salaries and wages, as you can see, con-tinue to be the largest expenditure, 83 per cent of total
expenditure, which is the same as the previous fiscal
year. The total estimate for salaries and wages for
2021/22 is $7,656,000, down from $8,160,000 in
2020/21 revised total (that is when you add up the
salaries and wages, Honourable Mr. Chairman and
Honourable Members of Parliament), a decrease of $503,000, or 7 per cent. This is representative of a
drop in the approved establishment of 137 employees
in 2020/21 (and you will see that on page B -50) to 133
[employees] in 2021/22.
Operational expenses for the Bermuda Post
Office make up the remaining 17 per cent of the expenditure for 2021/22. The major operational expenses include [but are not limited to] in the 2021/22 bud get are rent, repairs and maintenance, energy costs,
and materials and supplies. These will all be ex-plained in the next paragraphs, Mr. Chairman.
Training costs include estimates for UPU express mail service, international postal system and
terminal dues training, as well as training for staff pr ofessional certifications. The 2021/22 budget estimate of $12,000 is a decrease of 45 per cent from the
2020/21 budget amount of $22,000. Communication
expenses estimated at $73,000 for 2021/22 are up by
3 per cent from the 2020/21 revised total of $66,000.
These expenses include telephone rental equipment, local and overseas calls and GPS for the vans. The
estimate increase in communication expense is due to providing our couriers wi th mobile services and mobile
devices to record delivery scans for track -and-trace, in
compliance with UPU protocols.
Mr. Chairman, rent is anticipated to decrease
in the 2021/22 budget cycle by 23 per cent to
$257,000. The reason for a possible decrease, Mr.
Chairman, from $332,000 in 2020/21 is due to a pr oject initiated with the Works and Engineering Estate
Section to re- evaluate the Mail Processing Centre
form and function to the organisation’s effectiveness.
The Mail Processing Centre is currently (as we all
know) located in New Venture House on Mill Creek Road and has an annual rental value of $305,000. Another reason for the decrease, Mr. Chairman, is the
post office is currently occupied by the Bermuda
Health Department and has an annual rental value of
$27,000 which is paid to the Corporation of Hamilton.
Repairs and maintenance expense totalling
$465,000 for 2021/22 include charges for building r epairs, cleaning contracts, cycle and vehicle repairs,
and security services. These expenses are estimated
to decrease by 7 per cent, or $32,000, compared to
the previous 2020/21 revised budget of $497,000. Equipment and minor capital totalling $12,000 for
2020/21, which includes furniture and fixtures, will r e-main the same for 2021/22 due to the preventive
maintenance of equipment.
Another comparatively major line item is Materials and Supplies, revised at $217,000 for 2020/21.
It will be down 11 per cent in 2021/22, for a total of
$197,000. This expenditure line includes costs for
stamp production, printi ng, stationery and general
food and office supplies. The $20,000 decrease is due
to savings in office supplies as we aim to increase
efficiency in processes and stamp production.
Mr. Chairman, going back to the smaller line
items, budget transport costs, which include freight charges for the carrier of mail, as well as handling
charges, are expected to remain the same in 2021/22
at $46,000.
Travel costs are expected to decrease from
$12,000 in 2020/21 to $7,000 in the 2021/22 budget period. Advertising and promotion expenses, estimated at $64,000, are down from the 2020/21 budget of
$72,000, or 11 per cent. Professional services include
annual dues for the UPU Caribbean Postal Union (or
CPU) and EMS [Express Mail Services] Co- operative
and consultant fees for the Stamp Advisory Commi ttee. The 2021/22 estimate of $68,000 is a decrease
from the 2020/21 budget amount of $83,000, or 18 per
cent.
The budget for energy costs, Mr. Chairman,
which includes electricity, gasoline and diesel, for
2020/21 was revised at $194,000, which was a d ecrease from the expected $216,000. This decrease
was due to being closed under the COVID -19 stay at
home order. The energy cost for 2021/22 is expected
to remain at the same level as estimated. Insurance
expense remained the same at $12,000.
Uniform expenses also stay the same at
$60,000. It should be noted that uniforms for industrial
staff (BIU) are a negotiated item. Other expenses i nclude World Post Day recognition, Christmas chi ldren’s picture with Santa and other staff -related expenses (which are retirements), and debt credit card commissions. The 2020/21 revised budget for this line
item was $56,000. A decrease is expected in 2021/22
budget in the amount of $48,000, or 14 per cent.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes our commentary of the Bermuda Post Office Current Account expenditure.

Revenue Overview

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: The Bermuda Post Office—
and this is a review of the revenue, which you will find
on page B -49. The Bermuda Post Office continues to
provide postal and other services as mandated by the
government and regulated by legislation and [UPU]
regulations.
The total revenue estimate for the year
2021/22, which can be found (as I said) on page B -49,
is $3,916,000 [sic]. And, Mr. Chairman, I would like to
make a corr ection here. We are estimating that the


Bermuda House of Assembly revenue will be $4,516,000— $4,516,000. Let me
make that correction here because we estimating,
which has not been budgeted for, which caught my attention this morning, is under revenue source 8312 —Courier Service Fees. We expect (and you will
hear about) to raise $600,000 as we will be very soon contracting with myUS.com ; it will be
MyBermudaPost.com . And we plan to—it is anticipated that we
will receive about $600,000 from that store. So i nstead of being $3,916,000, it should be $4,516,000
which will be up from the original for a while. So you can see that the revenue will be climbing.
The Bermuda Post Office also continues to
collect a proportionally significant amount of revenue at no cost, on behalf of other government depar tments. The Bermuda Post Office normally collected approximately $2 million in previous years; however, due to COVID -19 interruption to normal business activities in 2020/21, the Bermuda Post Office collected
fewer revenues for government depar tments. In
2020/21, the Bermuda Post Office took in $721,500
which is less than the 2019/20 previous year at $2,353,000. This amount is broken down, Mr. Chai rman, as follows: HM Customs with approximately —

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Just for clarity, can you tell
us where you are, Minister?

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: I am on page B -47, talk ing
about . . . sorry. I am on page B -49, Honourable
Member.
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Okay.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: This is the revenue summary.
Are we there?

It is at [revenue source] 8312, Minister.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Hold on, hold on. Let me get
that for you. I believe I can correct it. I will have one of my colleagues to check this out. But I think this —I
mentioned that the Bermuda Post Office needs to collect a significant amount of revenue at no cost on b ehalf of other government departments. But I do not think it may be actually in here accounted for. But I will get that verified for you, Honourable Member. Do you follow me? So it may show up in another department,
but this is money I was tracking on behalf of them. So
I will verify that for you.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Thank you.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: If you want me to, I can skip
over that part until we actually verify it.
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Keep going.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Okay. So the amounts br oken down are as follows: HM Customs, approximately $330,000, or 64 per cent. Yes. So what you will see,
Honourable Member, as you know when you come to
the post office and you have got to pay custom duties—

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Yes.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: So what they are saying is,
This is what we have collected on the behalf . . . So it
should be accounted for s omewhere in the actual —or
being accounted for under the revenue section under Customs. But we just collect on their behalf.

It is right here.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: I could let you know the i nformation, but if not, I can continue to go on. Is that okay with you?

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Yes, thank you.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Okay. So at Customs, I said
they collected $333,000, or a 64 per cent decrease
from the period 2019/20, and $917,000—that is what
the previous year was. The Department of Public Transportation, 2020/21, approximately $139,000, and I am sure this has to do with the bus passes, com-pared to $790,000 they collect on their behalf —the
Department of Education, approximately $210,000, and the Department of Environmental Protec tion of
$39,500.
Mr. Chairman, these amounts are not included in the revenue figures in the budget estimates for the Bermuda Post Office, but are recognised in their
respective department budget estimates.
[Crosstalk ]
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: But we just want to let you
know what we have collected on their behalf.
782 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly [Crosstalk ]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: The role of Bermuda Post
Office in this context and the Bermuda Post Office
opportunity increased governmentwide efficiency —
this is for —
(Member, can you turn off your microphone
there? Thank you.)
The role of the Bermuda Post Office in this
context, the Bermuda Post Office opportunity to i ncrease governmentwide efficiencies is therefore an area of great opportunity. As indicated in the previous
Throne Speec h, the Government plans to apply a
shared server model that will transform existing post
offices into customer service centres in the collection of other government licencing, payments and other
public services. The Bermuda Post Office completed
its websit e phase in June 2020 with a payment portal
designed to on board other departments’ online pa yment solutions where needed in the 2021/22 fiscal year.
Mr. Chairman, the main revenue sources of
the Bermuda Post Office are Frankpost (or metred sales), bulk mail, post office box rentals, terminal dues
revenue and stamp sales. Frankpost, or metred sales,
are budgeted for 2021/22 at $750,000. And you will
see that under revenue source 8629. This revenue generator has declined in previous years with the
withdrawal of services to Bermuda by the previous
vendors. However, Frankpost is expected to increase
with a new metre vendor FRAMA (F -R-A-M-A), di stributed locally by A. F. Smith, launched collaborativ ely with the Post Office at the beginning of 2020.
Frankpost is the most efficient way for small -to-large
businesses to apply postage to letter mail and pac kages. Bulk mail budgeted revenue for 2021/22 is
$777,000, and you will see that on page B -49 at rev enue source 8641.
Traditional mail volumes from business mai lers have been steadily declining over the years due to
other communication methods for bills, statements and correspondence. As you know, many times we
receive our bills now through email. So [regular mail] has been decreasing over time. Business mailers are
finding advantages in using the post office to market directly to customers as one of the cheapest local al-ternatives over other traditional and electronic media.
They reached 30,000 residences, businesses and
post box holders. The value of offering reduc ed rates
and having a larger scale in circulation for flyer mail has offset the declines in traditional letter mail rev enue.
If you will see on page B -49, and that is
source number 8611, Philatelic Sales budget for 2021/22 is —hold on.

[Pause]
Hon. Wayn e L. Furbert: This seems like a misprint
here, too. Hold on. [It is] $86,000—that looks like an
error there. I will check it out with my colleagues also.
Work is currently being completed to launch—

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Hold on, hold on, Minister.
So which line are you questioning?

Let me point out, this —
[Crosstalk]

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: It should have been Philatelic Sales. This is page B -609, B-611 [sic]. And you add
also—sorry. Line item 8613, 8609 and 8611 (that is a
grouping there) as up to the 86. Do you follow?

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Yes.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: 45, 31 and 10. That is the
total there.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Okay.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Okay?

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Yes.

MP Simons, in the f uture I ask that
you would acknowledge the Chair. That is all I am asking.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Work is currently being
completed to align the website where the Bermuda
Post Office can drive sales to increase the standing
order customer base, as well as promote other retail
and philatelic items locally and internationally.
Direct stamp sales revised revenue for
2020/21 was $629,000 and expected to decrease in
2021/22 to $589,000. And you will see that, Honour able Member, on revenue source 8629 at $589, 000. So
it is a decrease of $41,000 compared to the budgeted amount in 2020/21. The revenue decrease is in line
with the annual decline in letter mail volume by 7 per
cent. The Bermuda Post Office annual volume of letter
mail has seen a steady decrease since volume records have been kept. The year 2020, with COVID -19,
is currently still being tallied, and those numbers are
anticipated to show a huge decline due to the bus iness interruption.
The last reported annual volume of all pro ducts was in 2019 at $5, 700,000 pieces. As a going
example of the decline in traditional postal products
since 2007, when at that time 15 million pieces of mail
were being delivered. So there is a huge decline from
2007 of 15 million now down to 5 million.
To grow the Bermuda Po st Office, the bus iness model must change from focusing on traditional letter mail products to focusing on the global growth of


Bermuda House of Assembly e-commerce packages. With this current three- year
business plan, as mentioned [the Bermuda Post O ffice] is moving in that direct ion and will need support
from all stakeholders to remain a relevant service pr ovider in a competitive package market. Mr. Chairman,
post office box rental fee revenue is expected to r emain relatively stable at $589,000 for 2021/22 as
compared to the revis ed 2020/21 revenue of
$596,000. And you will find that under revenue
source, again, page B -49, revenue source 8759.
Terminal dues are expected to remain at
$659,000 as international letter mail volumes decline and international e- commerce volume of packages
increases. Customs declaration fees charged to the
customer [who is] collecting packages at the Bermuda Post Office counters ––the post office collects and r emits the customs duty and customs declaration form for customers. In 2021/22 this added- value service is
estimated at $203,000. And you will see that again at
page B -49 at revenue source 8312.09.
The projected decrease is attributed to the
waiving of the $5.00 service fee at the counter under
certain conditions. As you may recall, Honourable
Members , the post office was collecting $5.00 from
individuals for filling out . . . even when the individual
filled out their own form. We did not think that was appropriate. When our citizens fill out their own form, they should not be charged that $ 5.00; hence we removed it from the fee.
There are some more revenue items, line
items that include licences, permit fees and packaging
supplies. None of these are expected to experience
significant movement compared to 2020/21. The total value of these items is 3 per cent of the total revenue,
or approximately $117,000. And that is the rest of
those line items that we have not mentioned. Again,
you will see those in [revenue source] 8312 on page
B-49. That is all of item 8312, with the subheads of
8312.02, 8312.10, 8312.11, 8312.13. Also including revenue source 8550.02, and there are all of those
little small items you can see from there.

Continue.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: The post office needs 43
cycles for getting delivery to every residence and
business on the Island. (Someone has got their m icrophone on.) The Bermuda Post Office has an age-ing fleet with some cycles over 10 years old. This age-ing fleet is more expensive to maintain, and this capital expenditure will help reduce overall maintenance
costs as the older cycles are replaced. The capital expenditure compares to a revised 2020/21 allocation of $83,000 and has a decrease of $39,000, or 53 per
cent.
Major policy changes are coming. There have
been no major policy changes in the Bermuda Post
Office in 2020/21, and none are expected in 2021/22.
The Universal Postal Union’s Universal Service Obligation [USO] recommends to member coun-tries to provide an accessible service to all users and
a basic postal service at all points within its territory at
affordable prices. Member countries shall set forth in
the framework of their national postal legislation or by
other customary means the scope of the postal service offered and a requirement for qu ality and afford able prices, taking into account both the needs of the
population and their national conditions .
With the Bermuda Post Office’s three- year
business plan, the question is asked for the consi deration of the USO, What is accessible, affordabl e
postal service for all users in Bermuda? The Bermuda Post Office in consultation with all stakeholders must
periodically define what the future for the post office
looks like, with declining letter mail volume and i ncreased growth in the highly competiti ve e- commerce
market.

Plans for the Upcoming Year

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Chairman, as part of the
Bermuda Post Office’s strategic objective to increase
revenue with e- commerce purchases and logistics,
the department has recently concluded contract ne gotiations (or will [shortly]) for a public –private partnership with www. myUS.com
for a white- label online
shop ping platform, www. MyBermudaPost .com . This
service will allow our customers to purchase products
in the US and have them delivered locally to the Bermuda Post O ffice’s logistic network.
The anticipated going- live date is mid -April
2021 once development and co- branding are complete on the new website interface. We will also be
looking to increase revenue by extending our courier service and delivery of www. MyBermudaPost
.com
[website’s] incoming packages, as well as using other
logistic networks to provide local entrepreneurs and
businesses an affordable local last -mile logistic se rvice. So that is where $600,000 of additional revenue will come from.
Our EMS [Express Mail Service] and parcels
products will be marketed better to increase knowledge of these products both internally and in the
public domain. We will also enhance our service le vels to improve our global EMS ranking, increase our
pay-for-performance EMS revenue and maximise the
bonuses for our parcels delivery. The Bermuda Post
784 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Office will also be establishing better branding and
standards for customer service, inclusive of training
and the measurements of outcomes. To enhance the
government’s efficiency with the public, the Bermuda
Post Office will be actively working with other gover nment departments to enhance their collection of pa yments, forms and applications at our customer counters or online.
With the investment for the improved accoun ting and technical infrastructure developed by the
Bermuda Post Office, these advantages are not only available in terms of government departments, but
can also be provided to entrepreneurs and businesses
as an affordable remittance processing solution via
the post office.
Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda Post Office as of
January 1, 2021, is compliant with the UPU mandate
to accept and send ITMATT data (or data that are
used to communicate the attribute information about
postal items). This will increase efficiency in the customs declaration process, as well as enhance security and accountability concerning mail items. This initi ative will first be nefit inward packages with the release
of the Bermuda Post Office parcel management sy stem expected to go live by the end of this month here.
The parcel management system will allow
customers of incoming packages to receive an email or SMS from the Bermuda Post Office asking if they
would like to provide an electronic invoice for the pre -
clearance of their goods, starting with express mail,
followed by parcels in mid- summer, and registered
and small dutiable packages later in the year 2021.
Customers can c hoose their delivery option by selec ting the address on the package, changing to another
address or any other address, or collection from any
sub post office of their choice if delivery is not feas ible.
Once the item arrives in Bermuda, the customer will receive an email, SMS asking them to pay
their duty online within a certain number of business days. Once the duty is paid, the package will be deli vered to the location of choice. If the customer wishes
to do so, they can ignore the SMS or email and the package will go to their neighbourhood sub post office, and a collection notice will be delivered as per normal. The service fee for the online clearance and collection of duty will be set at $10 (non- waivable).
Delivery to any physical address in Bermuda i s free.
The Bermuda Post Office’s conservative est imates for the continued growth in e- commerce practice, based on the business plan, is 8 per cent per
year based on the 2019 inward package volumes r eceived. With the introduction of
www.MyBermudaPost .com
, [and the] natural growth
in UPU’s postal network for e- commerce packages
and creative marketing, it is es timated that the Bermuda Post Office will receive (and as I mentioned before) $600,000 in new revenue if there is a 55 per cent demand for online customs dec larations and home
deliveries.
So, based on the estimate of e- commerce
package growth, it is budgeted for 2021 roughly $600,000 in revenue; in 2022 additional revenue should be about $621,000; and in 2023 it should be
$671,000. These are very conservative numbers. It is
our purpose and mandate to provide a better service
than other courier services, and at the end of the day
make the price cheaper for Bermudians to actually
bring [parcels] in. And turnaround will hopefully be as
fast or even faster. That is the mandate I have asked
them to deliver for our people in Bermuda.
Mr. Chairman, to continue to have an online
presence, t he Bermuda Post Office website is scheduled for launch in May 2021. The Philatelic website
will allow regular account -holders and one- off guests
to order stamp collections (and I am sure the Honourable Member Famous, who sits on that committee, is
very proud to see this), manage standing orders and
manage top- ups to their accounts for stamp releases
of their choice.
The Bermuda Post Office intends to use the
advantage of the Philatelic website as an online retail
store where customers can order large quant ities of
stamps, packing materials and other retail items for
local delivery. The Bermuda Post Office also plans to have five stamp issues and two presentation packs in
2021/22. Our stamp programme will include:
• 100
th Anniversary Garden Club of Bermuda,
April 1, 2021;
• Bermuda Greetings, September 30, 2021;
• Sand Sculptures, the date to be determined;
and
• New Definitive, again to be determined with
approval of probably rate increases for those
ones.
Additional enhancements in IT include intr oducing touchscreen kiosks at the General Post Office
and all sub post offices, and introducing public Wi -Fi
at the General Post Office. Both of these initiatives are
expected to improve the customer shopping exper ience and increase foot traffic, thereby increasing rev-enue . To increase accuracy over the payment and
recording process, we will implement a credit card
machine integration into the new postal solution.
Mr. Chairman, additional legislative amendments to the Post Office Act 1900, Post Office Regu-lations 1933, and the Post Office (Departmental A dministration) Regulations 1933 are contemplated for
2021/22. These amendments will facilitate increased
logistic and online service, increase efficiency in home
delivery of packages, and maintain a relevant position
due to local and global inflationary increases. We are
talking about dues and the cost of providing services.
It is anticipated the legislative changes may be made
in August 2021 and are likely to include a proposal for rate changes.


Bermuda House of Assembly Demand on government departm ents in this
year’s budget to collect revenue, improve service and
to be more efficient with fewer resources put the Bermuda Post Office . . . So as I said, there will be made
possible rate changes in there.
The Bermuda Post Office has not had a rate
change since 2015 as inflation and the cost of provi ding service locally and internationally have increased,
so the revenues will be less in 2021/22 without a su bstantial increase to mitigate a growing deficit within that department. The Post Office provides s ervices for
free, while other post offices globally are charging for
similar services. The Bermuda Post Office is waiving
fees when competitors are charging triple for the
same service, plus additional fees.
The Bermuda Post Office is a service provider
and one of the few government services that compete
for customers. The customers have choices, and the
Post Office can no longer devalue its services after
considerable investments have been made in their
business plan, technology and infrastructure to make
them more competitive.
As I mentioned, Mr. Chairman, we are proud
of the advances made by the Bermuda Post Office,
which is nine months into this three- year business
plan and has accomplished several improvements
with minimal resources. In March and Apri l 2021, the
Bermuda Post Office will be updating the organis ational structure with Management Consultant Services to better reflect the vision and future needs of the department at a management level.
Job descriptions will be updated and submi tted for rev iew and regrading. A training plan for the
department will also be developed. The process will
be tied in with the development of a succession plan
and an internal and external communications plan.
The department is also committed to the full particip ation of its hearing- impaired employees through the
use of an interpreter for staff meetings.
Mr. Chairman, the objectives, goals and pr ojects set by the Bermuda Post Office for 2021/22 will move it toward its vision of being a more innovative,
customer -focused and sustainable postal service. The
outcome will be that Bermuda will be moving closer to
the implementation of a modern postal service that
meets the needs of residents whilst at the same time being sustainable and financially viable.
Mr. Chairman, I hasten to add my commendation to all of the hard -working and dedicated staff of
the Post Office, who [have been] ably led by Acting
Postmasters General over the last three years, and
there have been several in that position.
That ends the actual [presentation] for Head
13.

HEAD 14 —DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Chairman, Members can
find this on page B -53, the Department of Statistics. Mr. Chairman, it gives me great pleasure to present
the budget for Head 14, the Department of Stati stics,
found on pages B -53 to B -55 of the Budget Book.

Mission

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: The mission is to produce
and provide statistical information for data- driven decision -making for Bermuda.
The department seeks to fulfil its mandate by
delivering quality data that align with international
standards and best practices in order to facilitate a
culture of evidence- based decision- making for policies
and programmes.
As such, the Department of Statistics objectives are as follows:
• Improve ease of accessi bility to statistical data
and information for the people of Bermuda through innovative digital tools using leading
data techniques;
• Adopt current international statistical methodologies, standards and best practices in the collection, compilation and production of st atistics;
• Operate a transparent and citizen- centric d epartment by improving the understanding and
use of statistical data and information; and
• Develop talent needed to sustain a highperforming department.

Expenditure Overview
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Chairman, we will look at
the expenditure overview first. The Members can find
it on page B -53. Mr. Chairman, the total current expenditure of the Department of Statistics (found on
page B -53) is estimated to be $2,234,000 for fiscal
year 2021/22. This budget is $259,000 less than the
2020/21 budget allocation, reflecting a 10 per cent
decrease.
The Subjective Analysis of Current Account
Estimates of the Department of Statistics is found on
page B -54. Please allow me to highlight the material
object code increases and decreases. You will find
that on page B -54.
Mr. Chairman, the budget for Salaries, line
item 1, decreased by $192,000, or 10 per cent. This
change is due to the savings resulting from defunding
[temporarily] two vacant permanent positions in order
to meet the [austerity] measures set out in the Budget
by the Government.
Mr. Chairman, Training, line item 4. Due to
other budget cuts there has been a decrease of
$32,000, or 76 per cent in the funds allocated for staff
training and development to build statistical capacity.
In the interim staff are encouraged to take advantage
of the opportunity to participate in free virtual conferences and training sessions that are being offered by
the Caribbean Community and other statistical organ i786 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly sations. So there will still be training being done, but it
will be done in a different format and it will be free for
the government.
Travel, line item 5, decreased by $17,000, or
68 per cent, again as a result of the measures taken
by the Government . And as you know, most gover nment departments are not traveling during this time.
So we do not anticipate much traveling at all within the
government. So that is a decrease there.
Advertising and Promotion, line item 7, d ecreased by $10,000. Originally t he amount was
$17,000, [it is now] down to $7,000. Again, we have
had to do cost -cutting within that department.
Rental, line item 9, is down by $17,000, or
10 per cent. This decrease is attributed directly to a
renegotiated rental lease with the landlor d resulting in
a lower rental price for office accommodation until A ugust the 31st, 2023.
Repair and Maintenance increased by
$16,000, or 31 per cent. This increased expenditure is
required to maintain heightened cleaning protocols during the Coronavirus 2019 pandemic.
Energy, Mr. Chairman, decreased by $10,000,
or 17 per cent. As anticipated, electricity expenditure
is expected to fall as some staff, as you know, a lot of the staff are working remotely from —are at home.
Hence a lot of electricity costs have fallen in the department.
The Department of Statistics has no capital
expenditure for year 2021/22.
Manpower has decreased in 2021/22 —let me
read that properly. There are a total of 21 full -time
equivalents (FTES) in 2021/22, which is a decline. S o
that should be changed. You will see there, col-leagues, on page B -54, you will it is 22; that should be
21. So full -time equivalents should be 21, and it decreases by 2.
The staff reduction is a result again of the defunding of two vacant permanent posi tions in order to
meet the department’s budget expenses. Recruitment
is currently underway for an administrative officer.
So I again refer you to page B -54 where i nstead of reading 22, it should be 21, down by 2.

Output Measures

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: The Department of Statistics
Output Measures are found on page B -55. This is
what we achieved in 2019/20:
Business unit 24015— Administration. Indic ator: Number of documents on the website allow easier
and wider accessibility of publications and reduces printing costs. Target 2019/20, at least 40 documents
were posted during the year. Actual outcome 2019/20, we achieved 60 documents posted during the year.
Business unit 24020—Core Statistics and
Publications. Indicator (1): Timely completion of stati stics that measure gross retail sales performance in the
retail sector. Target, 2019/20 Retail Sales Index com-pleted six weeks after reference month. Actual Outcome 2019/20 was achieved. Indicator (2): Timely
completion of statistics measuring the rate of increase
in the price of goods and services in the economy.
Target 2019/20, Consumer Price Index completed five
weeks after reference month. Actual Outcome was
achieved.
I am sure Honourable Members can read all
the rest of the other performance measures there.
Mr. Chairman, we have made some changes
to our 2020/21 performance measure indicators under each business unit to provide objective evidence of
the degree to which a performance result is occurring
over time. I just want to highlight one of them.
Under business unit 24015 [Administration],
improve accessibility to statistical data through inn ovative digital tools. A target of 2020/21, grow social
media presence by 50 per cent. Staff participation in
recognised training in statistical methodologies and best practices. [Target], three staff members for
2020/21.

Major Achievements

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Chairman, under major
achievements [are the following]:
1. Published a series of 29 maps which di splayed 2016 Population and Housing Census data at
the census district and parish level;
2. Produced an ad hoc publication entitled 2016
Population and Housing Census Education Brief f ocusing on the academic attainment of the population
25-to-64 years, as they are old enough to obtain a
university degree and young enough to work; and
3. The department published its first Gross D omestic Product (GDP) Rebasing publication, which
reflected changes to the industry structure and levels
of the annual GDP estimates. These changes are the
result of an updated Supply a nd Use T able for Bermuda as part of the implementation of the 2008 Sy stem of National Accounts, which serves as the international statistical standard for the production of st atistics on GDP.

Plans for the Upcoming Year

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Chairman, so that Members can be aware, the department will produce the
following core publications in the upcoming year:
• monthl y—Retail Sales Index and Consumer
Price Index will continue;
• quarterly —Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, and Gross Dome stic Product by Expenditure;
• semi -annually —Labour Force Survey R eports;
• annually —
o Bermuda Digest of Statistics ;


Bermuda House of Assembly o Bermuda Job Market Employment
Briefs ;
o Employment Survey Tabulation Set ;
o Annual Gross Domestic Product ;
o Information, Communication and
Technology Profile ;
o Environmental Statistics Compendi-um;
o Tourism Satellite Account Report .
Mr. Chairman, the d epartment will conduct the
following surveys :
 Monthly Retail Sales Survey;
 Monthly Consumer Price Index Survey;
 Quarterly Hotel Gross Receipts Surve y;
 Quarterly Construction Survey;
 Balance of Payments and International I nvestment Position;
 Semi -annual Labour Force Survey;
 Annual Employment Survey; and
 Annual Economic Activity Survey.
Mr. Chairman, the department conducts ad
hoc surveys, provid es survey samples and undertakes
in-depth research and analysis of data. In addition, the
department provides statistical advice and profession-al consultancy in the collection, processing and anal ysis of data for government departments.
Mr. Chairman, the department will engage in
activities such as processing and providing trade st atistics, fulfilling statistical data requests from local and
international organisations, and making presentations
to internal and external stakeholders. Mr. Chairman, it
is an ticipated that the Department of Statistics will u ndergo a comprehensive review by the Management
Consultant Section of the Cabinet Office as we seek
to maximise efficiency in terms of the use of technol ogy, staffing and service delivery.
Mr. Chairman, l et me take this opportunity to
acknowledge and thank all of the hardworking staff of the Department of Statistics led by the Director, Ms.
Melinda Williams, and her team of statisticians and
support staff for their continued commitment. I would
especially like to thank them again, Mr. Chairman,
because they are a hard- working team. And any time
that we need information or verifications on information, they are always willing to come to our assi stance.
This concludes my budget presentation for
Head 14. Mr. Chairman, I will now go to Head 61.

Proceed, Minister.

HEAD 61 — EMPLOYEE AND ORGANISATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: And that you will find this on
pages B -69 to B -72 of the Budget Book.
The Employee and Organisational Develo pment Department’s mission is to optimise talent and
transform the organisation. Mr. Chairman, the total current expenditure is estimated to be $6,897,000 for
2021/22, which represents an increase of $5,225,000,
or 313 per cent, compared to 2020/21. This increase
is attributed to costs associated with the staff and posts under the Department of Human Resources, and eight satellite offices that will be transitioned to
the Department of Employee and Organisational D evelopment.
Mr. Chairman, the subjective analysis for the
department is on page B -70 of the Estimates Book.
Please allow me to highlight the material object code
increase. Page B -70 is where I am, Mr. Chairman.

I am with you.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Salaries are estimated at
$5,785,000, which represents approximately a
172 per cent increase, or . . . (Sorry. Let me read that
again.) It represents 172 per cent, or $3,660,000
compared to the 2020/21 budget of $1.9 million. As
just stated, this increase is due to cover salaries f or
staff who were transitioned to the department and the
associated vacant posts in the satellite offices.
Training, this is estimated at $162,000 in
comparison to $6,000 for the current estimate. That was for the year 2020/21, which was at $6,000 and
now it is estimated to be at $162,000 for 2021/22. This
represents funding to cover expenses in relation to the annual public service bursary scheme and the professional and technical training scheme, the public service bursary awards scheme which awards burs aries
to Bermudians who are enrolled in courses of study at
a university, college or other training institution in order to acquire professional or technical qualification
for a post -demand critical and/or difficult to fill.
The professional and technica l training
scheme provides Bermudians with the opportunity to
obtain the qualifications and work -related experiences
which enable them to fill professional and technical
positions within the public service. The increase also
includes funds allocated for tr aining for staff that was
previously budgeted under the Department of Human
Resources and some of the staff in the satellite offi ces.
Communications. The estimate increased
from $2,000 to $16,000, or 700 per cent. Those numbers that you see, Mr. Chairman, sound large. But as I
mentioned, most of this has come from within other human resources [units] and also six or eight other
satellite offices, attributed funds transferred from the
Department of Human Resources to cover associated operational expenses such as local and overseas
calls from landlines and monthly mobile charges.
Professional Services goes from $5,000 to
$627,000, an increase of $622,000, or —that is a large
increase, Mr. Chairman. That is 12,040 per cent.
Again, it sounds large, but it is not directly impacting,
having been coming from other departments.
788 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly There are a couple of costs associated with
such areas as the annual Employee Assistance Pr ogramme, being consultant fees for local and overseas
facilitators to provide services in relation to tele -
management and legal fees associated with work undertaken by the Public Service Commission. Again,
such costs were previously funded under the Depar tment of Human Resources.
Repairs and Maintenance went in 2020/21
from $78,000 to $373,000, or an i ncrease of
$295,000. Materials and Supplies go from $35,000 to
$85,000 for 2021/22, or an increase of $50,000, or a
percentage change of 143 per cent. Equipment, m ajor/minor capital goes from zero to $9,000 for 2021/22,
or an increase of $9,000. Other expenses go from zero to $15,000, or a $15,000 increase for 2021/22.
Receipts credited to programmes, this is est imated at $444,000 in comparison to the current est imate of $579,000. This is attributable to the estimated
recharges back to the Public Service S uperannuation,
Ministers and Members of the Legislature Pensions
and Government Employee Health Insurance Funds.
These funds cover the administrative costs incurred
by the Compensation and Benefits business units.
Manpower. As you can see on page B -70, th e
Manpower estimate for the department is outlined on— is 60 full -time equivalents in comparison to the
original estimate of 21 for fiscal year 2020/21. This
rise is due to the amalgamation of the other depar tments [of] human resource.
Mr. Chairman, Capita l Acquisition for the department is on page C -10 of the Estimates Book. The
estimated $22,000 is to cover the replacement of outdated computer equipment.
Performance Measures. Mr. Chairman, the
performance measures developed for the Department
of Employe e and Organisational Development are
found on page B -71. As the department was not fully
amalgamated during 2020/21, I will expand upon the
original and revised 2020/21 forecast for the Management Consultant Services and compensation. Mr.
Chairman, a number of significant change initiatives
are in channel in accordance with the Government reform strategic planning framework.
Many of these initiatives affect the entire organisation and require the engagement and participa-tion at the Ministry and department levels. Therefore,
to track the delivery and implementation of the various
strategic initiatives, we selected a cloud- based sol ution that is [INAUDIBLE] inclusive of 100 users with a
view of holding up the platform across the public service. In the first i nstance we are using the platform to
monitor and report on the implementation of the go vernment reform initiative; however, as more strategic
change initiatives that are occurring across the go vernment are entered into the system, this will increasingly es tablish a systematic approach to manage and
monitor their implementation. Therefore, by using one system we will provide departments with the ability to report progress, as well as provide executive management with the ability to monitor implementation,
thus enhancing one of the Government’s commi tments for accountability.
Mr. Chairman, strategy and performance underpin the delivery of government reform. Honourable
Members may recall that during the last fiscal year
strategic workshops were focused on alig ning department and Ministry missions with the Government’s
vision, and operating models were completed. These
workshops established a foundation for the perfor-mance measurement workshops with ministries and
departments. While additional work with ministri es and
departments under the direction of the Management
Consultant Services [MCS], the MSC team were undertaken in 2020 to ensure operations are aligned
with the Government’s vision due to the impact of COVID -19.
Management Consultant Services also conducted 12 workshops to assist departments with r ecovery strategies and process improvements. Ther efore, Honourable Members should have taken note of the significant shift and continuous improvement of
the Performance Measures Section in the 2021/22
Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure. Improvement
of the performance measures will continue, and there
was specific focus on outcomes which demonstrate
and are directly related to the creation of public value.
Mr. Chairman, the Management Consultant
Services team continues their work in assisting the
Government to solve complex operational problems
with a view to improving organisational performance. One of the core functions involves the conduct of operational organisational needs analysis across go vernment. During fiscal year 2020/21 in excess of 10 targeted reviews were completed. The objective of
this work is to ensure that ministries and departments are functioning in an efficient (including cost -efficient)
and effective manner with the overarching objective of
achieving greater public value. It is expected that in 2021/22 there will be 10 more targeted reviews conducted.
Mr. Chairman, the Compensation Section has
been able to review and identify where the duplication
of effort takes place in the onboarding and payroll
processes. After review of the processes, work co mmenced on the programming needed to establish freeflowing information between the Human Resource
Information Management (HRIM) system and EnterpriseOne (E1) version 9.2. The integration of these
systems will ultimately improve the onboarding experience while at the same time reduce the administr ative burden.
Some of the ac hievements for the current
year: The people component of the Government r eform initiative aims to realise the aspirational objective of the public service being an employer of choice, where talented individuals are rewarded fairly and
valued over the long term into retirement for their conBermuda House of Assembly tributions, to enhance the lives of Bermudians. This
has been achieved through our focus on people c apabilities and benefits. The creation of the Department
of Employee and Organisational Development serves
to align HR strategy, policy and function across the public service.
A critical enabler for the success of the department is the harmonisatio n of human resources,
policies and collective bargaining agreements. One
such harmonisation initiative is the determination of a
compensation strategy. The approach and process for determining compensation for the staff across the
public service is driven by the job evaluation policies
and procedures. Four posts represented by the BPSU
[Bermuda Public Services Union] have set principles, and seven collective bargaining agreements (CBAs)
arranged their ability in the agreements to result in
different approac hes to base pay and benefits. This
results in perceived inequity across the service, not
having a unified well -articulated strategy that should
drive the approach, a lso have implication under the
government’s collective bargaining process and its
ability t o attract and retain its talent pool.
The desired outcome is a sustainable and
implementable strategy which aims to ensure an equi-table and defensible compensation mechanism that
remunerates employees fairly, and for job value to be fair, transparent, jus tifiable and cost -efficient, standardised and/or provide for a standardised outcome across all collective bargaining units derived from a
result or in the culture, and be aligned with the Government’s vision and goals.
As a result of the scope, level of c omplexity
and range of stakeholders, the development of a ho-listic compensation strategy is an immense project.
The project will therefore be conducted using a
phased, sequential approach. That is, phase 1, current state analysis; phase 2, strategy development;
phase 3, implementation; and phase 4, review of the
current job evaluation system. Phase 1 is currently in
process.
The Management Consulting Services, as the
designated project management office from the go vernment reform initiative, continues to assist the De puty Head of the Public Service with mobilising the pr oject with much success. Mr. Chairman, in accordance
with the priorities, several task force groups are now
actively engaged in delivering future- forward initiatives
under the operating comp onent known as “People,”
which are government employees, and “Platform,”
which includes government IT infrastructure.
The Project Management Office is overseeing
the delivery of work related to tele- management. A
pilot leadership programme was recently launched and will continue with the intent of ensuring the succession planning for the leadership positions in the Government of Bermuda. A systemwide performance
appraisal process across all government categories is
in progress using a phased implementation approach. A rewards programme and of course implementation
of the transition to the new model and structure for the
delivery of HR services across government is advancing with funding for all HR satellite staff coming under
the remit of the Department of Employee and Organisational Development effective the 1
st of April 2021.
It is important to note that given the budgetary
constraints that are largely attributed to the impact of
the COVID -19 pandemic; we do not have the funding
to physically locate all of the employees in one loc ation. Therefore, this will be delayed pending the avai lability of funds; however, it is not the intent to have
this significantly impact progressing of the new model
and structure.
On the IT side, the Project Management O ffice is overseeing the delivery of work related to the
Government’s 2023 paperless initiative, which has
commenced in earnest through the production of digital forms, thus providing the public with the ability to
complete forms online instead of standing in line. To
date approximately 30 forms have been digitalised.
Further work is in progress. The Project Management
Office, working closely with the IDT [Department of
Information and Digital Technologies] to establish a
framework to rationalise all telephone lines under one
universal modernised platform, thus creating greater
efficiency and reducing costs. This will ultimately eli minate the need for departments to have separate
budget negotiations for telecommunications and will
potentially save the government in the range of $1
million annually.
Further, the Project Management Office let
out a systemwide training for the alignment of fiscal
management and strategic management through a ZBB [or zero -based budget] process and managed a
project to reduce an electronic data -collection instr ument to assess the value of government services by business unit. The electronic tool was used throughout government to gather the necessary assessment
data as part of the zero- based budgeting data input
process. Based on the quali ty of the data that were
initially gathered, the decision was made to refine and
modify the electronic tool to improve the data (gat hered through the zero- based budgeting process) that
were utilised for a second consecutive year. The data are now being analysed and will be used as one of the
primary inputs for delivery of the public services plan.
To encourage the government reform strat egic framework, the Government will produce a five-year public service plan that requires a review and justification of s ervices provided by government by
2021.

[Feedback ]

Continue, Minister.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Chairman, the Management Consulting Services in their capacity as the pr oject management office for the government reform
initiative wi ll continue to oversee the implementation
process for many of the initiatives that are currently in
channel. As previously mentioned, work will continue
in the public value assessment. The development of
the Public Service Plan is expected to realise a fut ure
state when government delivery services are justifi able and add value to society, provide standard service
and pricing for the majority of citizens, adapt service
for those most in need and potentially adapt prices for
the low socioeconomic groups to deliver value to all
citizens.
Mr. Chairman, work will commence on phase
2 of the compensation strategy —that is, strategy d evelopment. This will comprise research on best prac-tices of compensation and benefits components. The
establishment of a project team composed of fair, equitable and competitive practices and policies, strat egies and options, and stakeholder consultation.
Mr. Chairman, under the platform IT component of the government reform initiative, the OPM [Office of Project Management] will cont inue to over see
phase 1 of the 2023 paperless initiative. And in parti cular there is a plan in place that commenced with the
identification of 20 high- volume public -facing depar tments that will undergo business process r eview of
selected processes. That is , the Management Consulting Services will conduct [and] facilitate in col labo-ration with the Department of Information and Di gital
Technologies. The intent is to streamline the pr ocess
and digitise the forms.
Thus, IT is charged with the responsibility for
implementation and [is] where the funding of the pa-perless component resides.
Phase 2 addresses t he intent management
and database components for the paperless initiative. The focus of this phase is to ensure that the systems
and infrastructure are in p lace to support the transition
to the digitised formats. Concerning digital ID, the goal
is to facilitate the design and implementation of a n ational digital identity framework that provides a more
inclusive and efficient national and transnational dig ital ecosystem that is capable of registering 100 per
cent of citizens by 2022. Work on this has also commenced.
Mr. Chairman, during fiscal 2021/22, additional task force groups under the direction of the Project
Management Office will be activated and new projects
under the government reform initiative will commence.
Further, the team will engage senior management across the service in another series of workshops as
the Government seeks to build capacity and improve
performance management. It is also expected that
there will be increased use of the programme and performance management systems across the Gover nment of Bermuda.
Mr. Chairman, under the people component of
the programme, the pilot leadership programme’s first
cohort continues their respective learning paths consisting of live project work designed to support group organisational objectives and individual learning. O ngoing support will be provided to ensure they achieved the objectives set in custom development
plans. A talent management strategy will be designed
by year -end to support tele- development, subsession
planning, retention and engagement. The Telemanagement Services Section will support the organi-sation by developing succession plans with ministries
as needed. This will include partneri ng with client d epartments to provide work experience for bursary st udents having availability during the summer and winter breaks, ensuring posts are available upon completion
of sponsored education programmes.

Continue.


Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Yes. The team will also par tner with client departments to ensure trainees’ trans ition to subjective posts as expected upon successful
completion of training contracts.
Mr. Chairman, the HR Business Partnership
Section is responsible for aligning the business objec-tives for employees and management and designated
ministries or departments. The Human Resource
Business Partner (HRBP as it is known) serves as a
consultant to management on human resources -
related issues. This includes working with permanent secretaries, heads of departments and senior managers to align human resources with the delivery of mi nistries/departments business plans and providing a dvice and guidance in such areas as performance
management, employee services, industrial relations and coaching.
Additionally, the HRBP provides guidance and
leadership in the day -to-day HR operations for assigned clients’ portfolios, as well as analysis trends
and matrices, and proactively collaborates across other areas within the centre of expertise and within
the shared service sections to provide programmes
and policies for the organisation to meet clients’
needs.
Mr. Chairman, the assessment phase of the
systemwide performance appraisal process will roll
out on the 1
st of April 2021. Full training live and online
will be provided to all offices to ensure the importance
of preparing for appraisal discussions. It is understood
along with using the system t o demonstrate competency and alignment and to record success of achie ving objectives since last year.
As the department continues to leverage the
Human Resource Information Management System,
the probation report process for posts represented by
the Bermuda Public Service Union will be automated
during the upcoming fiscal year. The automation will
enable the organisation to maximise data collection in
alliance with the Government’s platform objective of achieving 100 per cent paperless process by 2023.
Mr. Chairman, employee wellness continues
to be a focus for the Government, particularly in light of the global pandemic. The department continues to implement wellness strategies to impact overall phys ical and mental health.
Mr. Chairman, I could finish on this part. I may
go over about one minute, but let me finish on this part on this Head.
Let me take this opportunity to acknowledge
and thank the dedicated and hard- working staff, and
in particular the chief Employee and Organisational
Development officers, who have commenced work on
their amalgamation of the Department of Employee
and Organisational Development; the Management
Consultant Services, who continue to assist with the
transformation of the government through progressing the implementation of t he various components of the
government reform initiative; and the Compensation and Benefits Section for the work they undertook during this year.
When the Island was in shelter in place, this
group of individuals were amongst those classified as essentia l to ensure that the government payroll continued to be processed in a timely manner. Lastly, I
would like to say welcome to all of the employees who
will be transitioning under this Department of Emplo yee and Organisational Development.
Mr. Chairman, wit h that I say thank you, and I
close out Head 61.

Good afternoon, Honourable Member. We are continuing in Committee of Supply. For
the benefit of the listening audience, we are debating
Heads under the [Cabinet Office]. Minister, you left off
with Head 61.
You have the floor.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Welcome back colleagues after having your lunch.
This afternoon we will start out with Head 80,
and you can find this on pages B -75 through B -77 in
the [Budget Book].

HEAD 80 —OFFICE OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT
AND PROCUREMENT

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Chairman, it gives me
great pleasure to present the budget for Head 80, The
792 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Office of Project Management and Procurement, (the
Office) found on pages B -75 through B -77 of the
Budget Book.

Mission
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: The mission of the Office of
Project Management and Procurement is to provide
oversight and guidance in project management and
procurement to ensure transparency and value for
money.
The objectives are:
• Compliance: Assure compliance of project
and procurement activities to the statutory,
regulatory requirements, applicable rules, po licies and procedures for projects and pr ocurement.
• Inclusion (local benefits): Assure loca l benefits
are captured in the relevant capital projects, procurement and contracts.
• Reform: Reform project management, pr ocurement, contract and compliance.
• Contracts: Facilitate improved project, pr ocurement and contract management,
• Accessibility: Impro ve accessibility to Berm udian owned businesses, local suppliers, micro
and small and medium enterprises.

Expenditure Overview

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Chairman, you can find
Expenditure Overview on page B -75.
The total current expenditure is estimated to
be $682,000 for financial year 2021/22. There is a
decrease in the budget from the previous year in the
amount of [$248,000] . This is mainly due to the defunding of posts, and a 10 per cent salary cut for all
staff from April 1, 2021, which will continue until July
2021, hence there is a period which is included from
April 1
st to July. Hence why it is the 10 per cent [decrease]. This was due to the austerity that Gover nment was very grateful for the certain unions who took
on the task.
Mr. Chairman, the Subjective Analysis of Current Account Estimates of the Department of Project
Management and Procurement is found on page B -
76, as I mentioned. Let’s look at certain costs:
• [Other] Personnel Costs at $3,000, which
compares to last year’s [budget]. No ch ange.
• Training is $3,000, compared to $8,000 last year a decrease of $5,000 from last year.
• Travel is zero, a decrease of $7,000 from last
year.
• Communications is budgeted at $4,000, compared to $8,000 last year, down by $4,000.
• No Change in rental expense, $1,000.
• [Repair and] Maintenance expense, $4,000,
no change from last year. • Material and supplies, no change from last
year, [$22,000].

Capital Expenditure

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Chairman, a total of
$12,733 is allocated for capital expenditure f or
2021/22, as found on page C -10 of the Budget Book.
As indicated in the Budget Book, these funds are for
the purchase of furniture and audiovisual equipment
for the office boardroom to allow on- site training sessions and meetings.
Mr. Chairman, as seen on page B -76, E mployee numbers, there is a correction there. You will
see that the estimate for 2021/22 was for seven in the
Budget Book. It is a total of six [full -time equivalents
(FTE s)] down from eight. So there is a decrease of
two. And that is the contract and compliance manager and project manager.
Mr. Chairman, as you can see from page B77, Project Management and Procurement are performance measures. You will note, Mr. Chairman, that
several of the performance measures for the target outcomes are a blank. Mr. Chairman, you can rest
assured many of these outcomes will be met.
If you will recall, in July 2020, the Government
updated its procurement policies which improved eff iciency (and I emphasise efficiency ). At that time, Mr.
Chairman, I read the following: The Government recognises the public procurement policy must be both
robust and flexible in order to systematically and practically address the changing economic needs of Bermuda.
As I said, Mr. Chairman, the changes to the
Code have elevated our procurement processes in line with international best practices and standards. Public bodies now have more flexibility in choosing
procurement methods that will help achieve greater
business value while also mitigating potential contractual risks.
At that time I also said, Mr. Chairman, the latest version of the Code, which came into effect on
July 1, 2020, allows public officers to be creative and
flexible in their approach to procurement. Understanding and adaptation of the Code is key to promoting
consistency and a standard approach across the public sector, thereby reducing inefficiencies often ass ociated with regulatory matters. And as you know , Mr.
Chairman, that there are many calls from the public
that we could create better efficiencies within government, and this is just one of the steps that are to be
made, hence the step down from eight to six staff.
I can tell you right now the number of staff in
the Cayman Islands, I would do the same thing under
procurement, is about three staff. Three or four I think
do this. So, we believe that we can work with six staff,
I will be asking the management of consultant services to review the department to allocate and realloBermuda House of Assembly cate responsibilities so the department can be more
robust and flexible.
Hence why this has dropped, but also it will be
our view that despite those dashes on the target outcomes that most of them we will be able to accomplish [them] within the department.
Mr. Chairman, the Office provided the Minister
of Cabinet with the required quart erly waiver reports
analysis on time; completed 15 Cabinet m emoranda
reviews from April 1, 2020, to present ; and assured
that the reviews were vetted within five business days
after receipt 95 per cent of the time.
The Office updated its Code of Practice, as I
mentioned just now. The changes to the Code have
elevated our procurement process in line with intern ational best practice and standards . The public will now
have more flexibility in choosing procurement.
Mr. Chairman, the latest version of the Code
which came into effect on July 1, 2020, as I mentioned, allows public officers to be more creative and
flexible.
Mr. Chairman, in summary, the changes to
the Code are as follows:
1. The Code was amended to include two additional categories to which the C ode does not apply,
however; they do require approvals from the appropr iate Accounting Officer or the Financial Secretary,
which we hold responsible.
They are: media, communication, and public
relations companies with the approval of the Accounting officer; and accounting and auditing firms for specific services which has to be approv ed by the Fina ncial Secretary. So there is a separation of duties on
the work that is done by those officers, which once
was to be done by the Procurement Office.
2. A new P rocurement Review Committee has
been established to review all Unsolicited Proposals
(USPs). This Committee is created to assist with the
assessment and evaluation of USPs that are submi tted to various government ministries. The Committee will consist of t he Financial Secretary, the Permanent
Secretary responsible for OPMP, and the Director of
OPMP.
Before this was handled only by the Director
of OPMP. It was felt that we should include others, particularly the Financial Secretary who under Finan-cial Stand ing Orders comes under the Minister of F inance and the Permanent Secretary responsible for
OPMP, and have a faster turnaround time than we
have had over the years.
3. The Code now includes new authorisation
dollar thresholds, a new Procurement Review commi ttee for Unsolicited Proposals, as mentioned. The 2
nd
Edition of the Code was released in August 2020, and it can be found on the government portal https://www.gov.bm
.
4. The Office provided virtual training to five or
more public authorities on project management and
procurement best practices. From July 20, 2020, till January 26, 2021, the Office conducted six virtual
workshops on the Introduction to the Code of Practice for Project Management and Procurement, apprising
public officers of the government's procurement rules
and their roles and responsibilities using good go vernance practices and the Code. In total, 96 partic ipants from various departments attended these virtual
presentations comprising a pre- survey questionnaire,
virtual polling, and an interactive presentation.
5. The Office delivered virtual or in- person
procurement assistance or advice to over 50 users
and reviewed over 63 procurement -related cases. To
further assist the Public Officers with the RFx drafting
software, the Office shared with its users the newly
created on- line Orbidder training video and the updated help section of the RFx drafting software, which includes helpful user guidance notes and videos for
the public officer to use. This has helped improve the users' overall capacity and ability to draft RFxs and
understand comprehensive procurement processes.
6. The Office coordinated three Project Ma nagement Institute workshops that involved 24 public
officers. Additionally, other Public Officers had intr oductions to Project Management best practices, i ncluding guidelines for project management through virtual and in- person meetings.
7. The Office completed two bidders' complaint reviews to a satisfactory conclusion of the com-plainants.
8. The Office updated the prescribed solicit ation documents (nine RFx documents for all procur ements and created a new Invitational Request for Quotations (IRFQ) for the lower value procurement ).
The significant updates included adding new clauses that have PIPA [Personal Information Protection Act
2016] requirements for bidders to safeguard sensitive
information. The Office also released two new pr ocurement guidance notes on waivers for single- source
procedures to assist the public officers in undertaking
these procurement actions.
9. Before the COVID -19 pandemic, with for esight, planning and cooperation, the Office initiated and collaborated with the Department of Work Force Development, CedarBridge Academy, the Ministry of
Public Works, and the Department of Planning on executing the Professional -Student Relationship Pr ogramme in its third year. This step enabled the Office
to lend assistance to the Department of Workforce
Development in addressing their 2018 National Wor kforce Development Plan's recommendations to collaborate with the business community.
To date, over 25 public officers have partic ipated in the nine- month programme delivering wor kshops, conducting experiential learning activities, and hosting construction and facility site visits for the st udents who participate.

794 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Honourable Minister, if I can interrupt
now. I am going to hand the Chair over to my honourable colleague Famous.
Honourable Famous, are you there?

Honourable Members, we now continue the Committee of Supply for the further consi deration of the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure
for the year 2021/22.
Minister, you may continue, please.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Okay.
To date, over 25 public officers have partic ipated in the nine- month programme delivering wor kshops, conducting experiential learning activities, and
hosting construction and facility site visits for the st udents who participate.
The Built and Automotive industries have
seen a decline in career interest, and these efforts are
being made to apprise our young people of the opportunities and benefits of a professional or craft career in
these industries.
In 2020, the programme began its public -
private alliance with B ermuda Motors Ltd. Bermuda
Motors Ltd. hosted experiential workshops on autom otive engineering, auto body repair and retail sales. In
contrast, the Built Environment sessions covered
quantity surveying, project management, engineering,
architecture, plumbi ng, and many more. Twenty -two
students from CedarBridge Academy and Impact
Academy were registered for the 2019/20 programme
until March 2020, when the programme had to end at
its 6th month due to the COVID -19 impact.
Notwithstanding, through the help of professionals, our young people are better placed for the
world of work, and further . In total, 56 students have
attended this program between 2017 and 2020.

Plans for the Upcoming Year

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: The Office will continue to
provide the quart erly waiver reports and complete the
Cabinet Memoranda of Review within five business
days of receipt. Our goal is to have them completed
95 per cent of the time within five business days.
The Office will increase its efforts to ensure
public officers understand its oversight and advisory
roles for capital projects. This will be accomplished by delivering virtual training sessions and one- on-one
sessions to ensure that Project and Procurement pol icies and procedures are understood and followed. Additional ly, the Office will offer four Introduction to
the Code of Practice virtual training sessions, and four
Orbidder virtual training sessions will be held during
the next fiscal year. The Office will produce an additional pr ocurement guidance note for public officers that will
look at the evaluation process in accordance with the
2
nd Edition of the Code, and the Government approved Evaluation Matrix and scoring notes.
The Office has found a shortage of requisite
skills to carry out cost analysis, and Public O fficers
rely heavily on contractors' pricing to prepare their
estimated budget costs. The Office will increase its
effort in helping public officers better predict costs and
produce the necessary tools to monitor and control these costs. A public officer m ay, once again, ult imately lead, rather than rely upon others, when pr edicting project costs.
The Office will achieve this by conducting
workshops on budget costing whilst utilising a stand-ardised, systematic process and providing advice on how to capture meaningful data. The Office plans to
deliver and implement this cost planning and control
programme for public officers. The pilot program will
be made up of virtual and face- to-face workshops for
at least 10 participants as a pilot, starting June 30,
2021.
The Office will be involved in the National A nti-Corruption and Bribery (NACB) committee to undertake the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) assessment which will be completed
later this year.
The Office will continue to support the P rofessional Student Relationship Programme in the new
school [year].
Mr. Chairman, the Office will continue to a dvise, guide, and support the development of, and a dherence to project management and procurement
regulations and policies and help develop pub lic officers on procurement and project management best
practices to raise the level of expertise in these areas
across the government.
In closing, Mr. Chairman, the Office, is dil igently working to provide oversight and guidance on all government procurem ent and demystifying these
procedures and processes while building capacity.
Mr. Chairman, let me take this opportunity to
acknowledge and commend the Office of Project
Management and Procurement Team and the Acting Director, Elaine Blair -Christopher, for their hard work
and dedication.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This concludes
Head 80. And now I will turn it over to the Premier.

Thank you, Minister, for your dil igence.
For the listening public audience, we are now
continuing the Committee of Supply for the further
consideration of the Estimates of Revenue and E xpenditure for the year 2021/22.
I now call upon the Premier to give his deli very.



Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I do believe that I will be tackling Head 9 (I’m
going to do it off of memory and see how good I am)
Cabinet Office; Head 43 IDT ; Head 51 Communic ations ; and Head 94 the Department of Economic Development Department.
I will commence with Head 9, which is the
Cabinet Office.

Thank you, Mr. P remier.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you.

HEAD 9 —CABINET OFFICE

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Chairman, it gives me great
pleasure to present the budget for Head 9, the Cabinet Office, found on pages B -39 through B -45 of the
Budget Book.
Mr. Chairman, the Cabinet Office’s mission is
to maintain public confidence by leading the delivery of Government Services. The total expenditure as
seen on page B -41 is estimated to be $39,022,000 for
2021/22, and represents an increase of $21,691,000,
or approximately 125 per c ent more than the current
budget of 2020/21. It must be noted however, that this
represents a transfer of funds and not an overall i ncrease.
In actual fact, when considering the total
amount transferred in, approximately $25,832,000,
and comparing it to t he overall increase, it becomes
readily apparent that Cabinet Office, as with most departments throughout government, made considerable reductions in an understandably necessary effort to
meet the reduced cash limits set by Finance.
Mr. Chairman, with the responsibility for Tourism being transferred to Cabinet Office, the related
budget of approximately $23,500,000 once housed
within the Tourism section of the former Ministry of
Tourism and Transport, now resides within Cabinet
Office. Of that transferred budget amount, the major ity, $22,500,000, consists of the 2020/21 allocation for
the Bermuda Tourism Authority grant.
A second contributing factor is the transfer of
salaries in the amount of $363,000 for two additional permanent secretaries. As you know, all permanent
secretaries ’ salaries are now centralised within the
Cabinet Office budget. In addition, Mr. Chairman, al though not a direct transfer between two ministries, you will note that the last line item on page B -41
shows an allocation of $2,000,000 provided for the National Health Emergency section which also forms part of the overall increase.
Mr. Chairman, the subjective analysis for the
Cabinet Office can be found on page B -42 of the E stimates Book. Please allow me to highlight the mater ial obj ect code increases as well as decreases.
Salaries, line item 1, estimated at $6,327,000,
represents an increase of approximately 19 per cent, $1,008,000 compared to the current 2020/21 budget
provision. This increase is due to the transfer of the
two ment ioned permanent secretary posts as well as
the four posts transferred over with the Tourism relat-ed responsibility for the Regulation and Policy/Hotel Administration Unit in the amount of $346,000.
Mr. Chairman, as per the Hotels (Licensing
and Control) A ct 1969 and Regulations 1976, the
Regulatory and Policy Unit is responsible for the i nspection and licensing of properties listed on the hotel inventory. For the period April 1, 2021, to March 31,
2022, it is anticipated that St. Regis Hotel, phase 2 of
The Azura, Brightside Guest Apartments and Berm udiana Beach Resort will come into the hotel inventory
whilst several properties including Elbow Beach will
come out of the hotel inventory. The resulting licensed
bed count for 2021/22 is estimated to be 4,598.
Mr. Chairman, this Unit jointly administers the
Vacation Rentals Act 2018 with the Office of Rent
Control within the Ministry of Home Affairs. To briefly
note, as of March 2
nd, 64 vacation rental properties
have been inspected and issued a vacation rental certificate, valid for one year. The additional duties of this Unit include administering the Hotels Concession Act
2000, the Tourism Investment Act 2017, and the
Cruise Ships (Casinos) Act 2013 and, on behalf of the
Secretary to the Cabinet, the Lotteries Act 1944.
Mr. Chairman, the remaining balance of the
increase within salaries is a result of the temporary workers hired as part of the Bermuda Government’s
Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory (MDL). It should be
noted this is a temporary arrangement as the Mo lecular Diagnostic Laboratory and its management will
transition to a standalone corporate entity and subsi diary of the Bermuda Economic Development Corpor ation. In addition to the Mo lecular Diagnostic Laborat ory salaried workers , there are also weekly paid temporary additional staff that account for the increases in
wages, line item 2, of approximately $340,000, or
131 per cent. These wages form part of the
$2,000,000 allocation for the National Health Emergency Fund.
Mr. Chairman, MDL started operatio ns on
April 19, 2020, instantly expanding COVID -19 testing
capacity in Bermuda. The weekly rate of 200 tests
until mid -April, was now achievable in one day, allo wing testing to be done on all frontline and essential
workers during the shelter -in-place peri od. This new
testing capacity allowed for the safe reopening of the
country from the level of high restrictions to Phase 4
as approximately 3,000 tests per month were con-ducted in the first three months.
Whilst providing a more fiscally responsible
government testing operation, with testing below $5.00 per sample, MDL also allowed for a quicker r esults turnaround with any member of the public able to book a test, get results emailed within 24 hours and for each person’s GP to be informed of the result in
real time.
796 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Chairman, MDL was able to drastically i ncrease testing capacity from 3,000 to 12,000 per
month in July 2020 when the airport opened and further supported the increase in arrivals to an average
of 22,000 tests per month between August and N ovember. The MDL ultimately withstood the stress test
when an outbreak occurred last December with a total
of 299 positive cases identified out of approximately
33,000 tests performed during the month of December. MDL has kept Bermuda at the cutting edge of
testing developments and has recently allowed Ber-muda to know which variants have been present on
Island, and when they first arrived.
MDL’s focus in 2020 was to deliver a worldclass COVID -19 testing service to the Island of Bermuda whilst also training B ermudian scientists. To
date, over 25 Bermudians have gained molecular diagnostics experience in the Bermuda national testing
laboratory as interns or staff members with many entering the workforce for the first time in the career path
of their choice, sci ence.
MDL’s 2021/22 focus is to continue to deliver
on their world renowned COVID -19 testing, further
develop staff professionally, and expand into further
molecular diagnostics in order to keep as much genetic testing on Island. MDL’s aim is to also establish a
genetic research laboratory where genetic research is conducted by Bermudians, in Bermuda, for Bermuda.
And, as I mentioned, Mr. Chairman, transferring to a
standalone entity underneath the Bermuda Economic
Development versus being funded out of special pr ojects in the government of Bermuda as the public
health emergency will not continue indefinitely and we must position ourselves for sustainability.
Mr. Chairman, returning to the variances:
• Transport, line item 5, is also connected to
the allocation for the National Health Emergency fund and represents the increased freight charges related
to the import of COVID -19 medical supplies and
equipment.
• Professional Services, line item 9, at
$2,519,000, is a decrease of $293,000, compared to
2020/21. Please note, Mr. Chairman, that there were several reductions made to professional services
throughout the various sections of the Cabinet Office
as well as the decrease resulting from the Commi ssion of Inquiry not extending into the new budget year.
Mr. Chairman, speaking of the Commission of
Inquiry, allow me to once again briefly veer off from the provision of the various explanations to highlight
the work of the Commission over the last year.
As you may recall, pursuant to the Commi ssions of Inquiry Act 1935, on November 1, 2019, I announced the appointment of committee members to
the Commission of Inquiry into historic land losses in
Bermuda. The establishment of this Commission of Inquiry was in keeping with the mandate of the House
of Assembly as expressed in its resolution of July 4
th,
2014. Mr. Chairman, I do not have to go into detail
for you why we had to wait until later than 2014 for the
Commission of Inquiry to be put into place. I will go —

The Chair thanks you on behalf of the
people of Bermuda.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The scope of the Commission’s work was to:
1. Investigate historic losses of citizens’ pro perty in Bermuda from theft of property, dispossession
of property, adverse possession claims —

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Mr. Chairman, can you
guide us as to where the Premier is under a line item
please? I am not trying to be mischievous . I am just
trying to see where he is.

The Cha irman: Honourable Member, we are on page
B-42. We were on line item 9 at one point.
Is that helpful, Member?
Hon. E. David Burt: That is precisely where we are,

Yes, you may, Honourable Premier.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, very much.
The scope of the Commission’s work was to:
1. Investigate historic losses of citizens’ pro perty in Bermuda from theft of property, dispossession
of property, adverse possession claims and/or other
such unlawful or irregular means by which land was
lost in Bermuda.
2. Collect and collate any and all evidence
and information available relating to the nature and
extent of such historic losses of citizens’ property.


Bermuda House of Assembly 3. Prepare a list of all land to which such hi storic losses relate.
4. Identify any persons, whether individuals or
bodies corporate, responsible for such historic losses
of citizens’ property.
On March 8th, 2020, the Commission issued a
notice that a planning hearing would be held on
March 19th, 2020. However, due to the pandemic, the
Commission delayed its initial hearing until such time
as the Government of Bermuda deemed it safe for
persons to assemble. The Commission also adjusted
the date by which persons seeking standing, or who
had anecdotal information, but who did not wish to
seek standing, could submit documentation. The initial
deadline in March was tentatively shifted to May 30th,
2020, and then adjusted to June 8th, 2020. However,
in light of reported challenges encountered by me mbers of the community who sought to access relevant
documents, the Commission communicated that the
deadline would be extended until June 30th, 2020. F inally, in order to accommodate further requests for
extensions, the Commission determined that the final
deadline for submissions would be July 23rd, 2020.
The Commission held its first public hearings
of evidence on Tuesday, September 8th, 2020. Todate, the Commission has completed five tranches of
digitally -supported hearings, in order to address a
caseload of 54 applicants. Due to the COVID -19 pa ndemic, the Commission had to place heavy reliance on Zoom meetings, live Facebook feeds, recorded
YouTube video and live- streaming on CITV. Additionally, a separate historical review was carried out by
two Bermudian historians, Dr. Theodore Francis and
Dr. Quito Swan, in order to investigate the Tucker’s
Town and St. David’s land expropriations. In fact, the
Commissioners have held approximately 70 different
evidentiary proceedings and sessions thus far. These
proceedings have been held at the Grotto Bay Resort,
Willowbank Resort and Conference Center, and at
Warwick Camp.
Mr. Chairman, the majority of the budget has
been used for operational expenses such as salaries
and compensations, electronic services, transcription
services and venues.
Going forward, the Commission is in the final
stages of the evidentiary hearings and will complete their report in the very near term. At this time I would
like to thank the Commission made up of the Chair of
the Commission Justice Norma Wade- Miller OBE, JP
and members Mr. Wayne Perinchief, JP, Mrs. Maxine
Binns, Mrs. Fredrica Forth, Mrs. Lynda Milligan-Whyte, JP, Mr. Jonathan Starling and Mr. Quinton
Stovell.
Returning to the Subjective Analysis, please
note Mr. Chairman, that the full amount of the decrease within Professional Services was not fully r eflected due to the necessary allocation to services that
form part of the National Health emergency fund. The next variance to be highlighted is found
within Equipment (Minor Capital), line item 15: Please note that the $916,000 increase is a direct result of
the necessary medical supplies and equipment alloc ation for 2021/22 within the $2,000,000 National Health
Emergency allotment.

Continue, Member.

Hon. E. David Burt: Finally, Mr. Chairman the r emaining material variance is seen in Grants and Contributions, the last line item, which shows an allocation
of $26,439,000, an increase of $19,600,000 above
2020/21. This is a result of the transfer in of the Tour-ism related grants. You may note that the transfer in
of $23,000,000 related to the BTA grant and smaller
associated grants (World Triathlon Series, Her itage
Weekend and Cup Match grants) is also not fully r eflected.
Again, necessary reductions were made in
order to reach cash limit constraints in the grants to
both the BTA, the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation [BEDC], and the grant to the Bermuda
Business Development Agency (BBDA). Mr. Chai rman, I will cover the grants to the BEDC and the BTA
when I complete the brief on this Head.

MANPOWER
Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Chairman, as seen on page
B-43, Employee numbers, there is a total increase of
six FTEs in 2021/22 compared to the 2020/21 original
FTE estimates. This results from the already mentioned two additional permanent secretary posts under
business unit 19000, General Administration, as well
as the Tourism transfer in of the four Regulatory and
Policy, Hotel Administration, posts seen under the new business unit 19065. Let me quickly mention that
the decrease within the last line item PATI/PIPA,
19085, relates to a mere internal post transfer and accounts for the third FTE increase within General
Administration.

CAPITAL EXPENDITURE

Hon. E. David Burt: Moving on to Capital Expenditure, Mr. Chairman, you will note that in accordance with page C -4, there are funds allocated for Capital
Development in the amount of $2,570,000. [That is]
$1,070,000 for the shoreside facilities, and an add itional $1,500,000 for the Community Clubs and
Community Investment Grant.
Mr. Chairman, the development of a cooper ative means by which to support the work of Bermuda’s
fishermen is set out to culminate in the development
of a shoreside fish processing facility. Whilst the consultations are ongoing the Cabinet Office is working to
bridge historical divides within the industry to promote
greater economic independence and greater econom798 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly ic success for what may be termed as one of our ori ginal pillars.
Mr. Chairman, the plans for the site have
been reviewed and will be modified to reflect the most
modern equipment and approaches to the processing
of fish. The area of Marginal W harf best lends itself to
this operatio n but we continue to consult and during
this fiscal year there will be significant advances in this critical cooperative development.
Mr. Chairman, in keeping with this Gover nment’s longstanding promise to support the Island’s Community Clubs, I am pleased to join ministerial and
parliamentary colleagues and I will also note that I
also have, when there are clubs that are located in
seats not held by the Government , that I have also
made sure that Members of the Opposition have been
invited to attend those presentations. So I say that I
am pleased to join parliamentary colleagues in pr esenting a series of capital grant cheques to provide for
much -needed infrastructure improvements for our
clubs.
The men and women who are not just me mbers, but whose heart and soul is poured into the mi ssion and community outreach that many of these or-ganisations provide, have welcomed these grants.
This fiscal year sees grant funding renewed as we are
determined to continue this transformational pr ogramme.
As seen on pages C -9 and C -10, there were
no Capital A cquisition submissions for 2021/ 22.
Mr. Chairman, I shall now turn my attention to
output measures.

OUTPUT MEASURES

Hon. E. David Burt: The performance measures developed for the Cabinet Office are found on pages B -
44 and B -45. The majority of the measures outlined in
the 2020/21 have been or are anticipated to be rea lised by March 31
st with continuance throughout the
2021/22 period.
Mr. Chairman, b usiness unit 19035, the London Office, achieved all of its targets set, especially within the first target of assisting Bermudians (includ-ing Bermudian students) living within the UK, which
was clearly put to the test but notably demonstrated
during this pandemic.
As was previously seen on page B -41, the
London Office has a b udget allocation of approximat ely $1,114,000 for the fiscal year 2021/22. The office, on a whole, continues to provide a service to the Go vernment by maintaining our relationship with the Uni ted Kingdom through high level dialogue with the UK
Government, particularly through increased engag ement with departments of Her Majesty’s Government
across Whitehall. While doing so, the office works with
governments of the Overseas Territories on shared
policy areas across the Territories. The London Office is responsible for engaging
with both Houses of Parliament, the UK Diplomatic
Corps, such as embassies and high commissions; the
United Kingdom Overseas Territories Association; the
Commonwealth Secretariat, along with all UK based Commonwealth Associations; as mentioned, Berm udians living in the UK including students; the general
UK public, to include private companies; civil societies
and those who have a general or vested interest in
Bermuda.
For fiscal term 2020/21 the primary function of
the London Office was to provide the necessary i mmediate assistance and guidance through its consular
function to Bermudians living and studying in the UK
and throughout Europe as a result of the impact of the
COVID -19 pandemic .
For fiscal year 2020/21 the London Office
provi ded assistance to 918 consular cases. The n ature of consular assistance ranged in levels of varying
circumstances from routine travel assistance to matters of critical nature.
This level of assistance included managing
the repatriation of 236 Bermudians f rom around the
world routed through London on the British Airways
flights chartered by the Foreign Commonwealth & D evelopment Office at the beginning of the lockdowns in
April and May.
Mr. Chairman, the functions of the London O ffice for the fiscal term 2021/22 are:
• to continue to support Bermudians in the UK
and Europe within its consular affairs;
• to maintain dialogue across the UK Parli ament by engaging with UK Members of Parliament;
• to continue engagement with UK civil servants
in departments across W hitehall on all policy
matters relating to Bermuda and Overseas
Territories;
• to support Bermuda’s Financial Services r egime;
• to support the efforts of Bermuda and other Overseas Territories’ involvement at COP26
Summit in Glasgow to showcase efforts from
Bermuda and the UK Territories in tackling
climate change and;
• to implement political commitments made
through the Joint Ministerial Council in N ovember 2020.
For fiscal year 2020/21 Bermuda holds
Chairmanship and Presidency amongst Overseas
Territory Governments through the United Kingdom
Overseas Territories Association.
Mr. Chairman, please also note that the Brussels Office is managed by the UK Representative
through the London Office. The work on the ground is overseen by the Government’s Senior Advis or Eur opean Affairs & Policy, Ms. Aliyyah Ahad, who took up
the post in October. The Office will also provide opBermuda House of Assembly portunities of experience to students and graduates
through various internship programmes.
The objective of the Brussels Office is to
maintain relationships with key stakeholders and dec ision-makers on the ground in Brussels while establishing new connections. With the UK’s exit from the
European Union the objectives of the Brussels Office
for fiscal term 2021/22 will be:
• to maintain close dialo gue with the European
Commission, Council and European Parli ament and other EU institutions;
• to facilitate access of the Premier and Mini sters to key persons in upholding the Gover nment’s presence in Europe;
• to work with the Ministry of Finance to suppor t
Bermuda’s global position of a robust regul atory financial regime.
The Office has been allocated approximately
$396,000.
Mr. Chairman, turning to business unit 19080,
Head of the Public Service, on page B -45, I am
pleased to provide an update on the sec ond measure
to develop a five- year public service plan that requires
the review and justification of services provided by government by June 2020.
Honourable Members will recall that this
measure derives from the Objectives as set out in the
Government Reform Strategic Framework. The recommendations that will inform the plan depend largely
on data gathered as a part of the zero- based budgeting process. An analytical tool to assess the public
value of government services was tested during the
last budget cy cle (2020/21), refined and implemented
in earnest as a part of the preparation for the fiscal
2021/22 budget. A quantitative analys is is now in pr ogress. A qualitative review will follow and public services will ultimately be placed in five main categories :
1) Essential; 2) Important; 3) Needed; 4) Desirable;
and 5) Optional. Following consultation with all stak eholders the five- year public service plan will be pr oduced.
Mr. Chairman, with respect to customer co mplaints, while the feedback system has not as yet
been implemented, development is a work in progress and it is expected to launch in this fiscal year.
Moreover, Mr. Chairman, the Government is
working to establish service standards and it is expected that a full customer service training pr ogramme f or all public officers will be implemented pr ior to the end of the year. The new Guidelines for Service Standards are embedded in the revised Conditions of Employment and Code of Conduct which has
been updated for the first time in 20 years and is expected to be effective on April 1
st, 2021.
Mr. Chairman, allow me to turn your attention
to the last business unit, 19085, the PATI and PIPA
Unit and briefly expand beyond their achievement of their target for 2020/21. The Unit takes on a mandate of the impl ementation and maintenance of the Public Access to
Information Act and the Personal Information Protec-tion Act (referred to respectively as PATI and PIPA)
within the Government, as well as the coordination of
the respective pieces of legislation. The Unit aids the Government to not only meet its requirements in this
regard, but to support the Government in creating a
beneficial environment that supports a viable economic ecosystem. This Unit also works in collaboration with the offices of the Information Commi ssioner and
Privacy Commissioner in the focus on transformative change in the Government and our jurisdiction.
The Government of Bermuda interacts with
the public and the broader community by collecting
and exchanging data using physical and electronic
methods in the course of conducting everyday bus iness processes. As such, the government holds an abundance of information related to such processes,
as well as a significant amount of personal information. It is therefore, important that the rights of access to information and privacy are ingrained in the
organisation’s operations and culture.
Mr. Chairman, as seen on page B -41, the
PATI/PIPA Unit has been allocated $464,000. R equirements specified in both PATI and PIPA include:
implementing operational and administrative
measures to respond to requests; management and accessibility to records; reporting to regulatory author ities; and documentation of management and pr ocessing records and requests. The Unit will play a significant role in the facilitation of t hese common r equirements present in both Acts.
Mr. Chairman, the PATI Framework is oper ational and shall be reviewed during 2021/22 to enable
the optimal utilisation of resources within the Unit. In
addition to the coordination of the review of PATI for
amendment during the year, the Unit will consider
whether current activities should be refined or ex-panded. These activities include:
• development of internal policies, proc edures and guidance;
• the facilitation and advice to public author ities in relation to access to requests;
• the provision of awareness building and i nformation officer training; and
• the communication with stakeholders on PATI and other information access deve lopments.
Mr. Chairman, as we prepare for PIPA to
come into force, the Unit has bee n working in collaboration with the Privacy Commissioner and the Infor-mation Commissioner to review the existing legisl ations. In the absence of a standalone privacy law in
the past, individual laws may contain aspects related
to personal information and/or data privacy that is now
superseded by PIPA. In line with this need, a signif icant harmonisation exercise has taken place with the
800 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly PATI legislation. Amendments will be brought forward
during this legislative session.
Mr. Chairman, when PIPA is in force i t will
have significant implications for the entire jurisdiction.
As the Government is responsible for protecting the largest collection of personal information held in Bermuda, the Government’s privacy programme is of vital
importance. The Government will be required to notify
residents as to how and why we collect, use and store
their personal information through privacy notices.
Risk assessments, as to how personal information will be used and protected as per PIPA requirements, will
be integrated into our operations. PIPA also impacts
our interactions with organisations, including vendors
and service providers. Assessing their PIPA compl iance will become an important step in the contracting
process.
The Unit has identified a privacy framework to
guide i ts work and intends to more fully develop and
operationalize their implementation plan during
2021/22. Requirements in the framework and plan, either currently underway or anticipated include:
• production of internal policies, procedures
and guidance;
• creat ion and implementation of specific
processes to respond to legislated r equirements;
• provision of general and targeted training;
development and delivery of communic ations and awareness programmes;
• development of an international data ade-quacy framework; and
• monitoring and auditing PIPA compliance
within the government.
Mr. Chairman, privacy is affected by many
other requirements and processes underway within the government. For example, privacy interests with
information technology security, or cybersecurit y,
which is the protection of electronic data from criminal
or unauthorised access and use. The PATI/PIPA Unit
will work in collaboration with the Ministry of National
Security, the Information and Digital Technologies
Department (IDT) and the Cybersecurit y Governance
Board to support the implementation of the Bermuda
Cybersecurity Strategy, and specifically in relation to
security breach requirements. The Unit will also en-sure that it leverages and promotes the government’s
records management requirements, complying with
regulatory requirements while also reflecting good
governance. Additionally, the Unit will aid in the ongoing reform process, helping to ensure that privacy by
design and default begin to be integrated into Go vernment’s programmes and initi atives.
Mr. Chairman, the Government’s reform pr ogramme will both impact and be impacted by infor-mation access and privacy, especially if progress is continued towards open data. The synergy between
information access and privacy must be understood
and emphasised. The PATI Act makes a path for openness and accountability in our public services. It
complements PIPA provisions for improving people's
access to information about themselves, alongside the
protection of their confidentiality and privacy.
Further , the aforementioned future amendments to PATI can emphasise the ongoing work of the government to broaden rights of access as well as
rights of privacy. The Team will work together within
the Government space to ensure training and awar eness to ensure str eamlined public access, privacy
rights and confidence in the Government.
Mr. Chairman, at this time, before I move on
to the three major quangos which are funded under
Head 9 in grants, I would like to take the opportunity
to extend my thanks to all of the staff at the Cabinet
Office under the leadership of the Secretary to the Cabinet, Major Marc Telemaque, and the Permanent Secretary for the Cabinet Office [Lt.] Colonel Edward
Lamb, for their ongoing contributions and dedication
to serving the people of B ermuda.
The Cabinet Office is the heart of Government
and the entire team has my gratitude for the support
they provide to the country. I would also like to thank
my personal staff led by Chief of Staff Senator Owen
Darrell, Assistant Chief of Staff, Jor dan Scott -Furtado,
and a new addition as of March 1
st, a recent college
graduate, Mr. Kiuno Cann who handles communic ations and social media, for the work they do to support
the Office of the Premier. All three gentlemen go
above and beyond on a daily basi s assisting with i nquiries from premier@gov.bm to Facebook to Twitter
to Instagram, to LinkedIn, and of course persons who
call the Cabinet Office every day to seek assistance,
or who stop by for help with the challeng es that they
are facing. This team is invaluable to this Office and they have helped many in this country over the past
year.
Before I conclude my presentation on Head 9,
Mr. Chairman, I would like to refer the [Committee] to
page C -17 where I will discus s the matters relating to
the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation, the
grant to the Bermuda Tourism Authority, and also the
grant to the Bermuda Business Development Agency.
On the top of page C -17, Grants and Contr ibutions, of the Estimates of Revenues and Expend iture for the year 2021/22.

BERMUDA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
CORPORATION (BEDC)

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Chairman, it gives me great
pleasure to present the budget for the Bermuda Ec onomic Development Corporation, a quango presently
under the C abinet Office.
The Bermuda Economic Development Corporation, which for ease I will refer to as BEDC, is currently responsible for overseeing the operation of the Economic Empowerment Zones, EEZs, for providing
financial support and technical advice to sm all and


Bermuda House of Assembly medium sized businesses, monitoring the operation of
outside vendor markets and for managing vendors
and issuing vending licences.
The organisation ’s key objective remains to
assist the Government in encouraging economic growth for Bermuda’s local and small and medium
sized businesses.
For fiscal year 2020/21 because of the severe
impact to Bermuda’s economy by COVID -19 and the
adverse effects to the Government’s revenue stream, BEDC will receive a significantly reduced operating grant from the C abinet Office in the amount of
$764,126. This represents a 70 per cent decrease on
the original Cabinet Office grant offered to the BEDC
for fiscal year 2020/21.
Although there will be a one- year decrease in
the BEDC’s operating grant the corporation beli eves it
will still be able to meet the remit of growing Berm uda’s entrepreneurial ecosystem through, first, carry -
over funds from uncompleted projects and initiatives
in 2020/21 due to a shift in priority to focusing all of
these sources on providing COVID -19 funding relief
for businesses , and through the balance of the $12
million supplemental grant which will continue to be
used to support businesses as the impact of the
COVID -19 pandemic continues in 2021/22.
Mr. Chairman, [in] the current fiscal year
2020/21 BEDC initially received a grant from the Cabinet Office in the amount of $3 ,683,752. This comprised $2,563,752 for general operations and annual
BEDC programmes; $1 million for the research deve lopment and establishment of the Uptown Develo pment Aut hority initiative assisting with the regener ation of the North East Hamilton [Uptown Development ]
Economic Empowerment Zone; $120,000 for assisting
with the development of a fishing cooperative for
Bermuda.
Additionally, due to the unexpected and de vastati ng impact of the coronavirus, both internationally
and locally, the Minister of Finance provided the
BEDC with a supplementary grant of $12 million during the fiscal year to directly support local small and
medium -sized businesses impacted by the pandemic.
These impacts were felt throughout the I sland’s business community and were manifested by temporary closures due to shelter in place, reduced operating hours due to curfews and public health notices, increased operating costs due to PPE and decreased cus tomers due to airport and cruise port cl osures.
Initial requests for funding in 2020 were mai nly to meet the immediate business sustainability
needs for business owners to weather the COVID -19
storm , essentially triage funding. In 2021 the BEDC
has seen r equests for longer -term business continuity
needs due to the economy remaining challenged in which businesses are pivoting, shifting and embracing
new and innovative ways of doing business. During
this fiscal year, the BEDC has approved 158 funding applica tions from small and medium -sized businesses
through reallocation of its own funds and mostly su pplemented by the Ministry of Finance’s $12 million
additional grant.
Twenty -eight per cent, or $3.4 million in funding has been disbursed thus far to local CM Es in a
range of funding projects. This has thus far tripled the
amount of direct funding that the BEDC provides to
businesses in an average year.
The BEDC estimates that demand will be as
high in the fiscal year 2021/22 as the impacts of COVID -19 are ex pected to remain within Bermuda’s
economy , and businesses will, therefore, require continued long- term funding support.
Mr. Chairman, the BEDC believes that it
spends a considerable proportion of its operating budget on rent and associated service charges in the range of approximately $170,000 annually. In addition,
given the corporation’s expanded programmes in entrepreneurship education, global entrepreneurship and
incubation and acceleration, it considers that it has
outgrown its current premises in terms of functionality, space, size and use, oftentimes requiring the corpor ation to rent external space to hold seminars, wor kshops and events.
The BEDC is desirous of reducing its dependence on the generous government grant provided an-nually through havi ng the ability to generate revenue
through fees for service, licences and renting out office space. As such, in fiscal year 2021/22 BEDC will
develop a concrete plan for the purchasing and/or
building of its own building over the next few years.
Enterprise House will be located in the North East
Hamilton Economic Empowerment Zone as a catalyst regenerator tool within its own right while allowing the
BEDC to house its programmes, expand services and
reduce external costs.
The ultimate goal is to have a space for entrepreneurs, including a space for the Uptown Community Development Corporation, which I will discuss
later, and the North East Hamilton Economic Empowerment Zone incubator hub, that fosters growth and
development while reducing the BEDC’s operati ng
costs generating revenue for the corporation and e xpanding the BEDC brand.
Currently the BEDC is completing capital
works of two of its three economic empowerment
zone incubator hubs. In the Somerset Economic E mpowerment Zone the EEZ incubator hub is l ocated at
Forth House, 68 Somerset Road in Sandys, in the
prominent location of the former Il Palio Restaurant
space.
Likewise, in the St. George’s economic e mpowerment zones, capital works are being completed on the EEZ incubator hub located on the top f loor of
the St. George’s P ost Office, at 11 Water Street, in the
town of St. George’s, part of the former police station. Both incubator hubs will be completed by the end of
March 2021 for launching of applications in April of
802 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly 2021, with the goal of seeking innovative and hungry
entrepreneurs looking to start businesses to enhance
and regenerate both unique zones.
The highly competitive process will see a total
of 12 start -ups selected annually between the two i ncubators. The goal is to also build a similar incubator
hub within the North East Hamilton Economic E mpowerment Zone in fiscal year 2021/22 and a potential
location has already been identified within the zone.
Building off the success of BEDC’s Enterprise
Bermuda Incubator Programme [housed in the BEDC’s main office and supporting 22 start -up companies over the last three years, the EEZ’s Incubators
will ensure that entrepreneurs get beyond the idea
stage and start to bring their businesses to fruition while regenerating the zone.
Mr. Chairman, for all it achieves the BEDC is
a relatively small organisation (and I am now moving
on to BEDC’s manpower. In the current fiscal year,
the BEDC added no new posts and has a staffing
complement of 14 full -time posts. There is currently
one vacant post with the departure of the former D irector of Finance Data and Administration, Mr. Ray Jones, at the end of November. The BEDC has r ecruited for his replacement with a successful candidate selected who will be filling the post on June 1,
2021.
I would be remiss if I did not thank Mr. Jones
for the incredible job he did while at the BEDC and the
government will benefit from his vast knowledge and
experience in his new role as Director of the newly
formed Economic Development Department, which,
Mr. Chairman, I will co ver when I get to Head 94.
Moving on to outcomes, Mr. Chairman, the
current fiscal year has been an extremely busy year
for the organisation, given the overriding goal to assist
as many businesses as possible due to the ongoing
impact of the pandemic on local business. I would like
to share some of the BEDC’s major achievements over the past year in part due to the supplemental
grant funding that was received.
1. Entrepreneurship Advisory Services. As a r esult of COVID -19 in 2020, the BEDC held 1,309 oneon-one advisory meetings with entrepreneurs, signif icantly surpassing the number in 2019, which was 610.
The doubling of the number of advisory meetings was in response to meeting the needs of businesses. Sixty
per cent of those 1,309 were new clients to the BEDC
reflecting the outreach the BEDC conducted in order
to reach businesses who would not ordinarily be cl ients of the BEDC. Business owners needed to have advice and support during an extremely challenging
year.
2. Entrepreneurship Education. In the midst of
dealing with the pandemic, entrepreneurs continued to commit to building their knowledge about entrepr eneurship. This was more important than ever before,
as the need to pivot to be innovative and creative and
resilient was the mantra of 2020. Amazingl y during the pandemic 93 entrepreneurs committed to graduating
from BEDC’s five multi- week entrepreneurship educ ation courses. The BEDC also had to pivot to be creative to provide learning in a virtual format and made
the decision to reduce the cost of these courses by 50 per cent so that they could remain accessible. In
addition to its multi- week courses the BEDC shifted
and ramped up its quarterly seminars to offer a full range of webinars covering a variety of topics aimed
at assisting entrepreneurs duri ng COVID -19, and
90 per cent of the webinars that were offered were
complementary.
From April 2020 to November 2020 the BEDC
held 23 webinars ranging from understanding COVID -
19 funding support through to rebranding , pivoting
online , supporting Black -owned businesses , and surviving and thriving through a cris is. [There were] 1,091
business owners, entrepreneurs and would- be start -
ups who attended the 23 webinars doubling the 2019
numbers for quarterly seminars held in person.
3. Entrepreneurship Financing. As a direct result
of the supplementary grant funds in this year’s fiscal budget, 158 businesses have been supported during
COVID -19 in the amount of $3.4 million, 28 per cent of
which is grant funding. So, again, Mr. Chairman, $3.4
million has been given, a nd $1.1 million, or 28 per
cent of that, is grant funding, which means that money does not have to be repaid. The balance of the $2.3
million is loan funding to be repaid back to BEDC. The
breakdown of the approvals is as follows:
• 39 general /debt consolidation micro- loans t otalling $959,000;
• 104 COVID -19 micro loans/ grants in the
amount of $2.1 million;
• 2 COVID -19 loans, $70,000;
• 2 COVID -19 loan guarantees, $45,000;
• 4 COVID -19 guarantee overdrafts, $152 ,000;
• 7 COVID -19 emergency grants of $42,500.
Multiple applications are still being actively processed
by the BEDC officers for all funding types.
4. Entrepreneurship catalyser . Even during u nprecedented economic challenges of the pandemic
the entrepreneurial spirit in Bermuda prevailed. Thirty -
two new businesses , Mr. Chairman, took advantage of
the new start -up payroll tax relief which was impl emented by this Government, resulting in 45 new jobs being brought to market. Likewise, 18 businesses
formed in the EEZs and took advantage of the EEZ
payroll tax relief br inging 26 new jobs into the zone.
The Ent erprise Bermuda Incubator piloted in 2018
with six companies in the first cohort incubated for
nine months , and eight companies in 2019 incubated
for 12 months saw eight new innovative start -ups accepted for the thi rd year -long cohort in 2020. And they
persevered to success in spite of the pandemic creating eight jobs along the way. These three pr ogrammes supported 58 businesses in 2020, bringing
79 jobs to the market.



Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Excuse me, Honourable Premier,
something is wrong with your audio. Would you repeat
that last statement please?

Hon. E. David Burt: I am happy to do so, Mr. Chai rman.
These three programmes supported 58 bus inesses in 2020, bringing 79 jobs to the market.

Thank you, Premier.
Hon. E. David Burt: No problem, Mr. Chairman.
Likewise, the resilience of microentrepreneurs and vendors was visible in 2020, with
97 vending licences approved. Although a decrease of 13 per cent compared to the 2019 licences, 63 per
cent of the appl ications were new applicants. Given
the pandemic, this indicates confidence with testing
new products or concepts.
5. Youth Entrepreneurship. The summer student
entrepreneurship programme prevailed in 2020 with
student entrepreneurs shifting to online and e -
commerce business models due to the pandemic. Ten students between the ages of 16 and 25 built bus inesses in 2020 bringing 10 new jobs to the market.
The students were seeded with loan funds, training
and mentorship to establish businesses that earned a total of $12,347 in revenue over an eight -week period
during COVID -19.
6. Entrepreneurship networking and promotion.
In spite of the pandemic, Global Entrepreneurship
Week continued to be successful throughout November 2020, as Bermuda joined with over 180 countries in celebrating entrepreneurship in a socially distanced
and virtual way. Global Entrepreneurship Week is the
world’s largest celebration of innovators and job creators who launch start -ups that bring ideas to life, drive
economic growth and expand human welfare. Events
in Bermuda were held through the four core tenets of
Global Entrepreneurship Week —inspire, engage,
connect and mentor. Bermuda’s 2020 celebration r esulted in 25 events held, 72 partners committed, 6,000 participants involved , and 75,000 awareness engagements via radio, TV and social media.
Moving on to the focus for this upcoming fiscal
year. Although much progress has been made in en-suring new products and services are developed to
continue to facilitate entrepreneurship and new bus inesses formation on Island, with the devastating i mpact of the pandemic on local business Government is
desirous that BEDC focus on key principles and initi atives in 2021/22 that it believes will provide further
benefit and positive impact economically to Bermuda.
These activities are:
1. Annual business registration: Unlike many
other countries, Bermuda does not require soleproprietor businesses to register and obtain a licence
or permit to operate. While the BEDC Act indicates
that the BEDC must maintain a register of business, it does not state that businesses must register with
BEDC. To date, it is purely voluntary. As such, there
has been a gap in oversight of sole proprietors and in
collecting key data such as number of start -ups, number of closures, size of businesses, employee num-bers, industr ies of businesses, and contribution to the
economy revenue- wise. Without this timely information, developing appropriate and useful public pol icy that meets the needs of entrepreneurs continues to
be a challenge. The Attorney General’s Chambers
has commenced the initial work of reviewing the
BEDC’s current legislation with the goal of assisting
the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation in
modernising.
2. Virtual Markets: COVID -19 highlighted the i mportance of the role that technology will play in Bermuda’s future and the future of work. As businesses
pivoted to online and e- commerce platforms in order
to conduct business and remain relevant through the
pandemic, issues such as accessibility, affordability
and availabil ity plagued businesses being able to
adapt quickly. The BEDC recognises that access to
affordable virtual markets is a must for business success and is actively developing an option for Berm uda’s local SMEs. Local software developer Jahde Eve,
and his Code441 company is currently three months
into building BECD’s virtual market platform. The
BECD’s goal for the platform is to be available to the public by May 2021 providing a simple avenue for entrepreneurs, tradespeople and home- based busines ses to sell their goods and services online. Currently,
setting up an online business can be challenging for many. But the BEDC virtual market which aligns perfectly with the mission to provide markets will greatly
reduce barriers that get businesses online.
So, Mr. Chairman, people will no longer have
to worry about going through the cumbersome pr ocess of getting a merchant account at the bank, dea ling with all of those matters. The BEDC is going to work to take on that risk so that people can get online
more quickly t o sell their wares. This is not just for
people who are selling goods, this is for tradespeople
who may want to accept payments and credit cards
and cannot go through these processes. We are trying
to make online business easy and simple, and this is
somet hing that we will deliver this upcoming year.
3. On to cooperative legislation. The Bermuda
Government is desirous of creating a cooperative ecosystem in Bermuda and as such, appointed a D irector of Economic and Cooperative Development within the Bermuda Economic Development Corpor ation. The Director has been involved the Island in continuous cooperative education and public engagement
initiatives aimed at raising the awareness, knowledge,
and skills of cooperatives. To shore up and progress
the cooperative f ramework, it is recommended that
specific cooperative legislation is needed as another
option business model for businesses to consider.
Work has commenced on the research and develop804 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly ment of legislation with solid examples found in the
US and the UK.
In early fiscal 2021/22, further work will be
carried out with the goal of legislation before the
summer of 2021. And, Mr. Chairman, when I get to Head 94 later, which has a legislative unit inside of it,
you will hear more about that initiative and how the
Department of Economic Development will assist.
4. Shoreside Fisheries Complex Enterprise: Local fishermen have expressed to the Government i nterest in reestablishing a shoreside facility to assist
the commercial fishing industry in Bermuda. The objective of t he new facility will be to provide services to
the fishing industry and support the activities of fis hermen as well as develop a complex run and suppor ted by fishermen with the goal of having a viable fis heries industry.
The BEDC has been tasked to assist the Government in building a proper facility and developing a
competitive business model for Bermuda incor porating fis hermen in both the ownership and running of
the facility. Research work is underway with a steering
group formed of key fishers’ group and the Depar tment of Environment and Natural Resources. In fiscal
year 2021/22 construction will commence on the facil ity with the appropriate business model for the fishermen involved.
5. The Uptown Community Development Corporation: The BEDC has been tasked with the estab-lishment of an authority or dedicated similar body
which will oversee the regeneration and community
development of the North East Hamilton Economic
Empowerment Zone. Research has been carried out with a recommended plan developed mapping a w ay
forward. In early fiscal 2021/22, the BEDC will pr ogress this plan through consultation with the stak eholders in North East Hamilton.
6. And finally, Mr. Chairman, EEZ Incubators
and Innovation Hubs. Continuing to regenerate the three EEZs the BEDC has developed a new and innovative benefit that will incentivise more businesses to
locate in the three zones and welcome more patrons
to visit the zones thereby spurring economic deve lopment to these locations. Physical incubator hubs
are near completion in Som erset and St. George’s
EEZs with applications open and creative starts expected in late April. Innovative technology offerings
will be a key factor in these hubs.

One minute, Premier.
For the benefit of the listening audience, we
are conti nuing the Committee of Supply for the co nsideration of the Estimates for the financial year 2021/22. Thank you.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, in closing, business creates
jobs and jobs employ the people thereby growing our
economy. In fiscal year 2021/22, the Bermuda Ec o-nomic Development Corporation will continue to enhance its products and services to provide further opportunities for Bermuda’s local micro, small and medium-sized businesses with the goal of facilitating ec onomic growth and empowerment in this sector. It is
therefore vital that the BEDC receive the budgetary support required to continue fostering economic stabi lity and growth for Bermuda’s local entrepreneurs.
The BEDC has adequate funds to execute its
mandate despite the one- year reduction in its grants .
This Government has an excellent record of suppor ting entrepreneurs and will continue to support the BEDC after this year.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to add my commendation to Ms. Erica Smith, the Executiv e Director
of the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation
and all of her staff for the sterling work that they do and for their tireless commitment to growing local
business in Bermuda. They have gone above and b eyond over the last year helping many businesses to
survive during the pandemic, and Bermuda is better
off for their efforts.
I would also like to thank all of the members of
the Board of Directors of the Bermuda Economic D evelopment Corporation for advancing the work of the BEDC, especially the f ormer Chair, MP Jamahl Si mmons, the current Chair, Mr. Neville Grant, and Dep uty Chair, Mr. Chris Maybury.
That concludes my presentation, Mr. Chai rman, on the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation.

BERMUDA TOURISM AUTHORITY
Hon. E. David Burt: I will now turn my attention to
what is found on page C -17 and is a $21.5 million
grant to the Bermuda Tourism Authority.
Mr. Chairman, I hope that the Shadow Mini ster, the former Premier, is listening and tuned in. I
would hate for him to miss anything that I am going to
cover in this brief.
Mr. Chairman, tourism remains a significant
pillar of the economy. The decline in tourism as a r esult of the pandemic was traumatic. It was enormously
destructive and distressing for many Bermudians. The devastating impact remains across our community
even a full year later. It was in the face of these challenges that this Government took a fight -back approach to reopening the economy safely and responsibility last July becoming the global standard for r eturning to touri sm successfully during a pandemic.
Whilst the recovery has been slow and gradual, thanks to the hard work and sacrifice of this community Bermuda’s tourism comeback is already happening faster and more effectively than its compet itors. The grant allocation of $21.5 million for the Ber-muda Tourism Authority with careful oversight from the Cabinet Office will provide the aid required for the
Island’s travel sector recovery.


Bermuda House of Assembly At the start of this calendar year, the Bermuda
tourism comeback was stalled. Havin g gotten underway in the summer and fall of 2020 the recovery of
tourism regressed simultaneously with the winter
surge of COVID -19 in Bermuda’s key markets. The
slow and steady progress of last year was not by accident. It was through careful pandemic management
and agile strategic planning in tourism. Lessons were
learned by the Bermuda Tourism Authority and the
things that worked well will be repeated and built upon
in 2021.
Hopefully the April 1st start to the gover nment’s fiscal year is also around t he time when access to vaccinations is ramping up around the world,
and the pent -up demand for travel is due to unfurl.
Mr. Chairman, in this next section I will delve
into Bermuda’s Tourism Authority’s plan for investing
$21.5 million that we are asking be appropriated from
this House to drive the recovery of our precious tourism industry for the purpose of rebuilding our economy and for recreating jobs.
For the 2021 calendar year, the BTA is for ecasting total income of $28.7 million, most of which is supplied from a government grant. The remaining
$7.2 million is forecast to come from fees paid by vis itors whether the y come to the Island via cruise or stay
in our hotels and vacation rentals. Accurately estima ting income is a tremendous challenge because the
flow of visitors into the Island over the last months and probably the next 12 will be wholly unpredictable. As
in the previous year, the BTA will regularly review all expenditures and take any necessary action in light of
any new information affecting income streams.
As is always the case, the vast majority of
BTA funds is spent on selling and marketing the destination and, when adjustments are necessary, funds
allocated for this purpose are the last to be impacted.
As a point of reference, the BTA income est imate at the start of 2020 was $38.7 million. In the end,
income fell about $14 million last year. In cruise travel alone the projected income figure was $7.3 million.
The year ended at zero. Money spent for advertising
remained largely untouche d. Although the BTA did not
know by how much, by late March last year it could predict unprecedented injury due to the overall industry and its income derived from visitor spending.
At the beginning of April 2020 the Bermuda
Tourism Authority took decisiv e and precautionary
measures. Almost immediately, the organisation i mplemented reduction in salary of up to 40 per cent and
the resulting reduction of work hours. Senior exec utives did not reduce their time on the job, but their
earnings were cut as well. All agencies working with
the Bermuda Tourism Authority had to agree to an
immediate 20 per cent reduction in their contracts if
they wanted to maintain the Islands’ business es. And
they all agreed.
Just one point of note, Mr. Chairman. I think it
is impor tant to note, and I will get clarification from the Bermuda Tourism Authority, they submitted questions.
Unfortunately, I do not believe that all executives did
take the pay cut, but I am sure that is a question that
will probably raised by the Opposition when we get to
questions and answers.
In addition to reduced salaries and work
hours, the following strategic cost saving measures
have either been implemented or are underway in an
effort to make a more efficient and nimble organis ation.
Pre-pandemic, there was a budgeted head
account for 55 roles, all roles that have been vacant
for over a year have now been defunded and elim inated. Where there are needs to fill vacancies they
represent replacement hires. Roles that have no place
in current or future rec overy are currently being ident ified and being transitioned. Roles that have naturally
fallen away due to attrition have not been replaced.
Instead, the BTA has looked at employees who have
the natural capacity to take on more and have consolidated those r oles creating further headcount reductions and organisational efficiencies.
The organisational headcount currently sits at
38, not including replacement vacancies of which
90 per cent are Bermudian employees. There is a
strategic right -sizing exercise currently underway that
will see the numbers shift further . In the coming
months, as more key positions are filled, and some
jobs are merged, the organisation will finalise its right
sizing for the tourism recovery.
The retooling must be precise and targeted
because every dollar will count, and the global tourism marketplace will be aggressively competitive as we all
vie for the same visitor spend.
As of March 18, the BTA projects 66 per cent
of the country’s pre- COVID -19 hotel inventory will
have reopened. F airmont Southampton, the Island’s
largest hotel, has been closed for renovations and that
property makes up most of the gap in lost rooms. That
said, Bermuda is poised to gain competitively in new
hotel inventory through the government’s fiscal year.
In addition to rooms that the Island did not
have before the pandemic, the spectacular St. Regis Resort in St. George ’s is due to open on May 22,
2021, with 121 hotel rooms and suites, a golf course,
and a spa. Not far behind is the refurbished housing
product on Wharf South Shore is scheduled to open
as a new hotel property in the second half of this year
bringing an additional 50 to 70 hotel rooms into play to participate in the tourism recovery. The Bermudiana
Beach Resort will be a Hilton Tapestry . This giv es the
Island a balanced product offering of new high- end
hotel inventory as well as options at a mid-price tier.
All in, these 190 rooms equate to new jobs for
our community including career pathways in the cas ino for the first time. St. Regis plans to o pen a casino
after completing its qualification process with the
Bermuda Gaming Commission. Long before those
hotel rooms are opened, the BTA has been busy at
806 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly work filling them. As mentioned previously, there have
been learnings from last fall that reveale d where the
pivot points of opportunity are and how to leverage
them successfully with prudent investment for the
coming year.
The first pivot point is the trend towards the
higher income earning visitor. In the lead- up to Bermuda’s commercial air corridors reopening to regular traffic, the Bermuda Tourism Authority believes that
high net worth travellers will be the first to seek leisure
trips once it is deemed safe to do so. The jet -setters,
as the audience is known in the National Tourism Plan, put Berm uda right at the top of their consider ation list.
Exit survey data from July through December
2020 clearly shows a larger than normal share of air visitors with annual household income above
$250,000 a year, which, on its face is not unexpected.
However, the surprise was travellers with an income
above $500,000 per year going from 7.5 per cent of
total leisure visitors to 14 per cent.
With fewer airlines seats flying in to Bermuda
and fewer hotel rooms available in 2021, high volume
tourism will be slow to return. And while Bermuda is
forced into a situation of lower visitor arrivals, it has
tremendous opportunity to attract consumers who will
spend more per person and stay longer. Between
Rosewood Bermuda, The Loren, Azura and the soon
opening St. Regis an d other luxury properties around
the Island, Bermuda has the hotel inventory to satisfy
the expectations of this audience.
The BTA sales and marketing team has now
recalibrated 2021 marketing activities to mine and
convert these customers. The experience team is pi voting with luxury experience development at the same
time so when these travellers arrive on Island they will
find the kind of activity worthy of them opening their
wallets.
Since the National Tourism Plan was rolled
out in 2018, the BTA has f ocused the overall majority
of its marketing efforts on four target market customer
segments —active families, experienced enthusiasts,
jetsetters and a dventure seekers. Since the start of
the recovery last summer, the BTA refined their a pproach and became hyperfocused on j etsetters and
adventure seekers because, as was predicted and
proved to be true, those were the consumers ready to
get back to travel soonest.
As we head into the spring, the marketing
team will be utilising its government grant to remain
concentrated on j etsetters and a dventure seekers.
However, it is adding a new audience that did not appear in the National Tourism Plan. Data and travel
sentiment surveys point to a high likelihood of multi -
generational family travel. This is a new area of focus
for Bermuda. It is at least partly made up of a travel segment called Golden Boomers. This is in the N ational Tourism Plan but was previously de-emphasised as a focus area. Now it is back, but as an
audience subset of multi -generational families.
Over the past year, through the family -
separating pandemic, grandparents have not been
able to spend much time with their grandchildren. And now they are among the first to be vaccinated, with
the all -clear from scientists that it is safe to be with
their grandchildren again. As spring and summer approach and the children are out of school, in many cases virtual school, a surge in multi -generational
travel is foreseeable. The children, their parents and
their parents’ parents all on holiday together, all desperately want to be someplace other than home, because that is exactly where they have been every day
for the past year. Bermuda provides the perfect hol iday to support this audience due to our proximity to top markets and the portfolio of properties that can serve this audience with expanded rooms and villas.
During the pandemic commercial airlines were
forced to become very nimble in their scheduled planning in order to ensure that their losses were minimised, making changes in schedules sometimes wit hin 30 days. This trend continues into 2021 as travel
demand out of our major source markets of the United
States, Canada and the UK remain unstable. While it
is difficult to predict what Bermuda’s full year of air
capacity will look like, it is likely that the number of
seats flying to Bermuda will be about half of what it
was in 2019.
Airlines remain eager to find routes that will be
successful for them in this climate. So Bermuda has the opportunity to secure all of its pre- COVID -19
scheduled service as soon as that travel demand r eturns. As you know, this year it is expected that Ber-muda will once again have service from all of its usual
gateway cities with the addition of more frequent service from Charlotte, and London’s service from Heathrow, both of which facilitate better connections
for visitors.
The marketing resources for both of these
routes is planned for the upcoming budget year, i ncluding $900,000 in the United Kingdom where the
BTA is engaging a new agency partner to assist Bermuda in creating awareness there and across Europe.
Meanwhile, the BTA continues to work closely with its partners at the Bermuda Airport Authority and the Mi nistry of Transport to maximise air service opportunities
for Bermuda.
Many cruise lines have cancelled the ir
scheduled calls through the end of May 2021. The CDC requires cruise lines and ports to submit COVID -
19 health plans before allowing them to sail from US
ports and almost all Bermuda’s calls come from US
ports. To date, none of the US ports serving Berm uda
have completed this process.
When cruise calls return to Bermuda, it is expected that most cruise lines will put a cap on passenger capacity of about 50 per cent in order to mit igate risk. The BTA continues to work with its partners


Bermuda House of Assembly at the Ministry of Transport to plan for the safe return
of cruise visitors to our shores. The Ministry of
Transport is already in talks with cruise partners about
innovative restart plans that the BTA supports. When
cruise visitors return, the goal will be to ensure they have experiences and activities to stimulate spending
on Island, there are many entrepreneurs in the tourism chain that rely on this segment of visitor for their livelihoods.
The BTA’s marketing plan will include focus
on the East Coast with emphasis on the tri-state area
by increasing awareness through digital campaigns,
impactful public relations outreach and promotions
with messaging directed towards these audiences.
The BTA are working closely with our agencies in de-fining our campaigns to speak to our t argets and to
schedule our efforts as travel barriers begin to open up. Since the planning cycle for our season is now, we
must be ready with “open for business” messaging so
we do not lose our momentum as we approach summer. The Government understands the need for well -
suited safety protocols that strike the right balance of
a reopened tourism economy and a safe community.
Public Relations will continue to play an i mportant role in magnifying our destination by working with high -profile publications and media outlets to
support all of our sales and marketing efforts. This will
include defining a strategic Influencer Programme to
assist the BTA in reaching niche audiences that are
aligned with [our] marketing campaigns. All social
channels will be fully acti vated with key messaging
and imagery to also drive awareness of the destin ation, including the I sland’s track record on safety.
Safe Travels is a programme created during
the pandemic by the World Travel & Tourism Council
[WTTC] to allow travellers to recognise governments, destinations, and companies around the world who
have adopted the Safe Travels’ health and hygiene
global standardised protocols so consumers can experience safe travels. These protocols take into account WHO and CDC guidelines which are the standard for COVID -19 safety worldwide. As Bermuda
earned the WTTC Safe Travels Stamp as a destination on August 19
th last year, it also allowed the Bermuda Tourism Authority to act as ambassadors for
WTTC to roll the stamp programme to local tourism
businesses, directly and indirectly. To date the BTA
has successfully approved 51 businesses who
demonstrate their compliance with the WTTC global
protocols.
Due to the volume of international visitors
Bermuda attracts and the global reach in our marketing efforts, aligning the destination with an internationally recognised and globally trusted organisation was prudent. Bermuda is well positioned to offer confidence in this area as we have been a model destin ation in overall COVID -19 management. This would be
one of the ways the Island has positioned itself to r eceive more visitors and restore confidence in travel. In the upcoming budget year, resources will
be dedicated to a local campaign with the aim of
meet ing critical mass of tourism businesses to cont inue to reassure visitors that Bermuda is safer. By using a model, already approved by businesses, the BTA
will market this campaign via the use of video and
photo assets for display in the various local channels
to create awareness and demand.
Persons worldwide continue to seek destin ations that make them feel confident to travel. Bermuda
is well positioned to meet this desire. This stamp and its commitment throughout the industry will offer Bermuda the opportunity to safely bring back the tourism
industr y and allow our residents to get back to work.
On the job front, the BTA piloted a Learn to
Earn (Waiter Server) Programme which launched in
January last year; a direct response to an industry
needs assessment conducted by Pricewaterhous eCoopers. This ini tiative was enthusiastically supported
by six industry restaurant partners: the Yellowfin Group, Take Five, Harbourside Holdings, Island Res-taurant Group, Harry’s and Huckleberry’s restaurants
in partnership with the Bermuda College, the Tomasz
Tabor Memor ial, the Department of Workforce Development and the Bermuda Tourism Authority.
The idea behind the two- cohort programme
was to find dynamic, energetic individuals who had a genuine interest in a career in hospitality, to enter a
programme which would all ow them a robust training
framework. This programme concept has been a cat alyst for other Learn to Earn training opportunities to be launched by the D epartment of Workforce Develo pment. With an allocation from the BTA grant, there will
continue to be oppor tunities to refine and offer future
workforce readiness initiatives, including working with new hotel product and the first -ever casino expected
to open during this year.
Budget allocated to sales and marketing for
this upcoming year will include a full au dit and revamp
of www.GoToBermuda.com
, bringing to the forefront
new imagery, video and storytelling to enhance the
Island’s experiences and hotel product. The user experience will be streamlined so we can drive m ore
conversions to our hotels and highlight our destin ation.
As Bermuda continues to prove successful
with its CDC travel risk ratings, we anticipate group business to return with the properties that can accommodate this travel segment. Group Sales are
long-lead opportunities, and we are seeing an uptick
of new and repeat business in the third and fourth quarters, and continued growth primarily in 2022/23.
On the social side of group sales, travel data
supports focusing on weddings, honeymoons, and
babymoons , all of which have been either postponed
or previously cancelled due to the pandemic. The BTA
sees demand in these categories and are preparing to
launch our “I DO ISLAND” campaign which reflects all
the unique bespoke events in Bermuda. The Mini s808 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly tries of Health and National Security are working with
the BTA to find the right balance of protocols to allow
Bermuda to capitalise on this opportunity.
In the meantime, the marketing team in leisure sales is investing now in creating campaigns and promotions w ith top tier tour operators, OTAs and
wholesalers through educational webinars and FAMS,
which are familiarisation trips, to further entice travel
to our destination. This includes attending trade
shows both in person and virtually to keep Bermuda
on top of the mind to increase awareness of our dest ination.
Among the lessons learned by the BTA from
last fall, was sport is probably the biggest. The world’s sporting circuits, particularly professional organis ations, were desperate to get back onto their playi ng
fields in the safest manner possible. Bermuda provi ded that safe haven, putting sports tourism right at the
forefront of Bermuda’s tourism recovery.
The PGA TOUR decided the Bermuda Championship at Port Royal Golf course last October was
the proper venue for its first golf tour event with live
spectators since the onset of the pandemic. The funds
preserved by the BTA, despite severe budget injury,
gave the destination an ideal platform for telling the
world the Island was open for business.
In the meanti me, professional sports organi sers of sailing’s Bermuda Gold Cup and World Match Racing Tour and rugby’s World Tens Series showed
similar confidence in Bermuda for their events, holding
them in a locale where they were satisfied their at hletes and their fans would be safe from the pandemic.
End of year data shows there were 784 air
visitors who marked themselves down as visiting
Bermuda for sports in October 2020. That is almost a
30 per cent increase over the prior October —an incredible feat considering t he depressed nature of
travel around the world at that time.
Now the effort is to build on this momentum in
2021 investing in the return of key sporting events and
the recruitment of new sports tourism business. On
the recruitment front, the Cabinet Office has convened
a sports task force to simplify the process for sports
organisers seeking the necessary approvals from the
Ministries of Health and National Security. This is particularly important for the non- professional sporting
events which often do not have the resources for an
elaborately detailed operational plan, but seek the
same blanket of health safety around their events.
In 2021 Bermuda will host the World Triathlon
Sprint & Relay Championships and the Bermuda
Championship in the upcoming budget year. New
events are in the cards for the BTA as well, particula rly in sailing: IOD Worlds in September, International
505 World Championship in October and Clipper
Round the World Race in December.
SailGP will be a pinnacle of the sailing events.
At aroun d the time of the last fall’s sporting events, the
BTA was approached about replacing San Francisco as the venue for the start of the professional sailing
league’s second season. Like the Bermuda Championship in October, the sailing race in Bermuda will be
broadcast around the world on April 24
th and 25th of
this year. The event requires a $750,000 investment
spread over two budget years and the anticipated r eturn on investment forecast for the country is $8 mi llion, but this is a moving target based on tra vel prot ocols, gathering size limits and other pandemic -related
factors.
There are SailGP key community engagement
components as well, which will include our community
sailing clubs, our young people and our heritage —
particularly as it relates to the country’s rich history of Black sailors. This community engagement does not
necessarily show up in the bottom -line number, but it
is no less important. And, Mr. Chairman, I must say that the BTA has been urged to make sure that this is
a part of this event.
We anticipate that the hosting a race of these
world -class, high -speed catamarans will be a draw for
attracting superyachts. This sector of tourism showed
signs of life even in a majorly depressed 2020. Forty -
six superyachts arrived on the Island during the year,
ushering in the country’s first superyacht charter guests —a benefit of January’s legislation and a tangible area of growth for Bermuda going forward as travellers fly to the Island to claim a vacation experience
on board a luxury yacht. Since the start of this year,
the BTA has been working to partner with another
superyacht destination to [amplify] our collective marketing reach. It is an innovative pivot that will result in
both partners spending less but getting more exposure. It is an idea purpose- built for the ingenuity
needed in this tourism recovery. Investment in this partnership will be part of the upcoming budget year
with details revealed by the BTA later this month.
The longer stay was another key data point
from the past year. On average l ast year, leisure vis itors stayed three days longer than they did in 2019 —
about eight days as opposed to five. Meantime, an
Immigration policy pivot, which the BTA and the Bermuda Business Development Agency dubbed the Work from Bermuda Certificate, turned out to be a
green shoot for tourism. Leading on the marketing of the policy to attract digital nomads, the BTA invested about $300,000 and saw a media value return of
about $3 million, not to mention the hundreds of new
residents who have arrived on our s hores as a result.
In the upcoming budget year, the BTA has its
sights set on targeting this audience to spend money in the tourism economy to help fuel the recovery. Al though these certificate holders are residents their
spending behaviours will mirror vi sitors in a lot of
ways. They are also properly positioned to inspire the
visits of friends and family , and an effort to seize that
opportunity is also underway, especially as travel sentiment continues to rise.


Bermuda House of Assembly As the world moved through various areas of
restrictions due to the pandemic, golf emerged as one
of the most popular, often- played sports. At the same
time, BTA digital advert ising that was golf -focused,
routinely was the best performing among all ad types. With more golf courses per square mile th an anyplace
in the world, a new golf course due to open this spring
in St. George’s, and home to the PGA Tour Bermuda
Championship, Bermuda is well positioned to get the
attention of golf travellers.
In 2021, new budget investment will go into
pairing room nights and rounds of golf and making
them easily bookable online. Additionally, funds are
being allocated for the first -ever American Junior Golf
Association event in December and the first -ever
Bermuda Black Golf Summit and Championship to
take place imm ediately after the Bermuda Championship. The latter will be an event open to everyone who cares about diversity in sports and the continuation of
a key partnership between PGA Magazine and the
Bermuda Tourism Authority.
While the BTA will need to invest i n this start -
up event, it is likely that the investment needed will be
relatively small because a number of companies and
international brands say they want to associate themselves with the event by becoming a sponsor.
Mr. Chairman, the pivot strategy to r ecover
Bermuda’s tourism industry is a very detailed endea vour. However, I will summarise it for the benefit of the
listening audience and Honourable Members in these
five strategic priorities from the Bermuda Tourism A uthority:
1. Continue targeted recovery plan for Bermuda’s tourism industry to inject the local economy
with outside visitor spending.
2. Focus on target visitors more likely to return
to traveling first ( adventure seekers, jetsetters, multigenerational families), and monitor for reintroduct ion
of other segments.
3. Make Bermuda easier to experience by
stimulating and supporting continued innovations
post-crisis.
4. Re- engage stakeholders via the National
Tourism Plan to rebuild and reimagine business services safely and responsibly for the benefit of Berm uda’s visitors and community alike.
5. Refine teams and groups strategies. Focus
on sports and social groups in the short term while
keeping focus on booking corporate business into
2022.
Mr. Chairman, it is on these five areas that the
bulk of the government grant which the Bermuda
Tourism Authority is receiving from this Honourable
House, should this budget be approved, of $21.5 mi llion will be used.
Mr. Chairman, this grant was submitted by the
Bermuda Tourism Authority and I would like to thank
the team of the Bermuda Tourism Authority for their
stellar work over the past year. But I would also like to say, Mr. Chairman, that I also thank Members of this
Honourable House who have recently joined the Bermuda Tourism Authority Board in additi on, Mr. Chai rman, are two, the entire Board for their work and ef-forts during this year.
Hold on one second, if you would, Mr. Chai rman.

Go right ahead, Mr. Premier.
For the listening audience we are continuing
in the Committee of Supply f or the further consider ation of the Estimates of [Revenue and Expenditure] for
the year 2021/22.

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I will
briefly, if I may, stay ing on the same page of C -17,
touch on the third major grant from the Cabinet Offic e
budget, dealing on matters of economic development,
and that is the grant to the Bermuda Business Development Agency.

BERMUDA BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Chairman, the 2021/22
budget estimate for the Bermuda Business Development Agency is $3.6 million, which is a decrease of
$600,000 from last year’s grant. The BDA is a pub-lic/private partnership supported by the Cabinet O ffice. The BDA’s primary purpose is to facilitate active
engagement between the government and the private
sector to protect, sustain and grow Bermuda’s economy.
The BDA’s primary mission is to position
Bermuda as a preferred international financial centre. The BDA carries out its mandate in collaboration with
the government and private sector with the object ive
to sustain and grow Bermuda’s economy. In 2020 the BDA had a direct role in assisting 20 companies
across key industries incorporate in Bermuda. The BDA was instrumental in the Work from Bermuda Initiative and directly supported 166 applications.
The BDA worked with stakeholders in the
Cabinet Office to progress 11 pieces of legislation and policies to underpin and advance growth of existing
and new sectors. The BDA hosted 13 working groups with industry representatives to gather input on key
focus ar eas and conducted two surveys with stak eholders to gather market intelligence and feedback in
relation to the impact of COVID -19.
Mr. Chairman, the BDA continued to actively
and aggressively promote Bermuda’s reputation as a premier jurisdiction to potential new clients and markets across multiple industries. The BDA created and
marketed two digital campaigns, Bermuda Central and
the Work from Bermuda Certificate, generating a total
of 3.9 million impressions, 2,142 engagements, and
131,000 video plays.
Mr. Chairman, the refreshed BDA website i nvited more than 22,000 visitors from key target mar810 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly kets and the BDA also issued 22 press releases on
key initiatives with media coverage and titles such as
Reuters , The Wall Street Journal , The Times , NBCLX
and Yahoo! Finance.
Mr. Chairman, the BDA produced 15 webinars
in partnership with a globally recognised tech partner
and produced BDA’s own virtual three- day conference
Tech Week, with a total of 3,272 registrations from 59
countries. Additionally, the BDA spo nsored and attended nine in- person conferences prior to COVID -19
and eight virtual conferences.
In 2021/22, the BDA will continue to promote,
strengthen and protect Bermuda’s economic platform
and its reputation as a world- class jurisdiction, inclu ding t he response to and recovery from COVID -19,
sustain and expand existing business sectors and
identify new growth sectors and facilitate stakeholder
engagement.
The BDA will continue to pursue opportunities
in key industries aligned with Berm uda’s value prop osition and anticipated future growth potential. These are risk insurance solutions, high net worth services,
which are private clients and family offices, asset
management, funds ILS and private equity, technol ogy, including financial insurance technolog y, and i nfrastructure, including renewable energy, the blue economy, hotel investment, subsea cables and space satellites.
Mr. Chairman, with the call for action on cl imate change growing even louder and the opportunities surrounding green economic growt h, the BDA is
working to establish and promote the jurisdiction as
the world’s climate risk finance capital building on its natural catastrophe risk expertise.
The opportunity to further showcase Berm uda’s commitment to environmental and sustainability
as well as Bermuda’s long history in this space, star ting from 1620, provides an opportunity to once again
confirm Bermuda as the natural choice to lead the
world in this key and growing area.
Mr. Chairman, other initiatives currently in
place include:
• Economic Investment Certificate and Res idential Certificate Policy;
• work with the Ministry of Labour to market the
new policy and utilise the BDA’s concierge
service;
• work from Bermuda’s certificate, work with
government and the BTA;
• wealth management identified as areas of
growth from last year’s budget;
• the BDA is supporting amendments to the
Family Office Act which naturally feeds into
the climate focus; International Business
Week 2021;
• working with Association of Bermuda Interna-tional Companies [ABI C], the Association of
Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers [ABIR],
Bermuda International Long Term Reinsurers and Insurers [BILTIR] to promote scholarships
and career opportunities available to young
people in Bermuda in the international bus iness space
• Asia, continuing to work with the Government
on making amendments to legislation that would support more business from Singapore and Hong Kong, specifically;
• Bloomberg TV and radio recently secured and
completed interviews with the Premier to talk
about the Berm uda’s safety around COVID -19
and a focus on the FinTech industry as well
as other significant areas that are critical to
Bermuda’s economic platform;
• Subsea cables continue to work with the Mi nistry of Home Affairs and the Regulatory A uthority are marketing Bermuda as a strategic
landing site for transit -cable networks; and
• Communication and marketing campaigns
continue to provide constant resources and j urisdictional updates for an international and
domestic audience.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes my presentation
on Head 9, with the conclusion of the Bermuda Bus iness Development [Agency]. I will now move on to the
next Head in numerical order, which is Head 43. I am
not going to pick favourites of any departments, but it
is known, Mr. Chairman, this is my f avourite.
And it is the Department of Information and
Digital Technology, as, of course, I am an IT nerd at
heart.

HEAD 43 — DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Chairman, it gives me great
pleasure to present the budget for Head 43, the D epartm ent of Information and Digital Technologies,
found on pages B -61 through B -64 of the Budget
Book.

Mission
Hon. E. David Burt: The Mission of the department is
to provide Information and Digital services that streamline processes to facilitate the Government’s
strategic business objectives.
Mr. Chairman, the d epartment seeks to fulfil
its mandate by securing and maintaining its IT infr astructure that hosts applications that are used within
government departments. IDT provides Governance
and oversight to monitor and control the use of key
systems. IDT will also provide analysis tools which will
allow for data- driven decision- making. The depar tment delivers and manages IT and Telecom services
used by Government departments and the department
will deliver an ePayment solution for the whole of government, and not just individual government depar tments, as well as a paperless solution for select go vernment business processes.


Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Chairman, the Digital Electronic I dentific ation (eID) methodology and plan is sti ll on track to be
delivered by mid- 2021. IDT will identify, as appropr iate, at least 20 per cent of current IT applications and
systems which qualify for Cloud Services. IDT will also
deliver automated self -service systems, and conduct
training on IT systems to improve effectiveness and
productivity. IDT will [deliver] and implement an IT
Strategic Plan, the development of which is in pr ogress. IDT in conjunction with Management Consul ting Services [ MCS ] will be conducting departmental
assessments to determ ine process improvement and
what can and should be automated. Full digitisation
and automation of the Bermuda Government is at the
heart of this initiative.

Expenditure Overview

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Chairman, the total current
expenditure of the Department of Information and Di gital Technologies, found on page B -61, is estimated to
be $7,932,000. This is an increase of $918,000, or
13 per cent over the 2020/21 fiscal year. It is very i mportant to note, Mr. Chairman, this was one of the few
departments had an overall increase. Included in this
funding increase are the transfers and funding of IT
positions within other government departments out-side of IDT known as Shadow IT.
Shadow IT positions are those IT -related
posts that operate in, and give techn ical support to,
government departments and do not fall under the
direct remit of IDT. This transfer was done to centra lise IT resources that were not fully utilised in various
government departments, which will in turn enable
IDT to enhance its IT service capabilities and to speed
the progression of the digitisation of government.
Long story short, Mr. Chairman, some of
these resources were not being used full time inside their department s and some of these posts have not
been filled. The view was the government never cr eates additional posts without getting rid of one. The
posts were transferred into IDT to fund these posts so
that IDT can have more work to speed up the digitis ation of the government of Bermuda.
Mr. Chairman, the Subjective Analysis of Current Account Estimates of the Department of Infor-mation and Digital Technologies is found on page B -
62. The focus will be on the four line items with the
greatest absolute change. Salaries, line item one, i ncreased by $640,000 or 15 per cent, due primaril y to
filling of eight vacant posts, which was approved by
Cabinet in 2020. Additionally, four other vacant and funded posts will be filled. All of these positions are
critical to the long- term operational success of the department, as well as to the government’s information
and digital strategies. They are also vital to the digit isation of our systems, for example, a paperless go vernment. Mr. Chairman, the most pressing recruitment
is that of the Deputy Chief Information Officer. I am happy to report that recruitment for this post has already begun in earnest. This post will primarily be f ocused on IDT operations as well as assisting with str ategic initiatives in the department.
Some of the other positions to be filled i nclude:
• Two Assistant Network Engineers: One will
focus on Unified Communications, the tel ephone system (which I will get to a little bit la ter) and one will focus on network operations. These two posts will significantly reduce the risk of a single point of failure for the gover nment -wide sy stem.
• IT Project Manager: Due to the multitude of IT
projects IDT is working on, this post will bring
project management and organisation to a
very demanding area within IDT.
• Operations Analyst: This post is critical for the
provision of technical support throughout go vernment and will help reduce the amount of
time for IT support to departments.
• Portals Administrator: We are upgrading our website in order to achieve the digitisation of our systems and this additional resource will
provide much needed support to the Portals
team.
• Business Analyst: This post will be heavily i nvolved in analysing IT projects and providing documentation for project scope and project
timeframes. This will enable IDT to better manage and deliver on its wide- ranging IT
projects in the future.
• Three additional Analysts: One for Business
Process; one as a Service Analyst and one as
a Support Analyst. All of these posts are crit ical to the daily operational effectiveness of the
department. The funding and filling of these
posts will e nhance services to other depar tments, while reducing service times and more
importantly reducing operational risks.
And Mr. Chairman, before I move on, it is just
important to note that I want to bear repeating so that Members of the listening public can understand and
also Honourable Members, that as we recognise how
vital IT is to the Government’s success, this Gover nment has ensured that we funded the priorities, and IT
is certainly a priority. It is a department that especially
over this last year has gone above and beyond and
they have been short -staffed for a long time, but now
they are coming up to strength so that they can focus
on not just Band- Aids, but also developing gover nment services in a better way.
Mr. Chairman, the budget for Communic ations , line item five, increased by $308,000 or 23 per
cent. This increase is mainly attributed to the transfer
of $300,000 from Works and Engineering for IDT to
control and pay for the Bermuda Government’s tel e812 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly phone bills. In order to realign our communication systems with the latest technology, such as the Cisco
Unified Communications System, it was deemed essential to transfer the Voice Services (the telephone
system) and support from Works and Engineering to IDT. So, historically, the phone system, Mr. Chair man,
was always maintained by Public Works.

Thank you for that clarity, Premier.

Hon. E. David Burt: No problem and thank you for
speaking as I took a sip so I could continue talking.
The services and support were actually transferred but, the payment of the Government phone bills
remained with Works and Engineering. Works and
Engineering were able to identify what the amount of
these Government phone bills would be and IDT was
able to budget for it in the 2021/22 budget.
Mr. Chairman, the budget for Rentals, line
item 7, decreased by $65,000 or 8 per cent, largely
due to a reduction in rental accommodations. Rent for office space has decreased owing to IDT vacating the
top floor at Channel House in St David’s and consol idating all staff to the larger lower floor.
Mr. Chairman, the budget for Insurance, line
item eight, increased by $37,000, or 8 per cent. This is
due in part to an increase in the IDT Software Maint enance Budget in order to pay for licensing for Sof tware Applications. Our ye arly software maintenance
licensing is classified under insurance.

CAPITAL EXPENDITURE

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Chairman, the Capital Acquisition for the Department of Information and Digital
Technologies is found on page C -10, and makes pr ovision for new capital expenditure in the amount of
$3,575,000, which is the same as the capital budget
for 2020/21. This funding will be used for the following
initiatives:
• upgrading to newer software licences;
• enhanced IT security systems for cybersecur ity;
• digitisa tion projects in the government strat egic reform initiative, such as a paperless gov-ernment and eID;
• the continued implementation a new tel ephone system;
• development of new digitised business sy stems; and
• increased server capacity to accommodate
growth.

MANPOWER
Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Chairman, the Manpower for
the Department of Digital and Information Technol ogies, shown on page B -62 increased from 43 full -time
equivalents in 2020/21 to 51 in 2021/22. Presently, there are eight newly funded vacant posit ions as approved by Cabinet and four funded vacant posts
which where recruitment is already underway. The
Department is working with the new Department of
Employee and Organisation Development (which the Honourable Minister for the Cabinet Office gave his
brief on earlier) to quickly fill these additional eight
positions to increase our operational capabilities and
to meet our mandate.
Mr. Chairman, the benefit of transferring the
Shadow IT posts will enable us to better manage go vernment’s IT resources and consequently, allow for
more progress in meeting the department’s goals. For
example, it will enable the department to decrease
service response times, improve technical support
where needed and provide additional resources where
there are risks of single points of failure by having additional persons in critical positions.
Benefits will also supplement project management resources and oversight with respect to go vernment -wide IT projects. Additional staff will also allow IDT to position themselves to support a future digital government.
Just [for the Members knowledge], Mr. Chai rman, when we are speaking about the matter of Shadow IT posts, I am just going to outline the Sha dow IT posts that have been transferred. The technical officers under the Ministr y have done a great job of
anticipating questions which may come from Members
of the Opposition.
The Shadow IT posts transferred are as follows:
• From Transport Control —Operations Support
Officer;
• From the Accountant General —Technical
Support Administrator;
• From the Ministry of Education—Health Desk
Administrator and Reli ef Assistant Technical
Support;
• From the Accountant General, again—Support Officer; and
• From Immigration— Business Systems Officer.

OUTPUT MEASURES
Hon. E. David Burt: The Department of Information
and Digital Technologies output measures are found
on page B -63 and B -64 of the Budget Book. Selected
indicators under each business unit are outlined as
follows:

Business Unit 53030: Device Support

Hon. E. David Burt: The Indicator was: Resolv e and
repair service tickets within Service Level Targets.
The target for the last fiscal year was 85 per cent of
tickets forecasted to be completed within Service Le vel Target. And the Actual Outcome for the previous year was the same, 85 per cent within Service Level


Bermuda House of Assembly Target. This was achieved primarily to recruitment in
this section, which has now been fully staffed. The
target for this upcoming fiscal year is 85 per cent, due
in part by ensuring the department remains fully staffed and the implementation of a modernised device management system and continued upgrades to
government desktop computers.

Business Unit 53035: Network Support

Hon. E. David Burt: Network monitoring, resolve,
repair and service tickets within Service Level Tar-gets—85 per cent was forecasted, 85 per cent was
achieved, and 85 per cent is the target for the follo wing year.

Business Unit 53040: Service Support

Hon. E. David Burt: Manage tickets and resolve account administration within Service Level Targets.
Again, Mr. Chairman, i n this current fiscal year 95 per
cent was forecasted, and 95 per cent was achieved
last year because of the staffing. And also, the target for the upcoming year is 95 per cent as well. And this
is going to be aided by the continued roll out of self -
servic e online tools, which I will touch on shortly.

Business Unit 53050: Digital Services

Hon. E. David Burt: The Indicator is: Consulting, advising, and public satisfaction with availability use and
selection of Government online services. The target
2020/21 was 80 per cent forecasted, the outcome that
was achieved in the previous fiscal year was 80 per
cent, and the target for 2021/22 has been increased to
85 per cent due in part to the addition of two business
process analysts and progress on paperless, eID and
ePayment initiatives, which have been ongoing.

Business Unit 53060: Business Systems Support

Hon. E. David Burt: The Indicator is: Conducting
monthly Service Level Review meetings with key de-partments. The target was 80 per cent, the achieved
this y ear was 80 per cent and the target for next year
is also 80 per cent.

Business Unit 53090: Security

Hon. E. David Burt: Disaster Recovery exercises
planned and executed; [and] the amount of servers checked on a monthly basis. The target was 50 per
cent, and the forecast is that we will meet the 50 per
cent. And the target, again, next year is for 50 per
cent, due in part to the focus of the Accountant Ge neral’s department in developing and implementing the E1 system. The target for 2021/22 is 50 per cent , as
all E1 upgrades have been completed and working along with the Accountant General, they will focus on
executing a full Disaster Recovery exercise.

PLANS FOR THE UPCOMING YEAR

Hon. E. David Burt: And I sincerely hope that Members opposite are listeni ng because there is some
very good information in this.
The Department of —

Just for one minute, Premier, for clar ity, where can that be found? Or are you reading from
your brief?

Hon. E. David Burt: I am reading from my brief. This
is in su pport, so I would go back to the original page,
but this is in support of the monies which have been
assessed. So, I am now talking about the plans for the
upcoming year for IDT for the money that we are as king to be assigned.
Can I proceed, Mr. Chairman?

You may proceed, Premier.

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much.
The Department of Information and Digital
Technologies will continue with the development of its
core services in the upcoming year by focusing on seven key strategic areas :
1. Infrastructure Stability and Secure network.
Work in this area will progress by enhancing the Go vernment departments’ network inter -building comm unications performance by continuing to double bandwidth requirements. This is anticipated to continue
over t he next two to three years. This will impact more
than 140 locations across the Island. IDT will also
work with the Ministry of National Security to develop
and implement their Cybersecurity Strategy as the
Bermuda Government enhances their online presence and looks to automate their processes. And, of
course, Mr. Chairman, you will note in the Capital line
items, which are on page C -10, an additional signif icant amount of money has been put and earmarked
for government cybersecurity upgrades, which is i mportant in this day and age.
As the Bermuda Government moves forward
with improving its presence online, this will enable us
to better interact with our citizens and allow busines ses to interact more efficiently with our government. It
will be paramount to have cybersecurity systems and
monitoring in place to identify vulnerabilities, and
threats to our IT systems to avoid any compromise.
Further, IDT will continue to roll out self -service sy stems which empower users to make their own chan ges, such as account password management, where users can reset their own passwords without contac ting IDT and having to wait for assistance.
There will be improvements to the overall
network security with a state- of-the-art artificial intelli814 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly gence [AI] security monitoring and management sy stem. The department will continue to roll out its new
state -of-the-art phone system, which I will discuss a
little bit more later, and this will replace the aged and current phone systems with the introduction of a full collaboration suit e of features that will enhance the
productivity for public officers to working in- office and
remotely.
And important thing to note, Mr. Chairman, is
that we cannot install a new phone system which is all going to be based on the upgraded network without making sure that we upgrade the network first. So,
you refer to the two- to three- year project of doubling
the bandwidth throughout all government departments
and the entire 140 different locations where gover nment offices are—140 different locations, Mr. Chairman. IDT will continue to focus on leveraging the use of local cloud services to facilitate the delivery of specific applications with far less technical complexity and
reduce the need to rely upon strained IDT engineering
resources; thereby allowing IDT to focus more on
business value and less on complex IT engineering
builds. This change in IDT strategy will facilitate eff iciencies in IT as we move towards digital automation.
Sending services to a secure platform will allow for
increased flexibility when accessing and retrieving
information.
2. Budget Efficiency Initiative: Work is continuing
on streamlining specific core IT services to achieve
greater economy of scale through ongoing renegoti ation of vendor service agreements, leveraging prev ious servic es or product agreements across Gover nment, and the use of more common government sy stems. Mr. Chairman, I am focusing on the seven key
priority areas —that was the second. I will now move
on to the third.

One minute, Premier. I think, for the
listening audience and for Honourable Members, in
one minute, Honourable Member Scott Pearman of
constituency 22 will become the Chair.

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If I
may say, you have done a stellar job in your time in
the Chair. Mov ing on to the third item:
3. IT Governance: An IT Governance Committee
has been formed. This Committee will develop pol icies which will result in IDT overseeing all IT projects and acquisitions. This will ensure that IT purchases
and the business needs are pr operly aligned; thereby
creating greater efficiencies within Government and strengthening Government’s return on investment, as well as ensuring the proper fit between technology
and business operations. This is important to ensure a
unified system of proc urement of IT products such as
the latest software, hardware and services. This will
enable us to have more common systems throughout
government thus avoiding fragmented and redundant
individual information systems. 4. ePayment: In moving towards a digitised
Government for the people of Bermuda, IDT is wor king closely with the Government Reform Committee,
and the Premier’s Office of FinTech, to identify ideal
candidates for automation. IDT will continue working in conjunction with Education, Youth & Sport and the
Accountant General’s cash desk on a standardised
ePayment building block.
This will create a digital payment tool box, so
the most appropriate application and gateway option
can be selected for the business function concerned. For example, if a person renews their passport, they
will be able to pay the fee online rather than physically
having to do so at the Department of Immigration. And
just by way of information, Mr. Chairman, the vision is
to replicate the functionality of the Cashier’s Office on
the ground floor of the Government’s Administration
Building online so that all payments which are currently done there can be done from anywhere in the I sland.
So, an individual can just go ahead and pay
their funds and monies wherever they are and they
can show proof of that payment to whatever gover nment department they are in without having to leave
the government department, go to the Cashier’s, then
bring a receipt and take it back. And I am pleased with
progress of that initiative that has been taking place
over the last year.

Thank you, MP Famous for the Chair.
I am going to take over the Chair . For the
benefit of the listening audience we are in the Co mmittee of Supply for further consideration of the Est imates of Revenue and Expenditure for the year
2021/22. And the Honourable Premier is now addressing the House in relation to Head 43 under Ca binet Office depar tments.
Please continue when you are ready, Premier.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and
good afternoon to you.
5. Electronic Identification (eID): In addition to
ePayments, IDT has focused on the delivery of a
unique identifier, or eID. An eID is essentially a singleuser identification to be used by the citizens of Ber-muda that is linked to various Government business
systems across numerous databases. The develo pment phase will be complete by the end of 2
nd quarter
of this financial year with a live demonstration of the
technology involving Government, local utilities, a l ocal bank and local law firms, and will be coordinated with the Bermuda Monetary Authority to ensure that
the approach satisfies regulatory requirements. As


Bermuda House of Assembly Bermuda moves towards more digital asset transactions, electronic identification and verification will be of
utmost importance for security purposes.
6. Telecom cost savings: A telecommunications
rationalisation exercise was performed and identified stand- alone telephone systems to migrate and consolidate onto the new IDT centralised phone system. As
IDT moves forward with plans introducing a new
phone system, it is anticipated that some of the ident ified fragmented budget will be used to fund this pr oject and i n doing so, will reduce the Government’s
overall telecom operational budget requirements.
There are several stand- alone telephone sy stems currently in government departments across the Island, and a report by the Telecommunications and Reconciliation Comm ittee in 2019 revealed the ineff iciencies with distributed telecommunication systems. By adding the current spend of the various distributed
telecom systems, the cost currently stands a —brace
yourself, Mr. Chairman—$8.8 million a year. By bringing systems together, we will reduce costs significantly by 65 per cent.
Yes, Mr. Chairman, you heard correctly —
almost $9 million a year in total telecom spend. But
with the efficiency changes that this Government is
making, that will be reduced to about $3 million p er
year, a savings of just under $6 million annually that
will be realised when the new systems are fully i mplemented.
The commentary that reports sit on the shelf,
which was made by the Opposition Leader last week
in his Budget Reply, is false. And this is proof positive
that this Government has tackled inefficiency in Go vernment and we will continue to do so. This new
phone system is also a step in the overall initiative to
digitise the Government. Some of the benefits are: the
ability to support phones remotely; users will be able
to work from home; and their phone number will be
available on their laptop or wherever they are, thus
reducing mobile phone charges; they will also have
the ability to make and receive business calls on their
laptops remotely, again, reducing mobile phone
charges.
Another feature is corporate directory lookup
from our phones, and all calls, Mr. Chairman, will be
end-to-end encrypted thus ensuring security within
government communications.
7. The seventh objective is the continuin g of
online services and the provision of online services to the people of Bermuda. The IDT Portal Team will continue to digitise and create electronic forms. The Portal Team did a fantastic job in converting paper forms to electronic -based forms on the go vernment website
during the COVID -19 pandemic.
The result of this conversion allowed for
quicker access to the documents that needed to be completed for government services. If members would
go to forms.gov.bm
they ca n see the new online services being powered by this team over the last year, whether it be the one- year Work from Bermuda Appl ication, online Liquor Licence and Re- licence Applic ations, or the form announced earlier today by the Honourable Attorney General for the Expungement of
Cannabis Convictions —this Government is making
progress on transforming government services and moving them online.
Mr. Chairman, in last year’s Budget Brief, it
was stated that in 2019/20 IDT underwent a compr ehensive review by Ma nagement Consulting Services
to ensure proper alignment [of resources] and structure that would meet Government’s ever -growing IT
demands. Thus, it is necessary to increase IDT’s staff
with the posts mentioned earlier in this brief. As Government looks to digitise and automate, it is necessary
for IDT to be in a position to support the future state.
IDT will move ahead with modernising of the depar tment as indicated in last year’s Budget Brief.
Mr. Chairman, the Government successfully
recruited a substant ive Chief Information Officer
(CIO), Mr. Carl Daron Raynor, who has been with IDT since October 2020. He is currently leading the r efinement of the Government’s Digital strategy. The
CIO—a change which was made by this Gover nment —regularly attends the Publ ic Sector Executive
meetings to assist in providing strategic advice to f uture planning at the senior executive level of the public service. Attendance at these meetings also allows the
CIO to gain insight into the various activities [and] de-partments throughout Government.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to take this opportunity to offer my thanks to the former acting CIO, Mr. Shawn Lightbourne, who acted in this capacity for over two years in the absence of a substantive CIO. I
hasten to also thank the entire Information and Digital
Technologies staff for the excellent service that they
continue to provide the Bermuda Government, especially during pandemic -induced challenges. They have
done a remarkable job over the last year serving our
community and I commen d them for their sterling efforts.
As you know, the 2020/21 fiscal year —or last
year—has been very challenging for everyone, including IDT. I would like t 14o further commend IDT for
their swift action regarding the issues around the patch crisis last year. And also, I would like to thank
IDT for establishing communications via Webex and
other technologies at the end of the last fiscal year
when the pandemic started to make sure that we could turn the Government into a completely remote
service. The reason t hat we are able to work remotely
today is due to their quick action in standing up the remote platforms that enable the Government to co ntinue to function.
Mr. Chairman, as I close this section, I think
that it is important to note that this government conti nues to make significant investments into technology,
and I have no doubt that these investments will yield significant productivity improvements in future years,
816 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly many of which I have outlined in my statement just
now.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This concl udes my
budget presentation for Head 43.
If I may, I would like to now move on to my
budget presentation for Head 51, which is the D epartment of Communications.

Thank you, Mr. Premier.

Hon. E. David Burt: I can hear you.
Okay, I will proc eed.

HEAD 51 —DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Chairman, it gives me great
pleasure to present the budget for Head 51, The D epartment of Communications, found on pages B -65 to
B-68 of the Budget Book.

MISSION

Hon. E. David Burt: The mission of the Department
of Communications is to be the trusted source of i nformation for Bermuda.

EXPENDITURE OVERVIEW

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Chairman, on page B -65
there is a General Summary for the department. The total current expenditure is estimated to be
$2,890,000 for 2021/22. This is an increase in the
proposed expenditure over the 2020/21 budget of $126,000, or 5 per cent.
The advertising and promotion budget has i ncreased by $204,000, or 100 per cent, to $409,000.
These funds have been transf erred from communic ations budgets across all government departments to
better centralise advertising spending to get larger
volume discounts enabling the Government to reach
more residents with its advertising. The budget alloc ation will support the increased promotion and adverti sing needed to assist ministries for major initiatives that
they are progressing; the COVID -19 vaccination pr ogramme; Public Education Reform; and the Gover nment’s economic stimulus projects.
The allocated funds will be distribute d
amongst traditional media such as radio and print and
other media vendors and will also cover the adverti sing costs [for new] and emerging media on social m edia and online platforms.
Repairs and maintenance has decreased by
$36,000, or 72 per cent, to $14,000. This is the result
of the removal of an older outdated photocopier and the introduction of a new model to create efficiencies
and savings. This reduction also represents a stream-lining of the purchase of office supplies.
Equipment (minor capital) has reduced by
$50,000, or 89 per cent, to $6,000. MANPOWER

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Chairman, I will start by
proudly saying that the Department of Communic ations has an all Bermudian staff, all of whom work tir elessly to achieve the department’s mission.
There has been a change in the number of
staff in the department. In the current fiscal year 2020/21 there were 26 full -time funded employee
posts. And in 2021/22, we anticipate that number to be increased by one employee.
Mr. Chairman, the sections wit hin the depar tment are comprised of the following:
• Administration;
• Communications;
• CITV;
• Creative Services; and
• Telephone Customer Service Represent atives, who are the Government telephone o perators. So that means, Mr. Chairman, when
you dial 295– 5151 you speak to a represent ative from the Department of Communications.
Mr. Chairman, there are currently three posts
to be filled within the department. These are two
communications officers within the Communications
section; and one customer service represent ative. I
can advise that the recruitment process for these pos itions has started and it is anticipated that the posts
will be filled in the coming months. This recruitment
will provide critical resources for the department to
achieve its mission, particularly during these demand-ing times.
Mr. Chairman, as we discuss staff I must
pause to highlight the functions of the various sections within the department.
They are as follows: the communications section.

Communications Section

Hon. E. David Burt: The dr ivers of media engag ement are the Communications team, who continue to
provide outstanding service.
Their aim is to ensure that the community is
well informed—

[Crosstalk; Feedback]

Hon. E. David Burt: —about Government services,
programmes, communicat ions—

Please continue, Premier.



Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you.
The Communications section’s aim is to ensure tha t the community is well informed about government services, programmes, policies and legisl ative initiatives.

[Crosstalk; Feedback]

Hon. E. David Burt: The Communications Officers
provide the scripts that help to shape the voice of
Government, which in turn, determines how the public sees and hears the information that is shared.
Communications Officers draft Ministers’
speeches, write and issue press releases and media statements. They create and implement communic ations plans, write ads and video scri pts and also pr ovide content for the Government’s social media plat-forms.
Within the Public Service, they make sure
Public Officers know and understand what is happen-ing around government. This provides employees with knowledge and understanding about the organisation
in which they work which further enhances employee engagement.
Currently the section comprises of one Assi stant Director of Communications, three Communic ations Officers and one Internal Communications O fficer.
Mr. Chairman, like other minist ries and d epartments, this year has been one of the most challenging and testing times for the Department of Communications.
I should note that the objective of communicating during a crisis is to get clear and accurate i nformation to as many people, as qu ickly as possible.
Very early in the COVID -19 crisis the Department of
Communications moved to quickly educate the public
about the virus.
Our Communications Officers took the lead in
spearheading the messaging for the coronavirus,
providing basic information about hand hygiene et iquette, business closures, and shelter -in-place guidelines. They did this by disseminating comprehensive
details about what COVID -19 is and how to stop the
spread.
Working closely with the Ministry of Health
and other key minist ries at the forefront of the pandemic, they developed guidance for industries so
they, in turn, could take action to help prevent the
spread of the virus in their respective establishments.
Mr. Chairman, before the pandemic, Berm udians were increasingly tu rning first to social media
and online news sources for their information. As one
would appreciate, this method of getting information
grew exponentially during the pandemic.
To satisfy the public’s very healthy appetite for
information about COVID -19 dur ing the pandemic,
under the umbrella of the Communications Section,
the department did the following: • Developed the gov.bm/coronavirus portal
page, which we know links from coronavirus
at www.gov.bm;
• Hosted daily press briefings, which, at the
height of the pandemic, of course, were daily;
• Introduced the regular use of sign language interpreters to ensure that the hearing i mpaired had access to vital life- saving information;
• Launched a COVID -19 focused WhatsApp
service for the public, which issues gover nment broadcasts and responds to queries. As
of this week, there are 7,500 subscribers to
the platform; and also
• the communications section hosted discussion forums on Zoom and Webex platforms to
engage with the public to ensure that the community had the latest information regar ding the coronavirus.

Mr. Chairman, what became evident during
this pandemic was that, as working remotely became the norm, web- based content became the safest and
preferred way to share and absorb information. Peo-ple, therefore, bec ame more comfortable using online
platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
YouTube, WhatsApp, Zoom and Webex to receive
and share their information.
Mr. Chairman, there is a need to manage the
constant flow of information and to uphold the public’s
expectations of the timely distribution of key gover nment information. Therefore, in the coming months the
aim is to add to the Communications team —and these
are the additional posts —a dedicated Social Media
Officer, as approved by the Cabinet, as the ever
changing and evolving environment of social media
dictates that we have the capability and support to
respond and engage in real -time with the community
via these platforms.

CITV

Hon. E. David Burt: I now ask that the House’s attention go to CITV.
Mr. Chairman, CITV comprises of a General
Manager, Programme Manager, Senior Producer, Television Editor and two full -time Videographers.
Mr. Chairman, over the course of 2020/21
production standards at CITV, in terms of quality, quantity and speed, continue to improve.
The quality of production has also increased
in the areas of graphics and motion graphics, with the station maintaining a professional on- air presence by
constantly updating its graphics to remain relevant
and current.
Over the course of 2020, the CITV team managed through unprecedented challenges due to the aforementioned pandemic. And it transformed the way
the CITV team operated, resulting in a greater wor k818 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly load in 2020 than in any other year of the station’s 14year operating history.
Mr. Cha irman, during these extraordinary
times, the CITV team managed to produce outstanding work, and the station successfully produced more than 100 videos, public service announcements, radio
spots, social media campaigns, and internal training
videos to support the Government’s COVID -19 messaging.
The team also identified and outfitted a special room for the Government to host its vitally i mportant press briefings to update the public on developments relating to the pandemic.
CITV produced and covered more than 100
COVID -19 related press conferences, which were carried live on CITV, Facebook, YouTube and the Go vernment portal. I would like to thank, also, Mr. Chai rman, at this time, the local members of the media who not only attended to ask questions on behalf of the
public, but also covered most of the press conferences on their radio or television stations.
During this reporting period CITV was also
able to easily adapt to transferring to Zoom present ations to put them on CITV.
This development gave viewers access to
many government information forums regarding COVID -19; the Ministry of Education’s remote learning
and school health protocols; the Government’s Vaccination Programme; and several other critical topics
related to Government’s services to mitigate the cor onavirus.

Creative Services

Hon. E. David Burt: Moving on to Creative Services,
Mr. Chairman. This team includes an Acting Assistant Director of Creative Services, a Senior Graphics D esigner, three Graphic Designers, two Photographers
and one Photo Librarian.
This small team works together to provide all
of the Government of Bermuda’s signage, posters and
fliers, social media graphics, print ads and photo graphy.
Mr. Chairman, during these unprecedented
times, Creative Services has proven to be a n invalu able resource to the Government of Bermuda.
Not only has Creative Services continued to
support all ministries and departments with their day -
to-day graphics and photography needs, the team
prioritised COVID -19 requests from key ministries at
the f orefront of the pandemic, including: Health, N ational Security and Education.
The team created all aspects of the graphic
design work that supported the Government’s goal of
ensuring the public was kept abreast during the pandemic and provided photography services and assisted in the official branding for all related campaigns.
Customer Service Representatives

Hon. E. David Burt: The Customer Service Repr esentatives team consists of one full -time employee
and one seconded Customer Service representative.
The Government’s Switchboard continues to
be one of the busiest switchboards in Bermuda, fiel ding hundreds of calls a day. Our Customer Service
Representatives have been on the frontline answering
questions, assisting and directing callers. We continue
to work with the Information and Digital Technologies
Department [IDT], to make the necessary technical
upgrades to the decade’s old switchboard, which, of
course, Mr. Chairman, will be moving to the aforementioned Unified Communications System, which was
mentioned under Head 43.

Administration

Hon. E. David Burt: And finally, Administration. This
section comprises the Director, Administrative Officer
and an Accounts Assistant. They are responsible for the administration and overall running of the depar tment.

CAPITAL EXPENDITURE

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Chairman, the capital expenditure for Communications listed on page C -10 of
the Budget Book is $423,000.
Mr. Chairman, $400,000 has been allocated
to update the government portal and build a new website. Th e current site, www.gov.bm, is built on a pla tform which will soon become obsolete and therefore, the building of a new portal will begin this year. Pr eliminary design work has already been completed to
ensure that the new portal has much easier access to
the information than the portal which was installed by
the former government in 2016.
Mr. Chairman, $23,000 is allocated for new
equipment to upgrade the existing television station
system.

OUTPUT MEASURES
Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Chairman, CITV continues to
be a valuable resource to the Government and people of Bermuda. With the increasing demand for the creation of social media content, CITV will seek to ensure
that social media videos are produced between 5 to
10 days, 80 per cent of the time.
The demand for CITV to provide live coverage
of Government events has increased significantly and
CITV will seek to ensure that Government press conferences and public meetings are successfully carried
live on CITV and streamed live to the social media
platforms w hich I mentioned previously, without an
interruption of the broadcast signal, 80 per cent of the
time.


Bermuda House of Assembly CITV will seek to gauge customer satisfaction
on the services provided by the station through the
use of electronic survey forms where customers will
have the opportunity to rate various aspects of the
services offered by the station.
Mr. Chairman, our Creative Services section
prides itself on speed and efficiency. Ensuring that the
Government has the visual materials needed to help
tell a compelling stor y to the public is critical. Creative
Services will seek to ensure that there is a 100 per
cent turnaround timeframe on the production of pho-tography and graphic design materials.
Overall, the department will work to assess
the service provided to customer s using a customer
service assessment tool with the goal to continually increase internal customer satisfaction year over year,
in order to ensure the Communications team meets
and exceeds client needs.

MAJOR POLICY CHANGES

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Chair man, because social
media and online web- based platforms play a signif icant role in how the Government communicates with the public, we will continue to use these platforms aggressively to get information to the people.
To aid Bermuda residents in better m onitoring
the possible exposure to the coronavirus [COVID -19],
the Government launched WeHealth Bermuda, which
was a new, free smartphone application that provides
anonymous COVID -19 exposure notifications.
The department will continue to assist with the
external promotion of the app and encourage the public to use this groundbreaking medium to help them
keep abreast of community developments with
COVID -19.

PLANS FOR THE UPCOMING YEAR

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Chairman, in addition to co ntinuing to support the Government in communicating
its priorities to the public, the department will work to
enhance how it communicates with online users, em-ploying analytics to analyse engagement to determine
what works for the target audience.
While the department incor porates traditional
news sources into its awareness matrix, social media
continues to drive how the department communicates
with the community.
In addition to sharing information via radio and
print ads, we will continue to place a premium on s ocial media postings; 30 -60 second videos; online pos tings; the Government’s Bermuda Tree Frog app; its
YouTube channel; the WhatsApp platform; and, of
course, the government’s portal.
Mr. Chairman, the Department of Communications will continue to provide guidance and support
to Ministers, Permanent Secretaries and heads of d e-partments as they work to deliver their message to the
public.
As there is an increased demand for emplo yee awareness and engagement, the role of internal
communications grows as employee- focused pr ogrammes are created and implemented. We are ai ming to reintroduce podcasting to the list of tools to
generate employee engagement.
Mr. Chairman, as a result of last year’s extraordinary events, the department is committed to
providing opportunities f or the team to fine- tune and
enhance their crisis communications skills. Such trai ning against the backdrop of the pandemic will offer
useful and practical tools and provide reminders on
what to do and what not to do during a crisis.
It will also present an opportunity for the team
to share with other stakeholders in the industry some of the invaluable best practices they learned as crisis
communicators during the pandemic.
Mr. Chairman, I will close by reiterating that
this past fiscal year has been a year like no other, especially for the Department of Communications. For the department it has been a year of learning, change,
growth and extreme challenge for the members of the
Department of Communications.
Their ability to serve under often stressful ci rcumstances, including late nights and weekends, is
tremendously commendable, particularly during the pandemic when there were extraordinary demands
that were placed on all sections of the Department of
Communications.
Throughout it all, Mr. Chairman, they worked
together to provide sound professional advice and
high-quality service. They answered the call 24/7 b ecause they knew the importance of ensuring that the public had timely and accurate information about
COVID -19 and its associated risks.
The Communications Officers, the Creative
Services team, CITV, Administrative staff, and Customer Service Representatives are unsung heroes
when speaking about Bermuda’s response to the
pandemic.
Bermuda, public officers and the Government
are well served by the D epartment of Communications
and I take this opportunity to publicly thank each of
them, and their Director, Ms. Aderonke Bademosi Wi lson for their stellar service over the past fiscal year.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This concludes my
budget presentation for Head 51. And if I may, Mr.
Chairman, can I ask for a point of personal privilege?

Yes, please, Premier.
For the purposes of today and the listening
audience, we are in the Budget Debate. We are currently in the Committee of Supply for cons ideration of
the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the year 2021/22. The debate today has been the debate on the Cabinet Office departments. We heard earlier
from Minister Wayne Furbert on some of the Heads
820 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly falling under those departments and we hav e just
heard from the Honourable Premier of Bermuda on,
specifically, Head 51, the Department of Communic ations.
Minister Furbert, I do not know if you are going to intervene at this point in time or if we should just
hang on a minute or two for the Premi er’s return.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Yes. No, I believe he will be
going on to the other Head very soon. That is Head—

Thank you, proceed.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you.

MISSION STATEMENT
Hon. E. David Burt: The mission statement of the
Economic Development Department is to advance the sustainable growth, development and diversification of Bermuda’s economy.
The Government of Bermuda is taking a multi -
pronged approach to economic development and d iversification. The Economic Development Depar tment, which was created in April 2020 as Head 94 is
maintaining unyielding focus on its dual purpose: job
creation and revenue generation.
The Economic Development Department has
the mandate of growing the local economy, attracting
more business to the Island, generating incremental revenue, boosting foreign direct investment, increasing the size of the workforce by creating jobs, and
building an economy that would compel not just digital
nomads of all nationalities, but also Bermudians living
and working overseas, to come home.
To achieve that, the Economic Development
Depar tment aims to create new economic pillars in
Bermuda, starting with the identification of new opportunities for economic diversification and subjecting
said opportunities to structured analysis and research.
Once areas are identified and agreed upon, the de-partment will seek local and overseas investment to
develop new local industry, which in turn will create
jobs in Bermuda.
Decisions made by the EDD are based on r esearch, stakeholder feedback, industry needs, par tnerships, and departmental objectives. T he Economic
Development Department’s key partners include the
Bermuda Business Development Agency, the Berm uda Tourism Authority, and the Bermuda Economic
Development Corporation.
Mr. Chairman, this Honourable House recalls
that the Economic Development D epartment was cr eated in April 2020 as the amalgamation of several d epartments and units: the Department of ICT Policy
and Innovation, the Business Development Unit, and
the FinTech Business Unit. Since its inception, the
department has provided a link bet ween the Gover nment and related business sectors and developed
networks with international business professionals
and organisations. Additionally, it has provided ta ilored services and guidance on government proces ses in accordance with client needs.
In August 2020, the department also took over
functions that heretofore had been under the Depar tment of Immigration: the Alien Land Licences (and any questions on Alien Land Licences can be directed
to the Minister responsible for the Cabinet Office).
The pur pose of the Alien Land Licences pr ogramme is to protect land in Bermuda for ownership by individuals who possess Bermudian status by —
a) requiring restricted persons to have licences
to hold or acquire land in Bermuda and pr eventing them from appropriating it ;
b) requiring trustees to have licences to hold or
acquire land in Bermuda for the benefit of r estricted persons and preventing them from
appropriating it; and


Bermuda House of Assembly c) preventing corporations from acquiring or
holding land in Bermuda, unless they do so in
accordance with Part VI of the Bermuda I mmigration and Protection Act 1956 .
This land licence process includes applic ations by restricted individuals to hold or acquire land in
Bermuda, Permission to Let their Bermudian properties, Permission to Take a Mortgage or C harge on
Land, and Deferral Certificates.
Mr. Chairman, the Alien Land Licences pr ogramme has earned the Government over $2.6 million
in revenues since its fusion into the Economic Development Department in August 2020. This is reflective
of 78 approved ap plications which is inclusive of the
aforementioned categories. This number includes 43
land acquisitions composed of freeholds and leas eholds of residential properties and condominiums, as well as fractional ownership of tourist accommodations. The transf er of this function has seen progres sing for these licences move more quickly, which, in
turn, yields more revenue for the Government of Ber-muda.
Mr. Chairman, the Economic Development
Department is composed of:
1. The Business Services Division, which is directly involved in negotiating and discussing
government agreements with potential candidates, fielding proposals and ensuring that
they reflect the Island’s priorities.
2. The Concierge Services Division, which pr ovides seamless services to international bus inesses that are considering domiciling in
Bermuda by facilitating meetings with Gov-ernment officials, ensuring the expedited pr ocessing of regulatory applications, formulating immigration strategies in relation to staffing
needs, and resolving any other is sues that
may arise in relation to Governmental pr ocesses.
3. The Legislative Affairs & Research Division,
which assists with policy creation and pr ogresses legislative initiatives that are intended
to improve or introduce corporate products and service offer ings to Bermuda’s local and
international clients.
Mr. Chairman, FinTech remains a key focus in
the Government’s economic diversification strategy
and the Economic Development Department conti nues to provide the resources and support that FinTech
needs in order to continue to push forward. Expectedly, the pandemic caused the FinTech team to divert its efforts and resources into assisting the national effort, specifically with the development of COVID -19 tec hnology. However, that did not deter the progress of
Fintech on the Island: in 2020, five companies ac-quired Digital Asset Business Licences.
IG International, a significant player in the i nvestments and trading space acquired a full licence in February. In May, Nayms, a provider of insurance-linked smart contracts acquired a sandbox licence.
Then, in September, Bittrex Global, one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges, acquired a full l icence. CrossTower, a new exchange start -up acquired a sandbox licence in October. Finally, on New Year’s Eve, Diamond Standard, a company making
diamonds easier to own and trade, in turn acquired a
sandbox licence.
During 2021, the FinTech Office aims to continue to foster an environment of industry, legislator
and regulatory collaboration to mirror the key ingredi-ent of success that drove the growth of the insurance
industry. It also aims to continue driving business development efforts to guide companies to the Island.
Other areas of focus are: driving local adoption of the
technology, providing education and training pr ograms, telling the story of FinTech, engaging with key
local and international stakeholders, and finally, dri ving policy refinements and strategic direction.
Mr. Chairman, digitising the Bermuda dollar
also remains a key FinTech focus. Two different pr ivate sector digital currency pilots were undertaken in 2020. Stablehouse piloted a stimulus coin with bus inesses in the North East Hamilton Economic Empowerment Zone and continues to advance its efforts to
expand and develop. Also, a gift card coin pilot was
operated as part of the reopening of the Goslings store on Front Street, which included a series of FinTech- related workshops.
Regarding key partners, we are pleased to
report that a number of parties are interested in tes ting out their technolog y on the Island. We are pleased
to have the support of Clarien Bank in providing local
banking support for broader Bermudian- focused st able coin pilots. Our efforts to attract new banking ent ities to Bermuda to support this growing ecosystem
have not stopped.
Mr. Chairman, in October of last year, the
government continued refining the Digital Asset Bus iness regulatory regime by adding a new test licence
class dedicated to allowing for testing and piloting of
ideas. This new class lowers the barriers to entr y for
innovators both locally and abroad, which enables
them to operate under the guidance and supervision
of the Bermuda Monetary Authority. A key consider ation is that FinTech cannot only target foreign innov ators but must also be made accessible to inge nious
young Bermudians who want to test their ideas on the Island and subsequently export them to the world.
In support both of innovation and of the gro wing number of job opportunities, a continued inves tment is being made in education, training and awar eness around FinTech. It is crucial to note that free
FinTech training via www.fintech.bm
has continued to
be offered and funded by this Honourable House
year-round. Other events and workshops also took
place during the year. For instance, in October 2020,
Bermuda TechWeek was once again successfully hosted by the Bermuda Business Development Agen822 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly cy. Penrose Partners hosted the International Tech
Summit, which included a broad series of public - and
private sector workshops as well as a virtual summit .
The aim of all of these events was to broaden the understanding of the potential impacts of FinTech in
Bermuda.
As we look to 2021 we will aim to establish
greater collaboration between stakeholder groups by bringing together, on a quarterly basis, industry, regulators, policymakers, and FinTech community me mbers and advocates to ensure continued alignment.
Our hope is to advance specific initiatives and to engage all stakeholders in the development of new legi slative framew orks, including the exploration of a Dig ital Identity Service Provider framework as announced
in the BMA’s Business Plan. This framework is geared
towards providing clarity and reducing the friction and
duplication associated with the burden of validating
the identities of individuals for KYC [Know Your Customer] purposes.
Looking forward, we will continue to boost the
Island’s FinTech space by striving to attract companies and to build industry, advancing initiatives around
the private sector driven digiti sation of the Bermuda
dollar, and strengthening the support of Bermudian
entrepreneurs in this space.

Subjective Analysis

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Chairman, moving on to the
Subjective Analysis for Economic Development, as
found on page B -79.
This Honour able House will note that starting
in this year, the reporting has been modified to reflect the amalgamation into one single department of the
following:
• The Department of ICT Policy and Innovation;
• The Business Development Unit;
• The FinTech Business Unit; and
• The Intellectual Property Section.
The total expenditure for the Department of
Economic Development is estimated to be $2,130,000
for the upcoming fiscal year, which is an increase of $403,000, or 46 per cent, over last year’s budget and
which, as I w ill soon explain, is largely accounted for
by the transfer of the Intellectual Property Section that is under the remit of the Registrar General.
Intellectual Property refers to creations of the
mind or intellect. Creators of intellectual property seek protection to maintain an exclusive right to exploit their
created works. The Intellectual Property Section facil itates the protection of intellectual property rights to an international standard, so that Bermuda remains a
place where creativity and talent c an thrive.
The role and functions of the Intellectual
Property Section mirror those of the UK, US and other
National IP Registries. The services provided to the
public are mandated by legislation, referenced above, which directs the core duties and respons ibilities of
the Intellectual Property Section.
The transfer of the Intellectual Property Section to the Department of Economic Development is
reflected in the Budget Book and shows a 33 per cent
increase in Salaries and a $95,000 increase in
Maintenance b y virtue of transfer of the relevant i nformation system —I should say the budgetary transfer.
Mr. Chairman, the Salaries and Maintenance
expenses are direct transfers and as such, the full
budget for Head 94 is not an increase of funding but
simply an inter nal transfer within the Government. It is
important to note, however, that these posts are r eflected here for budgeting purposes and the intention is for these posts to remain within the structure of the
Registry General to ensure that the Economic Deve lopment Department remains a nimble department,
focused on its core mission.
Mr. Chairman, the internal re- organisation of
the Economic Development Department has also allowed for increased efficiencies, in keeping with this government’s persistent focus on f iscal prudence.
Therefore, the department’s budget has, most notably,
seen a $94,000 decrease in Advertising and Prom otions, primarily resulting from the move from in- person
events to virtual environments. Please note that the
department’s intention is to continue to conduct virtual events where it can and where it is appropriate including the annual Digital Leadership Conference.
Mr. Chairman, the impact of the transfer into
the Economic Development Department of the Intellectual Property Section also extends to Manpower,
as can be seen on page B -80, five full -time equiv alents are reflected for budgeting purposes in the d epartment, causing its total headcount to increase to
14. In terms of Capital Expenditure, you will note that page C -10 shows Capital Acquisition funding for Head
94 in the amount of $22,000, which is set aside for
computer equipment.
In terms of revenue, which is shown on page
B-80, the Economic Development Department is expected to generate $6,343,000 during the fiscal year
2021/22, chiefl y made up of $5,500,000 in Land A cquisition fees.
Mr. Chairman, turning back to page B -78, I
note that Head 94 has the following objectives in stri ving to achieve its mission:
• devise an economic development and divers ification strategy for the jurisdiction;
• facilitate and equate policies and implement
plans that support the economic development
and diversification goals;
• analyse innovative developments and trends
through research and stakeholder engagement; and
• position Bermuda as an ideal test market for
innovative product and industry development;


Bermuda House of Assembly • publish articles and editorial content in local
and international publications to promote and
reinforce Bermuda as the optimal jurisdiction for business across various industries;
• offer activities and initiatives that support,
promote and recognise opportunities and advancements that reinforce the economic development and diversification goals;
• identify our market fit and clearly communi-cate our message and drive opportunities that
lead to economic activity;
• develop a clear education and training plan to
drive innovation through foundational learning,
fostering entrepreneurship and upscaling Bermudians and enabling broad access to
knowledge; and finally,
• identify legislative and policy solutions that
provide industry confidence.

Output Measures

Hon. E. David Burt: Moving to Output Measures, Mr.
Chairman.
The Economic Development Department Output Measures are found on page B -81 of the Budget
Book. Selected indicators under each specific unit are
outlined as fol lows:
Programme 9403, Analysis & Strategy. During
this fiscal year the Economic Development Depar tment will refine the economic diversification strategy
that outlines the way forward in delivering on its mandates.
Programme 9404, Research & Legislative
Support. The Economic Development Department aims to implement new legislation and update and
modernise current legislation in this next year. The
target is eight pieces of legislation to be enacted or to
be amended.
Mr. Chairman, it is expected that the Economic Development Department will continue to conce ntrate its energy, resources, and expertise in order to
stimulate growth and diversify our economy. The department is tirelessly working on achieving the Island’s
economic development and diversificatio n goals by
prioritising the competitiveness of the Island globally and by ensuring its attractiveness internationally as a preferred place to move to by individuals, organis ations, and corporations.
In relation to the pandemic, as the world turns
the prov erbial corner, governments worldwide will be
able to focus their attention to local and international post-COVID -19 recovery. In Bermuda, the Economic
Development Department will lead that effort by ma king sure that the jurisdiction continues to build on i ts
solid foundation with respect to innovation, the tech economy, and unrelenting support for small and m edium -sized enterprises. The department will also play
a key role in supporting the Economic Recovery Plan Project Management Office by ensuring that i t ad-vances projects which cut across a number of different ministries.
Mr. Chairman, despite the very challenging
economic times, I am optimistic that the Economic
Development Department, ably led by our new Direc-tor Mr. Ray Jones, along with his capable team, will
lead the way to the sustainable growth, development,
and diversification of our Island’s economy.
And with that, Mr. Chairman, this concludes
my presentation of Head 94 and, thus, concludes the
Government’s presentation of the eight Heads set down for debate by Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition.

Go ahead, Opposition Leader. You
have the floor.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: I am going to Head 9, Cabinet Office, Professional Services. The Premier r eferred to the Commission of Inquiry for the Historic Land Losses. My question to him is this: I know they
are doing sterling work, and they have intervi ewed a
number of people. When this Commission has fi nished its work, what will be done as a result of the i nformation gathered? Will there be some type of co mpensation? And if so, to whom and from whom? Will
824 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly the Government be somehow providing compensation
for those who have been badly done by [as shown by]
the findings in the Commission?
So, I would like for the Premier to speak to
that.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Chairman, can the Honourable Member turn on his camera, please?
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Yes, yes, yes.
Do you see me?

Okay. Please continue, Opposition
Leader.
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: The Brussels Office. We
indicated that we have Ms. Aliyyah Ahad , $396,000.
The number of employees in the . . . for the London
Office schedule says zero. So, I think there is an error
there. There should be one.
In addition, I noted that we had consultant, a
legal firm in Brussels that we used quite a bit, to bas ically keep connected and deal with the lawmakers in
Brussels. And I was wondering if he could speak to whether we still engaged that firm and how much we
basically pay them. In last year’s report you indicated
that they were used as the early warning sign. I am trying to look for the name of the law firm . . . and I
was wo ndering if we could speak to that.
The other issue is I noted that the Minister
was silent in regard to the New York Office. There
was very little mention of it. Is that office closed? Are
we not using it any more or are we just using our lob-byists to ma ke contact with the shakers and movers in
the Washington scene?
On the issue of Capital issue on page C -4,
Marginal Wharf, I think this has been an issue that has come up every now and then for a number of years.
And I think the Premier said it, you know, we have to
get the fishermen together, because I support the concept. It is my understanding that not all of the fis hermen are on board. And I am saying this just simply
because of an operational matter. Most of them . . . a
lot of the fishermen are in the West End. They go to the banks, which is in southwest 20 miles west of Bermuda.
So, when they come in at the end of the day,
will they have to steam to St. George’s to refuel, r estock, bag their fish? Basically it would be more expensive and another hour. And so, operationally, is
Marginal Wharf the right place for our fishermen, if we want full access from Somerset to St. George’s? I
know for a fact that maybe 40 per cent of our fishermen leave from Somerset Bridge, and to go to Marginal Wharf at the end of the day will be challenging
and more expensive.
The other issue, the Premier spoke to a fiveyear Public Service Plan. Who is overseeing that to make sure that we are on track in regard to the fiveyear plan? And that is under, I suspect [cost centre ]
19080, Head of Public Service. And what features are
we going to address in the coming year?
I think my colleague is ready to continue, so I
was just filling in for him.

Please continue, Opposition Leader.
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: [Page] B -45, Gross mi sconduct cases will be adjudicated within an eight -
week period. How many gross misconduct cases have
we had in the last year? And what has been the nature of these gross misconduct cases? And how have they been managed and resolved?
That is all I have for now on the Cabinet O ffice.

Okay, great.
Thank you once again. I would like to thank
both the Premier and Minister Furbert for the deliber ations this afternoon. Quite frankly, I have always en-joyed the debate on Cabinet Office, especially hearing
some of the new innovative things that are coming forward and that are taking place. I would like to al so,
at the forefront, thank many of the staff who were i nvolved with the whole process of ensuring that they
were as effective as possible during these trying
times.
If you will, Mr. Chairman, I would like to go . . .
not in the order that the Premier and Minister Furbert
went in, but to certainly go from the very beginning of
Cabinet Office and just move right on through the departments, if that is okay.

Yes, I will. Thank you very
much.
So, I would like to start off with Cabinet Office
departments. Certainly, we have been given a fairly
thorough review. On [page] B -39, t he Cabinet Office
departments, and I take note of (if you will take a look
at the current expenditure) the summary there. I am
keenly aware of the $22,736,000 increase, and that is
primarily due to tourism. And we will get to tourism at
some point in time throughout the Cabinet Office department, because the Premier brought it up under
there.
I would like to turn over to [page] B -41. And I
know that the Honourable Opposition Leader was as king some questions as well here. But primarily what stood out to me, outside of the review that the Premier
gave, was the lack of information on exactly what is
going on with the Washington, DC, Office. We see in
the original amount $61,000, if you look under 0902
unit, and then the item 19045, Washington, DC, O ffice, the original amount was $61,000 and we are now
spending $237,000. I was hoping that the Premier
would then break down exactly what this is.
I know that we are paying rent for an office. I
was hoping that the Premier, based on how he a nswered last year, could tell us when did renewed.
When did we actually renew the contract for the
Washington, DC, Office? And in renewing that, how long is the lease for at the Washington, DC, Office?
So, two things —can he give us the actual date of the
renewal of the contract; a nd also can he tell us the
length of time of that contract? It does not appear to
be manned, and we did not hear any information con-cerning the manning of the place. And there was
some talk about subletting it, Mr. Chairman, so I do
not know if it has been sublet out or not, or if it still
continues to sit vacant. But it does not have anything
to do with the consultants that we have assisting us in
the DC primarily. And if it does, then, I am hoping that the Premier can advise us in like manner.
I will giv e accolades to 19035 under the same
unit, Economic Policy & Foreign Affairs. The London Office has done well. I was hoping that the . . . when
the Premier mentioned that . . . let me just go over to
my notes here. He mentioned how they brought in the London Office . . . I want to say 200 -plus Bermudians,
repatriated a few hundred number of Bermudians. I
was hoping he could help us and give to Bermuda
some of the complexity that was going on at that time
and how well the London Office did in being able to get Bermudians back [home]. I know that I was in the
ear of the Premier at the time many times where there
were families trying to get their children back on the
Island. And so, if he could elaborate on some of the
process that the London Office used so that Bermuda
understands some of the complexity of what was g oing on and how the Cabinet Office, actually along with
the London Office, assisted our Bermudians in order
to get them back [home]. And that would, again, be
under unit 0902 on page B -41 under item 19035, the
London Office.
I also noticed he spoke about the Brussels
Office, 19075. And I must say that I will continue to
encourage the Premier to use these offices to their
fullest extent at a time where I believe that Bermuda is
under economic threat a nd we need to leverage on
just about every relationship that we can to get our
voice out there and to get investment into the Island
as we move forward.
It was 236 repatriations, I believe, the Premier
said, just to refresh the Premier of that number. And if it is not that, then he can certainly let me know.
Now, if I look over on [page] B -42 under Su bjective Analysis, I just want to go down to . . . he mentioned the salaries. I am aware of that . . . it is the
Travel I wanted to go to. Under Travel, it would be
one, two, three, four, five, six —the sixth line item under Subjective Analysis, Travel. And I see there is a
reduction. Obviously, I assumed that due to COVID -
19 there would be a reduction in travel. It does appear
that for the last year, despite COVID -19, we were able
to spend pretty much close to $210,000 in the revised
amount.
I would encourage— and I have done this ev ery budget period. I would encourage the Premier to travel where he can. It is important to get Bermuda’s
voice out there to ensure that . . . and maybe the
826 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Premier can tell us, under Travel, what are some of
the targeted travel functions he is planning on visiting
in the spend of $250,000 with the Cabinet Office? Can
he give us an idea? Obviously they have cut back, so
they must have an idea of some of the things they want to target for the upcoming year. If he can let us
know what some of those targeted travel functions are
that he is looking to [attend].
If you go down further, you will see under Pr ofessional Services —
The Chair man: Are we still at page B -42?

—under Subjective Analysis,
just a few lines down from Travel, you will see under
Professi onal Services where there is a reduction. And
I understood the answer, some of the answer, that the
Premier had given. But what I do know is that there
were at least 15 different services (under Professional
Services) where monies had been received. The
Commission of Inquiry, actually, was one of those who
received about $290,000 that the Premier mentioned
last year. And I see that there is a reduction. If the
Premier could then, as he did in the previous years,
lay out the Professional Services and the amount of
spend under those Professional Services.
Previously he mentioned PATI, $221,000, you
know, and so on. He could give us an update as to
whether or not some of those have changed. And, as I
said, I am not sure whether the Commission of Inquiry
is rec eiving another $290,000 under Professional Services, but it would be good to know what those are
and whether or not some of those are continuing on in
the same amount. And I am on [page] B -42.
He mentioned under Materials and Supplies
on the same page that this came under the part of the
$2 million, when he mentioned medical supplies. So, [I
have] no challenges there. We will get to the Grants and Contributions as we go over further into some of
my questioning, but I will leave that as we go along.
There is on page B -43, Mr. Chairman, I think
there is an error on this particular page and I just want
to ensure that our Budget Book is reflecting what it
should. If you look on page B -43 under Employee
Numbers —

Under the original amount it
should be, for 19075—and I am hoping that the Clerk
takes a look at this to make the necessary adjus tments —Brussels Office, the origina l amount, which
would have been the estimate last year, was two. And so in the original amount it should say two here as
opposed to zero. Now, if there is a reason for that, I
am hoping that there is an explanation, but I do b elieve the original amount is moved into that position
because it was the estimate last year and that is not
reflected here.
In addition, on 19080, Head of Public Service,
this should be three because it was three in the est imate amount of last year’s budget. And so, it is just more of a . . . making sure that we get the corrections
in there and the numbers reflect what they should. So, I am hoping that yourself and the Clerk . . . and hop efully the Premier is taking a look at that so that he can
address in his answering to make sure t hat we have
those numbers where they need to be so that they are reflecting correctly.

Yes, I will continue. I will
continue on. I am sure that they are listening. I take it
to heart when the Premier said he was hoping that I was listening on the tourism part and, certainly, when
the Premier speaks I want him to know that I certainly
listen.
If we can then go over to page B -45 under the
Performance Measures in Cabinet Office, under bus iness unit 19080, Head of Public Service, it was interesting . . . sometimes the Premier can speak fast and
usually it is good information, but it goes by very
quickly. He said here that there were, I believe there
were . . . under Service Conduct, and he said that
there were five categories —essential, important,
needed, desired and optional. And I was not quite sure how those fit i nto . . . as a priority, how they determined these five different categories when it came
to public service and assessing public service.
It would be important if the public were understanding exactly what he meant here —“essential” was
one, “important” was another, “needed,” “desired” and
“optional.” There was not enough flesh put on exactly
what he was talking about when it came to how they


Bermuda House of Assembly were going to mete out this in relation to service conduct. So, I am hoping that the Premier can address
those.
Now, I am not sure, and the Premier can help
me out here, whoever is listening there, if I should ad-dress some of the tourism items —because he did go
to Grants during this part, as opposed to under Ec onomic Development. So, if it is okay, I will head on into the Grants and the likes and I will flip over, if you
will, and if you will oblige, Mr. Chairman, give me just a second.

The Premier . . . if I go to
Cabinet Office, 75281 and, again, we are on [page] C -
4, Shoresi de Facilities —Marginal Wharf. I was hoping
that the Premier can tell us, for the $370,000, what
exactly did we do here to spend that? And, of course,
what does he anticipate as far as the $1 million that
has been allocated for 2021/22? How do we come to
that number?
It seemed a bit vague as to the kind of facility
that is going to be put in place here. And is this som ething that the Uptown Development Agency is doing?
If he can give us some more detail, what can we expect from this Shoreside Facility? What exactly is it
going to do? Just to say it is for fishermen, which is
pretty much what we heard, was not enough detail,
and I am hoping he can put some flesh onto the
bones of that.
I am happy to see and I will concur with the
Premier as he gives to the c lubs and gives investment
grants under 75349 on the same page C -4. It is good
to see the investment into our clubs. I have always
been a proponent of supporting many of our clubs and I am hoping that the monies are going to good work. I
am hearing that the y are. So, it is important that this
part of our social network be supported and it certainly
appears to be being supported by our Premier. (Give
me just a second here.)
Yes, also, I have got so many notes here, my
apologies. The Premier mentioned in his brief, and I
need to go back to the Administration. If we go back to
. . . let me just flip over the pages here. This is quite a
bit to go through here.
The Premier mentioned, under Cabinet Office
in Administration on page B -41, in the Spend of the
Admini stration. And also under Government Reform, the National Health Emergency, he mentioned about
testing. I was hoping that the Premier could then
elaborate on some of the challenges that the Ministry
faced when it was offering world- class . . . as he mentioned in his brief, we were offering a world- class se rvice when it came to dealing with COVID -19. If he can
give us an idea of some of the challenges when it
came to staffing and locations and training and what
the Cabinet Office was going through at that tim e, so
that the public can appreciate a lot of the work that took place by the Cabinet Office and, of course, the Ministry of Health and many other of those who assisted, so there is a real appreciation for what was
going on.
I am going to now move back ov er to . . . Capital Acquisitions on page C -10. If we flip over to Capital Acquisitions on page C -10.

I know it is quite a thick book
and a bit of leafing through here.
So, if we go under Cabinet Office and under
Information & Digital Technologies, I guess I can wait for that. Let me just go to the . . . we probably should
wait until we get to Information & Digital Technologies,
my apologies.
So, what I will do then . . . and I know that my
colleague wants to as k some questions under this
particular [Head] as well. I am going to move over to page C -17.

Yes, Grants and Contributions. And I must highlight that in his brief he mentioned $22,500,000, but I do recognise that on page
C-19, as it was transferred from the Ministry of
Transport, the allocation under Tourism Authority
Grant under Transport was $22,500,000. There is a
million -dollar difference for the Grant on page C -17
under Cabinet Office Departments, 6835, Tourism
Authority Grant of $21,500,000 and I was just curious
as to the million- dollar difference.

Yes, yes, yes.
So, if he can qualify that. It certainly is saying
on page C -19 that in prior years it was $22,500,000
but there is an allocation now, a current estimate of $21,500,000. Can he give us the reason for the mi llion-dollar difference?
I am going to come back to Tourism, based
on the brief that he gave, but just in brief, while I am
still on this page, I take note under 7000 Cabinet O ffice Departments, item 7000, BEDC Operational
828 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Grant. He mentioned the $12 million that went to assist businesses due to COVID -19. And I want to thank
Cabinet Office for assisting in this area to ensure that
that grant was made available. I do know many, especially small businesses, who benefited from this here, which was vitally important.
I was not quite sure what that was for, so he
did give an explanation. What I did not hear was whether or not . . . he mentioned that the Ministry of
Finance potentially would be continuing with this. I was not quite sure, as he was going through quite quickly, whether or not this $12 million grant is going
to continue under the Ministry of Finance. And so, I
am hoping that he can then highlight that for us and
let us know.
Now, before I go into more substantive [items]
of Tourism under Cabinet Office, because that is
where he talked about it, even though it falls under
Economic Development, I want to move over to [page]
C-26 under —
Hon. E. David Burt: Just a point of information, if I
could, Mr. Chairman.

Okay, okay.
My apologies. For some reason I thought it
was under Economic Development. Okay, thank you.
Much appreciated, Premier.
On [page] C -26, under Government Depar tment Accommodation Rental under Cabinet Office
Head 9, I take note of the increase for the Brussels
Office. It looks like there is an increase of approx imately $6,649 to be exact, if I do the calculation. If he
can let us know exactly what is happening there, why
are we now, especially at this time, experiencing an
increase in the Brussels Office?
If you go down one line under Brussels Office
you will see there also in the Cabinet Office, Commi ssion of Historic Land Losses. And I want to thank t he
Premier for the briefing that he gave on the Commi ssion. If I recall, as I mentioned, there was $290,000 in a grant in the prior [year] that was given, and we are trying to find out if that is continuing. But I also see
here for rental, there is a renta l of $33,600. Is that still
at the same building? I think he mentioned—not in this brief—but I think he mentioned Sofia House at one
point in time, so, is that still at Sofia House? What accommodations are they in at the present time for the
$33,000? And how long is that particular contract for?
And so, what I will do now is I would like to
move to the brief part where he mentioned about
Tourism. And I want to thank the Premier for the briefing on Tourism under the Cabinet Office, as he has
rightfully corr ected me, and to take us through the five
steps or plans of focus. And so, where we are, Mr. Chairman, is on [page] C -17 (we are still on C -17 under Grants and Contributions), Tourism Authority
Grant 6835, the allocation of $21,500,000.
The Premier mentioned that lessons were
learned through the recovery, in his brief under this particular item. And I was just curious as to some of
the lessons . . . and this is really for the edification of
the public to understand, as I was in constant contact
with the Pr emier at the time, so I knew some of the
challenges. But if the public could hear a little more about the lessons that were learned as we were moving through COVID -19, predictions of hundreds of
persons passing, and then recognising that this probably woul d not be the case. If he could give us some
of those lessons at his position that were learned and
for Cabinet at large as we became one of the global
standards for recovery, quite frankly, and the team
needs to be commended for that.
There was a plan. He mentioned that as they
go forward Tourism has a plan going forward for 2021,
however, it is unpredictable and we are still in that
phase. I would like to start off by saying as I . . . before I get going with Tourism here, I want to thank
Glenn Jones and his leadership in Tourism. I recognise that he has been in an acting position. I am hoping that the Premier will update us on that. But I do
want to commend him and his team for the challenges that they have faced, manpower -wise, as well as
[with] COVID -19 and the devastation that took place.
Certainly, Government receives a large sum
of fees from cruise ships and the likes, and so does
Tourism benefit from these tax fees on visitors, and it
has been devastating for both Tourism and Gover nment to have lost this money.
I guess I was hoping that the Premier would
tell us and give us a little more about some of the
conversations upcoming. When he mentioned cruise
ships I did not hear of exactly (maybe I missed that)
when they were anticipating that they might be retur ning to Bermuda. I know that around the world they are beginning to mobilise. So, I am hoping that we have an idea, as discussions continue on, as to when that
might take place.
Also, under that same item, 6835 Tourism A uthority Grant on [page] C -17, the Premier mentioned
that as of late March of last year there was a reduction
in the hours and salaries in tourism anticipating this downfall —downturn I should say —and 20 per cent


Bermuda House of Assembly reduction in contracts, which is admirable by the team
of being able to achieve this.
I was hoping that the Premier might be able to
[tell us] —and he may have to get this information, I do
not know if he has [this] available. What roles actually
have fallen away? And he mentioned that there are 38
positions at present and that there probably would be
some shifts and he anticipated some reduction there.
If he can give us an idea of what he believes to be (or
Glenn, or the Tourism Authority believes to be) the
ideal numbers to be at this present time for the Tourism Authority.
The Premier continued on and said that
60 per cent of hotels will reopen . . . seats, I believe
he was talking about, available seats will reopen. This is good to hear. It is good to hear about St. Regis, the
120 rooms. But I did have a question about the Bermudiana Resort. We have not heard . . . we have
heard some, but we have not heard much about the
renovations that were taking place up there. And I
probably will have the opportunity in Public Works to ask some questions there. There are an anticipated
190 rooms and I believe that he mentioned that those
rooms would be available this fiscal year. So I am c urious as to what other works need to take place.
We k now that they have been given . . . I do
not know if it was a loan or grant . . . a guarantee, I
believe it was, yes, a guarantee of $10 million approximately. So, is there an anticipated date? And how is the Tourism Authority working with them to help get
these rooms filled?
The other thing is, I was not quite sure as to
the Bermudiana Resort and what its main focus was.
Is it families? Is it high net worth? I do not know, but if
we can get an idea from the Premier at to what Bermudiana Resort’s focus is.

Also, he mentioned, still under page C -17, Tourism Authority Grant 6835, the
Premier also mentioned that the Tourism Authority
was intending to attract jet -setters and I totally agree
with this here. And he also mentioned that they tend-ed to be adventure seekers. I was hoping to hear from
the Authority what some of the things are that we are newly incorporating that we would consider to be adventu re-seeking attractions in Bermuda and what we
consider to be some of those now. It could be scuba
diving, but that has always been the case. What else are we doing to attract these jet -setters?
And I knew that sports was a focus. You
know, I believe that things like the Red Bull high-diving are some of the things that would certainly be
something that we should be looking at. If the Premier
can let us know how we truly intend to get some of
these jet -setters here, especially when we know that
they are adventure seekers. If you go online, Mr.
Chairman, you will see that already they are travelling
all around the world with some of these adventuretype activities.
The Premier also mentioned the Golden
Boomers, which was quite interesting to hear [about
these] multi -generational families where we are ha ving the opportunity, due to COVID -19, to get together
and attract these folks to Bermuda. I do not know what the hook is for Golden Boomers as far as Bermuda is concerned. But it would certainly be good to
hear a little more about what they believe as to why
they would come to Bermuda. Is it just because of our
beaches and the likes? I do not know.
He continued on (and we are still on [page] C -
17 Tourism) to mention that . . . he started talking
about the airli nes. And I want to know a little more
about whether or not the . . . how is the Authority
working with the Transport Department and the ai rlines to help assist in getting our airlift to what it needs
to be? Maybe it is just advertising abroad. I do not
know. But it would be interesting to see if they have
more of a hand in working with the airlines with Gov-ernment in getting more feet and bodies into these airlines and to Bermuda.
The Premier did mention later on . . . I was
just asking the question beforehand and he mentioned it later on when he talked about sports tourism and the likes and that is the mega yacht business. For some
of these sports activities I wanted to ask the question,
Do we have a specific plan to attract these mega
yachts? And the reas on I am asking that is because
they will take a few days to get here. They certainly will have been quarantined by the time they get to
Bermuda, and it does appear to be rightfully highlight-ed by the Premier and the Tourism Authority that
mega yachts would be an opportunity. How are we
going to then entice some of these mega yachts? And
what are some of the infrastructure things that we
should be looking at to help entice some of these
mega yachts to Bermuda?
It was good to hear about the jobs in Learn- toEarn that has been going on. But the next question I
had (still on page C -17 the Cabinet Office Depar tments, Tourism Authority Grant) . . . the Premier mentioned that a casino will be opened this year. Can he
give us a timeframe of that? We know that St. R egis is
opening, certainly, in May. Does he believe that the
particular casino there would be open? Which licence
would have this casino open this year? And I believe
he was talking about the third and fourth quarter of
this year, but if he can tell us when he is anticipating
this to happen, if we can get a jump on that. And is that something that the Tourism Authority will be hig hlighting as well as an attraction?
830 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The other attraction, which I though was interesting, was weddings —the “I DO” campaign. I must
give accolades to the Tourism Authority for coming up
with that. And it will be interesting to see. I guess what
I would like to know is how many weddings do we know took place over COVID -19 during this last year
since March of 2020? Whether or not we d id have
people actually coming here to marry, knowing that it was a safe destination.
Under Sports, he mentioned also that sports
would be a highlight of the Tourism Authority. And due to . . . considering our health and safety regime and
how we have done well, I was wondering if there were
any other events, other than the sailing that he was speaking about, that we are focusing in on. He did mention something a little about golf, but that has
been a staple for us as far as sports tourism is concerned. Are there any other areas that we are looking
at, or niches within the golfing? I mean, are we going
to some of the large clubs of different ethnicities to
entice them to come to Bermuda and to enjoy some of the golf and other sports activities? Are we looking at,
potentially, sporting events, because of our destination being fairly safe, like football games and the likes,
internationally, being held here? Is that a possibility?
So, it would be nice to hear if that is something on the
burner for this upcoming year.
The other thing highlighted, the Premier mentioned about people were staying three days more. I must say, I cannot recall . . . I remember we extended
the time for people to visit Bermuda. I just do not r emember what that time is off the top of my h ead. But I
have heard from several people [who] mentioned that if they could stay a length of time, due to the fact that
we are such a safe destination they would actually
come for two months and stay here in Bermuda and
reside here just for those two mont hs on vacation.
Whether or not we are looking at that I would like to
know, because that is rightfully identified by the Tourism Authority and Government that this is a possibility.
And, again, I will end off on that part of Tourism by asking the question, again, as when I started out: What is the latest on the CEO post that is being actively held admirably by Glenn Jones, who is doing
a great job, and where are we with that?
I would like to move to . . . I believe I had a
question on the BEDC Operational Grant. If you will
give me just a minute and let me just get my notes here. Oh yes, on page C -17, Mr. Chairman. (And I am
again fighting for my video; I am having to use my phone.) Under the Cabinet Office Departments, 7000,
BEDC Operational Grant.

The C hairman: [Page] C -17 Grants and Contrib utions?

Thank you, Member. Mr. L. Craig Cannonier: The Premier mentioned
about this annual business register that the BEDC
was looking to upgrade. Can he give us a little more
information as to how this is going to . . . what is
planned to do with this info? He was kind of brief in what he felt was the plus to doing this here and I was
just curious as to . . . for the entrepreneur who is out
there, what would be t he plus to this here?
The second thing he mentioned under BEDC
Operational Grant on [page] C -17, was that they
would be focusing in on technology and this virtual
market platform, which I think is a fantastic idea. What
I did not understand about it was, is it just a payment -
type platform to ensure that these entrepreneurs who
have things online can get paid? Or was it more elaborate where they were working on a full webpage? I
was not quite sure if it was a centralised webpage for everybody to go on. If he can give us a little more i nformation on how that exactly will work, maybe we can
entice some more entrepreneurs to that.
And so that will complete my questions on the
Head of Cabinet Office departments. Now, I do know
if my Honourable Opposition Leader had a few questions on this particular Head, so I will let him do that,
and then we can move on to the next, if that is okay,

Thank you, Honourable Member.
Opposition Leader, do you have questions
arising from Head 9, Cabinet Office?

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Thank you, thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
I would like to redirect your attention back to
the London Office. Last year the Premier indicated
that the London Office team continued to lead the
Government’s effort to run the BMU code to Berm uda’s passports. Can the Premier give us an update in
regards to Bermuda’s passports and the BMU codes?
Now, I direct you to the Tourism Authority,
again. And my question there is in regard to the avi ation. It is my understanding that the Bermuda Airport Authority, BTA, and Ailevon Pacific were reviewing
Bermuda’s air service strategy and making reco mmendations. Where do we stand on that? What is the
value of the Ailevon Pacific’s contract?
Similarly, we had a joint cooperative marketing agreement with JetBlue. Is that still in place? And can the Minister give some type of indication as to
how productive that was —

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Chairman.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: —and his plans for this g oing forward?

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Simons, we have a point of clarif ication or a point of order.

POINT OF ORDER
Hon. E. David Burt: I will give a point of order, Mr.
Chairman. Just right quick, in regard to this, I think it is out of order because the Honourable Opposition
Leader is asking questions that will fall under another Head. These are matters of revenue guarantees and
joint agreements with airlines that fall under the Ai rport Authority under the Ministry of Transport.
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Okay, that is fine.

Page B -42, yes.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Can the Minister or the
Premier confirm whether or not the lobbyist group e ntitled “The Group” is still involved in our Washington
efforts? And if they are still involved, how much are
we pa ying “The Group” —which is a lobbyist firm —this
year? I note last year it was budgeted for $240,000. If
he can confirm the details of this year’s engagement
and whether they are . . . and provide details on their
achievements.
Those are my only questions on Head 9. I
have asked the other ones previously.
Thank you very much.

If can move to the Post O ffice, which is Head 13 on [page] B -46. And, again, I
recall some of the conversations we have had before.
I want to thank the Minister for wearing his yellow and
blue for St. David’s —wonderful —and commend Col onel Lamb for assisting with the presentation that we
had entrusted to us today.
On B -46—

Hon. E. David Burt: Point of order, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
In the brief on [page] B -46 under Department
Objectives, the Honourable Minister mentioned that
there were seven substations. And under Department
Objectives, To provide all Bermuda residents with accessible, affordable and efficient mail service and d elivery as required by the Universal Postal Union’s
832 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly (UPU) Universal Service Obligation (USO) . He went
on to mention about the seven s ubstations.
So, I was wondering if there was any intent,
as we go forward, to lessen those seven substations
and what was the intent? What were they planning on
doing with those buildings if they do intend to close
down any of the substations?
He mentioned also that there was a threeyear reform, and so I guess what I was wondering
then is what other services will the Honourable Member with the Post Office . . . What exactly are the other
services they will create as far as new revenues are
concerned? I was a bit confused because he did mention that they were looking at providing opportunities
for potentially other departments and the likes to r eceive revenues within some of these satellite subst ations. So, is he saying then that they would be recei ving a f ee off of providing the service within the subst ations? Or are we looking at other services that would
be creating the additional revenue?
I note that he mentioned one of those being
the MyUS.com or something like that, or MyBerm uda.com. So could he elabo rate, if there are any other
services, exactly what the problems are? Is he looking to assist as far as being able to receive monies? We
know that the parole office has been used here in
Hamilton. And for some reason I did not realise that it was owned by the Corporation of Hamilton, but I am
curious as to what the rent might be for that particular
building. But I do know that the Health Department
has been using it for testing.
So, if he can elaborate on that for us, on some
more of what he believes to be new revenue that the
Post Office will be generating for its livelihood and to
ensure that we continue on with growing where they
can in that area.
If you turn over to page B -48 under Post O ffice—

Yes. Under Professional
Services I was wondering if . . . there does not seem
to be a whole lot there, so it would not be a long list.
Could he give us a list of those Professional Services
that are being provided? It is a reduction I recognise, but if he can give us an idea of what those Profes-sional Services are, who they are, as far as busines ses are concerned or individuals, whatever, if he can
give us a list of that.
If you go down to Insurance, I was just curious
as to what . . . for $12,000 what does this insurance
cover? Is it for the bikes that we have? I am not quite sure, and it would be good to know exactly what our
insurance coverage is for $12,000.
If we go over then to [page] B -49 under Rev enue Summary, under Head 13, Post Office, it was di fficult here, quite frankly, to follow on because he was
adding up different item numbers under here. So, I am
going to . . . I believe I got it, but I am going t o attempt
to ask some questions on this. Obviously, he can correct me where I might be wrong. He mentioned under
8312.06, Courier Service Fee, that it would be about
$600,000. I was wondering how he estimated that number when it comes to MyBermuda.com in affiliation with MyUS.com. Is that based on numbers that
we already have and taking that fee and multiplying it,
or is it a forecast? I am not sure how we got to that
$600,000. Can he help us out in explaining that?
If you go down just below there 8312.09, on
the same page, Customs Declaration Fee, and he mentioned that he was waiving the $5.00 fee for those
who fill out their own forms. Can he tell us whether or
not he believes that by introducing that $5.00 fee that
was a reaction that people then, actual ly in order to
not spend that $5.00, started filling out the forms
themselves and so the department had to rethink the
$5.00 fee? Does he have an idea . . . if he takes in 10
for the day —different customers —how many of them
does he suspect on an average have been waived? It
would be good to hear from him a little more on that, assuming that people are just trying to save where
they can.
Interesting, under Bulk Mail, if you go further
on down, 8641 (and we are still on the same page B -
49—8641). Bulk Mail is pretty consistent here. So as
he was talking about it, he mentioned that essentially
there is a decrease in the use of the service, but yet,
the numbers are staying the same. And I was just c urious as to why that is the case, if less and less people are using the —

I am sure the Honourable
Member Famous loves looking at me, so let me make
sure he can see me.
So, as we continue on down, I was just cur ious if he can give us an answer to that —the original
amount and, of course, the estimate for 2021/22, ex-actly the same. But in his briefing, he mentioned how there is a decrease in usage. Why is that the case?
And he also gave an interesting statistic,
which not only applied to bulk mail, but just mail, per iod, where in 2007 they were dealing with 50 million
pieces and we are now in 2021 down to 5 million. That
is a drastic drop in revenue, which, quite frankly, is quite devastating for this department, I am sure. And
so I wish them well as they attempt to work through
this. But I did hear some very creative stuff from him.
On this Post Office Box Rental Fee, on the
same page B -49, 8759.01, this is very encouraging
actually, these numbers. And I am curious as to what the Minister attributes this consistency here for Post
Office Box Rental Fees, especially since so much is
digital now. I am curious, that is quite admirable that
the rental fee for the Post Office Boxes is still consistent .
If you will just bear with me a minute, I am
going to go over to [pages] C -9 and C -26. And on
page C -9 under Capital Acquisitions, if you go down to
Post Office, actually, almost to the bottom of the page
there it mentions under Post Office, 76013, Cycl es.
And in the estimate we are looking to spend $44,000,
and he mentioned that there is a need to have at least
43 bikes in operation to be effective.
And I recognise that we probably had not purchased cycles for about two years it appears and that was about 36 bikes. What is the life expectancy of these bikes that we would need to buy 44 more bikes
within about a two- year period? Can he give us some
information on that? Certainly, the bikes are on the
road all the time. I mean, I speak to my person that
comes to deliver mail down in St. George’s all the
time. So, if he can give us some information on that.
If we go over to page C -26, I believe it is (yes,
C-26), and I am under Government Department A ccommodation Rental. I notice that Head 13 Post O ffice . . . there is my answer to . . . we are not renting it
looks like. So, the Health Department is renting from
the Post Office. But under the New Venture House we
are spending a whopping $112,000—actually, almost $113,000—more in rent. He mentioned that they were
working some agreement with Public Works and it was a bit vague. So, if he can help us out. I know that he is probably not happy with that number, if he can
tell us exactly what is going on there and why it has
increased to that amount, the drastic amount of
$112,000 almost $113,000 more.
And what I will do with Post Office Head 13 is
allow my colleague to ask the questions that he had before we move on to the next Head.

—Mr. Chairman.
And, again, I want to thank the Department of
Statistics. I move to Head 14 on pag e B-53. I always
do appreciate the work that the Department of Stati stics does and, sometimes under stressful situations.
And certainly, due to COVID -19, I am sure that trying
to gather information was important and it will be i nteresting too as we move through this here to find out
how much of a role they played in providing valuable information.
On [page] B -53 under Head 14, Department
of Statistics, the third objective, Operate a transparent and citizen- centric department by improving the u nderstanding and use of statistical data and information. I was curious, due to what this last year and
COVID -19 and the need for so much information to be
put out there, exactly who determines what new data
is to be collected and where that comes from? Is it just
by request from other heads or departments? Is the
Department of Statistics actually engaged in a more central conversation that allows for this to happen?
I am sure that the Cabinet Office was seeking,
probably, information as well. But if they can give us
834 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly an example of how the work is that they do and how
they assist other departments in meeting their objectives, I think it would be very educational for the public
to hear that.
If we turn over to [page] B -54 under Head 14
Department of Statistics. I recogni se that two positions
were defunded under Salaries. But if we go to Travel,
they drastically slashed it, actually. When you are
looking at numbers you are never quite sure, but it
seems or appears to be specific. So, the estimate for
Travel on page B -54, H ead 14, Department of Stati stics, is $8,000. That sounds as if it is probably a sp ecific trip that they are looking at, which will be vital for
them, if they can tell us exactly what they are thinking
there.
If you go down three more items under Pr ofessio nal Services, the estimate for 2021/22 is
$54,000. We did not hear from the Minister as to what
those Professional Services were, so it would be appreciated to hear the expertise that we are using in
order to get vital statistical information.

Thank you, Honourable Member. If I
may pause you there just for a moment . . . Honour able Members we are now in the Committee of Supply
for further consideration of Estimates of Revenue and
Expenditure for the year 2021/22. We are having debates on the Cabinet Office departments and all of the
Heads thereunder.
MP Cannonier, you will now have a new
Chair. On my list it is supposed to be MP Tyrrell, but I
think he swapped with the Deputy Speaker. So, I think
the Deputy Speaker is now assuming the Chair, but,
perhaps, the Clerk Somner could confirm.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
most appreciated. I am trying to remember where I
was now.
Oh, I was on Professional Services —my
apologies. I was just asking the question what exactly were those Professional Services?
Certainly, again I will repeat that we apprec iate the work that they do. And I think one of the other questions that I had was under those . . . not Professional Services, but back on page B -53, under the
Objectives. I was curious as to whet her or not . . .
what role did they play in assisting with the COVID -19
preparations and the successful work that was done in getting information out there to the public? What role
did they play in working with the Cabinet Office and
the Department of Heal th in providing good data, if we
can get an update there?
I do not know if anyone else has questions on
the Department Head 14. Before I move on to the next
Head, I will allow anyone else who has questions, if
you will, Mr. Chairman.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chai rman.
I would like to move to Head 43, the Premier’s
favourite area. And I want to thank the Premier, just
before we get into Head 43, which is on [page] B -61,
for his in -depth summary. I know from the past this is
a cherished department for him. And so, I have a few
questions that I would like to move through here.
On page B -61 . . . he answered that, my apologies. He di d answer that. I put down lots of laughs ,
Mr. Chairman. He did answer the question as to some
of these Shadow IT posts. That is the first time I have
heard of that description— Shadow IT posts —but the
Premier did answer the question that I had.
I am going to move over to [page] B -62 under
Head 43, Information & Digital Technologies. The
Premier mentioned under Insurance . . . if you look at
the estimate on page B -62 for Insurance, the sixth or
seventh item down, $517,000. Was that insurance all to do with s oftware licensing (which is what he mentioned)? I was not quite sure if that encompassed all
of the $517,000. Certainly, I know that it is needed as
he moves forward, if he can let us know exactly what
is happening there.
And just above that, my apologies, under
Communications on [page] B -62. The Premier mentioned the phone system transferred from Works and
Engineering. It certainly is warranted, most likely,
moving this here into the IT area. So, I was just cur ious as to, during the phase . . . he mentione d phases.
But when did he believe that the completion of this
moving the phone system would be complete? And
the other thing I guess I was curious about, just with
talking about the phone system, is I assume that this
is the number one priority. Can he let us know the pr iority of the phone system, if it is the first priority? It
appears to be with the savings that he mentioned —a
whopping $8.8 million we spend a year and that we
could have a 65 per cent cost savings. Can he let us
know when he is anticipating completing that ? Because I do know that he is building through that ?
Also, under Head 43, in his summary . . . and
I would just really have to refer to the Objectives for this here, because it was in his summary. He men-tioned that there were seven differ ent focuses for this
particular department. The ones that stood out to me


Bermuda House of Assembly were the Infrastructure Stability of the Network and
Cybersecurity. Under that he also mentioned an AI
Suite of Solutions. I was not quite sure what he was
talking about there. We kn ow what AI is, but if he can
elaborate on that to explain to us what he means by that and how it works with the phone system that we
are looking to upgrade to.
The third item he mentioned was IT Gover nance, and he wanted to avoid fragmented individual systems. I guess what I wanted to—

—that he wanted to go
through.
So, when he mentioned these fragmented i ndividual systems, I am keenly aware, and you would
be as well, Mr. Chairman, the isolation of some of the
departments. Was he looking to take a few on at a
time before he does it across the board with this IT
Governance and bringing this phone system under one? If he could tell us that.
One other question I had in this particular area, because he was quite in- depth, was how does
encryption play into the security of our systems and cybersecurity? If he can elaborate on this. There was
some mention of the cloud base, how does encryption play into all of this in safeguarding the government
portal and safeguarding government information?
And lastly, he mentioned about the new CIO
that had been hired. I know the gentleman well, D aron
Raynor, and so I would like to also congratulate him on his appointment.
Mr. Chairman, I do not know if anyone has
anything else before I move to Head 51.

Honourable Opposition Leader, continue.
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Okay, I have a number of
items here.
The first item that I would like to speak to is
. . . first of all, I would like to commend the Minister for the overall strategic direction that he is taking. I think it
is worth the journey and I think, as he says, it will i mprove the efficiency of —

Oh, thank you.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: —for the journey that he is
taking, because it would make government more eff icient and it is the direction that most large organis ations are taking.
And, again, he gave an outlook on upcoming
events for the year and so I am just tying my comments to that.
My colleague, the Honourable Craig Ca nnonier spoke to the cloud services. And my concern is
that, yes, you buy a package for the cloud services,
somebody manages those cloud services for you from
a vendor. So how do we address the security in r egard to storage? And I know we are going to have
encryption in regard to access. But as far as retrieving
and security data, from a security point of view, be-cause it is managed b y a third party, can the Minister
help me understand that security feature?
We spoke about the Shadow IT posts and I
understand that consolidation.
Can the Minister provide some details? He
said going forward he was going to strengthen the infrastructur e and the stability of the delivery of information by doubling the bandwidth. Where do we stand
in doubling the bandwidth at this point in time? In addition, he said we will be able to have frontline users
to provide self -service functions. Can he confirm when
that will be in place?
He talked about the new integrated telephone
system, which I believe he said will save approximat ely $6 million. Is this the Cisco system that he was tal king about that provides telephone, online conference
facilities, et ceter a?
Can he provide details on the IT Governance
Committee and who they are? I support the epayment system. I think that is the way forward.
And my last question on this section is, what
percentage does he see with implementing the digital
strategies across government? How much does he expect for our expenditures to be reduced by? After
implementing the recommendations of this depar tment, can we expect a reduction of national expend itures by 5 per cent, 7 per cent? I think if that is the
case then it will truly be worth following up on this in itiative. So, if he could give us some idea as to how
much, after implementing his IDT strategies, how
much the overall government expenditures will be r e836 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly duced by because we are doing it for efficiency and
cost.
I think those are my . . . hang on. Those are
my only questions in this section.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
On [page] B -65 under Head 51, Department
of Communications, I would just like to say thank you.
I believe that they did a stellar job over the last year due to COVID -19 and informing Bermuda on the work
forward. I do not have any questions at all. The brief
was thorough. And I just wanted to echo the sent iments of the Premier on how great a work they actua lly performed under some really stressful times.
I do not know if anyone else has any questions. But if they do not, I will move to Head 61.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
On [page] B -69 Head 61, Department of E mployee & Organisational Development, I would like to
just move over to [page] B -71, right to the Performance Measures. The numbers are quite static, so they were explained quite wel l.
I am sorry, Mr. Chairman, I do have one question on Professional Services on [page] B -70. The
Premier mentioned, Head 61, that the estimate for Professional Services at the bottom of the page, there was an estimate of $627,000. I know that the HR in
the past has spent half that amount, so I was just c urious as to whether or not the estimate of $627,000 was all due to HR or what were some of those other
Professional Services that would fall under this Head
61 outside of the Human Resources?
If I could t hen move to [page] B -71 under the
Performance Measures, under Management Consul tant Services, . . . sorry, this was Minister Furbert, I
believe. There was mention about the paperless initi ative under Management Consulting Services, and also the subject was brought up under Management Consulting Services of a form system. He mentioned there were 30 forms to digitalise, and that is admirable. I was just curious, this was the beginning phase and
they are moving now into phase 2. What other forms
were they look ing at and what departments did they
fall under that we would be looking to digitise to en-sure that Bermuda can go online and streamline and
find more efficiencies ?
He also mentioned about this phase 2 and he
did not say enough about . . . more of what was going
on in phase 2 under Management Consulting Services
and in relation to operational and organisational
needs, analysis conducted across government. If he can give us more information about what phase 2 e ntails under business unit 71000, Management Consulting Services.
And that was all I had for this particular Head,

Yes.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: The Honourable Member did
not refer to which Head he was talking about.


Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: We are talking about Head 61, the
Performance Measures. His first question was under
business unit 71000 and now he has gone to another.
Continue, Honourable Opposition Leader.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Just for the Minister’s edif ication, I was questioning why the rollout of the Per-formance Measurement & Management System for
the Government Refor m Initiative was discontinued.
So, that was my question, Minister.
Then I will refer you to business unit 71020,
Administration, the third item, develop a public service
compensation strategy. Can the Minister provide more
details on that? Who is leading that initiative? And
when does he anticipate having that strategy com-pleted and made available and tabled in the House?
Those are my only questions.

Yes.
Hon. N. H. Cole Sim ons: Okay, I am going over to
page B -72, unit 71060, Talent Management Services,
develop succession plans as required for ministries.
Can the Minister confirm that under this section we are also looking at succession planning for the permanent secretaries?
Then we move down to business unit 71080,
Performance Management & Industrial Relations, pr ovide advice and guidance to the permanent secretaries and heads of departments who require assistance with employees and industrial relations manager.
What resour ces do we have in place for this? And
who will provide the advice and guidance for our permanent secretaries and heads of departments?
And Mr. Chairman, that brings me to the end
of my questions.

Yes, on page B -71 under
the same Head 61, under business unit Management
Consulting Services, the Honourable Minister mentioned how the y . . . I believe he mentioned there were
some initiatives to harmonise some of their efforts
across the board in performance assessments? I did
not quite get it all. I wrote a note down and I was just
wondering if he could just repeat what he mentioned
about these performance assessment measurements, if he would. Thank you.

My apologies. I think you
guys got big fingers hitting the wrong buttons.
The question was . . . the Honourable Member had mentioned something about Perf ormance A ssessments and Measurements under the business
unit on page B -71, Management Consulting Services.
And I was curious, when it says, To roll out a Performance Measurement & Management System for the
Government Reform Initiative, if there was a desir e to
try and harmonise these performance measurements
across all departments throughout government civil
service. That is it.

Again, I want to thank the
Honourable Member. He gave some good details here
as to where the Project Management & Procurement
team is.
On [page] B -77 under Performance
Measures, I was just curious, under unit 90000, A dministration (Project Management & Procurement),
compliance . . . did this Head play any role in the
massive work that needed to be done throughout the
COVID -19 period?
He also mentioned, under the second item
under that s ame unit Project Management on [page]
B-77, Project management, procurement and contract
compliance audits on capital projects completed. He
mentioned under this particular area about unsolicited proposals. And that was always something that . . .
while I was there I was always fascinated by how we
could fairly get that, someone bringing a new idea to the table. If he could tell us, because they are moving
838 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly forward with these unsolicited proposals, what is the
matrix that are being used, that they are using, what is
the methodology so that people feel like they get a fair
share, a fair opportunity, when they initiate a proposal
to Government?
Also, under this particular item, Administr ation, in the Project Management & Procurement, contract and contract compliance, I was just curious, are
they also assisting with other departments, like Public
Works and the likes, with the $13 million injection into
the economy, is Project Management planning a role in helping to manage many of those small projects
that are going on?
And that is all I have for this Head.

Yes.

Hon. N. H. Cole S imons: —Primary legislation to enable new project and procurement governance and to
transpose new Procurement directives into Bermuda
Law. Can the Minister provide details on the legisl ative agenda for the coming year that will dovetail with this?
Mr. Chairman, I am very, very concerned that
a number of very important issues that are listed in the Performance Measures are not being addressed. And if you look at notes —

Yes, that is fine.
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: One, two, three, four, five,
six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven . . . eleven of the
Performance Meas ures cannot be addressed because
of the lack of staff, tools, documented processes and
technologies. So, I repeat my question, How are we going to manage the risks as a Government if these
things are not being addressed?

I believe this is the last
Head. So, we move on over to [page] B -78, Head 94
Economic Development. And my apologies to the
Premier for assuming that . . . I thought that Tourism
fell under this particular department, and it is under Cabinet, so, my apologies.
Under the Department Objectives when the
Premier was speaking, this is definitely also another
area that he appreciates and gets right into. Under the
objective where it mentions, Position Bermuda (the
third bullet item) Position Bermuda as an ideal test -
market, I recognise that under this particular area . . .
digital nomads, if you will (I am not sure if that is the
technical term to use). We have been successful in
getting folks to come here during the COVID -19 per iod. Were there any other ar eas that the Premier can
identify that we have used as a test market into other industries, potentially?
He mentioned also that FinTech will continue
to be a focus. But, certainly, Economic Development has a broader scope in looking at whatever idea and opportunities, if he could mention some of these other
areas that he believes we could be a test market for and whether or not he plans on going into these areas
if we have not already.
Also, on page B -79 under head 94 Economic
Development, under the Gener al Summary, if you go
down, Mr. Chairman, to unit 9405, Concierge & E ngagement, and item number 104120, Concierge Ser-vices, I see that we have not allotted an estimate
amount here for the Concierge Services. I do recall a
lot of conversation around this ar ea, so I was just c urious about why we should have a Concierge Service and where there was a gap that he saw as to why we now have decided this year to not use the Concierge
Services that were a bit of a fuss.

Hon. E. David Burt: Can I just do a point of clarific ation, Mr. Chairman?

Yes, Honourable Premier, continue.

POINT OF CLARIFICATION
Hon. E. David Burt: I just want to help insofar as his
question, because I know it was a question which I
had as well. And I am going to assume that the Honourable Member is referring to page [B -]79.


Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Yes.

Hon. E. David Burt: And looking at the fact that in the
2021/22 estimates all of the various items are under
zero, and that everything is rolled under Administr ation. The fact is that I c overed the department inside
of it. All of these departments are continuing to be
funded. So, I do not want you to think that they are not
funded; it was just a budgeting thing that they move
those to Administration. So, along the lines of your
question, I am happy to speak about it, but they were
not stopped. I just want to make that clear.

Yes. Thank you very much
for the point of clarification, and thank you for allowing
me that information, Mr. Chairman.
Yes, I would love to he ar some more about
what it has accomplished over the last year because I
do believe that you eloquently spoke in the past of the
gap that was there, and we want to make sure that we
are taking care of businesses setting up in Bermuda.
With that in mind, w e turn over, Mr. Chairman,
thank you.

Yes, yes.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: The Premier indicated that
he had a number of new clients coming in—IG Inte rnational, Nayms, Bittrex Global, and Diamond Standard, and one other one (I did not get the name). So,
my question for the Minister is, Can he summarise the number of employees that each of these companies
will be bringing to Bermuda when they come?

Thank you.
That is it, Honourable Member?
Hon. N. H. Col e Simons: No, no, no, that is not it.
I note that he also has plans for EEZ incubator hubs —one in Somerset, one in Hamilton and one
in St. George’s. Are we renting those buildings? You spoke about the Fourth Building. Are we renting each
of the sites? And if we are renting them, I do not r emember seeing them in the Budget Book. So, if you
could provide clarity. And is there a cost to customise
each of the buildings for the services that we about to
offer our community? Just bear with me, sir.

Are you complete, Honourable Opposition Leader?
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: The other question I would
like for him to answer is to summarise, under Head 9404, Research & Legislative Support, can he also
summarise the legislative agenda for the coming
year?
If we flip over to [page] B -80, Corporate Services and Concierge Services, can he differentiate what he does in the Cabinet Ministry and what is done
in the Bermuda Business Development Agency? I
think there is a bit of overlap there, and I would like t o
have some clarity on how we are going to address that overlap.

Hon. E. David Burt: Could you just repeat that one
quite quickly please, Mr. Chairman?
I am sorry, Mr. Chairman.

Yes.

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: You spoke to Corporate
Services and Concierge Services. I am aware that the
BDA does that, and I have a sense that you are also
doing that in the Cabinet Office. So, can you provide clarity as to why both organisations are providing that
service? And is there any overlap?
Those are my only comments, Mr. Chairman,
thank you very much.

Okay.
Ministers, can you please respond?

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Chairman, so shall we pick
up?

840 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Yes, you can.

Hon. E. David Burt: Okay. Thank you very much.
I will try to run thr ough the answers as best as
I can. So, we will start with Head 9, and then I guess
we will go Head by Head because some of these are
mine and some of them belong to the Minister for
Cabinet Office.
The first set of the questions was on the
Commission of I nquiry. There was a question from the
Opposition Leader asking what will happen after it is
done. It is an independent commission; I cannot prejudge what they may or may not say or what they may
or may not do. So the Government is going to wait to
see what they may or may not say or may or may not do.
In regard to the rent, the question of where
the office was located, I think the Opposition Leader
did have it correct. I do understand that it is Sofia
House on the top floor.
There were questions in regar d to the Brussels Office. The first question in regard to the Brussels
Office was about the law firm that is over there being
used. Clearly, the Government of Bermuda has a rel ationship with Steptoe & Johnson, but most of that is
through the Ministry of Fi nance. I deal with matters
more over there on less matters that are down here
inside of the Cabinet Office. Our engagements typica lly run through the office itself, with Ms. Aliyyah Ahad
there on the ground.
In regard to the question of office space and
the increase in the price of the rent, it is very, very likely that . . . yes, okay. So I have the answer. The
lease agreement has not changed. And so, I am r eminded that for rents, the Brussels Office is in a W eWork type of facility, I think it is spaces, so it is shared
office space, it is not its own sole office space. And the answer which I have is that the lease is €4,198 a
month. It has not increased. A little extra was budgeted to simply account for the foreign exchange. That is
the answer that I hav e in front of me, which has been
relayed.
Now, in regard to the DC Office, the answer is
that we continue to use “The Group” (which was asked by the Opposition Leader), and there has been
no change in the funding that is paid to The Group. The Group is paid $20,000 a month and they are r etained for $20,000 a month to handle all of our United
States’ affairs.
In regard to the question of the Office, there
was a question as to why there was a lower figure for
the office rent and the revised figure for the higher office rent. And that was because there was the expectation inside of this fiscal year that we would be
able to sublet the office and, clearly, the coronavirus
kind of happened and office space was one of the things that are certainly not in demand. Therefore, that
is the reason why it was put up to the full [amount]. It is still attempting to be sublet. That is still the current
plan.
There are offers that are there that the Go vernment of Bermuda is currently examining. But the
full thing was priced in because there is still a level of
uncertainty. And so at the time of the putting together
of the Budget Book there was not a lot of movement
because people actually wanted to see what the
change in administration, whether or not there would
have been a change in administration. So now that
there is a change in administration, there are offers
that are coming in. So the Government is examining
those offers and we are able to move forward.
There was a question in regard to the London
Office —

[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. E. David Burt: Sorry?

Thank you, thank you, Honourable Premier.
I also asked a question of how long the co ntract was for and when was it renewed?

Hon. E. David Burt: You are correct. Thank you. The
contract is for five years . . . the rental contract is for
five years. And it was 2019 when it was renewed.
On to the is sue of the London Office.

Oh, my apologies, Mr.
Chairman.
The C hairman: Premier, you can answer the question.
Hon. E. David Burt: I will look to try to get the Honourable Member the answer. I had to tell him 2019,
but we have technical officers who are diligently wor king, so I will look to get the Honourable Member t he
answer as to the month when that lease was started.
In regard to the London Office, there was a
question regarding repatriation of Bermudians due to
COVID -19. Repatriation on these flights is managed
on a specific case- by-case basis, understanding situations, and ensuring that Bermudians were given the


Bermuda House of Assembly first opportunity for repatriation based upon the ser iousness of their case.
The first flight was based on priority of provi ding availability on the flight for senior citizens, who had
travelled, those w ho came to medical . . . I am sorry,
to those who came to the UK for medical reasons, and
students and Bermudians living alone or those in
more distressed circumstances. The first flight was
shared with Cayman and their citizens and we negot iated our numbers, trying to split the seat availability.
The second flight, two weeks later, was solely
for Bermudians who were unable to make the first
flight and were provided full and open access on the
second flight if they were ordinarily resident in Berm uda.
The next question was the issue of the pas sports, a continuing vexatious issue. The response that
I have is that we are in continued conversation with
the Home Office. At the moment it is officials in the
Home Office balancing overall budget strategy within
the workings of the UK Government. Again, this is a budget issue, not something else as the Government
of Bermuda has balked at the price tag which they are
asking the Government to pay for a choice in decision
that we ourselves did not make.
It says that we will have a clear position either
way in the coming months, or with the UK budget
year. However, as I think may have been reported
previously, when a question was asked in the House,
a presentation was made to the IKO Working Group
on the invitation of the FCDO Minister Lord Ahmad to
make sure we state the case. So, the real issue right
now is the cost of how much it is going to be, and the discussions continue with the Home Office from a
budget line item to find out where we are going.
If I can then . . . sorry, Mr. Chairman, move to
the questions on PATI and PIPA. There were questions regarding consulting services. The consulting services have been primarily on the privacy side with
experts in privacy and data protection for the follo wing: input into PIPA amendments in light of global pr ivacy developments with future adequacy and equiv alents; applications with other jurisdictions in mind(so, that just means that we want to make sure that we are
keeping up our regime so we can be compliant with
GDPR and other international equivalency, which is
necessary); development and provision of privacy and
data protection training, both general and focused;
assistance in the mobilisation of the privacy fram ework and implementation of planning; assistance for the development and implementation in implementing
the strategy for EU adequacy, and that is entitled GDPR; and assistance in developing the strategy and
programme for other countries applying to Bermuda
for adequacy recognition (so those are the other people w ho want to say that they are compliant with Bermuda’s privacy regime).
There was a question . . . I will get to Tourism.
I will handle Tourism all in one. The next question was Professional Services breakdown. And I am happy to
provide the Professional Services breakdown. It encompasses all consultants and contractor fees for the
whole of the Cabinet Office, including foreign offices,
as well as the National Health Emergency Fund budget.
They are:
• $250,000—National Health Emergency Fees;
• $187,000—CARICOM;
• $240,000—The Group (that is the DC Office);
• $475,000—the London and Brussels Office,
its consultancy fees, the Brussels represent ative, Firehouse Communications, Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd. for both the London and the Brussels Office;
• $170,000—the PATI and PIPA consultancy professional fees;
• $180,000—for the negotiation team that is
budgeted, negotiations are on hold, so they
are not progressing on with that, those monies
are in the budget but not being spent; and then
• $120,000—Human Resource am algamation
consultancy fees.
And those are the breakdowns in Professional
Services.
Moving on to a question that was asked r egarding the five- year Public Services Plan. There was
a question who is implementing the Plan to make sure that it is executed. The key point is that the Plan has
to be put together before the monitoring happens. And
so, the first phase of the Plan was to enhance what
was done in CBD. So, there was a large presentation
that was made to the Cabinet, I want to say last year,
where we w ent over the various inputs that would go
into the Public Services Plan to identify the five stages, (which I think the Honourable Member Craig Cannonier remembered all five of them), whether it was
essential, and those various options. So, those will
then be done. But that work has not yet been completed. So the categorisation of all the services that
the Government of Bermuda offers, that categoris ation has not been done. Once that is done, that then
gets rolled into the five- year Public Services Plan and
then we can monitor it. This is laying out the project
that is going to happen, but that has not yet been
completed.
There was a question about how we determine what is in, what is out. I will ask the Permanent
Secretary for the Cabinet Office, who is here, if we
can share the input of the documents. We do not have to go through parliamentary questions or anything like
that, I am happy to share it with you, it is rather robust,
and it shows the various factors that will go into the analysis of the services which are offered and provi ded by the Government of Bermuda as we look to our five-year Public Services Plan.
There was another question regarding gross
misconduct cases. And so, the number of gross mi s842 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly conduct cases was seven, which were referred to the
Head of the Public Service during the period of 1 April
2020 until today. The nature of cases —aggression
and derogatory comments to manager, operating a public service vehicle under the influence of alcohol, repeated absence from duty without approval, intim idation of colleagues, theft, and insubordination. Res olution, some cases are still pending, resolutions range from suspension without pay to ending contract with
employee.
The Honourable Member Mr. Cannonier,
asked where are we going with the Travel budget? And that has not yet, in any way, shape or form, been
determined. I do believe that travel will recommence,
but there have been no specific plans which have been laid out. So, I do know that the Bermuda Tourism Authority has invited me to travel and we had to
decline that because I am not comfortable travelling entirely yet, even though I have had my two doses of
the vaccine. I am just going to wait a little bit before
we hit the road to promote Bermuda. But, at this point in time there is no particu lar travel [planned].
I do want to make sure, Opposition Leader,
that it is made clear that the Travel budget which is
located inside of the Cabinet Office is not just for me, myself and I, as you said, the Premier . There is an
entire apparatus, including London Office, including
Brussels Office, and including the things that are on
that side of the world. So it not just the travel for the
Premier himself. I just want to make sure that this is
clear.
I covered Professional Services, BEDC, there
was a ques tion of the Innovation House—I will get
back to BEDC —as the director is finalising.
I will then go to Tourism, which is all under
Head 9. So, the first question was why was the grant to Tourism reduced? The grant to Tourism was r educed because when we came to this very difficult
budgeting conference, the Ministry of Cabinet Office
reduced its cash limit that was assigned by the Mini stry of Finance by $2.75 million to make sure that we
could give money to Health and to Education and to
Labour for our trainin g items. So, this was all about
trade- offs when we sit inside of this room to make
sure that we can fund the priorities.
There was a million- dollar reduction that came
from the Tourism Authority budget. There was reduction, as you saw, from the Bermuda Ec onomic Deve lopment Corporation, and also a reduction for the
Bermuda Business Development Agency as well. So,
that is the reason why and, you know, the Bermuda
Tourism Authority, as I said in my brief, has adjusted and streamlined.
Okay. There were a number of questions on
Tourism so I will try to get through them. There was a question from the Opposition Shadow Minister regar ding Workforce Development and casinos. The answer
that I have for the Honourable Member is that a spectacular St. Regis Resort will debut in St. George’s, due to open on May 22, 2021 with 121 hotel rooms.
And then not far behind, of course, was the refur-bished housing project on Warwick’s Southshore
which is scheduled to open as a new hotel property in
the second half of this year, bri nging an additional 50
to 70 rooms.
And I think that was from the brief which I
said, that the Bermudiana Beach Resort is a Hilton Tapestry Resort. And I think that colleagues in the
room had given the answer, but it is for mid- priced
tourists. So, St. Re gis is very expensive. You can go
online and look to see how much the rooms are for their opening weekend, Memorial Day weekend. A
friend of mine from New York was thinking of coming
down and he said the rooms were there, but that is
where St. Regis should be. You can get rooms in
June though, Honourable Member, if you want to go
up and stay and go back to your stomping ground in
St. George’s for $600 a night at the St. Regis. So, I
think they are running a buy -three- nights -and-get-onefree special. So, you know, it will be wonderful to
sample the air up there in the East End. Their question was, who will it serve? As I said, it is a mid- range
item.
The next question was regarding Workforce
Development and training for casinos. St. Regis plans
to open a casi no after completing its qualification pr ocess with the Bermuda Gaming Commission. It is anticipated that there will be the launch of the casino
school. So let me just explain the process which we
are going through with St. Regis, because the one
thing that we certainly do not want to do is . . . we are
making sure that we get this casino open as quickly
as possible and that is something that is particularly
important. And so, there is a process that the Government of Bermuda is not involved in and that pr ocess is with the regulator.
They are going through the regulatory pr ocess. But there are processes which we are involved
in and one of the things is that, as you can know, if
you are dealing with step A, step B, step C, step D
and all of them have different things, what we are doing is we are trying to do steps A, B, C, and D all at
the same time. So, there were certain permissions
that may have been required for the importing of cer-tain machines and other types of equipment —all of
those things are happenin g simultaneously. So, once
the due diligence items are completed, then we do not then have to move step 2 and step 3 into step 4. So
matters which are dealing with training and others are
commencing all at the same time. So, that is with . . .
that is for that question.
There was a question regarding when cruise
ships will return. There is no certain date for the return of scheduled calls at this point in time. But I refer to
inside of my statement, which is something that I have
alluded to before, is that we have inquiries for cruise
ships who want to berth from Bermuda and make
Bermuda their home port. So we are continuing with


Bermuda House of Assembly those discussions. The Cabinet will be discussing this
going forward. No decisions have been made as of
yet, but we are working th rough it. And so, the brief
that was provided by the Bermuda Tourism Authority said that the Bermuda Tourism Authority is working with the Government of Bermuda on the plans regar ding cruise ships. So, that is the answer there.
There was another question i n regard to what
we are doing to attract jet -setters and why do they
come to Bermuda? The introduction of jet -setters and
the introduction of new hotel products that serve the audience, including St. Regis, and new charter flights
and, of course, the Loren. Proximity to the key markets of New York and Europe allows for easy access
to the destination, and the hotel product available to serve this audience, including high- end villas and s elect properties. So, that is what is being done on that side.
There was a question from the Shadow Mini ster of Tourism regarding weddings in 2020/21. The majority of our weddings in 2020 were postponed due to the pandemic. However, our sales team has ident ified key outlets across Bermuda that provide open air and focus on out door facilities. We are exploring new
weddings and launching “I DO ISLAND” promotions,
and supporting long- term relations with wedding travel
partners. I think it is important to state here, that from a competitive perspective, that Bermuda cannot afford
to be stuck behind other countries.
And so we have a position where we have
identified ourselves as safe, but as we are seeing the very quick increase and ramp up of vaccinations
which are happening in the United States, we are a lso, at the same point in ti me, recalibrating our outlook
on how we are going to make sure that we serve this
market. Because it is not to say that we are trying to
go in a race to the bottom, so we are not trying to drop
our protocols for anyone, but we will be in a compet ition if w e basically say in Bermuda, you know, we are
not going to move away from a case that you have to
be vaccinated in order to come to Bermuda without
restrictions. But the thing is that there will be . . . it is
going to then be a question of what the restric tions are
and how does that factor among people looking to
choose destinations. So, that is something that is d ynamic, but we are making sure that we are streamli ning the approval process.
So, we have gone through and streamlined
the approval process for s porting activities and for
weddings so that we can make sure that the sales team at the Bermuda Tourism Authority can say this is
what you need—X, Y and Z —and they are not bas ically going through a process where they have to go
ahead and apply to the Minis try of National Security
and wait for a response. There is an understanding that once these things are done approval will be gi ven. And that is the way that we are looking to speed
that up. In addition, what was mentioned was that we
are launching an “I DO ISLAND” promotion to support
long-term relationships with travel planners.
There was the next question about what we
are doing to attract mega yachts —this is from the
Tourism Authority. Why mega yachts? In 2020 we had 46 superyachts, which yielded an esti mated economic
impact to Bermuda of $2.3 million. The benefits of
mega yachts are that they attract high net worth ind ividuals who spend a longer time in Bermuda and spend larger amounts of money.
The superyacht strategy and what are we d oing to attract m ega yachts? It is the right events,
SailGP, Clipper Race, twinning with other like- minded
superyacht destinations that begins later this month.
As I have said, the Bermuda Tourism Authority wan ted me to travel to Miami, but we found a way to do
that remotely and do that. Influencing decision ma kers—superyacht brokers, captains, and owners. Dri ving charter business based on the new legislation.
And currently, you know, you also have to have mega
yacht ports, so there is going to be work that is going on in t he East. Unfortunately , [INAUDIBLE ] and Car oline Bay, of course, are in disputes and we have what
is actually Hamilton Princess, which, I think, there is a
nice mega yacht there now, if it still here or it may
have left.
Next week the chief sales and mark eting officer will be in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida developing rel ationships and strategies with the Ft. Lauderdale dest ination marketing organisation and will host an event with myself, firstly. Those are the events and then there are a number of superyachts scheduled to come
to Bermuda for the SailGP, the unofficial start of our mega yacht season.
The plan is to build a mega yacht pier and the
infrastructure investment into water and sewage in the
west that will assist in a mega yacht pier also to be
constr ucted in St. George’s.
There was a question from the Opposition
Leader around organisational efficiencies and hea dcount management in the Department of Tourism. And there was a question first on New York. There is
in the New York Office Douglas Trueblood w ho has
been hired as the new chief of sales and marketing
officer. And effective April 1
st, the headcount in the
New York Office will be 11 persons.
And regarding vacancies, there were eight
vacancies that have been open for more than a year, in part due to COVID -19. Action taken, after a review
of those eight positions and talks with our sales and
marketing agencies, some of the posts have been
transitioned, others have been transferred into other
places in the organisation. Additionally, there is a
need to hire two persons on the sales and marketing
team who are critical to recovery and both of those positions are Bermuda- based. And so, this, of course,
is of no additional cost to the organisation, but the salary budget will be reduced.
844 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly A question regardi ng consolidation of roles.
There are four roles which have been consolidated
into two. One takes effect immediately, the other one
takes effect on April 1st. One role is New York -based,
the other is Bermuda- based. The result is to create
advancement opport unities for Bermuda talent. It has
resulted in the promotion of two Black males at the
Bermuda Tourism Authority and also assisted in the
further efficiencies at the BTA in regard to their budget. Because, of course, not only were you concerned
that the gr ant for the Bermuda Tourism Authority
(which they are getting from the Government of Bermuda), but it is also the additional revenue which they
earn outside with the other activities that they get from
taxes, et cetera, which, of course, are not as plentif ul
as they once were.
Okay. I think there was a question (and I had
seen an email had come through) in regard to the
CEO. I will try to find that as I have currently mi splaced it. And BEDC? You were going to tackle the
Shoreside Facility question, go ahead.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Honourable Member, you
asked a question about Shoreside Fisheries Facility.
BEDC is actively working and meeting with the Fis hermen’s Association of Bermuda (FAB).
You asked [for] those members on the steering committee for this f acility. Really, I have been joi ning in and as a matter of fact I am working to progress
the facility at Marginal Wharf. In fact, Marginal Wharf
was also suggested by them as the location, and I am
in support of them. There are no concerns from the
FAB wit h the location in the east. They indicated that
there is likely to be a drop- off location in the west,
which is linked to the east facility.
I think it was $375,000, I believe the Honourable Member Craig Cannonier had asked about that.
That money will be spent this year. The money will be
. . . is for drawing up plans to locate the facility, a feasibility plan will be done, update on the business plan
will be done, and drawings will be done. So, that
$375,000 will be spent this year and we also plan to
actually start putting some shovels in the ground to
get the facility up and going. But there was no real
concern by FAB (or the Fishing Association) in Bermuda in regard to the location.
Thank you.

Hon. E. David Burt: Okay [there are] a few more
questions on BEDC and I think that will end Head 9 so
that we can move on to other Heads.
There was a question regarding incubator
hubs and the rents that this unit paid for them. In St.
George’s the BEDC is not paying any rent. It is a pe ppercorn rent because the BEDC was responsible for
upgrading the space, so in exchange for upgrading
the space they got the rent at a peppercorn rent, so
the space was upgraded and so they paid the infr a-structure costs for a number of years. The rent will be
negotiated after three years.
Somerset the rent is $1,733 per month or
$20,796 per year for three years. And then the rent
was offset by a certain amount to advance the lan dlord to assist with renovations and upgrading to the property as well.
There has not been a place that has been
identified in North East Hamilton as of yet. However,
there are eight identified start -ups there in the main
office of the BEDC and what they get is mentorship,
courses, physical space and international contacts.
And they have wrap- around services to make sure
that these start -ups are successful. And once all of
them are up and running, the anticipation is that there will be 25 to 30 start -ups.
We know all of them will not succeed, but one
thing the BEDC always reminds me because I always get ner vous when I see reports that come in, that the
fact is, kind of like in banking and other things, that you are not going to win every bet, so it is a question
of making sure you win more than you lose and to continue to generate. So, the BEDC has had a pretty
good record of risk management thus far and so, I am
going to trust that they have done a good job on this
right now.
Moving into virtual markets, which is one of
my key things that I know that I have been pushing, the virtual market will be a full -service website and the
site will perform all payment processes for businesses
on the platform. It will connect consumers with pro ducts, consumers to services, and businesses to bus inesses. New start -ups will be on the platform for free.
Small businesses wil l also get access initially and
complimentary. After a period of one year, those are
the things that will be re- examined to see whether or
not they will be transitioned to other platforms. But the
view of this is to make it easy for businesses to get
online and to go ahead and provide goods and services to persons through one item.
And I can just give you an example of why this
is important. I do not know if it was the Opposition
Leader or the Shadow Minister that asked the question, a trainer was having a difficulty getting a loan because there is no record of transactions if you are
getting cash or different exchanges like that. And so,
this will allow persons who are providing services to
be able to issue invoices and accept electronic pa yments and, therefore, will be able to at least have a
record of items so when they go to a bank or go
somewhere they can at least show a record of their income and an understanding when it comes to loans.
So, that is a practical example of why these things are
useful and why they make sense. And it is not just for
goods, but it is also for services.
In regard to mandatory business registration,
this is something that is only going to be required for
sole proprietorships as there are other processes and


Bermuda House of Assembly platforms and organi sations responsible for registering
limited liability companies, LLCs and partnerships.
The one thing which we want to make sure is
to make it seamless, and with the plan that the go vernment is not to add additional red tape, bureaucr acy, and/or expenses to businesses. One of things
which we are working on —and this is a plan that is
going forward so, the Cabinet has not finished giving
its full opinion on it —is in regard to going and registering your business for this one registration. And that automatical ly registers for your social insurance, re gisters your . . . you are registered in one place. So it is
a one- stop shop. We have been talking about this for
a while and it is a little bit more difficult to get done when there are other competing priorities, but that is
the plan for the mandatory business registration,
which interestingly enough is in the Act.
The BEDC licence has been licensing vendors since 2015. Vendors pay $100 annually. And
there is currently a COVID discount of 50 per cent.
There is cur rently no oversight process for sole pr oprietors, outside of vendors. As I said, the benefits of
registration, a one- stop shop for new start -ups to link
with all the other things —payroll tax, and social insurance, access to data to collect for the business es who
may register and they get access to services, and also
a licence to validate their official business, which in most countries, is actually needed or required if you
are going to access services as a business.
The other thing is that Bermuda’s Deposi t Insurance Company is requiring small companies, Li miteds and LLCs to have bank deposits insured and
they must be on BEDC’s register to get the preferen-tial rates for financial institutions as well. So, there is
also going to be negotiated discounts for access to
services and products from entrepreneurs and bus iness and other benefits to be negotiated. So, that is
the plan when the BEDC moves forward to business
registration.
Anything else on BEDC, or Head 9, Minister?

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: No.

Hon. E. David Burt: Okay. I think that ends us on
Head 9, Mr. Chairman.
I guess that takes us to the Post Office.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Member —

Hon. E. David Burt: Just one, let me pop in on Head
9, just so I can finish. Sorry, Mr. Chairman, sorry.
A response did come in, so I have two. First,
the DC Office—October 1, 2019. So that is the answer you asked for renewal, October 1, 2019.
Second is in regard to the CEO search. Currently, a CEO search is underway. Interviews are
happening and the BTA is looking to have an a ppointment by April 1, 2021. Mr. Chairman, if I may yield to the Minister for
the Cabinet Office to do Head 13?

Okay.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Colleagues and Honourable
Members, questions were asked in regard to the Post Office and I am going to kind of go through them one
by one.
Honourable Member, I believe, Cole Simons (I
can’t remember whether it was Member Cole or Member Craig Cannonier) asked about the seven suboffi ces and what is the intention. There is no intention. We
plan to maintain all the seven suboffices in 2021/22.
And the question about other service revenue,
the main concentration in 2021/22 is [to] focus on
growth, e- commerce business via UPU [Universal
Postal Union], MyBermudaPost.com, remittance pr ocesses fo r government and third parties, will be our
main focus as far as revenue growth in the Post O ffice.
The question was asked on the rents down
here on Church Street . . . sorry, not Church Street,
Queen Street. The payment was $27,000 to the Corporation of Hamilton. This year the Bermuda Post O ffice will not be paying, as you can see from the budget, there is zero that the Post Office will be paying the
Corporation, so that most likely will fall under the Mi nistry of Health.
Professional Services, the quest ion was
asked on page B -48, what is included? And it is a v ariety of consultants for training, UPU (that is where we pay our fees as a member), systems improvement,
contributions, our quality -of-service funds, and annual
dues. So that is where those funds . . . so, that is page
B-48, Professional Services, it was $68,000.
Insurance coverage. I believe it was $12,000
for 2021. This remains the same as the previous year
and covers escrow accounts for maintaining software applications, vehicle fleet insurance, and it also covers
repairs under Repairs and Maintenance.
Another question was asked regarding page
B-49, Revenue source number 8312.06, Courier Service Fee of the $600,000 revenue. If you will recall, I
said that the $600,000 was missing, so new revenu e
code accounts will be created for the MyBerm udaPost.com, which is a new estimated revenue of
$600,000.
The question on our Bulk Mail revenue, consistent with declining mail volumes, traditional mail
is—

Yes. The question that I had
for the $600,000 was how did we come to that figure?
Is it based on prior usage and whatever fee they put
to it? I was trying to understand that part of it, how
they got to the . . . how it is calculated.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Oh, well, if you recall, Ho nourable Member, we said what the $600,000 was.
And we did a report with KPMG. And when they do a budget planning or business plans, they estimate how
much activity will tak e place in that . . . the growth
within MyBermudaPost.com.
They put a figure and they believe that this
$600,000 is reasonable and fair. So, based on work
that has been done by KPMG and their estimate we
will have a better idea next year once we how this
year goes and grows. There is no doubt that the Post
Office will do considerable work as far as marketing
their new operation and we hope that individuals will
sign up and bring some of their packages through the
Post Office.
Does that help out?

Thank you.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thanks.
So, I mentioned about how the Bulk Mail revenue is consistent with declining mail volumes. Traditional mail is declining. We all know that. However,
there is growth in flyer marketing mail which i s keeping the revenue stable. Flyer marketing mail, he asked
a question about what that means. I would have to
ask my colleague at the Post Office. Unfortunately, he is not here right now. So, flyer marketing mail, I could
get some more information to the Honourable Member
if need be.
Waiving the Customs clearance fee of $5.00.
As you can see, it shows a decrease of $30,000 for
waiving the fee. The Government felt that we were not
going to nickel -and-dime our people, and if they fill out
the form, then there is no need for that type of charge to our residents. That was the decision that we made and we stand by that. We can collect money in other
ways, but there is no need to be nickel -and-diming
everything we do at the Post Office.
Post Office Box [Rental Fee] is constant,
why? Long -time PO Box renters . . . [although] the PO
Box has seen fewer rentals each year, there are no
mass closures dealing with volumes. I can speak for myself. I have a PO Box. I do not use it that much. But
it is there for convenience in case it is needed. But we
do keep a Post Office Box in Hamilton Parish.
Cycles’ life expectancy, the Bermuda Post
Office has been maintaining the current fleet long past life expectancy, and as funding is provided we will
replace cycles where necess ary. I do not know what
the actual life expectancy [is], but these bikes, as far
as we understand it, are pretty well run down. I am
sure the Post Office may be able to sell some of them,
for those individuals who would like to buy them, but we felt that as our staff rides around on bikes they
should be safe and secure and we want to make sure
they are taken care of so we decided to put some capital in and buy some additional bikes this year.
The rental of New Venture [House] increased.
As you can see, it went from $300,000, I think to
$400,000. And as normal, those things have to do
with the increase in maintenance services. A big lump
sum is included for maintenance services and also
utilities. So, we have budgeted for that if that takes
place. Our intent ion is to work with the Ministry of
Works & Engineering and move the location from the
New Venture [House] over to the Post Office and,
hopefully, that will save . . . if we move, it will save
Government and the people of Bermuda somewhere
between $200,000. That is by consolidating from New
Venture [House] over to the Post Office.

My apologies.
The question I had for the New Venture
House was . . . I did not hear why it went up $112,000
in rent.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: I said, Honourable Member,
that we are responsible for some of the maintenance
that takes place. So the actual rent is not just rent.


Bermuda House of Assembly Although it is under the heading of rent it also includes
maintenance services that take place in the location
and also some utilities that tak e place, so there is
some work that will be done.
But we are hoping, as I said, working with the
Ministry of Works, to move from the Venture facility
over to the Post Office facility. It will save overall funding for the Government and the people of Bermuda.

I am just trying [to understand], are you saying then for $113,000, [this
amount] is due to maintenance fees and cleaning?

Hon. W ayne L. Furbert: I am saying it has to do with
maintenance services. I am not saying it will be the
total amount. But maybe . . . they may have over -
estimated the amount. But this was the amount that
was put in the budget, and we will monitor this on a
monthly basis to make sure that it is kept within the
budget or lower than that. But this is the amount that
was in the budget for maintenance services.

Thank you.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: I think now we go to Head
14, Department of St atistics. There were some questions being put forward, and I am going to see if I can
answer those individual questions.
The question was, What role did the Depar tment of Statistics play in managing the COVID -19
pandemic? It did not actually play any part icular role;
but they did provide some statistical information to the Department of Health, particularly as based on our
population. As you know we have categories between
18 and a certain age and, blah, blah, blah, and that is
why we were able to see how many of our seniors are
65 and over. So, those are the types of roles that they
did play, providing that type of information.
I think the question was asked about travel,
what will the amount of $8,000 be spent on? As you are aware, there are no specific travel arrangements by the department, but it was important that in case
there . . . if it opens up, if something happens and they
have to go to some actual courses or other things
overseas, that some money be left in the budget. And
$8,000 is the amount t hat was given to us, and it is
significantly lower than last year. Last year there was
$25,000 in the budget for travel, this last year. And
now it is down to $8,000. So, it is really a placement
amount put there in case the department needs it for
trainin g and conferences, et cetera.
How has the Department of Statistics assisted
other departments? The department provides consu ltancy services to other departments. The department has provided the sample for the National Drug Control
surveys. In addition, the department has provided [assistance and] advice to the Department of Education
and the Department of Youth, Sports and Recreation
on the availability and selected statistical information. As you are aware, the department provides a consi derable amount of money to the Ministry . . . not money, information to the Ministry of Finance, particularly, during this time of year.
I think someone asked about Professional
Services, $54,000. The budget of $54,000 is the mon-ey that is allocated to conduct the Labour Force Survey, which is done twice a year; and Professional
Services for compensating temporary interviewers.
Who determines what new data is dissem inated? The department is guided by international
standards, such as, the United Nations’ minimum r equired data statistics, national accounts. In addition,
the department is guided by CARICOM Regional St atistical Work Programme, of which Bermuda is an as-sociate member state. More of the department is
guided by requests from credit agencies, and, of course, from time to time the Government may ask for
information which needs more detail, and they provide
the information to the Government in general.
I believe those are all the questions asked on
the Department of Statistics, Head 14. And now we go
to Head 43.

Hon. E. David Burt: Okay, Head 43 is IDT. Mr.
Chairman, that falls under myself.

Continue, Honourable Premier.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much.
There were a few questions on IDT. The first
one was the network upgrades and how long wer e
these network upgrades expected to take? We said
they would be factored in over a number of years. And there was a question of how many years. The phone
system upgrade will take three years in total. And so,
you would remember, Shadow Minister, in my bri ef I
indicated that we have to upgrade and double the
bandwidth in all various departments —this is a voice
over IP system.
So, you have to make sure the infrastructure
is correct before you then put the phone system on
top of it because if your infrastruc ture is not correct,
upgraded, secure, and has the correct bandwidth and
switches and everything else that can handle the sy stem, then you will find yourself where you have few
departments that have their own individual voice over
IP systems and those . . . you know, the phones will
be down. Or, when you talk you will hear kind of like
how you hear on here when someone’s thing goes on
low bandwidth. And we do not want that for the government system, so we are going through a process where we have a three- year network upgrade schedule.
848 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly This upcoming fiscal year will be year two.
This was year one, next year will be year two, the following year will be year three. By year three, we will
be at the point where we are installing the unified
communications system s on all the desktops ––we are
replacing all the hardware and going through that pr ocess.
There was a question regarding artificial inte lligence, and it was mentioned when we were speaking about the priority items underneath the first issue
when it came to network upgrades. Network upgrades
are used for the phone system. I will discuss the
phone system a little bit later when talking about it.
So, the artificial intelligence and security is not tied in
specifically to the network upgrades themselves. But artificial intelligence . . . they do now have artificial
intelligence systems that assist in network security. These will take intelligence from not only monitoring
the various things which will be happening inside the
network and using what may happen in other networks where they can test and detect intrusions and they will say there was an intrusion that was detected
where they first reported it and it will basically go to all
the routers that have the same supplier that will say
look out for something lik e this, this is something that
was detected as an intrusion. So, it works kind of in
that. And so, this is for the . . . the artificial intelligence
we are speaking about is for network security and not
necessarily related to the phone system.
There was a question, I would say, regarding
IT Governance and moving off of fragmented sy stems. When systems expire, they may or may not be
directly replaced. And that is what we are doing; we are looking at how we can put what is the functionality
inside of one sys tem, whether or not that can be done
in another system. We are trying to make sure we
build more common systems. So, oftentimes the sy stems are not being directly replaced and we are looking at how they can roll and fit into existing systems.
There was a question regarding who is on the
IT Governance Committee, the IT Governance Committee composition. There is the IT Governance Steering Group, which has the PS of the Cabinet Office, the Security Manager at National Security, the Senior A nalyst for Privacy , the Financial Secretary, designated
Crown Counsel, and Chief Information Officer. That is the IT Governance Steering Group. But that body is
scheduled to meet no less than once per quarter.
The IT Project Portfolio Management, which is
the one that will actually handle procurement when we
are dealing with the day -to-day matters, is chaired by
the Chief Information Officer. There is a represent ative from the Office of Project Management and Pr ocurement, a representative for the Ministry of Finance,
an IT G overnance expert and additional members as
necessary or recommended by the IT Governance
Steering Group as well.
There was a question from the Opposition
Leader regarding implementation strategy, and there was a question in regard to can we state the total
amount of reductions or efficiencies that will come. We would not know that at this point in time. Real ultimate automation inside of government systems is at
least two to three years away. It is not something that we are promising next year, and it could be very diff icult for me to be ambitious and promise it in the next
fiscal year as well, because there is a lot of work
which we have to do.
Now we have the resources in place, you
know. You have to hire the resources and make sure they work and work thr ough this process. But the view
which we take is that it is to make government more
efficient. So, as there is economic growth in the country and additional demand for government services,
government is more efficient, so we do not have to
hire more people to service the additional demand. I
think that is the direction in which I look at the situ ation. I do not look at it from a perspective of we are
making government efficient to get rid of people. We
are making government efficient because it needs to
be more efficient. And if that means that we cannot
replace people or do certain things by attrition, then
that is fine.
But the view is not to try to reduce, the view is
to say that as the government gets more efficient, then as we execute our economic grow th plan, the
demand to provide additional services is reduced due
to the investments that were made in technology . . .
sorry , the requirement for more people to provide for
additional government services is reduced. And so
that is the way in which we try to look at that.
Those are the questions that I have recorded
for IDT. Actually, there were a few more . . . certainly a
few more. There was a question about self -service,
when will self -service be in place? Self -service will be
in place and completed this fiscal year.
There was a question regarding the new int egrated communication system and whether that is Cisco. Our plan is that we are going to be using [Ci sco]. When it came through and came to Cabinet, it
was recommended that we use a Cisco unified communication suite. So, that is what we are doing in r egard to the new integrated communication systems.
I have already given the details on the IT
Governance Committee, given the details on the Dig ital strategies, as well, so, I think that does cover the
IDT questions for Head 43, Mr. Chairman.
And I do believe the next one is Head 51.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Yes, there were no questions on Head 51.

Hon. E. David Burt: So, after Head 51 is?

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Head 61.
Hon. E. David Burt: Head 61 is yo u.



Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Yes.

Hon. E. David Burt: Organisational & Employee D evelopment.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Right.
One of the questions, I believe, was the
makeup of Professional Services. And we did state
that in our brief. The makeup covers such [things] as
the annual employee assistance programme fees, consultant fees for local and overseas facilitators, and provides services in regard to talent management and
legal fees associated with work undertaken by the
Public Service Commission. Again, such costs were
previously funded under the Department of Human Resources.
One other question, I think, under . . . well, a
few other questions under the Department of Emplo yee & Organisational Development Performance
Measures. The question was on Performance
Measures, to roll out a Performance Measurement & Management System for the Government Reform Initiative. Why do we have discontinuance? You roll out
a system once. However, you will continue to use the
system to manage and monitor the Government R eform Initiative as well as other initiatives within the
Bermuda Government. So, there is no need for that to
be continued the way it did.
Corrections —

Yes, just to clarify the question that was not answered. Under Professional Ser-vices the question I asked was . . . we see there is an
allotment for $627,000, and the Human Resource was
likely to only use approximately half of that in dollar
value based on their history. What was the other
amount for?
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: I am sorry, Member. Where
are you? Tell me where you are looking.

Yes. Basically, we know that
there was an import of the Human Resource. But the
Human Resource Department in the past has only used approximately half of that amount. So, I am tr ying to understand, are you saying that the whole $627,000 goes to Human Resource? Because, historically, they have not used anywhere close to that.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Well, the information I have
is to take care of the annual employee assistance programme fee, consultancies for local and overseas
facilitators to provide services in relation to talent and
legal fees associated with work undertaken by the
Public Service Commission. If there is a major difference I will follow up on that question for you, Honourable Member, and get back to you.
You are asking what was the difference you
felt it was last time?

Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: So, I was on the Performance Measures that . . . was that clear? To roll out a
performance measure and we said that you only roll
out a performance measure once. So, there is no
need to roll it out again this year.
The other question mentioned the paperless
initiative —30 forms were digitised, what other forms
are we lo oking at and in what other departments? We
are focusing on forms in 20 high- volume public facing
departments. These departments include: Registry General; Youth, Sport and Recreation; Parks; Child and Family Services; National Drug Control; Environment and Natural Resources; Land Title and Registr ation; Land Valuation; Planning; Social Insurance; O ffice of the Tax Commissioner; Judiciary; Health Insur-ance; Workforce Development; Customs; Financial
Assistance; Immigration; Works and Engineering; Transport Control Department; and Health.
Let me see if there was another question
here. Do you intend to harmonise the Performance Measures across the Public Service? I mentioned
self-service will continue to drive initiatives to support
a performance culture. In or der to harmonise they
must make the performance measures consistent. There will be ongoing initiatives to ensure that perfor850 12 March 2021 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly mance metrics are developed to facilitate the
achievement of outcomes that deliver public value,
such as, workshops, one- on-one enga gements, and
the rollout of the Performance Measurement and Management System.
I believe there may be one other question. It
had to do with compensation strategy, I think it was.
Compensation strategy will be completed by
March 31, 2021. It will be led out by the Department of
Employment. Utilising a project team within the ser-vice, a pilot leadership programme deals with succes-sion planning for permanent secretaries.
And those were all the questions I have. If I
missed any, please let me know, Honourable Member.
Following that we will move on to—

Continue, Minister.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: —the next one, which is Pr oject Management.
I think the big question that the Honourable
Leader of the Opposition . . . I was talking about all
those b lanks on the side there. We said earlier that
the Government believes in efficiencies. We laid out
by introducing new initiatives under Project Management that the policy must be both robust and flexible. And by doing that, it allowed public bodies to do s ome
of the things that were done within the department. But what the department will do from time to time is
audits.
Coming from a financial background, partic ularly an auditor, as you know that an auditor does not
audit everything, he goes in to check to see about
things . . . some parts have been done. So, the Office
of Project Management can go in and see whether the
follow -up or the procedures that are in place were
done and then report those things —errors or whatever
it is—to myself, which I then report to Cabinet.
But we will address those things. Those things
will be done on the side there. As a matter of fact, this is being done by training public officers in Project
Management and Procurement to build capacity within that particular department. And we will have Management Consultant Services work with them to make
sure that this takes place.
What role did the OPMP play during COVID -
19? Well, as you know, there were some urgent things that had to take place. The Government had to make
some fast dec isions, and the Office of Project Management did play a role by supporting the labour of certain sections, certain requests made by depar tments. We did not have time to go out and do some of
the necessary things that are normally done under
certain purchas es. When there is an emergency taking place on this Island, then we have to act quickly.
But the Office of Project Management was able to r educe some of them and, hence, waivered those r equests. Did the department assist with Public Works
in regard to the $13 million projects? Yes. They pr ovided guidance and assistance with the development
of the RP, pre- qualification documents, and assi stance as requested by the Minister of Public Works.
I believe those were all the questions regar ding OPMP, Head 80.
The next item will be Head 94, Economic D evelopment.

Hon. E. David Burt: All right, thank you, Mr. Chai rman.
May I proceed with the answers to Head 94?

Yes, Mr. Premier, continue.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much.
There were a few q uestions for Head 94,
which is the Economic Development department. The first question was, when speaking about test markets,
what Bermuda wants to be, a test market for what?
Let me give a great example. A great example is an energy regulatory sandbox, which is one of the things
which we have identified as an opportunity.
In regard to the energy regulatory sandbox,
that is where Bermuda can be a test bed for new types of energy . . . energy generation, whether that is
wave power, tidal power, floating sol ar, or all the rest.
And this is an example of how you can use Bermuda as a test bed. So, that is an example of the things of
which we are speaking to advance regulatory matters
so that Bermuda can be used as a testing place for innovation.
One of the thi ngs that I speak about is that
Bermuda is very strange. I would say our strong point
is regulation. That is not something that is a particular
selling point in lots of places. But for heavily regulated sectors where you can be flexible, such as energy and
other places, if you can be flexible here and you have the ability to do things here, then that is something
that can be a draw.
And so, we know that an energy regulatory
sandbox is something that has proven viable for us already. There will be more items that are beginning
to release on that by the Minister of Finance next
week when he presents the Economic Recovery Plan.
But that is an example, Opposition Leader, about test
markets and what . . . or if that was, sorry, the Shadow Minister, I cannot recal l.
Regarding Concierge, I know the Shadow
Minister had asked the question regarding what is the
concierge doing and how does it work and whether or
not there is an overlap between what the BDA is doing
and what the Government is doing. No, there is not an
overlap. The BDA and the Economic Development
Department work together. The thing is . . . what we
have to understand is that there are two different le vels of the concierge. So, the challenge . . . well, not
the challenge, what the BDA does is, if there is som eBermuda House of Assembly body who is interested in exploring what is going to
happen and take place, the concierge services that
are provided by the Business Development Agency
are to link them with members of the private sector —
whether it be lawyers, whether it be people t hey are
dealing with —so that they can get the information in
regards to getting their opinion. And they will then also
pass them to the Department of Economic Development.
So, the best way to look at it is that the BDA is
the external marketing arm of the Government of Bermuda. They go out, they go to conferences, they
go to things . . . they deal with the lead generation.
When their leads are more qualified for other things,
people who express interest, et cetera, through that process, they then pass them on the Economic D evelopment Department for concierge. And the conc ierge services that the Economic Development D epartment provides are not external to government,
they are internal to government. So, linking with,
whether it is the regulatory agencies, l inking with . . . if
they are going to go ahead and get started up, whet her it is Ministry of Finance, whether it is the Depar tment of Immigration, et cetera. So there are two di fferent things at the concierge level, and that is how
that is done. So I hope that answers the question in
regard to the difference between the two. On the matter of —

Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: Thank you.
Hon. E. David Burt: Sorry?
Hon. N. H. Cole Simons: I just said thank you.

Hon. E. David Burt: Okay.
On the matter of FinTech there was a question in regard to the employees that the new companies had or may bring. These are companies that are
here, so it is not a question of the employees which
they will bring, they already have employees on I sland. Bermudians are working with t he companies that
I mentioned. I know as a former Cabinet colleague of
yours, Opposition Leader, certainly.
But what should also be noted is that these
companies are expanding. I know there is one FinTech company that has grown out of its office
space and is continuing to grow and expand, and it is
looking to get new office space and even looking at
possibly purchasing a building in Hamilton. So as I
say, these are things that are certainly progressing.
We do not have the exact numbers. The team
who was here said they do not have the exact numbers so we will look to furnish those items to you, but
the fact that is they are here already creating jobs and
employment. So I think I was able to give a figure, pre pandemic, about 60 jobs, it was during the pandemic,
I don’t remember, but there are a significant amount of
jobs in the FinTech space and that is only beginning to grow whether it is supporting stuff and others. So I
will have to get you that information, Opposition Leader, as we get it, but they are here already.
There was a final question. The final question
was, What were the legislation matters that the D epartment of Economic Development was working on? And there are a few that I can cover. One is amendments to the Segregated Accounts Company Act. The
next one is the amendments to the Incorporated Se gregated Accounts Company Act. That was the IP legislation which the Minister for the Cabinet Office spoke about. That is progressing. There is another one
which I mentioned in regard to working the BED C
[Bermuda Economic Development Corporation] on the
development of the cooperative’s legislation. I am pushing that forward. And also they have been wor king on the Family Office Act.
Additionally they consulted, and I do not want
to read out the names of the private office, the private
Bills that come through the Joint Select Committee on Private Bills, but they go to the Economic Develo pment Department, the Legal Affairs Department when
they are dealing with economic matters. So we have
some of those item s in front of us as well.
I think those are the answers to all of our
questions, save one, on Head 9, Mr. Chairman, and it
was a question asked by the Shadow Minister regar ding other supporting or niche events. The Sports Tourism Team is constantly looki ng at new opportunities
with a number of different promoters . Each opportun ity is evaluated for the economic impact to the Island, which includes investment, advertising value and vis itor spend. When we evaluate events, we also look for
community engagement and legacy benefits. We continue to explore new events focusing on our Black
travel market segment with the introduction of the
Black Golf Summit in the fall of 2021.
What I will say is that I have expressed to the
Bermuda Tourism Authority that in addi tion to the
Black Golf Summit I would like to tie other items of
economic value around that which are not just tourism
related. But that is for another day.