March 13, 2020

Members, just to provide clarity —

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: And then I purposely went
on to talk about the second supplementary question,
which was about the drugs coming in, whether or not
we have handled that particular situation. Now I am
asking the question also . . . I mean I asked about
shipping. What did he mean by shipping? He then
qualified that. Shipping could be a number of things,
also bringing people here as well.

So the question is involving the personnel on the shipping end. Are they comfortable with
the process —

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Yes . . . Well, no. I will cla rify the question, then, since you are helping out , [with]
a different supplementary.
Consideri ng the answers concerning the shi pping, has the Premier spoken and are there discussions with the unions concerning the shipment of
goods coming in, the handling of goods coming in
and, in addition to that, the handling of people coming
in and out of the I sland?

Premier.
Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Speaker, I have not had
those discussions personally. We do have a quarterly
meeting with the unions. There were some concerns
which were raised. I am satisfied that the Minister of
National Security a nd also the Minister of Health with
the conversations which were had with the stevedores
on the docks regarding questions and procedures
have satisfied those particular issues.

Yes.

QUESTION 2: COVID -19— TRAVEL BAN

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: We have information that
. . . well, we know that many countries have banned
those travelling from Italy and Spain from coming into
their shores. We are aware that through the airport folks are coming from Spain and Italy via London, and
then coming through Customs to Bermuda unchecked. Are we looking to prevent that from happening, since they have been banned coming into other
countries, considering the prevalence of the virus?

Mr. Premier.

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, it is not correct that the Oppos ition Leader was saying that they are coming through
unchecked. All travellers are asked a questionnaire
upon their particular arrival. What I can state, Mr.
Speaker, is that the Minister of Health has added Italy
to the list. And also the Minister of Health has i nformed me that, based on the recent advice that has
been given, there will be amendments to the listed countries for exclusion for entry into Bermuda of persons who have travelled from France, Spain and
Germany, in addition to Italy.
What I can say, Mr. Speaker, is that there was
an incident last evening where there was a plane
which had come from Switzerland through Italy. That plane itself had persons who had travelled from Milan,
that those persons were denied landing in Bermuda.
The plane did . . . sorry, they were not allowed to get
off the plane. The plane landed. It was refuelled, and
then it went further. They wanted to stop in Bermuda,
and we did not allow them to stop overnight.

Supplementary?

SUPPLEMENTARIES

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Yes, supplementary.
I guess what I would like is . . . I certainly was
not talking about that particular incide nt. I was talking
3690 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly about a prior incident. We know that nationals have
come from Italy and Spain to Bermuda. I would like for
the Health Minister and the Immigration Minister to
check into this because it is happening for a fact. We
know this. So, please, i f we are including . . . if they
can let us know when they decided the ban on Italy?
When did they decide the ban on Spain and France?
If we can get that answer.

Premier.
Hon. E. David Burt: The advice and the matter was
published last night prior to this plane being landed
regarding Italy. The Minister of Health informed me
this morning that the additional countries which have come on the list are France, Germany and Spain.
What is important for the Leader of the Opposition to know is that the Ministry of Health is working
off of advice that they are receiving. That advice is
coming in. The situation is changing very quickly, and
we are updating as quickly as the advice comes in, Mr. Speaker.

Second supplementary?

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: He did not answer the
question.
But let me just preface this next question by
saying that I did meet, and I thank the Premier. We
met th is morning and just discussed some of these
matters. So I was very appreciative of this here. And I
did let him know of some of my concerns. And so
when I ask these questions, I am not asking them because I am trying to trip him up. We met this morning.
It is important that we get as much information out as
possible.
And so when I ask the questions that I know
that these nationals have come from Italy and Spain to Bermuda, I am asking them to check into it because
it has happened. It has happened. So I know they are juggling around right now, but it has happened.
So my third question is this: The Premier also
mentioned that contingency plans have been put in place concerning the civil service. I was wondering if
the Premier could explain exactly what he means by
contingency plans to protect the civil service, if he can
explain that.

Mr. Premier.

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
As I indicated in my answer to the first question, when the World Health Organization declared
that this is a public health emergency of international
concern, planning started from our perspective inside
of the Government. That means, as I mentioned in my
press statement yesterday, that the persons from the
Emergency Measures Organisation were embodied
inside of the Ministry of Health. So with the Public Health Emergency Response Team, there were add itional resources that were brought on to begin the
preparations for what was an escalating situation at
that particular point in time.
When that par ticular matter happened two
weeks ago, I directed the Department of Information and Technologies to go ahead and prepare to have
the ability for all government workers who work on a
computer to be able to work remotely. I can confirm
that that particular c apability was secured and co nfirmed last week Friday, hence the announce of which
was made.
And I can confirm that there are tests that are
going on today for that remote capability. So that r emote capability does exist. We have licences for all workers w ho work remotely . . . sorry, we have licences for all workers who use computers to be able to work remotely. And the testing of those particular i ssues is happening today.

Oh, oh! Third question, yes. Yes, yes.
Yes.
[Laughter]



Bermuda House of Assembly QUESTION 3: COVID -19— CIVIL SERVICE
WORKING REMOTELY

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Okay. Considering the civil
service, I was curious as to whether or not we can expect that members of the civil service actually will
work remotely, understanding that as having been
Government before, we know that there are those
right now who could work remotely to help with the
situation. And considering this pandemic, is he expecting to have Cabinet meet on a more regular basis,
being that this pandemic continues to present cha llenges for all?

Thank you.
Premier.

Hon. E. David Burt: I thank the Honourable Member
for his question.
As I said, we act on the basis of advice that is
received, and following, as I said inside of my discussion yesterday, the science.
I can state that if there are cases of COVID [-
19] that are detected here in Bermuda, we know that
all the cases which have been sent off for testing have
come back negative. There are suspected cas es in
persons . . . not suspected cases, but there are persons who have been tested and are being monitored. If at the point in time, as in the Public Health Emergency Response Team yesterday, there are cases
detected, we will begin to implement measures t o contain community spread.

Thank you.
Opposition Leader, you have used all of your
questions up this morning.
The next Member we have on the list is the
Deputy Speaker. Deputy Speaker, would you like to put your
question?

QUESTION 1: DCFS PROCESS FOR SENDING
CHILDREN OVERSEAS

Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Premier, what is the process
for children who are sent overseas by the Department
of Child and Family Services [DCFS ]?

Premier.

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Speaker, I thank the Ho nourable Member for his particular question because
there are a lot of difficulties with this. And although Members across the aisle are stating that these questions were answered in the Budget Debate, I think it is
important during this time to make sure that those par-ticular things are addressed.
It is important that we understand the steps
that are involved before a child is considered an appl icant for overseas placement. The Department of Child
and Family Services does not work in isolation when
assisting children and families with their challenges.
However, when all else fails, DCSF has the respons ibility of developing and providing a solution as legal guardian of children who ar e placed in care.
Often the first issues are identified when a
child is in the school system. This is often manifested in the behavioural problems that impact the learning environment for that child and others. These behaviours often cause trauma to the s ystem, and DCFS is
frequently contacted by the Ministry of Education about the results of disruptive children.
DCFS conducts an assessment to determine
what services are required and partners in collabor ation with community partners, including counsellors ,
psychologists, psychiatrists and agencies with the Ministry of Education, Child and Adolescent Services,
Family Centre, the Coalition for the Protection of Chi ldren, Centre of Abuse, et cetera.
When considering overseas placement, all the
assessment and treatment reports pertaining to the
child are fully reviewed by the Psycho -Educational
Committee. The committee comprises senior repr esentatives from the Ministry of Education, Child and
Adolescent Services and the Department of Child and
Family Services. The committee reviews and a pproves applications for overseas assessment and
treatment. Where there are several priority issues that
appear to be causing challenge for the child and the
family, an application is made for an overseas comprehensive assessment using a comprehensive assessment team model.
Once organisations have been identified, r eferrals are made. And if it is an overseas programme that has not been previously used by the department
3692 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly or it has not been used for more than three years, the
programme is vetted by senior staff within the depar tment. Vetting ensures that the programme operates at
best practice standard with regard to its service prov ision. The department’s current policy dictates that all
overseas programmes must be licensed and accredi ted.
It must be noted, Mr. Speaker, that any child
involved in the Psycho- Ed programme must be in care
of the director. This is to protect the investment of the government, and it provides for family court oversight and accountability. All childr en in care of the director
must have the permission of the court to travel, and
DCFS must provide information as outlined in the
Children Act before the court will prepare the required order. Thank you.

Mr. Premier.

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you for that question.
Mr. Speaker, I am going to answer to the best
of my ability from my recollection at the Public Health
Emergency Response Team meeting yesterday. What
I can say is that the Bermuda Hospitals Board is ma king the adequate preparations of which are necessary.
Bermuda Hospitals Board has ordered additional medical equipment, recognising that the virus itself,
SARS- CoV-2, which causes the COVID -19, is recognised to have severe respiratory issues as well. I do note that addition al ventilators have been ordered to
make sure that those facilities are going to be avail able at the hospital.
Regarding overflow plan and overflow capac ity, Bermuda Hospitals Board has previously invested in, so we do have the ability to set up field hos pitals if
necessary and the equipment required for those particular issues should we get to that point.
However, Mr. Speaker, what I must state is
that, as I issued very clearly inside of the Public
Health Emergency Response Team, conversations
and discus sions with business leaders, et cetera, our
complete and absolute desire as a Government of Bermuda is to minimise, or, as they say, to flatten the
curve. So there is additional advice which is coming to
us at this point in time regarding additional measur es
which may be taken.
You would recognise earlier this morning, Mr.
Speaker, that the Minister of Labour, Community A ffairs and Sports handled a press conference where it
was decided that the CARIFTA Games would be
postponed. We are currently making the determination
whether or not there is going to be any additional a dvice for any additional meetings and public gatherings
which may be taking place here this weekend to be
postponed. I have asked the Minister of Labour,
Community Affairs and Sports to inform the depar tment that the events which are taking place this
weekend, including the Premier’s Concert, and also
the sports awards which are supposed to take place tomorrow evening may have to be considered to be
postponed as well.
I am awaiting additional advice from the Mini ster of Health. I must say, Mr. Speaker, in this answer I
have to commend the Minister of Health and the Mi nistry of Health, who have been working around the
clock in making sure that we can be prepared in our
doing this. They have multiple bits of information that
are coming in at once, and they are trying to make
sure that all these things are being collated. There is
an entire team of persons who are working, and I was very impressed with that presentation which took
place yesterday . And I am sure that Members, when
they get the presentation today at lunch, will also have
a better understanding and recognition of all of the steps which are being taken.
Our job is to limit community transmission,
and we are doing as much as possible in order to ensure that happens. But what I can ensure the Deputy
Opposition Leader regarding the particular question of
which she asked is that all matters are under consi deration.

Premier.
Hon. E. David Burt: I cannot state whether or not
workers and doctors have been considered to be
brought in. I do know that there are additional nurses


Bermuda House of Assembly who have been recruited inside of the community, r etired nurses, et cetera, and in health, who are being
brought on board to make sure that we have the c apacity. This is not recent. These things were an-nounced previously. And those things went into action when the World Health Organization declared this a
public health emergency of international concern prior
to the declaration that it was a pandemic. So these
processes and plans have been going on since then.
If I may, Mr. Speaker, at this present point in
time take the opportunity, as the Minister of Health
has just provided me with something. The Bermuda
Medical Council did meet yesterday. COVID -19 was
the only agenda item. And recommendations were
made to physicians and sent in an email regarding community care. These recommendations are similar
to the recommendations which have already been issued from the Ministry of Health.

Good morning, Mr. Speaker.
My question basically was similar to the first
questions asked by the Opposition Leader. But if the Premier wishes to elaborate, I just wanted to get assurances that goods and items will continue to be
shipped to Bermuda during this Coronavirus issue.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speake r: Premier.

Hon. E. David Burt: I appreciate the question from
the Honourable Member. The information which we
have right now is that the shipping lanes will continue to be maintained. This is a rapidly evolving situation. I
have no indication whatsoever that this particularly will
change, Mr. Speaker, at this point in time. As stated,
we can only rely on the information that has come in.
It is not something that we just started doing yester-day. These are actions which we have been taking for
the last two weeks.
And therefore, what I want to say, and this is
something that is particularly important to note, is that we have this particular item. We are continually
chec king and making sure that we are getting the i nformation that is updated. And I am trying my best to
prepare to present the latest information to Members
not only of this Honourable House, but also members
of the public.
But at this point in time, we are reasonably . . .
we are confident that our supplies will continue. And as has been indicat ed in my answer before—

[Inaudible interjections]

Speak to this ear.

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you.
What I will say, Mr. Speaker, is that this matter will continue to be monitored. What Members will
note is that the Government has launched a new website, coronavirus@gov.bm
, which has all the particular information in it. We are putting daily updates
on that. I know there are members of the community
who are concerned regarding supplies. And once and
for all there is no particular need at this point in time. We are relatively certain that our supply chains will
continue. And as was indicated in my answer earlier,
additional supplies have been ordered not only for
food and other items, but things that are needed i nside of the community.

No. The next Member on the list is the
Honourable Member Gordon- Pamplin.
You have the floor.

QUESTION 1: PREMIER’S QUESTION TIME—
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I am going to change tack a little
bit here from the challenge that we are dealing with as
a country. But my question to the Premier is, given the
changes to the Standing Orders that have been rat ified today, will the Premier advise us what the purpose is of asking new ques tions when legitimately
posed questions from July 26, 2019, remain una nswered?

Hon. E. David Burt: Do you want me to answer that,
Mr. Speaker? Or do you want to have a go?

Okay?

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Okay. Okay.

[Crosstalk ]

QUESTION 2 : COVID -19— BUDGET PROCESS
IMPACTED BY

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: In which case, I
have a different question, then, if that is the case.
I wonder if the Premier could advise whether,
given the extenuating circumstances surrounding the
stresses that we are experiencing, that we will exper ience with respect to the budget ing process, whether
they would be prepared to support bringing a mini -
budget in three months’ time or thereabouts when we
have a better indication as to what the financial impact will be on this worldwide challenge with which we are
dealing?

Premier.
Hon. E. David Burt: I thank the Honourable Shadow
Minister of Finance for her question. What I can say, Mr. Speaker, is that I know the Minister of Finance
has had a meeting with the Shadow Minister of F inance to discuss the various options that are on the
table from the Government’s perspective. I can state also that there was a meeting by the Minister of F inance with the Bermuda Bankers Association, and also business leaders and union leaders yesterday,
attended by myself, the Minister of Finance, the Mini ster of Tourism and Transport and also the Deputy
Leader.
What I will state, Mr. Speaker, is that at the
time when we come back from our recess, there may be the need to update that. And I am sure the Minister
of Finance will be happy to provi de a particular update
to this House.
I also would like to state, Mr. Speaker, that
given the rapidly evolving situation there was advice
which came out of the Public Health Emergency R esponse Team regarding policy matters, where there
may be a need to ex tend the session or to pass some
emergency legislation to give the Government additional powers in which to deal with matters which may
arise. So this is something that is under active consi deration and we will discuss in the Cabinet on Tuesday.

Premier.

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the Honourable Member
for his question, and I think what is particularly i mportant is that we recognise not only the progress
which has been made in education matters in accor dance with the Progressive Labour Party’s platform, but also the announcements which were made by the Honourable Minister in this House, of which I am sure
there will be a number of questions regarding educ ation reform, which is a particularly important topic.
What I can say, Mr. Speaker, is that project -
based learning is reaching all students. And this builds
confidence and self -esteem. Students who are exposed to this education are more articulate, and thi s
causes natural leaders to emerge. Students who do


Bermuda House of Assembly not usually shine academically are beginning to stand
out due to the hands -on approach. The STEAM curriculum causes students to think differently and cr eates more in- depth understanding. And resources are
readily available, and the programme has an EiE Curriculum which is currently available in 10 primary
schools, as per the Education Department’s plan to
phase out the programme —

We will now have the 60 minutes put
on the clock for the regular Question Period.
There is the Statement this morning that was
given by the Minister of Education. There is a Member
who would like to ask a question on that. The Member
is Cole Simons.
Would you like to put your question to the
Minister of Education regarding his Statement this
morning?

QUESTION 1: BERMUDA P UBLIC SCHOOLS
SYSTEM TRANSFORMATION

Yes, it is.

FIRST READING

BERMUDA MONETARY AUTHORITY
AMENDMENT ACT 2020

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Speaker, I am introducing the following Bill for its first reading so that it may
be placed on the Order Paper for the next day of
meeting, on behalf of the substantive Minister, the
Minister of Finance. The Bill is the Bermuda Monetary
Authority Amendment Act 2020.

The next order on the Order Paper this
morning is the resumption in Committee of Supply for
further consideration of the Estimates of Revenue and
Expenditure for the year 2020/21.
And for the acknowledgement of the members
of the public who are listening, you know, each day
there are eight hours set aside for the debate on the
budget. And this morning the first five hours will be for
the Education Ministry to be debated. And then when
that is concluded, the remaining three hours will be for
the Ministry of Home Affairs.
As you know, the Speaker cannot be in the
Chair while we are in Committee. So the proceedings will be in the capable hands of the Deputy Speaker,
who will be assisted by a panel of chairs. And this
morning the first Member in the Chair will be Honourable Member Commissiong. And once the Minister moves us into Committee, the Honourable Member
Commissiong will take hold of the proceedings of the House.
Minister, would you like just to move us into
Comm ittee?

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you.


Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Speaker, I move that the following Heads,
16, Ministry of Education Headquarters; 17, Depar tment of Education—

No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no.
Not yet. Where is the Minister of Finance? The Mini ster of Finance should have a document that would
take us into Committee. Once that is done, then—

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Speaker, I move that
the House now resume into Committee of Supply to
consider the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure
for 2020/21.

Good morning, Members.
Members, we are in the Committee of Supply,
and we are in consideration of Education, as indicated. And we will be considering Heads 16, 17 and 41. I
now turn the floor over to Honourable Minister Diallo
Rabain.
You may proceed, Minister.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, I move that
the following Heads, 16, Ministry of E ducation Hea dquarters; 17, the Department of Education; and 41,
Bermuda College, now be taken under consideration.

The Member has indicated his desire
to have those heads taken under consideration.
Are there any objections?
There being none, you may proceed, Minister.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, today I am
pleased to present the budget for the Ministry of Education, which comprises the Ministry of Education Headquarters, Head 16; the Department of Educati on,
Head 17; the Department of Libraries and Archives,
Head 18 [sic]; and the Bermuda College, Head 41.
Mr. Chairman, that is a typo. We are not doing
Head 18 today. The Chairman: I have Heads 16, 17 and 41, as I indicated.
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Yes, yes. That is just a t ypo.
Mr. Chairman, the 2020/21 budget for the
Ministry of Education of $137,462,000 is found on
page B -144 of the Estimates of Revenue and E xpenditure for the year 2020/21. This represents an
increase of $512,000 compared to the 2019/20 orig inal budget. The current account 2020/21 estimated revenue for the Ministry of Education is $246,000.
This estimate reflects a minimal increase of $3,000
compared to the previous budget year. The capital
expenditure estimate for acquisition and development
increased from $2,687,00 last year to $2,810,00 in
2020/21. Lastly, the total employee numbers of the
entire Ministry dipped by 20 persons, from 1,153 to
1,133.
Mr. Chairman, research reveals that globally
education is the least reformed ins titution or sector. In
fact, the average tenure of an Education Minister globally is 20 months. Education has become an established culture of fixed methods, fixed processes
and fixed systems. We recognise that over the years
our public school education sy stem reflects such a
state. However, this year the Ministry of Education will be intentional in bringing about change in our public school system.
Mr. Chairman, we recognise that in order for
our public school education system to be both pr ogressive and t ransformative in the best interest of our
children, bold decisions are required which will break through the established culture, change the fixed mind -sets and introduce a 21
st century teaching and
learning environment.
The Ministry Departments and the B ermuda
College, all of whom fall under the umbrella of the Ministry of Education, have been working together to
create these progressive learning opportunities for our
students in alignment with the change needed. Mr.
Chairman, one generation —that is all i t takes to transform our public school education. Successful transformation will take time, as it is a process, not an
event. Ministerial and community support and partic ipation, starting from the very top, are required. During
the upcoming budget year res ources will be steered
towards heightening the required change for the ed ucation system, and the external support will be essen-tial. One generation is all it takes to transform educ ation.

HEAD 16 —MINISTRY HEADQUARTERS

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, this morning
I commence the Budget Debate by detailing the expenditure of the Ministry of Education Headquarters,
Head 16.
3698 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The mission of the Ministry Headquarters,
which is found on page B -145, is To provide strategic
leadership and policy direction for education and lif elong learning. The objectives of the Ministry Hea dquarters are outlined accordingly on the same page.
Mr. Chairman, the Ministry Headquarters technical
officers worked diligently during the past budget year
executing on sev eral policy decisions.
These include the request for the proposal of
the school redesign consultancy; the consultation pr ocess to determine whether T. N. Tatem Middle School
should be closed permanently; the amendments to the
Chartered Professional Accountants of Bermuda Act
to recognise the Association of Chartered Certified
Accountants (ACC) qualification as an alternative c areer pathway to becoming a chartered accountant;
and amendments to the Education Act for modernis ation, which are still forthcoming.
Additionally, the Ministry set aside time to
serve our young public school student leaders, Mr.
Chairman. Last year the Ministry hosted its second annual Youth in Parliament Summit. This was a twopronged event designed to provide public school st udent leaders with information that lays the foundation
of great leadership qualities, accountability, compas-sion, communication skills, perseverance against all
odds and the importance of team building at school, at home and amongst their friends.
On the first day over 120 student leaders —
that is, head boys, head deputy boys and girls from
their respective schools, gathered at the Hamilton
Princess Hotel. (Mr. Chairman, I would just venture
away from there to let my honourable colleague opp osite know that this also includes private schools.) The
day’s activities were designed not only to develop our
student leadership skills, but to allow them to reflect
on what everyday leadership looks like. The workshop
topics included handling conflict, effecting change and
interpersonal communication skills, which were facil itated by various leaders in our community.
On day two, the Youth in Parliament Summit,
the students were celebrated and recognised for their
leadership. The Ministry opened up the event to par-ents, teac hers and principals who were invited to
share in acknowledging the leadership capabilities and achievements of our student leaders.
Mr. Chairman, the Board of Education, which
falls under the remit of the Ministry of Education, was
tasked with a number of projects for the enrichment of
the delivery of education in the system. These includ-ed searching the potential of creating new pathways
to help enhance the recruitment and development of teachers; researching a tiered licence structure for
teachers; revie wing the master teacher designation
structure; and providing a school registration process
which would require all schools, private and home-schools, to register on an annual or biannual basis,
along with submission of yearly data. Mr. Chairman, another i nitiative introduced
this previous year is the Father Speaks series. Star ting in February of 2019, regular meetings were held to engage specifically with fathers with children in the
Bermuda Public Schools System. The purpose was to provide a comfortable a nd safe space for fathers to
discuss fatherhood and their involvement in their chi ldren’s respective schools. It is a mistake to believe that fathers do not want to participate in education, as
they too play an integral role in their children’s educ ation. However, what we have found is that when they
are involved in schools, they tend to do most of the work behind the scenes, unnoticed.
From this initiative we have also found from
our discussions that our system can subconsciously exclude men from the conv ersations about children’s
education and automatically turn to the mother. The
Father Speaks series is an opportunity to ensure that
male voices and their perspectives are heard and taken into consideration. We want to ensure that fathers
are supported in raising their children just as much as
the mothers are. I am pleased at how this series has
allowed men to open up about their parenting, and I
know it will benefit fathers and their children, moving
forward.
Mr. Chairman, on page B -145, you will see
that the Ministry of Education Headquarters has been
allocated a budget of $4,523,000 for the 2020/21 fi scal year. Within programme 1601, business unit
26000, General Administration, $2,275,000 will support the operational and administrative functions of the
Ministry. This reflects an increase of $1,238,000 that
primarily composes the cost of professional consulting
services for the undertaking of school redesign and
the restructuring of our public school system. This is in
direct alignment of priories 1 and 3 outlined in Plan
2022, the Strategic Plan for Public School Education, which was developed by the Bermuda community. I
will share more details about this initiative during the subjective analysis of the expenditure in the next
page.
Mr. Chairman, on the programme 1601, bus iness unit 26080 funds Grants to External Bodies, of which $823,000 has been budgeted. You will note this
lower amount reflects a decrease of $293,000. Earlier I stated that more resources will be steered towards
heightening the change needed in our public school
system. These monies will be shifted and used for the
school redesign and restructuring initiative.
External grant applications are submitted to
the Ministry every year by various organisations which have developed educational pr ogrammes and services for students attending both public and private
schools. The Ministry will continue to review each application on the basis of how the programme and services are directly impacting students in that the matrix
provided demonstrates that students are improving
and achieving success.


Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Chairman, last year a total of $279,000
was set aside to fund a merit -based College Promise
programme. The funds awarded public school graduates with a GPA of 3.0 or higher with a $5,000 scho larship to at tend the Bermuda College. These monies
were provided to the college on an as -needed basis
with the implementation of the programme for the very
first time in September 2019. Although more than 40
students were eligible for the programme, a total of 26
took advantage and are now enrolled at the Bermuda
College with tuition and cost of books funded. In September 2020, we anticipate more public school st udents will be eligible for this programme, and therefore
have budgeted $250,000 which will be provided agai n
on an as -needed basis.
Mr. Chairman, $1,424,000 has been set aside
in business unit 26090 for the administration of the
Ministry’s annual Scholarship and Awards pr ogramme. This is relatively the same amount as the
previous year and shows a decrease of $1,000 due to
rounding. Mr. Chairman, in 2019 there were 389 ap-plications received from students requesting financial
support to support post -secondary studies. The Mini stry of Education funded 12 Bermuda Government
scholarships comprising new and existing schola rships, a total of six non- traditional student awards,
four teacher education scholarships and 38 further
education awards. The Ministry’s awards comprised
six Minister Achievement Scholarships; two Merit
Scholarships and two Applied Technology Schol arships; six Exceptional Student Awards; five Technical
and Vocational Awards and six Bermuda College
Book Awards.
The number of further education awards to
students, based solely on their financial need, i ncreased from 33 to 38. The Minister’s Achievement
Scholarships for graduating students from CedarBridge Academy and graduating students from the
Berkeley Institute pursuing overseas post -secondary
study increased from four to six. The Minister’s Tec hnical and Vocational Award for graduating public
school students or recent public school alumni atten ding Bermuda College and while pursuing local or
overseas post -secondary studies increased from three
to five. Lastly, the Minister’s Exceptional Student Award for graduating students or a student leader with a disability pursuing local or overseas post -secondary
study increased from four to six.
Mr. Chairman, the $1,424,000 budgeted for
Scholarships and Awards during the 2020/21 fiscal
year will be used once again to reach as many st udents as possible and aff ord them the opportunity to
pursue both local and overseas post -secondary pr ogrammes of study.
Mr. Chairman, on page B -146, the subjective
analysis of current account estimates is shown for the
Ministry of Education Headquarters. Line 1, Salaries,
shows a decrease of $174,000 when compared to last
year’s budget of $780,000, to the 2020/21 budget of $606,000. The decrease reflects the removal of the
Permanent Secretary’s salary due to the centralisation
of all salaries for permanent secretaries to the Cabi net
Office. Travel expenditure line item of $21,000 i ncreased by $6,000, while there is no change in the budgeted monies for both Communications, and A dvertising and Promotion.
Mr. Chairman, $1,607,000 has been budgeted
for Professional Services in 2020/2 1. This line item
increased significantly by $1,285,000 when compared to the $322,000 budgeted last year. Mr. Chairman, of the $1,285,000 increase, roughly $950,000 has been
budgeted for school redesign and restructuring consultancy. A consultancy firm wit h proven experience in
school redesign and restructuring has been contrac ted by the Ministry of Education to provide a changemanagement methodology on how to transform the public education system. The transformative methodology will directly target the ex ecution of specific strategies outlined in Plan 2022 under priority 1, increasing academic rigour and student engagement; priority 4,
improving infrastructure and structural resources; and priority 5, ensuring system success, which covers the
phasing- out of middle schools and the introduction of
signature or specialty schools.
The consultant firm will work with a Gover nance Team and School Redesign Team to deliver on
the following adaptive transformational strategies for Plan 2022:
Plan 2022 Priority 1, strategy 1.1.4.1, which
states, to establish specialised schools in performing
arts, science and technology, STEAM, sports, trades and e- learning, or the projected needs of the comm unity.
Plan 2022 Priority 4, strategy 4.6.1: Make
recommendations for the guidelines for modern ed ucational facilities and the vision for learning spaces of
the future of the public schools system.
Plan 2022 Priority 4, strategy 4.4.3.5: Esta blish teaching standards in technology, aligned with the vision for effective curriculum instruction. This est imate is supported by technology, and establishes the
means and methods to support teachers in creating
and delivering digital curriculum.
And finally, Plan 2022 Priority 5, strategy
5.3.5: To ensure college and career readiness. R eview the current structure of schools —primary, middle
and senior —and revise the maximum student success, including the consideration of specialty school design, to meet unique student interests or needs.
Mr. Chairman, just to reiterate, the $950,000
reflects the monies allocated to support the transformative work of our public school system and will be
undertaken during the first year of the consultancy,
which commences at the end of this month.
Mr. Chairman, the amount budgeted for Rentals, the next line item of expenditure, increased by
$10,000 to $15,000 in 2020/21. The majority of this
expenditure will be used for the rental of halls to hold
3700 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly meetings with stakeholder groups and the general
public, as there will be complete transparency during
the school redesign and restructuring consultancy.
Meetings will be held to engage stakeholders and
community members to obtain input and feedback so that the informed decisions based on data and information are made for the transformation of the public
school educ ation.
Mr. Chairman, line items Materials and Supplies, and Other Expenses both increased by $5,000,
respectively. Materials and Supplies comprise primar ily general office supplies, while Other Expenses cover
food and drink. The last line item in the subj ective
analysis, Grants and Contributions, was allocated a
budget of $2,218,000 for the budget year 2020/21. This allocation dipped by $193,000, reflecting monies
shifted from the budgeted amounts for external grants,
inclusive of the Bermuda College, to s upport school
redesign and restructuring of the education system. A
full breakdown of the $2,218,000 budgeted for Grants
and Contributions can be found on page C -18 of the
Budget Book.
Mr. Chairman, on page B -146, the number of
full-time equivalents for employees in the Ministry of
Education Headquarters decreased from seven to six.
The one less FTE reflects the removal of the post of
the Permanent Secretary from the Ministry of Educ ation to Cabinet Office. As previously stated, all perm anent secretary posts are centralised with the Cabinet Office now.
Mr. Speaker, finally on page B -147, Performance Measures for the Ministry Headquarters are outlined in alignment with the Government reform ini-tiative. The Ministry performance measures were r evisited and now reflect a more comprehensive set of
measures for assessing the work of the Ministry
Headquarters.
Mr. Chairman, the Ministry team comprises
the Permanent Secretary, our Senior Policy Analyst,
the Ministry Comptroller, the Scholarship and Awards
Program me Manager, the administrative assistant,
accounts officer and my executive assistant. All have
provided me with excellent technical advice and ad-ministrative support. I am thankful to have a team of
professionals who are hard -working and dedicated on
delivering the Ministry’s mandate and policy initiatives,
and in doing so keep what is best for our children at
the forefront. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This concludes my presentation of the budget for the Ministry
of Education Headquarters, Head 16.

HEAD 17 —DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, I now pr esent the budget for Head 17, the Department of Ed ucation. As I present the budget brief for 2020/21, Mr.
Chairman, I will also speak to the actions we stated
that will be taken in las t year’s budget brief and highlight the Education Department’s priorities for the u p-coming year 2020/21. Mr. Chairman, the vision for the
Department of Education is outlined on page B -148,
which is To see all students educated to lead personally and profes sionally, contribute locally and compete
globally. Mr. Chairman, this vision indicates that the
department has had great expectations for our st udents and their futures in both Bermuda and the glob-al community.
Mr. Chairman, our vision for our students wi ll
be achieved through the operationalisation of the Bermuda public school mission To provide all st udents with equitable access to holistic and high- quality
instruction which is culturally relevant and empowers students to reach their full potential.
Mr. Chairman, our mission and vision are
components of Plan 2022, our multi -year strategic
plan for public school education that spans from 2018
to 2022. Mr. Chairman, the mission and vision chart
the pathways for Plan 2022 transformation and tec hnical strat egies which are executed daily and which
enable us to achieve the five priorities of the strategic
plan. Those five priorities are as follows:
1. increase academic rigour and student e ngagement;
2. ensure career, college and workforce readiness;
3. enhance the qua lity of teaching practice and
system leadership;
4. improve infrastructure and instructional r esources; and
5. ensure system success.
Mr. Chairman, we are confident that Plan
2022, the strategic plan which was developed through
the collation of over 3,000 piec es of feedback from
participants and stakeholders in a consultative pr ocess and one that identifies the way forward for public
school education in Bermuda, will transform public school education in Bermuda and ultimately lead to
greater success for our stu dents.
Mr. Chairman, page B -151 shows that a total
of $113,781,000 has been allocated to the Depar tment of Education for fiscal year 2020/21. This is $464,000 less than the 2019/20 fiscal year. Mr.
Chairman, these monies have been preserved and
moved to Ministry Headquarters to support the impl ementation of Plan 2022 strategies 5.3.5 and 1.1.4.1,
the strategies that speak specifically to the reviewing
of the current structure of our school system and r evising it to ensure maximum success for students in
the introduction of specialised or signature schools.
Mr. Chairman, the Department of Education
staff continue with the execution of the strategies supporting Plan 2022 and specific strategies that also tie
directly with their performance appraisal objectiv es.
This is directly aligned to Plan 2022 strategy 5.1.5,
which states that we must ensure the strategic plans’
measures of success and operational plans are clear, measured and used for accountability. And it also
supports strategy 5.3.3.2, which requires the depar tBermuda House of Assembly ment to “focus on accountability by outlining delivery
plans with clear timelines and identification of persons
responsible.”
Mr. Chairman, last year in April 2019, the d epartment prepared and distributed its first annual r eport for Plan 2022 t o inform the community, as promised, on the progress made on the first year of impl ementing Plan 2022. Mr. Chairman, the department is in the process of preparing the Plan 2022 annual r eport for the 2019/20 fiscal year to be distributed to the community on April 24
th, 2020.
Mr. Chairman, I move on to highlight the expenditures of each business unit that falls under Head
17, commencing on page B -149. Mr. Chairman, I will
begin with the analysis of Central Administration. This
includes the cost of salaries of the administrative personnel and system leaders who function to lead, sup-port, monitor and audit the work that takes place at
the Department of Education and in our schools. Mr.
Chairman, monies budgeted for the upcoming year for
business unit 27000, Gen eral Administration, will cover the costs for inventory purchases of educational
and office supplies for the school year. There is
$10,000 less budgeted expenditure for the fiscal year
2020/21. With improved efficiency and inventory control, this reduction reflects lower customs duty and
transportation cost.
Mr. Chairman, in last year’s budget brief, I
reported that we had completed an analysis of stores’
operational efficiency in support of Plan 2022 strat egies 5.3.3 and 5.3.4. And we will review the findings
and develop a plan for the most efficient and effective
way of delivering these services. We acknowledge the
major support of the Public Works Estate Section for
the review and report. Mr. Chairman, we did identify
our priorities of which stores staf f have since reviewed
the inventory for slow -moving and obsolete items to
ensure that efficient uses of space and inventory, and where necessary, obsolete items have been disposed of. Moving forward, this team will ensure that all purchasing of inventory c ontinues to be purposeful and
we obtain value for money spent.
Additionally, Mr. Chairman, making adjus tments to the quantity of goods purchased at any one time has enabled the department’s Facilities Section
and Public Works Estate Section to determine a new
location for store staff and inventory, based on real
space requirements. Additionally, Mr. Chairman, the
Facilities and Stores Sections will work together to ensure consistency of cleaning supplies ordered and
control on inventory quantities is maint ained. Facilities
will also add to their monthly inspection of schools’
status of supplies to prevent stockpiling. Mr. Chai rman, the Stores Section relocated to a new building
the week of February 24
th, 2020, and they will commence preparations for the count of inventory for the 2019/20 fiscal year.
Mr. Chairman, business unit 27001 holds the
budget for the Office of the Commissioner and pr i-marily funds the salaries of the Commissioner of Education and two direct reports, the Director of Academics and the Director of Educational Standards and A ccountability. The Commissioner of Education and d irect reports are responsible for the strategic planning,
overseeing, monitoring and auditing of the work of
staff and holding staff at the department and in
schools accountable for carrying out their duties and
responsibilities. They are also responsible for collec ting data and reporting on the performance metrics for the department, our schools and Plan 2022.
Mr. Chairman, this year the department added
the services of a communications consultant, who will
function to provide professional communication ser-vices for the department and schools. Mr. Chairman,
the hiring of a communications consultant is in direct
response to Plan 2022 strategy 5.3.1, which man-dates that we “strengthen external communication and
increase high- quality communication and public rel ations to all stakeholders.” The communications consultant will develop and execute a communications
plan as we implement Plan 2022 strategy 5.3.1.
Mr. Chairman, business unit 27030, Human
Resources, funds the salaries of eight professional,
technical and administrative staff in the Human R esources Section. This section delivers human r esource functions and services for both the department
and public schools, which constitutes over 1,100 staff.
In support of Plan 2022, the Human Resources Section will focus their efforts on improving operational
efficiencies and improving service delivery, as outlined
in strategy 5.3.3. Mr. Chairman, they will focus on the
prioritie s for the new fiscal year:
1. reporting on the number of teachers certified at each learning level, strategy 3.10;
2. establishing recruitment guidelines for teac hers, school leaders and central staff office by including testing and maintaining certification
and development in their area of expertise,
strategy 3.6; and
3. forge a partnership with the Council of A ccreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) to
establish a Department of Education list of
approved colleges and universities for pr ospective teachers.
Mr. Chairman, the Human Resources Section
will also be launching an online application process to
track, manage and process human resource needs for
recruitment and leave management. Also, this online
application will provide data including employee demographics, absences, leave and assignments. This is being carried out to improve the service delivery as
outlined in Plan 2022 strategy 5.3.3.3, which states,
“Operation with planned and organised and holistic
vision and purpose rather than consistently reacting to
immediate needs.” Mr. Chairman, a total of [$1,099,000] has been allocated to the Human R esources Section to effect these changes.
3702 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Chairman, the 2020/21 budget for bus iness unit 27031, Staff Development, increased from
the previous year’s budget t o $819,000. In addition to
these monies covering the salary of a staff develo pment officer, the funds will be used to provide a major source of funding for training and professional development arising from Plan 2022 and school improv ement plans. The train ing is necessary to enhance
skills and competencies for our teachers, educational staff, student leaders and Department of Education
staff.
Mr. Chairman, business unit 27090, Education
Standards and Accountability, has oversight of our 18
primary schools , five middle schools, two [sic] —that is
a typo, Mr. Chairman; that should say four middle
schools, two senior secondary schools and one sp ecial school, and two alternative programmes. The
team comprises assistant directors who supervise
school principals to ensure effective leadership and
quality teaching and services in our schools and for
our programmes. The work carried out by the assi stant directors is essential to the growth and development of school leaders and overall school improv ement.
Mr. Chairm an, during the 2019/20 year, the
implementation of the Principal Evaluation Tool and
ensuring that the Teacher Performance Evaluation Programme was conducted with fidelity and with compliance to timelines was a priority for our ESA [Educ ation Standards and Accountability] Team. These
achievements support the area of action in Plan 2022 Priority 3, strengthening educator evaluation and performance management. This priority also aligns direc tly with the Government’s education platform, which
states a commitment to improving accountability in
education.
Mr. Chairman, the education standards and
accountability (ESA) Team completed the develo pment of a new school improvement plan that provides
an authentic approach to school improvement, which
falls under strate gy 1.5.2 and which is now being i mplemented by school leaders from the preschool to the
senior level. The high- leverage design feature of the
improvement plan is to focus on intentional adult action and implement those actions on student gain.
This is step ped out by principals developing theory of
action statements to guide them in achieving their
identified targets and goals.
Mr. Chairman, the school improvement plan
methodology requires principals to report on student
gains at three intervals in the academic year so that
the Department of Education can monitor student per-formance and gains over time; and determine pr ogress with key performance measures. Mr. Chairman,
education standards and accountability have used the
student improvement plan, the studen t improvement
platform to connect the work of principals as leaders
in managing change in their building, developing a
purposeful community to achieve goals and focus on the work that matters for students. These three areas
provide the parameters for professional development
areas that support the school improvement plan in a
meaningful way. Principals and deputies have been
provided with professional learning opportunities and coaching as required to support their work on school
improvement.
Mr. Chairman, the school improvement plans
(or SIPs) are in progress as of September 2019. Pri ncipals work with their leadership teams to develop
school improvement goals for the academic year, and the expectation is that parents should know the goals
and targets, and provide support as appropriate. This
achievement supports areas of action in Priority 1,
culture of trust and transparency. The school i mprovement plan is the platform to share the school’s story on achievement and areas of improvement. This achievement is also connected to the area of action in
Priority 3, professional learning and support, strategy
3.1.1.
The school improvement plans require princ ipals to support the delivery of customised professional
learning for teachers in support of the goals identi fied
in their school’s improvement plan. This is also connected to the Government education platform in its
commitment to ensuring professional development for
teachers to improve learning outcomes for students.
Mr. Chairman, development representatives
have been working with the Bermuda College repr esentatives to provide a principal certification pr ogramme. A successful partnership with Framingham
University has been established, and we have seven applicants who have been accepted into the pr ogramme. The agreement requires a cohort of 10. And
the process of extending the application to the broader community is in progress. This achievement is
linked to the area of action, enhanced educator certif ication, in Priority 3 and supports strategy 3.5. This
also supports the Government’s education platform
and the commitment to ensure professional develo pment to improve learning outcomes for students.
Mr. Chairman, during the 2020/21 fiscal year,
the Education Standards and Accountability Team will
(1) continue w ith these efforts to focus on mandating
without exception the annual evaluation of all educ ators, strategy 3.24; (2) continue with the monitoring of school improvement plans, strategy 1.5.2; and
(3) update and develop relevant policies to provide the
enabl ing conditions for the proper operational management of this business unit.
Mr. Chairman, business unit 27095, School
Attendance, funds the salaries of a school registration
and attendance officer and four school attendance
officers. It is the responsibil ity of this section to ensure
that children of compulsory school age are in school
on a daily basis. The school registration and atten dance coordinator [oversees] the annual school regi stration process for the enrolment of children in all pu blic schools. T he coordinator carries out a review of the


Bermuda House of Assembly registration process each year and ensures improv ements in the process for the following year, through
consultation with the department and school leaders.
Mr. Chairman, the coordinator requires
mont hly attendanc e reporting by the principal and
conducts audits of school attendance data to determine each school’s progress. An overall aim is to r educe chronic school student absences in alignment
with Plan 2022, key outcomes, 1.8, and in support of
the department’s p erformance measures for schools.
The 2020/21 budget for this unit has been transferred
to business unit 27090 and remains relatively the
same as 2019/20, at $340,000.
Mr. Chairman, the attendance officers have
been more visible in schools and more accessi ble in
assisting schools with attendance queries and con-cerns, with the aim of ensuring that attendance data
were accurate, reliable and timely. Mr. Chairman, during the 2019/20 fiscal year, the attendance teams
[saw] a marked improvement in both the accur acy and
coding of student attendance in areas the department
targeted for improvement.
Mr. Chairman, during the 2020/21 fiscal year,
the attendance team will make addressing students
who have chronic absence issues (that is, students
with an attendance av erage of 90 per cent and below)
a priority. The team will work to transform processes
and procedures focused on helping schools to meet
Plan 2022 targets. Mr. Chairman, this team will also
be launching an online school registration strategy,
the first for the Bermuda Public Schools System.
We must ensure that quality teaching/learning
experiences and services take place when teachers or
other school staff are sick or on leave. The funds all ocated in business unit 27160, Substitutes, had i ncreased by $64,0 00. The overall budget for Central
Administration Programmes is $4,782,000 for the 2020/21 fiscal year, which is higher than the previous
year budget primarily due to an increase in monies
allocated for staff development and human resource
services.
Mr. C hairman, let me shift to programme
1702, Student Services. The Student Services Section
facilitates the provision of 13 essential programmes
that directly provide services that meet the diverse
needs of our students who have been identified as having exceptionalities. Mr. Chairman, business unit
27016, Behaviour Management, funds behaviour
therapists for preschools and primary schools, as well
as one education officer for behavioural management.
In addition, the funding covers our Alternative Educ ation Programme, which facilitates suitable alternative
education environments and services for students with
behavioural challenges. The 2020/21 budget for this
business unit will increase by $412,000.
Mr. Chairman, many of our dedicated teac hers are at times faced with behavioural challenges that go above what they can handle within the clas sroom. While the Department of Education has intr o-duced a multi -tiered system of programmes, we still
find that some students require additional assistance.
These students with severe behaviours, and who will
require periods of intense intervention, will now be able to receive interventions at established support centres, one for primary students and one for middle
and senior school students. The $412,000 allocated in
this year’ s budget to establish these centres will be
used to hire additional educational therapists and a
social worker.
Mr. Chairman, this has been something our
school staff and parents have indicated a need for , for
some of our students, and we are responding t o the
needs of our students.
Mr. Chairman, business unit 27063 includes
our school psychologists, who support administrators
and address students’ needs in the areas of academ-ics, behaviour and mental health. Further, the school
psychologists provide comprehensive psychoeducational evaluations, consultations, short -term
counselling and interventions, and preventative services across the entire system. School psychologists are engaged in and are a valuable resource for
schools as they relate to the multi -tiered system of
support, or MTSS, a Plan 2022 system priority for
strategy 1.4.6. The 2020/21 budget will increase by
$105,000.
Mr. Chairman, a backlog of assessments and
wait time for psycho- educational assessments and
services within across our schools will reduce during
the year. The upcoming fiscal year, the school ps ychologists will: (1) establish an amalgamated record of
student areas of deficit as identified through psychoeducational assessments, strategy 1.4.2; (2) provide
evidence- based support f or appropriating educational
resources and services based on that data; (3) assist
schools with identifying internal and external partnerships to address the academic behaviour and/or s ocial/emotional challenges of identified students within
the Bermuda Public Schools System in support of
Plan 2022 strategies 1.4.2, 1.4.3 and 1.4.7.
Mr. Chairman, business unit 27064, the Adaptive Physical Education Programme, is a developmen-tally appropriate physical education programme deli vered by three specialist teachers. These teachers pr ovide services to students with diverse physical needs by providing the adaptive support necessary to enable
students to be included in regular physical education
programmes. Mr. Chairman, for clarity, the adaptive
physical education l essons are implemented on an
individual basis, in small groups and within the regular
physical education classroom setting. Mr. Chairman,
students receiving adaptive physical education services also have individualised education plans, or
IEPs, with goals and objectives which are in line with
the regular physical education curriculum.
Mr. Chairman, the most noted achievement of
this business unit during the last fiscal year was the
success of a national track and field invitational tour3704 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly nament, hereafter known as the Department of Education Adaptive Physical Education National Track
and Field Invitational. Mr. Chairman, this invitation
included approximately 72 students from P5 to S4
who have been identified as special needs and who receive adaptive physical education services. Indivi duals who have transitioned out of the Bermuda Public
Schools System and who are presently at the Margaret K. Carter Facility and other facilities throughout the
community and who continue to need special services
were also invit ed to participate in the invitational.
Mr. Chairman, in alignment with Plan 2022,
key outcome 1 through 4, APE [adaptive physical education] teachers will ensure that 75 per cent or more
of the students receiving adaptive physical education
services will be proficient in assessments in percept ual, motor, balance, local motor and object control; that 75 per cent or more of the students will be proficient in
assessments for low -level organised sports and
games; and that 90 per cent or more students in need
of adaptive physical education services are identified
and served.
Mr. Chairman, APE teachers will also work on
expanding partnerships with appropriately skilled and
certified service providers, both government and pr ivate, to support student needs based on data outlined
in Plan 2022 Priority strategy 1.4.7. The business unit
27065 is the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Programme,
which employs teachers who provide students with
academic instruction and who also collaborate with
classroom teachers to ensure that teaching and lear ning are effective and that student needs are met during academic instruction in the regular classroom. An amount of $308,000 is budgeted for this business unit,
and this is for salaries, disability -specific resources
and materials, hearin g aids and equipment, professional development and consultant audiology services.
Mr. Chairman, during the 2019/20 fiscal year,
staff of this business unit implemented a sign language programme for the entire school system to ensure that the school family can better communicate
with the deaf and hard of hearing students at their
school. In addition, staff provided excellent professional development to paraeducators who are assigned to students who are deaf and hard of hearing to ensure that the learning needs of students are met.
Mr. Chairman, I can also report that student IEPs met
compliance standards, and audits carried out indicated quality instruction and student success.
Mr. Chairman, line item 27066 is the Vision
business unit that has been allocated a budget of $181,000. Students with visual impairments have
unique educational needs. In order to meet their
unique needs, students must have specialised se rvices; books and material in appropriate media, i ncluding Braille; as well as specialised equipment and
technology to ensure equal access to the core and
specialised curricula and to enable them to most ef-fectively function and compete with their peers in
school and, ultimately, in society.
The Vision Programme has maintained a
good working relationship with our community partner,
Vision Bermuda. Our students benefit from lessons
conducted at the centre. These lessons enable our
students to use the many IT components and manual
tools that are necessary for their learning. Mr. Chai rman, as wit h the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Pr ogramme, staff of the Vision Programme maintained
and produced compliance IEPs and audits, indicating quality instruction and success for students in this
programme.
Mr. Chairman, the business unit 27071, Office
Support, s erves as the secretariat for the Student
Services Section and funds the salaries of the Assi stant Director of Student Services, two administrative
assistants and seven learning support teachers. The
increase of $36,000 is due to salary uplift cost i ncreases.
The department’s Counselling Programme,
business unit 27072, is a comprehensive develo pmental school counselling programme, CDSCP,
based on an international model with four components: (1) classroom guidance core curriculum;
(2) individual planning; (3 ) response services; and
(4) system support. More specifically, school -based
counselling programmes provide early intervention,
crisis intervention and prevention.
Treatment and promotion of positive social
and emotional development. Mr. Chairman, this team of dedicated professionals also coordinates services with community members. With parental permission,
school counsellors consult with community mental
health service providers to coordinate school counselling services with community -based services. The education officer for counselling meets with Child and Adolescent Services, the Department of Child and
Family Services, the Department of Court Services and the Department of Health representatives on a
monthly basis to coordinate services for high- risk students.
Mr. Chairman, this business unit funds the
salary of an education officer for counselling and 15
counsellors who service the pre- and primary schools,
and 10 at the middle school level, and one alternative
school counsellor. The increase in budg eted funds of
$250,000 includes the hiring of two additional counse llors for the support centres that will be established for children with behaviours challenges.
Mr. Chairman, counsellors are required to
hold individual academic planning meetings with st udents in P5, M2 and S1 and S4. Mr. Chairman, last
year 89 per cent of the students in P5 participated in
individual academic planning meetings, with 14 out of
the 18 primary schools having 100 per cent of their
students participating in the individual academic pla nning meetings and one primary school having 96 per
cent of their students participate in the individual planBermuda House of Assembly ning meetings. Mr. Chairman, 88 per cent of the ind ividual academic planning meetings were held for our
M2 students and 93 per cent and 94 per cent for S1
and S4 students, respectively.
Mr. Chairman, the education officer for counselling, in consultation for school guidance counsellors, will continue to use survey data (Plan 2022 strategy 1.2) and feedback to determine the actions to be
taken to improve school counselling programme delivery and to enhance students' feelings of safety and trust. School counsellors will continue to develop learning intentions and success criteria in alignment
with standards -based grading practices when delivering lessons focused on social –emotional curricula.
And, Mr. Chairman, this team of highly qual ified professionals will assess whether the updates to the P5 and M2 individual academic planning meeting
forms —the values clarification and career inventories
components of the form —sufficiently assist students
with preparing for their future careers, in alignment with Plan 2022 strategy 1.4.8.
Mr. Chairman, business unit 27074, Learning
Support, funds two educational officers for special education and learning support, in addition to 65
learning support teachers who provide special educ ation services at our preschool, primary and middle
schools; Dame Marjorie Bean Hope Academy; and for our trauma- responsive programmes at our primary
and middle/senior Success Academies. This funding also includes assessment materials needed to ensure
the appropriate diagnosis of students with special
needs. This business unit decreased by $64,000, r eflecting the regularisation of duplicate learning support
teacher s posts.
Mr. Chairman, I reported last year that the
department would begin to focus on laying the foundation for the implementation of the inclusive and special
education policy and strengthen the framework to ensure students with exceptionalities have their needs
better addressed. Mr. Chairman, efforts are underway
to lay the foundation for the implementation of initi atives from the 2013 Special Education Discussion P aper and the draft Special Education Policy, which are both under review.
Initiatives are at the foundat ion level to ensure
that staff are adequately prepared to demonstrate ex-emplary levels of proficiency in their performance
standards, and that all individual education plans
(IEPs) and individual learning plans (ILPs) meet co mpliance standards for quality instruction and related
services. In addition, it is pertinent to develop a mindset and systemic practices which are equitable throughout the system, ensuring success for all chi ldren using the processes that are in the MTSS
framework.
Mr. Chairman, the education officers for special education are carrying out termly audits to ensure IEP implementation and documentation is evident for
each student who is on an IEP. These audits began in January of 2020 and will continue each term. Ev idence from the audits identifies the strengths and
weaknesses in the system, thus allowing for additional
training to support staff. Professional development
sessions have been held with learning support staff to enhance their skills in writing comprehensive and
compliant IEPs for quality instruction and related services, writing comprehensive and compliant ILPs (i ndividual learning plans) with the school team, for qual ity instruction and related services, enhancing quality
instruction by meeting the learning styles of children
through tactile and kinaesthetic materials, the role of
the learning support teacher in the response to intervention process, and following the response to intervention process with all students.
Mr. Chairman, there have been ongoing efforts of the speci al education officers at the depar tment in providing additional professional development
services to learning support teachers in the following
areas: learning styles and meeting the individual
needs of students; creating a classroom environment
that allow s for student involvement and achievement;
data collection; and resources to address student
needs in alignment with Plan 2022 strategy 3.2.1.
Officers also implemented an intervention
programme for students in the Functional Academic
Programme at the middle level, created systemic expectations for paraeducator journals and assisted in the completion of job descriptions for paraeducators.
Additionally, officers conducted audits throughout the
year to ensure IEP implementation and document ation, and the provision of quality services. Lastly, Mr.
Chairman, these officers have all contributed to d eveloping a more efficient process for Cambridge ac-cess arrangements and exemptions to benefit our IEP
students.
Mr. Chairman, business unit 27076 reflects
the fundi ng for the salary of the Education Officer for
Early Childhood Education and an operational budget
for the Early Childhood Section.
Mr. Chairman, the budget for business unit
27079 increased by $370,000 and provides for the delivery of paraprofessional services for our students
who have a diverse range of learning needs. The
paraprofessionals provide instructional support, en-sure protection and safety, and provide support for
transition and life skills for students with special
needs. This includes providi ng adequate support for
students with physical exceptionalities, including
deafness and visual impairments.
Mr. Chairman the department ensured professional development sessions designed specifically for paraeducators in September and October 2019, and
January and February 2020 as per Plan 2022 strategy
3.2.1, and that we now have an agreed upon and
signed job description for paraeducators. Mr. Chai rman, the department also plans to implement an
online professional development programme for all
3706 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly paraeducators for the upcoming fiscal year to continue
to strengthen and hone their skills.
Mr. Chairman, the business unit 27083, A utism Spectrum Disorder (or ASD) funds salaries for
teachers and those paraprofessionals who serve st udents with autism within the ASD programmes at
three primary schools, one middle school and one
senior school. The funding also covers operational
costs for equipment repairs, maintenance and su pplies, and professional development. The 2020/21 funding of $786,000 will fund these costs.
Mr. Chairman, the business unit 27084, Alternative Education, funds the operation of the Alternative Education Programme and the two Success
Academies. Funds are also used for Department of Education Partner Programmes, which offer additional
alternative programme choices for our students. Mr.
Chairman, one of the students at our primary level
Success Academy has been diagnosed with selective
mutism. When the student entered the programme,
the student did not speak and there was limited com-munication with s tudents and staff. The team worked
tirelessly to provide an environment in which the st udent would feel free to speak. Mr. Chairman, the st udent is now speaking and communicating with all st udents and staff members at the programme and the school.
Mr. Cha irman, let me also share about the
achievement of students at the middle/senior level Success Academy. Two graduates from the pr ogramme are experiencing success. One student met
early requirements to obtain the GED (or General E ducation Diploma), and the s tudent will be enrolling in a
programme at Bermuda College in the fall. The other student is currently in an apprenticeship programme
with a local business and working towards his certif ication in heat, ventilation and air -conditioning.
And, Mr. Chairman, just to stray away from
my prepared notes, I spoke at the graduation of those
two young men. And the looks on their parents’ faces
and the testimonies that they gave show that they just
did not think that these two particular young men—two
black young Ber mudians —would really get anything.
And they were just so appreciative of the resources
that were put in place to specifically go after them and
meet them at the place that they were. You know, that was, unfortunately, not in our main schools.
So we were able to provide the resources
necessary to allow them to see that they can achieve. And I believe that these two young men will become
very productive members of our society regardless of
the situations they actually did come from.
Mr. Chairman, the Studen t Services Section
provides an extensive range of educational services
for our students with exceptionalities. The total budget
allocation for programme 1702 for the 2020/21 fiscal year is $20,694,000.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to now focus on
Programme 1703, the Finance and Corporate Section of the Department of Education, business unit 27002.
This supports staff in the Finance Administration Section. They include a department comptroller, financial
services manager, a payments supervisor, a salaries
supervisor, a salaries clerk, three accounts clerks and a messenger. This section is responsible for providing
financial advice to senior management; cost -effective
and responsive financial services in support of Plan
2022 Priority 5; procurement and contract ing services;
and corporate planning solutions to the department’s management, employees and schools.
Under the direction of the department’s com ptroller, this office coordinates the payment of salaries
for approximately 1,130 educators and department
staff and pays all suppliers and vendors for goods and
services purchased, as well as organises the collec-tion of receivables. This office plays a key role in find-ing ways to reduce non- instructional costs and to
identify cost inefficiencies.
Mr. Chairman, t he Office Accommodation,
business unit 27003, funds the salary of the office r eceptionist, annual rent, office maintenance, electricity and communication costs of the Church Street office
building where the Department of Education is phys ically located.
Business unit 27040, Educational Stores,
supports salaries for five staff. The Stores Section
provides centralised purchasing, inventory manage-ment and distribution services to all public schools,
the Bermuda College, and other government depar tments such as the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
Mr. Chairman, business unit 27041 funds the
salaries for three bus drivers and two bus attendants who provide transportation for children who attend the
Dame Marjorie Bean Hope Academy and for students
in our ASD programmes at different schools. Also i ncluded in these funds are the salaries of two groundsmen, who maintain school sports fields, and
one labour, transport and safety officer. This section also funds the costs to maintain the department’s m otor fleet.
Mr. Chairman, business unit 27042, Building,
Grounds and Equipment, funds the salary of the facil ities manager, who plays a pivotal role in school i nspections and research of guidelines for providing modern educational facilities, as stated in Plan 2022.
This budget also covers the cost of minor repairs and
maintenance for facilities at all educational and admi nistrative sites that fall under the Department of Educ ation. These include preschools, maintained primary
and middle schools, our special school, the Ch ild Development Programme and the alternative education
and out of school suspension site. The increase in
expenditure for this business unit of $98,000 will fund
the salary of an assistant facilities manager.
Mr. Chairman, the final business unit 27050
for the Finance and Corporate Programme is the I nformation Technology Section, which consists of one
IT manager and nine officers. All preschools, primary


Bermuda House of Assembly schools, middle schools and the Child Development
Programme have been upgraded and installed with
increased broadband fibre optic networks, and the IT
Section is also carrying out an upgrade of the depar tment and many of our schools’ phone systems.
The only remaining school is Dame Marjorie
Bean Hope Academy because of underground capac ity and existing cable issues. These issues are due to be rectified this month. The department’s IT Section
will complete the installation and have IT services
turned up, given no major complications.
Mr. Chairman, the IT Section’s use of network
monitoring tools will also ensure that we get what we
pay for and that service level agreements (SLAs) are enforced and service credits will be applied when out of the service level agreement band, ensuring value
for monies spent.
An IT strategy has been implemented to move
from a distributed IT infrastructure to a centralised IT
infrastructure. This means that the entire Bermuda
Public Schools System (BPSS) and all support ser-vices will be running from one data centre, using
common IT versus IT services in each location. The
net ef fect is that fewer changes are required to make
wholesale changes to the IT environment. This structure also enables the standardisation of hardware,
software and IT services. The IT Section will also i mplement processes and procedures to ensure high
quali ty and delivery of IT services and customer services to the user communities.
Mr. Chairman, business continuity and disaster recovery in a centralised IT infrastructure model
requires a high availability data centre. Also, to achieve IT services with maxi mum uptime or availabi lity to the user community, redundancy in data centre
components is mandatory. The Department of Educ ation now has a high availability data centre. The IT Section will focus on testing and incremental testing to
ensure business contin uity and for audit tracking purposes; they will develop more efficient and effective channels of using PowerSchool.
Mr. Chairman, the IT Section also configured
PowerSchool for the application of standards -based
grading, electronic report cards and the upcoming online registration. In the upcoming year, this section
will implement additional functionality in the areas of a multi- tiered system of supports (MTSS), learning
management systems (LMS) and human r esources/talent management capabilities; ensure greater IT mobility and access to correct information
for our user community; and as it relates to the Educ ation Department’s website, they will assist with the development of detailed enriched content, release
additional functionality and launch a mobile ap plication for the site.
Mr. Chairman, in summary, the Finance and
Corporate Section provides key services and support
to our public schools and has been allocated
$6,148,000 for the 2020/21 fiscal year. Mr. Chairman, I now turn to page B -150, the
item line 1704, which is the programme for our 10 preschools. The 2020/21 budget for all preschools is
$4,874,000. Of the preschool budget, 90 per cent
funds salaries. Also, 10 per cent of the budget is used
for resources; training and development; and oper ationa l costs such as electricity, part -time cleaners,
phones, office- equipment rental and drinking water.
Mr. Chairman, the first ASD preschool pr ogramme was implemented at Prospect Preschool in September 2019, enabling the Department of Educ ation to now provi de ASD programmes from the pr eschool level to the senior level. Funds from the
2019/20 budget were used to cover the cost of one
learning support teacher and one paraeducator for the
ASD programme and training for the teacher and para
in the SCERTS (social communication, emotional
regulation and transactional support) model of early
intervention. This model of intervention is a “researchbased educational approach and multidisciplinary
framework that directly addresses the core challenges
faced by children with ASD and related dis abilities and
their families.”
Mr. Chairman, we have identified an online
foreign languages programme for the preschool level. This programme will introduce preschoolers to three
languages —French, Spanish and Portuguese. The
identi fied programme is “Little Pim,” and once we
complete the expansion of the Internet capability of
our preschools we will introduce the programme.
Mr. Chairman, in the absence of a quality assurance officer for the preschool level, the work has
been covered by the assistant director for Early Chil dhood Education. The assistant director of Early Chil dhood Education has worked to ensure that private
preschools are registered and operating at a high
standard. We will continue to focus in our efforts to
hire a quality assurance officer for the preschool level.
Mr. Chairman, preschool leaders and teac hers have engaged in significant training in the area of curriculum and assessment. The focus has been on
delivering the preschool curriculum with fidelity and
conducting a developmentally appropriate authentic
assessment of preschooler knowledge and skills
through online documentation. In terms of the curric ulum, preschool teachers have improved their inter -
rater reliability across the Teaching Strategies Gold
online assessment tool. As a result, preschools are
now functioning as one system as they deliver the
curriculum using the inquiry -study model of teaching
and learning.
Mr. Chairman, last year I shared that we
would be dedicating funds for literacy. As a follow
through with this, in September 2019 a total of 127
copies of the Heggerty Phonemic Awareness Curric ulum were ordered for the preschools and primary schools in the Bermuda public schools system so that every preschool, P1 and P2 teacher would have a
copy of the curriculum to deliver in their classroom.
3708 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Copies of the curricula for P1 and P2 were also pr ovided for each primary school to be used by either the
learning support or reading teacher as an intervention
for older students, and additional copies were provi ded for the ASD programmes at the primary level. In
addition to the scope and sequence of the pr ogramme, the curricula include the daily lesson plans
delivered across 35 weeks. All supplementary mater ials, including teaching aids and assessments, are
available for free download, helping with cost -
efficiency.
Mr. Chairman, between October and December 2019, the curricula documents were disseminated,
and training around the programme was carried out
with preschool administrators, the primary principals ,
P1, P2, primary reading teachers and primary learning
support teachers.
Additionally, last year we promised to provide
the preschools with professional development which
would focus on implementing the creative curriculum,
the inquiry model, authentic assessment, the SEE -KS
Programme and training to strengthen the MTSS pr ocesses for children on the autism spectrum. The de-partment ensured that eight days were dedicated to
training. The training included videotaping of one
SEE- KS coach per preschool, and t he video was r eviewed by the overseas facilitator for feedback. Feedback and coaching were also provided through group
training sessions for peer coaching practice.
Preschool coaches also provided support at
their preschool for MTSS Tier 1 intervention, a nd the
overseas facilitator came to Bermuda to make inperson observations. Teachers were again videotaped in preparation for the coaches to support, as well as
explore SEE -KS strategies with their classes. Pr eschool learning support teachers also helped t o provide this coaching. Then all the coaches and the di strict coaches reviewed the teachers’ videos.
Teachers practised coaching their peers, as
well as utilising the teaching strategies. Capacity has been built within the preschools so that the strategi es
can be utilised on a regular basis, with all preschoo lers as a part of best practice. In addition, identified
children who needed extra support from the clas sroom teacher were supported through SEE -KS.
Mr. Chairman, the next programme is 1705,
Primary Schools, for which we have a budget alloc ation in 2020/21 of $29,474,000. Mr. Chairman, I r eported last year that a total of $473,000 would be all ocated to continue the implementation of a standards -
based education system covering department - and
site-base d professional development training.
This work was done. In the area of SBG
communication, there have been monthly newsletters
for teachers and leaders, and an establishment of a
24-hour email response system for stakeholders to
communicate questions, queries and concerns and for
the SBG Steering Committee to communicate weekly
updates for SBG resources and professional learning. Mr. Chairman, a total of 16 out of 22 PTSA
SBG meetings were held across the primary and mi ddle school levels to help parents g ain a better understanding of standards -based grading; and three videos have been produced to assist teachers with how to input grades, create assignments, and log in and out
of PowerSchool.
A video for April 2020 Education Month for
parents and educators is in process, and an SBG E ducator/Parent Handbook of policies and procedures
has been drafted. The SBG Steering Committee is presently soliciting stakeholder groups’ feedback.
Mr. Chairman, as it relates to report cards,
SBG PowerSchool GEEKS researched and revised
the SBG reporting system to make recommendations
for PowerSchool for the academic year 2019/20 and
proposed a dual reporting system which was accepted by the Department of Education. The uploading of
proficiency scales has taken place between August
and September 2019, and we now provide progress
reports online.
Mr. Chairman, the SBG Steering Committee
has also established HISS Schools. HISS stands for
high-intensity school support . Schools had to make an
application to become a HISS school, and there are
three HISS schools —Paget Primary, St. David’s Pr imary and Victor Scott. These schools receive support from SBG Steering Committee members approximat ely three days per week.

Are there any objections, Members?
None?
Okay. Thank you so much.
The House stands adjourned for the meeting
and our subsequent lunch.
Thank you, Members.

Proceedings suspended at 12:2 7 pm

Proceedings resumed at 2:03 pm

[Mr. Ro lfe Commissiong, Chairman]




Bermuda House of Assembly COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY

ESTIMATES OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
FOR THE YEAR 2020/21

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

HEAD 17 —DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Continuation thereof]

Welcome back, Members. And for
those listening to the broadcast, we are resuming in
the Committee of Supply and we are giving consider ation to Education as part of our ongoing budget debate and the Minister will resume on Head 17, then
we will finish up o n Head 41.
Minister, you may proceed.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, the professional development
provided for teachers has been extensive and ongoing
in building sustainable capacity. System -wide PD was
held in September and October 2019, [and] January
and February 2020. Train- the-Trainer professional
development has taken place each month for staff who will facilitate workshops at their school sites and for the system.
The SBG Geeks —and just as an explanation
of that term, the Standards -Based Grading Geeks are
just a nickname given to the technical support s taff
that do a lot of the IT technical support, so we named it after the “Geek Squad” in the States that will come and fix your computer, so we wanted to, you know,
add some levity to that particular post —the SBG
Geeks have had five training sessions. Prim ary and
middle schools have had four sessions of training d elivered by SBG Champions.
There have been monthly PD sessions for
principals and education officers [in] total since Se ptember 2019. The SBG Steering Committee has pr ovided professional development to encore teachers for
developing proficiency scales. SBG Geeks have facil itated ongoing onsite PD for teachers for gradebook.
Six SBG webinars have been held.
Mr. Chairman, the department is also collec ting significant data during their implementation of the
Standards -Based Grading system -wide. A primary
and middle school walkthrough protocol was established and data is collected monthly. System -wide
evaluation data has been collected on the quality of professional learning experiences during system PD
days to guide future PD opportunities. Grade book data audits are taking place and support is provided
for teachers to input assignments and scores correctly
into PowerSchool.
Mr. Chairman, in support of Plan 2022 Strat egies 1.1.2 and 3.1.9, we will cont inue with the impl ementation of the four -year Standards -Based Educ a-tion plan which started in the 2018/19 school year and
will continue to the 2021/22 school year.
Mr. Chairman, Plan 2022 Strategy 2.9.5 r equires the Department of Education to “Prioritise Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics
(STEAM) instructional strategies and learning opportunities and move towards STEAM accreditation for
schools.” Last year, the department reported that
some of the teachers at seven primary schools had
volunteered to implement the accredited Engineering
is Elementary (EiE) curriculum.
After the department provided a two- day inst itute in June 2019, I am pleased to report that we now
have teachers from 11 schools implementing the EiE
curriculum. These schools are: Dalton E. Tucker;
Francis Patton; Gilbert Institute; Northlands Primary;
Paget Primary; Port Royal Primary; Prospect Primary; Purvis Primary; St. David’s Primary; Victor Scott Pr imary; and West Pembroke Primary.
Mr. Chairman, at the middle level , [the] D esign, Technology and Science staff are beginning to
look at the possibilities of an integrated STEAM curriculum which will build on the skill sets students
gained from interacting with EiE at the primary level.
The goal is to have the selected curriculum prepare
them for the next level of education in preparation for
careers in these fields.
Mr. Chairman, the STEAM Academy was held
in July 2019 at CedarBridge Academy. The theme was “Living Intelligently with Technological Trends” (or
LITT). Seventy -two students from across the Island
and three students from overseas were immersed in
Digibotics and the Gaming Academy where they f ocused on all aspects of the creative process from ideation to problem -solving to delivery. Students created
their own or iginal digital online game, developed skills
and strategies to prepare them for a future in the dig ital media industry. The also explored artificial intell igence and built their own aquaponics solar -powered
gardens.
Also, AH! TEMPO participants produced a
musical where the students and staff composed, choreographed and performed five songs in support of an original script depicting how humans are becoming so
dependent on technology that we need to be more
aware of what is really in control —technology or us?
Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda Tech Week Education Summit, held at the Hamilton Princess on Tuesday, October 15, 2019, provided a full day of ex-posing students to the possibilities of STEAM careers.
Approximately 75 students, S3 and S4, from the
Berkeley Inst itute and CedarBridge Academy were in
attendance. They spent the day interacting with brand
new technologies, robots, virtual reality games for
learning, and were challenged to take STEAM to the next level in Bermuda by our Honourable Premier.
Mr. Chairman, we had a group of five staff,
consisting of Department of Education and teaching staff, travel to Wake County Public School System in
3710 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Raleigh, North Carolina in November 2019 to exper ience and learn about STEAM pedagogy, facilities,
leadership, school c ulture, curriculum development
and implementation at award- winning schools.
Mr. Chairman, business unit 27120, Dame
Marjorie Bean Hope Academy, provides dedicated
services to students who have severe to profound
multiple challenges. The main focus of the programme
at Dame [Academy] is to increase students’ independence and to help them achieve their ultimate potential. The dedicated principal and staff at Dame [Academy] are able to achieve this programme outcome by implementing a comprehensive curriculum
which is focused on developing receptive and expressive communication skills; functional literacy and
mathematics skills; activities of daily living; social skills
development; behaviour interventions; pre- vocational
and vocational skills; community -based i nstruction;
and art, recreation and leisure skills.
Mr. Chairman, funds for Dame [Academy]
were used to provide targeted professional develo pment for its staff and select staff at the Department of
Education, who were certified in safety care by organisation QBS —Quality Behavioural Solutions. This organisation provides safety training solutions for co mplex behavioural challenges. This training programme equipped the staff of Dame [Academy] with the skills and competencies necessary to effectively prevent,
minimise, and manage behavioural challenges with dignity and safety. Staff at Dame [Academy] are using
their skills in their day -to-day duties and to train other
staff in the Bermuda Public School System in support
of Plan 2022 Strategy 3.2.1. The busines s unit will be
funded with a budget of $770,000.

Programme 1707—Middle Schools

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, we now turn
to page B -151, line item 1707, relating Middle
Schools.
Middle school staff have participated in pr ofessional learning for Standards -Based Grading and
are focused on improving their grading and asses sment practices in alignment with Standards -Based
Grading. All five middle schools continue to offer en-richment programmes in support of Plan 2022 Strat egy Enrichment. At Sandys Secondary Middle School
[this] includes: IGCSE Math; IXL Math; STEAM Education; an AquaFarm Initiative; Foreign Language
IGCSE Pathway Prep; Achieve 3000 (which provides
both enrichment and remediation); and SketchUp
(which is a 3D design programme available through
Design and Technology).
Mr. Chairman, the enrichment programmes at
Dellwood Middle School focus on encore subjects, such as, Drama, Dance, Design and Technology, Family Studies and PE/Sports. The Science Depar tment also does enrichment through robotics. Many of Dellwood’s enrichment activities feed into compet i-tions on the Island. The Design and Technology enrichment classes will be submitting entries in the Kids
in Construction competition. Family Studies is working
on cake decorating for the Agri cultural Exhibition. The
Science Department will be entering the MATE ROV
Competition in May 2020.
And the Art enrichment classes will be wor king on a school beautification project. The PE enric hment clubs serve to prepare students for interschool
sports and overseas competition. The students in
sports enrichment have travelled to overseas compet itions for the past four years. This year the students travelled to Barbados for the Barbados National Junior
Championships in February 2020.
Mr. Chairman, at Whit ney Institute students
have the opportunity to participate in: IGCSE English
and IGCSE Mathematics; English and Mathematics online games; book studies; Literature circles and
reading groups; The 8 Keys of Excellence and Character Building; self -esteem and wellness; Hospitality;
and Global Perspectives.
Mr. Chairman, Clearwater Middle School st udents participate in a variety of enrichment clubs such
as: the ROV (remotely operated vehicles); Art; Foreign Languages; Cooking; Performing Arts; Perfor ming Stage and Techniques; Robotics; Virtual Reality;
Coding; Choir; Boys’ Club; Math; Track and Field;
Walking; Thinking Like a Scientist; Business Studies (with a focus on International Business); Gardening
for Vegetables and Gardening for Flowers; Math
IGCSE; and R eading A to Z Clubs.
And I do note, Mr. Chairman, I also want to
recognise Clearwater Middle School who have actually won the MATE ROV Competition —which is a co mpetition between the middle schools, Bermuda Col-lege is there and also all of the private schoo ls—and I
believe they have won that competition for the last three or four years in a row.
Mr. Chairman, the total 2020/21 budget all ocation for our four middle schools is $16,507,000.

Programme 1708— Senior Schools

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, programme
1708 refers to our two senior secondary schools, the
Berkeley Institute and CedarBridge Academy. Each
senior school is provided an annual grant for the operational management of their respective school and
school curriculum.
Students at the sen ior level continue to benefit
from a diverse local and international curricula and programmes which prepare them for post -secondary
education. Students also have the opportunity to take
advance level courses and participate in dual enrolment programmes at the Bermuda College. Senior
schools are focusing their efforts on safe school env ironments, the mental health and well -being of st udents, and the required supports for students as well
as the enhancement of their programme offerings for


Bermuda House of Assembly students’ college a nd career readiness for Bermuda
College, international universities and colleges, and
the local workforce.
For fiscal year 2020/21, the Berkeley Institute
and CedarBridge Academy’s funding decreased by $250,000 each. These funds will be used to support
school redesign and system transformation.

Programme 1709—Curriculum Assessment

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, programme
1709, Curriculum Assessment, funds the Cambridge
International Curriculum related initiatives; salaries of
subject -specific education officers for curriculum and
assessment, and the Career Pathways programme.
The department pays an annual fee to Cambridge
International for the curriculum and for P6 and M3
students to sit the annual Check Points and S2 st udents to sit the IGCSE exa minations, which are all
required to be obtained to obtain the Bermuda school diploma.
Mr. Chairman, the department is in its ninth
year of implementing the Cambridge International E xaminations at P6, M3, and S2. The examinations are
funded from business unit 27020, Assessment and
Evaluation. As we continue to invest in Cambridge
Assessments, it is with the understanding that our r esults for these assessments must improve. The budget of $310,000 covers the cost of all Cambridge E xaminations and fees.
Mr. Chairman, in particular, we must improve
our math results and there are a number of actions
being taken in this regard. Schools have been given expectations of math instruction. Principals are r equired to conduct walkthrough observations to collect
data on t eacher practices and student learning. Clear
targets have also been set for the use of DreamBox (an online math application) for in and out of school.
Additionally, the department has secured the services
of Primal Academic Innovations Ltd.
Last year, Prim al Academic Innovations intr oduced a math intervention programme at the Harring-ton Sound Primary School, funded by the Bank of Bermuda Foundation, which proved to be successful
in improving the performance of students. Based on
this, the intent of the Department of Education, in co ntracting with PAI, is to build on this success with wider
implementation of a similar mathematics intervention
programme offered by PAI to improve mathematics
teaching and student achievement results across all of
our primary schools.
And Honourable Members within this House
and the listening public would know I gave a Minister ial Statement on Wednesday which detailed that pr ogramme much more thoroughly than what we are g oing to go into today.
Teachers, local tutors, and internati onal experts are collaborating to raise standards in math. Mr. Chairman, budgeted funds for the current
fiscal year have been spent on this math intervention
initiative as follows:
1. All teachers in the Bermuda Public School system have been trained on a mastery ap-proach to teaching.
2. All teachers have received at least one oneon-one session guiding applications in their
classroom and reflecting on their pupils’ work.
3. All schools have had parent sessions.
4. Work has been completed on aligning a mastery appro ach to learning with SBG practices.
5. Lesson resources have been written and continue to be written for every primary class.
6. Clear systems and expectations have been
established for lesson structure and level of
challenge.
7. Principals have been introduced to the strat egy and monitoring system, agreed targets,
and are identifying areas where further support will raise standards.
8. Math hubs have been introduced through r egional training on key topics delivered by local experts.
9. An online testing system is availab le to ident ify gaps in students’ learning.
10. Webpages for each primary school were established for access by principals, teachers and parents.
11. P6 Booster events have been held for every
public primary school.
Mr. Chairman, business unit 27520, Design,
Devel opment, and Implementation, funds salaries for
seven Education Officers who are responsible to ensure the effective delivery and ongoing development
of the Cambridge curriculum in the core and non- core
subjects, school examinations, the Career Pathways Programme, and all other curricula. Officers are focusing on curriculum implementation, quality instruction
practices, and the refinement or development of curricula.
Mr. Chairman, last year I indicated the City &
Guilds curricula would be expanded to the middle schools. The City & Guilds Programme is aligned with
adaptive strategies in the Plan 2022 designed to:
1. provide coursework that is based on systematic standards to ensure all students exit
school geared for post -secondary and/or employment through Career Pathways (2.12); and
2. select areas of concentration to expand on
Middle Year 1 experience and introduce City
& Guilds curriculum Math and English in an i ntegrated approach (2.9.2).
Mr. Chairman, during the last academic
school year, Dellwood Middle School became the
second middle school in the Bermuda public school
system to administer City & Guilds in the disciplines of
Math and English, joining Sandys Secondary Middle
3712 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly School. At the start of the 2019/20 academic year,
Whitney Institute became the third m iddle school to
join a cluster of schools administering the City &
Guilds Programme.
Mr. Chairman, the 2019 middle school results
reveal that 94 per cent of students passed mathemat-ics at Stage 1 and 96 [per cent] passed at Stage 2. In
the discipline of English/Language Arts, there is a
pass rate of 96 per cent at Stage 1, 97 per cent at
Stage 2, and 94 per cent pass rate at Stage 3.
Mr. Chairman, the Curriculum Assessment
Programme, 1709, has been allocated a 2020/21 budget of $2,548,000 for continued deli very of these
educational programmes and services.

Programme 1712— Early Childhood Education

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, the final
programme on page B -151 is 1712, Early Childhood
Education. This programme comprises of the Child
Development and After School Care sub-programmes. Early Childhood Education represents
the foundation for student success at the primary,
middle, and senior levels.
Business unit 27175, Child Development Pr ogramme (CDP) currently funds the salaries of the ded-icated CDP staff and programmes implemented by
this team. This team works diligently to maintain their
accreditation status and engages in quarterly performance quality improvement sessions. Staff participated in Parent Education training to retool staff moving
from the Active Parenting “1- 2-3-4 Parents” to the
“First Five” updated parenting education training.
Mr. Chairman, the final line item on page B -
151 is business unit 27700, After Pre- School Care,
which funds the wages of part -time employees who
provide supervi sion and organised activities to chi ldren at four pre- schools and one school for students
with special needs. The funds for the afterschool pr ogramme are utilised to offer afterschool care in pr eschools and Dame Marjorie Bean Hope Academy,
with a rage of 90 to 120 children in afterschool care.
Care is provided between 3:15 pm and 5:30 pm. Out
of the remaining six preschools, four offer preschool
care by the teachers as assistants to interested parents at a nominal charge.
In summary, the continued delivery of services for programme 1712 for the fiscal year 2020/21
has been allocated a total budget of $1,874,000.

Subjective Analysis of Current Account Estimates

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, I now refer
you to page B -152, the Subjective Analysis of Current
Account Estimates for the Department of Education.
This page provides an aggregate of the detailed line item expenditures previously mentioned.
The variances of significance for the categories are as follows: 1. Salaries decreased and wages increased by
$[2]47,000 and $118,000, respectively; mainly due to the un- funding of posts for Stores and
T. N. Tatem, and an addition of four paraprofessionals.
2. Training costs are negligibly $4,000 higher,
while Transportation decreased by $10,000
due to a reduction in transportation costs i nvolved in the shipping of inventory.
3. Travel costs associated with overseas training
decreased by $2,000.
4. Communication costs increased by $2,000 in
part reflecting the completion of a number of
projects linked to Information Tec hnology
Support.
5. Professional Services costs increased by
$323,000 reflecting the addition of resources allocated to provide additional Behaviour and
Counselling Services.
6. Rental costs decreased negligibly by $3,000, while Repair and Maintenance costs remained
the same.
7. Energy costs increased slightly by $4,000
mainly reflecting an increase for electricity
costs.
8. Material and Supplies’ expenditure is $2,000
lower as a result of efficiencies.
9. Grants and contributions decreased by
$650,000 and these funds hav e been reall ocated to support the school redesign and
school transformation work which will start this
year.

Employee Numbers —Full -Time Equivalents

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, pages B -
153 and B -154 show that there 1,101 full -time equiv alent p osts, a net change of 19 compared with the
1,120 measured originally in 2019/20. The department
will continue to monitor and review the number of
FTEs ensuring both efficiency and effectiveness of
staff resources.

Performance Measures
Hon. Diallo V. S. R abain: Mr. Chairman, pages B -
[155] to B -162 list the Performance Measures for the
Department of Education. These measures reflect the
priority areas which will be monitored and for which
staff at schools and the department will be held accountable during t he year.
Mr. Chairman, I wish to extend my heartfelt
thanks to the staff at the Department of Education, our
teachers, principals, administrators, all educators, and
our support staff for their dedication to public school
education and our children. As we move forward with
executing Plan 2022 strategies which are aligned with
school and system redesign, I will be relying on our
staff, parents, and the community at large to come


Bermuda House of Assembly together as a united force that will help us transform
the Bermuda public school system for our children.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes my presentation
on Head 17, the Department of Education.

You may proceed.

HEAD 41 —BERMUDA COLLEGE
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, in July 2019, the Bermuda College—our only tertiary level institution on the Island—
celebrated 45 years of providing education excellence
and stude nt success to our diverse community and
meeting its global needs. In celebration of its 45
th anniversary, the college rebranded and established a
new vision and mission statement.
The new vision statement is: Transforming
lives through innovative education. While its mission
is: To provide the community with innovative pr ogrammes, training, support services, and access to
partnerships that lead to local and global success.
As the only post -secondary institution on the
Island, Bermuda College also realises t he significant
role it plays in the economic growth agenda of the
Government. Bermuda College is committed to the
success of its diverse student body by offering transfer programmes leading to success at the university
level; offering professional and technical training lea ding to the success in the workplace, and preparatory
programmes leading to success in the classroom.
Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda College receives
an annual grant from the Ministry of Education and the allocation for financial year 2020/21 is $15,906,000,
which is the same amount it received during the 2019/20 fiscal year.
Mr. Chairman, Dr. Duranda Greene is the
President of the Bermuda College, which is governed by a Board of Governors. The Chair of the Board is

• Mr. Nasir Wade, Deputy -Chair;
• Ms. Whitney Butterfield;
• Ms. Cherie Dill;
• Mr. Thomas Famous, MP;
• Mr. Frank “Chip” Gillis;
• Ms. Delight Morris;
• Mr. Jerome Reid, Jr.;
• Mrs. Kathleen Sharpe Keene; and
• Mrs. Romelle Warner.

Ex Officio members are:
• Mr. Jason Hayward, MP (National Training
Board representative); • the Hon. Randolph Horton (Chairman of the
Honorary Fellows);
• Mrs. Valerie Robinson- James (Permanent
Secretary of Education);
• Mr. Romeo Ruddock (Support Staff Repr esentative);
• Ms. Latifa Smith (Student Representative);
and
• Ms. Necheeka Trott (Faculty Representative).
Mr. Chairman, Bermuda College, as an accredited institution with the newly named New England Commission on Higher Education, continues to
be the most economical choice for Bermudians to
start their journey to higher education. It not only offers a great value for money when compared to the first two years of any four -year institution in the United
Kingdom, North America and the Caribbean, but also offers innovative educa tion and training, quality i nstruction and unparalleled student support.

2019 /20 Highlights

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, I will now
speak to highlights from the previous 2019/20 school
year.
Mr. Chairman, one of the major highlights of
the col lege during this past year has been its rebranding. The institution has a new logo, new colours, and
new tagline. Its timeless new logo incorporates and honours the legacy of its three antecedent instit utions —the Bermuda Technical Institute, the Hotel &
Catering College, and the Academic Sixth Form Centre
. Its new colours reflect the vibrant tropical hues
and refreshing tones that characterise the landscape
of our Island, while its new tag line Many Paths –
Discover Yours highlights the many educational pat hways Bermuda College offers to its diverse student
body.
In fall 2019, Bermuda College introduced its
first two associate degree programmes offered under
its new Division of Nursing and Allied Health: Prehealth Science and Pre- Med. Future programmes to
be offered by this new division include: Diagnostic
Medical Imaging; Medical Lab Technician; and Radiology Technician.
The Dual Enrolment Programme, a partnership between the Bermuda College and the Depar tment of Education, continues to be a success and is
increasing in popularity with 79 students participating
in the programme during the 2019/20 academic year.
At Bermuda College’s May 2019 Commencement,
there were 22 dual enrolment graduates.
The college also introduced Compliance to its
PACE offerings this year, via partnerships with three
international organisations: American- based Associ ation of Certified Anti -Money Laundering Specialists;
the UK -based International Compliance Association;
and the Caribbean- based KIXKO e- learning organis ation. Bermuda Coll ege has also established a partner3714 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly ship with the internationally recognised and well -
respected Global Knowledge IT organisation to offer
its courses and programmes through PACE.
Mr. Chairman, as Bermuda College fulfils its
mission of providing its students with access to par tnerships that lead to local and global success, the
ability for its students to transfer their credits to overseas institutions to complete their baccalaureate degrees is key. To support this objective, in December
Bermuda College hosted its second annual Transfer
Pathways College Fair which saw its four -year instit ution partners visit the campus and share their pr ogrammes with the Bermuda College students.
Internships and work placements are also an
important aspect of the Bermuda Colleg e student experience for many of its programmes. This past su mmer, a culinary arts student, Tremayne Bailey, was
afforded the opportunity to participate in a summer
internship in Ghana for 12 weeks.
The college inducted its second cohort of 10
inductees into the Phi Theta Kappa Honour Society in
October. The Bermuda College’s Beta Chi Upsilon
Chapter also recently earned the REACH Award from
the international organisation for increasing its me mbership by more than 15 per cent in the past year.
As part of the unparalleled support it provides
for its students, Bermuda College provided free break-fast to students during the final examination period.
This initiative, organised through its Academic R esource Centre, was much appreciated and well -
received by the students.
Mr. Chairman, Bermuda College continues to
do its parts to not only educate its students but to also
educate and inform the community at large through
various events organised throughout the year. Such
events include the college’s Annual Science Wee k
activities and its public forums. During the 2020 Sc ience Week events, the college welcomed public and private school students and members of the general
public to its campus. The Science Demo Day was attended by more than 200 middle school students,
while the Master Class saw participation by 70 high
school students. The Public Forum, featuring Dr. D esiree Spriggs, a Bermudian forensic scientist, was
attended by more than 100 individuals. Her lecture
was entitled Forensics —from the Crime Scene to the
Courtroom.
In October 2019, Bermuda College partnered
with the Bermuda Technical Institute Alumni to host Mr. Thomas Ilube, a British entrepreneur and founder
and CEO of Crossword Cybersecurity, PLC. Mr. Ilube
spoke on the topic of Disruptive Technologies that will Reconstruct Careers.
The Bermuda College Literary Society also
hosted American spoken word artist and author, Dr. Javon Johnson, in October.
Mr. Chairman, in November, the Bermuda
College Foundation was officially launched as the co llege’s fundraisi ng arm under the chairmanship of Mr. Mark Berry, a Bermuda College alumnus. He is supported by his Deputy Chairman, Mr. Garry Madeiros
and 10 other board members. The Foundation’s vision
is to have a fully -funded, state- of-the-art Bermuda
College; while it s mission is to cultivate and secure
philanthropic partnerships. Its initial goal is to raise $16,000,000 for the college which includes a
$1,000,000 endowment.
Bermuda College Company of Honorary Fe llows celebrated its 20
th anniversary in February with
the induction of its 99th and 100th Honorary Fellows.
The two honourees were Ms. Cheryl -Ann Lister, OBE
and the Honourable Dr. Grant Gibbons, OBE. Both were honoured and celebrated for the significant contributions they have m ade to this community and b eyond in their respective fields.

2019 /2020 Output Measures

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, supporting
output measures for the college’s activities during this
past year are as follows.
In May 2019 Bermuda College gradu ated 125
students with associate degrees, diplomas or certif icates.
• Arts & Science, 30 graduates;
• Business, 40 graduates;
• Hospitality, [9] graduates;
• Technical Education, 41 graduates;
• Nursing, 5 graduates.
In addition, eight individuals received their
Bachelor of Business Administration degrees through
the college’s long- standing partnership with Mount
Saint Vincent University.
Mr. Chairman, in December 2019, the Division
of Professional and Career Education (PACE) awar ded 136 professional designations and workforce development certificates. In addition, nine public high school students received their Certificate for Nursing Assistants as part of the Department of Education’s
dual enrolment programme with the college and 283
public high school students received their City &
Guilds Entry Level Introductory Award in Employability
Skills at their high school graduations.
The awards, representing 18 areas of specialisation, were as follows:
• American Management Association (AMA)
Certificate in General Management, 5;
• AMA Certificate in Human Resources, 6;
• Endeavour Maritime Springboard Programme,
9;
• Certificate in Basic Horticulture (Level 1), 13;
• Certificate in Basic Horticulture (Level 2), 14;
• International Compliance Association (ICA)
Certificate in Anti Money Laundering, 1;
• ICA Certificate in Compliance, 4;
• ICA Certificate in Managing Sanctions Risk, 1;


Bermuda House of Assembly • ICA Certificate in Financial Crime Prevention,
2;
• ACCA Introductory Certificate in Financial &
Management Accounting, 6;
• ACCA Intermediate Certificate in Financial &
Management Accounting, 3;
• Certificate in Bartending, [20];
• Certificate for Nursing Assistant, 12;
• Certificate for Nursing Assistants —Bridging,
14;
• City & Guilds Level 2 Diploma in Hairdressing,
7;
• Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), 5;
• World Instructor Training School Personal
Trainer Certification, 4;
• LERN Distance Education Programme Certif icate in Project Management, 4;
• LERN Certificate in Mastering Microsoft Excel,
4;
• LERN Certificate in Advanced Teaching
Online, 1;
• LERN Certificate in Legal Office Administr ation, 1.
Mr. Chairman, in fall 2019 the college enrolled
674 students. There were also 633 registrants serviced through PACE during the same period.

2019 /2020 Budget
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, i n 2019
Bermuda College received $15,906,000, or 78 per
cent of its operating budget from its Government
grant. Bermuda College also received a special grant
in the amount of $300,000 to assist students in financial need with their tuition. As a result of t his grant, a
total of 219 awards, ranging from $335 to $6,880,
were issued to students with financial need in both the
academic and PACE divisions during the 2019/20 academic year.
The college also received $125,000 specifically allocated for training in t he areas of landscaping,
compliance, nursing and towards the establishment of a National Educators’ Institute. As a result of this addi-tional funding, 11 landscaping students completed the
programme and 20 nursing students were assisted in
financing their mandatory overseas practicums at SicKids in Canada and Temple University in the USA.
Forty -eight students were also supported to enrol in
one of the three compliance programmes offered
through PACE.
Mr. Chairman, Bermuda College’s budgeted
revenue of $4,563,500 from other sources included:
• student tuition and fees for credit courses;
• PACE revenue;
• bookstore revenue;
• testing centre revenue; and
• rental income, including the Coco Reef R esort. This amount, together with the Government
grant, made up a total rev enue figure for the 2019/20
budget year of $20,469,500.
Mr. Chairman, during this period, salaries and
benefits accounted for $13,243,635 or 65 per cent of its budget; this represents a 1 per cent decrease in
salaries when compared to 2018/19. The college continues to monitor its salary expense closely whilst ba lancing its need to provide a quality education to its students.
During the 2019/20 fiscal year, the college
expended $79,600 on the first phase of its rebranding, an initiative emanating from its 5- year strategic plan,
Delivering Success. This included minor renovations
and redecoration of the Bermuda College Bookstore,
new stationery, new flags and banners, clothing and
advertising/marketing. The New Student Orientation and the Honorary Fellows events were also rebranded
to reflect Bermuda College’s new look. The college’s
website was also redesigned to reflect its new brand.
Mr. Chairman, IT expenditures for the year i ncluded $155,000 on hardware purchases and
$300,000 on contracts and licences to s upport teac hing and learning as well as the college’s administrative
functions . The college hired an independent contractor to complete an audit on its IT systems and infr astructure. The college has started to replace high pr iority hardware and infrastructure items identified in the
audit including various end -of-life Cisco switches, ou tdated cable and completer hardware. The college will continue to address the recommendations from the
audit during the next fiscal year.
Maintenance and improvement of the physical
plant of Bermuda College continued as part of the col-lege’s commitment to providing a safe and healthy
environment for its students and employees. In add ition to routine cleaning and maintenance contracts, the college spent $218,000 on a much- needed chiller
overhaul.
Bermuda College is projected to spend
$455,000 on insurance and $1,100,000 on electricity
and other utilities during the 2019/20 fiscal year.
A total of $175,000 in financial assistance was
allocated to students enrolled in t he academic div isions who demonstrated a financial need from the
college’s operating budget. This amount was suppl emented with the additional $300,000 from the Government, as mentioned previously.
Mr. Chairman, the college expended
$260,000 for start -up costs to support the newly established Bermuda College Foundation. The Foundation is officially up and running and has commenced
fundraising activities.
As a result of the $200,000 in capital funding
received in 2019/20, Bermuda College was able to continue to make much needed upgrades to its ageing
plant and IT infrastructures. This included upgrades to
its network infrastructure resulting in wider and more
reliable Wi -Fi coverage on campus. The college also
3716 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly spent approximately $62,000 upgrading and exten ding its CCTV video system, resulting in increased
campus coverage, data storage and picture quality.
The college also continued replacing carpets throughout the campus with tile flooring to provide a healthier environment for its students and employees.

2020/21 Budget Year

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Mr. Chairman, Bermuda
College continues to utilise internal stakeholders as part of its annual budget process. The Budget Committee includes representatives from the Student
Government Council, faculty, support s taff, members
from the Executive and a selection of budget managers. The goal of the Budget Committee is to prepare a
balanced budget to present to the Board Finance
Committee and ultimately to the Board for final a pproval. Salaries continue to form the majority of the
college’s budgeted expenses and the college conti nues to review its operations, seeking ways to decrease its labour costs, while still providing a quality
education to its students.
Mr. Chairman, Delivering Success, Bermuda
College’s five -year strategic plan, is the blueprint to
steer the college towards its 50
th anniversary in 2024.
Mr. Chairman, $75,000 will be set aside for impl ementing the second year of the plan. It is anticipated that additional funds for capital projects outlined in the
strategic plan will be secured via the Bermuda College
Foundation.
Utilising the $300,000 grant to assist students
with financial need, the college will endeavour to ensure that no student is prohibited from attending Bermuda College as a result of limited household i ncomes. It is anticipated that a similar number of st udents in the last year will be assisted with the 2020/21 financial assistance grant. And, again, Mr. Chairman,
an adlib there, we just received the numbers of st udents who have been helped by those grants over the
last three years. That number is in the upper 700s.
Mr. Chairman, $125,000 will be utilised to
provide training in areas where there is a shortage of
Bermudians. Areas under consideration are nursing,
compliance, horticulture/lands caping, accounting and
culinary arts.
Additionally, $25,000 will be used to support
the continued development of the National Educators
Institute which will provide a centralised entity for pu blic and private school educators and counsellors of all
levels to engage in and benefit from professional development, professional learning and research.
Looking ahead, Mr. Chairman, Bermuda College will continue implementing its five- year strategic
plan and work on Phase 2 of its rebranding strategy
during the upcom ing year. As the birth rate and the
number of students in the Bermuda Public School System continue to decline, Bermuda College will also continue its efforts to attract a more diverse student
body.
During the 2020/21 academic year, Bermuda
College will of fer its first Marine Science courses as
part of its new marine science programme which is
being developed with the assistance of its Marine Sc ience Advisory Committee consisting of various marine
science professionals. The college will also invest igate off ering additional courses during the evening
and weekends to attract working adults.
Bermuda College will continue to work with
the Department of Education to provide college
courses to qualified students through its Dual Enro lment programme. The college wi ll also review its Ce rtificate for Accounting Technicians programme to align it with the ACCA Foundations in Accountancy pr ogrammes.

[Mrs. Susan Jackson, Chairman]
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Madam Chairman, Berm uda College will continue to forge alliances with professional credentialing and accrediting agencies for wor kforce development and professional certification, such
as: Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
(ACCA); Building Owners and Managers Institute
(BOMI) for building owners and managers; City &
Guilds for the applied sciences; Global Knowledge for information technology; International Compliance A ssociation (ICA); Association of Certified Anti -Money
Laundering Specialists (ACAMS); and KIXKO for compliance; and local professional bodies . During this
upcoming year Bermuda College will establish a par tnership with Queen’s University Industrial Relations Centre (IRC) to offer its courses and programmes
through PACE.
Bermuda College will continue expanding its
articulation agreements with hi gher education instit utions in the United Kingdom and with the University of the West Indies. The college will also investigate the
introduction of a one- year Foundation Year for st udents wishing to transfer to a three- year degreegranting institution in t he United Kingdom.
To support the Bermuda College and the
Bermuda College Foundation, the college will conti nue its efforts to reconnect with its alumni and establish an accurate alumni database including alumni from its
three previous institutions.
Madam Chairman, as I close, I wish to thank
the board, the executive, administration, faculty and
staff of the Bermuda College for their work throughout this year. I look forward to working with them in the
coming year.
Thank you, Madam Chairman, as this co ncludes the budget on Head 41, the Bermuda College;
and my overall presentation of the 2020/21 Budget for
the Ministry of Education.

Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Madam Chairman, I am just asking a question, if you will allow me before I get into the structure
of the response. The Minister, first of all, I would like
to commend him for sharing his brief with me. I have
been here 20- something years and this is the second
time it was done and so I am appreciative of what he has done and I hope others follow his lead.
My question to you, Madam Chairman, is I
have a few clarification questions on the Minister’s
brief. I would like to go through them first and have the
Minister answer those clarification questions before I get into my proper response. Will that be permissible?

I do not have a brief.
Okay, so, first of all, I would like to thank the
Ministry of Education and the Department of Educ ation for the work that is done in preparing f or the
budget. I know that it is a monumental task. I know it
is not easy, and I think it is . . . they have done a fantastic job in being fiscally prudent and fiscally responsible. The budget numbers are close as to what they
were last year and I remember repeating the same
thing last year, and I think the financial aspect of the
department and the college need to be noted because, from my perspective, they are being fiscally
prudent and responsible. So, I would like to commend
them for that.
[Inaudible i nterjection]

I know that, that is why I am
saying it.
The other issue that I would like to address
are the comments that he made, and I am also
pleased, you know, it is like . . . with Education, when
you are going to redesign educ ation, it is like changing
course on a big cruise ship. It will not be done over-night and it is going to take time and everybody has to
work together. And so, I feel more positive than I have
felt before in regards to the direction of Education and
the fruits of positive developments in regard to deliver-ing the objectives envisioned as prescribed in Educ ation 2022. Madam Chairman, the other thing that I am
pleased to see in regard to turning the ship around —
and I have always placed a lot of emphasis on profe ssional development —and I have been very attentive
to the Minister in this regard, and throughout his Mi nistry—the primary schools, the preschools, the secondary schools, the middle schools and the other
schools that need special support —professional development was the priority. So, again, I am confident
in knowing that our teachers are getting the support
that they deserve and it is a step in the right direction. So, thank you to the team.
Just a question . . . a couple of questions that
came up that I just need clarity on from your brief. So,
do you have your brief with you? Because I am going
to go to pages, if that would help.
Page 11 of 67, and that is page B -146 in the
Budget Book, you said the number of full -time equiv alents (or employees) in the Ministry of Education
Headquarters decreased from seven to six. The one less FTE reflects the removal of the PS from the Mi nistry of Education to Cabinet. I accept that. Then you
go to the bottom of the paragraph and you say “the
Ministry team comprises o f the Permanent Secretary,
a senior policy analyst, the Ministry comptroller, et
cetera.” So, in one paragraph we are saying she is
out—the PS is out —and the second paragraph is sa ying she is in. So, I just want some clarity in that space.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: I will be glad to clarify. As I
mentioned in the brief, Madam Chairman, all Perm anent Secretary Salaries have been removed to Cab inet Office. They still remain within the Ministry because that is where they work, but all of their salaries
have b een transferred to the Cabinet Office.

Okay, that is helpful, thanks.
As I said earlier, I just want to commend you
on the professional development issues and the r esources committed to them. So, I just asked that one,
so that is no question, just a comment.
On page 27, [of] 68, and I have asked this
question before, business unit 27065, how many st udents do we have in the Deaf and Hard- of-Hearing
Programming? And the same as to the Vision bus iness unit for the visually impaired s tudents . You can
answer that later.

[Inaudible interjection]

No, I do not need to hear it
now. I do not have many of these questions before I
start, so you can answer them after I finish this.
Page 35 of 68, you said Marjorie Bean Hope
Academy —you were talking about the employees —
you said “also included in these funds are the salaries
of two groundsmen who maintain school sports fields, and one labourer.” My question is, why is the property
3718 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report
B ermuda House of Assembly not maintained by either Parks or Works and Eng ineering? And why are they covered by our staff?
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Do you want me to answer
that now?

You can, if you want.
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Madam Chairman, to answer the previous question, we have 7 students who
are in the Hard- of-Hearing Programme and 13 st udents who are in the Visual Programme.
In terms of having employees do work, it is
similar to . . . our Ministry or our department has a
hybrid -type system between ourselves and the Ministry of Works, similar to how we do some of our own
facilities management on a minor level, but Works does more of the major work within our system. The same with school repairs. And I would say having
groundsmen falls under that same premise.
Similarly, we have, as I mentioned in the brief,
we have someone that does field marking and you
could probably ask the same question: Why is that not done by Parks? It is just something that has been in
place and it has just continued on that vein. There is
no particular yes or no answer to that question, but we do have someone on staff that does those works and it is just . . . when Parks . . . Parks probably cannot
make it for that particular thing, and so they have as-signed . . . we have alway s just had someone assigned for that.

For the listening public, we are in the
Committee of Supply and you are listening to Educ ation.
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Madam Chairman, I have
just been passed the answer to the previous question
that was asked. I have here costs for the major IT pr ojects that we have going on. Telephony is $45,000;
cabling is $49,000; the fibre optic installation is $175,000; and various [other] installations will total $7,500.

Okay. And page 46, you said
in the second paragraph, “Mr. Chairman, the total of 2020/21 budget allocation for our middle schools is $16,507,000.” My question is, if you look in the Budget Book, that includes $2.448 [million] for T. N. Tatem
Middle School. That school is closed. Can you confirm
why it is included in the $16,507,000?
It could be a mistake . . . I am just saying.
Hon. Diallo V . S. Rabain: Madam Chairman, t he answer t o that qu estion is t he T. N . Tatem Mi ddle School
was c losed after t he budget deadline. A nd, as y ou
know, wh en you di scontinue departments, t hey a lso
remain on the Budget Book for a couple of c ycles before they fall off.

So, it will be reduced . . . this
amount, the total allocation, I think it needs to be corrected to show $14.1 million approximately for the t otal allocation for the middle schools. Because we do
not want to approve in the House $16.5 million if you
are only going to use the $14.1 [million], if you take out the $2.48 million.
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: As previously stated, when
we talked about the closure of T. N. Tatem Middle School, the intention is not . . . we did not close the
school because we did not . . . or want to . . . not have
that money within that budget. Any expenses that were allocated to T. N. Tatem will be absorbed into
the rest of the schools’ budget. So, whether it says it
here . . . because we already explained about budget
deadlines and such, but those funds will be spent, they just will not be spent on T. N. Tatem.

I am. The initial goal is to
raise $60 million for the college, which includes a $1 million endowment. How much has the foundation raised to date?
Okay, my last question from your statement,
before I get into mine. I just wanted to showcase the


Bermuda House of Assembly effectiveness of a budgetary committee. I see most
progressive organisations have budget committees
and I want to applaud the college for having that i nstead of having a CA or the CFO sitting in his office trying to put it all together. The fact that the Bermuda College’s Budget Committee consists of represent atives from the Student Government Council, faculty,
support staff, m embers of the executive, and a selection of budget managers, to me, demonstrates the
progressive nature of how this institution is being
managed. And so, I just want to applaud this progres-sive decision and the work which is being done by this
committee. It just shows that when everyone works
together, you will get positive results.
So, those were my comments that I had in
regard to the brief that the Minister so kindly shared
with me.
So, now I would like to go into my notes. And
what I am going to do, I am going to start in the back
and then come forwards. What I would like to do is
speak to the output indicators because, at the end of the day, it is about how effective the system is and
how effective the output measures are. In business
we are judged by performance. And so, the same
should apply to the Department of Education and the
Ministry of Education. Just give me a second just to
organise myself.
If you go to page . . . just bear with me. Page
B-58 and we are talking about Output Measures.
Okay. Page B -155, business unit 1701 Central Admi nistration, percentage of schools achieving all school
improvement plan objectives, 60 per cent in 2019. My
question is, What happened to the other schools?
What happened to the other schools in that they have
not completed the improvement plan objectives? And
how are we remediating that? Because that is 40 per
cent of our schools.
The other question, just below that, the percentage of teachers who perform at the exemplary
level for two or more priority standards on their performance appraisal tool, 75 per cent have met these
standards, from a performance appraisal point of
view. What have we done with the other 25 per cent
who have not met their performance appraisal stan dards? The next question, I would like to . . . the percentage of students who attain two or more external
certifications other than the IGCSEs. We had 95 per
cent. My question is why have we chosen two and not
five?
Percentage of performance appraisals completed—

[Inaudible interjection]

—so it is a new measure.
And so, that still leads me to my question, do we have
. . . what do the existing performance numbers look
like? Because our teachers do performance apprai sals every year; they have performance appraisals by
their principals, I presume. And so what percentage of
our teachers and staff at the Department of Education
are appraised?
The next line, percentage of school staff other
than teachers who perform at the exemplary level for
two or more priority standards on their performance
appraisal tool, 75 per cent. So, again, these are new
ones.

[Inaudible interjection]

Okay, okay.
Page B -156. Compliance with health and
safety requirements to hold one or more fire drills. To
me, this caused great alarm when I read in 2018 the
data was not available, in 2019 there is nothing here. I
know that most businesses around this country have fire drills, they have fire safety wardens, and the fire
drills are regular, so that in the event there is an
emergency, people know where they have to be and
they know what they have to do. If we do not have
these fire drills, if they are not managed and monitored—

[Inaudible interjection]

And so, if we are not monitoring and managing the health and safety protocols,
then to me, it is putting our teachers and students at
3720 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly risk because they will not be able to efficiently address
the protocols and do what they have to do in regard to
fire drills and health and safety requirements.
And I note that throughout, I mean, if you look
on page B -157, Health and Safety inspections concluded in each school per year per annum, again, no
information. We are not taking health and safety pr otocols in our schools —

[Inaudible interjection]

Right. And I am saying that
we should hav e had it for a while.
Again, the same thing: schools in compliance
with Health and Safety Committee regulations, no d ata available. And this speaks to the BermudaFirst and
that it is hard to get data from the Ministry and data
management. And so, I am ask ing the Minister and
the senior executives within the Ministry what data
management strategies and objectives do they have
in place? Do they have a data management pr ogramme planned for the Ministry so that we can be
better . . . be more efficient in collating data so that we
can better measure the outputs of our department and
organisation?
And then, if we go on to Preschools 1704, the
percentage of preschool students who meet esta blished standards for literacy and numeracy —
[Inaudible interjection]

No, that is fine. It is just a
challenge and I note that we have begun the process
of bringing along people to address these issues and
we will see how things progress this year. I hope that they are successful, because we cannot let anybody
fall between the cracks.
Page B -158 just speaks to what I just said. If
you go to percentage of students at each school reading at grade level, so, again, it has to do with reading. In our primary schools, 75 per cent of students are
reading at grade levels, 25 per cent are not. And if you
go across the middle schools, I think it is the same percentage. And so, it is a priority and I . . . the Mini ster has indicated that he will be addressing it, so I look forward to more improved results next year.
On page B -159, again, school improvement
objectives for mathem atics. As the Minister said in his
brief—I was not aware, but —he has hired a mathematics coordinator who is helping teachers and, hopefully, we will move from 55 per cent to 100 per cent
next year. In fact, you do not even have a target here
for next year, so you have to be more accountable
and put some target in here for the percentage of
schools achieving their school improvement objectives
for mathematics. I would like to see a target percentage there, because that way people can be held ac-countable for their performance.

[Inaudible interjection]

And so, if we have this data
in the system, then somehow, we should have been
able to infuse it into the performance indicators . That
is what I am saying. Because it does not look good for
the department to have these wonderful benchmarks,
but there is no information in the Budget Book which
goes down into our records.
And so, I would encourage the Minister and
the Ministry to have this information here because it is
rich information that is needed. Like the next one, st udents passing ICGSE —this information is data that,
basically, confirms the success of the department and
they should be included in these output measures.
Again, nothing in 2018, nothing in 2019, and then we
just have a target for 2020/21.
Again, it is new, but we should have been
capturin g this information anyway. And I think, if we


Bermuda House of Assembly are talking about performance measures, it should be
in there.
I will yield.

Go ahead, Minister.
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you, Madam Chairman. And this is just so . . . I just want to mention this
so we can, perhaps, not continue to go down this
road. The reason these are listed as new performance
measures in the book and will be listed from now g oing forward is because we recognise how important it
is to report out on them. And, as the S hadow Minister
is pointing out, he is absolutely correct, they are crit ical and they are information that the people should
get to see. And it is information that was never repor ted prior to us putting it in this year.
So, we accept that it is critical information for
persons to see and this is why the performance measures that he has noted are all listed as new
measures for this particular year. As we know, we cannot go back in the Budget Book and print som ething for last year if we are just adding it t his year. It is
a simple process, it is simple.
I just wanted to point that out so we do not
continue to go down that road because, he is preac hing to the choir, but he is also erroneous by saying it should be listed for last year and it is a new measure
for this upcoming fiscal year.

I take the Minister’s point, his
comments, and I am just saying that he has provided
us with such a detailed brief on the achievements of the school year and the budgetary year from primary
school to secondary school to the college. And all I
am saying is, included in those achievements could
have been information on the questions that I just
asked. That is all I am saying. Because it is rich information that truly measures the success of the organisatio n.
Okay, now I shall continue by Head.
Okay, programme 1601, General Administr ation Ministry Headquarters. The public school restruc-ture . . . this is basically general administration, the
$950,000. And the three- year expectation is over $2
million? Are we getting any —

Right. So, the Minister has
basically given us, in his presentation, a brief overview
of the restructure and redesign of the Bermuda Public School System. I applaud him for that and I asked
basically [that it] be described, and I think he covered
it adequately.
The Grants to External Bodies was down from
$279,000. Last year it was up $279,000, this year it is
down to $250,000. That is line 2680, can he provide an explanation there?

Okay. In regard to, again, on
Central Administration 1701, the Ministry of Educ ation, we have the new visi on for Plan 2022. And my
question is, as a result of the new vision, and as a
result of its new objectives and targets, has the Mini stry and the department been reorganised in themselves to be more compliant with the objectives and
the vision of the depart ment so that there is synergy
from the top to the bottom of the educational sphere?
And so, if we have a top of the educational sphere
restructured to fall in line with the vision of Plan 2022,
and the delivery of the objectives and guidelines, then
I thin k the operation would be more efficient. So, have
we restructured the top level within the Ministry and
the Department of Education to make sure that they can optimally deliver the initiatives espoused and
summarised in Plan 2022?
As I said earlier, BermudaFirst indicated that
the department cannot come up with sustainable an d
long-term solutions in regard to Education because
the historic data, including performance data, is not
there; it is not even compiled properly. So, again, as I
said earlier, do we have a data management plan? Do
we have data management storage? Do we have data management compilation protocols in our system?
Who will manage this crucial area? And how many
members of our team will be in place to support the data management protocols w hich will straddle across
all departments of the Ministry of Education?
Last year we indicated that we were going to,
also, implement the Bermuda Public School System
Code of Conduct. Where do we stand on that? When
will it be completed? When will it be tabled? And how much has it cost to date? And how much will it cost to
produce?
3722 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly In December the Minister indicated that our
school population has [decreased] by 2,000 students
from 20 years ago, and 1,000 from 10 years ago to
4,578 students. In light of this, the Minister implied
that he would need 11 of the 18 primary schools . That
means that seven schools are unneeded. This means
that approximately $12 million formerly used by the
closed 7 schools could be reapplied to the 11 remai ning schools. These resources could be applied to
school supplies, teacher resources, computer equi pment, and the repurposing and refurbishment of 11
schools. Where do we stand on this? What is the plan
to optimise these schools based on the current school
population?
I know [about] the project that we have in
place in regard to the overarching revie w of Educ ation, but I am certain maybe we can address this area
before that plan is completed.
Strategy 4.6 of Plan 2022, redevelop a massive facilities plan. Where do we stand on this? Have much have we allocated for this initiative? He has ad-dressed that .
In December, in the House, the Minister indicated that the Government was considering the BermudaFirst recommendation that Bermuda have an
Educational Authority. What work has the Government
taken to date to address this issue? And where do we stand with the feasibility study? Again, just a general
question. He raised it publicly, so I am just following up.
In regard to Salaries, can the Minister basically provide a breakdown of the salaries of the Commi ssioner of Education, the Directors, and their perfor-mance appraisal programmes? So, I know that we
were making progress in performance appraisals, but,
like everybody else, we all, irrespective of what level
we are in business —be they mid- level, lower level, top
level—we are always accountable to somebody and
we all have to go through a performance appraisal
programme. So, can the Minister speak to the appraisal performance programmes that are in place for
the Commissioner of Education and her Directors?
And I asked this question [last] year, so I just
want ed, for the edification of the community, to repeat
it again this year: What professional development
programme have we in place for the Commissioner of
Education, the Directors and officers and other senior
management team members of the department?

[Inaudible interjection]

My pleasure.
Likewise, the Minister spoke about the impl ementation of the Principal Certification. So, my question is, I know that he is working with the Bermuda
college in that space and that people are applying to
be participants in the Principal Certification pr ogramme. The question that I have is, this is . . . should
be compulsory for all principals, where do we stand to
date? How many principals have taken it as a per-centage? And how many principals have yet to
achieve their certification? And what roadmap do we
have to ensure that those who have not done it do so
expeditiously?
Likewise, what succession planning do we
have in place for our executive team within the D epartment of Education down to our princi pals? If the
Minister can speak to, just briefly, on succession
planning for the executive team and the leadership
team within the Department of Education.
I spoke to the Math Specialist, he has [covered] that already, so we can skip that.
Now we are goi ng to Student Services, pr ogramme 1702, are you with me?
What is the current status of the development
of the new Alternative Education Programme? As last
year the Minister indicated that the department was looking for an alternative school model, can he speak
to where we stand on this initiative to date? Also, how
many new educational therapists have we hired in the
past year? And are we up to a full complement? Line 27061, Behaviour Management. The
Minister indicated that he would have two Behaviour
Support Centres, one in a primary school and one in a
middle school; and they would be staffed by two staff
members, one educational therapist and one school
counsellor. How will the two centres’ staff work with
the 27 other regular counsellors and teachers t hat we
have amongst our school network?
Okay, I am moving ahead to 27079,
Paraprofessionals. Here we speak to the resources
available for the Autism Spectrum Disorder students.
How many teachers do we have supporting the st udents with Autism Spectrum . . . I hate the word “Di sorder” because it means you are negating the capabi lities of our young people. I would say Autism Spectrum c hallenges . How many teachers do we have
supporting them in this space? And how many st udents do we have in this space? What tr aining did the
teachers and paraprofessionals have during the past
year to support our students who are in the Autism
space and how much did it cost?
I am moving on to unit 27003, Office Admi nistration Accommodation, business unit 27003.

And we talk about Office A ccommodations, so, what is the annual rent for the office and the annual office maintenance costs?
I am moving on to business unit 27040, Ed ucational Stores. The Minister has spoken to this. I noted last year he said the team was completing an ana lysis of the operational stores for efficiencies and he
has addressed this in his speech.
I am moving ahead to line item 27042, Buil ding Grounds Equipment. [This] funds the salaries of a facilities manager who will play a pivotal role in the
school’s inspection, and [who will] research guidelines
providing modern educational facilities. How many people do we have on this tea m—the Facilities Management Team? And what are their priorities? And how are they working with the school custodians?
I am asking how they are working with the
school custodians because somehow, I remember when I was Minister, it appeared that there was no
synergy between the school custodians and the facil ities management people. And so, to me, from a facil ities point of view, the school custodians are the front
line. And to me, there should be regular communic ation, regular dialogue, going from the school custod ians up to the facilities management through, obviously, the principals, so that we are not surprised when
mould [suddenly] appears and yet there have been
signs for the past six or seven months and no one has
brought this to the attention of the facilities manager
who could have been more proactive in addressing
those types of challenges.
So, again, I would like to see more dialogue
between the frontline school custodians and facilities
management via the principals. And I would encourage the princi pals, you know, to be transparent and try
not to be embarrassed by some of the weaknesses
that they see in their schools from a facilities point of
view. Because if you do not speak it out, then you are
not going to have it addressed. So, I would encourage
them to be more open, receptive to the challenges,
and receptive to the data being passed on that our school custodians present to them and pass that i nformation on to the Ministry so that these issues can be addressed and not left to simmer and cause lar ger
problems.
I had questions on the middle schools and
standards -based grading, but I think they have been
addressed already by the Minister in his brief, so I will
pass that over.
Line 27500, we spoke about the allotment of
$2.448 [million] to T. N. Tatem. The Minister indicated
that he has redeployed these funds to other areas
within the middle school level and I accept that. And
he began to say how these funds will be deployed. And so, I wait to see how the redeployment of these
funds will provide more positive results in that space. But my other question is, what has happened
to the teachers at T. N. Tatem Middle School? What
has happened to other staff members at T. N. Tatem
Middle School? Where are they now? Can you give us
a complete breakdown as to where they are at? Were
there any redundancies? Are they gainfully employed? And are their current positions secure?
I will just continue on that middle school line. I
know that the Minister was clear about his intention to phase out the middle school, and I presume that this
issue will be a priority with the restructure committee that he has got in place with the new consultant that
he just hired. So I suspect that the middle school will
be closed by 2022 and that the new signature school
will be in place by then. I would like for the Minister to
confirm that.
He also spoke in regard to the signature
schools. Conceptually I believe that our students have
different capabilities, different talents, and different
learning styles. And I remember this issue was raised
by my friend, another former Education Minister, El
James. And he spoke of a type of signature school where there were sports, the arts, STEAM and other
initiatives. How are we going to determine, within the
signature schools, what we are going to offer? How
are we going to define the need for various subjects
within our middle schools? How are we going to arrive at the optimal curriculum that is going to be followed within our signature schools?
I know we have a target date of 2022, and I
think that these questions need to be answered so that when it is opened we know it is fit for purpose and that the community will embrace it because the curri culums offered at the signature schools are what the community needs and what the community wants.
Curric ulum Assessment, programme 1709,
the Minister indicated that there was a fee of, I think,
around $383,000 paid for Cambridge. Does this, bas ically $383,000 fee (approximately), cover all of the
Checkpoint exams and the curriculum data? Or are
they separate because you are paying for the Cambridge curriculum information and then you are paying
a fee for each person that takes the Checkpoint exam
every year? So, does that $383,000 cover all of that or
just the exams or just the annual licensing fee?
I am movi ng on to programme 1712, Early
Childhood Education, line 2770 Afterschool Care.
Again, I am going to ask the questions I asked last
year, when will we have an afterschool care pr ogramme or centre in Somerset and in St. George’s? They are all currently loca ted in the central parishes.
And how many employees do we have, in total, in the
Afterschool programme?
Under the Revenue Summary, line 8667, it
says, Preschool vouchers $90,000. Where do these vouchers come from? How many students are covered by these vouchers? And how do you qualify for preschool vouchers?
3724 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Line 8875, Other Retail Sales, $85,000. What
does this amount include? And how are these funds
earned?
Line 8801, Facilities, $55,000. How are these
revenues earned? Who are the clients? And what products or services are being sold?
Okay, so we have been through the performance measures, so I will skip that. Let me see if I have forgotten anything . . . I am just touching back on
the performance measures in the back. That is be-tween [pages] B -154 and B-162. We have addressed
some of it already. I am just going through my notes
just to make sure that I have not left out anything else.
Okay. Those are my comments in regard to
the Department of Education.
Bermuda College. Madam Chairman, again,
we recently did the annual report for the Bermuda College and, as I said earlier, Bermuda College is a shi ning example of what can be achieved when we work
together.
First of all, I would like to commend the leadership of the Bermuda College. I work with them here
in the House and I also work with them on a professional basis, and I think that we have a robust team of
professionals who are committed to the delivery of
education in this country.
I like the vision that we have for the Bermuda
College because I always believed that Bermudians
had different learning styles, but we will get there at
our own pace. And to me, the vision demonstrates
that. And I think, with that type of vision, there is less
stigma on those labelled as bright, those labelled as
academically challenged. We all have our learning
styles and we have a system across the board which
is beginning to address an individual’s strengths and
weaknesses.
Education is like any other service, Madam
Chairman, we are in the business of delivering educ ational services to our people, and our people, like any
other business, have diverse needs and have diverse responsibilities. And, as a government, the Ministry of
Education needs to be poised to deliver educational
services so that they are palatable to the needs of our students —young people, as well as adults —who participate in the Bermuda College programmes, as well as professionals who want to requalify, as well as r etirees who go to the college for various reasons.
Some go for the general interest to keep motivated, to
keep intellectually stimulated; some go for health activities, aerobics and other sporting events; and the
college embraces them all. And that is why I can truly
say that the Bermuda College is a community college and they do their best to embr ace all of the community.
This is not by mistake. This, Madam Chairman, is intentional and I would say keep it up and I
would also like to acknowledge the work that has
been done by the president, her senior management team, and the Board of Directors of the Bermuda College.
The Dual Enrolment Programme. Madam
Chairman, as you will see there are not many line
items in Head 41, so you will have challenges follo wing me because it is a grant, okay?

So, the Bermuda College, I
think, has 500- and-something students and my question is, given there is a shift for online education,
online learning, I remember in the annual report that, if
I can remember correctly, there were about three or
four employees addressing online learning at the inst itution. Have we seen a growth in applicants? What type of revenue do we realise from the online lear ning? How many courses are we offering in the online
programme? Because our young people are becoming more online foc used and some professional people who want to reaccredit themselves are beginning
to do more and more online programmes.

[Inaudible interjection]

Based on the coronavirus
they probably will not have much choice, so there may
be a demand for more of these services, given the circumstances that we find ourselves in today. And I
was wondering if we can somehow boost that offering
to address the challenges that we have today? B ecause, at some point, as I said earlier with another
meeti ng a number of universities in Canada and the
UK are beginning to send their students home. And we can find an opportunity here to accommodate
them. We are recognised by [the] New England University Assessment organisation, and if we can offer those subjec ts at the university level those students
that come home may be able to continue their educ ation and transfer those credits for them to complete their degree programmes in either the UK, Canada, or
the US, at the [Bermuda] College. And there would be
an opportunity for us to embrace more students and
provide more economic benefits to the college.
So, if the Minister can speak to the strategy
and the plans that they have in place for online lear ning.
Now, just while I am on that same subject, do
we charge per programme or do we charge per sub-ject? I know that a few people that have been taking
online programmes overseas, they will sign up for a programme and pay a flat fee every quarter for the
online programme. So, my question to the Bermuda
College team i s, if you sign up for, let us say, for Front
Desk Reception online, will that cost be the cost for
the programme or do we have to charge for each subject that will support that programme? And what is the average cost per programme per term?


Bermuda House of Assembly I believe the Minister said that the 2022—
because there is so much information that has been
given —the Government Grant represented 73 per
cent of the Bermuda College’s operating expense. Is it the objective of the Foundation to cover —other than
the $300,000 that we gav e to support students for free
education and other special initiatives —is the Foundation’s mandate to supplement the other 23 per cent?
Or is the mandate to basically speak to the development of the plant or invest in capital in the college so
that they ca n have updated equipment? Or is it bas ically to help them craft an outreach programme overseas? So, again, the mandate of the Foundation, if
you can summarise in three or four points how they
are going to use the funds realised from the communi-ty.
We spok e about Rental Income . . . Can the
Minister provide more details on the rental income
from the college? How much are we receiving from
the Cocoa Reef Hotel in rental income in the coming
year?
The other issue that I would like to speak to is
the rebrandi ng exercise, Delivering Success, the fiveyear initiative. Last year, if I remember correctly, I
asked the Minister if he would table the strategic plan
for Delivering Success in the House. He made a
commitment that he would take it under advisement. I would, again, ask that it be tabled in the House for the
benefit of the community. Because I think it will show
the good things that the college is doing and the direction where the college is heading.
Now, this issue that I am about to raise next,
is the cost of electricity. And that straddles the Mini stry, the Department of Education, and the [Bermuda]
College. Because the college, I think, last year paid
about a million dollars in electricity and other utilities.
Is the college planning to develop a green energy plan
to reduce the cost of energy? And if the college can
provide more details on the direction in which they
intend to go, in regard to developing a green energy
strategy for the campus, so that we can reduce our
carbon footprint and also reduce our electricity costs?
While on expenses, the other thing that I
would like to speak to (and the Honourable David
Burch raised it) is the cost of insurance. The gover nment paid, I think, almost $7 million a year in insurance.

[Inaudible interjection]

Burch. [Almost] $7 million in
insurance, and I remember raising it before, is it not
time for us . . . and that would be a good project for
the college, to look into the feasibility of having a
Bermuda captive so that we can have a more efficient
programme in regard to our cost of insurance.
Because we have a lot of professionals that
interact with the Bermuda College who would be wil ling to provide the Bermuda College and the Depar t-ment of Education with some mechanism of reducing
the c ost of energy in this country as well as the cost of
insurance.
And a lot of these funds that we pay for insurance are exported overseas. Why not keep more of
these funds in a Bermuda captive? That could be a
fantastic project for our business students to develop.

[Inaudible interjection]

Okay, how much did the College pay in financial assistance in 2019? And how
many students took advantage of the programme?
So, these are, I presume, the students that were elig ible for part of the $300,000 but they still did not have
enough money to cover the cost of receiving educ ation at the college. So, how much did the college grant in financial assistance and how many students did
they help?
I was going to speak to the issue of the Foundation, but one of the questions has been addressed,
but the second question has not been addressed. The first question I asked was how much have we raised
to date? And the Minister indicated that he will get
back to me on this.

[Inaudible interjection]

Yes.
What is the annual cost . . . the projected cost
of running the Foundation? Because I used to play in
this space in the charitable/philanthropic area, and I think there was a cost, basically, of approximately
20 per cent of revenues would go to the institution . . .
sorry, the people raising the funds and managing the funds, and 8 0 per cent would go to the charities. So,
my question is, What is the annual cost of running the
Foundation from a percentage point of view, and the
remaining percentage which will actually be given to
the college?

Okay, we spoke to the five -
year strategic plan and I asked about . . . the Minister
will make a commitment to table that and that will be
addressed.
I know the first phase of the plan cost approximately $150,000, which included the rebranding. How much a re we allotting for Phase 2 of the strategic
plan?
Last year the Minister made a commitment
that Bermuda College will develop a marine science programme with the assistance of its newly established Marine Science Advisory Committee, consisting
of the vari ous marine science professionals. Where do
we stand on the delivery of the Marine Science Pr ogramme which was promised last year?

[Inaudible interjection]

Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Just to follow up on a couple of queries about
the Bermuda College and, specifically, we are at
[page] B -168 and [line item] 4101. I was just curious as to how things are going
with the Bermuda College campus and the surroun ding community. I know that there were questions
about traffic flow and things like that, and I was just
curious how that was going.
I am aware that the Bermuda College had di fficulties with one of the bus stops for students who
were attending Bermuda College, and I think that now
has been addressed. I was just curious if that has
been addressed to the satisfaction of the college.
Thank you. Those are my questions.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.

Thank you, Member.
Would anyone else like to speak to the Heads
under Education?
Again, for the listening public, we are in
Committee of Supply for Estimates of Revenue and
Expenditure 2020/21, and we are debating Education.
Minister, would you like to take the floor now?

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: I want to thank the Members who have contributed to this debate. It is a critical
debate. And you have heard me say in these Chambers on numerous occasions that education involves
all of us —that is, both the Government, the Oppos ition, the public, our teachers, our students, our admi nistrators . . . everybody is involved in this. And if we
want it to move forward, then we all have to be pus hing and moving in the same direction.
I do want to start with one of the last questions that my honourable colleague, the Shadow Mi nister, asked and it is on page 67 of the brief, the top
paragraph, where I stated: “During the 2020/21 ac ademic year, Bermuda College will offer its first Marine Science courses as part of its new marine science
programme that is being developed with the assi stance of its Marine Science Advisory Committee consisting of various marine science professionals.” I just wanted to —

Thank you.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: It was listed there.
And I am just going to go through the various
questions that were asked, sticking with the Bermuda
College. I know, for the listening public, I did tell the
Shadow Minister, the Foundation has raised $207,000
in its two months in existence.

An. Hon. Member: That’s pretty good.
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: I also wanted . . . we were
asked about the immediate need, the priority list of the
Bermuda College Foundation. And I have here: it is
the modernisation and upgrades of the five clas srooms and labs; needs and merit -based scholarships;
upgrade the IT infrastructure and classroom instruc-tional equipment; general upgrades and repairs to the


Bermuda House of Assembly facilities; upgrades for tools and equipment for tec hnical and nursing courses; endowment for long- term
sustainability; general upgrades to the former cafet eria; faculty sabbaticals and professional development;
equipment for energy savings; and new course offer-ings. There was one more thing, also.
The Bermuda College [Foundation], as being
a separate corporate entity from the Bermuda Col-lege, therefore, the Bermuda College does not know
the actual running costs of the Foundation.
The other question that was asked was the
rental from Coco Reef, and I have here, [it is] about $300,000 per year.
And I also wanted to answer the Mem ber
about the strategic plan. I know I did give an undertaking to table it here, but the strategic plan is a public
document which is located on the Bermuda College’s
website. So, anyone who wants to look at it can go to
the website and download it. What I will endeavour to
do is get copies for Members of the Legislature and
bring it up here. But, since we are paperless, I will have PDFs sent to the House and it can be distributed
on our electronic devices.

Thank you, Minister.

Hon. Diallo V . S. Rabain: And the first -year report. I
will endeavour to ensure that we get it to you.
And also I have heard there have been no
complaints to the Bermuda College from neighbours about traffic in the campus area.
So, going through some more of the ques tions
that were [asked] . . . I probably will not answer them
in the order that you did ask, Cole.

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Okay, but I did want to . . .
one question that we do get asked a bit, and I do want
to go to that. It i s something that did not come from a
technical team, but I will be able to answer it. It is the
one about the BermudaFirst recommendations. It is a
question I was asked in my press conference yester-day.
The BermudaFirst recommendations amounted to about 18 or 19 very specific things for Education
and recommendations for Education. And what I do
want to let the listening public know, as well as my
colleagues, is that all but one of those recommendations —no, all but two of those recommendations were
already i n train before the report came out. And this is
significant, and it owes to the collaboration that Ber-mudaFirst had with the senior leaders in the Depar tment of Education, namely, the Commissioner and
some of her team, who also did sit down and explain
to them some of what was going on, what we were
planning, and seeing what aligned with what their recommendations [were]. So, I am proud to say that all but two of their
recommendations are either already well under way or
there is an opportunity to start them in the near future.
The two recommendations that have not started in
earnest yet are: one recommendation was the esta blishment of an Education Authority; and its other recommendation was the establishment of a Committee
to explore the recommendation of an Authority.
But I do want to read a quote from Phil Butterfield that he gave when he gave his speech to the R otary Club recently. And the quote . . . and it was in
the
1Royal Gazette, and I was pleasantly surprised,
and Phil Butterfield [said, I quote]: “The frequency and
substantive content of the meetings with the Minister
of Education” (and BermudaFirst) “points to positive
conclusions.”
So, in terms of the establishment of the Education Authority and the likes, those meetings have been ongoing. It is a recommendation that came from
BermudaFirst and so it is something that . . . I thought
it was imperative that BermudaFirst quantify that recommendation and talk about why they thought we should go that route, what were the possibilities of
going that rou te? So, we have been conversing ever
since that report came out and we meet on a regular
basis to discuss the merits of how that can move for-ward.
But, as we are moving forward with our school
redesign, and as we have told all the stakeholders, or
as we ha ve talked about, is that this possibility is still
on the table and it is not something we are saying no to, but we are saying we want to see how it fits in the
future of Bermuda. Because the idea of the school transformation is to produce a plan that is f or Berm uda, by Bermuda, and if that is, if that in its context is something that this plan needs to move forward, that
is something that we would certainly entertain and
something that will probably come to fruition.
The fact that Mr. Phil Butterfield is part of our
governance team should lend some comfort to those out there who are talking about what are we moving
forward with, because we want to be sure to engage
people in the private sector as well, so they can come
inside and give us that type of inform ation that the
persons within the Department of Education may not
potentially see.
So, we are moving forward with that and we
want that process to be successful, and so that is why it is important for us to include BermudaFirst within the school transformation process, so we can make sure
we are doing things that are not only in the best interest for our children, but are best practices for our
school system. We intend for the Bermuda School
System to be that system that people look at from small islands an d say, That’s what we want to be like.
That’s what we want. We want to be sure that our st udents who leave our system are well -prepared for

1 Royal Gazette 26 February 2020
3728 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly whatever it is that they want to do in their life, whether
it is go straight into the working field, whether it is t o
go on to tertiary education —through the Bermuda College or overseas. When our students leave our sy stem, they will have experienced enough things within
our school system to know that they are on a solid
footing and to know that the employers of Bermuda
can be confident that they will be able to hire them
and they will be productive as soon as they walk
through the door.
Another question was asked about the Cambridge exams. The Cambridge Exam fees cover ev erything— this includes the taking of the exams as
well—for our students.
One question was about professional development for our senior team. The answer is: Senior team members are engaged in ongoing professional
development locally and overseas.
The question about succession planning for
the senior team : Our senior team members operate
on a collaborative team, which offers team members the ongoing experience to engage with tasks to pr epare them for the positions at the next level. Team members are also engaged in training and develo pment to equip them wi th skills and competencies r equired for jobs at the next level.
There was a question asking about professional development of the Commissioner of Educ ation. And there is ongoing technical and leadership training which is undertaken by the Commissioner of
Education. And I have a list here of three particular
things that she has undertaken: (1) Six critical practi ces of leadership; (2) workshops with CURB on restorative practices and conferences; and (3) courses on
effective negotiations.
One question did ask about the MOE reorga nisation and whether it was compliant with the objectives of Plan 2022. I believe in the brief you would
have noted that I did write —and it something that we
announced in this House on a few occasions —that
the performance appraisals and forward plans of persons with the Department of Education are linked directly to Plan 2022 and objectives that they are r esponsible for fulfilling. And so, that is one way that we
have restructured in order to ensure that there are
balances and checks that are aligned with Plan 2022.
I also, in accordance with the Plan the D epartment of Education has had a management consultant review and they have provided some suggestions for the restructuring of the Department of Educ ation. This is aligned with Priorit y 5 and this is ongoing.
Management Consultancy Services is currently meet-ing with the Department of Education sections to pr ovide updates on the potential new structure.
One question I am actually very happy and
very excited that the Shadow Minister did ask, and it had to do with the potential of our signature or specia lty schools and who will decide what will be offered within those schools. I will stand here and say and let you know that all of our signature or specialty schools
will have core academic t racks built within them. And
what do we mean when we say that? Ever yone that
goes to these schools . . . there will be a core track
that they will have to follow in order to qualify to graduate. So, all of them will come out with a high school
diploma, whether they engage in any of the specialty
topics that are offered at the school or not, they will be
able to graduate with a high school diploma which
says they have fulfilled the basic academic qualific ations to say that they are suitable to graduate from
high school.
And if you remember what I talked about,
what we want to take our system to is an accredited system [so] that those diplomas will have international
currency when we are finished with our restructuring.
However, all schools —all schools —we recognise, will
have to have music programmes, will have to have
performing arts programmes and arts programmes,
and they will have to have PE. We want to return to a
level of . . . that those subjects are offered throughout
all of our schools, no matter which high school you
attend.
Now, the idea about what specialisations will
be offered, when we talk about being collaborative,
inclusive and transparent, this involves us having to
go out and talk to our people to understand what it is
that they want. They are the ones who put together
the ideas of Plan 2022 and the strategic part that talks
about specialised schools that specialise in these
things. Now that we are getting ready to implement
those long- term adaptive strategies, we need to be
able to go back and say, What is it that you want?
What is it you would like to see within our schools?
We have also recognised that we are not . . .
we are not of the scale where we could have one
school which only has one specialty. All of our
schools, we recognise, will have to have multiple
things that our students will be able to get involved
with and you may have duplicates in various schools,
depending on the number of students who actually
want to do that. It is imperative, as well, that we recognise that we have to be in tune with Workforce D evelopment. And we are hopeful, and we know that the National Workforce Development Plan that has been developed speaks to talking to industry and finding out
what Bermuda’s needs are, in terms of potential jobs
coming down the l ine for the next 5, 10, 15 years.
That is the type of data that will structure what needs
to be offered within our schools, outside of the regular
things that we know we are going to need.
We do not need Workforce Development to
tell us that we are going t o need plumbers, or we are
going to need electricians, or we are going to need accountants, or we are going to need lawyers, et
cetera, but there are other types of jobs that we just
do not know are out there. And with the collaboration of the National Wor kforce Development Plan that says
we have to go and talk to industry and industry has to


Bermuda House of Assembly be involved in this as well to tell us what is coming,
what is going to be our need, what are going to be
Bermuda’s needs for the future, those are the types of
data points that are going to be used to develop what
our schools will have to be able to expose our children to prior to them leaving.
There was a question about the Code of Conduct. It is almost like Cole has been talking to the teachers and the parents becaus e he is asking similar
questions. And, yes, what we recognise is our Code of Conduct —

I am connected.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Yes, he is well connected.
And, as we know, our Code of Conduct has not been
reformed since 2004 . . . 2003, and it is something
that has been recognised— as a matter of fact, it is not
just our Code of Conduct, Cole, a lot of our processes
have been in place and have . . . you know, they have
worked well when they were there, but it is time for
them to be updated and brought into the 21
st century
in some cases.
So, this Code of Conduct has been in place
since 2003 and [there is nothing] that has been touched, but right now we are in the process of r evamping that and I would like to let you know that the draft has currently been completed and it is now in the
consultation with schools.
You also asked what was the cost for that?
And there is no additional cost because it is done i nhouse with technical staff there.
He also asked about a master facilities pl an
for our schools. And, again, a very, very good ques-tion. One of the things that will emanate from our
school transformation is a master facilities plan. It
could be recognised . . . this is something . . . you are
asking about things that we all know should have
been in place for aeons, that have not been in place. But I am grateful that we are now looking at these
things and we are beginning to put them in place.
So, part of our school transformation plan will
involve a master facilities plan that will allow us to ensure that our schools remain in the condition they need to remain in, after we rebuild or renovate as part
of this system moving forward.
You did ask who was on the facilities team.
The facilities team is made up of one manager, one
labour transport officer and one admin assistant.
I know you also mentioned when you were
Minister there seemed to be . . . the difference between the custodians and giving their feedback. And I
think it was a timely question as well, because it act ually came up this week when we were talking to some
of our stakeholders. Interim Director Lisa Smith men-tioned exactly what you said, our custodians are the
ones who know the ins and outs of the schools almost
better than the teachers and the principal. And so, their input is critically important. And
that was demonstrated with Plan 2022 because they
were part of some of the stakeholder groups that were
specifically targeted to find out their opinion of what is
going on and what we can do to improve. So, yes,
there is a much better synergy between facilities and Mr. Bray Saltus in terms of what is going on within our
schools, and our custodians are given the voice to
give feedback on that.
The next question you asked was: What are
the priorities? The priorities for the upcoming fiscal year, in terms of our school facilities are: the building
health and safety; reliable transportation for students
at Dame [Academy]; ensuring schools remain open in
spite of any water or electrical issues. Water and electrical issues are some of the things that do happen in
our ageing buildings and we have to observe our health and safety regulations. If the school does not
have water or does not have electricity, the schools
need to be closed within a certain time, I believe it is
two hours . . . two hours without those services [and]
we have to close our schools.
So, that is something that is going to be our
priority moving forward as well, redundancy being
placed so that we can make sure that we put those
things in place to make sure that our schools are not
closed for reasons [like] running out of water and that sort of thing.
You asked who works with the custodians, it
is the Labour and Transport Officer who supervises
the custodians.
One question was asked about the facilities
revenue, who are the clients and what products are
being sold? Facilities revenue comes from the rental
of facilities. People use our schools, use our fields,
and they pay a small fee in order to have that priv ilege. The clients range from private entities, churches,
and persons who rent the fields for various activities
and events, usually in the summer or after school. As
a matter of fact, I got a request just last week from someone who is looking to rent a school for the summer because they want to put on a progr amme and
they wanted to know who to speak to as well.
Moving on, just expanding on that point, there
is also the Government’s mandate to try to work along
with our community clubs and our various clubs within
our institutions. And it is something that I have asked
my honourable colleague, Michael Weeks, to look into
and that is the forming of partnerships with clubs,
community clubs, or whatever, who happen to be in that parish with the schools that reside in that parish.
So, we have these formal agreement s where
these people, these entities are now coming on to the
schools and helping out and doing things within the
school and in trade- off they might be able to get . . .
they will be able to get discounts for renting the field and we will encourage them to do things around the
field so they can interact with our students and pr o3730 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly vide that community support that we are looking to
bring back with our schools themselves.
It is something that we are looking into and
something that, I am hoping, I will be able t o come
here in the future and talk about how we are moving
along on that particular issue.
Question: When will we have afterschool pr ogrammes in Somerset and St. George’s? The answer is: Programmes are developed and put in place based
on parent need. As you are a financier, I am sure you
understand that, you know, when there is a demand, the programmes will be put in place. And you know,
not to be flippant about it, but if there is only one parent who wants the programme in St. George’s or in
Somerset, it i s something that we will try to work with
them and maybe get them in a programme that is
close, that is already in existence. But once it reaches
a critical number of persons that are requiring those
programmes, the department will definitely look at
how w e can accommodate our parents to do that.
We had a question about the progress with alternative education. That is something that I did mention in the Budget Reply and was mentioned in our
Budget Statement, is that we will be putting in a pr ogramme for alt ernative education for students who
have severe behavioural issues. When we are talking about severe, we are talking about Tier 3 NTSS st udents and the requirement.
As I mentioned in the brief, sometimes it gets
to a point where we need to have them in a different
environment so they can get specialised services that
the teacher in their [main school] environment simply
cannot provide and teach their class at the same time. So, that is still under . . . that is still under research
and investigation and the intention is that this will be
kicking off in September at the start of the school year
this year.
He also asked: How will staff work with other
staff? And the staff for these centres will collaborate
with the counsellors at the various schools, just lik e
the counsellors do now. A lot of our counsellors talk to
each other throughout the school system, bounce id eas off, et cetera. And so, they will continue to talk and
collaborate to ensure that student needs are met, not
just at the centre, but throughout our system.
There was a question asked about the annual
rent for our school system . . . for where we are loca ted now, 45 West. And I am looking here, it is an an-nual fee of $307,000, with the rent being $164,000
and service charge being $144,000.
I have a question here and it was a timely
question as well, he asked: Do we have a data man-agement system team? And the short answer to that
is yes. The long answer is we have an online data
management collection system, which enables data to
be uploaded and st ored. This system allows for data
to be accessed quickly and for data to be downloaded
for analysis and reporting.

So, what I just heard is, bas ically, the transactional issues being addressed in the
data management space. My bigger question is: Do
we have an overarching data management plan and
data management strategy?

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: The short answer to that is
yes.
Another question that the Shadow Minister
asked was the number of teachers in the Autism pr ogramme and the number of students in the Autism
programme. The number of teachers is 10; the number of students is 29.
Question: Performance appraisals completed
for the Department of Education staff. The answer to
that question is 100 per cent were completed in the
last year. Performance appraisals completed by
teachers; the answer to t hat is 75 per cent were completed.
There was a question . . . oh, we are going
back to Bermuda College. He talked about how he
just loved Bermuda College, I did not realise he had
any more questions. Mr. Simons, we have here the Bermuda College Financial Aid Package of $175,000
helped 135 students; 7 of these students are ex -foster
care children in the last fiscal year.
Okay . And we now have some more questions about the Bermuda College, online courses at
Bermuda College. (I have got to get a handwriting translator here.) Okay, it [says] here, Bermuda Co llege uses a blended format of online education. Most
of our courses have an online component. Bermuda
College has an Online Education Committee, and faculty are currently planning to move to an e- learning
format, given the current situation with coronavirus. Do you want me to read that again?

No, I got it.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Okay, okay. We [were
asked about the] cost of courses. Tuition is based on
the number of credits and c urrently the rate is a per
credit hour of $155 per credit hour.
And PACE charges by the programme or the
course. So, you pay one price and you do the course or it might be a one- off programme.
Green energy plan at the Bermuda College is
part of the Deliv ering Success and the focus of the BC
Foundation. BC has installed meters on the campus to


Bermuda House of Assembly monitor electricity use on campus and this data will be
useful when looking at alternative energy solutions.
Madam Chairman, that is the end of the questions so far .

Yes, I have a couple of questions that have not been addressed that I think are
crucial —the health and safety protocols, the fire drill
issue—I would like to get some answers there.
And I also would like to get some answers in
regard to the redeployment of staff and teachers at the T. N. Tatem School. What has happened to them? Are they placed? Were there any redundancies? What
do we have i n place for the long- term plans for these
repositioned staff members from T. N. Tatem?

Would any other Member like to
speak?
The Chair recognises the Member from constituency 23.

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Ma dam Chairman.
I just have a very quick question for the Mini ster and that is with respect to when we look at the
subjective analysis in terms of electricity costs and the
likes. The Minister had indicated in his response to
one of the questions just recently that with the school,
if a school is out of water or power for a period of two
hours, then it will cause . . . it is the trigger factor for
the closure of the school for that particular day or until
such time as the issue has been resolved.
The question that I have is, given the span of
the roofs that we have on all of our public schools, is
there a look into . . . notwithstanding what he talked
about green energy, as far as the college and stuff is concerned, in terms of the other schools, are we looking to install solar panels on the roofs of these
schools? Is it something that we can look at in the
longer -term plan so that, at the very least, if there is a
shortage or power cut of electricity, then that is one
circumstance that is not exacerbated by that particular
loss.
Water is something entirely different, but certainly it seems to me that either solar panels or
whether, in fact, schools have generators as a back -
up system in the event of a power outage.

Thank you, Madam Chairman. Just a couple of points with regard to educ ation, drilling down on the behavioural problems that
are actually identified on [page] B -153, 27061 would
be the element number, where there are 13 persons attributed to that . . . That actual line item in 2010, or
even going back to 2008/09, was specifically for pr eschools when it was introduced, and up until 2010
there were nine. So, there is some growth. Can you,
Minister, share with us how this behavioural management programme has evolved?
I do know that anyone in the public school
system . . . we all h ave to appreciate that public education is there for everyone and turns away no one.
And so, when persons even opt to take their children
to private school, private schools may tell them that
whilst they may have the funds to be there, they ca nnot be there . And there are many persons who then
find out how valuable public education really is.
But I know that certainly when you look at . . .
and as I reflect back to some budget heads back in 2008/09 we know what this country endured back in
those periods wit h the proliferation, with murders and
gang violence and the likes, and nowhere was that
experienced more than at the grassroots level of education, and early levels.
So, Madam Chairman, I would like for the
Minister, if he can . . . and I just want to take the opportunity to recognise the good work done by persons
like Pastor Bean in grassroots initiatives. And from my
country understanding, recognising that in order to
deal with grassroot problems you have got to go right
down to the nitty gritty of that particular problem, I would hope that there might be a mind- set to increase
the funding available in areas like that. So, if you could share with me, Minister, how that relates.
On [page] B -153, 27072, Counselling, we
know . . . and I just want to recall how important counselling really is because, as there was a time way back when in a land far away, I owe my life to some great school counsellors. And you know, whenever I
see someone like Ms. Solange Saltus , my heart is
warmed. And the modern- day Solan ge Saltus are
even more required today. She was ably supported by persons like principals who told you how to find a
good angle so that they could give you a good under-standing and that helped to do some corrective
measures and we know that this type of methodology
is not as prevalent as it was in my day, but we were
not spared and I am the benefactor of it as I speak so
fondly about those great teachers from yesteryear.

I think my foundation is as
equal as some of the things that have been going on
for the last two and a hal f hours or so. You know, because these numbers are very, very, very important,
but they have a social impact to them, Madam Chairman.
I am just saying . . . numbers are one thing,
but there is a social connection with numbers.

And I am speaking to those
particular line items.
On 27160 on page B -153, we have some
eight substitute teachers listed in the Budget Book for
the year 2020/21 as the estimate—eight substitute
teachers, Mr. Chairman.
In 2008/09 and right along up until 2010, that
same [line item], 27160 . . . yes, I am finding the other
line items so I can ask my question, Mr. Chairman.

And I would like to know
what the plan is going forward for school psychol ogists because we know that this is very important, gi ven the point that I was making with regard to the behavioural issues that are so prevalent, Mr. Chairman.
We also have a line item, which is 27175
Child Development, which is very important as well,
Mr. Chairman. And I will jus t cross -reference it —
27175—I was on [page] B -153, yes. Thank you, Ho nourable Member. And we have 17 child development
persons allocated, and in . . . ten years ago, we had
18.

Yes. What I am saying is
that Child Development is certainly an area which
needs focus and if, in fact, the numbers are the same, I would like to be told and have explained what the
rationale is going forward and how is it connected with
modern- day methodology or thinking . . . min d-set.

[Ms. Susan E. Jackson, Chairman]

[Crosstalk]

Yes, you do.
Thank you, Member.
Would any other Member like to speak?
The C hair now recognises the Member from
constituency 26.



Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Neville S. Tyrrell: Thank you very much, Madam
Chairman.
Madam Chairman, my question to the Minister
centres around Afterschool Care, and I will reference
page B -157, the Performance Measures. If y ou will
allow me, I will just read under unit 1704 where it says
“Percentage of preschool students who meet established standards for literacy and numeracy.”
First of all, let me say that I am very i mpressed with the teachers that we have in our system.
And I do not think I am ever going to complain about them because I think they do a very, very good job.
But at preschool level is where, I think, a lot of e mphasis really should be.
So, having read that performance measure I
am going to now slip to Afterschool Care under Head 17, [on page] B -151. If the Minister can just clarify or
explain to us or speak to it, even, the numbers there . . . the original . . . the actual, sorry, for 20 18/19 was
$148,000; in 2019/20 the original was $208,000 —so
that is an improvement —but the estimate for 2020/21
is $193,000. Now, I am questioning as to whether there—

[Page] B -151. If we are deemphasising Afterschool Care, which also leads me to
another question . . . well, let me say that is my first
question.
And my question is, Are we putting the same
effort because the numbers of . . . where is it, where it
is . . . no, that is not the one I want . . . well, that is my
question anyway on that.
My second question, I direct the Minister,
again, to [page] B -153, Substitutes, 27160. I see that
there is a drop. And I would have thought the number
of substitutes that we would have had in the syst em
would have been a little higher anyway, but now I see there is a drop. So, I will just leave that to the Minister
if he can, Mr. Chairman, if he could answer those
questions.
[Mr. Hubert (Kim) E. Swan, Chairman]

First and foremost, Mr. Chai rman, let me open up my intervention today with thank-ing all the hard- working staff of both the Ministry of
Education, the Department of Education, and every
business unit that lies underneath that group. I believe
they do a st ellar job and most times their efforts are
not appreciated. And oftentimes there is a lot of pos itives that come out of our system that many do not acknowledge.
But in speaking to this debate, I am on Head
17, the Department of Education, under 1709, Cur-riculum Assessment.

And I think this is absolutely
phenomenal because most persons do not even know
that this level of instruction, or resources, are allocated to both college and career assessment in our
school system.
And so, if the Minister can elaborate on the
work that is being done in regard to College and C areer Pathways. And I think this prepares our kids on
Pathways to Success and I think that career guidance
is one of the things in our school system which are
underemphasised when we discuss our public educ ation sys tem. So, if the Minister, specifically looking at
1709, Curriculum Assessment, line item 27524 —

Like yourself, Mr. Chairman, I
believe that Early Childhood Education is a critical
component to setting our kids on pathways to success. The earlier the intervention and the earlier we
get kids on structured learning paths, I believe it benefits our community well.
And so, there are two units under Early Chil dhood Education, those are: 27175, which is Child D evelopment; and 22700, After Pres chool Care.

In reference to Child Develo pment, Child Development plays a critical role in terms
of the assessment of our kids. Also, their work is one
3734 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly of those jobs that are undervalued in our community.
And if the Minister can elaborate on some of the crit ical services that the Child Development programme
plays in ensuring that our kids are assessed and they
get the necessary interventions that they require at early ages.

I have not asked my question
yet.
Specifically, as it relates to the funding of
some of the infrastructure, that takes place at . . . the
infrastructure funding at Bermuda College and how that would assist to also support the delivery of outputs at the Bermuda College.
Just for clarity, is the donation that the Bermuda Government provides the Bermuda College for
financial assistance built into the grant that is provided
or is that under a separate line item?

And while we look at Bermuda
College as a business . . . as a Grants and Contributions unit, they do play a critical part in putting our kids
on pathways to success, either preparing them for the
world of work or preparing our young people— or
members in public in general —for future educational
development.
And so, if the Minister can provide a breakdown as to which . . . how the funds are allocated between academic service programmes and nonacademic programmes. And when I say nonacademic programmes, I am talking about, for exa mple, the PACE programme. I know that there is signif icant growth and development taking place in the area
of PACE. I want ed to know if the PACE programme is
self-sustainable or whether or not large portions of the
grant is utilised for operating the PACE programme.
Because PACE is where I believe the future growth of
the college will come from, as it is poised to respond to the constantly changing demand within our job
market, as it is responsible to provide people with skill sets that employers actually need on a timely basis.
If the Minister can also elaborate on the overall projections for enrolment of Bermuda College. I
know he spoke to the current enrolment levels, but if
he can speak to the projections, in terms of enrolment, for the Bermuda College, this also would be of benefit.
Turning back to Head 17, Department of Education.

We see that there is a $500,000
reduction in the budget, which equates to roughly around 19 per cent. We recognise that there has already been an announcement made by the Minister
regarding the future of the school. And I was wondering if he can further elaborate on, you know, why there
are still funds al located for the school underneath that
particular head, just to provide us all with a level of
clarity regarding that line item.
When we look at [page] B -150 under line item
1704, Preschools, we generally see a trend where the
funding attributed to preschools across the board are
increasing. And it is extremely positive that we are
pushing more resources in the development of our
children at young ages. I was wondering if the Minister
can elaborate [on] whether or not there will be addi-tional programmes of fered within the preschool sy stem, whether there has been strong consideration for expansion of the age limit in the preschool systems? I
know that they were doing a trial, whether or not we
should begin at three years old —

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Four.

—four years old within our pr eschool system, and I was just wondering if the Mini ster can elaborate on how the trial went and if there is a
plan to expand that, and if that was the reason why
there are increased funding allocations to our pr eschools.
Certainly, this is positive. And even though we
do have a declining birth rate, I believe that if we pumped additional resources into our education sy stem at the earliest possible ages, we give our children greater opportunities to succeed.
Mr. Chairman, still under Head 17, Depar tment of Education, when we look at line item 1702,
we see a range of student services, from Behavioural
Management to Success Academy, School Psychol ogy, Adaptive Physical Education, Hearing, Vision, Gifte d and Talented, Office Support, Counselling,
Summer Programme, Learning Support, Early Chil dhood Education, Paraprofessionals, Autism Spectrum
Disorder, Alternative Education/Out of School —that is
abbreviated, but I am not too clear on what this abbreviati on actually stands for.

What we actually see is there
are consistent funding increases across the board in
those areas. I do not think . . . this is another area that
the general public does not give proper appreciation
to, and that is the Student Services, the support that
we actually give to our students on an annual basis.
And the level of funds that are actually attributed . . .
when I cost up all of those line items, Mr. Chairman, what I see is that there will be over $20 million spent on Student Services, which include Behavioural Ma nagement, Success Academy —

—School Psychology, Adaptive
Physical Education, Hearing, Vision, Gifted and Tal-ented, Office Support, Counselling, Summer Pr ogramme, Learning Support, Early Childhood Educ ation, Paraprofession als, Autism, and Alternative Education.
Can the Minister clarify whether this Summer
Programme is the same Summer Programme which is done underneath Youth, Sport and Recreation, if it is
a different programme, or whether . . . what summer
programme is thi s attributed to? Or is this for summer
school, as we know that. That is under line item 27073.

I am under Head 17, Depar tment of Education, 27160, Substitutes. I am pleased
to see that there is an increase in the budget for sub3736 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly stitutes. This is an area that has been challenging for
the school system; ensuring that there are an adequate number of substitutes. And this is actually
pleasing to see that the line item under 1701 Central
Administration, 27160 Substitutes, actually has a
greater level of funds attributed to it.

Mr. Chairman, under Head 17,
Department of Education, when we look at 1706 Special Schools, we have 27120 which is Dame Marjorie
Bean Academy. I am pleased to see that the funding
under the Dame Marjorie Bean Academy has i ncreased. Again, this is another area where many pe ople within our community do not even know the r esources and the services that are actually supplied by
Dame Marjorie Bean [Academy] and the type of, what
I will consider, clientele that they actually support on
an ongoing basis. And I know that the staff at Dame
Marjorie Bean [Academy] go above and beyond to accommodate the individuals who participate in their
programme.
Again, I am pleased to see increased funding.
And because this is one of those areas where there is not a lot of attention normally focused on it, I was
wondering if the Minister can speak to some of the
outputs that actually come from Dame Marjorie Bean
Academy. But not just the outputs, the sort of indivi dual that will utilise those services, because I think, Mr.
Chairman, what persons do not recognise is that the
public school system has to cater to the full scope of
individuals within our community —those that may
have learning impediments and disabilities and those who are high learners.
There is huge variation in our public school
system, which ultimately means that resources have
to be allocated in such a way that we ensure that we are providing services to the complete spectrum of
learners within our system. And so under Head 17, Department of Education, 1706 Special Schools,
27120 Dame Marjorie Bean Hope Academy there has
been increased funding and I was wondering if the
Minister can further elaborate on the type of individuals who attend and the services that those additional
resources will go to.
Under Head 17, the Department of Education,
when we look at the Revenue Summary, the school
system is not designed . . . the Department of Educ ation is not designed as a revenue- generating depar tment. But what we do see is [the] utilising of our school facilities for various community events. And
this is important because our schools play important roles in our communities, not just as educational facil ities, but also as hubs for our communities. And, as a result, when I look under Revenue 8801 Facilities, I
see that they get an estimated $55,000 a year for the
. . . I am assuming, the rental of our school facilities.
And I was just wondering if the Minister can confirm
that this revenue received is actually revenue received
by the community being able to use our school sy stems as hubs to, not only build the learning c apacity of
our kids, but also build better communities for our kids
to reside in.
Mr. Chairman, I am finished with my line of
questions and I look forward to the Minister’s r esponse.

Thank you, Honourable Member.
The Chair recognises the Honourable Member from constituency 23.

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I just have a brief question to
which both the Shadow Minister and the Honourable
Member who just took his seat have already spoken,
but I just need a little bit more clarity. And that is in
respect of page B -151, business unit 27590 T. N.
Tatem, for which there is a budget of $2.448 million.
Now, it is understood that the budget process
is required to be undertaken far in advance of any
sometim es final decisions, so I would imagine that this
would have fitted within that timeframe, hence, the
allocation would have to be made. I understand why the money is there, because if we had a crystal ball
we would have put the money differently. But the
question that I have is . . . of that $2.448 million, the
Minister, I believe, indicated that he needed to red eploy that money amongst the rest of the school sy stem.
Now, I understand that there were certain
charges that, of necessity, must go on. So, if yo u have
redeployed the teachers from T. N. Tatem and you put
them somewhere else, their salaries still have to be paid. So there are charges out of that $2.448 million
that would be ongoing because it will follow the teac hers wherever they go and it would be redeployed in
that respect.
The question that I have is: Are there any of
the administrative costs that might be found under the Subjective Analysis, things such as maybe insurance,
maybe transport, maybe materials and supplies . . .
maybe not even so m uch materials and supplies, but
energy, certainly, being the most significant portion of the overall budget of $1.444 million, which will not . . .
whatever portion of that was applied to T. N. Tatem
that obviously would not be required to be paid for under this head and it may need to be vired som ewhere else. So, I am just wondering if the Minister can
give us some indication in a drill down on that redeployment, as he has indicated, how much of that are


Bermuda House of Assembly ongoing costs that will follow the personnel versus
costs that can, perhaps, be saved by not having to
use those numbers in such things as energy?
Thank you.

Queuing up.
Minister, would you like to answer those questions?
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I just want to thank my honourable colleagues. Education is critically important and I
am glad that more people got up to speak to this absolutely critical topic.
I want to start with the last question that was
asked about T. N. Tatem. The Member hit the na il on
the head, the employees. And as you said, as you
would have heard throughout my brief the bulk of our
budget is employee salaries. So, those teachers that
have been moved . . . and I guess I could answer two
questions at the same time for the Shadow Minister.
The staff at T. N. Tatem: One was moved to
Clearwater Middle School; 18 went to Dellwood; 14
went to Sandys; there were no teacher redundancies
from the collection of the teachers that were redistri buted. And, as you are correct, in this fiscal year the
money would still be listed under T. N. Tatem and it
would be vired and transferred over to pay them for
being at another school.
But you will also recall, when I talked about
the closure of T.N. Tatem virtually all monies that were not being spent —

Can you check your microphone?
Yes, it is on.
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Virtually all monies that
went to operational expenditures at T. N. Tatem that
we could take away immediat ely were redistributed
between Dellwood and Sandys Secondary School,
supplying them with additional money, because they
had additional students.
Supplies, the equipment from the school —
photocopiers, computers, furniture—all of that stuff
was taken away. H owever, we were still paying electricity at T. N. Tatem. Now that the decision [was taken] for that to be closed, all monies that were being
allocated (outside of salaries) to T. N. Tatem will be
utilised throughout the system as well. And the idea is
that they would virtually specifically be used for the
schools, such as Dellwood, such as Whitney, such as
Sandys, that did take the students on.
So, I cannot give the exact numbers because
it is an ongoing figure. We are still emptying T. N. Tatem, so we are still responsible for some of the stuff
up there.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: No, no, no, the Member
said it’s a slush fund. But there is no slush fund. There
is no slush fund. That money will go directly to the
schools.
And it speaks to something that Mr. Simons
had said earlier when I spoke here, prior, about the . . . I mean I was speaking strictly from a numbers
point of view when I did say, with the number of st udents that we had we could . . . and I think I said if w e
only had 15 students per class we could have two
streams and immediately reduce ourselves to 11
schools tomorrow.

Right.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: If we were able . . . if we
just wanted to do that. But I was speaking strictly for
numbers. But I did want to illustrate that because then
that presents us with the opportunity of . . . and I b elieve the amount I said was around $12 [million] or
$13 million that would be immediately redeployed
back into the system.
So, it is not about us doing the things that we
want to do because the Finance Minister wants to
take money away. It is about us utilising what funds
we have more equitably, more efficiently across the
board for our various institutions. So, our students will be the benefici aries of those additional funds.
There was a question asked about the breakdown of the financial aid at the Bermuda College b etween academic and non- academic, i.e,. PACE. And
of the $300,000, $150,000 [went] to PACE for financial aid and PACE programmes. And the other question was about whether PACE covers themselves, but
the cost of PACE courses cover their costs. And I
know as a former adjunct lecturer, before PACE, I
know they have a rule that unless there are a certain
[number] of students enrolled in the course to cover
the cost of the course, they are not going to run the
course. And so, I hope that answers that question from MP Hayward.
The other question he asked was about the
projections of student enrolment. I have here 700 st udents in academic programmes, based on the decrease in the birth rate, ageing population, and de-crease of students within the public school system. And this would be projections for next year because
this year it is just under 700, it is 650- something st udents. So, we are l ooking for an uptick. And we also
have here, 800 students are projected for PACE regi strations which, again, would be an increase of what
we see this year. I did not have the chance to look through the book, but this year was slightly under 700
as well . . . yes, slightly under 700.
3738 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Continuing on with PACE . . . PACE actually
offers 100 online courses. These courses include:
computer literacy, compliance, IT certification, BBA
courses in partnership with Mt. St. Vincent . . . oh,
Bachelor’s Degree of Business Administration and
Master of Education courses in partnership with Miami
University.
I am just trying to get the stuff so I answer it in
order . . . the question about health and safety prot ocol, Mr. Simons? All schools have a Health and Safety
Commit tee. Each committee is required to meet each
month, principals are required to submit health and
safety minutes each month, fire drills are required to
be held once per term. And I have a note here that
says the department’s data management system will
require schools to upload the health and safety
minutes, and the department will start to have imm ediate access to that data.

Okay.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: I know Mr. Hayward asked
about the Summer Programme and what that paying
was for. I know personally that programme is in addition to what Youth and Sport offers. That programme
covers the Digibotics, the gaming programme, and the
Ah! Tempo programme. I know it quite well because my daughter has participated in it for the last three
years; so I know exactly what they do with their pr ogramme. And again, last year was the first year they
piloted doing it during school breaks throughout the
year as well.
You had a question about Career Pathways
and I have here, dual enrolment is part of the career
education. And at the moment we have 35 students in
associate’s degrees which can transfer overseas; 26
students are in the technical education dual enrolment; 10 students are in the culinary and hospitality;
and we have 12 students in the nursing assistant pr ogramme. And I also know, as was said in my brief, that we are dropping . . . the dual enrolment has also
been dropped down to the middle school level as well.
So, we do have some students in the middle school level that are doing dual enrolment at the senior high
school as well.
Okay, we have a question about the pr eschool and the decrease. It is interesting because one
of the . . . what was brought up with that (and it was
Mr. Chairman who brought it up) was the preschool
development —child development. Ten years ago they
had 18 employees and now they have 17. But I also want to point out we also have 1,000 less students. So, the ratio has actually gone up when you look at it
from that perspective.

Okay.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: But also, the short answer
. . . the longer form answer to the question that you had was in the 2019/20 budget year there were five
posts budgeted at the supervisory level. In the subs equent year only one post remained, and there was a
reorganisati on and some of those posts’ salary numbers dropped.
Okay, we have a question about the hiring of
new ETs. I am not sure who asked this one, but there
are no new ETs hired for the 2019/20 year, we will
have three ETs hired in 2020/21 for the new support
centres that we want to put in for our students.
There is one other question, I just want to
highlight something that you had asked, Mr. Chai rman. You had spoken to the programmes and wondered what programmes were in place to aid our chi ldren. You did ment ion the MTSS programme. That is
a programme that is put in place to ensure that our
children get the interventions they need in the clas sroom. But you also mentioned Pastor Bean. And I also
wanted to be sure that we mentioned it correctly.
We are talking about the Rais ing Kings programme that he has running now —one at Victor Scott,
one at Elliot Primary. These programmes have proved
quite effective, especially [in] dealing with our young
men who have witnessed trauma and who are going
through different iss ues within our various schools.
You may have been privy to a video that had been
produced and that had been pushed out on social
media by the Ministry of National Security which fea-tured some of the young men from Victor Scott that
are in that particular programme.
I also want to mention the programme done
by the Bermuda Police —the GREAT programme. It is
a programme that is seeing lots of traction within our schools, especially now with the Parish Constable
programmes being implemented. The Parish Const ables are stopping by the schools on a regular basis to
come and talk to the children and make sure that they
are doing the things they want.
The last programme I want to talk about is
done by . . . why can I not remember the name? It is
the programme that deals with peer mentoring. And
what they do in this programme [is] they go in the
schools and there are children who volunteer to be
part of the programme and they are skilled up at being
peer mentors. And this is done at the primary school level and they are being peer mentors for their other
schools.
So, what they are trying to do is, if children
are having issues and they do not want to talk to
adults, they are able to go to classmates and just talk
and be able to have that one- on-one with people that
they can relate to. I am quite familiar with the pr ogramme because, once again, my daughter is one of
the peer mentors at Elliot Primary.

Well done.



Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: But one that . . . and before
I wrap up with . . . and I think I have answered all of
the questions, I do not think there are any more.

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: He said . . . I did answer
the question on the number of Educational Therapists,
the ETs. Was that not the question?

School Psychology, 27063.

Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: I do apologise for that. I will
have to get that information to you. I looked at my
team and that is something that we would have to get, as well as the Dame Marjorie . . . I will have to undertake to get that information of what new programmes they actually put on for the increase in salary as well.
One thing that I did want to mention and I
think it is absolutely critical, because we heard it on numerous occasions coming from Members who did
ask quest ions, and they kept saying, The Minister r eceived on that . The Minister, we see you has done
that. And I just want the public to understand it is not
the Minister that does this. The Minister helps to set
policy direction, but it is the team that stands behind
me that does all of the . . . makes the critical decisions
on how [funds] should be spent, where is the best way
for them to be spent, especially when it comes to dri ving Plan 2022 forward.
We have the Commissioner of Education si tting here in the Gal lery now, and she deserves all of
the kudos that I think the Shadow Minister did give
about our brief and about how we are moving forward,
because I made it quite clear that what we want to do
is show what we said we are going to do, we are doing it and ma king progress. So, we cannot go and say,
Last year you said this [and] last year you said that,
but what’s happening? And some of the new metrics
that you spoke to, Mr. Simons, in the book, those are the thoughts of the Commissioner and her team.
And exac tly as you point out, these are i mportant metrics that we are now showing, and that is
why they are in there as new metrics as we move forward, because these are the things that we really
want to see, not just anything that shows . . . because
previously, I remember I grumbled when I sat over on
that side, Why are we showing how many fields were
cut? You know, like who really wants to know how
many fields were cut in a year and how many fields
you plan to cut in the next year? Or that you are not
showing what the average pass rate is of our GCSEs or what our math rates are, and that information like
that . . . that information was not included.
So, I am glad that moving forward we will now
see it in the Budget Book and we will be able to now
have real conver sations about where our system is
going, what we are doing right, what we are doing wrong, and what we can do to do better at what we
are doing.
I also have in the Gallery now Dr. Greene
from the Bermuda College. I see the comptroller for
the Ministry of E ducation, it is brand new, it started a
few months ago, and the comptroller for the depar tment, and, of course, the Permanent Secretary . . .
the glue that keeps all of them together. It does not keep me together; it keeps them together.
Before you ask, one question I do see here
. . . power alternatives, solar power and generators.
And what I wanted to say about that (and what I wrote
here) is excellent suggestions ! And so when we are
out having our stakeholder meetings and talking about
what our schools s hould have moving forward, I expect to see that MP stand up in the crowd and say,
Hey! Those are the things that we should have.
But to talk about solar panels, that is not
something that has been looked at and something that is in our primary and middle school level, it is not
something that has not been looked at. I do know C edarBridge is looking to do something along those lines
and the Berkeley Institute, as well. But at the lower
school levels it is not something that we have not
looked at. But it is an excellent idea and something
worth looking for.
I think the idea about generators is really, r eally good, especially as we move forward and we are
talking about rebuilding and possibly renovating our
various school buildings. And so, adding generators
allows them to be more than just school buildings. We
could do other things, like with the crisis we are going through now, they could potentially become quarantine centres if we had to close schools because we
had that type of service there. So, that is a good question and I definitely want to make sure that this is
something that we talk about when we go further and
start talking about what schools should look like in the
future.
So, with that, Mr. Chairman, I think I have answered all of the questions. I thank the staff that has
been here. I want them to go back to their respective staff and tell them that I appreciate everything that
they do to make the Bermuda public school education
system as great as it is. And I hope everyone out there had an opportunity to listen to what we are sa ying, had an opportunity to understand, and also had
an opportunity to hear about some of the things that
you might hear about, because there are great things
going on within our system.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The next . . . it is now 5:27 pm and
we will move to the next debate for this day, Home
Affairs, coveri ng Heads 32 and 79.
And this debate will be carried by the Deputy
Leader, the Honourable Mr. Walter Roban.

MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I move that the following Heads: 32, Depar tment of Planning; and 79, Envi ronment and Natural
Resources be now taken under consideration.

This debate is starting at 5:29 pm and
it will go until 8:29 pm.
Hon. Walter H. Roban: All right. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
HEAD 32 —DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING
Hon. Walter H. Roban: It gives m e great pleasure to
present the budget for Head 32, the Department of
Planning, found on pages B -314 to B -318, C -16 and
C-21 of the Approved Estimates of Revenue and E xpenditure.

[Mrs. Renee Ming, Chairman]

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the Mi ssion of the Department of Planning is to ensure the
sustainable management of the natural and built env ironment . The department’s objectives comprise:
• balancing the need for development with pr otecting the natural and historic environment;
• managing the deve lopment of land to ensure
its efficient use;
• ensuring policies and processes are streamlined, transparent and consistently impl emented;
• ensuring developments are constructed in
compliance with required standards to ensure
the health, safety and welfare of communities; and
• engaging with, educating and being responsive to the needs of the public.
To meet these objectives, Madam Chairman,
the department has seven business units as shown on
page B -315—

That is better, yes.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Any way I can help.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Absolutely.
As shown on page B -315, each of which
comprise a varied complement of skilled officers. The
business units are as follows:
1. Business unit 42000, General Administration;
2. Business unit 42020, Front Desk;
3. Business unit 42050, Enforcement & Searc hes ;
4. Business unit 42060, Forward Planning;
5. Business unit 42070, Development Applic ations;
6. Business unit 42080, Building Permits;
7. Business unit 42090, Inspections;




Bermuda House of Assembly Expenditure Overview

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the D epartment of Planning’s total budget allocation is
$3,348,000 for the 2020/21 fiscal year. This repr esents a decrease of $28,000 when compared to the
previous year.
The savings are primarily attributed to a r eduction in the need for offic e supplies as the depar tment has transitioned to a paperless system. Add itional various savings were found through the impl ementation of other operational efficiencies.

Revenue Summary

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the D epartment of Planning’s estimated revenue is found on
page B -316 for the 2020/21 fiscal year and is estimated to be $1,471,000. This estimate represents an i ncrease of $111,000, or 8 per cent when compared to
the estimate for the previous fiscal year.
This increase is largely att ributable to Planning Applications Fees, Subdivision Fees and Elev ator Licences.
With respect to Planning Application fees,
found on page B -316, representing an increase of
$15,000, there are an expected number of major i nfrastructure projects which will be seeking planning
permission this upcoming financial year. It is these
large projects that pay substantial application fees,
largely based on square footage and the requirement
for an Environmental Impact Statement.
An increase in subdivision applications inclu ding boundary adjustments representing an increase of $36,000 can found on page B -316, is projected based
on a number of pre- consultation meetings held this
financial year for upcoming projects.
A number of major projects are nearing completion; nam ely the new airport terminal and the St.
Regis hotel development. These developments add a significant number of elevators, dumbwaiters and escalators to the Island’s inventory which require a yearly inspection and a licence to operate. These add itional de vices represent an increase of $51,000 in
revenue which can be found on page B -316.

Capital Expenditure

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the capital
expenditure budget for the Department of Planning
can be found on page C -16 of the Budget Book. This
capital expenditure is to allow for the completion and
the second phase of implementation of the new E nerGov electronic applications submission program.
The decision was made towards the end of the
2018/19 financial year to implement the project in two separate phases. Specifically, the first phase focused
on the implementation of systems for internal users to become accustomed to the system and its new pr o-cesses. The second phase, which represents full i mplementation of the system, will allow for direct online submissions through EnerGov’s online platform. The
reasoning behind the decision to implement the pr oject in phases was to ensure that technical officers
were comfortable with the new system before being
able to assist customers with making new online su bmissions independently.
In order to complete the necessary configur ation work associated with the full implementation of
the system, $200,000 has been allocated. Full impl ementation of the project is projected within the first
quarter of this new fis cal year.

Manpower

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the D epartment of Planning’s employee numbers are out-lined on page B -316 of the Budget Book. There are 33
full-time employees of which six posts are currently
vacant. All post -holders with the exception of two are
Bermudian. The vacant posts are: Administration O fficer; Administrative Assistant; Senior Planning Officer (Development Management); Planner (Forward Pla nning); Heritage Officer; and Electrical Inspector. The
recruitment process has begun for two of these posts:
Planner and Heritage Officer. Recruitment is projected to commence for the Senior Planning Officer and Electrical Inspector next fiscal year. A temporary relief
has been engaged for the post of Administration A ssistant.
The total budget for staff salaries is
$3,156,000 and represents 94 per cent of the depar tment’s budget.
Madam Chairman, at this junction, I want to
acknowledge the promotion of Ms. Victoria Pereira to
the post of Director of Planning. I am very happy to
acknowledge h er presence in the Chamber today,
Madam Chairman, as well as the presence of the
Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs, Ms. Rozy Azhar. As a result, she vacated her former position of
Senior Planning Officer. That position must now be
recruited as mentioned previously. Ms. Pereira has
already started to prove that she deserves this prom otion by making significant improvements in providing communications to the public, customer service and
processing of applications.

Output Measures

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the performance measures for the department are presented on pages B -317 to B -318 of the Budget Book. In line
with public service reform, for each business unit of
the department, new measures were developed which
are relevant to the specific services that are provided.
Each measure articulates the expected outcome to
demonstrate the public value gained from the service
whilst ensuring accountability.
3742 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Taking into consideration the current needs of
the construction industry combined with the need to
support new investment, aggressive targets have
been set with respect to the turnaround times for
planning application and permit processing. Further, in order to foster neighbourhood planning, community
development and regeneration, measures include a
strong focus on engagement with the public and key
stakeholders.
Madam Chairman, for the information of all
Honourable Members in this Chamber I would like to provide statistics that may be of interest to them.
This year to date, the department has is sued
a total of 719 building permits, a decrease by 50 or 6 per cent over the previous year. A further breakdown reveals the following:
• [There were] 172 commercial permits issued
to date, representing a negligible decrease, or
3 per cent over the previous year.
• [There were] 224 residential permits issued,
representing a decrease of 25 per cent over
the previous year;
• [Also,] 323 minor works permits were issued, representing a decrease of 10 per cent over
the previous year.

Major Achievements

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the tribunal process has begun to hear all 200 unresolved o bjections, from an original submitted total of 300, to the
draft Bermuda Plan 2018 —the final step to finalising
the Plan. The document is a statement of sustainable
development policies to manage development in Bermuda going forward. The tribunal process and resol ution of objections will be completed within the 2020/21
financial year.
The department went “live” with the first phase
of implementation of the new system, as I stated earlier, EnerGov. The new system has allowed the public greater accessibility to planning submissions via an
online platform and assisted in bringing greater eff iciency to internal processes.
The Scheme of Delegation, as enabled
through section 5A ( enabled through a 2014 Amendment) of the Development and Planning Act 1974
,
was brought into operation on 5 February 2020. The
scheme has permi tted the Development Applications
Board to delegate decision- making powers to the director for a set criterion of planning applications. Through official written instructions, the Board has
specified these criteria. There is a guidance note on
the department’s website which sets out the types of
applications. These applications are generally restric ted to those proposals that are compliant with the de-velopment plans in place.
In the department’s efforts to increase awar eness of functions and processes along with a desire to
clearly understand concerns of the construction indus-try, this past year meetings were held with key industry stakeholders, including architects, surveyors, engineers and contractors. We will continue to hold these
meetings on a quarterly basis. Additionally, the department embarked on a new initiative by hosting public information sessions known as “Planning Clinics”
throughout various areas of the Island. There were
three clinics in August and three in November. The
first clinics in Augu st were a huge success with upwards of 50 people per session. We intend to repeat
clinics periodically throughout the coming year.

Plans for the Upcoming Year

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the D epartment of Planning has a number of initiatives which
will be introduced over the next financial year, some of
which have already begun and will continue to be d eveloped and enhanced. These initiatives are for the
purposes of streamlining the overall planning process
in order to support individual lando wners as well as
the construction industry, and also to become more
open and transparent.

Transparency and Engagement

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, to build
upon the ease of access to planning data through the
department’s new application managem ent system,
EnerGov, access to information through the greater
use of social media and other useful tools through the
department’s website is planned.
Engagement workshops and lectures to the
general public and industry partners will continue to be developed to further share what services and assistance the department can provide to serve the
community and associated development needs.
Opportunities to hold Development Applic ations Board meetings in a public forum will be explored to enhance the transparency of the decision-making process of planning applications. This is apparently not a new scheme, Madam Chairman, but we
intend to do things that will open and make the whole
process of planning just more transparent for ever yone. So, we are hoping to have those public -type of
meetings where an actual planning meeting will be held in an open forum so that applicants and members of the public who are, perhaps, interested in the
particular applications being considered can be there
to be a part of and involved with the process.

Streamlining of Processes

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the development of a Competent Persons Scheme will commence to enable competent tradespersons to perform minor works without the required inspection process.
For example, the Department of Planning is currently
working with the Department of Energy and, eventua lBermuda House of Assembly ly, with solar installation companies in the private sector to assist with the training programme for level one
installers in order to provide a path to qualify under
the competent persons scheme in the solar install ation industry.
A framework will be produced to enable the
department’s building inspectors to use their discr etion to approve minor revisions in the field so as to not
disrupt ongoing construction.
Proce dures will be implemented for a certified
inspection process for all commercial building projects to support the industry in achieving project deadlines.
Permitting review procedures will be amended
to streamline statutory consulting and approvals r equired that extend beyond the Department of Planning’s remit to other departments and ministries within
Government.
Legislative changes will be explored with the
view to simplifying and expediting the planning pr ocess for minor development.

Legislative and Application Fee
Schedule Changes

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, in order to
incentivise renewable energy and development for the
purposes of local food production, I will be working with the Ministry of Finance to table amendments to
reduce plannin g application and building permit fees
associated with applications to install renewable energy and construct buildings for local food production.
The department recognises the role it plays in order
for the Island to adapt to a rapidly changing climate, rising energy costs and in supporting local food sec urity.
Amendments to the Development and Planning Act 1974 are planned to enable the development plan process to become more fluid, to protect specific
areas given their natural environment value and to
enable emergency approvals to be granted during
times of a national crisis, such as a hurricane.

Policy and Plan Making

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the department will be working on the following initiatives:
• Finalising the draft Bermuda Plan 2018 by
completing the tribunal process to resolve all
objections received.
• Initiating community engagement for the f uture development of local community plans in order to allow the Bermuda Plan to become a living document which can be updated on a
continual and ongoing manner as required.
We will be tabling legislation to: (1) allow for
the continuous updating of the plan; (2) to a llow for the streamlining of zoning decisions;
and (3) to protect conservation land for f uture—I am sorry —from future development . (I do not want to get that wrong, because then I
will have some people knocking on my door.)
So, from future development, protecting co nservation from future development, Madam
Chairman.
• In conjunction with the Bermuda Economic
Development Corporation (B EDC), publishing
the draft Local Plan for North East Hamilton
and to release this for public consultation and
review existing policies within the City of Ham-ilton Plan 2015 to incentivise new investment
and expand development opportunities.
• Conducting a review of the Bermuda Building
Code to incorporate changes in order to align
with best practice and advancing construction
building methods especially with respect to
energy efficiency and conservation.
In conclusion, Madam Chairman, I would like
to thank the dedicated members of the staff in the D epartment of Planning, including the director who is
here today: Ms. Victoria Pereira, Director; Mr. Larry
Williams, Assistant Director; Mr. Chris Bulley, Building Control Officer; and all their respective teams in that
office, from the front desk to the back office. It was
indeed a pleasure, and has been for the past . . . over
a year —to work with them. Because I have told them
already, I certainly cannot look good if they do not do
well, and I believe they do very well.
Thank you very much, Madam Chairman.
I will now move on to the next Head, Madam
Chairman, if you do not mind.

HEAD 79 —DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND
NATURAL RESOURCES

Hon. Walter H. Roban: I would like to acknowledge in
the House now the comptroller for the Department of
Planning, Ms. Maughn, and also the Director of Env ironment and Natural Resources, Mr. Andrew Pettit.
Madam Chairman, it gives me great pleasure
to present the budget for Head 79, the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources [D ENR], found
on pages B -319 to B -327, C -8, C-16 and C -21 of the
Approved Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure.
Madam Chairman, the mission of the Depar tment of Environment and Natural Resources is to pr otect Bermuda’s environment and responsibly manage its natural resources.

Expenditure Overview

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the total
current expenditure for the department is estimated to be $8,352,000 for the year 2020/21.

Analysis by Cost Centre

Hon. Walter H. Roban: There are 14 cost centres for
the department, as shown on page B -320 of the A p3744 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly proved Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure. The
cost centres are as follows:
1. Cost centre 89000, Administration;
2. Cost centre 89010, Marine Resources;
3. Cost centre 89020, Marine Conservation;
4. Cost centre 89030, Marine Heritage and
Health;
5. Cost centre 89040, Marine Enforcement;
6. Cost centre 89050, Terrestrial Conservation;
7. Cost centre 89060, Veterinary Services;
8. Cost centre 89070, Animal Control;
9. Cost centre 89080, Plant Protect ion;
10. Cost centre 89090, Agronomy;
11. Cost centre 89100, Pollution Control;
12. Cost centre 89110, Bermuda Aquarium, Mu-seum and Zoo (BAMZ) Administration;
13. Cost centre 89120, Aquarium and Zoo;
14. Cost centre 89130, Museum.
Madam Chairman, I refer to the General
Summary of the department on page B -320 of the A pproved Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure.
The department’s budget has been mai ntained at an estimated $8,352,000 for budget year
2020/21. This is the same level of expenditure as the
previous budget year of 2019/20.
Madam Chairman, of specific note I refer to
the subjective analysis of current account estimates of
the Approved Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure
on page B -321.
Salaries, Madam Chairman, have decreased
from $5,328,000 described in the 2019/20 original
budget to $5,294,000 in the 2020/21 estimate. This is
a decrease of $34,000, or 1 per cent due to new BPSU employees starting on lower salary scales.
Wages have increased $42,000, or 3 per cent
for budget year 2020/21. This can be attributed to th e
negotiated wage increase for BIU staff.
The budget allocation for Energy has been
reduced by $30,000, or 7 per cent in the 2020/21 budget to $398,000. This is due to the ongoing efforts
of staff to reduce energy costs across the whole department, in part icular at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo. Hopefully we will be able to do even
more with that, Madam Chairman, as we do more
within our whole Ministry to incorporate conservation efficiency measures and, perhaps, some renewable energy deployment at s ome point in time. I look forward to bringing even smaller numbers in the future.
The budget allocations for Training, Transport,
Travel, Rentals, Insurance and other expenses all
found on page B -321 are at the same levels as budget
year 2019/20.
The budget allocation for Communications
has increased from $69,000 allocated in budget year 2019/20 to $109,000 for budget year 2020/21.
This provides adequate funding for additional
phones and mobile devices required by marine and terrestrial field unit s to respond to critical services, as
well as for staff on the BAMZ campus. This increase has been dealt with through cost savings found in A dvertising and Promotions, Professional Services and
Materials and Supplies.

Professional Services, Materials and Supplies

Hon. Walter H. Roban: There has been a slight i ncrease in the budget allocated for Grants and Contr ibutions of $2,000, representing a 1 per cent increase
over the budget year 2019/20.

Revenue

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, t he department generates revenue from a variety of licen ces, permits, services and entrance fees including l icensing of dogs , lobster and fishing activities, water
rights, crop storage fees and visitor admissions to the
Bermuda Aquarium , Museum and Zoo (BAMZ). As
noted on page B-322, the total revenue for 2020/21 is
$1,509,000. It is estimated to increase slightly from
the original revenue [in fiscal year] 2019/20 level by
$16,000, or by 1 per cent.
In regard to 8493 and 8495, D og Licences.
The fees collected for dog licence s in 2019/20 were
substantially lower than expected due to the result of
an incorrect fee. This has since been corrected. E xpected revenue for dog licensing for the budget year
2020/21 is a combined $333,000. It reflects the expected level of revenu e for dog licence collection r ather than 100 per cent compliance. I can assure you
that every effort will be made by the d epartment to
work toward having every dog in Bermuda license d
and the appropriate fees paid.

Capital Expenditure

Hon. Walter H. Roba n: Madam Chairman, as noted
on page C-8 of the Budget Book , a capital minor
works budget of $500,000 will be provided for the
general maintenance and upgrading of the headquarters facility and Plant Protection Laboratory located in
the Botanical Gardens, t he Coney Island Facility (for
marine resources management and enforcement), the Government Agriculture Service Centre in Prospect, the Government kennels, and improvements in the
200 acres of Government -owned nature reserves.
Due to the need for specialize d facilities and educ ational displays, $100,000 has been allocated to the
Bermuda Aquarium , Museum and Zoo, for repairs to
several enclosures within numerous exhibits.

Capital Acquisition and Expenditure

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, as noted
on page C-16 of the Budget Book , the department has
been approved the purchase of a replacement outboard engine for the main fisheries patrol vessel for


Bermuda House of Assembly $26,000 and $10,000 for replacement of computer
equipment.

Grants and Contributions
Hon. Walter H. Roban : Madam Chairman, t he department engages several local entities to undertake specialized studies , as noted on page C-21. Professional local service contractors and consultants i nclude the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Science (BIOS)
and the Ambient Air/Water Quality Program for
$230,000, and the Bermuda Zoological Society’s Amphibian Research Project of $15,000. These funds
allow for specific studies to be undertaken which enable the department to meet its monitoring requir ements mandated by the Clean Air Act 1991.
The department also provides the Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals [ SPCA] a grant of
$10,000 to assist with the delivery of their programs.

Manpower

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the department has 79 full -time equivalent posts as shown
on page B -323 of the Approved Estimates of Revenue
and Expenditure. This is comparable to the 2019/20
budget. The department has filled the important veterinary officer post and continues to modernize numerous job descriptions through the department’s organ izational structure to accurately reflect operational
need and priorities.

Output Measures
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, a complete tabulation of the Output Measures for the D epartment of Environment and Natural Resour ces can
be found on pages B -324 to B -327 of the Approved
Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for 2020/21 . I
would like Honourable Members to note that as part of
the Government Reform initiative, the department’s
performance measures underwent an extensiv e review, and as such there are some sections with completely new sets of measures. I will briefly describe
notable trends in performance measures, Madam
Chairman.

Cost Centre 89000, Administration

Hon. Walter H. Roban: As noted on budget page B324, [th ere were] 13 protected species licences issued
to local and international researchers , [each done]
within five working days in the fiscal year 2018/19. Research topics included a wide range including i nvestigating coral gardens, climate change and temperature impacts on corals, effects of grazing and po llution on seagrass, whale fluke identification and vi deography, and sea turtle ecology, feral chickens, skink, lichens and non- native geckos. It is expected that this general level of interest will cont inue with
some 10 licence s and permits being received in
2020/21 with 100 per cent of those being processed
within five working days.
A number of invasive pests continue to have a
tremendous impact on Bermuda’s ecology and far ming sector. In fiscal year 20 18/19, the department had
culled 10,815 pest birds, predominantly feral chickens, pigeons and crows. Culling efforts were increased on
behalf of local farmers who were experiencing major
crop damage from feral chickens , as well as efforts to
control pigeons within the City of Hamilton and flocks
found at local dairy farms.
I would just like to make a side point, Madam
Chairman, that a great deal of work is being done
around the issue of climate change on an ongoing
basis by the d epartment by a number of ver y qualified
experts, mostly all Bermudian, to ensure that Berm uda mitigates the efforts of climate change.
Some of those I have listed in my Budget
Brief, so I hope it is understood by the public that ot her institutions certainly, we support, we give grants, we give assistance, but the work to reinforce Berm uda’s own position around climate change is done by
Bermuda Government by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and by Bermudians who
work in that department.
So, our people are on the fr ontline when it
comes to climate change working to deal with that
issue, and I look forward to the future with talking
more to the public about that work and some of the
things that we are going to do to actually promote greater participation in that process by the general
public.

Cost Centre 89010, Marine Resources

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, as noted
on budget page B-324, s ustaining our local fisheries is
paramount. In addition to successfully managing the licensing of numerous fisheries (e.g. , commercial finfish fishery, recreational lobster fishery , et cetera) and
providing support to the Marine Resources Board and the Commercial Fisheries Council, the Marine R esources section carried out work on several specia lized projects including the new ly approved Bermuda
Ocean Prosperity Programme (known colloquially as
BOPP), and a research project of the commercially
important red hind.
The research portion of the three- year bait
fish study was completed and more data was collec ted for the lobster research programme. The section
also maintained compliance with our membership to
the International Commission for the Conservation of
Atlantic Tuna (also known as ICCAT), as well as pr ovided support to the Sargasso Sea Commission.
And I might say we have a member of our
own staff, Dr. Tammy Warren, who is member of that
commission, so we are well represented as Bermuda
3746 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly is the only land body that is connected with the Sargasso Sea, and we have signed international conve ntions so we are again at the front end of marine conservation globally as an Island, as small as we are.
We are at the front of the efforts in that area.

Cost Centre 89020, Marine Conservation

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, as noted
on budget page B-324, i n addition to the many other
duties of the Marine Conservation Section [they] reviewed 25 planning applications pertaining to the m arine environment; presenting them to the Marine R esources Board within four weeks of receiving the a pplication.
It is expected that in 2020/21 that the trend
will continue with 25 applications being received and
100 per cent being responded to within 20 working
days. The marine habitat assessments undertaken by
the section is expected to increase from an expected
45 to 50 in 2020/21 due to the ongoing seagrass restoration studies and filling of vacant posts.
One of the important things, Madam Chai rman, I would just like to make another side comment
to say that the issue of seagrass restoration is very
important. There is a big issue with that, of which we
have ongoing discussions in the department about
concerning turtles, and my staff is laughing because they know that we have a certain rule about turtles,
because we discuss turtles almost every meeting. But
it is important , and it i s important because of our ec osystem.
The grass contributes to the nursery for fish,
that actually are very important to our marine industry
and marine environment, and so efforts to restore
grass and do things that will ensure the continued r eplenishment of sea grass is actually a top priority for
the department.
So, perhaps in the future I will share more
public information about what the department is doing,
but seagrass is important, very important to our eco logy, very important to our fisheries, very important to
Bermuda’s marine environment.

Cost Centre 89030, Marine Heritage and Health
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, as noted
on page B-324, i n 2018/ 19, no formal requests for
consultation were received directly by the Marine Heritage section, rather they were referred via other sections of the department and information provided by
the section was either integrated into the department submissions or responses from other sections. Recognizing this deficiency, the consultation process will
be re viewed and once remedied it is expected that
consultations will be in the range of 10 for 2020/21.
The percent age of protected dive site moorings in place at the beginning of the season was
80 per cent during the spring and summer of 2019. This was due to increased activity and prioritization of
repairs required at heavily visited shipwreck sites such as the Western Blue Cut.
In 2020/21, it is expected that there will be 42
dive site moorings in place and 100 per cent will be
assessed within 60 days and repairs made in readiness for the seasons.
The department and the Ministry are most
grateful to the Stempel Foundation for its support of
this important project.

Cost Centre 89040, Marine Enforcement

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, as noted
on budget page B-325, i n budget year 2018/19, [there
were] 345 vessels stopped and checked with attention
to daily bag limits, size and species restrictions. It is
expected that vessel searches will increase as major
repair work was completed to the department ’s patrol
vessels in 2019/20. The numbers of cases prosecuted and illegal traps found are expected to remain in the
same range as 2018/19.

Cost Centre: 89050, Terrestrial Conservation

Hon. Walter H. Roban: As noted on budget page B325, a n important part of the Terrestrial Conservation
Section's mission is to provide environmental and
habitat assessment advice to the Department of Planning and members of the public for all matters related
to terrestrial conservation zones.
In fiscal year 2018/ 19, the sec tion undertook
145 consultations on planning applications, Enviro nmental Impact Assessment Scoping Reports, Conservation Management Plans and proposed landscape
schemes. This remains similar to the previous years ,
as do other measures such as providing of tours, i nvasive species removal and new plantings.

Cost Centre 89060, Veterinary Services

Hon. Walter H. Roban: As noted on budget page B325, a ctivities of the Veterinary Services section were
primarily customer focused, with animal imports, and
re-visiting the conditions of entry for various species
occupying much of the section’s time. Additionally,
Madam Chairman, the section has been working dil igently to enact the new provisions of the recently ap-proved Dogs Act 2008.
The section continued its effor ts to monitor
farm production and animal welfare on farms. During the current fiscal year, 2019/ 20, the veterinary officer
post was filled and with this added capacity the section will increase farm visits, which will translate into
improved animal welfare and milk, as well as better
coordination of its activities with the Environmental Health Section of the Department of Health.



Bermuda House of Assembly Cost Centre 89070, Animal Control

Hon. Walter H. Roban: As noted on budget pages B -
325, d uring 2018/19 [there were] 4,303 dogs license d,
which translates into 48 per cent of eligible dogs. This
is expected to increase to 60 per cent with the conti nued implementation of the improved dog control legi slation.
Total incidents and complaints have been on
par with previous ye ars with 692 [ incidents ] recorded
in 2018/19 and is expected to be reduced to 600 in
2020/21. Further, time taken to respond to complaints
by the warden team continues to stay in the range of
one half of a day. However, it should be noted that
while the number of reported incidents is decreasing, the complexity and duration of investigations are i ncreasing. Consequently, the enforcement section is finding that they have to devote more time and energy
on more complicated matters. Contributing to the
complexi ty of investigations was a doubling of inspections of properties for the keeping of a restricted breed
dog. These inspections arise from residents applying
to the department to keep a restricted breed dog, and
proving that their premises are appropriate for the s ecure keeping of such dogs. [Secur ely] keeping of any
dog, especially a restricted breed, is a good thing, for
the animal, for the owners, and for the community.
Madam Chairman, I must use this as an opportunity to advise Honourable Members that there are still far too many fellow residents not keeping their
dogs in a secure and responsible manner. Animal
Control has seen increases in the vicinity of 140 per
cent in dog attacks, not a very good number. Incidents of biting injury to a person rose from nine in a year to
22 incidents . [Incidents o f] biting injury to an animal
rose from 13 to 31 during the same time period. As a
result, the department is examining current judicial
processes with the Ministry of Legal Affairs to learn
how we can expedite t hese serious matters, so to not
have public safety put at risk. Work is also ongoing to address this through activities such as developing a
dog fostering program, the independent dog tribunal,
and investigating the privatizing of the government kennels.
Recognizing that the legislation must be r eflective of the needs of the Island and the process r emains continuous, I would like to take this opportunity
to advise this Honourable House that there will likely
be further changes to the Dogs Act in the upcoming
year, specifically in relation to better management of
“dangerous” dogs.

Cost Centre 89080, Plant Protection

Hon. Walter H. Roban: As noted on budget pages B -
325, the number of items inspected for plant pests
and disease in 2018/ 19 was 1,268,392 with 7 per cent
of those being found to be infested. It is forecast that
this trend will continue for 2020/ 21. Of particular note, Madam Chairman, for this
current budget year 2019/20 are the considerable
challenges that have been found with the importation
of bananas. Since November 2018, when the problem
was first identified, this fruit has unfortunately been found to consistently be infested with mealy bug in all
life stages, as well as scale.
And I have done Ministerial statements to that
effect to give the p ublic information about that, Madam
Chairman. There has been much commentary publicly
about this matter.
This is not just an isolated phenomenon for
Bermuda. It has been reported to the Plant Protection
Laboratory that one of the main United States expor ters which supply the I sland has begun to regularly find
mealy bug on all its main brands of bananas. Mealy
bugs are of particular concern to Bermuda as they can cause problems for over 250 host species, including
crops as well as important ornamental plants . The
Plant Protection Laboratory continues to work with local importers, and overseas inspectors to try and
find practical solutions to allow for the import of this important food staple, lowering the cost to the consumer, while protecting the Island’s agriculture sector
and its fragile environment.
And I would just like to add another little
comment to this piece, Madam Chairman. Often one
gets requests or queries about the restrictions that
Bermuda has on the importation of certain food pro ducts and pl ants.
Certainly, I, as Minister, will not tolerate any
importation of any disease or plants that will be a risk to our environment. I will not , and I will not bend in
that way, irrespective of the reasoning behind the food importation. I will not. But it must be also understood
that the standards that Bermuda has sought to mai ntain are actually highly regarded in the region. Many
other jurisdictions, including jurisdictions within the
United States and within the Central American and the Americas admire the work that Bermuda has done in
this area, because unfortunately, some other jurisdi ctions have fallen to these pests that we fight to keep
out of here, and they are looking to emulate the r estrictive nature . . . and unfortunately for some, the
horse has already gone out of the stable and they
cannot do anything about it, but they respect the sy stem that we have. And yes, it means that sometimes
you cannot bring in some things that you find really
pretty online or from somewhere else you may go and
travel, but there is a reason you cannot bring it in
here, because we have had a history of challenges with the cedar blight in the last century, the killing and
damaging of our fruit crops.
Many people remember growing up, as you
would recall, Madam Chairman, and others in this
House, having fruit trees all over the place in people’s yards. As a result of some imported disease, all of our citrus that was common around the Island some years
ago was killed off, and we are only beginning now with
3748 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly the proper methods beginning to rebuild that at great
cost to many people, because many people had orchards for generations. They are gone and sometimes
you cannot bring that back because of the cost and
the time and energy that it [takes] into building an orchard back agai n. But thankfully, there are a lot of
people on the Island who take this seriously , and that ,
[replanting orchards], is happening . But these are the
reasons why these methods are in place, to protect,
not to restrict as much our pleasures or beauty, but to
protect our environment so that we have food security, we have environmental security , and I think that is
important for people to understand.

Cost Centre 89090, Agronomy

Hon. Walter H. Roban: As noted on budget page B326, the value of produce, goods and services handled by the Agriculture Service Centre is expected to remain within the range of $230,000 as in 2018/19,
decreasing slightly to $210,000 in 2020/21 .
I note that the economic embargoes for locally
grown vegetables is expected to remain consis tent,
ranging between 132 issued in 2018/19 to 130 in
2020/21. This tells us that our farmers are able to
supply local demand of certain crops, for the entire
Island, for periods of time. We want to see this trend
increase and the Government will play its part to assist our farmers to grow more good quality food on the Island.
And what I would also like to say around this,
this is a very important issue for us, Madam Chai rman. Food security is a top priority for the Gover nment, and one of the things I am interested in doing is
there is a crop strategy that is in place currently which
is coming to the end of its cycle of the plan that was
laid out for it, so we will be discussing with the farmers
and with the Agricultural Board how we revise that,
because far ming is changing globally. Not only do we
have issues here, and I know from the information that
I have read within the Ministry and others we are only
using about half of the potential agricultural land that
we could use for actual growing.
We have probably somewhere around 700,
according to what the crop studies says, we have about 700 acres of agricultural land, about half of that is being used. What if we could put another 10 per
cent of that into production, you know, do it in baby
steps, this would i ncrease some of the availability of
crops. As we know we are experiencing a very inter-esting global situation and having more crops grown
on Island is better for Bermuda. It is healthier, it is safer, it can be cheaper, and it is just better for all of
us if we can find ways and methods to increase the
production of farming that is potentially available in
Bermuda through a number of ways: increasing the amount of land and employing other methods of far ming. As I have mentioned in the Department of
Planning ’s brief, I will be working with the Ministr y of
Finance to table amendments to reduce planning applications and building permit fees associated with
buildings for local food production. We will also work
with the Board of Agriculture to review potential methods of farming which could help to reduce production
costs and reduce the negative impact caused by hurricanes.

Cost Centre 89100, Pollution Control

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Pollution Control is noted on
budget page B -326. The four main freshwater lenses
that are monitored by the Pollution Control section are
in the process of having their output measures i mproved. Currently all lenses remain at full capacity and
continue to be underutilised with the excess rainwater
captured overflowing to the sea. All reported spills of
oils and fuel were monitored and cleaned up accor ding to the Government guidelines. All stakeholder r esponses to the Department of Planning were provided
within the required 10 working day period.
It is expected that in fiscal year 2020/21 an
estimated 50 applications will be reviewed by the Po llution Control section and 100 per cent of these will be
responded to within 10 working days.

Cost Centre 89110, Be rmuda Aquarium, Museum
and Zoo Administration

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Bermuda Aquarium, Museum
and Zoo, (BAMZ) Administration is noted on budget
page B -326. Total visitors to the Bermuda Aquarium,
Museum and Zoo was 74,019 for 2018/19. However, this has since been revised down slightly to 74,000 for
2019/20. It is expected that annual visitor numbers to the facility will remain in this range for 2020/21.
Madam Chairman, the Bermuda Aquarium,
Museum and Zoo underwent its inspection for its ex-ternal accreditat ion with the Association of Zoos and
Aquariums in December 2018. However, following the
results of that inspection, the BAMZ successfully r etained its accreditation in April 2019. This marks 25 years of continual accreditation which is a remarkable achievement.
The Bermuda Zoological Society in combination with the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo continues to strongly support schools throughout the
Island with conservation and science education classes tied to the current Cambridge Curriculum. In this fiscal year the actual number of students who took
part in the programme was 8,665. The student exper iences were provided on the facility in Flatts, on Trunk
Island and on floating classrooms MV Endurance and
MV Callista , engaging students in the natural history
of our Island. Demand for classes continues to be ongoing.



Bermuda House of Assembly Cost Centre 89120, Aquarium and Zoo

Hon. Walter H. Roban: The Aquarium and Zoo are
noted on budget page B -327. The statistics reflects
the ongoing efforts made to provide world class exhi bits and exemplary care and support for the Gover nment animal collections. The number of animals r eceiving preventive veterinary care was 302 in fiscal
year 2018/19, and this trend is expected to continue
for 2019/20, Madam Chairman, and 2020/21 . . . I am
sorry, expected to continue to the existing financial
year and into 2020/21. Further, I note the efforts to treat injured wildlife continued with 120 animals and
birds being treated at the Bermuda Aquarium, Mus eum and Zoo, with the aim of releasing them back i nto
the wild.
I would like to make another point for public
consumption. Our actual Aquarium and Zoo is a part
of a wider family. So, when families do travel in other
places, when an opportunity comes, there are actual
other museums and zoos around the world that act ually will give you a certain access because if you are
part of the same family you can get preferential ac-cess or certainly rates to enter because ours is a part
of a wider family. I know that because we have done
that for others who have asked and asked about zoos
in other parts of the world, and because there is a r elationship between ours and with those, like in other
parts of North America, they do give access to people
who have . . . if you are a member, of course, of the
Aquarium and Zoo. So, if you become a member you
can then gain access to that zoo because you are a member. So, it is a way to see how zoo membership, for those who may be interested, can be beneficial.

Cost Centre 89130, Natural History Museum

Hon. Walter H. Roban: The Natural History Museum
is noted on budget page B -327. The number of specimens added to the natural history collection was [274]
in 2018/19 and this is expected to increase to 350 in
the upcoming fiscal year reflecting the hiring of the
new Museum Collecti ons officer.

MAJOR POLICY CHANGES

Hon. Walter H. Roban: I would like to highlight policy
changes that were made during this fiscal year inclu ding:
Bermuda Ocean Prosperity Program
Hon. Walter H. Roban: I wish to take a moment to
update the Honourable House on the Bermuda Ocean Prosperity Program (BOPP). In June 2019, the Go vernment, in partnership with the not -for-profit Waitt
Institute and the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Science
(BIOS), embarked on an exciting new program that
will result in the creation of an integrated marine sp atial plan for the entirety of Bermuda’s 200 nautical mile Economic Exclusive Zone (EEZ). Also included is the
Blue Economy Strategy that will look to identify opportunities to capitalize on numerous opportunities in our
waters such as fisheries, tourism and renewable en-ergy. The ambitious timeline for the completion of this Plan is March 2022.
Since its announcement much effort has been
made developing the organizational structure to sup-port an effective work program. The Waitt Foundation
has generously provided funding for support staff to
add capacity to the steering committee, made up of key personnel from numerous government depar tments and organisations, with a mandat e to manage
our marine environment.
In the coming months the numerous stak eholder groups and the public can expect to hear from the steering committee as we seek to solicit their crit ical input through a robust public and open consult ation process.

IMO T riple III Code Audit

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the UK,
Bermuda and other Overseas Territories (OTs) are currently preparing for the mandatory audit for the I nternational Maritime Organisation (IMO) in the autumn
of 2020 to assess how well vari ous IMO legislative
instruments that address ships’ safety [and] pollution
from ships are being followed. Bermuda’s Shipping
Registry, with over 12,000,000 gross tonnage of regi stered shipping, requires the audit to progress well.
The Pollution Control Sec tion of the Department of
Energy and Natural Resources (DENR) has a major
role in the maintenance and training of the National
Oil Spill Plan and associated spill response equi pment, in addition to maintaining links with various organisations that can offer overseas assistance in the
event of a large spill.
The UK Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA)
recognises this effort and has provided significant funding to Bermuda to run on Island oil spill response
courses at various levels for 69 persons in March
2019, 24 persons in January 2020 and 27 persons in
March 2020. A total of 23 places were also allocated to colleagues visiting from the United Kingdom Over-seas Territories. The MCA is also providing funding of
seventy five thousand (75,000) pounds sterling, to
update Bermuda’s oil spill response equipment to address known gaps.

Submarine Cables Protection Area

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, this past
year the marine sections of the department, as well as the relevant boards, including the Marine Resourc es
Board, Commercial Fisheries Council and Historic Wrecks Authority, spent considerable time and energy developing the proposed submarine cable protection
3750 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly zone as part of new legislation for this exciting industry.
The shape of the zone, which bears a rese mblance to a “Manta Ray” has been designed to provide
sufficient space for Bermuda’s future needs and meet the standard of the submarine cable industry, while
minimising disruption to marine users.

PLANS FOR THE UPCOMING YEAR

Increased Food Security and Reducing
Cost of Living

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, this year
the department will focus its efforts on increasing local
food production and assisting industry in reducing
production costs —which will translate into increased
food security for the island and reduced cost of living
for our residents.
These efforts will be led by the five- year N ational Crop Strategy and Action Plan and the Marine
Resources Strategy. Notable projects will include the
renovation of the Island’s cold storage of local ly produced crops at the Agriculture Service Centre, strat egies to assist our declining local bee population, amendment of legislation to regulate and encourage
aquaculture and “backyard farming.”
Looking to strategically expand opportunities
for fisheries, the Government will develop a regime for the pelagic fisheries —those fish that we look for of fshore off of the natural reef area into the more deep
water. That is what pelagic means, for those who may
be listening in the public arena, Madam Chairman,
similar to the economic embargo system in place for
local agricultural crops. This [fisheries regime] will allow our fishermen to better capitalise on their fish
catches when they have sufficient supply. As part of
the BOPP, a new Fisheries Aggregation Devic es
(FADs) program will be piloted, in consultation with stakeholders, with the goal of providing more economical harvesting of important pelagic fish species such
as yellowfin tuna.
Additionally, we will provide input to the Bermuda Economic Development C orporation (BEDC) to
their feasibility study for a shoreside fish processing
facility. And you will perhaps note in the Budget this year if you recall, Madam Chairman, that funding was
set aside that is associated with another Ministry to
assist with the development of this facility with our
local fisherman. So, that is a very interesting project
that we should see emerging over the coming year,
and certainly our fishermen have been calling for it and should be very pleased with that work getting
started.

Planning for Long -Term Sustainable Use and
Conservation of our Marine Resources
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, as part of
the Bermuda Ocean Prosperity Programme, data collection and analysis of important commercial species
such as Spiny Lobster and Black Grouper will be conducted to update management plans for these spe-cies.
Recognising the need for better integrated
management for fisheries, consultation will begin with the licensing of recreational fishing from vessels. The
goal of a recreational licensing system is to provide
fisheries managers with more quantitative information from which to make management decisions and to
improve sustainability of our reef fish stocks.
Acknowledging that effective enforcement is
one of the most critical elements of effective man-agement, the department will complete the Marine
Resources Enforcement Strategy. It is expected that the recommendations from this strategy will be incorporated into the functions of the newly formed Coast
Guard, which is expected to add much needed c apacity to the fisheries wardens.

Banning of Single Use Plastics

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, this year
the Throne Speech initiative to ban single use plastics
will be implemented. The draft policy is currently being
finalis ed and will shortly be put out for public consult ation.

Tackling Pest Species
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, work will
continue in the monitoring and management of local pests, diseases and invasive species that threaten the
island’s economy, human health and fragile environment. Recognising the very real risk that alien inv asive species can have on our Island’s biosecurity, I
look forward to bringing before the Honourable House new legislation aimed at preventing the introduction of
invasive speci es and mechanisms to control a pest
should it somehow establish itself.

Better Protection for the World’s Most
Threatened Species

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the Endangered Plants and Animals Act 2006 will be
amended in order to ensure the Island’s compliance with the International Convention on International
Trade in Endangered species of Wild Fauna and Flora (commonly called CITES).
In order to better protect globally threatened
migratory species, as identified by the International
Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) endangered
and threatened Sharks will be protected; as well as
the Manta Ray —a species which has been identified
as regionally threatened.



Bermuda House of Assembly Tackling Climate Change

Hon. Walter H. Rob an: Madam Chairman, while
Bermuda may have a relatively small impact in terms
of causing climate change, unfortunately we will likely bear the brunt of its effects, especially in relation to
sea level rise. To this end the department is developing an Island -wide tree planting initiative that will look
at opportunities for reintroducing shade trees lost to
storms, removing invasive species and improving
good quality woodland and foreshore vegetation, such as mangroves and buttonwoods, which provide pr otectio n from storm surge.

Reducing the Use of Pesticides

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, the department will continue its work to minimise the negative impacts of pesticides to our local community and
environment. To this end the department will undertake research to identify pesticides known to contam inate groundwater and will develop new policies to e ither eliminate or reduce the use of these chemicals.
The department will also undertake pesticide
residual studies on vegetables and meat available in
the local market. It is expected that results obtained
from these tests will provide a critical baseline for our
understanding of the quality of food available to the
local consumer.

Better Management of Dogs

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, Animal
Control section will continue to implement the Dogs
Act 2008 with a view to improve the keeping of an imals and promote the prevention of bites and injury. This year the department will continue its work to i mplement the Dog Tribunal, new ticketing and citat ions
regulations that will provide more efficient enforc ement, and mandatory bite reports for better data collection and informed management.

Increased Environmental Education

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, a new exhibit focusing on conservation and research on Nonsuch Island will be opened at the Museum in the
summer of 2020. Numerous smaller jobs are also in
process to ensure the safety of the animals and enhance the enjoyment of our visitors to the facility.
Madam Chairman, in closing, I would like to
thank the hard work and dedication of all the members of staff in the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources, its Director, Andrew Pettit, Dr. Tammy
Warren, Dr. Sarah Manuel, Dr. Philippe Rouja, Dr.
Jonathan Nisbett, Dr. Ian Walker, Dr. Geoff Smith, Ms.
Claire Jessey, Mr. John Edmunds, Ms. Terry Lynn
Thompson, Mr. Tommy Sinclair, Dr. Mark Outerbridge
and Mr. Jeremy Madeiros, Ms. Maria Trott and their very able teams. It has absolutely been a pleasure to
work w ith them. I am actually quite in awe, Madam
Chairman, of the [number] of PhD’s that are in that
department, most of which are all Bermudians, I might
add— Bermudians —and they do a fine job with managing Bermuda’s environment and they should be
given credit for the work they do because I do not
know any of this stuff unless they tell me, or advise
me, of course. And I am very grateful for the work that
they do.
Madam Chairman, with that comprehensive
review of that department and also the previous Head, I mov e that the budget for [Head] 79 be approved.
Thank you . . . oh, I am sorry, be open for debate, Madam Chairman.

Would any Member wish to speak?
I recognise the Member from constituency 7.

Mr. Sylvan D. Richards, Jr.: Thank you, Madam
Chairman.
Madam Chairman, as someone who was a
past Minister with responsibility for these departments
that we are examining and debating today, I also
would like to . . . I concur with the Minister that . . . and
I was just speaking about this with one of my co lleagues earlier today, that I find that the people who
work in these departments are very passionate about what they do.

Yes.

Mr. Sylvan D. Richards, Jr.: And we appreciate their
passion, their dedication and their professionalism
because if it was not for them, Bermuda would not
look the way that it looks.
You know, we all travel. Bermudians are a
very travelled people. And one thing I notice when I travel, especially to other islands further to our south
(and this is no diss to any other islands, but . . .) Bermuda looks very pretty, and it looks very organised.
You do not see a garage next to a shop, next to a pr ivate residence. So, it gives Bermuda an aesthetic that
is unique. And we look this way because of the dedi-cation of the Planning Department and also of our folks who work in the Ministry of the Environment and
Natural Resources. So, I just want to add my acc olades to their work.
So, with that b eing said, I am going to dive
into the business units and line items. You know, this
budget debate is an interesting process, because there is a lot of information that is presented all at
once. And the Shadow Minister , in this case myself,
has to sit here and process the information and come
up with questions. And I apologise in advance if some of the questions that I am going to ask were already
covered in the Minister ’s brief, which was very comprehensive. But I will ask them anyway because I
3752 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly think those listening at home may have missed some
of what was delivered, as I did.
So, with that, I will deal with Head 32, Pla nning. I noted on page A -3, current account revenue is
projected to increase to $1.47 million, which is an
8 per cent increase for the 202 0/21 period. And I
heard the Minister mention that this increase is due to
applicable fee increases. So, I am curious what those fee increases are. I would like to gather a little bit
more detail, a breakdown in that regard. I think it
would be beneficial, not just for me, but for the public
to know what these increased fees are.
I also noted on page A -7, current account expenditure—

No problem. Just trying to follow you.
Mr. Sylvan D. Richards, Jr.: There you go. So, right
now I am on page A -7.
Current account expenditure is down
1 per cent which is basically flat, as far as I am concerned, to $3.3 million and on page A -12 the number
of full -time equivalents remains unchanged at 33. I
think the Minister did mention that a Senior Planning
Officer position has been filled and that the salaries
for the Department are $3,156,000 and that there is a
new Director of Planning, and I would like to take this
time to congratulate her.
Now, moving to page B -315, expenditures,
and specifically referencing business unit 42000, gen-eral administration expenditure, it is projected to decrease by 11 per cent to $624,000. I would like to get
a bit more of an explanation of where those savings
will come from.
Business unit 42080, building permits expenditure is projected to increase by 21 per cent to
$189,000. I am curious what is driving this particular
increase in expenditure. Are these large projects? Are they smaller projects? I would just like to get a bit
more colour around that. And also, expenditure for
professional services, the 2019/20 original estimate
was $29,000 which was revised to $172,000. The 2020/21 estimate is $56,000. So, my question is what
was the reason for the relatively big increase in ex-penditure in 2019/20? It was revised up from the ori ginal estimate.
Moving to page B -316, the revenue summary,
business unit 8125, the subdivision fees . . . and I
think the Minister, or I think I heard him mention this,
but subdivision fees for 2020/21 are projected to i ncrease 106 per cent from $34,000 to $70,000. I would like to know what factors were taken into consider ation to arrive at this $70,000 figure.
Moving along to page B -317, performance
measures. The Minister noted and so did I that there
are 16 new performance measures in various catego-ries being implemented in 2020/21. I am curious what
the impetus for changing these performance
measures was, and what factors were taken into co nsideration when considering what changes to make. I
know that every now and then it is good to reflect and
say well , you know, is this performance measure even
applicable nowadays? Maybe the department has
been reorganised, something has changed. I would
just like to get a bit more information about what was
the impetus for the 16 new performance measures in
the various categories.
In looking at business unit enforcement and
searches, the percentage of complaints received de-termined as valid, development occurring without the
benefit of planning permission or building permit, the
target outcome is 50 per cent. I must a dmit, I do not
quite understand this performance measure because
in my mind complaints are either valid or they are not.
So, I am curious how one can assign a percentage as
to whether a complaint is valid or not. So, I would just
like to get some clarification around that.
The Minister did note that there were aggressive targets set to turnaround planning applications ,
and that there was going to be strong engagement
with the public. I think this is important. You know, we
are living in challenging econom ic times and we need
to, especially as legislators . . . and the Government
has responsibility to make the planning process as
smooth as possible.
I know when I was Minister, we were constant ly being challenged by the timing of turning
around applications and there are a number of different reasons for that. I know that when I was Minister , I
would say about 75 per cent of the time the applic ations that were submitted were incomplete. The agent had not done his or her due diligence and they were
submitting applications and their clients were not
aware that the applications were deficient. I am pretty
sure—I see some nodding heads and smiles over
there—

[Crosstalk]

Mr. Sylvan D. Richards, Jr.: That is right. So, I u nderstand the challenges —
[Inaudible int erjections ]

Mr. Sylvan D. Richards, Jr.: That is right. I understand the challenges. There is his story, her story and
then the truth somewhere in the middle.
So, I am curious [about] those aggressive targets to turn around Planning applications. How are


Bermuda House of Assembly they going to be met when you have to deal with, you
know, the agents and what they do?
On page C -16, business unit 76392, Planning
Development. The 2020/21 capital account expenditure is projected to decrease from $402,000 to $200 ,000 in 2020/21. I would like to know what services will be affected by this decrease. Will this reduction hamper the department’s ability to deliver efficient
service to its clients, its customers? I would like to get
some background around that.
Going to page C -21, grants and contributions.
I have noted that the business Heritage Fund, 7026 grant, has been increased from $5,000 to $10,000. If I
remember correctly, I could be wrong; I believe this
fund provides loans to owners of historically listed buildings for renovations. Okay, yes. I would like to
know what the uptake is, the annual uptake on this
loan. So, it was $5,000. Is that $5,000 being used up
annually and hence that is why it is being increased to
$10,000? And the second part of my question: Is the
amount of $10,000 sufficient considering the cost of
construction in Bermuda?
Now, I have to be . . . I declare my interest. I
live in a historically listed house. I think it was built in
1850. And I think we can all agree those homes cost a
lot to upkeep, especially if they are close to the water
like mine is. So, $10,000 for a country the size of
Bermuda that has . . . is it $10,000? Okay, let me back
up. Is it $10,000 per house? Or is the whole pot $10,000? If the whole pot is $10,000, that is going to
renovate like two windows. Okay?
I know some jurisdictions [where], if you own
a historically listed building there are other concessions that are given—concessions in land tax, co ncessions in getting loans from regular banks. There is
an actual fi nancial benefit to owning a historically
listed house or a building in other jurisdictions. In Bermuda it is a bit of a hindrance, really, from a financial perspective. So, I would like to hear the views of the Minister and his team on that.
What can be done? We all want to preserve
these historical buildings because that is what makes Bermuda look the way it does, right? I mean, the
house I live in, it has been like a tourist stop for years.
Horse and buggies used to stop by with tourists because it is a very traditional, old- school Bermuda
home. Now, it is tourists in taxis, but . . . actually, I do
not get [any] benefit from it financially, for living in that
house. Not to beat a dead horse, but I would like to
get some thoughts on that.
I am going to s witch now to my notes that I
made during the Minister ’s presentation, and I hope I
can read my own writing because I was writing kind of
fast.
So, the Minister mentioned some Planning
statistics. It looks like there were 719 building permits
issued over the last year, which is a 6 per cent drop. It
looks like there were 172 commercial permits issued. But I did not catch if this was an increase from the prior year or a decrease. So, I would like to know if
those 172 commercial building permits are up or
down. There were 224 residential permits issued,
which was a 25 per cent decrease, and I believe 323
minor works permits were issued, which was a 10 per cent decrease. So, I would just like to know
what the story is with those 172 commercial permits.
The Minister mentioned that Planning meetings were held with key stakeholders, or will be held
with key stakeholders on a quarterly basis. I think that
is very positive. That is something that needs to hap-pen because the more input you get from your stak eholder s, hopefully when they submit their applications,
the applications will be in tip- top shape.
The Minister mentioned his plans for the upcoming year are focused on openness and transpar-ency by the use of social media and engagement in workshops and partnerships. I believe the Minister
said, and correct me if I am wrong, that there will be
opportunities to hold development application board
meetings in public. Yes? Okay.

POINT OF CLARIFI CATION

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Point of clarification, if the
Member does not mind yielding.

Sure. He has yielded to you.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Only just to that one point
because it is actually quite relevant instead of waiting.
Yes. The answer is yes, and this is not a new
thing for Planning to hold an open meeting to the pu blic around certain types of matters. And the decision is
that we would like to go to that as well, particularly
with some matters that perhaps have more public i nterest significance, or as we move from the develop-ment plan to have a more community focus. There is,
you know, having perhaps, let us say, an open Plan-ning meeting in Sandys or Paget or Smith’s, relevant
to some issues that are there are things that we would
like to do going forth in the future, just giving people
more access because, to some degree, the Planning board is to some people this mysterious body that
makes all these big decisions. We would like to break that down and make sure people know they can be a
part of the process.

Okay. Thank you, Minister .
Mr. Sylvan D. Richards, Jr.: Thank you, Minister , for
that. I will support that. I guess my question is, How
will those meetings be advertised? Will it be advertised on the TV, on the r adio, on social media? How
will the word get out there? Because a lot of times this stuff happens [and people say] I didn’t hear anything
about it!
The Minister mentioned process, streamlining
of the process. And the Minister mentioned that com3754 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly petent trade persons will provide a service without
Planning permission. That is my note; I do not know if
that is right or not. But I would probably need a little bit
more—

[Inaudible interjection]

Mr. Sylvan D. Richards, Jr.: Yes, clear that for me if
you could when the time comes. And the Minister
mentioned a certified inspection process. So I am c urious what that is. What is that going to look like?
The Minister mentioned under I think the title
was application and legislative changes, reducing
Planning fees regarding energy and local food production. That is a good initiative. I would like to hear a bit more about that, how it is going to work. I know pe ople personally who are actively engaged in growing food locally, and this is something that they would de finitely be interested in. So I would like to hear . . . for
those who are out there in that space, I would like to hear a bit more about that.
I think those were my questions for Planning. I
am going to shift now to Head 79, Environment and Natural Resources. For you, Madam Chairman, I am
going to page A -3. The current account revenue is
basically flat at $1.5 million, and on page A -7 the current account expenditure is unchanged at $8.3 million for the year 2020/21. So that is pretty much status quo
from a financial perspective.
On page A -10, the Capital Account expend iture is increasing from $350,000 to $636,000. The Minister may have mentioned this in his brief, but I am
curious what is the main driver of this 82 per cent i ncrease in capital spend. Is it a new computer system? Is it new construction? I am curious what is driving
that.
On page A -12, the number of full -time equiv alents is unchanged at 79. And I did note that the veter-inary officer post has now been filled, which is a very
positive move.
Moving to page B -320, expenditures, cost
centre 89000, General Administration expenditure is projected to decrease by 16 per cent in 2020/21. I
would like to know what the reason is. What is driving
this decrease?
On cost ce ntre 89010, marine resources, expenditure is projected to increase by 8 per cent. I am
curious what accounts for this increase in expenditure. And cost centre 89110, Bermuda Aquarium Marine
and Zoo, administration expenditure is projected to increase by 13 8 per cent. I would like to know what
the reason is, what is driving that increase. As I said,
the Minister may have mentioned it in his brief, but I
would like to revisit that.
As I mentioned, going to page B -322 where
the revenue summary is mentioned again, 2020/21 revenues are projected to remain basically flat at $1.5
million. Moving on to page B -325, performance
measures. Looking at the business unit 89070, Animal
Control. Now, I must say that when I was the Minister
it was this department that gav e me the most headaches, in terms of dogs. I am curious if that has changed with the change in the legislation which allows for Bermudians to own restricted dogs. There
was a . . . on page B -325 under performance
measures it says the number of dogs license d as a
percentage of the eligible population in 2018/19, act ual outcome was 48 per cent. The original 2019/20
forecast was 60 per cent and the revised 2019/20
forecast was 45 per cent. My question is . . . that
60 per cent seems like an anomaly. You got
48 per cent [for] 2019 revised to 60 per cent [for]
2019/20 and then going forward . . . now I have co nfused myself.
So, the 2018/19 actual outcome was
48 per cent. The original 2019/20 forecast was
60 per cent and the revised 2019/20 forecast was
45 per cent. I believe the Minister mentioned that
there was an incorrect dog licensing fee. Can you kind
of explain that to me so I can understand exactly what
happened there? And the 2020/21 target is
60 per cent . . . yes, okay, that is what I was missing.
So, I will move on from there. I also note on
page B -325, total incidents and complaints to which
wardens responded. The original 2019/20 forecast
was 600. This number was revised for 2019/20 to 700.
So 100 more. And the 2020/21 target outcome is back
down to 600. So, my question is, What is being put in
place to reduce the number of incidents and com-plaints? Because it seems like that is something that
is kind of out of the control of the department. But if it
is not, I would like to hear a bit more about what is
being done or what is being put in place to reduce the
number of incidents and complaints.
Moving to page C -8, Capital Development,
business unit 75271 which is Minor Works, the Env ironment and Natural Resources. The amount budget-ed for Capital Development doubled from $250,000 to
$500,000. I am curious what the main driver of this
increase is. And on page C -22, G rants and Contrib utions, business unit 76152, I noted that the National Trust Grant was eliminated. I am curious what the reason for that was.
So, moving to my notes, still with Head 79, the
Environment and Natural Resources, looking at page B-324, in performance measures and it looks like it is
business unit 89000, Administration. There were 10 licences and permits issued for protected species and it mentions that a number of feral chickens and pigeons were culled. I would like to know what instr uments are being used to cull the feral chickens and
pigeons. Just driving around Bermuda and there
seems to still be quite a large number of feral chic kens on our roadside verges —

[Crosstalk and l aughter]


Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Sylvan D. Richards, Jr.: Yes, they do. I am just
curious how many people are involved in this culling
activity. What type of instrument? I am not saying
weapons . . . what types of instruments are they using? Are they using air guns? Are they using sling
shots? Are they using darts? Are they poisoning the
chickens? Just what is being used to reduce our feral
chicken population? I know it is a challenge. It was a
challenge when I was Minister . It is continuing on.
Moving to business unit 89010, Marine R esources. Now, I am going to take the Minister to task
for a minute here because in his presentation I heard
no mention of lionfish. Not a single mention of lionfish.
Now, we all know that out on our reefs the lionfish is
the single [biggest] challenge that we have. Lionfish reproduce at a phenomenal rate. They eat our juvenile
reef fish. They are a menace. And I have not heard anything in the Minister ’s presentation today that outlines what the department is doing to manage the lionfish scourge.
Now I do know that there are private individ uals and organisations out there that are culling lionfish. They have lionfish culling parties. I know som eone personally who goes out there almost every day
with a spear killing lionfish. But it is not enough. So, I
need to know if this is on the Government ’s radar. Is it
not on the radar? Are they just saying, Well, [there is]
nothing we can do. There are too many lionfish a lready . They taste good. I have eaten them raw, like
sushi, and also cooked. We need to eat ’em to beat
’em. So, I want to hear from the Government what i s
going on with lionfish. I was really disappointed to not
hear that.
Also, business unit 89020, under Marine Conservation. Now, I know that a few years back when I
was Minister there was talk and the Government was
approached by some very wealthy, influ ential, private
individuals about this Blue Halo project, which was
basically putting a marine reserve in our territory w aters. I am curious if that is still out there—

POINT OF INFORMATION

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Point of information if the
Honourable Mem ber would yield.
Mr. Sylvan D. Richards, Jr.: Yes.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: I am only doing this because I
want to deal with this right up front. The Blue Halo
project is not in Bermuda and I am saying this up front
because, certainly when I came back into the Minist ry
of Environment, I found nothing but . . . not only perhaps within the wider fishing and marine community . . . hostility to like [even] the mention of Blue Halo
because the relationship and experience of Blue Halo
that was had in Bermuda was not a positive one.

Mm-hmm. Hon. Walter H. Roban: And so there was no relationship between the . . . okay, our department or the
Government of Bermuda with the Blue Halo project at
all. That is what we are doing. We are doing our work
with the Bermuda Ocean Prosperity Programme, with
the Waitt Foundation, which is more worthwhile and
has been a lot more beneficial programme which we
believe we are building strong support for in the community.
There were real challenges with the exper ience with Blue Halo and I have made it very clear to our marine community there is no relationship with
Blue Halo here in Bermuda at all and that is because
that relationsh ip was not complementary to what Bermuda wanted to do and we now have partners that
actually want to work with us to advance Bermuda’s
interests, not someone else’s.

Member , I believe you got an answer
to that one.

Mr. Sylvan D. Richards, J r.: I did, and thank you for
that, Minister . So, I can scratch that off my list.
The Minister also mentioned turtle preserv ation. I will tell you an interesting story, if I can, real
quick, 30 seconds.
So, when I was Minister we had this event
here called the America’s Cup [AC]. And I was the
Minister of the Environment at the time . . . Minister of
Sport? One of them. It is so long ago I cannot reme mber. But I do know that out there on their course there was an issue with tur tles because that is where the
turtle grass was and the turtles were feeding there
and it became very apparent after a couple of training
sessions that one of those multimillion dollar boat
hulls was going to hit a turtle and it was not going to
be a prett y outcome.
So, we had to put together a plan to manage
the turtles. I spent a lot of time in meetings dealing
with turtle litigation, for want of a better word. Basica lly, what happened is we decided we would take a certain percentage of the turtles from there, put them in a
pen down at the Aquarium until after the AC and then
they were released and they swam back up and they
are happy swimming up there again.
So, I am curious to hear a little bit more about
what the current Government is doing regarding . . .
there are some smiles going on, so I know there has been some conversations about turtle management.
So, I want to hear about it, too.

[Laughter and inaudible interjection]

Mr. Sylvan D. Richards, Jr.: It is line item 89020,
Honourable Member , Marine Conservation. 89020,
Marine Conservation on page B -324. You follow me or
am I talking too fast? Okay. All right.
Now, moving along to Marine Enforcement, I
believe this is business unit 89040. The Minister men3756 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly tioned that there have been repairs m ade to marine
vessels that will result in increased marine inspections
which is a good thing. I would like to know how many
vessels are now available for this.
Moving to business unit, or line item, 89060
Veterinary Services. The Minister mentioned that a
new Dog Act is forthcoming. I do not want to get
ahead of myself because there is going to be legisl ation. But I am just curious —

POINT OF CLARIFICATION
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Point . . . just again, another
point of clarification for the Honourable Mem ber.
I did not mention a new Dog Act. I mentioned
that there were amendments coming. There are going
to be regulations to the existing Dog Act, not any
amendments to the main Dog Act.

Thank you.
Mr. Sylvan D. Richards, Jr.: Fair enough. I will just
wait to see what those are when they come. So, I will
move on.
Moving to business unit 89070, Animal Control. I had a question . . . now that Bermudians can
own restricted dogs i f they meet certain criteria, and
part of that criteria is do they have, I guess, kennels, do they have enough land or whatever. I am curious as to how many inspections have been carried out by
Animal Control Officers in this regard, relating to the
keeping of restricted dogs.
I guess the next question would be, is it a
large number of inspections or is it manageable? The Minister also mentioned that there have been, I believe he said 140 incidences of dog attack over the past year, and then he gave some s pecifics. I do not
know if I got these numbers correct, and I would like
to get some clarification on them if I can. I think there were between 9 and 22 biting incidents. I am not sure
if those . . . I assume those were to humans. And then
13 to 31 biting incidents to other animals. Right. Okay,
so I did hear that correctly.
I am curious what those numbers are now
compared to [what they were] before the legislation, the Dog Act, was amended to allow for the ownership
of restricted animals. So, I do not know if there is an
uptick, if it is static or if it is less. I would be surprised if it is less. So, I would like to kind of get some more
commentary on what those statistics . . . how did they
compare to previous years?
The Minister also mentioned that t here will be
a dog tribunal, I think I heard that, a dog tribunal put in
place. I am curious what that tribunal, what their mandate is going to be. Are they going to be, you know, made up of individuals who have experience with
handling dogs or training dogs? Are there going to be
veterinarians involved? Are there going to be repr esentatives from various dog groups who come toget her to oversee and give advice to the Government on
the management of dogs? I would just like to hear a
little bit more about that .
I am going to get away from dogs now and
move to business unit 89080, Plant Protection found on page B -325. The Minister mentioned the situation
with bananas. Now, in the overall scheme of things
with what is going on out there in the world, we have
got coronavirus, we have got all sorts of things going
on, but high on the list of things that Bermudians care
about is being able to get bananas with their codfish breakfast Sunday mornings. And I am one of those
people.
And the Minister to his credit has brought Mi nisterial Statements about the whole banana situation,
the mealy bug infestation and whatnot and the steps
that Government has taken to deal with the situation,
which is commendable. But I have a question. And it
has not been answered, or at least I did not feel it was
answered when the Minister gave his Ministerial
Statements a while ago or today.
So, my question is this, Minister : Is this mealy
bug infection a more recent occurrence or were these
infestations only recently detected? In other words —
let me finish, there is a part two, give me a second—in
other words, we have been importing bananas into
this country for years. Have these bananas been i mported with these mealy bugs undetected or have they
just been recently detected.
Yes?
I will sit down and let the Minister respond.

POINT OF CLARIFICATION

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Point to clarify.

Minist er, yes?

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, if the
Member obliges.
As I stated in my Statement, this seemed to
be a problem that was detected about a year ago.
Based on how this sort of challenge with the mealy
bug infestation on bananas became as prominent as it
is, it is suspected, and I believe based on the reports
that I have gotten it has to do with sourcing, where the
bananas had been sourced by the suppliers in the United States who supply our wholesalers and our
retailers with the bananas. T hey are the ones who
source bananas. And from those countries that they
have been sourcing it from, irrespective of the best
efforts, those contaminations seem to be in those
countries. And despite the best efforts we had conti nuously found it because of w here these bananas are
sourced.


Bermuda House of Assembly That has been essentially since over a year,
since November of late 2018. This has been the occurring problem. So, it appears to be a question of
where the bananas are sourced from, and this was
not a major problem prior to that. And I am assuming
as the Minister the former Minister himself was in this
seat that he would have either been briefed if there
had been a problem back then. But certainly, this has
been a recurring problem since about late 2018 in the
way that we have been dealing with it. Not prior as far
as I know, but I have only been the Minister of the E nvironment since late 2018. I do not recall my colleague discussing this matter prior to that.

Thank you, Minister .
I am just going to take a minute to let the li stening public know that we are in Committee of Supply
and we are doing the Ministry of Home Affairs, Heads
32 and 79. This debate was given three hours. We are
now at two hours and three minutes. So, we have 57
minutes of debate left.
Would any other Member wish to speak?
I recognise the Member from constituency 7.

Mr. Sylvan D. Richards, Jr.: Thank you. Thank you
and I am going to finish up, because I want to give the
Minister and his technical officers time to respond.
Okay, thank y ou for that, Minister . I guess that
answers my question. I guess. Okay, being where we are at, what is the timeline, or is there an anticipated
timeline for resolution to this? And if there is, if you
can speak to it, I would like to hear that. Okay.
The Minister also mentioned that it is a goal of
the department to increase fruit production locally and they will assist [with the problem of] the declining local
bee population here. Now, most people know that
bees are important to our environment. You cannot
grow anything without bees pollinating the plants. I
would like to hear what is being done to assist the l ocal bee population. Is the restriction of the use of cer-tain pesticides tied to this? So, I would like to get a
little bit more clarity around that .
In the banning of single use plastics , I would
like to hear a bit more about that; expand on that. Will
this ban be a phasing out period of a period of time?
Or will it be a complete ban?
Lastly, reducing the use of pesticides. Okay,
so glyphosate, or Roundup as it is known commercially, is a topical . . . it is topical in all different fields. B ecause it is a known carcinogen, I work in the insur-ance space and there have been huge, huge awards
which have been given by juries in the United States to people who have been affected by glyphosate, and
in a lot of our policies now we do not provide coverage
for it. It is excluded. So, I am curious if this Minist ry
still uses glyphosate or Roundup, and if it does, why is
it still in use?
With that I will ta ke my seat.

Thank you, Madam Chairman.
I know that there are a lot of questions outstanding for the Minister and his team, so I will just
pose one quick question, which in fact another Member who is not in the Chambers just asked me to ask
on her behalf.
The Minister mentioned in his brief the shor eside facility, Marginal Wharf, and sai d that fishermen
have been clamouring for it. I understood, or at least the Member that has asked me to ask the question
had understood that there had been some debate
over that. And I am just curious, what sort of consult ation occurred with home commercial fishermen, et
cetera, and were there any fishermen who expressed
concerns?
Thank you, Madam Chairman, for allowing me
to pose that question.

Thank you, Member .

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Madam Chairman, if I can just
quickly deal with that. I will just say first there is an
allocation in the budget around that. But it is not with
the Ministry of the Environment; it is with another Mi nistry. So, all the work related to the establishment of
the shoreside facility will be done under the Bermuda
Economic Development Corporation. It is really a
question around the whole process around . . . that is
really with another Ministry, although, Madam Chai rman, I will say it has been related to Environment in
the past, but the responsibility for the establ ishment of
it is now with the Bermuda Economic Development
Corporation.

Thank you, Minister . Does any other
Member wish to speak? No?
Minister , you have some answers to provide.
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you, Madam Chai rman.
I wish to thank the Shadow Minister and ot hers who have thus far contributed to the discussion on
the budget for Planning and for the Department of E nvironment and Natural Resources. Just to deal with
some of the questions that have been presented thus
far in the time that we have available, there was a
question about revenue, which had to do with the
$81,000 increase.
Let me just clarify. Yes, this would have been
under Planning, I do recall the question around Plan-ning, there was a revenue . . . it is ac tually 8 per cent,
I did not know it was a per cent . . . an 8 per cent i ncrease in revenue that was mentioned which is on page B -316. This is not related to a fee increase as
would have been noted. The Finance Minister did say
3758 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly that there will be no fee increases this year in most
categories. So, the revenue increases is from Planning applications and we, as stated in my brief, we are
expecting that there are a couple of major infrastructure projects that we are expecting to generate a co nsiderable amount of fees.
So, any increase related to that is attributable
to what we are expecting to happen in the area . . .
and if you would note in the Budget Book other than
. . . and that would incur, there are two areas where
we said that those fee increases would be generated
within the additional elevators and other lifts that will be associated with such large projects like the St.
Regis and also obviously with the new airport. There
are going to be a lot of elevators and other structures which require substantial licensing and also the expected increase you noted in the Budget Book, the
two major, some of the two major areas have to do
with Planning application fees and with elevator fees.
Those were the two main areas that we expect to see
some substantial fee i ncreases.
Another question was the change in the performance measures and how there are some new categories of performance measures. That, as has
been the case with most of the other budgets and i ncluding ours, is as a result of the review from the public service reform; new categories of output measures were generated. Some, as the Honourable Shadow
Minister said, have been discarded and new ones that
reflect more of the activities of the department have
been (this is in relation to Planning) . . . are being
sourced or identified here and demonstrating greater
public value.
There was a question concerning capital and
the additional capital. And this related to the change to
about $200,000 and what was the reasoning for the
change and that amount. I believe the Honourable
Member had talked about whether this was going to
be a reduction in services or personnel. And I believe that had to do with the capital which is on C . . . just
give me a moment. But I can arguably say that this
had to do with the . . . yes, page C -16 . . . yes, that
had to do with the EnerGov full implementation.
The $200 . . . if you know in the Budget Book
there were larger amounts in previous years. The
$200,000 reflects the second phase, and I discussed that in the budget with the s econd phase of EnerGov.
So, the $200,000 reflects the full deployment in the
capital investment of the system. It is not going to r esult in any . . . it is not going to result in any personnel
losses or anything. It is the second phase of a larger
investme nt that was planned for the new system that
is going to be paperless, and we will upgrade a number of systems that are already in Planning once this
is fully deployed.
The first phases, if the Honourable Member
recalls, was to do with ensuring that the st aff and the
internal personnel got familiar and were comfortable
with it. And the second phase is the last phase which actually fully deploys all of the areas of EnerGov,
which is going to ensure that the public interaction and
the public engaging with the system [functions]. So,
that is the reason for the difference in the capital if that is what you were interested in. And it will obviously help to reconfigure some of the workflows because it
is going to be less paper involved with the process.
A questio n was asked about the Heritage
Fund and the interest free loan being at $10,000, whether it was the whole pot or if it was the amount to
a particular loan. Currently, one loan . . . and we do
want to enable more opportunity as persons who own
these homes are struggling to renovate them. So, that
is the whole pot.
We want to look at how we can better help
and support persons who have these houses. And we
will discuss that further because, as you described, as the Honourable Member described, Madam Chai rman, in other jurisdictions a lot of support is given to
people who own these homes and there is an incentive to keep and preserve and enhance the home in
keeping with the traditional architecture. So, we will look at that.
Most of the renovations are typical ly with wi ndows and upgrading windows and electrical infrastruc-ture to these homes. That is what most of the money
usually is for because as one would know that if you
have a historic home, the other aspects of home you really are not supposed to change. B ut some of the
areas like windows and doors and stuff that may need
to be upgraded because they are wood and the wood
deteriorates and gets termites and things like that, you need to replace. So, with better, more suitable, modern features which are in keeping with the character of
the house.
But I do take the point of the Honourable
Member that more needs to be looked at in how we
can help families to keep and preserve these homes. Like him, I will declare my interest, my family also has a historic home w hich goes back to the 1700s. And
finding ways to upkeep these homes is much more of
a burden than it is for a traditional modern Bermuda
home, and we should support this so that people can
actually keep, sustain and preserve these homes well
into. But they do take a lot of investment and, Ho nourable Member , you live in St. George’s and would
know intimately the issues that many citizens face
with that. So, we can look at what else we can do to
help there.
There was a question concerning Planning
statistics . I would like the Member to note that the fi scal year is not over, so the statistics do not necessar ily reflect the full year’s activity in that area. So, the
statistics —
[Inaudible interjection]



Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Walter H. Roban: So, I would just like the Me mber to note that. We are expected to break even as of
March 11th.
Commercial . . . this has to do with Planning
applications were down, residential was down and
minor works were up. Last year, it was 294 minor
permits were actually up, and I think I might have read
an error around that as well. So, just to give some
perspective on that, Honourable Madam Chairman,
and Honourable Member , I think we need to put
sometimes what happens in these areas into context because I myself have discussed with the Planning
Department the issues around the sort of pattern of
applications and the ups and downs of these stati stics.
I think sometimes it has to do with . . . and I
think we know then within the context of Bermuda recently the cost of capital has been very expensi ve for
people so often that does restrict or limit their ability to do certain work from their home. I think that som etimes this has an impact on the pattern of how many
applications are made or that we see it down in certain types of works and if you see, perhaps, people
will not do major works but they will be able to afford
to do minor works and vice versa, depending on the
cost to borrow.
I think that we know the cost in recent years
for many people to do borrowing around real estate has been expensive. So, I think that also can be attributed to sometimes a change in these numbers. I
am not trying to pass an excuse anywhere. I am just
saying is that I think we have to look at these in the
wider context of the availability of capital and the abi lity for people to borrow to do these activities. So,
there is a wider question, and those are interesting
issues. I do not have any difficulty with the Honour able Member raising them, because I think they are
pertinent to activity and economic activity in the Island
and how Planning complements how people can carry
on these beneficial works for their homes and for their
family life.
There was a question around agents, I b elieve, and targets for improving submissions, how will
they be met, the targets in the perfor mance measures.
We do believe that . . . oh, I am sorry, targets, yes, in
improving and how we will meet our targets for i mproving submissions.
Well, our view is that the new EnerGov sy stem, once deployed, is a smarter system and it will allow people to m ore efficiently make submissions. So
there is a smart form process and it will increase. And we intend to do other things, such as, increase our engagement with stakeholders so the advancement of
the technology married with our effort to engage the
public and stakeholders much more better we believe
will end in greater and more efficient activity around
Planning.
So, one of the focuses I have been committed
to, Madam Chairman, is to making Planning more open and actually talking to stakeholders in the community, the people who deal with the putting together
of Planning applications. Also persons who actually
are helping people make those applications to Planning for the different works that they want to do and talking to them and finding out what are the is sues
that you feel [the Planning Department] needs to do
better or that you would like to see addressed.
What are we doing right? What are we doing
best and where are the areas that you are finding you
are challenged in engaging with the Planning pr ocess?
So, the engagement with stakeholders, we
believe, is important and just making sure that there is
certainty and a stricter line on how submissions
should be made so that people do not get one story
here or one story there. That there is a strict policy o n
how you make submissions and those submissions, if
they are done properly, will be done and handled in an
efficient manner.
The Honourable Member I believe, Madam
Chairman, raised the issue . . . he thought he was
very interested and curious about the f act that we
want to hold the public meetings and open up the Planning process to holding hearings of the Planning
Board in public. We expect [we] will be using all of the
modern technology to inform the public around these
events, Madam Chairman. So, we wi ll use Facebook,
Twitter and other modern media to make sure that every possible person will know.
But as I also said earlier, the new Bermuda
plan is being shaped in a different way. It is going to
help to protect our environment. It is going to help to
ensure proper modern Planning standards, but also
there is a focus on community development as well.
So, unlike in the past where a person would have to
wait 10 years to actually consider or make a submi ssion—7 to 10 years to make a submission for rezo ning within their neighbourhood or their community —
the way the new plan worked is that this is going to
happen much sooner.
For instance—and I will give an example, at
some point within the next perhaps not -too-distant
future, Madam Chairman— we will come to S t.
George’s and talk to St. Georgians. And I am talking
about the parish as a whole. We will talk about the
issues that relate to Planning matters in St. George’s
because we know that different parts of the Island
have different Planning issues.
If you li ve in a more high- density part of the I sland, or perhaps around the vicinity of, let us say, the town of St. George’s , your Planning considerations
are different from somebody who might live in Sout hampton. But right now, and in the past, the Planning law has been very cookie- cutter in its approach to
people dealing with those issues. But there are plan-ning needs in St. George’s that are different from
planning in Southampton.
3760 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly So, if we go to St. George’s and sit with St.
Georgians and say, Well, we would like to do , you
know, there are certain things in the Bermuda plan for
St. George’s we would like to see amended for these
reasons. That will be a very different conversation in
like Southampton. But those conversations will happen now more regularly. You are not going to have to
wait 10 years to get them. So, each parish will have its
own attention to its Planning needs. So, we believe
that this will help in just opening up the process for
people. People can see results around Planning for them that will b e much more beneficial if we can do it
that way.

[Crosstalk ]

Minister , I am glad to see that you
recognise how special St. George’s is.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Oh, absolutely. How can I
ignore St. George’s at this very important time?

[Laughter]

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Especially when you are in
the Chair, Madam Chairman.

[Laughter]
Hon. Walter H. Roban: There was a question about
certified Planning —
[Crosstalk ]

Minister , one minute. Excuse me,
Member s? The Minister is answering your questions,
so I do not mind if you are going to have convers ations, but keep them down so we can all hear him.
Thank you.
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you, Madam Chai rman.
There was a question concerning certified
inspection process, what does that entail and what it
will look like. The answer is for commercial projects
there will be self -inspection and that means that if a
project has a registered engineer who is attached to
the project, that registered engineer will do some of
the inspection because they are a qualified engineer,
they are known to the department.
There is not going to be a need for you to get
somebody from the Planning Department to do certain types of inspections, because if this person is a qual ified engineer, Madam Chairman, they can do certain
things because they are qualified if they are certified. So, that will help to speed up the process.
Certain inspections can be done right on site
by that person who is a qualified engineer attached with that project rather than waiting for the Planning inspector to come and do it. It is a way of not losing
any of the expertise or the quality of expertise r equired, but it will streamline, we feel, the process and
help many developments where changes need to be
made on the sp ot or other types of approvals have to
be done, they can be done onsite.
Additionally, explore . . . this will also mean for
the department, it can focus the internal inspectors on residential units only whereas the commercial ones,
most big commercial pr ojects have engineers and
they are well financed and they have that expertise
available to them onsite whereas a smaller residential
development needs to have the other types of inspections. So, it will free up the Planning process. It will
free up the per sonnel to focus on the needs of res idential developments. Another question as it relates to Planning, it
was noted that there was a savings in government in
administration due to a decrease in the number of
consultants. The Heritage Officer . . . that post has not
been filled but if we do need . . . and also a planner.
We have . . . at times some of the Heritage work has
been done by somebody who we have asked from
overseas to come in and do the work for us since we
do not have a Heritage Officer on site.
Of course, we are moving forth with work r elated to the North Hamilton plan and we will also be
retaining a consultant in relation to the North Hamilton plan. I think that is the correct answer to that. If it is
not, I am sure the Honourable Member will query it
again.
Revenue increase in the area of subdivisions.
It is expected that [there will be] new subdivisions based, as we stated, on the pre- consultations which
were held this last fiscal year, and that we expect based on those pre- consultations that there will be
additional revenue because there will be additional subdivisions that will come with that.
There was an issue about full -time equiv alents that the Honourable Member commented on,
and he may have misheard what was said. The Senior
Planning Officer . . . and maybe I misstated it ( and I
apologise if I did, Madam Chairman), b ut the Senior
Planning Officer vacancy has not been filled. That is
the post that the current Director, the Senior Planning Officer, held so that has yet to be filled. But it is our
full intention that at some point in the near future to fill
it.
There was a query re performance measures
on planning searches. Out of all the complaints r eceived, typically 50 per cent are valid, meaning that
50 per cent involve violations wi th the Development
and Planning Act. The remaining complaints are typ ically civil issues. Notwithstanding, all complaints are
investigated, and the measure will demonstrate that if
new legislation with regards to enforcement is working
. . . just an exampl e is less authorised . . . yes, there
will be less unauthorised development.


Bermuda House of Assembly Those are all the questions that I had in rel ation to Planning. I am sure if I missed anything the
Honourable Member will . . .
In relation to questions, Madam Chairman,
that w ere presented in relation to the Environment
Department, there was a question raised about expenditures and why was the administration cost decreased and why did the Bermuda, the agriculture . . .
I am sorry, the Aquarium increase. Energy costs had
been tr ansferred from the central administration to the
cost centre for the Aquarium and Zoo, so that accounted for that increase. And that money was moved
for electricity and there has not been a real increase .
Also there is no increase in the department’s budget.
There was a question concerning the capital
account expenditure and why it is increasing. The i ncrease to the capital account expenditure in the Env ironment Department is primarily driven by the devel-opment of the new plan inspection facility attached to
the existing plan protection laboratory as well. So, that
is a very needed expenditure right now because as we try and give more attention to food security, both
the plan protection lab and the agricultural centre need to be operational. They will greatly aid in our
ability to store and sustain certain food products as we
try and advance food production on Island.
Another ques tion is what is being put in place
to control dog incidents. I will actually apologise to the
Honourable Member, Madam Chairman, as there was
an answer that I gave about the changes to the dog
law. There actually will be some changes to the Dog
Act, but as I was thinking that there are a number of
other measures ( that of regulations that I have been
trying to bring in place), I thought that was a more a ppropriate answer . But I have been informed that we
will be making changes to the actual principal Act as
well.
But to answer the specific question that the
Member [asked] , there are numerous new initiatives —
one, increase reporting of dog bites. Also, as it relates
to the . . . well, we intend to put a system in place that
will help to better report on dog bi tes and also collect
that data. The independent tribunal that is proposed,
which will come with amendments to the Dog Act , will
be set up and it will better deal with dangerous dogs .
And there will be new ticket and citation regulations as
well, put in place. So, we believe that this will be effective in handling the issues that we often confront
around dogs.
What instruments are being used to cull
chickens and pigeons? There are 10 licens ed cullers
using integrated pest management programme s. The
tools are air rifles and traps. [There are] no chemical s
used for eliminating or culling at this time at all.
A question was asked about lionfish. Are they
still being culled and what are we doing around that?
The Government is still strongly supporting the culling of lionfish. We may not do it ourselves, but we do give
support to those who participate in the programme and licences have been approved and provided to
those interested in partici pating in that activity. They
certainly can catch and sell the lionfish and, as the
Honourable Member said, the fish taste good. I personally have not had any myself, but I will take his
word for it. The licences provide [many] statistics to
the department on their culling activity.
A question was raised about turtle management and what is being done. It should be reme mbered that turtles are a protected species , and have
been a protected species in Bermuda for centuries. So, they do remain protected. And any injured turtles
are rehabilitated at the Aquarium and released back
into the wild. Also [we are] protecting shark species to
re-establish the food chain which will potentially allow
sea grass to be replenished. This is an interesting i ssue around turtl es, but I think that —

Turtles eat the sea grass.

Hon. Walter H. Roban: I was just going to make a
comment about that, Madam Chairman, because it is
good to inform the public.
Most of the turtles that reside, well if not all
that reside in Bermuda’s waters, are not native to
Bermuda. They are migratory. They come here, they
eat the sea grass, they feed on whatever else and they go elsewhere, either north or south. We do not have any . . . there are not any turtle hatcheries at this
time th at we are aware of.
There are no beaches like, you know, how
you see in other parts of the world where turtles go up, lay eggs and then go back to the wild and the
eggs hatch and they go back. As far as we know, al though there is perhaps some rumour of a possible site, but as far as we know there are no turtles that
actually hatch here. There are no turtle hatcheries,
natural hatcheries in Bermuda. So, all the turtles that
come here that we see in our waters, they are migr atory. They are not native to our waters. But we are
trying to do things to the ecosystem and make some
changes that will protect other species that will assist
in the work that we need to do around turtles.
That is all I can say at this point around that
and perhaps at some later point I can give more i nformation about what we are doing particularly as we
may be bringing legislation around the protection of
other species of . . . in Bermuda’s water.
I think I mentioned about the manta ray and
the sharks. They all contribute . . . some of these pr otections are actually put in place to deal with this issue
of us not only protecting the species but also replenishing certain aspects of our environment that are
complementary to our fisheries.
How many vessels are in the fisheries fleet?
The Marine Enforcement has a fleet of three main
vessels, mainly RIB -type [rigid inflatable boats]. The
aim is to keep three vessels always in operation.
3762 13 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Another question here about Roundup and
glyphosate and the types of herbicides. Currently, the
Ministry of Home Affairs does not use glyphosatebased herbicides , nor does the Ministry of Public
Works. Only ready -to-use products of 2 per cent are
allowed to be imported into Bermuda and no concentrated forms are allowed.
Actually, if I can just give a little piece of i nformation, Madam Chairman, perhaps to some degree there was a big controversy about glyphosate. But in
some cases what we have discovered is that it is not necessarily the percentage of glyphosate that is allowed in Bermuda that is the problem, but it is the
other ingredients in those products that are more
damaging than the glyphosate. But as I said here, we do not use concentrated glyphosate in any of our activities.
But what has been discovered is that it is
those other added ingredients alon g with the glyphosate. It is not the glyphosate that is actually the damaging product. It is some of the other ingredients that are in the product that is used. But we continue to be
vigilant , and as I said in my brief finding more healthy
ways to deal wit h the issue of pesticides and [other
chemicals] in Bermuda so that we can be more nat ural and more safe because of the concerns about groundwater and other issues.
There was a question concerning dogs, why is
there a . . . is it decreasing? Oh, I am sorry , why is
there a percentage discrepancy of dogs being l icens ed, 48 per cent versus 60 per cent? The answer
to that is the new provisions of the Dogs Act 2008 are
still being implemented and these provisions will come online . It is expected that the dog lic ences will also
rise once all those provisions are online.
How many dog home inspections for restric ted dogs have been conducted by the dog wardens? Okay, I will take this question in the full . I will have to
go and get the number and bring it back to th e Ho nourable Member because the actual number is not
available at this time, the number of visits conducted
to certify homeowners of restricted breeds of dogs are
in compliance with the Dogs Act . But I will provide the
exact number to the Honourable Member if he does
not mind at a later date.
How many dog home inspections were conducted? Again . . . oh, I am sorry ; same question. We
will provide it at a later date.
Those are all of the questions that I have
available to answer, but if there were others that I
have not answered, I am happy to have Members r emind me of them, Madam Chairman.

Does any other Member wish to
speak?
Minister, there is no other Member who wishes to speak.
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you, Madam Chai rman.
I would like, again, to thank the team that is
here: the Director of the Environment, the PS for
Home Affairs, the Controller of Home Affairs and the Director of Planning.

POINT OF CLARIFICATION

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Point of clarific ation, Madam Chairman.

Minister?

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Yes, as it relates to single use
plastics, the goal is within the next few months w e will
be announcing more information on the phase strat egy. The goal of the Government is to have the elimination of single use plastics added to our environment by 2022.
Our plan is being finalised right now and I look
forward to presenting that in the near future. It is a
phased approach but we are also . . . I will say that I
will speak complimentary of many businesses that have already begun to make the conversion. If you go
to many businesses, restaurants and other places ,
you will find paper straws, you will find biodegradable
products being used, you know, in substitute for nonbiodegradable. There have been a number of companies that have sponsored much more environmentally
friendly bags for groceries and other things . And, ironically, some of our stores are going back to the paper
bags from where they were moving away. They are actually trying themselves to make some conversion.
So, I compliment those who have already made some
of this change. But we will bring forth information on
our phased appro ach in due course.
The other issue is concerning bees —very i nteresting topic . Obviously, without bees there will be
no agriculture, there will be no beautiful fauna that we
have become accustomed to in Bermuda. So, the bee
population is crucial to that process. We continue to
work with the bee community to make sure that our
bee population actually continues to thrive. I would say, based on my own understanding of the impacts
. . . and not some years ago we were unfortunately


Bermuda House of Assembly struck with the Varroa virus here. Perhaps there are
some parallels to the other virus that we are now
struggling with, with this in that the attack of the Varroa was a global phenomenon outside of the region
that it originally came from and it had basically most of North America experience in the 80 to 90 percentage
loss of their bee population and that many parts of
North America have had to literally recover from not hing with rebuilding the bee population.
We had our own where we thought that we
had been free of the Varroa matter . But it then came
here. But thankfully through the work of the beekeeping community and the department, there has been a
recovery of the bee population and the work with them
will continue. I know that from heart, but I will just make sure I go to the official line and give you more
on the official line.

[Crosstalk]
Hon. Walter H. R oban: Well, okay, according to my
PS, my technical officers, I gave the right answer, so I
will leave it there, Madam Chairman.

Does any other Member wish to
speak? Have all of the questions been answered?
Yes? Great.
Minister?

Hon. Walter H. Roban: Thank you, Madam Chai rman. And as I was ending with again, I will just repeat,
because I do not think I can give any minimal thank
you to the PS for Home Affairs who is here, the Direc-tor for Planning who is here and the Director for the
Environ ment and Natural Resources and the Controller, all of them do a sterling job in the Ministry and I
wish to thank them for being here. But also, for the
continuous work they do all year to make sure that our
Ministry gets the job done.
So, with that I wou ld like to move the Heads
32 and 79 be approved as printed, Madam Chairman.