March 6, 2019

There are two Government Bills, yes.
The Minister of Health is going to do these on
behalf of the Minister of Finance, yes?

FIRST READING

MISCELLANEOUS TAXES AMENDMENT ACT 2019

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker,
and good morning.
I am introducing the Bill, which, according to
section 36(3) of the Bermuda Constitution, requires
the Governor’s recommendation, so that it may be placed on the Order Paper for the next day of meeting, namely, the Miscellaneous Taxes Amendment Act
2019.

Members and listening audience, that
brings us to the start of our Orders of the Day. And as
we all know, we are here for the resumption of the
debate on the budget, Committee of Supply. And this
morning, the first Ministry that will be up for debate is
the Ministry of National Security, and that will be led
by the Minister Caines.
Premier, would you like to move us to that
point?

Hon. E. David Burt: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now
resume in Committee of Supply to consider the Est imates of Revenue and Expenditure for 2019/20.

As I call on the Chair man to come forward, I would also just like to add a couple of remarks
to the comments made by Mr. Famous in reference to
the young man and his cookies.
I believe that some have been delivered to the
House this mor ning for us to taste. And I would just
encourage us, as the Member did, to support the
young man, as we know that he faced challenges as
an autistic child. But, as has been indicated, he has great parental support. And this is just evidence of
that support , what we see. And, yes, his father is in
the Gallery this morning. And we would like to
acknowledge his father and encourage his father, as
he continues to encourage his son— his father and his
mother , as they continue to encourage their son.

[Desk thumpi ng]

796 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The Speaker: With those few remarks, Mr. Chairman.

[Pause]

House in Committee at 10:2 4 am
[Hon. Hubert (Kim) E. Swan, Chairman]

COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY

ESTIMATES OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
FOR THE YEAR 2019/20

Good morning.
We are i n Committee of Supply to consider
the Ministry of National Security, Heads 83, 6, 7, 12, 25 and 45. Five hours have been allocated for these
heads, coming under the Ministry of National Security.
The Honourable Minister Wayne Caines, JP
MP, you have the f loor, sir.
And it is 10:23. This debate shall start. Minister, you have the floor.

MINISTRY OF NATIONAL SECURITY

Hon. Wayne Caines: If it pleases you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I move that Head 83, the Mini stry of National Security Headquarters; Head 6, D efence; Head 7, Police; Head 12, Customs; Head 25,
Department of Corrections; and Head 45, Fire Service, now be taken under consideration.

Continue.

HEAD 83 —MINISTRY OF NATIONAL SECURITY
HEADQUARTERS

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman and Honourable
Members, I am pleased to present the current accounts estimate for the Ministry of National Security
Headquarters, Head 83, which can be found starting
on pages B -270 and 272 in the Estimates of Revenue
and Expenditure book.

Mission

Hon. W ayne Caines: The mission of the Ministry of
National Security Headquarters is to protect and e nhance the welfare of our community effectively, eff iciently and equitably.
Mr. Chairman, the Ministry’s departmental
objectives are to direct policy implementation and
oversee programme management and departmental
operations within the Ministry. This includes, but is not limited to, providing leadership, oversight and coord ination of the Department of Corrections, the Customs Department, the Department of Immigr ation, and the
Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service. Mr. Chairman, the Ministry also facilitates the
delivery of the policing strategy of the Bermuda Police Service and promotes the role of the Bermuda Regiment.
Mr. Chairman, there are several boards and
committees that fall under the Ministry’s remit, inclu ding the Parole Board, the Treatment of Offenders
Board, the Police Complaints Authority, the War Veterans Commission, the Board of Immigration, and the
Immigration Appeal Tribunal.
The Ministry of National Security Headquarters’ budget allocation of $1,560,000 for 2019/20 re presents an increase of $94,000, or a 6 per cent i ncrease, over the 2018/19 budget allocation. This i ncrease is due to the partial funding for the Gang Vi olence Reduction programme of an additional
$500,000. If you look in the Budget Book, Mr. Chai rman, you will see that this was wrongly attributed to
the Ministry of Immigration. You will see that this was
wrongly attributed to the Ministry of Immigration, and
at the appropriate time we will acknowledge that this
should not have gone under Immigration, but it should
have indeed gone under the Ministry Headquarters for
the Gang Violence Reduction Unit budget. And I just
ask, if at all possible, that we can pencil that in until
the appropr iate changes are made at the appropriate
time, Mr. Chairman.

And that was $500,000 that you
made mention to, Minist er?

Hon. Wayne Caines: Yes, sir.
The Chai rman: Thank you.

Expenditure Overview

Hon. Wayne Caines: The Ministry of National Secur ity Headquarters has seven full -time posts , of which
five are funded and filled. Salary costs are $718,000 ,
which is $42,000 less , or approximately 5 per cent
less, than the previous year.
Mr. Chairman, the Ministry of National Secur ity Headquarters has increased the training budget to
$36,000, an increase of $35,000 from the previous
year. The increase is to cover the Disaster Risk R eduction and Mitigation Unit , or DR RM, that goes overseas for training, development, to the Institute of
Leadership and Management training, and accounting
courses.
The travel budget increased from $21,000 to
$45,000. The increase of $24,000 will cover the
DRRM unit travel costs.
Professi onal Services have increased from
$427,000 to $ 619,000. This is an increase of


Bermuda House of Assembly $192,000, or 45 per cent. The increase is primarily for
the local consultant services —

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: A point of clarification, Mr.
Chairman.

In the Budget Book , it says 619.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Yes. But the errata that
the Minister just handed out says a different number.
So, are we using the errata or the Budget Book? The Chairman: Thank you.

[Pause]

Hon. Wayne Caines: What are you reading from
again?

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: The errata for page B -271
that the Honour able Minister had handed out in the
Chamber today. I believe that is what we are going from.
Hon. Wayne Caines: That is correct. And the clarif ication for you? I am sorry?

[Inaudible interjections]
Hon. Wayne Caines: Yes. So, the answer is yes.
The Ch airman: Yes. We have to tie in the statement
to the errata. Thank you.
Continue on, Minister.
Hon. Wayne Caines: Professional Services have i ncreased from $427,000 to $619,000. This increase of
$192,000, or 45 per cent, is an increase primarily for local consultant services, which includes funding for
the ministerial appointed consultant and for the add itional service providers required for the interdepar tmental radio platform project and for immigration r eform.
The Parole Board funding has increased to
$122,000, an increase of $40,000, or 49 per cent,
over the previous year. The increase in funding is r equired to cover the forecasted increase in meetings required due to the increase in the number of Parole Board cases.
The Disaster Risk, Reduction and Mitigation
Unit, or DRRM, will have a budget for the first time, of $173,000. The budget will cover overseas training and
equipment necessary to execute local disaster exercises such as cruise ship evacuation, oil spills, pandemics, and outreach sessions.
In the incoming fiscal year, one of the Mini stry’s principal projects will be to implement a new r adio platform for all uniformed services. This significant
project will allow services to communicate more effectively, using [uniform] equipment, and realis e economies of scale in maintenance and supply. The plat-form will be extended to other areas within gover nment, including Parks, divisions within the Ministry of
Public Works, Ministry of Tourism and Transport, and
the Ministry of Health.
Mr. Chairman, the Gang Violence Reduction
Team (GVRT) will have a budget of $600,000. This
budget will allow the Gang Violence Reduction Team to effectively provide community outreach, intervention/prevention services and therapeutic programmes
for at -risk individuals, fa milies and schools involved
and affected by violent crime in Bermuda. The team
operates from a coordinated plan to tackle gang vi olence and antisocial behaviour through a series of
strategically designed prevention, intervention and
rehabilitation programm es and initiatives.

Gang Violence Reduction Coordinator

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, the Gang Vi olence Reduction Team consists of the following per-sonnel:
The Gang Violence Reduction Coordinator
has been in place since September 1
st, 2017, with the
contract that is due to expire on August 31st, 2020.
Expenditure for this role was $92,000 in year one and
is projected to be $125,000 in years two and three.
The Gang Violence Reduction Coordinator is
responsible for creating and implementing a Nationa l
Gang Reduction Strategy. This involves, but is not limited to, the following tasks:
1. Create, develop and manage an action plan
for the clergy and community;
2. Create, develop and manage a plan to s ecure employment for gang- affiliated members;
3. Create, develop and manage a support
group for mothers whose sons have died as a result of gang violence;
4. Create, develop and manage a programme
that helps men who want to transition away from the gang lifestyle;
5. Introduce a National Day of Peace to br ing
the country together to fully understand the signif icance of the gang violence lifestyle in Bermuda and to
cause collective actions, and as a result, to heal the
country;
6. Introduce an anti -bullying initiative and an
online application to provide support services for per-sons subjected to all forms of bullying, including
cyber -bullying;
798 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly 7. Introduce and oversee a case management
system to provide support to persons seeking to move
away from the gang lifestyle and make better life
choices, helping them with goal -setting and planning
[sessions];
8. Intervention, coaching and mediation in
murders, shootings, young offenders and others i nvolved in antisocial behaviour;
9. Intervention, coaching and mediation to
prevent retaliation and reduce tensions in response to
violence, shootings and offensive behaviour; and supporting individuals through crisis situations;
10. Introduce a therapeutic gardening initiative
aimed at empowering individuals as entrepreneurs and providing them with sustainable options as alte rnatives to violence, drugs and any other forms of ant isocial behaviour; and
11. Introduce programmes in primary, middle,
and high schools to discourage crime and antisocial
behaviour.

Youth Intervention and Prevention Manager

Hon. Wayne Caines: This person has been in place
since April 16, 2018, with the contract set to expire on
March 31
st, 2020. The expenditure for this role is
$85,000 per year. The Youth Intervention and Prevention Manager is responsible for working with young
persons and schools. This involves, but is not limited
to, the following tasks:
1. Develop, coordinate and implement school
(prevention, at -risk, proven risk) programmes in high
schools, alternative education schools, and targeted middle and primary schools;
2. Intervention, coaching and mediation for
young offenders who are involved in antisocial behaviours;
3. Provide triage services and case management services which support youth seeking to get
away fro m gang lifestyles, helping them to make better life choices, and helping them with goal setting and
planning sessions;
4. Provide incident management support services to school and community organisations that deal
with youth antisocial incidents;
5. Manage the Gang Resistance and Educ ation Training Programme (G.R.E.A.T.) in coordination
with the Bermuda Police Service, Department of Customs, and Department of Education;
6. Collaborate with the Gang Violence Reduction Team on the Ministry’s preventative and interve ntion programmes that target in the reduction of antis ocial behaviour and gang- related activities;
7. Manage the Coordinated Crisis Response
Team as Community Leader; and
8. Intervene, coach and mediate in murders,
shootings, young offenders and others involved with antisocial behaviour.
GVRU Plans for 2019/20

Hon. Wayne Caines: The GVRU plans to execute the
following initiatives in the fiscal 2019/20 year:
1. Hire three part -time community outreach
workers. These outreach workers will go i nto at -risk
neighbourhoods, prisons, schools and communities,
and [increase the outreach work] through direct interaction, plans, programmes with at targeted at -risk individuals;
2. Launch Redemption Farm, a 12- to 16week therapeutic, incentivised farmi ng programme for
at-risk individuals;
3. MOM Bermuda, for moms whose sons or
any family members have lost their lives as a result of antisocial behaviour. And they will host monthly support groups sessions for women impacted by violence around the Island;
4. Continue to provide case management for
jobs, getting through difficult situations, finding homes,
finding opportunities, managing risk, finding drug support, being tested for different problems, mediations,
support, negotiations and restorative circ le groups in
our schools and in our community;
5. Launch a bullying app, a 100 per cent
anonymous bully prevention programme and interve ntion app. The bullying app will provide valuable services to school administrators, including information about confli cts and resolutions, training and promotion
services, monitoring school incidents and investigation
tools to manage risks;
6. Launch high school intervention pr ogrammes at CedarBridge Academy, Berkeley Institute
and Success Academy;
7. Launch the 12- week Targeted Prevention
Programmes at three targeted primary schools; and
8. Launch of the Work Placement and Mentoring Initiative, a structured four -week paid work exper ience providing targeted at -risk young people with opportunities for career exploration and skills development, which employs those who have participated in
our high school intervention programmes.
Mr. Chairman, the Disaster Risk Reduction
and Mitigation Team will be engaged in the following
projects:
1. Cruise Ships. The team will build on the
preparations and exercises held in 2018 and engage
stakeholders to develop contingency plans for the
cruise ships, starting with the regular cruise ships that
visit Dockyard. Once completed, this will expand out to the other ports;
2. Chemical Facilit ies. The team will work with
Sol, RUBiS, prisons and the residents in the area at
Ferry Reach to develop contingency plans for the fuel
farm;
3. Counter Terrorism. Work with US entities
and engaging Bermuda agencies to develop a mean-ingful counter terroris m exercise at the airport in 2020;


Bermuda House of Assembly 4. Cybersecurity. To continue to develop the
cybersecurity strategy to make government and crit ical agencies that support Bermuda more robust to
cyber threats;
5. Training. Hold two training workshops to
ensure that the executive and other agencies that support the Emergency Measures Organisation u nderstand their role and work cohesively; and
6. Emergency Broadcast Facility. Upgrade the
emergency broadcast station, 100.1FM, from analogue to digital and ensure that it is more robust should we experience any natural disaster.
Mr. Chairman, this completes the presentation
on Head 83.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Sorry, Mr. Chairman. May
I just ask for a clarification before we go too much further?

Are you referring to the errata that
was circulated?
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Yes, affecting the errata.
In the c ourse of your conversation, you were
talking about hiring different people. But yet, when you
look down in the book, you do not see any changes in
any of the full -time equivalents, et cetera. So, it is a
little hard to make sure that we are getting all of the
errata that might have been in there. So, I just want
clarification before we go too far.

Hon. Wayne Caines: We will go specifically into that
with reference to DRRM. And I shared this on Friday
in the House, that the Disaster Risk and Reduction
[and Mitigation Unit] . . . at this stage the department
is staffed by people who have all been seconded from
[other] departments. There will be no new hires within the Disaster Risk Reduction and Mitigation Unit. Wit hin the other part -time people whom we emplo y, they
will be at minimal and nominal hours per week. And so, they will not form a part . . . they will come out of
the allotment which is included in that $500,000.

Okay. And for a point of just clarity,
[pages] B -269, B -270 and B -271 are affected by the
errata.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: I am sorry to belabour
this, but, Minister, I just want clarification. I understood
about the people who were going to be seconded. But I just want clarity that there were no persons who
were coming from the Immigration Department who would impact on [page] B -271, which is the headcount
for that Ministry.

Hon. Wayne Caines: That is correct. And we will
have the opportunity to go through that, I am sure.

Continue on, Minister.

[Pause]

HEAD 6—DEFENCE

Hon. Wayne Caines: Head 6, the Defence.
Mr. Chairman, Head 06 comprises the D efence Department, the Royal Bermuda Regiment
(“RBR" or the “Regiment”). The Regiment’s role is to
provide operational capacity to support the civil au-thority. It performs a number of critical functions i ncluding natural and man- made disaster relief (both on
and off the Island), internal security, state ceremonial
activity, routine and specialist support for the Bermuda
Police Service, military training, social cohesion, and
youth development. The primary legislation affecting
this department is the Defence Act 1965, the Royal
Bermuda Regiment Governor’s Orders 1993, His E xcellency’s Directive to the Commanding Officer dated
21 September 2018, the Bermuda Volunteer (Reser ve
Force) Act 1939, and the Royal Bermuda Regiment
(Junior Leaders ) Act 2015.
The original estimate for 2017/18 was
$7,208,886. There will be no increase, so there will be no change for 2019/20.

Mandate

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, under the authority of the Defence Act 1965, the Royal Bermuda
Regiment’s mandate is to be a military force maintai ning the [necessary] standards of manpower, training and equipment to enable it to perform its assigned
roles efficiently and effectively. The Bermuda Regiment is continuously training to remain at a state of
readiness in order to accomplish its important mi ssions and tasks for local and, potentially, overseas
operations.

Mission and Roles

Hon. Wayne Caines: The mission and roles of the
Regiment were confirm ed by formal reviews in 2000,
2006, 2014 and in 2018. The extant mission is as fol-lows: The Royal Bermuda Regiment is to support the
Civil Authority with the security of Bermuda, its peoples, property, livelihood and interests in order to
maintain normalit y.
At this time, the Bermuda Regiment has i mplemented a five- year strategic review in order to r eorganise the Regiment in an effective and efficient
manner, to ensure that missions and tasks are cur800 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly rent. This is a working document and will be used as a
guideline, as it will be upgraded to offer a better sol ution than what was stated. The mission statement
roles for the Royal Bermuda Regiment are as follows:
a. recruit and retain an all -volunteer force;
b. influence through a targeted information operations campai gn;
c. support the g overnment in providing Military
Aid to the Civil Authority (MACA);
d. support the Emergency Measures Organi sation in responding to H umanitarian Aid and
Disaster Relief (HADR) operations;
e. develop an externally focused Humanitarian
Aid and D isaster Relief (HADR) capability;
f. develop a force to generate a full -time professional inshore Coast Guard capability ; and
g. provide ceremonial support for official and n ational approved events.

Concept of Operations

Hon. Wayne Caines: The Royal Bermuda Regi ment
will better define and clearly articulate its roles and
responsibilities and develop a sustainable recruiting
and retention process that serves a post -conscription
Regiment. It will also establish a professional development cycle and sustainable train ing plan in order to
exercise interoperability and meet operational demands. It will conduct planned community and defence engagement activities to assist the transformation programme. Moreover, the Bermuda Regiment
will measure performance and effectiveness, whilst
communicating progress and success to [internal and] external audiences.
Furthermore, it will deliver operational capabi lity through the use of Reserve soldiers, in the follo wing areas:

Military Assistance to the Civil Authority (MACA)

Hon. Wayne Caines: The role encompasses the
spectrum of assistance that the Regiment could be
asked to give to the Civil Authority of Bermuda. MACA can be subdivided into three main areas:
(a) assistance to civil power —to provide protection for
high-value asset s and other internal security oper ations in support of other governmental departments;
(b) assistance to civil ministries —responding to a cr isis beyond the Bermuda Government’s immediate
control or other more routine requests for assistance;
and (c) assist ance to Bermuda society —through the
provision of a voluntary military experience, support
the integration and development of the people of
Bermuda.
In each case, the decision to embody the
Royal Bermuda Regiment rests firmly with the His E xcellency the Governor, the Commander -in-Chief of the
Bermuda Regiment, in consultation with the Bermuda Government and the commanding officer, where ap-propriate.

Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief (HADR)
Hon. Wayne Caines: The Royal Bermuda Regiment
is mandated to as sist the civil authorities in the event
of a major disaster, either natural or man- made, that is
befalling the Island.
The Commander -in-Chief will work with the
Emergency Measures Organisation to coordinate the
deployment of the Royal Bermuda Regiment, in order
to protect and preserve the community and its property prior to, during, and after a disaster. Should a r equest for external assistance be received, then Go vernment House will coordinate the potential deplo yment for the Royal Bermuda Regiment off the Island.

Coast Guard

Hon. Wayne Caines: In order to secure Bermuda’s
territorial waters out to 12 nautical miles, and in compliance with the Defence (Coast Guard Unit) Amendment Act 2018, the Royal Bermuda Regiment will develop a full -time Coast Guard c apability that can undertake the following tasks, once approved:
a. law enforcement of the inshore waters ;
b. search and rescue coordinated by the Berm uda Maritime Operations Centre;
c. support HM Customs to interdict marine
smuggling operations ;
d. support the Bermuda Police Service, working
as a joint hybrid model at first, training and
development , and then adopting joint oper ations concurrently , with a view to take over the
affairs solely after a period of time;
e. support the Department of Environment & Natural Resources to enforce fisheries regul ations ; and
f. support the Department of Marine & Ports to
enforce maritime regulations and ensure mar itime border and p ort security.


Funding

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, the total funding
for Department of Defence for t he coming year is
$7,208,886. This reflects no change from the 2018/19
budget for defence.

Capital Acquisition Funding

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, the Ministry of
National Security has approved $247,560 of capital
acquisition funding for the Depart ment of Defence.
This funding will allow the Bermuda Regiment to continue with its vehicle replacement plan with additional


Bermuda House of Assembly funding provided for the much- needed replacement of
computers, office equipment, and kitchen equipment.

Personnel

Hon. Wayne Cain es: Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda
Regiment employs 31 full -time staff. All besides three
are full -time military personnel. The three civilian staff
are employed in the administration of recruitment, accounting, and grounds maintenance at Warwick
Camp.

Output Measures and Objectives

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, the Regiment
has successfully completed its preparations and trai ning for the past hurricane season. In February, the Bermuda Regiment had a successful Recruit Camp
with 25 volunteers participating. There will be an add itional Recruit Camp in July 2019. Preparatory training
has been established for the three overseas training events. These are as follows:
• The Potential Junior Non- Commissioned O fficers (PJNCO) Cadre will be held at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, in May 2019 for the
culmination of their leadership and training course.
• “B” Company (HADR) will take part in Exercise Tradewinds in June 2019, in St. Vincent and Grenadines, as part of an international
HADR training exercise for the regions’ r esponse mechanism to natural disasters. The
exercise is designed to combine joint inter-agency training, focusing on regional cooper ation for complex multinational security oper ations.
• “A” Company (MACA) will travel to Lydd &
Hythe training complex in Kent, UK, in late
September 2019 to conduct internal security certified training.
• The Royal Bermuda Regiment Boat Troop will
train locally, with the aim to provide support to
the Bermuda Police Service Maritime Unit throughout the peak boating season. Add itionally, they will continue to train in local di saster mitigation exercises with regards to oil spills and other man- made or natural disasters.

Major Achievements 2018/19

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, in 2018/19, the
Regiment again demonstrated its endur ing agility and
resilience in January and July 2018, with a total of 65 new recruits entering the gates of Warwick Camp.
This was the first time in history that a summer Recruit
Camp was conducted in order to attract young males
and females, once completing high school in Berm uda, and the RBR achieved the aim. So, 65 volunteers last year, with a view of doing the exact same thing
this year —with 65 new recruits entering its gates last
year with a view to do the same thing again this year.
The Royal Bermuda Regiment provided sec urity and marshalling for the International Bermuda Tr iathlon in April 2018, dedicating a reinforced platoon
on the ground, including senior officers operating at
the Joint Service Command Centre.
The Royal Bermuda Regiment Potential Ju nior Non -Commissioned Officers (PJNCO) Cadre was
deployed in North Carolina, Camp Lejeune, with 30
students being assessed and trained in a quite d emanding environment.
The Royal Bermuda Regiment continues to
work closely with the Bermuda Police Service, inclu ding the Joint Service Explosive Ordnance Disposal (JSEOD), as they conduct monthly training.
The Royal Bermuda Regiment Marine Platoon
will continue to support the Bermuda Police Service
on the waters, conducting regular civil authority trai ning operations.
The Royal Bermuda Regiment Special Constable Recertification training continued, with 40 soldiers being re- authorised in April 2018.
The Royal Bermuda Regiment conducted the
regular annual ceremonial parades including Beating
of the Retreat Ceremonies for 2018 and is prepared to
continue for the 2019 ceremonial schedule. The Royal Bermuda Regiment have developed B Company as
the Ceremonial Company, which also acts as the
HADR Company.
The Royal Bermuda Regiment sent two me mbers of the Boat Troop to the Cayman Islands to train
in defence engagement activities.
The Royal Bermuda Regiment attended the
fifth meeting of the Caribbean Region Information O perations Council (CRIOC) between June 28 and 30, 2018.
Mr. Chairman, two senior officers attended
and passed the Advanced Command and Staff Course at Shrivenham, UK. Four soldiers attended the
All Arms Drill Course in the UK. A non- commissioned
officer attended and passed a course at the Jamaica
Defence Force.
During this past fiscal year, the R oyal Berm uda Regiment sacrificed attending the annual overseas training camp in lieu of cost savings, which were to be
used toward the initial start -up of the RBR [Coast
Guard.] However, the anticipated training levels were
not achieved due to the lack of the wide range of purpose- built facilities that were planned to be used in
Camp Lejeune.
The Royal Bermuda Regiment conducted the
National Academy of Police Diving (NAPD) Course
and certified three soldiers and two Bermuda Police
Services personnel in the Dive Team Management,
Police/Special Response Diving Physiology, Dive
Team Equipment, Underwater Search & Recovery,
Underwater Crime Scene Investigation, Emergency
802 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Medical Technology, Underwater Crime Scene Ph otography, Lift Bag Skills, and Police Tactical Diving,
along with Hull and Seawall Searches.

Closing Remarks

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, the Royal Bermuda Regiment is an organisation, with proud tradi-tions and a structure, ethos, training and management, which is now being transitioned into a hybrid
unit. The organisation is being modified and is being designed for what Bermuda needs today in terms of
military capabilities and output. Over the last 20- plus
years, many reviews and surveys have been conduc ted, but never fully acted upon. The Berm uda Reg iment needs to adapt to the requirements of a 21
st century Bermuda.
The Strategic Review 2018 is a living and a
breathing document. It is being utilised to make dec isions that will contribute toward success. It contains
candid observations and reco mmendations which,
when implemented, will provide excellent opportun ities to ensure that its alignment is coherent with Ber-muda’s needs. It is an opportunity to transform the
Royal Bermuda Regiment into a bespoke organisation
which is more efficient, effec tive and professional. It
will be able to respond to events in the HADR, MACA
and Maritime domains, supported by a mix of full -time
and part -time soldiers, held at graduated states of
readiness.
The Royal Bermuda Regiment is well set to
provide valuable s ervices to the government as it
moves to the second half of the century. The end state will demonstrate a fully operational HADR, Mar itime Security, and MACA. These capabilities are un-derpinned by a coherent defence engagement plan
with agencies on and off the Island, including the UK
Ministry of Defence and partner nations. The Royal
Bermuda Regiment’s narrative is articulated by a communications plan targeting internal and external
audiences.
The Bermuda Regiment will recruit all year
round with flexible recruitment intake programmes,
attractive terms of service, along with career paths that are clearly defined [in order] to recruit potential
officers and soldiers. The Royal Bermuda Regiment will design a pathway for education and training, and
as the com petency of our people improves, we believe that the delivery service of the Bermuda Regiment will also improve.

Yes.

HEAD 7 —BERMUDA POLICE SERVICE

Hon. Wayne Caines: The Bermuda Police Service is
Head 7 and can be found at pages B -278 to 281.
Objectives

Hon. Wayne Caines: The objectives, Mr. Chairman.
The mission of the Bermuda Police Service is m aking
Bermuda safer by engaging in five priority areas:
1. tackling crime and antisocial behaviour ;
2. engaging with the community ;
3. making our roads safer ;
4. investing in our people; and
5. optimi sing technology

Priorities

Hon. Wayne Caines: The priorities of the Bermuda
Police Service, Mr. Chairman.
The Bermuda Police Service continues to operate in austere times, along with all other sectors in
our community, meaning that limited resources must
be deployed strategically. It is important for the Bermuda Police Service to be focused on the significant
threats to public safety in Bermuda, as well as those
things that most impact the feeling of community co nfidence in the police to keep Bermuda safe. To that
end, the police have committed to the following prior ities for the next fiscal year:

Tackling Crime and Antisocial Behaviour

Hon. Wayne Caines: The escalation of gang tensions
led to unprecedented levels of gun violence. The de-velopment of a Gang and Violence Reduction Strat egy was developed in 2010. It provided a framework for
an enhanced law enforcement approach to reducing
crime, coupled with opportunities [for] partner age ncies in t he community, involvement in tackling pr ogramme from all angles. The BPS will refresh the
strategy and ensure that it continues to reduce the
harm caused by the violence attributed to gangs and
the criminal use of firearms.
The BPS will continue to work in partnership
to target those criminals who pose the greatest threat
to our communities. The BPS will further invest in
government and training community partners that will
deliver an integrated offender management (IOM)
strategy and framework, alongside education and pr evention programmes.
The BPS will continue to work with partners
within the framework of the Interagency Gang Task Force (IGTF) and its associated levels, the Interagency Gang Enforcement Team (IGET) and the Interagency Community Response (ICR) Team. The work
of the IGTF combines strategy with enforcement and
community support. Again, I want to say that again,
Mr. Chairman. So, this strategy of the BPS, outside of
the first point —they will partner with —the first part is
the de- escalation part through policing and policing
strategies. The second part, they will continue to work within the framework with the Interagency Gang Task
Force, and it is associating with the enforcement team


Bermuda House of Assembly and the Interagency Community Response Team. The
team will w ork to a combined strategy to enforce, with
enforcement, in tandem with community support.
The BPS will assess risks and provide an appropriate intelligence- led policing response to local
nightlife activities and sporting events with a newly
introduced po lice licensing coordinator role. The p olice will also mount visible and effective patrols wherever needed to reduce crime and antisocial behaviour.
The police will monitor trends in organised
crime and continue the excellent working relationships that ha ve been forged with international law enforc ement partners to protect against and mount appropr iate responses to threats from terrorism, cybercrime, and organised and financial crime
The Bermuda Police Service supports initi atives that prevent crime and r educe offending. The
Bermuda Police Service will collaborate with the cri minal justice partners and other local organisations to
help develop a system for restorative justice in Bermuda.
Finally, the Bermuda Police Service have i nvested resources to addre ss victim vulnerability and
other aspects of hidden harm, notably domestic abuse
and child [sex] exploitation. The development of the
BPS Vulnerable Persons Unit has been supported by
the UK’s National Crime Agency and places the BPS as a leading police service in this arena.

Engaging with the Community

Hon. Wayne Caines: The autumn Throne Speech
highlighted the Bermuda Police Service’s intention to
introduce parish constables and a service accessible
and visible in our local communities. Officers have
been selected for parish constable roles and will begin
their duties this month, and the community launch
event is scheduled for March 14
th. With the community
launch event, additional officers from CID will be loca lly deployed to work alongside parish const ables in
community police stations.
The BPS will continue to develop and support
community action groups, particularly in those neighbourhoods that will benefit most by that enterprise.
Aided by the [existing police] Community Action
Teams (CATs), the BP S will enhance public conf idence by developing and implementing local solutions
to local problems in their areas.
The BPS has introduced a new independent
advisory group [IAG] to act as critical friend to the service in the development of policy, practice, and community engagement. Further, discussions will continue
to introduce a Police Authority. The Authority, referred
to in the autumn Throne Speech, will provide independent oversight on policing matters and enable greater liaison with local communities in the direction
of the Bermuda Police Service.
The problem -oriented policing and partnerships [POPP] strategy remains the cornerstone of p o-lice operations. The Community Action Team officers
rely on partnerships to build stronger communities; the
Bermuda Police Service will make every effort to pr ovide greater consistency in providing local community officers so that the relationships in the neighbourhoods are level, strong and enduring.
Strong enforcement will be complemented by
strong education, prevention and diversion efforts.
The police will continue to deliver the G.R.E.A.T.
(Gang Resistance and Education Training) pr ogramme, in partnership with our schools and the Bermuda Customs Department, in an effort to weaken the
grip of the gang culture on our young people. The
BPS will also continue to support its members to enhance youth engagement with the police and to volu nteer outside of the police to serve with other helping organisations.
Good communication sits at the heart of
strong relationships. The BPS will develop media
strategies and expand the use of its website and s ocial media sites to keep the public informed and engaged with the latest news from the Bermuda Police
Service.

Making Our Roads Safer

Hon. Wayne Caines: The Bermuda Police Serv ice
Road Safety Strategy is a community collaboration
that is designed to save lives, make our roads safer
and increase public confidence. The police will deliver
operational plans to reduce the number of collisions,
with an emphasis on reducing the number of deaths
on the road. Patrols will be targeted to disrupt criminal use of the road and combat antisocial driving behav-iours and patterns. The goal of the police is to calm
the roads and reduce the frequency of impaired dri ving.
The approach to a safer r oad will include inte lligence -led data analysis to determine traffic “ hot
spots ” and areas that need attention. The police will
raise awareness of poor driving behaviour through
education, in concert with key stakeholders. The BPS
will engage in enforcement that is combined with pr ofessional judgment and discretion so that punishment
is balanced along with prevention.

Optimising Technology

Hon. Wayne Caines: The BPS will work to ensure
that our technology infrastructure provides modern, automated assistance to our operations while simult aneously delivering value for money. We will consult with the Bermuda Government to invest in technology
that is more efficient while enhancing public safety.
We will collaborate with Government on the
opportunities to ex pand the capability of the CCTV
network through the addition of new networks and by
enhancing video analytics which will enable features
such as facial recognition, traffic compliance and
804 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly speed cameras. Mr. Chairman, the BPS has embarked on a programme of progressive change. The programme entitled 7 Ambitions involves seven str ategic objectives, as follows:
1. vision and values;
2. organisational structure;
3. coordinated resources;
4. community policing;
5. focus on serious and organised crime;
6. protect the vulnerable; and
7. professional accreditation and leadership.
The BPS have begun to effect those changes
firstly via its investment in a community policing mod-ule which utilises parish constables. The BPS will
have parish constables assigned to each of the nine parishes. A dditionally, the BPS has invested signif icantly in its specialist capability in the areas of finan-cial investigation, specialist crime and vulnerable persons. This will enable the BPS to support partners in
the addressing of money laundering criminality, bri bery, corruption, and other aspects of hidden harm
(domestic abuse and child [sex] exploitation).
Mr. Chairman, the BPS will utilise its training
budget towards leadership development and ongoing
training. Focus continues to be placed on public order
training and accreditation in light of recommendations
following the events of December 2
nd, 2016. Senior
officers will be trained to ensure the effective prom otion of persons to the positions of inspectors and chief inspectors, and superintendents. The aim of the BPS
is to ensure promotion from within, via a highly trained
and developed staff.
The BPS will provide the personnel necessary
to fully service the public. The BPS will do so via the coordination of demand and response. Currently,
when the police ar e needed, there is only one number
to call —911! Nine –one– one. Not every call into Police
ComOps is an emergency warranting instantaneous
police presence. The BPS will install a secondary
number for non- emergency calls. The service needs
to ensure that offi cers are ready and available for
emergencies. The installation of a second number will
ensure that officers can be deployed strategically.
Mr. Chairman, to ensure increased numbers
of officers on the streets, the BPS has reviewed its
entire organisational structure, with a view to civiliani sing positions not requiring warrant cards. The intention
of the Bermuda Police Service is to take the 7 Ambitions change programme and fully implement it within
the next two financial cycles. At the same time, there
is a proposal in place wherein assignments at Government House, the Premier’s residence, and the
House of Assembly will be transferred to the Royal
Bermuda Regiment. This initiative, Mr. Chairman, is
dependent on funding.
Mr. Chairman, the BPS is critically re viewing
the practice of hiring consultants on a long- term basis.
A decision has been made to reduce the reliance on
overseas consultants. The budget for that sector has now been reduced by 2 per cent. In addition, the BPS
is reviewing those consultant posi tions to see which of
the consultant positions can be civilianised.

Allocation of Staff

Hon. Wayne Caines: Salaries, cost centre 17000.
The budget for police personnel is $43.9 million and
covers the cost of 426 officers. This includes allo wances in compliance with COSO [Police (Conditions of Service) Order 2002]. Salaries and wages for the 95 civilian and support staff in the Bermuda Police Service in areas of Finance, Technology, Human R esources, Station Duty Officers, as well a garage department, are budgeted at $6.47 million.

Additional Resources

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman and Honourable
Members, cited next are the elements of the budget
which are deemed noteworthy for mention.
Investigative Assistance (consultancy posts)
is now allocated at $784,186, a reduction of approx imately $250,000 to previous expenditure in the last
financial year. Reductions in this area will continue as
the BPS transfers these specialist capabilities into its
core policing resources.

Specific Capital Initiatives 2019/ 20

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, the single most
strategic opportunity to protect life in Bermuda is
through effective roads policing. The proposed capital funding of $150,000 for the purchase of vehicles is
insufficient to maintain the level of resour ces needed
to fulfil the requirements of the BPS Roads Policing
Unit (RPU) capabilities. The BPS utilises transport ation resources 24/7 and 365 days per year, in all sorts
of conditions, on a regular basis and [in] emergency
response driving. BPS vehicles incur significant
maintenance costs and must be replaced annually on
a scheduled basis due to excessive wear and tear.
The BPS is cognisant of the current economic
climate faced by the Government and has made co ntingencies for this next fiscal year. The BP S was given
$83,662 to replace the generator that services PMU
and the intelligence departments. The generator was
purchased in 1987; it is 31 years old. Life expectancy
of a generator is 20 years. Our generator is operating way past and beyond its useful life expectancy and is
at risk of imminent failure.
Mr. Chairman, the BPS was funded $200,000
in capital funds for key IT initiatives to be carried out in
the fiscal year 2019/20. The initiatives include
$100,000 for the replacement of core network switc hes, which are at their end of life expectancy and due
to become obsolete. Sixty thousand dollars will be used to replace CCTV at the Hamilton Police Station.
The current CCTV has failed on numerous occasions


Bermuda House of Assembly and is no longer deemed serviceable. In addition, custody interview machines will be replaced at a cost of
$40,000. These machines are at their end of life and
are failing.
The Prospect property covers [approximately]
160 acres of land with aged buildings, some of which are uninhabitable. In the meantime, the BPS is forced
to rent property in the private sector. Government has
taken the first steps of addressing this issue by provi ding $200,000 for capital development. The intention of the Bermuda Police Service is to have its architects assess Building 470 for structural efficacy and determine whether it is better to renovate or demolish the
existing building.
If the building can be saved, the BPS will use
excess funds to start the development; otherwise, the
funding will be used in the demolition proces s to pr epare the building for future development. It is the i ntent of the BPS to review all buildings in the future
and, with the assistance of the Bermuda Government,
come up with a long- term strategy for this valuable
property.

Summary

Hon. Wayne Caine s: Mr Chairman, the BPS has set
a comprehensive change plan (7 Ambitions) to ensure
the efficiency of the organisation’s resources, the c apability to address the threats of serious and organ-ised crime, the ability to protect victims, and to reduce
road fat alities and serious injuries. Additionally, the
BPS has met the political commitments within the
Throne Speech.
The BPS budget is based on a 77 per cent a llocation to employee salaries, and any budgetary cut
would have a significantly adverse effect on the ability
of the BPS to maintain the required level of resources
to meet the demand. Therefore—thank you.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to move to the D epartment of Customs, found on pages B -282 to 285.

[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. Wayne Caines: Yes, Mr . Chairman. Head 12,
yes. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

HEAD 12 —CUSTOMS

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, the mission of
the Customs Department is to promote compliance
with Bermuda's Customs laws through quality service
and responsible enforcement, thereby contributing to
the economic and social stability of our community.

Objectives

Hon. Wayne Caines: The department has the follo wing objectives: • to assess and collect customs duty and fees
on imported goods;
• to enforce customs laws and administer other
statutes controlling the international mov ement of goods and people;
• to prevent the smuggling of drugs and other i llegal commodities, enforcing i nternational
conventions for environmental protection and
money laundering, and agency work for Imm igration, Health, Transport Control and Env ironment; and
• to provide additional information and assi stance to the public regarding customs laws
and regulations.
The Budget allocation for the Airport Shift
A
[cost centre 22030] is $2,049,000. The allocation for Airport Shift B [cost centre 22040] is $2,120,000. The
objectives shared by these cost centres are as follows:
• examination and control of all civil aircraft,
passengers and air freight arriving into Bermuda;
• primary immigration control of all arriving pas-sengers ;
• enforcement of customs laws and regulations
with respect to passengers and their baggage;
• collection of customs duties and fees ;
• supervision and control of all in bond exports
of liquor/tobacco by air ;
• agency work for the Departments of Health,
Environmental Protection and the Bermuda
Police Service;
• the prevention and interdiction of all restricted and prohibited goods entering Bermuda, including plants, fruit, animals, firearms, pornography, prohibited weapons , and illicit drugs ;
and
• carrying out inspections of courier cargo .
The budget allocation for the Investigations
and Audit Section [cost centre 22050] is $973,000. The objectives of this section are as follows: invest igate all suspected revenue offences; complete case files, including recommen dations for the disposal of
the case and, where applicable, the level of penalties;
carry out the inspection of imported and exported cargo; and audit declarations of imports and exports for accuracy and compliance, with a particular focus on
bonded operat ors and local inland clearance agents.
The budget allocation for the [Hamilton]
Commercial Operations Section [cost centre 22070] is
$926,000. The objectives of this section are as follows: authorisation of the release of imported goods;
interdiction of il licit goods and control of restricted
goods; maintenance of prescribed service levels to
clients; acknowledgment of correspondence within
three working days and responding within ten working
days; and providing guidance to the public with customs laws and processes.
806 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The budget allocation for the Administration
Section [cost centre 22080] is $4,578,000. The objectives of this section are to process all entry declar ations in accordance with our prescribed quality service levels; ensure that all customers’ cor respondence is
dealt with in accordance with our prescribed quality
service levels [a two- day response]; and provide all
personnel, legislative, financial, budgetary, administr ative and general operational services for the depar tment.
The budget on the Ves sel Clearance Section
[cost centre 22090] is $1,323,000. The objectives of this section are as follows: the examination and control of all sea- bound vessels arriving in Bermuda, i ncluding private yachts, cruise ships and cargo carry
vessels; primary immigr ation control of all individuals
arriving in Bermuda via the ocean; enforcement of customs laws and regulations with respect to cruise
ship passengers and their luggage; and collection of
customs duties and fees.
The budget allocation for the Interdiction Section [cost centre 22100] is $4,108,000. The objectives
of this section are as follows: the collection, analysis,
and the managed dissemination of intelligence on the
cross- border movements of illicit items, suspected
persons and data on suspicious activ ities to enable a
risk-based focused Customs enforcement environment; carrying out inspections of courier cargo and
postal packages; and the interdiction of illicit goods
and the control of restricted goods.
Seaport Enforcement Team [cost centre
22110]. T he budget is $868,000. The objectives of this
section are as follows: the examination and control of all cargo containers arriving in Bermuda; the interdi ction of illicit goods and control of restricted goods; and
the verification and matching of declarati ons of i mports to the contents of imported containers.
Mr. Chairman the total budget for the depar tment for the incoming fiscal year is $16,945,000. The 2019/20 budget allocated is $6,000 greater than the
original budget allocation of last year.

Employee Numbers (Full -Time Equivalents)

Hon. Wayne Caines: The department has 237 approved positions. At the time of preparing the budget
estimates, the department had 184 members of staff
and is currently seeking permission to fill nine vacancies. The department ’s staffing level during 2019/20
is, therefore, provided to be 193, a net increase of three employees from the original estimate for
2018/19.

Line Item Analysis of the Operational
Budget for Head 12

Hon. Wayne Caines: The increased allocation of
funds is reflective of the projected increase of nine
additional employees for 2019/20 and a 2 per cent increase in base salaries. Projected salary expenses are 87 per cent of the total budget allocations for
2019/20. The planned staffing consists of 134 customs o fficers, 33 supervising and managing customs
officers, and 26 non- officer support staff. Other personnel costs are $166,000; there is no change.
The principal expense under this heading is
for call -out allowances. Since Customs offers a 24hour-a-day servi ce, it is necessary to pay officers a
call-out allowance to ensure their attendance when
required outside of normal working hours.
Training is $6,000, a decrease of $6,000, or
50 per cent. The decrease reflects an expected decrease in training activity as a result of the limited potential for recruitment of additional Customs person-nel.
Travel. The main reason for travel by Customs staff is to attend conferences hosted by interna-tional customs and law enforcement bodies. Attendance at some of these conferences is essential to
maintain membership (or executive membership) in
the relevant bodies. Membership of these bodies brings with it benefits including, but not limited to, access to international best practice guidance, statistical
information, and legal a dvice and training materials.
Attendance at these international conferences affords
staff members rare opportunities to develop contacts
which are vital in the intelligence- gathering from which
Customs benefits. The decrease in budget allocation
is reflect ive of the department’s desire to reduce travel
to a minimum, with the aim of reducing that line of expense.
Professional Services costs consist of the
contractor charges and membership fees for the World Customs Organization [WCO] and the Caribb ean Custom s Law Enforcement Council [CCLEC]. In
2018/19 the department engaged a consultant to advise the department on the preparations for the
CFATF on -site and mutual evaluation. This engagement resulted in higher -than- normal expenditure on
Professional Services in the 2018/19 fiscal year. Since
then, there are no plans to engage a consultant during
2019/20; [therefore,] the projected expenditure has
been arranged and correspondingly reduced.
In 2017/18, the Customs Department rented
and occupied two premises in t he City of Hamilton. In
the 2018/19 budget, the department moved from the
[two] premises into [one] building on 131 Front Street.
The elevated costs in 2018/19 represent the rentals
for a transitional period when the department had to
contemporaneously pay rent for the facilities being
vacated and the new facility that it was then moving
into. This was partly due to logistical reasons, but pr imarily due to the lease termination period on the 40
Front Street premises. Consequently, the rental expense in 2019/20 is expected to be reduced by
$70,000.
[Repair & Maintenance, $795,000, a decrease
of $12,000, or 1 per cent.] The decrease in the alloc aBermuda House of Assembly tion is primarily due to the termination of a maint enance contract for an air -conditioning system. This
contract is no longer required because the department
has moved offices.
Energy $140,000, no change.
[Clothing,] Uniforms & Laundry, $94,000, no
change.
Materials & Supplies, [$226,000], increase of
$6,000, or 3 per cent.

Output Measures

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, [output]
measures have been established for the department,
as shown on pages B -284 and B -285. I am pleased to
provide the following results:
Since June 2016, the Airport Commercial O perations Section [cost centre 22020] ceased to operate; therefore, there are no [performance forecasts
and] targets.
Airport Shift A. Shift A has collected forced
duty in the amount of [$75,144]. It is forecasted that,
during [2018/19], forced duty in the amount of $50,000
will be collected. The target for [2019/20] is $60,000.
For 2017/18, Airport Shift A seized illicit items
on four occasions. It is forecasted that during this year this shift shall seize illicit items on 10 occasions.
Airport Shift B. Airport Shift B collected forced
duty in the amount of $113,608. I t is forecasted during
2018/19 that forced duty in the amount of $40,000 will
be collected. The 2019/20 target is also $40,000. Ai rport Shift B seized illicit items on 210 times. It is for ecasted that during this year, fiscal 2019/20, they will
seize illic it items on 60 occasions.
The Investigations Unit. The Investigations
and Audit Section [cost centre 22050] completed 55
investigations during 2017/18, resulting in $28,740 in
additional duty. By the close of the fiscal year
2018/19, it is forecasted that the Investigations and
Audit Unit will complete 55 cases, resulting the duty
collection of just under $29,000 in additional duty. The
target for this fiscal year is $20,000.
During 2017/18, Hamilton Commercial Oper ations complied with the prescribed qualit y service levels in 90 per cent of all declarations processed. A total
of 46,000 declarations were processed in that same
period. In 2018/19, it was forecasted that Hamilton
Commercial Operations will meet the quality service
levels 95 per cent of the time. It is forecasted that
46,000 declarations will be processed. In 2019/20, the target outcome for that is minimum. The quality service levels will be achieved in 98 per cent.
Administration [cost centre 22080]. The A dministration section met its established goals and e nsured that BCDs [Bermuda Customs Declarations] were processed in compliance with prescribed the standards for 100 per cent of the time. The average
time between receipt of purchase invoice and author isation or rejection of payment was five days. In 2018/19, it is forecasted that BCDs will be processed
in compliance with prescribed standards 100 per cent
of the time and that the average time between authorisation or rejection of a payment will be five days
Vessel Clearance [cost centre 22090]. The
Vessel Clearance section processed 100 per cent of
cruise ship passengers and prepared and issued i nvoices with the value of $1,627,080. In 2018/19, it is
forecasted that the Vessel Clearance Section will pr ocess 100 per cent of cruise ship passengers and will
prepare invoices for just over $1.5 million.
In 2017/18, the Interdiction Section [cost ce ntre 22100] made 238 seizures and had an 88 per cent
success rate of positive results from all search and detentions. In 2018/19, it is forecasted that 175 seizures will be made and a 75 per cent success rate with search and detentions.
Seaport Enforcement Team [cost centre
22110]. The Seaport Enforcement Team inspected
and reviewed 90 per cent of import cargo manifests in
Hamilton and used the Hamilton Doc ks Gantry X -ray
Scanner to scan 98 per cent of containers imported
into the country.
In 2019/20, the target is that it will inspect and
review 94 per cent of cargo manifests and scan 96 per
cent of all containers into Bermuda.

Review of Major Capital Pro jects
Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, Computer
Equipment, $14,000. The department will be getting
computer equipment. The allocation for $14,000 is to replace PCs that are needed. Also, $43,000 has been
set aside, allocated to replace two vehicles which
have been written off.

HEAD 25 —DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, the Department
of Corrections, Head 25, is found at [pages] B -286
and B -288.
Mr. Chairman, the mandate is to administer
sentences imposed by the courts under condi tions of
safe custody and well -ordered community life so that
convicted persons can lead good and useful lives on
discharge .
The main objectives are (1) to protect the public by holding inmates securely, reducing the risk of re-offending, providing safe, humane, well ordered and
lawful regimes; and (2) to provide a humane but demanding regime aimed at reducing re- offence by pr esenting inmates with a range of opportunities in which
reward is linked to effort (incentives and earned priv ileges), to prepare them for life after release.
The departmental outcomes are as follows:
(1) The Government of Bermuda endorses the aim of
the Department of Corrections to achieve and, where
practicable, to exceed the United Nations Mandela
Rules for the treatment of offenders ; and (2) The pe o808 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly ple of Bermuda are satisfied that the Department of
Corrections makes an effective contribution to public
safety and the rehabilitation of offenders.
Mr. Chairman, in a multiplicity of ways, the
Department of Corrections remains a vital part of the criminal justice system and, by extension, the overall
well-being of our country. We provide safety and s ecurity for those in our custody, whilst at the same time
providing the inmates with opportunities to make pos itive changes in their lives.
The department is divided into 12 major cost
centres, which comprise the following:
• Corrections Headquarters , 35000;
• Farm Facility , 35020;
• Co-Educational Facility , 35030;
• Westgate Correctional Facility , 35060;
• Therapeutic Community —Right Living House,
35090 ;
• Psychological Services , 35105;
• Social Services & Case Management , 35106;
• Health Services , 35107;
• Educational Services , 35108;
• Vocational Services , 35109 ;
• Recreational Services , 35110; and
• Chaplaincy , 35111 .
The department’s mission statement is to empower inmates to be responsible and productive cit izens .
Mr. Chairman, the department has a responsibility for adhering to the following legislation:
• Treatment of Offenders Board Act 1979;
• Prison Act 1979;
• Prison Rules 1980;
• Young Offenders Act 1950;
• Senio r Training School Rules 1951;
• Prison Officers (Discipline, Etc.) Rules 1981;
• Sections of the Mental Health Act 1968 and
portions of other Legislation;
• Sections of the Parole Board Act ;
• Sections of the Criminal Code Act .
The total current expenditure, whic h is found
on page B -286, is $25,082,000. It represents an i ncrease of $101,000.
Mr. Chairman, the budget provides funding for
231 full -time employees. In addition to full -time e mployees, it will fund facilitators and teachers for inmate programmes.
Headquarters, [cost centre 35000] represents
$3,759,000, or 15 per cent of the total budget. Corrections Headquarters, under the general direction of the
Commissioner, Assistant Commissioners, and Pr ogramme Director provides directives to a decentra lised organisation. The staff administer and coordinate
the training, security strategies, human resources,
programmes, financial resources and policy direction for the department. The budget will fund salaries and
operating expenses for Corrections Headquarters.
The Farm

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, cost centre
35020, Farm Facility, represents $3,427,000, or
14 per cent of the total budget. The budget will allow
for staffing of the Farm Facility, operating expenses,
and inmate care. The Farm is an adult, mal e, min imum -security facility that houses, as of today, 93 i nmates. Inmates must have completed their core sen-tence plan requirements, and be classified as minimum (low -risk) to be housed at this facility.
Inmates are also involved in work release
program mes, charity programmes and other ongoing
projects within the facility. This year, 21 inmates were enrolled in the work release programme and 15 i nmates participated in the charity work programme. The plan for the upcoming fiscal year is to increase the number of inmates on work release and charity
[release] with the charity work programme being
geared up more for facilitating requests from gover nment departments. The plan for this incoming year is
to increase the number of inmates on work release, and the work release programmes will be geared to
facilitating requests from government departments.
This will be done in an effort to provide cost savings to
the Bermuda Government and to the people of Bermuda as a whole.
The Farm Facility garden has supplied all of
the facilities with fruits and vegetables (crops include beets, onions, lettuce, carrots, watermelons and bananas). In total, the Farm Facility gardens reaped approximately 9,000 pounds of produce, and this has contributed to cost savings.
The highli ghts from the 2018/19 budget i nclude the Animal Programme, which was very suc-cessful and will continue in this year. Chickens were
introduced, and they laughed. (When chickens were introduced, when we said it last year, they laughed)
And at the Farm, to da te, [the chickens have] pr oduced 3,180 eggs.
The Farm Facility will continue with its initi atives, and the second phase of initiatives introduced last year will include the following:
Farm Co -operative— a therapeutic programme
where animals that are owned by local farmers will be tended to by the inmates until such time that they
have matured. The inmates are gaining skills in an imal care and farming. And the facility currently has
goats and chickens.
The pre- release programme will continue. It is
designed to focus on improving the inmate’s emplo yability, social [and] human relation skills and interpersonal skills in order to facilitate a successful transition
back into our community.
The Farm will introduce new initiatives such
as the following:
Furniture Manufacturing —the facility will e xplore the possibility of creating and/or refurbishing
minor furniture and appliances, as well as creating


Bermuda House of Assembly more artwork. This will be a pilot programme. Once
the programme is fully operational, it should be self -
sustaina ble.

The Co -Ed Facility
Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, [cost centre
35030], the Co- Ed Facility represents $2,988,000, or
12 per cent of the annual budget.
This facility, with a capacity of 56 cells, has
separate, distinct provisions —40 adult females and 60
[sic] adult, living males between the ages of 16 to 21,
and educational and vocational programmes are o ffered [based] on the needs.
During this fiscal year, year two inmates —

The Chair recognises the Minister.
You may proceed.

[Pause]
Hon. Wayne Caines: The facility, with a capacity of
56 cells, has separate and distinct provisions to house 40 adult females and 60 [sic] adult male offenders —

[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. Wayne Caines: One-six. One -six. One -six. I
apologise. Say it again, Mr. Chairman. I apologise. I
apologise. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The facility, with a capacity of 56 cells, has
separate and distinct provisions to house 40 adult f emales and to house 16 young male offenders between
the ages of 16 and 21. And they are being housed,
and they undertake educational and vocational trai ning programmes offered on a needs . . . based on the
needs of the inmates and trainees, that are identified
through the cas e management process.
During 2018/19, two inmates participated in
the work release programme.
The chicken programme was also introduced
in November, producing approximately 12 eggs per
week. A small garden provided various herbs and peppers, which have been used in the facility’s kitc hen. There is a plan to expand the garden.
During this budget year, inmates participated
in a therapeutic yoga class to help them to cope with stress. Additionally, a pilot programme offered by the Women’s Resource Centre, “ Life After Incarceration, ”
commenced, with inmates participating in group sessions which were aimed to assist with the reintegr ation back into the community. Both the yoga and Life
After Incarceration programmes will continue this fi scal year.
Other initi atives include the reintroduction of
the mentor programme for female inmates, and the
carpentry programme for male inmates.

The Westgate Correctional Facility
Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, [cost centre
35060] the Westgate Correctional Facility, repres ents
$10,092,000, or 40 per cent of the total budget. Wes tgate Correctional Facility is an adult male establis hment with a capacity to house 208 prisoners in conditions of maximum, medium and [minimum] security.
The majority of assessment and treatment pr ogrammes for inmates take place at this facility.
During this budget year, a number of inmates
participated in their core offending behaviour pr ogrammes such as Thinking for a Change, Violence
Reduction Programme, Sexual Offender Programme,
and Drug and A lcohol Treatment and Education. Additionally, educational and vocational courses were offered.
The Westgate Work Programme continued to
provide an opportunity for inmates to reintegrate into the community and gain additional skills; however, it
has been s uspended and will be revamped. A total of
two inmates participated in the work programme.
The Westgate Correctional Facility will conti nue the charity programme which allows inmates to
give back to the community.

Therapeutic Community Centre
—Right Livin g House

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, cost centre
35090, Therapeutic Community Centre— the Right
Living House [RLH], represents $1,311,000, or 5 per
cent of the total budget. The Therapeutic Community,
also known as the Right Living House, has been rel ocated at the Co- Ed Facility and is a segregated res idential substance abuse programme with a capacity to house 18 residents. The programme was developed for adult male offenders with a history of substance abuse and associated criminality. The goal of
the Therapeutic Community is to return residents to
the broader community with an increased potential for a life free of drugs and crimes, by providing them an opportunity to realise their potential for change, as
well as the inherent potential for [health and] success.
810 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly This funding provides for staffing, operational costs
and inmate programmes.
In addition to the regular treatment pr ogramme schedule, during the 2018/19 budget year,
Right Living House offered a “ Getting Ready for
Treatment ” class for inmates at the Westgate Correctional Facility. The aim of this class, firstly, is to pr epare inmates for admission to treatment at Right Li ving House and, secondarily, it also prepares them for
treatment that they have provided at Westgate.
All residents participat ed in the Yoga Initiative,
as well as the CPR and AED [course]. Due to unsui tability of the housing at the Farm Facility, the RLH
programme and inmates participating in the pr ogramme were relocated to the Co- Ed facility. All of the
refurbishing was complet ed in February 2019, and the
programme has recommenced in full operation. Overall, the inmates who participate in this programme
have benefitted tremendously, both whilst incarcerated and post -release, by way of the Aftercare Pr ogramme.

Inmate Services an d Programmes

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, Inmate Services
and Programmes are designed to meet the needs of
inmates who are identified in their individual case plans. The programme team is multi -disciplinary and
provides various services/programmes inc luding ps ychological, social and case management, health, ed ucational, vocational, recreational and chaplaincy.
Funding for inmate services is necessary, as the pr ogrammes provide tools and resources for offenders to
assist them in returning to society as positive, productive and contributing citizens to society.
Psychological Services, [cost centre 35105]
represents $433,000, or 2 per cent of the total budget.
The funding provides for salaries for three psychol ogists who provide psychological services to offenders at each of the three facilities —Westgate, the Prison
Farm, and the Co- Educational Facility. It must be noted that the department currently only has one ps ychologist; however, despite recruitment challenges, we are still trying to fill the posts. Mr. Chairman, it is
noteworthy that, even though the department has not
filled the posts due to the shortage of people, we have been able to use psychologists in our community, who
fill those services on an ad hoc basis. So, I do not
want to give you, Mr. C hairman, the misguided notion
that there are no services being offered. There are ad
hoc services being given on a consultative basis by
psychologists in our community. There is a plan in
place to attract and hire full -time psychologists into the
prison services.
The psychologists complete various asses sments on individual offenders, including areas of risk associated with offending, emotional well -being and
adjustment, personality factors and cognitive function-ing. In addition to assessments, the psycholog ists f o-cus on the provision of intervention to meet offender
needs; this can be both group and individually based
interventions. Interventions can include, but are not
limited to, substance misuse programmes (i.e., drug
and alcohol education), drug and alc ohol treatment
and relapse prevention, Violence Reduction Pr ogramme, Sexual Offender Programme, and cognitive
skills programme [Thinking for a Change].
The psychologists bring an evidence- based
approach to working with offenders, which assists
them with making more objective and risk -focused
decisions. The psychologists also support the Training
and Recruitment Team and help to assess basic officer applicants, as well as provide training to recruits
and custody and programmes staff.
In addition to indiv idual assessments and
therapy sessions, 43 inmates are participating in of-fending behaviour programmes. In the upcoming year,
it will be a challenge to maintain the increase, as we
did in the last fiscal year, due to anticipated staff
shortages; however, t he department is committed to
exploring resources outside of the department.
The department completed 27 risk asses sments for the Parole Board.
The intent for this year is the programmes that
will be offered, as follows:
• Drug and Alcohol Treatment Programme;
• Relapse Prevention Programme;
• Cognitive Behaviour Psychotherapy Pr ogramme;
• Sexual Offender Treatment Programme; and
• Violence Reduction Programme.
Mr. Chairman, [cost centre 35106,] Social
Services and Case Management, represents
$728,000, or 3 per cent of the total budget. Funding
provides for two social workers and five case managers/assessment officers [and inmate programmes].
The department’s two social workers, who are
members of the department’s multi -disciplinary team,
deal with the following:
• Anger Management —Controlling Anger and
Learning to Manage It (CALM) ;
• Parenting Programmes (Fathers/Mothers and
Children Together) ;
• Narcotics Anonymous ;
• Modified Cognitive Intervention Programme;
and
• Risk Assessments.
The social workers also assist inmates in s ecuring employment and housing [prior to their r elease]. They facilitate family support and intervention
meetings.
Key activities this [year], they had Father’s
Day and Mother’s Day activities that were held for i nmates housed at Co- Ed and at the Far m and at Wes tgate. The aim of these activities was to strengthen relationships between fathers and their children.
Eighteen inmates participated in the Thinking
for a Change programme. This is an integrated cogn iBermuda House of Assembly tive behavioural change programme that assis ts inmates in improving their problem -solving skills.
There are five case managers and asses sment officers. There is one post vacant. This post is a
key element in helping to create the objectives to pr epare inmates who will return to the community as la wabiding productive, responsible citizens.
Initiatives for this year include a training pr ogramme and a reintegration programme that assists
inmates in reintegrating into society.

Health Services

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, cost centre
35107, Healt h Services, represents [$1,653,000], or
7 per cent of this year’s total budget. This funding will
provide for staffing and health care services for i nmates. Health care services include, but are not li mited to, physical examinations; dental treatment and
dental hygiene; chronic disease management —
diabetes, asthma, hypertension; physiotherapy/clinical
massage; mental health evaluation and treatment;
chiropody; ECG; HIV/AIDS counselling and survei llance; nutritional consultations; phlebotomy —blood
drawing; dr ug detoxification —heroin, cocaine, alcohol;
drug screening —marijuana, cocaine, heroin; suicide
prevention; and counselling.
When fully staffed, Health Services is managed by a senior nurse and five registered nurses r esponsible for providing services to the inmate popul ation. At present, this department has two vacant posts.
Health Services were able to conduct outstanding annual physicals on inmates, now bringing
them up to date.
Some of the goals/targets for Health Services
in 2019/20 are as follows:
• Implementation of the inmate health service
handbook;
• Increase inmate health education sessions;
• Continu e implementation of an electronic
medical records system .

Educational Services

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, [cost centre
35108,] Educational Servic es, represents $300,000,
or 1 per cent of the total budget. The allocation pr ovides for salaries and educational supplies. Educ ational Services provide educational programmes at all Correctional Facilities to those inmates who wish to
pursue their General Education Development [GED]
Certificate, as well as to those who wish to strengthen
basic numeracy and literacy skills. Educational Services are designed to enable inmates and trainees to
achieve a higher level of education, enables inmates
and trainees to participate in other programmes and
daily life activities, and to prepare them for a vocation.
The programmes include the following:
• English Language Arts; • Mathematics;
• Science;
• Social Studies;
• Remedial studies in Mathematics and the
English Language Arts ;
• Computer Studies;
• Personal Development Programme;
• General Education Development Certificate
(GED); and
• College level courses.
There are 53 inmates actively involved in taking classes. Fifteen inmates engaged in the GED pr ogrammes, and four of them achiev ed their GED.

Vocational Services

Hon. Wayne Caines: Cost centre 35109, Vocational
Services, 1 per cent of the total budget. Vocational
Services is an integral part of the programmes, and
these programmes are designed to assist inmates and
trainees in pursuing vocational interests with a view to
increasing their employability upon release. Funding allocated for this cost centre provides for staffing and
vocational programmes, to include materials and supplies.
During the 2018/19 fiscal year, 121 inmates
enrolled in various programmes in the facilities. This
included Yoga at the Co- Ed Facility and the Right Li ving House, and Robotics and Mechanics at Westgate.
Vocational programmes and services that will
be offered in this fiscal year at Westgate, Farm and
Co-Educational facilities are based on the population
and needs and include carpentry . . . for this year —
Mr. Chairman, this is very important. For this year, at the facilities, Mr. Chairman, the programmes include
Carpentry, an Autobody/Welding/Mechanic s course,
and classes that will lead to certification in the National Centre for Construction Education and Research
[NCCER] courses. We continue to evaluate current
programme outlines and goals to ensure that we are offering the best programming and using resources
efficiently.
The Vocational Service, in conjunction with
the Educational Services, have commenced upgrad-ing the computer labs at all facilities, and it is antic ipated that this will be completed in this fiscal year. The aim is to be able to offer distance- learning pr ogrammes that provide access to online testing and workshop and services offered by the Workforce D evelopment.

Recreational Services

Hon. Wayne Caines: Cost centre 35110, Recreational Services, represents $49,000. The role of Recreation Services is to provide structured leisure time activities in sports, hobbies and cultural events at Wes tgate, the Co- Ed and Farm facilities to promote co nstructive leisure time activities for offenders. Allocation
812 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly of funds will provide for activities such as art, ceramics, wood sculpture and sports. This also includes organising the annual Arts and Crafts shows to display
inmate and trainee artwork to the public.

Chaplaincy Services

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, cost centre
35111, Chaplaincy Ser vices, represents $41,000 of
the total budget. Funding provides for two part -time
chaplains, who will continue to offer spiritual enric hment and guidance for inmates. The chaplains coord inate religious instruction from the various denominations and also pr ovide counselling to inmates. Prison
Fellowship, whose focus is on restorative justice and
religious programming, continues to partner with the
Department of Corrections.
Mr. Chairman, we will continue to work on the
goals outlined in our Strategic Plan: effective rehabil itation programmes; high standards of security; oper ational efficiency; physical plant upgrades; staff devel-opment and training; and efficient and prudent fina ncial management.

Highlights of the 2018/19 Budget

Hon. Wayne Caines: The highlights of this year’s
budget include the following:
• Local training— in-house training and Human
Resources Department -sponsored training;
• Overseas training sponsored by the Foreign Commonwealth Office, which included first
line management, mental health and young
offender training;
• The promotion of custody staff in the ranks of Assistant Commissioner, Chief Officer, Principal Officer and D ivisional Officer ;
• Recruitment and training of 15 c orrectional officers ;
• 5
th Annual Corrections Week 2018; and
• Upgrades t o the fire alarm system and duress
systems , as well as upgrades and additions to
the CCTV systems.

Forecast Measures for 2019/20
Hon. Wayne Caines: The forecast measures for
2019/20:
1. The average daily total inmate population
forecasted 2019 is 191, with 53 admissions
being first -time offenders who received cust odial sentences.
2. The forecasted outcome for 2019/20 of i nmates released on parole is 20. To date, [18]
inmates were successful in receiving parole
for this fiscal year. Parole provides an oppor-tunity for inmates to return to the community,
under supervision, and receive the necessary
support during their re- entry. 3. There were five assaults (one minor inmateon-inmate, two major inmate- on-officer , and
two minor inmate- on-officer) reported for the
2017/18 fiscal year. But it must be noted that
staff are challenged constantly by inmates’
negative behaviour, and the department has a
zero tolerance to any assault in any of the
aforementioned categories.
4. There were 567 inmates enrolled in develo pment and t reatment programmes aimed to
address the offending behaviours, address
educational and vocational needs, and i mprove skill development.
5. The Department of Corrections calculates its recidivism rates according to internationally
accepted practices. Based on these standards, the rates include persons who have a
conviction for a new offence within one, two
and three years of their release. The actual
outcome for 2017/18 is 22 per cent, 9 per cent
for year one and 18 per cent for year two. So,
let me just go bac k through that, Mr. Chai rman. The recidivism rates for new offence
within one and two— three years of the r elease, the actual outcome for 2018 is 22 per
cent— 2017/18 is 22 per cent. Year one, there
was a 9 per cent recidivism rate, and in year
two, there w as an 18 per cent recidivism rate.
Despite the many challenges faced by the
Department of Corrections, staff remain dedicated and
seek ways to address them, including working with
union representatives and other stakeholders and
partners to achieve their m ission and mandate.
Security breaches remain a concern, as there
have been breaches to the outer perimeter, and on many occasions, they have been intercepted by Corrections staff. Recently, people have been using
drones to attempt to make security breaches . The department has been working with the government and
external agencies to address this new and significant
challenge.
Maintaining staffing levels due to resignations
and retirements. The department has taken advantage of legislation which allows offi cers to defer
their retirement, based on the needs of the depar tment.
Management of high- risk inmates, particularly
those who are [gang] affiliated and sex offenders.
This fiscal year, 2019/20, [the Department] will
continue to do a legislative review; r ecruitment to fill
various vacant posts; to continue the implementation of the 2018 –2020 Strategic Plan and the implement ation of a new shift cycle which will allow the best use
of our staffing levels and workload and regimes.
With the next amended legis lation to the Cri minal Code (Sex Offender Management) Amendment
Act 2018, the department will work closely with other
government departments as part of an Offender Risk Management Team to ensure supervision, rehabilit aBermuda House of Assembly tion and monitoring of sex offenders during and upon
release from prison.

HEAD 45 —THE BERMUDA FIRE
AND RESCUE SERVICE
Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, Head 45, the
Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service. This can be found,
Mr. Chairman, on pages B -295 to B -297.
The mission of the Bermuda Fire and Rescue
Service, BFRS, or the Fire Service is to provide adequate fire protection and emergency medical services
for all areas of these Islands. To extinguish fires, to
protect life and property in case of fire, road accident, or other calamity as defined by the Fire Service Act or
subsequent Regulations , and to provide aircraft rescue firefighting at the L. F. Wade International Airport.
The departmental objectives are as follows:
1. Replace second generation of Bermuda Fire
and Rescue Services frontline trucks;
2. Replace the aging ambulance;
3. Replace expiring self -contained breathing apparatus;
4. Recruit 15 new recruits;
5. Continue to train middle managers;
6. Continue executive development;
7. Provide specialised training for recently employed technicians for fleet maintenance; and
8. Fill supervisory vacant posts.
The Fire Service budget is $13,127,002,
which represents, Mr. Chairman, a zero- dollar
change.
The Fire Service has been working diligently
to manage costs.

Central Emergency Fire Service

Hon. Wayne Caines: The Central Emergency Fire
Service cost centre is $6,240,450. The centre covers the Fire and Emergency Services from the Hamilton
Fire Station, King Street. This station responds to fire,
road traffic accidents and hazardous material inc idents, as well as provides support to all the other fire
stations when required. The Hamilton Station has 56
personnel providing 24/7 coverage. The cost centre
remains the same, with a notable increase in man-power due to new recruits. There are three new r ecruits, representi ng a 5 per cent increase in staff
numbers.

St. George’s Emergency Fire Service

Hon. Wayne Caines: The St. George’s Emergency
Fire Services is $1,412,691. The St. George’s Emergency Fire Service covers the provision of fire and
safety and emergency medic al services for the Clearwater Fire Station, located at Southside, St. David’s.
This station responds to emergency medical, fire and
hazardous material incidents, as well as provides support to the Airport Operations Division of the Fire
Service for all ai rcraft incidents. This business unit
also provides joint ambulance service with the Bermuda Hospitals Board. The division has a total of 13
personnel providing 24/7 emergency coverage on a four-shift system. This cost centre remains the same
and has been augmented by three personnel, which
represents a 23 per cent increase of full -time recruits.
The increase is because they got new recruits.

Emergency Dispatch

Hon. Wayne Caines: The Emergency Dispatch,
$640,417. This cost centre provides Emergency Di spatch for all 14 parishes, includes 14 personnel. They
had 8,766 calls, of which 3,947 required the atten dance of fire personnel. The budget for this section has
decreased, from $903,000 during fiscal year 2017/18
to $640,417 in 2019/20, which represents a 29 per
cent decrease, largely as a result of staff retirements and resignations.

Eastern Volunteer Division

Hon. Wayne Caines: The Eastern Volunteer Division,
$6,521. Funding for this cost centre, there are seven
volunteers. These volunteers assist full -time staff and
help in all manners of emergency incidents.

Airport Fire Station

Hon. Wayne Caines: Airport Fire Station, $2,328,500.
The cost centre provides aircraft emergency rescue
and firefighting services at the L. F. Wade International Airport, and is a requirement of the Overseas Terr itories Aviation Requirements, part 140, and the Bermuda Department of Civil Aviation. The L. F. Wade
International Airport operates as a Category 9 airport.
This has 22 personnel, a reduction of 8 per cent r educed this y ear, as a result of retirements.

Capital Expenditure

Hon. Wayne Caines: The capital expenditure for the
Fire Service is $1,244,000. A total of $25,821 was for
[the 911] emergency recording system. There was an
emergency generator for $72,270; an ambulanc e at
$121,900; and a turntable ladder truck for $345,292;
desktop computers for the 911 dispatch, just over
$10,000; and a replacement of the current breathing
apparatus at $669,150.

Manpower

Hon. Wayne Caines: To meet our mandate to pr ovide fire protect ion and emergency medical services
to the Islands and to continue with succession planning, the following has been accomplished this last
year:
814 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service has
historically required supplementary funds in the aftermath of hurricanes or major incidents, to cover the
additional operating expenses such as overtime sal aries/wages, gas/fuel, food supplies and emergency supplies.
I am pleased to announce that Firefighter
Lansdale Haynes was awarded the Firefighter of the Year award on January 25
th. He has served in the Fire
Service since 2015.
The annual volleyball tournament was held.
Unfortunately, the cup was won by the National Sec urity Ministry’s team led by the Minister of National S ecurity. The Fire Service will have a long wait in t rying
to get the cup for the next year.
As Honourable Members of this House are
aware, [fiscal 2019/20] will be a challenge. The Fire Service will continue to provide emergency services at
a high standard of operational efficiency. The dedic ation of all personnel has been confirmed on numerous
occasions by letters of appreciation from members of the community for the services rendered and oper ations to the community, the efforts. I would like to thank all members of the Bermuda Fire and Rescue
Service for t heir continued efforts on behalf of the
people of Bermuda.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes my present ation.

Good morning, Mr. Chairman. Thank
you.
Firstly, I would l ike to thank the Minister for
the detailed brief that he just presented to the House.
At this time, I would like to start with Head 83, National Security Headquarters. On 93002, Parole Board,
there was an increase from the amount of money that was provided for the Parole Board during the . . . there
is an update, an increase in that. Can you just give us
a little bit more clarification on what is going to be
needed for that increase? So, that is under Parole
Board.
Cost centre 93007, the DRRM [Disaster Ris k
Reduction and Mitigation], which was something that
was actually discussed on Friday. There is, obviously,
a lot of information given about this particular pr ogramme, which is something that the Minister has
been working towards because there was actuall y a
request of the Government to provide this service. There seems to be a bit of overlap between the EMO [Emergency Measures Organisation] and the DRRM.
And the main question for this is that there are people
who are being used from different agencies in order to
make this DRRM work. So, the cost over last year ––
obviously because it was a new programme that had
to be implemented, meant that those people were s econded from other areas. The burden of that cost was
from the area that they were taken from. And now, it
seems that we are continuing in that same vein for
this year.
So, the question becomes, At what point is
this initiative going to be dealt with just by this partic ular agency? Because there is a change in how much
money has been provided, to $173,000. But that is not
going to cover all of the cost of the staffing, I believe.
So, at this point, obviously, this is a work in progress.
The Minister is having to shift to this direction. But can the Minister explain what the overall cost will be,
eventually, and how that transition from those people
from one department to another [will occur], and what the effect will be from a personnel situation from the
departments that they are being taken from? Because the Minister on Friday spoke to the
point that some of the departments have already said
to him that they are now going to be short -staffed because these people have been taken to be part of the
DRRM. So, obviously, this is not something that he is
going to want to continue to do in the future. So, we
will have to find a way to make them permanent in the
DRRM and, potentially, replace the people who have
been taken from the original areas that they were a
part of.
If the Minister could explain whether . . . the
departments that the people have been seconded
from, obviously ––there have been requests to the
Minister that this was causing a reduction in their personnel. Can he give us an idea of what requests have
come, to [outline] this impact on where they have
been moved from? Just so that we have an idea
whether continuing in this vein is going to have an
impact from the lower personnel in the areas that they
have been taken from.
There is a specific clarification that I want to
get on the errata that was provided this morning. The
Minister stated t hat the 2018/19 number was 427,000,
and it was moving to 619. But that actually comes
from the original Budget Book. And the new number
looks to be $1,119,000. So, if we could just get clarif ication that the number is actually moving from
427,000 to 1,119, 000, and this number is going to be
coming under Professional Services.

Okay. Thank you.



Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Ben Smith: With the information th at was given
specifically to this, it was mostly dealing with the Gang
Reduction Task Force. So, obviously, this is an area
that all of Bermuda is interested in. The rise in gang
violence in Bermuda has been something that ever ybody in Bermuda has had thei r eyes on, because it
has an effect on our overseas, international reput ation. But more so, it is having a really terrible impact on our community. Within the neighbourhoods I know
that the Minister has been working really hard to try to
get a hold of this situation that has been going on for
quite some time, and you have to attack it from mult iple directions. And the gang task force and reduction
task force is one of the options that has been put forward to do that.
Now, the question becomes, the Minister in
his brief was able to give us a long list of things that this particular unit was going to be dealing with. For
instance, starting with the head, which is Pastor Leroy
Bean, his initial salary has changed from —
Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: Point of order, Mr.
Chairman.

POINT OF ORDER
Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr.: Mr. Chairman, what
head and line item is he talking from? Because right
now he is into a general debate. Pastor Bean’s name
should not even come up in this debate.

[Cost centre] 93000. And the reason I
brought up that particular spot was because it was
brought up by the Minister for what he was discussing
with what this unit was doing. So, I am just trying to
have clarification, that there were a lot of items that are coming under the mandate of one person. So,
what you start to look at is, as you grow, because this
was a new initiative. So, as you are start ing to figure
out the pieces to it, you are going to realise that there
are more tasks that are needed to achieve the end
goal, which is for us to reduce the number of gangs and reduce the impact that it is having on our society.
So, as he is going throug h that and listing the
number of things that are coming under that one per-son, it is difficult for one man to have to cover the entire Island with multiple pockets, [areas] where we are
seeing gang violence, along with having to monitor programmes that are being put forward. It just ––I
guess my question to the Minister is, as you start to
proceed, you are seeing that Pastor Bean is having to
do multiple tasks. Is this a situation where we will be looking for more staff for him in the future in order for
him to be able to cover all of the different pieces that are important for us to get this gang issue in Bermuda
under wraps?
The second person who was discussed in that
would be the . . . let us see.
[Inaudible interjection]

Yes, Programme and Education. So,
I believe that is Darren Woods. This is another initi ative where you are having somebody who is having to
fill multiple roles. And a lot of it is hands -on. So, as
you try to expand and you, potentially, get success in
one area, it makes it difficult for one person to conti nue to cover all of those pieces. Because, once again,
in the brief there were multiple lines of items that
come under this one person to have to cover.
So, as we are moving forward, there is a cost
for these items toda y. Are we going to see a need for
an increase in funding for this initiative in order for us
to reach our end goal?
There were also three part -time people. There
was an introduction that there were going to be three
part-time people, which I believe, will probably go to
some of the answer, where they will be able to help
both Pastor Bean and Darren Woods to be able to
cover all of the different parts. So, the question is, you
know, obviously, as a part -time, the amount of money
that is needed is going to f luctuate, depending on
where they are needed and what they are needed for.
If the Minister could give us a little bit more information on what these individuals are going to be
tasked to do, and what he sees as their ability to help the overall moving- forward of this initiative so that we
can see the impact of the gang reduction?

[Pause]

On page C -14, the Public Safety
COMS system. So, if the Minister can give us a little
bit more detail on exactly what the changes are from
the standpoint of, are some of these going to be just
fixing some items that maybe have broken over the
year? Or are we looking for new items in order to cr eate a better system? So, just a little more clarificat ion
on what that difference in cost will be for this year.
Mr. Chairman, that will be the last question
that I have for now, for Head 83, Headquarters.
I am going to be moving on to Head 6, D efence. So, my first question is going to come under
[cost cent re] 16085, Marine Operations. So, in last
year’s debate, there was quite a bit of conversation
about the shift to a marine operation and a Coast
Guard for Bermuda and what that was going to mean, and the potential of some of this being implemented in
the s ummer of 2018. It seems that some of those
816 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly things have not happened. Can the Minister can give
us some more details on exactly what occurred during
that period so that we have an understanding of why
the delay?
Within there, last year the Department of D efence cancelled their overseas camp. And one of the reasons was, obviously they had meetings to discuss
changing their overall mandate and figuring out where
the Regiment was going to be going. And it was a
good time for them to take a pause. But the money
that was going to be saved for that was supposed to
be used to start the implementation of the Coast
Guard. So, can the Minister let us know whether the
money that was saved was provided towards the
Coast Guard? And if so, what was it used for? There was discussion of the site at Boaz I sland. Can the Minister give us [an] update on whether the facility has been completed, whether there are any
other items that are needed for that facility? It is my
understanding that there potentially is the need for
some floating docks. And there might have been
some floating docks that were left over from the America’s Cup that could potentially be used for the Marine
Operations.
I think it is important that, under the Marine
Operations, we understand what the potential is for
having a Coast Guard for Bermuda. I believe that what happens in Bermuda, a lot of times, is the pop ulation [in general] does not really pay attention to the Regiment until they actually need the Regiment. So, a
hurricane happens, and for the weeks after the hurr icane, the Regiment is a group that everybody is pa ying attention to because they were able to clear the
roads and help. But, during the rest of the year, a lot
of times, they are not giving them the same amount of
attention. But the Regiment has to train every day to
be prepared for any of the incidents that happen,
which would mean, you know, if there is a hurricane in
Bermuda or there is an incident that happens overseas, that we have a regiment that is able to provide
the services that ar e needed.
Well, as we look at a local Coast Guard, this
could be a very important area for us. The Minister
over the last year has worked hard for some of the
things that are happening on our local roads when it
comes to road deaths and crime happening on the
roads, with people drinking and driving and doing
drugs and driving. Could the Minister give us an idea
whether there would be some of those kinds of initi atives for what happens on the water? We have also had some incidents recently on the water whic h have
resulted in death and injury. And in having a marine
presence with our Coast Guard, this could be an area
where we could see some significant change.
Anybody who has seen the non- mariners race
recently and what it has expanded to, you can tell that
you potentially have a situation where a major incident
could happen with multiple people in the water, motor
vessels going in between people, and some danger-ous behaviour when you bring in the points of alcohol
use and drug use while that is happening. S o, to have
a force that has the ability to monitor the behaviour on
the water and, potentially, be able to enforce some
rules on the water, I think, could be important as Ber-muda, being a jurisdiction that is internationally known
for our beautiful waters, we want to make sure that we
are also providing safe waters.
If the Minister could give us some further details on whether the combination of police and the
Regiment Boat Troop has actually started? He talked about the fact that there would have to be th is begi nning phase where the two [agencies] would have to be
working together. It is my understanding that some of
that has begun. And with the Minister talking about the
diving course happening from the Regiment, but some
of the police taking part in it, it seems that there is a start to that process. Just an understanding of how
long we should wait until we start to see a full regiment force on the water. I believe that the initial setup
was supposed to be for 14 personnel. If the Minister
could let us know how much in the budget in the f uture we should be looking at, if that is our goal, to
reach the 14 personnel, so that we can cover the w aters fully, not just in our inside waters, but allowing for
safety boats to get to the outside of our 12- mile range
so that we can make sure that we are saving boats that are in distress, that we are maintaining [a defence of our] waters so that we do not have people trying to
smuggle things into the Island.
One of the important things that I think that a
lot of Bermudians are looking for is that, as we look at
our gang issue, I am going to say that part of it is g oing to be that we have a gun issue. So, one of the ways that the guns and the ammunition are going to
get in is going to be through our waters. So, having a
robust team on the water that is able to monitor what boats are coming in, and being able to enforce, pote ntially, getting on a boat to find out whether somebody
is bringing in something to the Island, I think is an i mportant step for us. So, this would be a time for us to
look. How long is it going to take for us to get it in place? How much is it going to cost for us to fully i mplement it? And, once it is implemented, when do you see our seeing the real change that would be put in place by having this for ce?
Still within the marines section, one of the
things that was pointed out last year, and I know that the Minister spoke to it, was that a lot of the boats that
are needed to have this marine force, both from the
police side presently and from what the boat troop
has, we do not have the boats presently to do some of
the things that we need to do. The boats are old. They
need upgrades. Or we need to replace them.
Potentially, what you are going to be looking
at is to go out and get specific boats that al low us to
move in the direction that we are talking about moving
into. From an environmental standpoint, you need to
have boats that allow for the troops that are going to


Bermuda House of Assembly be maintaining this Coast Guard for Bermuda, the
ability to do the collection of, potentially, an oil spill or
a chemical spill. And we are also going to need to
have boats that allow for the force to go out to rescue
people or, potentially, to be able to go and board a nother boat. So, if the Minister could give us information on, has he started to look into details of what
boats are going to be needed, and what the cost, potentially, is of these boats and when we could be looking to have the purchases of these boats?
With that, has there been any discussion
[with] overseas bodies, potent ially, you know, coast
guards outside of Bermuda, international coast
guards, on finding ways for us to get access to maybe
some boats that they do not use so that we can r educe the cost, but still get the [vessels] that we are
going to need?

[Pause]
Hon. Walter H. Roban: Mr. Chairman.

So under line 16085, continuing on
with Maritime Operations, I was wondering if the Mi nister coul d let us know whether there has been any
thought to adding drones to go along with the bringing
in of boats so that we can look at . . . overall [look at]
what is happening on our waters.
I know that drone usage has increased signif icantly around the worl d. Specifically when it comes to
the coast guards it allows them to cover a much larger
area and potentially get details of specific situations.
So, if there is an area where potentially somebody is
in trouble and they need to get rescued, the drone
could get there quickly and give them some added
details around what potentially is needed. Also, when
it comes to enforcing our laws on our waters, having
the ability for [recorded] footage from drones could
also help in investigations. And with the ability to have
facial recognition with these drones, potentially, some
of the footage can be used later on when you are go-ing to prosecute somebody that has potentially broken
the law.
So, if the Minister could let us know whether
anything has been looked at, potent ially, for using
drones and, if so, what details can he give on whether that is something that will work in Bermuda’s jurisdi ction, and the potential cost if it is something that could
work in Bermuda.
Moving on . . . actually moving backwards to
16040, Internal Security, during the Minister’s brief (actually for another head) he mentioned that there
was the potential for some of the jobs that are done by
the police to potentially be transferred to the Reg iment. I believe that he talked about Government
House, maybe the House of Assembly, certain areas
where tasks are presently being done by the police
force, could be transferred to be covered by the Regiment.
My question is, As you are looking at it in d etail, do you have any idea when we could expect that
kind of change? How much information has been pr ovided so far to find out what that change will give for
Bermuda? One potential part that I have been thinking about over the lunch break is that there is a different
pay scale from Regiment soldiers and poli ce officers,
so there might actually be a reduction in cost by moving to that different way of managing something that
has been done a certain way for a really long time. So
if the Minister could give us a little bit more detail about that, I think it woul d be something that everyone
here would be interested in.
So 16010, for the Regiment Headquarters, I
have a question regarding whether policies have been looked at to potentially make sure that with the trans ition in how the Regiment is operating . . . that we are
making sure that we have something in place for how
we deal with retirements and mandatory term limits for
certain officers and whether we have a policy that
818 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly makes sure that we have Bermudians that are trained
and ready to move into those roles so that we can
continue to have a force that is operated at the highest level and that we make sure that we have Berm udians that are in those roles.
So, I know that the Minister was able to di scuss that specific initiative when it came to the police,
I was j ust wondering if he could give us some information whether . . . if those pieces were not already in
place, whether there is something that we could look
at policy -wise to make sure that those steps allow for
us to have our soldiers trained so that they can be
promoted to those positions. With moving away from
conscription it means that the amount of soldiers that
we are bringing in has changed, the different levels of soldiers that we brought in potentially has changed, so
we need to make sure that we are addressing getting
the talent into the Regiment and then training them so that we can continue to move in that direction. So any
information that the Minister can give on that will be
greatly appreciated.
On B -276, the Performance Measures, under
16010, Re gimental Headquarters, again, the second
line refers to a Regiment establishment of 420 [soldiers]. With all of the changes, is that number still a
number that should be guiding us? Or should we be
looking at a number that is more in line with the num-bers that we are bringing in with the new set up for
getting soldiers into the Regiment? If the Minister can give us some details on that.
In the brief the Minister referred to 25 recruits
that came through in the recruit camp that just finished in February. Wi th the . . . we are looking for a total of
65 for the year —new recruits. With only hitting 25 do
you think that this potentially means that we are going
to be in difficulty of reaching that target when we are
going to have our summer recruit camp, which ob viously was a new initiative last year, being brought in
this year, to try to continue to get to that target so that
we have enough soldiers to maintain the Regiment?
I know it is difficult because these are brandnew details [of] how we are dealing with our Regiment since conscription is gone. But we have to make sure that we maintain a certain [number] of soldiers in order for us to cover all of the needs that we have. And
understanding that you will have retirements, that you will have people that have done their time within their
volunteer [agreement] and they are going to move on,
so you always have to replenish, so I know it is diff icult to predict how many you are going to get in, but what do we do if we continue to miss that target?
Thank you. Now I am going to move on to
Head 7 for the Police [Service]. Starting on page B -
279, just looking at the amount of money that we are spending presently for the Police Service, I was wo ndering if the Minister can give us an update on what
has happened with the negotiation for their new contract and whether . . . any details on when that will be
completed and the potential changes in the shifts and schedules of the police officers through that negoti ation.
And now under 17010, Human Resources,
there has been some information recently that has
said that the Commissioner of Police has gone over-seas to recruit [someone for] a new position. So I was
wondering if the Minister could give us details on the
Commissioner going overseas to look for a new role.
What details are there of that role? How many candidates were looked at? And whether local candidates were also made available so that we can have some details.

Hon. Wayne Caines: Point of information.

[Cost centre] 17010, Human R esources.
So, because it is related to a new job, I was
wondering whether it was something that we could
discuss . . . just because, obviously, if there is a new
position that is being looked at and the Commissioner has gon e overseas to seek candidates for that pos ition, have local candidates been looked at? And, you know, can we get details on what that position is?
What the role is going to entail? And, obviously, if it is going to be a new position, we do not have a budget
for that particular position right now, so is that going to
lead to a supplemental because it is a position that
has been added? So any information that we can
have on that would be helpful.
Going to [page] C -14 for Police [Service] and
looking under 76 078 for Vehicles. In the brief the Mi nister spoke to the cost of vehicles, and obviously the
wear and tear that happens to vehicles that have to be
used 24 hours a day. Everybody here understands
that when you . . . most people do not really think
about the police until they need the police. But they
are going to have to be driving in a car or a van, or
[riding] on a bike. And those items are used every si ngle day. So there is going to be wear and tear on
them, we are going to have to get new vehicles. The
Minister spoke to the point that, obviously, the amount
of money that it takes to cover those vehicles might not actually be enough.


Bermuda House of Assembly If you look in 2017/18, the number was 267
and now it is 136, and it is staying flat at 136. Is there
enough money being pr ovided to make sure that the
vehicles that need to be changed is happening? B ecause, obviously, one of the issues that you have with an older vehicle is that an older vehicle becomes less
efficient, it is going to break down more. So now there
is going to be added cost because you are going to
have to continue to fix that vehicle. So, potentially, it
actually increases our costs by leaving vehicles on the
road that should not be on the road.
So my question is, In knowing that that number has been reduced previously, and is now staying
at that lower number, and knowing that the Minister
also spoke to the fact that it, potentially, is not enough money, can the Minister speak to . . . if we need more
money to pay for the vehicles so that the police can stay on the road and protect the public, what are we
going to do about that?
[Cost centre] 17170 Intelligence—

I am going back to [page] B -278.
So I just spoke to this in regard to Defence. I
am bringing it up again on whether drones are an option for Bermuda. When you look at the way policing is
done outside of Bermuda you understand that they
are using lots of different kinds of technology to make
sure that they are apprehending the people who are
breaking th e laws. Obviously, there are some privacy
issues when it comes to using drones that you have to
look into. But when an incident happens, if the drone is in the air and gives you the ability to pinpoint where
the person who has done the crime is headed, it act ually is going to help the police to be able to apprehend
somebody that potentially has done a crime, and ev erybody in Bermuda is hopeful that we are going to get
that person off the streets as quickly as possible.
So is this another area where, potent ially, this
kind of technology can be looked at so that we can try
to capture criminals quickly or actually prevent them
from doing the crime in the first place because now they know that the potential of somebody being able
to catch them quickly is there? Obviously, we have
seen recently that the criminals are starting to use
technology, so we need to make sure that we are not
only at the same level as them, but we need to start to
try to be ahead of what the criminals are doing. And it
means that we have to give all the resources possible
[to the police] to make sure that we are tackling the crime in Bermuda.
Knowing that gang violence . . . but, more
specifically, there seems to be just normal violence
happening in Bermuda, so the more resources that we
can give to the police to ensure that the public feels
safe and also that, potentially, the criminals feel that
they do not have the room to actually start to behave
badly or create these crimes, I think, is helpful. So any information that the Minister can give on whether
those initiatives are being looked at would be helpful.
[Cost centre] 17120, still on page B -278. So
road safety has been an initiative that has been . . .
there has been a lot of focus on it in the last year with road sobriety checkpoints and trying to get people in
Bermuda to behave better on the roads. One of the
things that I have been looking at since going through
this particular debate is that there is also an issue with
what is happening on the water. So, while we are
spending this, I think, needed time focusing on what is
happening on the roads and the deaths on the roads,
we have to understand that we should also be looking
at that same kind of option for what happens on the
water. Because there are people that are behaving
badly on the water, and the ability for that to turn into
a catastrophe quickly is there.
So potentially, I guess, what I am saying is, is
it possible for us to look at maybe the fines, the things
that we can actually give penalties to the crimes that
are happening on the waters so that they start to ba lance with what is happening on land?

POINT OF CLARIFICATION

Hon. Wayne Caines: Point of information.
The Ministry of National Security is not r esponsible for making or passing any law in Bermuda.
That is not our Ministry’s remit.

Thank you.
Continuing with the road policing under the
same heading, so the idea of having more CCTVs, the
ability to have traffic cams, can the Minister give us
more information on whether we could be looking for
the ability for the cameras to take pictures of people
that are actually speeding, to take pictures of people
that are potentially running red lights or running stop
signs? You k now, in other jurisdictions they will take
that information and you will actually receive a fine for what you have done in your car when you did not get pulled over by a police officer but you were caught on
the cam.
And with facial recognition and all the technology that is available now, these are technologies that will try to help to change the behaviour on our
roads. Because we continuously have deaths on the roads that are not just from drinking and driving or
from drug use on the roads, but just peopl e that are
not taking care of . . . not just themselves, but ever ybody else on the road . . . overtaking, popping whee lies, just behaviour on the road that is not the norm,
but you are seeing more and more of it. So are we able to bring in some technologies that potentially are
going to try to help to curb that behaviour?
820 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Chairman, I am just going to go back to
[page] C -14, 76078, for the Vehicles. I asked earlier
some of the questions about the vehicles and the potential that we are not supplying enough money. P otentially, if we get some more details on the vehicles
that are close to being retired off the road, the vehicles that presently are not operational, so that we
have an idea of how many vehicles we have right now
and how many vehicles we actuall y need so that we
have a better idea of how much money we really should be putting toward the vehicles for the police so that we reach the level that allows them to do their
job.
Now I am going to move on to Head 12 which
is Customs. [Cost centre] 22080, A dministration, there
is a difference of $178,000.
[Inaudible interjection]

It is [cost centre] 22080, Administr ation. I was wondering if the Minister can give us some
clarification on what that difference is.
On page B -283, I am looking at the differences between the shifts A and B. So the 2018/19
original was 32 staff numbers and it actually came in
at 24. And now the estimate for this upcoming year is
29. So the difference is trying to add five. My question is, It looks like the intenti on was to have more staff a
year ago and we were not able to reach that target, so what is being set up this year to ensure that we reach
that target for this upcoming year?
Still looking at the shifts, now on page B -284,
there seems to be a difference between the seizures
for shift A and shift B —a significant difference. Shift A
seizures were at four —

Okay.
I am going to move on to Head 25, Corre ctions. I am going to start with 35105, Psychological
Services. So the Minister spoke to the fact that there is only one therapist available at present and that they
are looking into getting two more in order to reach the
. . . what is supposed to be the [correct] level.
There is a difference when you look at how
much . . . what the cost of having to use . . . I am
gathering, looking at the difference from what the ori ginal was to what actually was the revised number from 2018/19, that there is an in creased cost, even though
we did not have the full complement. So is that difference because we are using —

Hon. Wayne Caines: Consultants.

Consultants? So, obviously, getting
staff in will reduce that cost, so that becomes a prior ity.
Looking at the employee numbers . . . obv iously, you are going to have retirements. You are g oing to have people that are no longer working within
that department. The number that is needed is signif icant to get back to the full complement. My question
is, With the recruiting to get people into this particular
industry, are we only going to be looking at local applicants or are we going to be going overseas to reach the desired number so that we can make sure that the
Corrections are covered at a level that ma kes them
secure while also trying to maintain a Bermudian force?
Looking at [page] C -14, 76597, there was an
increase for CCTV systems in 2018/19 and there is
further allotted money for the upcoming year. Can the
Minister give us some details on whether t he system,
the way it is set up now, is covering everything that
needs to be covered or have they actually found some
gaps in the system and that is one of the reasons that we have to continue to add money to ensure that we
have coverage. Or are we just tr ying to fix some of the
systems that we already have?
I think the Minister spoke to, obviously, the
drone sit uation with somebody trying to bring things
into the facility. So, obv iously, we need to make sure
that our camera system is at a level that we can see all of the different areas around the facility as well as
in the facility so that ev erything is covered at a level to
make sure that the staff is safe and that there are no
issues with getting con traband in or people getting
out.
The Minister spoke in his brief about the
Westgate violence reduction and potentially . . . so he
talked about the Westgate facility in the whole. I was
wondering if the Minister could give us an idea of how
many inmates we have today compared to how many inmates we would ha ve had last year.
There was also the therapeutic community. Is
it possible for us to find out how many people are par-ticipating in that programme?

[Inaudible interjection]

So the Minister, I guess I am going to
continue to be speaking on [page] B -287, so starting
at 35020, for all the different facilities. The Minister
spoke to the programmes that are available so there is the Farm, there is . . . the different programmes that
have been put in place to try to make sure that we are
rehabilitating people and preparing them for when
they get out. And what we have seen from people
leaving prison and not coming back to prison and the
importance of trying to give them the skills to be able to maintain a proper life once they get out of prison so
that they can get a job and they can get self -worth,
which allows them to not get back to the . . . whatever
it is that put them in.
Is the Minister able to give us some guidelines
on what the performance measures are today on how
we can . . . to make sure and measure the people that
are coming in, the programme that they have done,
and whether . . . which specific programmes are wor king best in order to stop people from coming back in, if you understand what I mean. So, in ot her words, if
you can have the details of the programme that the person did, so that whether it is education, whether it
is the farm, just so that we have a better idea of what
we should be targeting the money on so that we can
prevent people from coming b ack in. So just performance measures specific to that.

Hon. Wayne Caines: Point of clarification, Mr. Chai rman.

So, Mr. Chairman, potentially, this
person, when they get out, they are going to have to
stand in front of the Parole Board, they are going to have a parole officer that they are going to be communicating with. Potentially what we can do is try to
get that information so that we know whether we are
hitting our targets. It is important for us to know that
the money we are spending and the programmes that
we are creating are actually getting the results that we
want because if they are not then we can focus that
money on something which is working.
So the idea that I am mentioning is potentially
we should be looking at the details. I know it is not
something that is done right now, but is it something that we can figure out, a way to try to get as much
information around this subject as possible so that we
can prevent people from going back into prison?

Mr. Chairman, I am going to move on
now to Head 45, which is the Fire Service.
I actually meant to make sure that we send
our appreciation out to all the people who are working
in all of these services. As I was saying earlier, it is
always difficult because most of the people that work
in these services do not feel the appreciation until they
are actually needed, right? You do not really think about the police officer until something has happened
to you and you are having to deal with the police.
The same situation is going to, obviously, be
in place when you are dealing with the fire depar tment. And, you know, they have to run into the danger
when everybody else is fleeing from the danger. These are the people that are going to be helping you
if you have had an accident on the road an d the fire
truck has arrived. So it is just important that we show
appreciation for the people every day that are putting
their lives on the line to take care of our safety and to
make sure that property is safe through . . . from fires.
So [page] B -296, I am looking at the emplo yee numbers. There is a reduction for . . . let’s see . . .
822 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly there is a reduction in General Administration of one
and then there is reduction for Emergency Dispatch
for four, and then another further reduction in Airport
Fire Rescue. Can the Minister let us know whether
prior to this reduction these services were running on the full complement of staff? If they were and now we
have reduced them to these numbers, what impact is
that going to have on the services that are provided?
Potentially, is that going to increase the amount of
overtime that is needed? Is that also going to tax the workers that are already there because now they are having to increase their share of the load when really
what they would want is to make sure that you have a
full staff so that people are rested so that they can
focus on their job?
So I am just checking to see whether that r eduction in employees is because we did not need to be at the number that we were at, or what impact it is
going to have by having that reduced number.
On [page] C -14, I am looking at 76383. There
was money put aside in 2018/19 for a turntable ladder. It did not happen in that year.

Hon. Wayne Caines: The cost is split over two years.
It was so expensive so they split the cost over two
years.

Thank you.
The other [cost centre] is 76733, so it was a
portable water pump. That was in the budget for . . . is
this something that is just maintenance, like they have
to keep purchasing more every time another one goes
down, so really it is a stock issue as opposed to
something that would have been an emergency to
get? So that is the question I am asking.
The question . . . I am going to go to . . . just a
second, Mr. Chairman.

So, Mr. Chairman, I am looking at
[page] B -296 for the Fire Department and I am going
to take this under the payments to the staff members.
Specifically, all I am doing is tying it back to what I
said previously when it comes to defence. Are we pu tting in a policy to make sure that we have young people within the fire ranks that are being nurtured and
given the resources so that they, in their future, will be
able to take the senior roles within the Fire Service? We need to make sure that we have a plan in place
for when retirements happen that there are local fire
fighters that have the experience and also have any
certification th at they are going to need so that they
can take on those posts.
If the Minister is able to, could he give us
some details on whether that policy is in place and whether people have been identified to fill those roles
in the future?
With that I will take my seat.

Thank you, Shadow Minister.
That brings a conclusion to the Shadow Mini ster’s contribution. Is there any other Member that would like to speak to the Ministry of National Secur ity, Heads 83, 6, 7, 12, 25, and 45?
I recognise the Honourable Michael Dunkley
from constituency 10.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
and I thank the Honourable Minister for the brief and
my honourable colleague for his very good compr ehensive overview of a very important Ministry and very key Ministry, a Ministry as my honourable colleague
and certainly as the Minister knows, has a lot of moving parts and can change from day to day and one
that I am pleased that we do have a substantive
amount of time set for the budget. And I hope that colleagues get involved because I found when I was the
Minister, Mr. Chairman, this was a good place to
thrash out, not only the expenditure involved, but also
to listen to ideas and take some on board.
And I want to start with the Headquarters, but
do somethi ng that is not often done. But I want to
congratulate the Minister for continuing on with some
very important programmes that I think have been
successful over the past years. They have continued
on with them, strengthened some. And I want to also
start by , as my colleague did, to thank the staff within
this Ministry for the work that they do. As he said, and
they are good words, when everyone is running away
[from danger] the emergency service personnel are
running towards it. And the other thing I think i s important is you never know when a situation is going to arise, but you have to be there. And that could be any
time of day or night, it can be on weekends, it can be on a national holiday, but it is important that they are
there. And in my relationship with these services, I am
well aware that they are very professional, very good
generally at their job, and they need our support. So
this debate today is critically important.
As I start on Head 83, looking at the errata
pages that were handed out early this morning before
the debate started, let me just ask a few questions.
Some will be piggybacking on what my honourable
colleague said and some will be taking a slightly di fferent approach.
If you look at page B -270, Mr. Chairman, the
Minister did mention in his brief that the Parole Board
will get extra revenue this year, $122,000, which is an
increase of $40,000 over the current financial year.
And the Minister did say, alluded to extra meetings
that the Parole Board had to have. Now, I am well
aware of the . . . not only the number of meetings that
could be required and the inability to project when a
meeting might have to take place (just because of the


Bermuda House of Assembly business we have to do) but also that the Parole
Board when it was set up was one of those boards
that has a slightly different fee structure than other
boards. For many reasons I supported that because there is quite a bit of work that has to be done, not only in the meetings, but outside of the meetings to
prepare for the meetings.
So, a couple of ques tions to the Honourable
Minister, the current financial year had a budget of
$82,000. It is estimated now to finish at $104,000. So
a question to the Honourable Minister, Is that due to the extra meetings? And if that is the case, can the
Minister please provide ––he will probably not be able
to do it today, but sometime in the near future––the
number of meetings over the last couple of years so that we can see an increase of these meetings as we
have gone along and the estimate for the number of
meetings for the current financial year?
And in relation to the Parole Board, as my co lleague was drilling down on Corrections, but since the Parole Board is here, I will take my comments on this point. I think recidivism numbers are reasonable numbers to look at and I think we do a reasonable job in
Bermuda with recidivism numbers. We have seen
them decrease over the past, probably from seven or
eight years ago, and we have seen them stay at the
low level.
What I think is important for this debate as we
look at an increase in funding for the Parole Board––
we have seen they have overspent the money,
$22,000 this year, and it will go up to $122,000 from
the original $82,000 last year ––it would be prudent for
us as Members of Parliament to have an understanding, Mr. Chairman , of just how many parolees actually
come back into incarceration after their original parole.
Because if we have those numbers and we know —
and I am just going off the top of my head— but if we
know that say, for example, 20 inmates were released
on parole last year and we know that of those 20 none
came back, we are doing the job. You cannot do it any
better than that. But if we know that 17 came back,
there has got to be a weakness in the system that we
need to identify.
So the extra money we are spending for the
Parole Board . . . I think my colleagues and I will su pport it if we know that we are being productive and fruitful in making sure our parolees go out and making
sure they are successful in their rehabilitation.
And that is an important point, Mr. Chairman,
because when people break the laws of this country
and they are incarcerated, that is part of justice. But
the real productivity of community is rehabilitation. And so it is important to break it down and make sure
that we are being effectiv e by having a system of parole where Bermudians from all walks of life get i nvolved and spend their time doing it, that we are doing
it effectively. And we need to see if we can do it better. So that is a question from [page] B -270, [cost centre] 93002. In connection, staying on that page, Mr.
Chairman, in connection with [cost centre] 93007,
Disaster Risk Reduction and Mitigation, the Minister
did outline that there was $173,000 that is in the
budget for this current financial year.
Here is a bit of the challenge that I have, Mr.
Chairman, is that this initiative has been something
that the Minister has alluded to on the floor of this
House a number of times recently. This initiative has
been something that the UK has been very keen to
see implemented in ov erseas territories that are currently under their remit.
This initiative is something that, when I was
the Minister, I pushed back on it for two reasons, real-ly. One is that we were facing a real budget crunch.
And two, I believed that, at the time, we could make
some changes to the EMO organisation to cover some of these things. And I think the UK and Government House bought this approach. When Minister
Baron took over, that was the same approach. Now it
appears that the Honourable Minister now believes it
is appropriate to set up a separate team, and that is
all well and good.
Why I bring it up today is because if we take a
look at that [cost centre] 93007, there was no money budgeted for the current financial year and we know
there was some money spent. T he Minister has given
an explanation that, I believe, four individuals have been seconded from other parts of the Ministry to do
that job. I do not . . . my personal opinion [is] I do not
know if that is the most appropriate way to do those
type of things because you have shortcomings in the places where those four individuals —highly qualified
individuals —left, and maybe the [work they did there]
is not getting done. But that is what the Government
has decided to do, and if they are comfortable with
that approach, as long as it falls within the rules, reg ulations and procedures that we have to follow, then so
be it.
But here we are, now . . . we see $173,000
that is estimated to be spent in the next financial year.
And the Minister did give an elaborate outl ine of what
the team is going to be responsible for —cruise ship
exercises, chemical facilities —I do not need to go
through all of those. I would ask the Honourable Mi nister, What does he entail the best use of this group
is? And what will the budget be? And how many staff does he believe will be put into that? Right now, unless there is a change, it is four. There is $173,000
budgeted to that. I cannot believe that four staff and
the work required to be done in that will cost $173,000, so I believe that money must be used from
another section in the Ministry and it might be more
fitting and appropriate to put it all under this head so
there is a good accounting of it and we can track it in
an appropriate way and there is no need for suppl ementaries going for ward.
So, because this is important and because it
appears that this Government sees the necessity for
824 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly this organisation, I would like to know what the longterm plan is, what we expect the capacity and manpower to be and what the budget will be because it is
not going to be $173,000 this year, I am sure [the cost] is shared over other ministries.
Turning my attention now to page B -271, the
errata sheet that was passed around this morning, the
line item for Travel started in the current financial
year, Mr. Chairman, at $21,000. It increased to
$79,000, an increase of $58,000. I ask the Honour able Minister if he can give a breakdown of the i ncrease for that travel and the need behind it. I did
catch, during the Minister’s presentation–– although he
was so exci ted about the presentation that he read it
quite rapidly, but I do appreciate the presentation––
during it the Minister said the increase from $21[,000] to $45[,000] was for the DRRM training and travel
costs, and I accept that. I have asked what the
$58,000 is in relation to the current financial year.
And, Mr. Chairman, just for the edification of
people who are listening, the numbers for 2017/18
now in this Budget Book are the final numbers, so occasionally I will refer to those because this is the first
time we will see any changes that might have been
made with final numbers in that regard.
Moving on down two line items further, Mr.
Chairman, to the line item of Professional Services, I
find . . . Professional Services, I know, is one of those
areas where you lump a lot of different things in. And that is why I think it is important, not to say they
should not be put in it, but I think it is important during
the budget debate we can break down some of these
line items. So if you take a look at the actual numbers
for 2017/18 on Professional Services, the actual orig inal Professional Services number, Mr. Chairman,
which you probably will not have in your book because I had to get it from the Budget Book for that
year, was $647,000. So this year we are seeing that it
has actually increased to $842,000, an increase of
$195,000.
So my question to the Honourable Minister,
What necessitated that increase? Was it an unbudg-eted item? I assume . . . and I do not like to assume
much because the old timers tell you what “assume”
means, but I would suggest, Mr. Chairman—let me
use that word—that this $195,000 would probably be an unbudgeted item. And I do not know if a suppl ementary came to deal with gang initiatives and, perhaps, some of the gang coordination wages that we
had to pay. So it was $195,000 over the budget.
And then if we look at 2018/19 numbers
(which are on the page in front of you, Mr. Chairman)
you will see that that Professional Services line item
dropped to $427,000. So it is kind of . . . it would ha ve
me scratching my head that somebody could bring a budget and say, Okay, we’re going from $842[,000] to
$427[,000] and accept that. And so what have we
seen, Mr. Chairman? We have seen that the revised
number for 2018/19 is $714,000. So, almost a $300,00 0 increase over the budget, and will we see a
supplementary estimate come in which makes sure
that it is done in the right way? And I will refresh honourable colleagues’ memory to the Standing Orders,
Mr. Chairman, which on page 52 it says:
Standing order 43(1) “If in respect of any f inancial year it is found” (and I move to part (b) of that)
“that any moneys have been expended for any purpose in excess of the amount appropriated for that
purpose by an Appropriation Act or for a purpose to
which no amount has been appropriated by such an Act; the Minister responsible for Finance shall cause
to be prepared and laid before the House supplementary estimates, showing the sum or sums required to
be spent.”
In this case, I think, that there might be a need
to do t hat, but I would like the Honourable Minister to
explain the [increase] budget from $427,000 to
$714,000 and—

Hon. Wayne Caines: Say again?
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: The original budgets est imate for this year going from $427,000 to $714,000 and just conf irm what that is. I suggest it might be
gang personnel, which we have talked about quite a
bit in this House.
And then, Mr. Chairman—

We are doing the budget for the
2019/20.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Chairman, when I
speak and I say “this year” I am talking about where
we stand in tim e right now. We are actually doing the
budget for 2019/20, which starts April 1
st. But that is a
good point. I am glad we clarified it so the listening
audience can understand.
So the Budget Book has almost a $300,000
increase and Minister, I look forward to the breakdown.
Carrying on that line a little further to the
2019/20 budget for the next financial year, we see an increase to $1.119 million, which is a significant i ncrease. And as part of the errata that just came through, there is a $500,000 increase from the errata.
So I would ask the Honourable Minister if he could
break down those numbers for this Honourable
House.
Continuing on page B -271, Mr. Chairman,
Grants and Contributions, there was a $200,000 item
that was not used. And I am just wonder ing what that


Bermuda House of Assembly is and has the money been saved or was it vired
somewhere else?
I think that covers most of the comments from
the National Security Headquarters. I would like to
thank the Honourable Minister for providing some de-tail on the Gang Violence Reduction Team and the
various responsibilities that they have had.
You know, sometimes we get into political d ebates back and forth, but you know this work had started in earnest a number of years ago and it has
had some success. And, unfortunately, we stil l have
the scourge of guns and gangs and violence in our
community and we need to continue to stay commi tted to [resist] it. B ecause while we will make some
progress, it seems that we will have surges and
peaceful periods, and the more we work at it I think
the more success we will have because it takes a
community to make these things happen and to get
some results. It does not happen without the comm unity involv ement and that is why it is very important we
continue to have that i nvolvement.
That is why, I think, successive governments
have always spoke and lobbied to get the community
involved. So we will support that approach as long as
the information comes forward in the most transparent
and accountable way.
Just a point that I think is quite important but
gets glossed over all the time and, Mr. Chairman, if you take a look at page B -272, my honourable colleague from constituency 19 is not here, so I know
she is listening somewhere, and it is one of her f avourite subjects to talk about, Performance Meas ures.
You know I have said it many, many times —in
Oppo sition, in Government, and now in Opposition
again— is that we need to make sure that these pages
of the Budget Book actually really mean something.
They mean something in the interpretation of them
and they actually mean something in the debate that
you have. And I see them quite short and quite often repeated from years gone by.
So just one small thing I pointed out for the
outcome on the first line “percentage of current Throne Speech initiatives that have been implemented” back to 2017/18, it is not 100 per cent. Because
they have been talking about the new Police Authority, which was in the budget this year, and the Minister spoke about it. It has not been done.
That is just one of a myriad of things. I say
that not to be critical; but to be [on] point. Because in throne speeches there are always a great number of
initiatives that are put in, and you cannot get to all of
them in that year.
And other things always arise that necessitate
your attention. But if we could make these performance measures a little bit tighter and little more explanatory for people, I think it would help us as we move forward.
The last question in regard to—
Hon. Wayne Caines: Point of clarification.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkle y: Sure.
Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman?

Yes.

POINT OF CLARIFICATION

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, I am actually
confused at the point about Police Complaints A uthority with reference to its completion. Are you saying
that we took . . . that it was . . . not that we said that
the Police Complaints Authority was completed and
the Police Complaints Authority . . . excuse me, the
Police . . . I just . . . can he clear that point up? I just
. . . I am not sure if he said Police Complaints Author ity or the Police Authority.

Honourable Member .
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Yes, thank you, Mr.
Chairman, I appreciate the need for clarification. I hope I said “Police Authority.” I had not meant to refer
to the Police Complaints Author ity. But the Police A uthority is something that you mentioned in your brief today, but it is an outstanding initiative for some time back and I just referred to it in the performance
measures where it says the actual outcome from the
Throne Speech was 100 per cent in the first column. It
was not because of that. Small point, but you know it
was just for accuracy.
So the last point I will make in regard to
Headquarters (and I might come back once the Mini ster has a chance to answer questions) and I welcome
the PS to be here, and the PS is still relatively new,
but I am sure in that Ministry he has learned very
quickly. And congratulations publicly on the position and I wish you all the best.
The Minister said in his presentation that partial funding of the gang violence programme, and then
somewhere further along he said there was a $600,000 budget. Is that the total budget? And if the
Minister can give a breakdown of what in that budget goes to salaries and what goes to programmes.
So turning on to Head 6, Defence, I will touch
on three specific points here and then do a little bit of laundry afterwards as well. The first point is Volunteer
Recruitment. I appreciate—

You may proceed.

826 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The Minister gave some explanation about the
number of camps and, I think, the Minister did say
there were 65 recruits in the last year. It seems now
that most MPs in this House have supported the eradication of conscription. And it seems since we moved
to volunteer recruitment a number of years ago, even
when conscription was on the books, that we have
had a harder time getting the numbers that are r equired. So we do not see the 200 camps anymore, we do not see the 100 camps anymore —

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: —but we see 60 to 70 to
80. And that is fine because I think the tr aining is
good. And that is fine as long as the roles and r esponsibilities of the Regiment can meet those lower
numbers. So I just want to get clarification from the
Minister going forward that if this trend continues,
which it probably will because as the Minister said
across the floor, the birth rate is down and there are a
number of different things that are attached to it, if we
continue with 60 to 70 and two recruit camps a year,
will the roles and responsibilities of the Regiment be
able to be met? And I will come back to that just a little
bit more in a short moment, Mr. Chairman.
So, looking at the numbers specifically on line
item 16005, Recruitment, there is $54,000, Mr.
Chairman, that was due to be expended in the current
financial year 2018/19. It has risen to $107,000 for this
financial year. Can the Honourable Minister please
provide a breakdown of the reason for this increase of $53,000? I am sure it is probably because of the two
recruit camps, but if we were doing the budget over a
year ago for the current financial year, I would assume
that we would have taken into account that we would
have to have the two recruit camps.
I see that, you know, for the next financial
year starting on April 1
st that there is a much more
significant increase to $312,000. I would ask the Honourable Minister to provide a breakdown as to how
that significant amount of money will be used. I am
sure that it allows them to have the flexibility and the latitude to promote what they are doing in a much
more appropriate way, but I think my colleagues and I
would appreciate a breakdown of how that money is
going to be used because we want to support the
Government in getting those numbers to come forward.
And I take this opportunity to urge young men
and women to get invo lved in your community b ecause it is very satisfying to be part of a team, to learn
new skills, to use those new skills. And, as the Mini ster said before, and the successive commanding officers have said, the skills you learn there will benefit
you for the rest of your life and will help you in another
career. And I honestly believe in that. So I appreciate the Minister’s feedback in that area. Mr. Chairman, my colleague has talked a bit
about the Coast Guard and I want to reflect on that a little bit because it is an important initiative that has
been talked about for a number of years in our community. And there has been general agreement by successive governments to do it. Obviously, it always
comes down to money, especially when you are facing tough times —

Always money.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Always money. But when
you face tough times, you know, sometimes you make a decision that you cannot put a programme in [now],
but you have to start somewhere and you have to do
it. And that makes it important, Mr. Chairman, that we
have a comprehensive plan on how we would do it.
Now I remember that when we discussed it
there were a number of different options that were
offered, and we wanted to get the programme moving
so we selected an option. A nd so I am a bit concerned, Mr. Chairman, because when the budget was
tabled for this current year —it was tabled last Febr uary—before we even had the Budget Debate the Mi nister gave a statement about the Coast Guard and
that we were going to vire some mone y from various
heads to make it happen. And that is all well and good
if the Minister believes that this is the appropriate way
to go.
What I would like to get is some comfort and
understanding that as we develop this plan —and the
Minister did refer to it in his brief, that the development
of a full -time Coast Guard . . . and it had to be maybe
9, 10 or 11 different important points involved (I was
trying to write them down but my writing is not that
fast) but it was law enforcement inshore, search and
rescue, support of HM Customs and [to combat]
smuggling, working with the BPS in a joint hybrid
model, joint operations with the BPS, support fishing regulations, support Marine and Ports for maritime
regs, support maritime and border security —there is a
lot in that. And so when we look this year $349,000
was spent for this current financial year, which ends at the end of this month, there is no money put in for the
next financial year.
But with the development of the Coast Guard
there are going to have to be s ignificant resources, so
I suggest to the Honourable Minister that it would be
very prudent for my colleagues and I to have an un-derstanding of what the Government envisions is the
model that they have— not the responsibilities b ecause you have outlined those quite clearly —but what
is the model? How many people does it involve in the
first, second, third, fourth year? What [amount of]
money is involved in it? What is the equipment that it needs to [be purchased] to run?
So, you know, it is obvious that the G overnment has a schematic of a plan, but we do not know much about the budget, we do not know much about


Bermuda House of Assembly training, and we do not know much about the impl ementation time frame. Because there was a commi tment to sometime in June last year and I believe that
commitment has moved on from us at this point in
time.
This is an important initiative that we have to
get right. Now, it is always about the money, so I want
to know what the plan is, how the money will be
wrapped around it, the individuals concerned, training
and things that I have outlined. And you know we
support this initiative. But I have to imagine, based on comments from the Government about the need to
move forward . . . I would have to imagine, Mr. Chai rman, that the Regiment and the Bermuda Polic e Se rvice are in a somewhat difficult position because they
are working together to make sure the responsibilities
(as they currently are aligned) are still in place. And
that relationship cannot continue to work.
The police have some boats, the Regiment
has some boats. That equipment is not cheap. So if we have a plan we need to have money wrapped around that plan and we need to make sure that we
are accountable to this House, to the people in Bermuda, with the money wrapped around the plan.
Mr. Chairman, I turn to page C -7, I think it is
(yes, C -7), for a short period of time, Facility. As the
Minister knows, the Minister was an officer in the Reg-iment so he is well aware of the facility, probably ev ery nook and cranny up in that facility. Unfortunately, one of the challenges that we have [is that] gover nment has hundreds of buildings. I think the Shadow
Minister of Public Works said over 700 buildings at
one time when we were having that discussion and with that the necessity to maintain those buildings.
The Regiment is on a footprint that has need
of repair along the way and there is nothing in [here]
for the estimates for this financial year. And the question to the Honourable Minister is not so much the
cost of what needs to be done, but is there a plan that
has been moulded to look to make sure that over time and depending on what money Government can put
to that, that the Bermuda Regiment will get the atte ntion it needs in certain parts of their facility? Because
as far as I know that footprint is not changing and so
we need to have a plan that we can work over time and when we can apportion money to it in the appr opriate way.
Mr. Chairman, I turn my attention now to the
Police on Head 7, [page] B -277.

Yes, you may proceed.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you, sir.
Let me start by saying that, you know, this is
one of those security service departments that are
critical, but it is one where the roles and the respons ibilities change so fast depending on what is going on
in the community a nd how the world and our comm unity changes. And so, you know, I appreciate the way they adapt and the way they get things done. And I
want to continue to express my support for the Bermuda Police Service and I want to publicly take this as
the first budget that the new Commissioner of Police
probably has had the opportunity to be involved in—I
want to congratulate the Commissioner and his colleagues for the work they have done.
My colleagues and I do notice the community
involvement that is taking place, w e do notice the
need to continue to bring partners on board in the
community, and that is an approach that we will su pport going forward.
Let me use this opportunity on this head because it applies to other heads, that in the Budget Book, sorry, in the Budget Statement that the Minister
of Finance read out, it said that the pay awards for
some civil service personnel would be 2 per cent.
Now, in the last Budget Book it said the pay award for
civil service would be 2.5 per cent. So, I have a question . . . a couple of questions. Which number is right,
2 per cent or the 2.5 per cent?
And a question pertaining to these heads, Mr.
Chairman, is, Where do we stand with the negoti ations with the Police, with Corrections? I assume the
Regiment falls in there and the Bermuda Fire and
Rescue Service fall in there as well. And I know in all
of those negotiations they are somewhat complicated because the police have a different scenario with their health care and the cost of the health care. So I would
ask for an update from the Honourable Minister,
Where do we stand with the negotiations? And has
the money been built into the budget? I think that is the critical question: Has the money been built into the
budget?
I know that not too long ago . . . the negoti ation team has changed over time, but I understand
that when all is said and done and when all the
agreements take place it will have to be backdated to
2017. So, the longer the clock ticks the more challen ging it normally is to get something done, and the more
money it is going to cost because it has to go back to
a couple of years ago. So, has any money been built
into these organisations who have not yet been approved [for pay increases], and where do we stand?
My honourable colleague spoke about drones
in a number of areas and I just —

Line item, Honourable Member ,
please.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: I am talking about line item
. . . I am on [page] B -278—

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: No, it does not say drone,
but it does talk about services that could be . . . services that are provided under the police.
828 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly And so I do believe that here, and also in Corrections, this is a relatively inexpensive way we could
have security services work together to be successful
in certain areas. And I do believe there might have
been a pilot programme from a couple of years ago and I would urge the Honourable Minister to look at
that and provide some updates on where we might
stand.
Staying with [page] B -278, there are a couple
of areas generally that I wanted to touch on. My co lleague focused in on the fleet for the Bermuda Police
Service, whether it is cars, bikes or other types of v ehicles, and through reference to the Minister’s comments that resources were in need and asked some
very pertinent questions. What I find interesting is that . . . and as my colleague said, the Bermuda Police
Service use their vehicles 24/7. Probably somebody gets out of a car and somebody else gets back in the
car at the end of the shift.
What I find interesting is that there were
$300,000 allocated (and you can go back to [page] C -
14, I believe it was, Mr. Chairman, $300,000 allocated) for vehicles in the Bermuda Police Service in
2017/18, and only $267,000 was used.
This year there is $150,000 for that and . . .
you k now, that probably only buys two cars. But the
Bermuda Regiment has an allocation for vehicles of $200,000. And I found that quite striking based on the
Minister’s comments that the budget was probably a bit short in certain areas. So I want to support my colleague in understanding the age of the fleet of the
Bermuda Police Service. And I think it is important to
know how many vehicles are currently off the road, and are those vehicles able to be repaired or are they
past their effective use date.
And the s ame thing applies with the police
bikes. I know some of those bikes are back probably
from 2010 vintage. And because now roadside sobri ety is very important —and I commend the Government
for making it happen. And the police are being quite
effective with the number of days that they do it, it is
being done to a large extent by officers who are using
bikes, in many cases, and the stepped- up policing of
our roads is done by bikes. So I think we need to support the police in making sure that the resources that
we have can be fixed and repaired and that we are not impacting policing in any way because we cannot
get the number of cars or bikes on the road, and that
reflects basically right to page B -278.
Staying on page B -278, Mr. Chairman, if you
look at the line item that deals with Drugs and Intell igence Division, 0708, you will see that the budget for
the current financial year 2018/19 was $2.788 million.
You will see, Mr. Chairman, that the budget for the
next financial year starting April 1
st will be $2.574 m illion, so that is a $214,000 [decrease]. I would like to
understand from the Honourable Minister the reason
for that decrease. Obviously, policing is much more
complex than it used to be and with the PACE regul a-tions there is much more that they have to p ay atte ntion to in making sure that they are conforming with the rules, regulations and procedures. We have financial crime, we have corruption, there is a new corru ption and bribery Act that was put in place. We certainly
have violence that hits our community, whether it is
gun crime or murder.
And so questions arise around the reasoning
for the reduction in investigations, because I know there has got to be many investigations that are taking
place. So the questions to the Honourable Minister is,
How man y open investigations are there at the pr esent time? How many investigations are unsolved and
are cold cases? And what is the percentage of convi ction on charges that are brought forward?
Now, I ask these questions and the Minister
can answer in the way th at he believes appropriate
because I do not want to delve into any specific investigations because that is the remit of the police and we
should allow them to get on with their job. But I want
to make sure that the $2.574 million that we have that
is put t owards that —a reduction —can actually get on
and deal with investigations. Because in talking to
family and people that I know who have been impac ted by crime, certainly serious crime, one of the first
things that brings them some type of comfort is to
know that it is in good hands, that it is being invest igated and justice will be done. And so it is important
to know just how many cases we have that are unsolved . . . the percentage of total investigations that
are unsolved cold cases, and the conviction rate we
have when we [prosecute the] crimes that take place.
I guess another way to look at it is how much
money is devoted in the Drugs and Intelligence Div ision or Scenes of Crime Unit —whichever one you
want to call it —how much money is devoted to active
cases and cold cases? And I think we need to support
that as it moves forward.
I note, also staying on page B -278, Mr.
Chairman—

Yes.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: I note that the line item
17120, Marine and Road Policing Unit, has a budget
of $475,000 which is unchanged this financial year to
the next financial year. And I ask the Honourable Mi nister if he can provide a breakdown of how much of
that actually is for marine and how much of that act ually goes to the Road Policing Unit.

Yes.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: And as an offshoot based
on what my colleague and I had been talking about
earlier, how is the relationship worked this coming
financial year between the police and the Regiment as far as our maritime policing? Are the res ources going
to be used for both [authorities] as we have [been d oBermuda House of Assembly ing] with the money coming from both as needed and
we to use it in an appropriate way? And how will we
make sure that the budget is open and transparent
and allocated to the appropriate heads?
Staying on Police, Mr. Chairman, if you go
back to the end of the Budget Book to page C -14, I
appreciate the Honourable Minister’s mentioning the
generator and the police computer systems update.
There has been talk the last couple of years about
using the CCTV system in more enhanced ways, and
my honourable colleague touched on that, and I want
to support that. And so a question in relation to that as
we do move forward because some of the things that
were said in the last year’s budget are the carbon
copy of what was said this year, you know, maybe speed cameras . . . enhanced use of it in certain
ways, but Mr. Chairman—
Hon. Wayne Caines: Point of clarification.

Thank you, Mr. Minister.
You may proceed.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: The country, unless we
need cameras at the headquarters to watch speeding up there. But my question relies . . . goes back more
to page C -14. The line item 76902, Public Safety
COM System of $3.1 million, can the Honourable Mi nister giv e a breakdown of how that is going to be all ocated in this financial year? There was $895,000 for the current financial year that has been used, so if the
Minister can give some explanation of that.
Turning to page B -281, Mr. Chairman, there is
a performance measure that says the annual cost of absenteeism among police personnel and the original forecast for 2018/19 was $800,000. We see the actual
outcome for 2017/18 now is $936,543. That is a signi ficant amount, but you have to remember that there
are, yo u know, a lot of personnel in that department.
So the revised forecast for the current financial year now is $1.09 million and the targeted outcome for the next financial year is $900,000.
So can the Honourable Minister please pr ovide some understanding t o my colleagues and I . . .
the reason for an extra $200,000 as the performance measure for the annual cost of absenteeism?
Now let me say so my comments are clear
that it is a hazardous job at the best of times. But if we see estimates or performance measures continuing to
increase I think it behoves us, certainly as Opposition
Members, to drill down and examine and to support
the Government in trying to make sure we are more
efficient, or to deal with the challenge that there might be within the Bermuda Police Service. So, while we
know that it is very difficult to make their job less ha zardous than it is, certainly in the times that we live in,
it is important that if absenteeism is on the rise [and] it
is costing the taxpayer more, that we take a look t o
see how we can make sure that we improve it where
we can.
I was a little bit concerned —staying on that on
page B -281, Mr. Chairman—a little bit concerned, if
you look right at the bottom, at the percentage of r eserve officers in the BPS establishment, the original forecast for the current financial year 2018/19 was 25 per cent and it has dropped to 10 per cent. It is
10 per cent next year. The number of hours per a nnum duty performed by the Bermuda Police Reserve
was targeted at 18,500 and now it is goi ng to be 9,000
for this financial year revised, and next year it will be
8,500.
I have always been a big supporter of the
BPS Reserve and there obviously seem to be chal-lenges in getting the numbers that we need and I ask
the question to the Honourable Minister, What is being done to supplement, to augment those numbers? B ecause I think they play an important part and they are
very professional. In fact, I know a number of indivi duals who have in the Reserves for a long period of
time and I give them all the credit in the world for com-ing forward and getting involved, and it certainly helps
our community. And I am sure they get a great deal of
satisfaction out of it, so I [would] appreciate some
overview from the Honourable Minister on the reason
for that downward trend, which does get a bit concer ning.
The last question I will have in regard to the
police, the Minister did say in part of his brief that they
were going to do their best to optimise tech—that was
the word he used—so I am sure he can tie in s ome of
the questions I asked in how we are going to optimise
tech. I believe that with the camera system we have
all over the Island, there are great uses for that ca mera system —great uses and improvements that we
can have —as my colleague referred to.
And I think now it is time we will action it. It will
cost us money to do it, there is no doubt about it, but
the return on that investment, I think, will pay for itself
in a very short period of time. And it is important that we actually use the system becaus e we pay good
money for it, we can enhance it in certain areas and,
you know, optimising the tech just for regular tickets
. . . simple tickets like running stop signs [and] more
important tickets like speeding.
And also, you know, I know the Minister, in my
belief, is keen on using the cameras to allow some of
the communities who feel less safe than others . . . I
830 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly think we need to consider if we need to add cameras
in communities where they will feel more comfortable
having more cameras added into the syst em. So, I
appreciate any update that the Minister can provide on that.
So, turning now to Customs on page B -282,
Mr. Chairman, mostly people only identify Customs
officers when they come in at the airport and they
have got to clear Customs and Immigration, but they
have important responsibilities and they have critical powers too. And so my question goes back to—the same with the police— where do we stand on the pay
raise on the 2.5 [per cent] or the 2 per cent? And is it
built into this budget?
One of the t hings that has been talked about
over a number of years is the filling of vacant posts.
And I am pleased to see that although there are 237
positions at [page] B -283, Mr. Chairman, there are
237 positions that have been approved for some time
within Custom s, that we are staying at the numbers,
you know, just over . . . just north of 190, and they
appear to be able to accomplish their responsibilities
that fall within that.
However, with an organisation as large as
Government it is very important that senior leadership
positions are kept to the highest degree that we can,
and that when people move on we have people who are ready and willing to step up. And I ask the Honourable Minister, What is being done about the future
for senior leadership positions withi n the service? I
know the Collector of Customs, who, I think, has done
an admirable job for a number of years, has expressed some views on retirement over the past cou-ple of years.
So I assume because her husband is now r etired and he is using his boat to fish or whatever, that
retirement will not be too far from her. Not that I am saying that I would like her to retire, but proper succession planning is important, especially for a critical
department like the Customs Department. And so I
ask the Honourabl e Minister to provide some update
on that.
I thought it was interesting, Mr. Chairman,
where the Honourable Minister referred to the various roles as associated with the line items on [page] B -
282, such as Vessel Clearance, Interdiction, [and the]
Sea Port Enforcement Team. And the question to the
Honourable Minister, Now that there are significantly
more cruise ship arrivals coming with more passengers, what is being done to ensure that there is the
right amount of inspections taking place? The budgets
have been relatively consistent over time, but I do see
the Interdiction budget this year on [cost centre]
22100 has an increase of 4 per cent, or $169,000.
And the Minister can correct me if I am not
accurate on this, but interdiction, in my view, does not
pertain to the ongoing and regular occurrence of vessel clearance as [they come] to the Island. And so the
cruise ships, when they come to the Island, I am as-suming they now fall into the vessel clearance categ ory and this budget has not been increased fro m one
financial year to the next. And I wonder what impact
that will have with more cruise ships coming to the
Island.
Turning to the next page B -283, Mr. Chai rman, if you look at the object code description under
expenditures, the very last line, Other Ex penses —

Yes.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: —it says that in this fina ncial year 2018/19 there is $231,000 to be spent. It was not budgeted, but it is to be spent. And I assume there
will be a supplementary coming for that. Can the Honourable Minister please provide some background on
what that number is?
I am interested to find . . . and I did step out a
for short time when my colleague was making his
presentation, but on the Output Measures on page B -
284, Mr. Chairman—

Yes.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: —I am interested to know
why, [comparing] airport Shift A and airport Shift B,
there is a big difference in the seizure of illicit items.
One has 4 and one has 210. I would appreciate some clarification from the Honourable Minister.
Turning my attention to the Department of
Corrections, Mr. Chairman, the same thing applies
there in regard to the pay negotiations and senior leadership positions. What is particularly more interesting there in the senior leadership positions, Mr.
Chairman, is the fact that the Commissioner of Cor-rections was seconded to, I think, the Ministry of F inance, and now recently has been seconded to the Cabinet Office. So the . . . there is an Acting Commi ssioner of Corrections. And the question to the Ho nourable Minister is, What . . . well, I was going to say
what is going on, but the Minister just came back into
the room. But I was going to ask for how long this position will stay acting, but more importantly, because
there has been discussion over the past couple of
years about staffing within Corrections and senior po-sitions within Corrections, what is the succession
planning for the senior positions in Corrections? I think
that it is important to have a strong organisation.
Minister, I might have missed it when you
were going through the presentation, but you did outline the numbers at the Farm facility, but the actual numbers in the Co- Ed and the actual numbers for
Westgate, I did not catch those. So, if you could just
repeat them because I got 93, but I did not get the
other two numbers.
And I will jump to the Output Measures real
quickly because when people get into discussions
about —



Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: What page, Honourable Member ?

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Page B -288.

Thank you.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: When people get into di scussions, whether it is politicians or concerned me mbers of the community, about the cost of Corrections,
they say . . . in this year’s Budget Book it says “the
average cost of incarceration per inmate is $71,595”
and that is based on maximum capacity. However,
that is an output measure that we need to refine because if maximum capacity, as it says, is the total expenditure divided by 372, if you have got 200 inmates up there, your costs are not changing.
So I think we ne ed to have a better performance measure rather than cost per inmate based on
maximum capacity. Because we have not had max imum capacity in Corrections for a number of years
and there are a number of reasons behind that —
because, you know, the electronic monitoring devices,
because of the effective use of parole, and all those
things —so, you know, I would rather for a budget d ebate have a number that can mean much more to us
than that.
Going back to page B -286, Mr. Chairman—

Yes.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: —the Honourable Minister
did say that there was only one psychologist available
and that they were working hard to get the other two.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: And they are filling in with
consultants. So there are a couple of questions here.
How much have we paid for the ad hoc consultants
over the last financial year? Because my honourable
colleague did point out that the budget had gone up
from $429,000 to $509,000. So how much did we pay for those ad hoc consultants? But more importantly,
this is not a new issue. This issue has been going on
for as long as I can remember politics. And when I
was a Minister one of the most important things I tried to do was to make sure we had three psychologists up
there just because of the key nature of what was . . .
what was involved in that.
[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: And I hear the Honourable
Deputy Speaker say we are not debating that. But the
Honourable Member can have a chance to say . . . I
am tryin g to provide some context here. If . . . if we
have a hard time in filling those positions —and that is
a fact —it would be important to identify why it is so
hard to fill those positions, why it is so hard to retain those people for a period of time, and wh at can we do
about it. Because, you know, it has got to come down
to a combination of a couple of things. One, it might
take too long to fill a position where these well -trained,
well-qualified people, by the time you get back to them
and say, Mr. Jones, i t’s your job.
They say, Sorry, I already accepted another
job three months ago. It could be that. It could be the
process is taking too long.
It could be one of salary —

Line item . . . line item?
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Line item [page] B -286,
Educational Services. It says that the Educational Services, the $300,000 attributed to this programme,
and I assume that is the cost of the education manag-er and all supplies. And there was a comment in the
paper today that the gang coordinator and the educ ation manager at Corrections got the same remuner ation. I would lik e confirmation that this is the case, that
it is the same remuneration [of] $125,000 a year. B ecause if that is the case, then we have only got a
small amount of money for all the other educational services we have out there. And it is critical that the
inmates up there have services that are required.
I already dealt with parolees in another area. I
am aware, Mr. Chairman, that there . . . obviously,
there is always fluidity in Corrections with at least four
locations that the organisation is run from, whether it is headquarters, whether it is Westgate, whether it is
the Farm, whether it is the Co- Ed facility. The Honourable Minister talked about the therapeutic comm unity centre and it was displaced for a while and now it is back there. We spend a signific ant amount of money, I think the Budget Book in the back pages it is
about $156,000, for the Headquarters up in the Clock
Tower. It is a nice headquarters. Is there any opportunity to look at moving those back within premises
again? And I say that for a couple of reasons. I always
thought it strange to have the headquarters up there,
but if you are stressed and you need the facilities, that would be an appropriate place to put them. But, you
know, if . . . if the Commissioner or any supporting
832 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly staff have to go from their headquarters up in the
Clock Tower to St. George’s that is a long drive unless
they take the ferry, and the ferry does not run all day
long.
So, now that Government is looking to bring
stuff back in- house, and the Clock Tower is a nice
resource to rent out in other areas, is there any place
within the premises that we can bring those 12 staff
back to, as per the Budget Book?
In relation to the Therapeutic Community Ce ntre on line item 35090, I would just like some input,
feedback from the Honourable Minister on how many
people successfully graduated from that programme
in the last year. I am well aware of the importance of
that programme and the success it has had in the past.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: The therapeutic community programme that you have within the facility.

Line item 35090.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
you are pretty sharp, man.
Turning to the Bermuda Fire [and] Rescue
Services, Head 45, [page] B -295. It is interesting if
you look at the Hansard from last year, and as my
colleague talked about, a lot of the output measures
are similar —to replace the ageing ambulance, which
provides emergency medical care for the East End of
the Island. So the money was appropriated in the
budget and has not been used. To replace the self -
contained breathing apparatus, to employ 15 new r ecruits . . . so if the ageing ambulance was a critical
factor for the current financial year, has that provided
any shortcomings over this financial year, because the
number of calls is quite significant and the amount of time that those vehicles are on the road is quite signi ficant.
I am pleased to see that the turntable ladder
. . . one year down payment has been made and the
next is coming. You know, it is an expensive piece of
equipment that does not get used often, and people
make excuses about it from time to time. But it is a piece of equipment that needs to be in the arsenal.
The Honourable Minister . . . a question in r egard to . . . and this falls into page B -295 and General
Administration. I look for an update on the implementation of the Fire Safety Act. And the reason why I
said that is because that was probably one of the most drafted pieces of legislation that we had—I think
it was 14 or 15 different drafts of it —that has implic ations to the community as far as safety, obviously, but
also cost. And it is a cost to the Bermuda Fire [and] Rescue Service, so just an update on how that is being implemented and how we will handle the cost for i t
to go forward. I might have missed it in the presentation the
Minister gave, but last year they talked about the i mplementation and installation of five fire apparatuses, the mobile data terminals, and I am just looking for an
update on those, if they we re installed, and if they are
continuing to install more of those in there.
Last year there was a great deal of convers ation about investigations. And, Mr. Chairman, in ever ything that has come back to me the Bermuda Fire
[and] Rescue Service do a fantasti c job of investigating fires and that takes experience and well -trained
personnel. I am just curious to know the outcome for the investigation on the fire on Front Street and the
outcome for the investigation on the fire at Rober tson’s Drug Store in St. George’s.
And I say that because significant resources
were tied up into that and when you have large fires
like that, thankfully, Mr. Chairman, we do not get them
that often . . .
if we can learn something from them on
our techniques, or if things need to be improved as far as regulation or how people handle their buildings,
whether it be a dwelling or a business, I think it is i mportant that we implement those. And I think there
was a commitment to make some statement on both
of those investigations and I have not heard anything
at this time in regard to those. So I thank the Honourable Minister in advance for that.
Mr. Chairman, I just have . . . and I am looking
for the line item. The Honourable Minister gave a
statement a short time ago about payoffs or pay-outs
to 26 individuals who made complaints to the Police Complaints Authority. I would ask the Honourable
Minister where the funding has come from, which line
item is it budgeted from, and will there be a suppl ementary estimate for that?

Are you done?
Okay. I would like to invite anybody else who
would like to speak to Heads 83, 6, 7, 12, 25, and 45
for the Ministry of National Security. Is there anybody
else that would like to speak to the Ministry and those heads?
No?


Bermuda House of Assembly Minister, you may proceed with your responses. Well, you have approximately one hour left.

Hon. Wayne Caines: If it pleases you, Mr. Chairman.

Yes, thank you.

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, I am just going to
answer these questions in no particular order as we
have prepared responses to questions that were
posed this morning by MP Smith and MP Dunkley.
The question was asked: The parole increase,
why the increase and how much? The increase to the
Parole Board is $40,000. This is to cover the payment
to the Board of fees due to the increase in Parole Board meetings.
Mr. Chairman, there is an increase and it is
based on there being a number of people that are b eing considered for parole. There is another segment to
that which is in contemplation of there being a review
meeting. So a person comes and they [meet] the P arole Board. And after they [meet] the Parole Board
there are specific meetings that are set up after that
for different people who have been released from their
incarceration. And they come back for parole review
meetings. There was opportunity, and people said,
Well, just why are you having so many meetings?
Well, the meetings are held on a once- a-month basis
in the main. But the challenges are that these are
people that have day jobs, so you cannot have meetings all day. So there are prescribed meetings for two
or three, maybe four hours a day, max, obviously, because people have to go back to work.
The DRRM (Disaster Risk and Reduction and
Mitigation), what is the overlapping with the EMO?
Just a general point of understanding, the EMO is an
ad hoc committee that comes together when there is a
crisis. So their planning is not something that takes
place on an every day . . . on a regular basis. If there
is a hurricane that is coming to Bermuda, or if there is
a natural disaster, this committee is actually formed
thereupon based on the imminent threat to the cou ntry. It does not allow us to plan for the future. It does
not allow us to look at contingencies. It does not allow
us to look at best practices. It does not allow us to talk about cybersecurity. It does not allow us to work on terrorism . . . threats of terrorism.
Now with the DRRM we are able to segment
the training, segment what the country is doing with reference to threats —imminent threats to Bermuda—
and put planning in place with specific people from different departments. The EMO has never had any full-time staff. Under the previous Government they
had a senior police officer who coordinated the E MO
activities. He was seconded full -time, and now heads
up the DRRM. He is also the national disaster coordi-nator, the EMO coordinator, and the national events
coordinator. The DRRM costs overlap with other agencies.
It does not consider all other staff costs (that was the
question). The answer is: The salaries of the DRRM
team are paid by the original departments for the duration of the project.
Now the question is: Why are we taking pe ople from other different departments and creating the
Department of Ri sk Reduction and Mitigation? The
reason why is simple. It is one of money. If we had the
opportunity . . . we saw from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office that they highlighted the fact that
this was something that all of the [BOTs] [British
Overseas Terri tories] had to do, this was something
that we had to realise as a country.
The Finance Minister . . . and when we talked,
everyone had departments. But you cannot at one bite
of the cherry say, Listen, this Government must be
prudent. This Government must understand the debt
ceiling. This Government must know what its limit ations are financially. We are responsible. And as Mi nisters of Government we have opportunity to look at what the budget is overall and make the necessary changes, adjustments to affect our debt ceiling, to affect the budget overall.
And one of the things we had to do differently
on this occasion . . . and I will be the first to say it is
not the perfect set of circumstances. It was my first and it was my wish to have the DRRM squared aw ay,
allow them to have all the facilities that they need, to
have a designated budget for them to go forward.
However, the budget does not allow for that. So what
did we have to do? We had to look from within our departments, find key people, find people w ith the
necessary skills, and make the best out of this situa-tion. There is a plan in the not too distant future to
look at making . . . to regularise this position. But you
saw it. We had to do the same thing with the Bermuda Regiment. Yet, we are doing t he same thing with the
Coast Guard.
So we cannot say with any degree of certainty
that next year this is what the numbers are, because it
is based on the budget. If you look at the numbers for
the Ministry of National Security, it is $134 million.
Well, we did not increase that because we could have
come in here with a much larger budget with all of
those things considered. Look at the number —it is still
$134 million. Look at the Police— $64.5 million. Look
at the police numbers again this year, $164 million, in contemplation of the bigger budget.
And it is not done in absentia, but considering
a number of other factors. So when you look at these things in a silo and then separate them, you say that
this DRRM has not been considered properly. That is
not cor rect. It has been considered properly based on
the limitations that we have with the budget. We have
had to work within those limitations to make sure that
we have considered protecting all of the national vital interests of the people of Bermuda, and we have done
so. And how have we done so?
834 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly We have a police inspector and he is repr esenting the police, he is being paid $117,000 a year.
His name is Steve Cosham [and] he is salaried up
until June 9, 2018. A Fire Divisional Officer, he is being paid $112,000 per year, his name is Troy Furbert,
and he is responsible, obviously, for the fire elements of it. We have a police sergeant, Mr. Lyndon Raynor,
he is responsible for the event planning elements of it,
he is being paid $107,000. Warrant Officer Class 2
Llewellyn [Dean] Rubaine, he is responsible for putting all the military expertise behind the National Plan.
Principal [Customs] Officer Kelly Trott, at $104,000 a
year, she is responsible for putting together all of the
maritime . . . she is responsible for putting together
the strategy with reference to the cruise ship term inals.
And that helps make up . . . and the total
budget with salaries and the training piece is just over
$813,000 that has come from the requisite depar tments.
The next question was: If you have people
that have been seconded from specific government departments, how does their being seconded affect
the day -to-day running of the ministries from which
they have come? The six seconded staff have brought
contingency planning process from their home departments to the DRRM. In many cases this planning was not either completed or very little work had been
carried out.
Actually, let me correct that, I just wanted to
go . . . what is the effect on the departments the six
staff are coming from? And I just want to talk about
the six people are responsible for.

You may proceed.

Hon. Wayne Caines: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
By centralising staff from within the Ministry,
this allows for good collaboration in helping to develop
a National Plan, which includes an Airport Emergency
Plan, a Cruise Ship Plan (to include a mass rescue
plan), the Marine Pollution Contingency Plan, the
Counter -Terrorism Plan, updating Key Points Install ation Plan, the National Cybersecurity Plan and Government’s Cybersecurity Plan, the Chemical Facilities
Contingency Plan. This also includes planning for national events and the coordination.
To clarify: Steve Cosham is responsible . . .
he is the National Disaster Coordinator. He is second-ed from the BPS. He lea ds on hurricanes, counter -
terrorism, public health, climate change and adapt ation. He is a member of the Airport Emergency Pla nning Committee.
Kelly Trott, the Principal Customs Officer. She
leads on the Seaport Security Committee, cruise ship planning, mass evacuations, airport emergency plan-ning.
Troy Furbert, the Divisional Officer. He is s econded from the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service. He is responsible for hazardous materials, chemical
facilities, and BELCO plants.
Warrant Officer Class 2 Dean Rubain e has
responsiblity for revamping key point installations that
are critical to key national infrastructure. Key points,
Mr. Chairman, these are specific installations to Bermuda that, if there was a national emergency or national disaster or something with international security,
they would come under the most risk. So BELCO
would be one of the key installations.

Yes.

Hon. Wayne Caines: So the key operating plan is
then for all the key points in Bermuda––Mr. Rubaine is
responsible for putting together a plan around our n ational key infrastructure. He is responsible for the r egional tsunami exercise and for putting together our hurricane planning.
Stuart Daniels , he is a security manager. He
is seconded from the ITO Department. He is responsible for putting together our ITO strategy.
Lyndon Raynor, police officer, sergeant —he is
the National Event Coordinator. He chairs the Joint
Agency Event Safety meetings team. He is respons ible for all agencies that contribute to safety at professionally run events. He also has to handle all national
disaster plans. [We are] by nature a small Island, so
he is responsible for putting the plans together around making sure that Cup Match is safe, the Triathlon. If
we were to do a similar event to the America’ s Cup,
he would be the person who would head up the N ational Event Planning Authority, making sure that all
agencies are working together, a plan that covers the
national infrastructure.
What is the plan to make the people perm anent, and how do we deal wi th the staff shortages?
The six staff seconded to the DRRM [ Disaster Risk
Reduction and Mitigation] . . . under the previous
Government it was realised that one person could not
complete all of the tasks that were being asked of him
and extra staff would b e needed. Under the previous
Government, again, a review was completed on our
disaster management capabilities, which were measured against 64 standards. Bermuda did not pass one standard —

Hmm.

Hon. Wayne Caines: —due to, mainly, there bein g no
disaster management legislation being put in place.
They wanted to lay the foundation for a disaster management programme and to codify the remit of the
Emergency Measures Organisation [EMO]. The prev ious Government did announce a plan to draft this l egislation. The disaster management legislation has
been drafted and, when enacted, will formally esta blish the DRRM and codify the EMO into law.


Bermuda House of Assembly In other words, the previous Government ind icated that they would draft legislation to put in place
the DRRM and codify it, and make sure the EMO had
the necessary elements to put this in place. It was not done. This Government came in and we are now en-acting a plan that was not acted upon as promised.

Thank you.

Hon. Wayne Caines: The disaster management le gislation will be drafted and it will establish formally the
DRRM, and will codify the EMO into law. This will
cause the National Comprehensive Disaster Management Plan to be written and to establish the staf fing of the DRRM. At this time it is expected that other
skill sets outside the Ministry of National Security will
be added.
Now, the DRRM team includes health management for disasters, as one of my colleagues in the
Opposition asked about the health management el ements of the disaster. This Government is looking at
legislation, and steps are underway to start drafting. In
other words, we understand that it is untenable for us
to continue with pulling people from each department.
It is going to require some legislation. After the legisl ation is put in place we will start at the drafting process
. . . excuse me, we start the consultation for the draf ting process. When that is completed, we then will obviously know the process. It will traverse to make that
become law.
What requests have been made by the d epartments to have their staff members returned? The answer: The Minister is meeting with the department heads and the resourcing unit as part of ongoing di scussions.
Explain the differences [of] Professional Services on [page] B -271. The $500,000 from Immigr ation to Professional Services will bring the total to
$1,119,000.
The Gang Unit : How can all of this be done
with one person? The question refers to the job descriptions of Pastor Bean and Darren Woods. The
team does, indeed, only cons ist of two people. And
the Ministry is well aware of how they are stretched
thinly, and overworked, and constantly required to
perform at a high level late into the night and, often-times, [on] the weekends. The team has built strong
working relationships and partnerships with various
government departments, quangos, and community
stakeholders, and relies on their assistants to support
and implement the coordination of programmes, services, and initiatives.
So, the question was, you have Pastor Bean
and you have Darren Woods and these are two men.
And you have given us a litany of things that they are responsible for: How will these men carry out their responsibilities? It is plain. [As] an example, there was
a programme at the Elliot [Primary] School, and D arren Woods is the coordinator of the education pr o-gramme. But when he musters at Elliot School there is
an education officer that takes the primary lead. There
is another community programme director that also
takes the lead. And so when he goes into the room,
he is not the primary person responsible for it. He is the coordinator that is actually overseeing (that is my
word), but he is the person, the conduit, for making
sure all the programmes take place.
So you see when you have MOM Bermuda
[Mothers on a Mission]. . . MOM Bermuda is another
example of having Darren leading a community pr ogramme. The MOM Bermuda is a programme for
mothers (or close family members) who have suffered
the loss of a loved one due to gang violence. When
they go to the meeting, Darren is responsible for the
overall administration, but he does not run and lead the meeting. There are people from government hel ping agencies that are actually in the meeting as the
social scientists, as the psychologists, as the admini strators of the actual day -to-day running of the pr ogramme.
So, ultimately, when we are talking about accountability and putting the pieces together for the Ministry, documenting the direction that we are going,
ensuring that we are on plan, they are responsible for
coming back to the Ministry and making sure that we
are on track. But the day -to-day running of these operations is taking place. Community stakeholders, quango partners, volunteers all make sure that this is
running well.
The Ministry and the Gang Violence Reduction Team recognise the need for additional staff. It is
intended that within this fiscal year three part -time
staff will be hired to allow the team to have a dedicat-ed pool of outreach workers who can maintain and
provide services to meet the Government’s mandate.
The funding for these staff is included and has 83
within the allocation for the Gang Violence Reduction
Team. This, again, bears explanation.
A big part of understanding the strategy is that
it is being conducted in three parts. There is the IGET
[Inter-Agency Gang Enforcement Team ] parts, where
the police and customs and the enforcement team are
working on the enforcement. They understand the
police strategy, making sure everything is taking place.
Then there is the education strategy. The education strategy is where we are fully thrusting and pushing out to make sure that we are going into
schools. You will have seen about four press releases
this week. Elliot School, things that are going [on] all around. That is in the full [throes] of developing a
training programme of prevention in the schools. Yes,
that is something that we have to understand.
The next part is the community piece. The
community piece is where Pastor Bean actually sees
the greatest benefit. This is outside of tradition al wor king hours, where he has to go into the community. He
has to make sure that if there is any difficulty, anything
836 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly that flares up outside of his day -to-day task [of] conducing restorative circles at Berkeley or being at a
programme at CedarBridge . . . there are times where
he is required to be directly involved in programmes in the community.
I received a call at ten o’clock last night from
Pastor Bean. There was a gang- related incident in
one of our communities. He was required to leave his home and go to that incident, help these two families
and their sons resolve this matter. I asked him to give me a call when he finished. He called me back at two o’clock in the morning to say that he had finished with
this family; the matter was resolved.
Now, in tandem with where we are going now,
the three community workers that we hire are people
who are going to be stratified, east, west and central.
So if there are concerns in the central part of the
country, the central parishes . . . that will be the co nduit. If there are matters that need help [or] support, if
there are (we call them) “tension flare- ups” in that part
of the community, they go in and they look at the crisis and the tension indicators. And whether clandestine ly
or working in the community, the y are the source.
If there is somebody in the community that
has had a flare- up in a specific neighbourhood, or
somebody is saying, Listen, I have gotten some i nformation that these two guys are about to start to have some problems . . . their responsibil ity in the
community is to be that community conduit to give them the right helping agency, to make sure that
somebody gets to a counsellor, to make sure that
somebody has help getting a job to diffuse a situation.
Right now, that entire modality of balanc ing gang activity in Bermuda, because of where we are, is being
dealt with by Pastor Bean.
Now, understand the challenges that we have.
Why do they need $600,000? In years prior we relied
on the Confiscated Assets Fund, previous Gover nments. That is where the money came from to fund
these initiatives. For reasons that are clear and beaten to death, we now have had to use a different form
to fund a part of what we are doing with reference to
the gang activity.
So the next question was, Why would the additional staffing be needed? I just explained that. We talked about additional staff members, the three addi-tional staff members. The next question is, Why would
they be needed? That was all encapsulated in that
piece.
H4, Headquarters Capital (that is under [ page]
C-14). The question: Public radio safety system. What
is the plan and what does this number consist of? The
current radio system is obsolete and the project plan
is to replace the entire system and the handsets from
multiple departments and will cost $3.1 million.
Now, that $3.1 million . . . now, understand
that a handheld radio, we commonly call them walkie-talkies, this is used by a multiplicity of government
agencies. We have had an open tender process led by the Department of Procurement (and pardon me
for not using the correct terminology, [not] knowing
that specifically). They have looked at it and they have
had the opportunity to have a beauty c ompetition and
they have chosen one vendor that we believe will offer
the service. It is to take the handheld radios and to
allow them to be used across ministries and now i ncluded in that are some other of our government mi nistries. It is a system that has base stations. It is a sy stem that has antennas that are included. It is a system that runs wires through specific locations.
In a former life, I had a much closer affinity to
this. And for a government to have an entire handheld
radio, independent operating system that is not co ntingent on anything else, I believe that it is not only
indeed value for money, it allows us to build in our
own controls, [our] own redundancies over our
handheld radio system which forms a key part of our
national vital infrastructure.
Drones, and the use of drones. We heard
people talking about the use of drones in prisons and
the use of drones as was used in the America’s Cup.
Listen, we did a . . . a test was done by the previous
Government in the use of a drone. During the Amer ica’s Cup there was a pilot programme that was done with the former Government under Minister B aron,
using drones. I believe that it was a successful trial. Coming forward, looking at the budget again, we had to make some very difficult decisions. The difficult decision centred around not whether the drone company
that was used was a good idea.
I have been to all the “good idea” meetings.
This was a piece of kit that we believe would have
great benefit to Bermuda. But when we are looking at
the budget for each one of the departments, we have
to look at how we maximise the use of human beings
[and] how we maximise the use of technology. We have looked at what the drones could do [and] the
limitation of drones. We had people come in from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, specifically the
Ministry of Defence. We discussed the option of
drones and there were two challenges. Number one,
we believed it was cost prohibitive. And number two,
the military attachés that came to give us advice, they
did not believe that the drones that were on offer were the best form and use of that form of technology.
Do I believe that we should use drone tec hnology? I believe that there is a time coming when we have to consider that. What is the impediment to us
doing that now? It is that there are budget constraints.
Jobs being transferred from the Bermuda P olice Service to the Bermuda Regiment. So you have
Government House, you have outside of this very
door, our very door here, and you have the Premier’s
residence. They are all using police personnel. Now,
the question cannot be one about the use of money
because all we are doing, if it is based on money, is
transferring money from the Police Department to the


Bermuda House of Assembly Bermuda Regiment. It is different. This is about looking at the strength of both organisations.
What is the Bermuda Regiment doing? The
Bermuda Regiment is actuall y changing its modus
operandi . HADR [ Humanitarian Aid and Disaster R elief] and MACA (Military [Aid] to the Civil Authority)
and what we are doing with operating with reference to national disasters and emergencies. A huge part of
making the Regiment bullet proof and using them in
other ways . . . we believe that you can get more with
the Bermuda Regiment soldiers manning static points.
The Bermuda Police Service, they are at 426
police officers right now. We believe to have police
officers in a more operatio nal capacity, it makes more
sense taking police officers away from Government
House, outside of our building, and away from the
Premier’s residence and putting them back in oper ational roles. It allows us to have more boots on the ground in an operational capacity.
Now, if you look at that in absentia of what the
overarching plan is, the overarching plan for police for
the Bermuda Regiment is to look at the landscape and
tilt and twist and turn to make sure that our agencies
are indeed fit for purpose. So what are we able to do
with the Bermuda Police Service? Just watch it! The
Bermuda Police Service, though the budget is shrinking, we have now laser -like precision, and we can say,
Okay, we are going to take in our parish constables.
In the parish constabl es though, in that office, we are
also going to put members from the Criminal Invest igation Department [CID] in that same office. Yes?
So understand the difference that we have
now. Parish Constables Office . . . we all grew up with
them. MP Smith is a li ttle younger than me, so he
might not know anything about the parish constables.
But the parish constables are where you were able to
have a community presence. They are able to be up
and down the community. But just look at the stroke of
genius. You take that same office, that will not require
much, you put a member of the CID there. The police have limited resources with reference to manpower.
So if you take them from Government House, if you
take them from outside this building, if you take them from the Premier’s residence, that allows them to be
more operational and we believe that is more bang for the buck.
Policies. Are there policies being looked at
about transitions in place for retirement and long- term
limits of officers in the Bermuda Regiment? S o the
Bermuda Regiment has short -term positions and longterm positions. If my memory serves me correctly (and I will rely on it), there are 31 full -time members of the
Bermuda Regiment. Yes? Within that full -time Regiment, the Bermuda Regiment and the uni form services . . . unlike most organisations, you know who is
who based on the ranking structure. So, you cannot
look at the Bermuda Regiment and say, Oh, I don’t
know who is going to be the next Colonel. Or, Oh, I
don’t know who is going to be the next S ergeant M a-jor. The beautiful part about a ranked uniform service
is that, based on a person’s rank in the Bermuda Regiment, you can tell based on that what comes next. It
is a beautiful opportunity for training. It is a beautiful
opportunity for development.
So if you look at the Regimental Sergeant Major post, then you look within the Warrant Officers and
Sergeants Mess to the highest non- commissioned
officer, which would be a Warrant Officer Class 2. And
you will amongst all the Warrant Officer Class 2 and
you will say, I am choosing a Regimental Sergeant
Major. Well, then, you don’t need to look outside the
battalion to train anybody. The very nature of the organisation is that that is how you train and you develop.
So if you are on Civvy Street, you hav e to
bring people in. The organisation, based on its rank -
and-file system, begets people being trained for the
next rank. The challenge is when we bring people in
from overseas. The staff officer, historically, has a lways been a representative of the Unite d Kingdom. I
believe that that is a practice that will continue for the
foreseeable future. I am not sure if that is by conve ntion, or that is by law, but there are some posts that
have come here from abroad.
But to your point directly, all the positions i n
the Bermuda Regiment . . . there is talent and there
should be a mechanism in place for there to be a natural evolution for people to attain to those posts. The
Bermuda Regiment understood that with the numbers
they are having, that there was challenge i n getting
commissioned officers in the Bermuda Regiment. Last
week they had a reception for a direct entry pr ogramme which has borne fruit in the UK. So you go directly to a pool of people who might have talent in
specific areas and you target them directl y and you
pull them in and say that you want them in the Ber-muda Police Service.
The next question is, Is 420 still the guiding
number for the Bermuda Regiment? Should the num-ber be revised? Let me say this, and talk about the
revised number of the Bermuda Regiment. Everybody
is focusing on the numbers of the Bermuda Regiment.
And I believe that that is a failing. I believe it is a fai ling to look at numbers. Let me tell you why. You have
to look at roles. Yes? Because when you are looking
at a number, if the Bermuda Regiment said 10 years
ago they had 500 people, a number of those people
would not have been fit for purpose; they would have
be conscripts. So at the end of three years and two
months you would automatically see a mass exodus of people based on the fact that their time was over.
Now in the Bermuda Regiment, conscription
has ended. If you get . . . and again, I am relying on
my memory. If you had 65 soldiers at the end of two
recruit camps, you then have people . . . there is no
end to their term. So they are not saying at the end of
three years they are automatically going to leave. And
so when we were saying before, Oh, my goodness,
838 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly we are not going to have enough numbers, that was
based on conscription, and a mass exodus at the end
of three y ears and two months.
Now, when people are joining the Bermuda
Regiment, we have to do things differently, and that is
why we are trying to do roles specifically. Yes? We
are saying that the terminology “Bermuda’s insurance
policy” . . . I have always felt that that was a nonsense; because it is not purposed. It is not disciplined.
We are saying HADR [High Availability Disaster R ecovery], that we are going to focus on humanitarian
training and humanitarian efforts. And so if there was
a humanitarian need in Bermuda, they will be trained.
They will be going to St. Vincent and the Grenadines,
and our soldiers will be trained for humanitarian [efforts]. So if there is another earthquake, like we did in
exercise RUMAN, our soldiers went to BVI [British
Virgin Is lands] and they helped. That is a part of
HADR. And guess what? We will be compensated by
the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for our soldiers
going abroad.
Let’s look at that differently. MACA, Military
[Aid] to the Civil Authority. If there is ever a need for
internal security, the Bermuda Regiment soldiers will
be trained. So what we have to look at differently is
the evolution of the Bermuda Regiment into a different
plan. We were so focused on getting numbers, we
were not focused on the Bermuda Regiment having a clear purpose. The purpose of the Regiment is clear.
And now we have to work on keeping soldiers.
Now, remember the thing that no one has di scussed. The part that was discussed, if numbers get really narrow, or really thin, we have the ability . . .
and that is in plan. So what was the first step? The
first step was to end conscription. Yes? Last year we had the first couple of recruit camps, two in one year.
And we saw that we got 65 at the end of the year.
Last week Friday concluded another camp and we have 25 next year. Numbers are not great, but if we
get another 25, we are at 50. Right? That in two
years, those are solid numbers to keep the battalion
strong.
After we finish this phase, the next part for the
Bermuda Regiment is for the Bermuda Regiment to
enact and mobilise its reserve unit. Now, the reserve
unit are men like myself, who have finished their mil itary service, got a little beer belly on them (mine is
obviously from soda), and they have the military trai ning. They would like to g et together a couple days a
year to have the military training [and] make sure that
all the shooting cards, all the training is up to date. But that forms the backbone of what the Regiment will be
like. So everybody is saying . . . and remember, we
are controlling and understanding that they too will fall
between HADR and MACA.
And so, the third part we are underpinning this
is with the Coast Guard. Yes? And so this is why it is going to take some time developing the new opportunity, making sure the Regiment is fit for purpose. The new plans for the Bermuda Regiment still remain
a work in progress. I must highlight at this point,
though, that operational control of the Bermuda Regiment does not lie with the Government. We have all
seen the Constitution Order .

Yes.

Hon. Wayne Caines: So understand where that lies.
However, understanding the plan, being a man of this
country, I think we all have a deep commitment to making sure this goes properly.
The next question was, The Minister referred
to 25 recruits, 65 being the number required, are we at risk for making the numbers? I think I just went through what that was.
What provisions are being made to train Bermudians for the Senior Regiment post? I also believe
that was covered.
I want to go now to the questions around the
police, [page] B -279, the question around the union
negotiations and when those will be completed. Di scussions with the pay negotiations with the board continue. There has been some delay in progress due to
the recent cha nge to the head of the negotiation team .
The next question: Will there be any change
to the shifts? The Bermuda Police Service has intr oduced a new 12- hour shift pattern for watch or patrol
teams across a 14 pattern, thereby increasing the
number of resources visibly working in the community. Additionally, the 12- hour shift pattern has been applied to the armed response resources enabling
greater resilience and operational capability. The shift pattern was agreed and endorsed by the Bermuda
Police Associa tion and is being monitored in regard to
performance effectiveness, staff well -being, and
community feedback.
Provide an update on the Commissioner’s trip
to the UK and provide the number of personnel being
interviewed, and if Bermudians were being interviewed for that role. The post is for the professional
standards and anti -corruption manager. Let me say
. . . and I would like to just spend a couple of minutes
on this post, as well.
I think sometimes some development points
within our ministries, within our government . . . we
have to put up our hands and say when we could
have done things differently. I accept and respect
what the Police Commissioner does. I believe that he had a detailed plan. However, on his team the post
was not advertised locally fi rst. We believe, without
casting any aspersions, that that was a failing. And it
presented an opportunity for us to do things differently
on a future occasion. We were able to talk with the
Police Commissioner and his team and we both
acknowledged that bet ter lines of communication in
this regard will be to the benefit of both entities within
our Ministry. An important learning lesson for us all.


Bermuda House of Assembly But I believe that this is an opportunity for us
to put this matter, or this particular post . . . for us to
look at what this is at the essence. I believe that there
can be a different alliteration of this post for the greater benefit of the people of Bermuda. In our depar tment we are putting together a paper to take to Cab inet in the not too distant future so we c an discuss
what this post could look like and how we can have it evolve and be of greater benefit to the people of Bermuda.
But just on that post, the role was initially advertised on the Bermuda Police Service website. In total, 28 applicants were receiv ed, and there were 4
from Bermuda. The Commissioner attended the UK
and carried out four interviews with UK applicants alongside Kimberley Durrant, of the Bermuda Government’s London Office. The four candidates [are] all
current heads of professional standards in senior UK
offices, and they have considerable experience in that
field.
Is there budget for the new position? The BPS
has reserved $130,000 per annum for this role.
The next question: The budget for police vehicles has decreased. Is the budget am ount enough to
cover vehicle costs? What will be done if there is not
enough money to cover the vehicle cost? This figure
will only cover the cost of maintenance. Costs current-ly needed [are] to address the BPS fleet. However, it
will not enable new vehicl es to be purchased, with
present significant risk to the BPS, given that a number of the current vehicles are nearing the end of their
operational use.
Additionally, $40,000 has been reserved and
not previously budgeted for to fund transportation of the new parish constable programme. Here again is
another example of being between the devil and the
deep blue sea. So you have ministries . . . and when
you look at the capital expenditure, you, as the Mini ster . .
. and I bear the brunt of this. There are req uests
that come in from each Ministry for vehicles. R equests. We need two fire trucks, and four police cars,
and two bikes, and two vehicles to go to the prison.
Yes. Everyone makes to you, the Minister, their pra yer, if you please. We then have to look at what ha ppened in previous years, but, more importantly, the budget.
Again, let’s go back to the cries from across
the floor. We want to make sure, and we are being
held to a standard to make sure the budget is being
kept, to make sure that we do not exceed the budget
ceiling, to make sure that we are efficacious in all our
business affairs. And sometimes when key depar tment heads come to you, as much as you want to give them their every desire, the budget does not al-low for that. And so what are you left t o do? You are
then allowed to look at the fleet, specifically, look at
what vehicles are fit for purpose, what can be mai ntained, and what can be retired. Look and talk to each
fleet manager and look at where we purchased the vehicles. Look at if we are getting value for money
[when] buying from certain places. Are there opport unities to go to different countries and look at getting
cheaper prices?
The whole plan is to, number one, understand
the budget, but, more importantly, make sure that each one of the uniformed services has vehicles that
they can be operationally productive, but, more i mportantly, be safe, and the vehicles, indeed, be fit for
purpose.
The question was, Are drones an option at
this time? I believe we covered that.
Moving on to Custom s. Planned recruitment
for . . . there is a planned recruitment for a financial
administrator on a salary of $70,000. The financial administrator will be stationed at the Customs House
in Hamilton, and will work with a Member of the F inance and Administrat ion Team. Amongst other
things, the post holder will be responsible for financial
reconciliation, processing purchases and payment,
payroll processing, and debt collection.
Trainee Customs officers. They were recruited
during 2018/19. They only worked par t of the year,
approximately six months. However, they are also
budgeted to work for a full year during 2019/20. Also,
they will still receive a pay grade commensurate increase in September 2019.
The question: How will we make sure planned
staffing levels will occur in this fiscal year? Answer:
We concluded the process for the department’s staff
transfer plan 2019/20 in December 2018. All the affected staff [were] advised. The staff transfers are
scheduled to take place on April 1, 2019. We have no
reason to believe at this time that the transfers will not
take place as planned, with the caveat that the staffing levels will always be subject to change depending on
staff terminations or resignations.
Why is there a disparity between the seizure
rates on sh ift A and the seizure rates on shift B? Performance measures, why the disparity between the
two shifts with seizures and illicit items? Although both
shifts should see the same basis measurements, we
have been advised that shift A has currently only counte d the illicit items seized, where shift B incorrec tly counted all the seizures, both illicit and revenue. As a postscript, the actual illicit items seized by shift B
were 10; the other 200 were revenue- related seizures.
Corrections, Head 25. There was an increase
for CCTV systems in 2018/19. The question is: Can
you give details on whether the system is covering
everything? Have you seen gaps in the system? Do
we need to cover other areas, or are we trying to i mprove the systems? The answer: The CCTV syst em
needs both upgrades and, additionally, we have i ncreased the number of cameras to cover other areas based on the department’s new security plan.
The Right Living House. How many inmates
are in that programme? At present there are 10; cur840 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly rently there ar e two on the waiting list. The pr ogramme has the capacity for 18 inmates.
Employee numbers and retirement, et cetera.
The question was, the number that is needed seems
to be significant. Recruitment. Are we only going to be looking at locals or are we going to go overseas to get
the numbers that we need? Let me say this. As the
Minister responsible for Immigration, I do not —and let
me say it again, I do not —believe that we need to go
abroad for any officers for any of the uniform services.
Every department within the Ministry of National Sec urity, I believe our people are bright enough, I believe
they are intelligent enough. I believe that they have
the physical stamina. And I believe that they can pass
any drug test. I believe that they can pass any e ntranc e exam. So all of the uniform services in Berm uda, I do not believe . . . for every single element, I believe that Bermudians are capable and talented and
they should be sure to look here at all costs to make
sure that all of the uniform services are trained and
they come from the ranks of the populace in Bermuda.
The answer: At this point we seek to recruit
locally, Bermudians and the spouses of Bermudian officers for the post, depending on the number of applicants. Then we could be required to advertise overseas. But that is not in the Minister’s long- term plans.
The only posts that we anticipate recruiting for from
overseas are the psychologist posts. From previous
recruitment drives, we have had difficulty attracting
suitably qualified Bermudian applicants.
Gang violence, Westgate. Gang violence, r eduction. How many inmates do we have today as op-posed how many we had last year? The total state inmates that we have today, there are 180 inmates
which includes sentenced and inmates on remand. On
this date, 6; in 2018, there were 199 inmates sentenced and inmates on remand.
Question: There was only one psychologist
available. There is a difference when you look at the
cost of having to use . . . is there a difference of having to use contractors? Will we see an increased
cost? Is there a difference because we are using co nsultants? If we get staff in, would that reduce costs? That was the question. The answer is: There is actually a decrease in the cost from 2018/19 to 2019/20.
However, the increase from the original 2018/19
budget is due to the revised estimate in 2018/19. It
does not reflect the cost for external vendors.
Mr. Chairman, the questions that I just fi nished were asked by the Shadow Minister for National
Security. I will now move to the questions that were
asked by MP Dunkley. I think it is constituency 10.

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

Mm-hmm.

Hon. Wayne Caines: I crave your indulgence for a
second, Mr. Chairman. The Chairman: Yes.

Hon. Wayne Caines: Question from Mr . Dunkley.
What is the plan for the $600,000 that was put for the
Gang Violence Reduction Team? Staffing budgets. Full -time programming staff,
$211,000. Three part -time programming staff, $60,000
for all three, and staff training at $25,000. [This is] a total staffing budget of $296,000.
Let’s get down into the programme budgets,
and when we get the opportunity . . . I would like to
have the opportunity to meet with the Shadow Minister
to go through with our gang violence reduction strat egy. We have a li ne-by-line document that sets out
specifically what we are going to do over the next year. We would love to sit down with him and go
through that. The gang violence reduction budget. This is a document that outlines line by line . . . and I
won’t go through this line by line now.

Please.
Hon. Wayne Caines: Every plan, every item that we
plan to use in the next year we have a documented line by line, every jot, every tittle, every penny on how
we will spend in an itemised budget that was cons idered by our department before we approved the rec-ommended budget. And this is the detailed version that we have. It documents everything, Mr. Chairman,
for this strategy. It is not being pulled out of the ether
by someone who sees staffing costs, there i s an assumption made that there are no deliverables, there is
no budget. These are jobs for the boys. Nothing can
be further from the truth.
Look at the recent press releases. Look at
what is going on in our schools. Look at what is going
on in our communities. Understand the work that is being done. One thing that you are not going to accuse the Ministry of with reference to the gang vi olence strategy is that Pastor Bean and the team are
resting on their laurels and they are not doing the
work. It is clea r that there has been an increase in
their salary; but we believe it is justified. We believe
that there is an opportunity for us to outline everything
that is being done, precept upon precept.
The Redemption Farm initiative. It is estimated to be $174,7 75.
The Safe House initiative. The Safe House
initiative [is] $38,000. Now, let me talk about the Safe
House initiative.
Let me go back to Redemption Farm really
quickly and let’s tarry there for a moment. When peo-ple think about Redemption Farm . . . I have heard the
reference to it being a chicken farm. We have heard
references and there have been jabs and pokes at
this. This is a therapeutic environment. And what does
that mean? It means that there is science behind it. Right? And when you have a person come in, they are
tested by a team and they are assessed. Are they


Bermuda House of Assembly suitable for the programme? Do they have any crim inal history? Are there any drug dependencies? Are
there any psychoses involved? When they are triaged,
they are given a BARC [ Bermuda Assessment and
Referral Centre] assessment and referral test. They
are given a test to see if they are indeed fit for purpose.
After you get them in, you then start to look at
programmes. They have a programme developed and they are given a case manager. So w e are looking to
get at -risk young men and women, people who are
prone to violence, people who have fallen [between] the cracks, and people who need an opportunity. And
what is . . . the mental part of this is . . . [the] helping
agency part of this is you give them a case manager.
You give them court mental health support. You give
them core support if they have trouble with violence and if they have problems with making decisions. You
envelope them with case management and with support services. That is t he bulwark of this. Don’t get
confused [with] the farming part. That is a key part;
but the highlight is the therapeutic part through the
helping services. So allow me to develop this.
So after you take a person, and they are
working in a programme that allows them to get the
mind right, to help them to get off drugs, to help them to find an opportunity for employment, what do we
then do? We have a therapeutic farming element. We
have the benefit of a qualified farming expert who a llows us to look at the f arming piece. The farming
piece . .
. there is actual therapy. There is actually a
plant with the farming piece. The farming piece allows people to do therapy through farming. But even the
farming follows a pattern of science, follows specific
elements of the agriculture and allows them to follow
that part.
There then the commercial part. After the farm
is seeded, after there is a first harvest, it allows them
to look at the crop, to go to the farmer’s market, to go
to specific places, allows them to reap the harvest,
putting in marketing elements, to be entrepreneurs (if
you please), all the time working through mental health challenges, working through violence issues, [and] working through problems. We believe that this
is an opportunity to help develop them, but not only
just selling food, but putting the key elements for st ability there.
So when we first did it, it was the thing of,
Let’s get to the farming piece. And we said, No. Let’s
go to the core elements of it to make sure that all the key pieces are there. We have looked at it and we
believe that not only can this become self -sustaining;
that we will need money to do that and that is what the
$174,775 is for.
The Safe House initiative at $38,000, just over
$38,000. The Safe House initiative is . . . without going into it, there might be an incident where the team goes out into our community and there is a person
who has a major difficulty and it is going to require them to get out of the community. A few months ago
there was a major incident that w ent down, a person
called and Pastor Bean went, at night. The person
called and said, Listen, I won’t make it if I don’t get out
of this neighbourhood. Pastor Bean went to the scene
. . . there is no mechanism —no mechanism —for us to
put a person in a place where they can be safe and be
secured until this matter can be dealt with. There has
to be money put aside in key clandestine areas where
we can protect people who are vulnerable, people who would be beset upon to make sure that they are
protected.
If you take this out of context, and you then
politicise this and just put it in the public that we want
a safe house, and this is where we are going to be
hiding people, it does the country a disservice. It has to be kept in context with what we are doing to ba lance gang- related activity in this country.
MOM Bermuda is, again, an initiative that is
put together for moms who have lost loved ones, or
families who have lost loved ones. It is $5,000 that
has been put aside that allows them to get anything
that the y need with reference to administration, r efreshments, swag, or anything to help them during the
implementation phase.
G.R.E.A.T. is the Gang Resistance Education
and Training programme. Now, this week we talked
about how many people —over 500 kids —finished the
G.R.E.A.T. [programme] who have walked out of their
schools as having been trained, that have been mentored that we believe will not fall to the scourge of
gang violence because they have come through the
G.R.E.A.T. programme. But that is not what is on the
front page. I won’t digress and I will stay on the head.
We see a number of people who have been
educated, been trained in the G.R.E.A.T. programme,
over 500 young people have been trained. The $4,000
allows us to take care of admin. This is being staffed
by police officers, customs officers. We would like to see people from the Royal Bermuda Regiment i nvolved. Why is this important? We believe that as
many young people see [their] leaders in the comm unity believing in them, working with them, we believe
this allows for us to tackle this as a part of our ongoing plan. So let’s go back for a second; I have 10 more
minutes.
Then we have Mediation and Negotiation Services, 2600, the high school intervention programme, $13,740. The high school intervent ion programme is
really good stuff , something that we see in the Berk eley Institute and at the CedarBridge Academy. I want them to report about this, Mr. Chairman. The opport unities that we are having to go into Berkeley and to go
into CedarBridge and when these young men, at the
zenith of wanting to be combative and fight, they are
going into restorative circles and they are talking
about how they can work through difficulties and how
they can balance problems.
842 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly We are seeing this at CedarBridge and we are
seeing it at Berkeley. [There are] huge opportunities
for our young men. Guess who is leading this? Pastor
Bean and Darren Woods. [They] are going into our
schools, building up rapport, working with our young people, developing opportunities for them to w ork
through [their] problems.

Bishop Bean.

Hon. Wayne Caines: Thank you. I did not use his
ecumenical title, Bishop Bean.
The primary school prevention programme,
$4,000. This is something else that is brilliant. Going
into the elementary school, and these young men
have been deemed “at risk” in specific schools. This is
a pilot programme that we talked about in this very
room last year, going into the school. I know Mr.
Dunkley likes to go to this budget and he holds us accountable for the things we said. Go to that same
Hansard record and look [at] last year when we said
we were going to do the training programmes in the
schools. Give us credit for doing that. Highlight the
fact that we said that we were going to go into the
high schools l ast year and do training in the schools.
Did we not do that?
Everybody was silent on that. We said that we
were going into the primary schools. We went in there.
There was no mention of that today. Give Jack his
jacket.

Mm-hmm.
Hon. Wayne Caines: Work permit placement and
mentorship. This initiative is budgeted for $28,000.
The bullying app. The bullying app is $25,000
to develop this app and ongoing work with that. The
bullying app is very important. There was a trauma
indicator checklis t, and a survey done of all of the st udents in the school. We were very surprised when we saw the list come back. The number -one concern
when all of the kids were asked . . . we were blown
away. Do you know what the number -one concern
was, Mr. Chairman? It was bullying. So we want to put
together a programme with an app that allows us to
connect them with helping agencies, that allows them to be able to contact the police, [and] allows them to
be notifying their parents. And whilst that seems an
inordinate amount of money, I have seen the plan. I
have seen the connection. I have seen the code that is being written which connects with the helping services. That is par for the course in this regard.
Community partnerships, $6,000. That is for a
number of init iatives. The total budget for the pr ogrammes is $303,883.68. The programme evalua-tions; very good questions on the programmes. Are there programmes available to make sure that we are
rehabilitating persons? Given guidelines, what performance measures are t here today that we can measure persons coming in, and which programmes
are working best to ensure that people are not coming
in? And [provide] details of each programme so we
can target to see if we are getting value for money
and also to see if we can prevent people from going in and out of our prison. That was a question from MP
Dunkley.
The core treatment programmes that are chosen are evidence based on treatment programmes. They have been tested and been shown to be most
effective with the correction population and the area they target. Some of the programmes they have are
pre- and post -testing programmes. They may be long
in duration and the successful completion is set based
on the completion of treatment goals and milestones.
All programmes have spec ific goals and objectives. All
inmates receiving case plans have undergone several
assessments, including a main assessment. The
LSCMI (Level Service Case Management Inventory)
assessment can be updated over time to determine
the impact of treatment interv entions.
Mr. Dunkley’s [questions in regard] to police:
What are the percentages of cold cases unsolved and the conviction rates if and when prosecuted? There ae
approximately 30 murder cold case files. These run
back to over 10 years. In many cases, the Bermuda
Police Service knows who the potential offender is, but the evidence to prosecute them has not been s ecured due to the reluctance of witnesses and the lack
of forensic evidence. The success of prosecution for
the cold case team is on average two p er year. There
are two investigators who are dedicated to full -time
cold case review; however, when new evidence is
identified, they are supported by the wider serious
crime unit.
What resources are devoted to active cases?
There are two departments within the central criminal
investigation departments: serious crime and specia list crime. The total numbers are one superintendent, two detective chief inspectors, six detective inspectors, eight detective sergeants, and fifty -four detective
constables.
The question around union negotiations were:
When will those be completed? Discussions with pay
negotiations continue. There has been some delay in the progress due to recent changes in the negotiation
team. (We have answered that question already.)

[Pause]
Hon. Wayne Caines: Question on the Bermuda Regiment: The numbers continue to decline, will the roles
and responsibilities in the Regiment be met? This is
for Mr. Dunkley.
The question was answered earlier, 65 was
the total number of recruits that joined th e Regiment in
2018. We continue to look at the numbers based on
the long- staying nucleus. The Regimental call back
requirement, thus far, 2019, the Regiment enlisted 25,


Bermuda House of Assembly and required an uplift in the recruit camp. That was
expected to take place in July. I f the target is missed,
the Regiment will have to revise its task to meet the
deployable strength.
Question: What is the reason the recruitment
cost rose to $312,000? The reason for the increase is to provide for two funded full -time posts to cover the
increased responsibilities of recruiting, marketing, and
administration. Note that one post is currently unfilled. This, coupled with the Regiment offer to attract new
recruits through attractive incentives of the direct entry officers programme, providing educational advanc ement; for example, the GED programme.
The Coast Guard.
How many minutes do I have left, Mr. Chai rman?

Three.

Hon. Wayne Caines: The Coast Guard (and I just
want to spend my last three minutes), the last couple
of ques tions are just being centred around the Bermuda Regiment and a couple of others. In the last three minutes I would just like to talk about the Coast
Guard, if I am permitted to. Mr. Dunkley has five questions asked around the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard is something that, again,
was not a lofty ideal. This was something that we b elieved would be in the best interest of the people of
Bermuda for the inshore maritime operations of the
country. We came in and we looked at that as a part
of any conscription [ with] HADR, MACA, and the
Coast Guard being the third element to it. We went to
our budget and we looked at what we wanted to do for
the next year, and it was just cost prohibitive, getting
the boats and getting the 14 soldiers that were r equired. So what we had to do was focus on putting
together the plan overall, as opposed to getting the kit, the boat, and starting to on board the soldiers because we do not have the money.
The question is: Vire monies from other heads
to make the Coast Guard happen. This will have to be
considered at a later date. What model, money, equipment, [and] people are being planned? This has
been previously answered.
Mr. Dunkley asked about the $349,000 for the
Coast Guard that was not spent. This amount was not
spent but saved due to the cancellation of the overseas training in 2018. The Royal Bermuda Regiment
maintaining business. Nothing in the estimate for this
year. Will the Regiment be getting money to maintain
the facility? The Regiment works closely with Works and Engineer ing to help maintain the facility. There is
no forward plan for the facility at Warwick Camp.
The Bermuda Regiment vehicles. The question was, Is $200,000 enough for Bermuda Regiment vehicles? The Regiment has a legacy of very old v ehicles that have been left unattended for a number of
years. The Regiment has only recently been added to the plan and is currently managing a fleet replacement
plan of a number of vehicles that have been written off
by Works and Engineering, and many exceed 20
years use.
Drone use. This is not a defence requirement,
but if the Government decides to do so it could be a joint uniform service.
Jobs being transferred to the Regiment. We
discussed that already.
Is 420 still the guiding number for the Berm uda Regiment? Should this number be revised?

It has been moved that Heads 83, 6,
7, 12, 25, and 45 be appr oved.
Any objections to that?
There appear to be none.
Approved.
Thank you.

[Gavel]

[Motion carried: The Ministry of National Security,
Heads 83, 6, 7, 12, 25, and 45 were approved and
stand part of the Estimates of Revenue and Expend iture for the y ear 2019/20.]

The next Head up for debate is Cab inet and Government Reform.
The Chair recognises the Honourable Member Walton Brown.
You have the floor, Minister.

CABINET AND GOVERNMENT REFORM

Hon. Walton Brown: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I move the following heads:
Head 13, Post Office; Head 14, Department of Stati stics; Head 26, Department of Human Resources;
Head 51, Department of Communications (which will
be presented by my colleague, the Honourable
Jamahl Simmons); Head 61, Department of Employer
and Organisation Development; and Head 80, Office
of Project Management and Procurement.

Mm-hmm. Continue.

HEAD 13 —POST OFFICE

Hon. Walton Brown: Mr. Chairman, it gives me great
pleasure to present the budget for Head 13, the Post
Office.
844 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly It gives me great pleasure to present the
budget for Head 13 found on pages B -47 to B -52 of
the Budget Book.
The Bermuda Post Office is governed by the
Post Office Act 1900, the Post Office Regulations
1933, and the Post Office (Departmental Administr ation) Regulations 1933. Postal services are provided
from the General Post Office, or the GPO , located on
Church Street, the [Bermuda] Mail Processing Centre
(also known as the BMPC) located at New Venture
House on Mill’s Creek, an d the eight sub- post offices
located throughout the Island; namely, Crawl, Devonshire, Flatts, Mangrove Bay, Southampton, St.
George’s and Warwick post offices and the Perot
Philatelic Bureau.

Mission

Hon. Walton Brown: The Bermuda Post Office’s mi ssion is to connect people and businesses by providing
efficient, courteous and affordable products and services.
The Bermuda Post Office is a member of the
Universal Postal Union (the “UPU”) and works to ensure that it meets its Universal Service Obligation to
provide access to affordable communication to all residents of Bermuda.

Expenditure Overview

Hon. Walton Brown: As indicated on pages B -48 and
B-49 of the Budget Book, the Bermuda Post Office
has been allocated a total of $10,502,000 for the f inancial ye ar 2019/20 reflecting a drop of 2 per cent, or
$175,000, from the 2018/19 budget of $10,677,000.
Salaries and wages continue to be the largest
expenditure item at 83 per cent of total expenditure
compared to 82 per cent in 2018/ 19. The total est imate of salaries and wages for 2019/ 20 is $8,696,000 ,
down from $8,773,000 in 2018/ 19, a drop of $77,000 ,
or 1 per cent. This is representative of a reduction in
FTEs of 142 in 2018/ 19 to 137 in 2019/ 20, netted off
partially by the 2017/ 18, 2.5 per cent salary uplif t
which was not fully funded in 2018/ 19.
Mr. Chairman, operational expenses for the
Bermuda Post Office make up the remaining 17 per
cent of the expenditure for 2019 /20. The major oper ational expenses included in the 2019 /20 budget are
rent, repairs and maintenance, energy costs, and materials and s upplies.
Rent is expected to remain at the 2018/ 19
level of $332,000. Annual rent of $305,000 is paid to
house the BMPC at the New Venture House on Mill’s
Creek, and $27,000 is paid to the Corporation of Hamilton for the Perot Philatelic Bureau on Queen’s Street.
Repairs and Maintenance expenses totalling
$539,000 for 2019/ 20 include charges for buildings
repairs, cleaning contracts, cycle and vehicles repairs,
and security services. These expenses are estimated to decrease marginally in 2019/ 20 by $16,000, or
3 per cent less than the 2018/ 19 budget of $555,000,
due to updated figures obtained for the New Venture
annual service charge.
The budget for energy costs which include
electricity, gasoline and diesel i s also expected to d ecrease by $45,000, or 17 per cent, again, mainly due
to more reasonable estimates for electricity charges
for the above- mentioned property having now utilised
it for over a year.
Another comparatively major line item is Materials and S upplies estimated at $239,000 for
2019 /20, down 3 per cent from the 2018/ 19 total of
$246,000. This expenditure line includes costs for stamp production, printing, stationary, and general
food and office supplies. This marginal $7,000 decrease is due to sa vings in office supplies as we aim
to increase efficiency in processes.
Mr. Chairman, last on the list of expenses is
Other Expenses which includes , amongst other
things, debit/credit card commissions. The 2019/ 20
budget mirrors the 2018/ 19 amount of $ 54,000.

Revenue Overview

Hon. Walton Brown: The Bermuda Post Office continues to provide postal and other services as man-dated by the UPU. The total revenue estimate for the year 2019/ 20, which can be found on page B -49, is
$4,645,000. This is an increase of $82,000 (or 2 per
cent), from the 2018/19 estimate of $4,563,000.
The Bermuda Post Office also continues to
collect a proportionately significant amount of revenue
on behalf of other government departments. This revenue averages about $2,100,000 each ye ar, or 31 per
cent of total revenue collected by the Bermuda Post
Office over and above the revenue indicated above.
This amount is broken down as follows: HM Customs,
$880,000 (or 42 per cent); Department of Public Transportation, $600,000 (or 29 per cent ); Department
of Youth and Sports, $500,000 (or 24 per cent); D epartment of Education, $70,000 (or 3 per cent); and
Department of Environmental Protection, $50,000 (or
2 per cent).
These amounts are not included in the rev enue figures in the budget estim ates for the Bermuda
Post Office, but are recognised in the respective departments’ budget estimates as set out within the
Bermuda Post Office’s performance measures on
page B -52.
The main revenue sources for the Bermuda
Post Office are frank post, or met ered sales, bulk mail,
post box rentals, terminal dues revenue, and stamp
sales. Customers are expected to transition between
frank post or metered sales budgeted for 2019/20 at
$1,097,000, bulk mail budgeted at $1,019,000, and
direct stamp sales budgeted at $660,000. The Ber-muda Post Office continues to offer businesses and
charities direct daily access to 39,000 residential and


Bermuda House of Assembly business postal addresses combined. Therefore, this
national product provides an avenue for extensive
marketing and advertising f or our customers. With
continued marketing of this product, as well as conti nued use of our services by our business mailers, we expect that there will be a net increase in aggregate
sales of these three line items by $34,000.
Mr. Chairman, terminal dues are expected to
increase by $50,000, or 8 per cent, to $650,000, due
to an expected increased volume of incoming parcels,
mail from the online shopping industry. Customs dec-laration fees are also expected to increase as a result.
PO box rental revenue is expected to remain
relatively stable at $611,000 for 2019/20, compared to $619,000 for 2018/19. The difference is expected due to some PO box closures during the year. We conti nue to market the PO boxes as a 24- hour service.
The smaller revenue line items include: l icence and permit fees, philatelic sales and packaging
and supplies. None of these are expected to exper ience significant movement compared to 2018/19. The
total value of these line items is less than 5 per cent of
total revenue.

Capital Expend iture

Hon. Walton Brown: Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda
Post Office Capital Expenditure Budget for 2019/20
can be found on page C -8 of the Capital Acquisition
Estimates, Schedule C. The Bermuda Post Office has
been allocated an amount of $44,000 for the purchase
of a cancelling machine and computer equipment.
This is against the 2018/19 allocation of $78,000, a decrease of $34,000, or 44 per cent. The funds initially allocated for the purchase of a cancelling machine
in 2018/19 were re- allocated for the purchas e of a
mail truck which broke down during the year 2018. The cancelling machine has, therefore, been budgeted for again in 2019/20.

Plans for the Upcoming Year

Hon. Walton Brown: As part of the Bermuda Post
Office’s strategic objective to increase revenu es, the
department will be introducing an online shopping
platform to allow our customers to purchase products and have them delivered through the Bermuda Post
Office network. We will also be looking to increase
revenues by expanding our courier services.
Our EMS [Express Mail Service] and parcels
products will be marketed better to increase
knowledge of these products both internally and in the public domain. We will also enhance our service le vels so as to improve our global EMS ranking, increase
our pay -for-performance EMS revenue, and maximise
the bonuses for our par cels delivery. The Bermuda
Post Office will also be establishing corporate stan dards for cus tomer service inclusive of training and the
measurement of out comes. The Bermuda Post Office is currently in the
process of change with the first phase of the new
postal solution expected to be completed in May
2019. This will allow for the phasing out of six legacy
systems into one system, integration with the gover nment’s financial system, Customs and our International Postal System or IPS platform, thereby decreasing
the length of time it takes to process transactions. IPS
is software used globally and managed by the UPU
[Universal Postal Union] to record and track mail volumes and mail items between jurisdictions. The new
postal solution will also enable the Bermuda Post O ffice to deploy new products and manage rates more
efficiently and allow for centralised and real -time r eporting of operational and financial data. This will also
increase financial controls in the revenue and stock
management processes, and increase operational
efficiency and effectiveness.
Additional enhancements in IT include intr oducing touch screen kiosks at the GPO and all subpost offices and introducing public Wi -Fi at the G PO.
Both of these initiatives are expected to improve the
customer shopping experience and increase foot traffic thereby increasing revenue. In order to increase
accuracy over the payment recording process, we will
implement a credit card machine integrati on into the
new postal solution. We will also be upgrading the IPS software for greater stability.
Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda Post Office also
plans to have three stamp issues and one Present ation Pack in 2019/20. The themes for this year will be Bermuda hand crafted hats, Bermuda floating docks ,
and a final issue for the year commemorating the arr ival of the first Azoreans to Bermuda. We are proud to be an avenue through which Bermuda can showcase
its culture and rich history. Members of the Intern ational Stamp Society are planning a visit to Bermuda
in November 2019. This visit is expected to promote
our philately product among international stamp col-lectors. We plan to develop relationships with other
agencies for mutually beneficial collaborations, to i ncrease philatelic sales.
On the operational front, the Bermuda Post
Office is looking to implement a Customs Declaration
System (CDS) which includes ITMATT which is in r espect to electronic data transmission for mail items.
As a member of the UPU, the Berm uda Post Office is
required to be operationally ready for e- Commerce in
2020. The Operational Readiness Project, or ORE, will include a Quality of Service certification review in
September 2019 and an ORE/UPO process review in July 2019.
In May 2019, the B ermuda Post Office will be
undergoing a UPU security assessment with the inte ntion of obtaining certification. We will also ensure that
we are operationally compliant with the requirements
of the international Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air. We w ill also conduct Dangerous Goods
Oversight Standards training for staff. We are looking
846 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly to conduct a postman efficiency study and a measurement of delivery timeline project.
The goals, objectives and projects set out by
the Bermuda Post Office for 2019/20 will move it t oward its vision of being a more innovative, customer
focused and sustainable postal service.
I take this opportunity to thank the Acting
Postmaster General, Ms. Susan Moore- Williams and
the entire postal service team for their commitment
and delivery of quality services.
Mr. Chairman, I now move to Department of
Statistics.

HEAD 14 —DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS

Hon. Walton Brown: It gives me great pleasure to
present the budget for Head 14, the Department of
Statistics, found on pages B -53 to B-55 of the Budget
Book.

Mission

Hon. Walton Brown: The department’s mission is to
collect, process, analyse and provide a body of stati stical information that is timely, accurate, relevant and
reliable for dissemination to the Government and the
general public.
The department seeks to fulfil its mandate by
delivering quality data that aligns with international standards and best practices, to facilitate a culture of
evidence- based decision- making for policies and pr ogrammes. As such, the Department of Statistics seeks
actively to improve its statistical methodologies and increase the frequency of the delivery of statistics to
support informed decision -making and help achieve
Government policy objectives.

Expenditure Overview
Hon. Walton Brown: Mr. Chairman, the total current
expenditure of the Department of Statistics found on page B -54 is estimated to be $2,493,000 for 2019/20
which is unchanged from the 2018/19 fiscal year.
The Subjective Analysis of Current Account
Estimates of the Department of S tatistics is found on
page B -54. The focus will be on the three line items
with the greatest absolute change.
Salaries line item one decreased by $60,000
(or 3 per cent) due primarily to a vacant post being
unfunded due to the requirement to fund the salary
uplift and adhere to the department’s budget ceiling.
Mr. Chairman, Wages, line item two, rose by
$66,000. Monies have been allocated for wages to
cover the cost of hiring a temporary relief while an
officer is on study leave.
Mr. Chairman, the budget for Professional
Services, line item eight, decreased by $42,000 (or 53 three per cent). Monies have been allocated for the remuneration of temporary survey workers. However,
it was reduced to assist in funding the salary uplift.

Capital Expenditure

Hon. Walton Brown: Mr. Chairman, the Capital A cquisition for the Department of Statistics found on page C -8, makes provision for new capital expend iture in the amount of $6,000. These monies will be
spent to replace outdated netbooks with tablets.

Manpower

Hon. Walton Brown: Mr. Chairman, the Manpower
for the Department of Statistics, on page B -54 decreased from 24 full -time equivalents in 2018/19 to 23.
Presently, there are seven vacant positions. Recrui tment is currently underway and the department aims
to fill these positions in the next couple of months.

Output Measures

Hon. Walton Brown: The Department of Statistics
Output Measures are found on page B -55 of the
Budget Book. Selected indicators under each bus iness unit are outlined as follows:

Busin ess Unit 24015: Administration:
• Indicator: Number of documents on the we bsite allows easier and wider accessibility of
publications and reduces printing cost. Target 2017/18, at least 40 documents posted during
the year. Actual Outcome 2017/18 achieved.
Forty-six documents posted during the year.
Business Unit 24020: Core Statistics:
• Indicator: Timely completion of statistics that
measure gross retail sales performance in the
retail sector. Target 2017/18 Retail Sales I ndex completed six weeks after reference
month. Actual Outcome 2017/18 achieved.
Retail Sales Index completed six weeks after reference month.
Business Unit 24025: Business Surveys:
• Indicator: Conduct semi -annual Labour Force
Survey for delivery of more timely unemplo yment measures. Target 20 17/18, release unemployment rate semi -annually, July 2017
and January 2018. Actual Outcome 2017/18 not achieved, cancelled. Staff resources f ocused on 2016 census tasks. (Those were the indications of delayed cost by the census.)
Business Unit 24055: Research and Surveys:
• Indicator: Use of technology during the con-duct of business and household surveys for greater efficiency in data collection and r educed cost in processing survey data. Target 2017/18, a minimum of 50 per cent response
rate for e- Employment Survey. Actual OutBermuda House of Assembly come 2017/18, achieved, 57 per cent r esponse rate for e- Employment Survey.

Plans for the Upcoming Year

Hon. Walton Brown: The department will produce the
following core publications in the upcoming year:
• Monthly: Retail Sales Index and Consumer
Price Index;
• Quarterly: Balance of Payments and International Investment Position; and Gross Domestic Product by Expenditure;
• Semi -Annually: Labour Force Survey Reports;
• Annually: Bermuda Digest of Statistics; Ber-muda Job Market Employment Br iefs; annual
Gross Domestic Product, the Information, Communication and Technology Profile; Env ironmental Statistics Compendium and the Tourism Satellite Account Report.
Mr. Chairman, the department will participate
in activities such as the quarterly hote l gross receipts
surveys, surveys of construction projects, the semi -
annual Labour Force Survey, the annual Employment Survey and the Economic Activity Survey.
The department conducts ad hoc surveys,
provides survey samples, undertakes in- depth r esearch and analysis of data. In addition, the depar tment provides statistical advice and provides professional consultancy in the collection, processing and
analysis of data for government departments.
Mr. Chairman, the department will engage in
activities such as processing and providing trade st atistics, fulfilling statistical data requests from local and
international organisations , and making presentations
to internal and external stakeholders.
Further Mr. Chairman, it is anticipated that the
Department of Sta tistics will undergo a comprehensive review by the Management and Consultant Section of the Cabinet Office as we seek to maximise eff iciency in terms of the use of technology, staffing and
service delivery.
Mr. Chairman, let me take this opportunity to
acknowledge and thank the hard- working staff of the
Department of Statistics led by Director, Mrs. Melinda
Williams, and her team of statisticians and support
staff for their commitment.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This concludes my
budget presentation for Head 14. I now move on to
Head 26, the Department of Human Resources.

HEAD 26 —DEPARTMENT OF
HUMAN RESOURCES

Hon. Walton Brown: Mr. Chairman, it gives me great
pleasure to present the budget for Head 26, the D epartment of Human Resources, found on pages B -56
through B-61 of the Budget Book.

Mission

Hon. Walton Brown: The Department of Human R esources’ mission is to partner with internal and external stakeholders to provide professional, strategic, value added solutions to maximise human capital and
enable operational success.

Expenditure Overview

Hon. Walton Brown: Mr. Chairman, the total expenditure is estimated to be $3,813,000 for 2019/20, which
remains unchanged. The subjective analysis for the
department is on page B -57 of the estimates book.
There ar e no major variances. The largest budgeted
expenditure remains the salary line item followed by
rentals and professional services.
Capital Expenditure

Hon. Walton Brown: Mr. Chairman, funds budgeted
for capital acquisitions for 2019/20 amounts to $7,000.
These items are listed on page C -8, and the allocated
funding will be used to purchase an audio /visual sy stem for the department’s boardroom. This will enable users the ability to conduct face- to-face interviews/meetings using Skype or Go- To-Meeting and
make effective multimedia presentations with a mod-ern solution.

Manpower

Hon. Walton Brown: Mr. Chairman, the manpower
estimates for the department as outlined on page B -
58 are 26 full -time equivalents, which remains the
same as fiscal year 2018/19. There are currently six
vacancies.
One post was vacated in 2015 as a result of
the Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive Plan
(VERIP) and funding is no longer available. Active
recruitment is in progress for one of the positions, and
approval to fill another post has been sought. Due to
the introduction of a human resource information
management system, two positions within the former
recruitment unit remain vacant and are partially fund-ed.
These positions will be redefined as part of
the human resource reorganisation, which is part of the government’s reform initiative.

Output Measures

Hon. Walton Brown: Mr. Chairman, the performance
measures developed for the Department of Human
Resources are found on pages B -59 through B-61.
All matters presented to the Commission were
handled in accordance with the Public Service Com-mission Regulations 2001, Public Service (Delegation
of Powers) Regulations 2001 and subsequent
848 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly amendments. During 2017/18, a 99 per cent output
measure was achieved.
Mr. Chairman, we are pl eased to report that
one Bermudian professional and technical trainee was
projected to be appointed to post that was difficult to fill and/or held by contract officers between April 2017
and March 2018. The appointment was delayed until
April 2018, when Mr . Christopher Shane Mcilwain assumed the post of Land Surveyor within the Ministry of
Public Works. It should be noted that no bursary st udents were appointed to posts as all students were
still actively pursuing their studies.
Mr. Chairman, we are also pleased to share
feedback of in- class professional development events
held between April 2017 and March 2018. Classes continue to rank highly, exceeding 90 per cent, for job
relevance and course delivery effectiveness.
Mr. Chairman, the Department of Human R esources was able to achieve 100 per cent of the annual review of trainee development plans. This review ensures the agreed outcomes of the trainee develo pment plans are being achieved, and enables appr opriate placement of suitably qualified Bermudians.
Mr. Chairman, the continued aim of the department is to improve the recruitment and selection
process, and I am pleased to report that the average
time to hire was reduced on average by 25 per cent
for both local and overseas recruitment. Additionally,
the turnaround time to prepare employment contracts
was reduced on average by 48 per cent, thereby i mproving efficiency in the recruitment process.
To ensure the government attracts and acquires the best talent, the department will endeavour
to further reduce the time to hire, to improve the candidate experience , and to have the right person in
place at the right time.
Mr. Chairman, w ork continued on reforming
human resource policies for the public service; the
various collective bargaining agreements and le gislative instruments all stipulate different conditions of
employment which must be taken into consideration.
The evolved HR policies are designed for
government ‐wide applicability. The policies will be
drafted in four phases. Sixty per cent of the policies
falling under Phase 1 were drafted. These include the following foundational policy framework documents:
Charter on People Management, which will guide the
application of human resource policies; Guidelines on
Service Standards demonstrates the Government of Bermuda’s commitment to transparency and providing
service excellence; and Values and Ethics Code which outlines the values and expected behaviours to
guide government employees in the conduct of activ ities related to their duties.
In addition, the Policy on Progressive Disc ipline and the Policy on Drugs and Alcohol were also
drafted.
Mr. Chairman, in addition, the Framework for
Management Compliance was drafted. This is a foun-dational policy framework document which is intended
to clarify the roles of the Public Service Commission,
Civil Service executive, permanent secretaries , and
heads of department in managing compliance.

Plans for the Upcoming Year

Hon. Walton Brown: Mr. Chairman, in fiscal year
2019/20 the Department of Human Resources will
become engaged in the HR Reform initiative as the
government works towards the consolidation of its human capital function.
Notwithstanding this engagement, the d epartment is intended to continue to work towards achieving its vision of building a competent, engaged
workforce which drives a vibrant, world- class public
service.
To align with the government’s goal to reduce
paper forms by 2020, the department will i mplement
an automated course registration module to better serve employees and improve efficiencies. In addition,
through the use of automation, the performance ap-praisals process, for the segment of public officers
that are serviced by the department, wil l be further
streamlined ensuring simplified processes and maxi mised data collection.
A review of the bursary programme will co ntinue with data analysis to identify trends that will en able us to determine next steps to ensure programme effectiveness.
Mr. C hairman, to ensure the public service as
an employer of choice is equipped with a cadre of i ndividuals for consideration for permanent secretary and head of department positions, a pilot leadership
programme will be developed. The programme will
focus on a competency -based approach to leadership
to better identify and develop employees for these levels.
Mr. Chairman, the officers under Head 26, the
Department of Human Resources, despite staff shor tages, continued to persevere throughout the 2018/19
fiscal y ear to develop professional and strategic par tnerships with their stakeholders with a focus of provi ding value- added solutions to achieve operational success. I would like to thank the Director, Mrs. Carlita
O’Brien and her team for a job well done.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am now going to
move to Head 61.

HEAD 61 —DEPARTMENT OF EMPLOYEE AND
ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Hon. Walton Brown: Mr. Chairman, it gives me great
pleasure to present the budget for Head 61, t he D epartment of Employee and Organisational Development, found on pages B -70 through B-71 of the Budget Book.



Bermuda House of Assembly Mission

Hon. Walton Brown: Its mission is to develop, enhance and deliver government -wide employee and
organisational development strategies, systems, pr ogrammes , and initiatives.

Expenditure Overview
Hon. Walton Brown: Mr. Chairman, the total expenditure is estimated to be $1,672,000 for 2019/20. The
subjective analysis for the department is found on
page B -70 of the estimates book.
• Salaries: The estimate of $1,999,000 for 2019/20 does not represent new funding, but
results from the salaried FTEs transferred
from both the Cabinet Office (Management
Services section) as well as the Accountant General’s Department (Compensation section). In addition, there is one funded post that
was t ransferred from the former Economic
Development Headquarters.
• Repair and Maintenance: As with Salaries, the
$68,000 allocation in 2019/20 for Repair and Maintenance is not new funding, but the
budget amount transferred into the new department from the Management Services and
Compensation sections.
• Receipts Credited to Programmes: [These]
are $437,000. The $437,000 Receipts Credi ted to Programs represents a recharge of par-tial salary costs for Compensation staff in the
amount of $58,000 and total salary cos ts of
the Benefits FTEs in the amount of $379,000 to the various Public Funds including the Pu blic Service Superannuation Fund (PSSF) and the Ministers and Members of the Legislature Pensions Fund (MMLPF) for expenditure
borne by the Funds.

Capital Expen diture

Hon. Walton Brown: Mr. Chairman, you will note that
in accordance with pages C -4 and C -8 there are no
Capital Development and/or Capital Acquisition funds
allocated for the new department.

MANPOWER
Hon. Walton Brown: Mr. Chairman, as seen on pag e
B-71, employee numbers, there are a total of 21 FTEs
for the Department of Employee and Organisational Development in 2019/20. This figure is derived from
the already mentioned transfer out of Head 9, Cabinet
Office, Management Services section ( seven FTEs) to
the new Department, as well as transfer out of Head 11, Accountant General’s Department, Compensation
section (13 FTEs). In addition, there is one post within
Administration which was redefined from a post trans-ferred out of the former Ministry of E conomic Deve lopment Headquarters.
Mr. Chairman, I’ll now turn my attention to
output measures.

Output Measures

Hon. Walton Brown: There are no current output
measures. These will be determined as a part of the
business planning process.

Major Policy Di rection

Hon. Walton Brown: Mr. Chairman, there have long
existed deficiencies associated with the existing HR
organisational structure resulting in the Government’s
inability to adequately address the human and organi-sational capital within the public ser vice. HR services
are currently delivered in a fragmented and dispersed
manner which results in duplication of effort, inconsistent service delivery , and an inordinate amount of
time to execute basic functions such as recruitment of
staff.
Mr. Chairman, t he new Department of E mployee and Organisational Development is the first step in the restructuring of the government -wide deli very of Human Resource services. Phase 1 of the re -
organisation will include the establishment of a new department. This phase is the amalgamation of MCS
(Head 9) and Compensation and Benefits (Head 11).
The new department will be led by a Chief Employee
and Organisational Development Officer. It is ex-pected that recruitment for the lead post will commence in the coming weeks.
Mr. C hairman, phases 2 and 3 of the impl ementation of the new structure will result in the transfer of existing HR staff and associated funding from
the following satellite HR units and department: D epartment of Human Resources (Head 26), Bermuda
Police Service (Head 7), Ministry of Public Works
(Head 36), Bermuda Fire and Rescue Services (Head
45), Government Post Office (Head 13), Department
of Education (Head 17), Department of Health (Head
22), Department of Public Transportation (Head 35) to
the new departm ent. All of these are going to the new
department, Mr. Chairman.
Once the posts and post holders from the various departments have successfully transferred to the new department, the existing positions will no longer
exist. The existing Department of Human Resources
(Head 26) will phased out.
Mr. Chairman, the implementation of the new
structure is a core component of the Government R eform initiative. The Public Service can expect i ncreased accountability, user -centricity, strategic lea dership, and an HR partnering attitude.
The new structure will cause a proactive a pproach to industrial and employee relations, reduced time to recruit via modernised workforce planning and
850 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly recruitment processes , and improved capability to deliver value to the public by devel oping the talent pool
and filling critical skills gaps. Moreover, the service will
benefit from integrated employee management services, leveraging of technology and data, and the str ategic repositioning of the role of HR with respect to
organisational cap ital development.
Thank you Mr. Chairman. That concludes my
presentation of Head 61. I am now going to move on to the Office of Project Management and Procur ement, Head 80.

HEAD 80 —OFFICE OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT
AND PROCUREMENT

Hon. Walton Brown: Mr. Chairman, it gives me great
pleasure to present the budget for Head 80, the Office
of Project Management and Procurement, found on
pages B -76 through B -78 of the Budget Book.

Mission

Hon. Walton Brown: Mr. Chairman, the mission of
the Office of Project Management and Procurement
[OPMP] is to provide oversight and guidance to public
authorities regarding project management and pr ocurement activities to ensure that contracts are
awarded to providers of goods, services , and works
based on the principles of transparency, competition,
and the use of objective criteria in making decisions.

Expenditure Overview

Hon. Walton Brown: The total current account expenditure is estimated to be $930,000 for 2019/20 and
represents an increase of $158,000, or approximately 20 per cent higher than the budget for 2018/19. Prov isions for salaries, line item one, accounts for greatest
increase. Further details are found on page B -77 in
the subjective analysis of current account estimates.
Capital Expenditure

Hon. Walton Brown : Mr. Chairman, there are no
funds budgeted for capital expenditure for 2019/20.
The budget for capital acquisitions is found on
page C -9.

Manpower
Hon. Walton Brown: Mr. Chairman, the manpower
budget is found on page B -77. The budget for salaries
has i ncreased by $158,000. The difference in the
budgeted amount for salaries resulted from the transfer of two employees from the former Department of
Airport Operations a few years ago to OPMP. These posts were previously only partially funded.
Funds have now been transferred from within
the Mi nistry to cover the full salaries. Mr. Chairman, there are three vacancies wit hin the established posts. The office is comprised of seven professionals including a director, procurement
manager, senior project manager, project managers,
quantity surveyor, contracts and compliance manager ,
and administrative assistant. These professionals
have expertise in procurement, project management,
quantity surveying, contracts, compliance, and admi nistration.

Output Measures

Hon. Walton Brown: Mr. Chairman, the office’s performance measures for 2018/19 are set out on page
B-78 and are as follows:
1. Assist public authorities to save, reduce or avoid 5 per cent of costs in managing capital
projects. This performance measure was not
met. The office has implemented the Code of
Practice for Project Management and Pr ocurement and is in the process of implementing guidelines for managing capital projects. It is anticipated that over time cost savings will
be realised by the introduction of a consistent,
standardised approach to project delivery.
There is a significant opportunity to increase
the use of effective practices in planning and
managing the expenditure of public funds to complete capital projects to ensure that value
for money is achieved.
2. Deliver a report on the operation of the office
during the preceding year within three months
after the calendar year. This performance
measure was not met.
3. Provide training to at least five public author ities on project management and procurem ent
best practices. The office trained public offi cers on procurement best practice standards, including the Code of Practice for Project
Management and Procurement. Officers are
being introduced to project management best
practices, including guidelines f or project
management through dedicated training sessions.
4. Perform five project management, procur ement and contract compliance audits on capital projects. No audits were performed during
the course of the year. Further work is being
done to develop guidel ines, templates and
checklists that will assist the office to perform audits in line with best practice standards.
5. Assist public authorities to achieve 5 per cent
cost savings by implementing procurement
strategies that leverage the government’s
purchasing power. In support of the gover nment’s efforts to provide for and promote the efficient delivery of public services, the office is assisting public authorities to negotiate
framework agreements and implement apBermuda House of Assembly proved contractors lists to take advantage of
opportunities to reduce costs.

Major Policy Changes
Hon. Walton Brown: The office has implemented the
Code of Practice for Project Management and Pr ocurement. All public officers are required to procure
goods and services according to the procedures and
requirements set out in the Code.
A policy will be implemented to ensure that
Bermudian contractors participate and/or invest in m ajor capital works projects that are managed by foreign
companies.
Mr. Chairman, the office will also assist the
Government to use its purchasing power to promote
equality of opportunity with regard to disability, gender
and race. The office is collaborating with the Bermuda
Economic Development Corporation to educate small -
and medium -sized business owners on opportunities
to secure government contracts.

Plans for the Upcoming Year

Hon. Walton Brown: Mr. Chairman, the office will
establish a protocol to ensure that 20 per cent of capital spending will be directed towards small - and medium-sized businesses that have traditionall y been unable to compete for government contracts. Progress on
this initiative will be measured on an annual basis.
Efforts to standardise procurement documentation and streamline processes will continue so that more Bermudian entrepreneurs can participat e in
Government contracting opportunities.
The office will increase effort to provide oversight of capital projects by ensuring that policies and
procedures for tendering are followed, the requisite
approvals are secured before and for the duration of
the projects, proper budget planning is undertaken,
and adequate oversight of construction and costs is carried out.
The Office will continue to advise and guide
public officers on procurement and project management best practices so as to raise the level of expertise in these areas across the government.
In closing, Mr. Chairman, the office is diligently working to provide oversight of all government pr ocurement.
Mr. Chairman, let me take this opportunity to
acknowledge and thank the Acting Director, Graham Simmons, and the hard- working and dedicated staff of
the Office of Project Management and Procurement.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This concludes my
budget presentation for Head 80. I will now pass over Head 51 to my colleague, Minister Jamahl Simmons.


HEAD 51— DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS

Hon. Jamahl S. Simmons: Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
and thank you, Minister.
Mr. Chairman, it gives me great pleasure to
present the budget for Head 51, the Department of
Communications, found on pages B -66 through B-69
of the Budget Book.
The mission of the Department of Communications is to be the source of trusted communications
between the government, public service, and res idents of Bermuda using media and technology to educate and inform.

Expenditure Overview

Hon. Jamahl S. Simmons: Mr. Chairman, the total
current expenditure is estimated to be $3,150,000 for
2019/20. There was no increase in the proposed expenditure over the 2018/19 budget.

Capital Expenditure
Hon. Jamahl S. Simmons: The capital expenditure
for Comm unications is $40,000, which is a 15 per cent
increase over the 2018/19 budget.
Fifty-five per cent, or $22,000, has been all ocated for computers. This will allow the department to
continue to upgrade the computer equipment at CITV
and replace ageing computers in other sections of the
department, including Creative Services and Admi nistration.
Mr. Chairman, 35 per cent, or $14,000, has
been allocated for a photocopier. The department has
a requirement to print large amounts of information
daily and the cur rent copier is some 13 years old.
Given the age and the troubles experienced by the department recently, the need to replace it is becoming acute.
Three thousand dollars, or 7.5 per cent will be
spent to purchase a high- resolution encoder/decoder
for the C ITV studio.

Manpower

Hon. Jamahl S. Simmons: Mr. Chairman, there has
been no change in the number of staff in the depar tment. There are 30 full -time funded employee posts.
The allocated budget for staff is $2,529,000, which is
a $49,000, or 2 per cent in crease over last year. This
is the negotiated increase in accordance with the
Bermuda Public Service Union collective bargaining
agreement. Mr. Chair man, the entire amount was
found within the department’s existing budget.
There are currently three posts t o be filled in
the department. Two are within the customer service
representative area. It is anticipated they will be filled within the coming few weeks. Permission to hire is
852 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly being sought for the third post on the portal management team.

Output Measures
Hon. Jamahl S. Simmons: The goal is to increase
the number of visitors to www. gov.bm, the gover nment portal and to make it easier for them to find i nformation. The current measure is the speed of loa ding the portal. The target for 2018/19 was 4.5 seconds , which is the same speed we are looking at for
the coming year, 2019/20.
With the purchase of new equipment for CITV
and faster Internet speeds, it is anticipated the num-ber of programmes produced by the television station will increase by 5 per cent together with a reduction in
the cost to produce these programmes.
Mr. Chairman, Bermudians are increasingly
turning to online options to view local and international
content. More locally produced shows will be housed
on CITV’s YouTube page, providing viewers with on -
demand local programmes to watch when they want
and where they want.
Overall, the department will work to assess
the service provided to customers using a customer service assessment tool. The goal is to continually
increase internal customer s atisfaction year over year,
and ensure the Communications team meets and exceeds client needs.

Major Policy Changes

Hon. Jamahl S. Simmons: Mr. Chairman, 2018/19
was the first full year the Department of Communic ations was given an advertising budget. T his allowed
the department to take advantage of bulk media bu ying, resulting in a more controlled spend of advertising
dollars. The department was able to centrally coordinate media buys and to effectively plan campaigns
which provided greater audience impact.
Social media continues to play a significant
role in how the government communicates with the public. More and more people get their news and i nformation from family and friends sharing links to st ories of interest and topics about which people have a
concern. The social media platforms will continue to be used by the department to get information, whether
it is a static graphic or brief video, to people, and
those interested in learning more can click on the
graphics and be taken to the website where press r eleases or information pages give greater details.
Mr. Chairman, the department will continue to
enhance and fine tune how it communicates with
online users, employing analytics to determine what
works for the identified demographics and target markets.
Last year the government launched its online
consultation forum which was created and implement-ed so Bermudians can review proposed policies and provide comments and feedback before they are fina lised and thereby have a greater say in the democratic process. To date, there have been two consultations
using the forum. In the coming months, it is anticipa ted there will be more consultation and therefore more
opportunities to use the platform.

Plans for the Upcoming Year

Hon. Jamahl S. Simmons: Mr. Cha irman, the Government alerts and notifications app will be launched
in the first quarter of 2019/20. Those who download it
will receive government notices and announcements
on their mobile devices.
Communications, working with the Depar tment of Information Digital Technologies will launch a
new cloud- based intranet. This will allow every public
officer to use their mobile device to access GovConnect. The new format will be easier to navigate and
because it will have a social media look and feel, it is
anticipated more employees will turn to it as a first
source for news and information on what is taking
place within government. GovConnect will be linked to
www. gov.bm, government’s website, so information
can be housed in one place.
Mr. Chairman, the departm ent will continue to
provide guidance and support to ministers, permanent
secretaries , and heads of departments as they work to
deliver their message to the public through social and
traditional media. The role of employee communic ations will grow as more and more programmes are
being designed specifically for employees and to i ncrease employee awareness and engagement.
Mr. Chairman, I must close by thanking the
Director, Aderonke Bademosi Wilson and the team at
the Department of Communications. Their abili ty to
serve under often stressful circumstances —including
late nights and [ week ends] —is extremely, extremely
commendable. This goes for the entire team: Communications officers; the Creative Services team;
CITV; portal administrators; administrative staff and
customer service representatives (also known as the
telephone operators). All work together to provide
sound professional advice, a stellar product and a
quality level of service unmatched anywhere. Berm udians, public officers and the government are well
served by the Department of Communications, and I
take this opportunity to publicly thank them.
Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mr. Chai rman.


Bermuda House of Assembly If you don’t mind, I would like to start with
Communication, thank you. So I am going to start with
Head 51, Department of Communications.
I, too would like to thank DCI and their leader,
Ms. Wilson, for all of the hard work that they do. And I must disclose the fact that communication is som ething that I do as a profession. So I have a couple of
questions that I would like to ask on how the Depar tment of Communications could ultimately become
more efficient, and ask some questions on how or why
they are not able to generate some revenue within
government.
I do notice that much of the function of co mmunication is more in the public relations domain in that they provide services to ministers and de partments to make sure that messages get out to the m edia in the form of stories and educating the public on various initiatives of government. But the kind of more
advertising and promotion opportunities that many of
the other ministries seem to undergo . . . I do not u nderstand why the Department of Communications is
not able to generate revenue by doing more of the
work within the advertising and promotion of the var ious ministries, and then being able to charge internal
clients, these ministries, and taking on some of the
communication functions through advertising and
promotion.
I mean, there are 30 members of staff within
the Department of Communications. They have crea-tive services, they have a television station, there is
portal management, which al lows for website and IT
development. So I do not understand why the go vernment is not utilising the Department of Communications as a more centralised space for other mini stries to seek the services and then pay the Depar tment of Communications, rather tha n paying external
bodies to produce and/or publish their advertising and promotion.
So, I would not mind getting a little information
about that, just generally about the Department of
Communications.
So, I would like to spend a little time on line
6104 0, that is the government’s television station .
Now, there is a significant amount of money, $603,000, that is spent annually on the television st ation, CITV. And there are presently six full -time me mbers of staff working there. Now, yes, it is appreciated
that there is full -time programming for CITV. But I am
just curious as to whether the government is going to
be prepared to maintain that kind of expense, and a lso, given the fact that the Minister who just delivered the brief mentioned that there is going to be replac ement costs for equipment this year, whether there isn’t
an opportunity to take a serious look at the television
station and how we might be able to better utilise that
facility to gain additional revenue.
Now, the Speaker is not in the Hous e right
now, but I am going to mention something like the negotiation of some sort of broadcasting within the Chamber. I noticed this during the Throne Speech live
broadcasting by CITV. I noticed live broadcasting by
CITV for the Budget Statement and the B udget Reply.
And I am just curious if there isn’t some way in which we could negotiate with the likes of the Legislature to see whether there is an opportunity to gain additional
revenue for the Department of Communications
through the broadcasting of vari ous services, keeping
in mind that as a government station, versus Legisl ature, which is independent of the government, that
there would have to be some firm negotiations put in place. But there may be an opportunity for the d epartment to gain some additional funding.
I had a question around the advertising and
promotion. And I thank the Minister for explaining that
there would be bulk media buying over the year and
that is why the additional expense up to $250,000 would be utilised for purchasing advertis ing and pr omotional space in the media. So that is recognised
and appreciated.
I just want to now spend a bit of time on the
portal management, 61060. So right now we have the
www. gov.bm website. Then there is also the idea of
the app. I am just wondering whether there are any
costs associated with the government app. And also,
the cloud- based intranet, GovConnect, which is also
something that the Minister has just introduced today, and whether there will be any costs, and whether those costs are wrapped up in Portal Management,
which could be the case at $473,000. But I would like
to have a little bit more information on how we are
going to afford those.
Certainly, appreciating the need for employee
communication and having up to date and current i nformat ion and having one centralised area in which all
staff within government can receive news and updates
and important messages is a vital part of keeping a
culture of awareness and engagement within gover nment. So, I certainly support having a government a pp
and having a cloud- based intranet. So I look forward
to that being introduced.
I noticed that under the performance
measures there did not seem to be anything around sort of the measurement of the website. I am looking
carefully again. I am not seeing many analytics around the use of the website, other than uploading.
So I would like to know a little bit more about the
amount of information that is being put onto the
www. gov.bm portal. I see the number of visits per
year—

I am looking at 61064, Portal
Management, on page B -69. I do know that this is a
relatively new portal that has been put in place. It certainly had a few challenges, because people had to get used to the search engine and we didn’t have the
traditional landing pages as we had in the past. So I
854 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly am just curious whether we are creating any savings
from that portal, especially around the creativity, the
posting of the creation of page sites and uploading of
information, which I did not get a real sense of under
the business unit 61060.
So, I will take my seat and just get some answers from the Minister.

Minister.

Hon. Jamahl S. Simmons: Just to answer the first
two, for the most part what the Member was asking
about in terms of government using DCI as a first
point of service, that is happening already, for the
most part. That is what happens when you see us go outside, it is basically because of either manpower or
resource shortages in the department. So, for the
most part we are the sole source for government in terms of all the production of all those products and
everything you see out there.
To your second question in reference to CITV,
one of the challenges that I think is faced right now, if
you look at our local television market, you have seen
VSB go out of business, and you have seen that many
of the local, including ZBM, recently had layoffs. So, at
this time, essentially competing directly with them
would not be in the best interest of the overall market. But we are looking to work with them where possible,
particularly when it comes to sharing content, moving
things, as we mentioned, trying to get more local content available.
I am trying to think what else you asked.
Would you repeat your last couple of questions about
the portal? I did not quite understand those.

Yes.
So, I was just a little curious about who is
providing the sort of creative production, who is uploading and maintaining the website, and whether you
are finding cost savings based on what was the original or previous website that was there. And then just
whether there are more analytics around it. I mean, I
noticed that we have the number of visits per year and how many pages the website visitor sort of journeys
through. But I am just curious whether we do keep
even more detailed statistics.

Hon. Jamahl S. Simmons: Okay. Thank you for that.
With the portal, the creative design is all done
in-house. And it is managed by the portal’s admini strators. And the Honourable Member will know that we
mentioned that we are actually short in that area.
In terms of analytics, I think that part of what
we are doing throughout all of government, whether it
is our social media or our website, is to examine more
and more wa ys to make them more effective. It is a
work in progress and I think that we want to make
sure that from the website standpoint it works. That is
the first priority. The second priority is that the content is of value so that it will draw more people in. B ut then
also, that it becomes a source of great information.
As we take our multipronged approach,
whether it is using the a pp, whether it is using the
website, whether it is using social media, we are con-stantly examining and looking at ways to determine
which is the most effective, if it is working, if the pro duct being placed on them is the most effective. So
there is an ongoing issue with that in terms of being
able to produce something that works.
So, to your specific question, the answer is
no. But it is an ongoing process and part of our internal how we manage and how we get information out
to the public.

I have another question that
has come to mind. And it is around the customer journey within the website. Certainly, I hav e personally
gone on the website through the search engine looking for pages that are oftentimes advertised or announced within this Chamber, different documents
and various initiatives that have been launched. And yet, when I go on the website, it is very difficult to na vigate through the website to find these documents,
and the timeliness of some of the documents being
uploaded. And I certainly know that there have been
ministers in the past that, with embarrassment, because they have [stated in the Chamber] that som ething has been launched on the website and then i mmediately following that realise that it has not been
uploaded.
So I do not know if there is a dedicated staff
member, or two, is there a team, or is this a technical
delay? And is this direc tly published through the D epartment of Communications, or is there a relationship with IT support within government that helps with the
portal?

Hon. Jamahl S. Simmons: The Shadow Minister
makes a good point in reference to the timeliness of
getting things onto the site. As I mentioned in my brief,
we are down a portal administrator. We are actually
looking to request to get that filled. Part of the delay is
due to that.
Just for the awareness of the Shadow Minister
as well as the public, there is a team of portal admini strators. I believe there are three persons . And we a ctually need to have four. We are looking to request to
get another one on line. It is a challenge. It is a cha llenge we have acknowledged. Part of what we are working on is to improve t he timeliness, because we
are very good in every other area. But with the di sconnect, where we have a public affairs officer, who
could issue a press release, who could put something
right on to social media, you are required to interact
with the portal administrative team to get something
uploaded. So, that is a lag. There is a challenge that we acknowledge. But we are working to fix that.


Bermuda House of Assembly In terms of the site and the dead links and the
search functionality, that is something that we are also
working to i mprove. I think part of the overall mandate
is really to . . . if the site does not work, if the information is not compelling, people will not use it. So, part of the overall approach of improving government
communications is that everything that is not w here it
should be, we are progressively marching toward getting it where it should be. But I think that, as I said, I
am going to be lobbying the Finance Minister for another portal administrator because we need one.

Just changing the subject
slightly, but I am noticing that there is . . . it is not a pplicable around deadlines for production of the Throne
Speech and annual reports, et cetera. I am just wo ndering if you could provide an update on how those
reports, those speeches are being produced, whether
that is falling within the Department of Communication
now or if it has moved on to an outsource?

Hon. Jamahl S. Simmons: I am not sure I understand the question. I believe . . . we ll, okay, the
Throne Speech and the budgets are written in- house.
The graphics are produced in- house, and the printing
as needed will go to a local press based on a system
where we get a series of quotes from at least two to
three. So, there has not been a ny change that I am
aware of since the OBA was in power in terms of that.
Ninety -nine per cent is produced in- house, save for
the printing.

Sorry, the customer satisfaction surveys are noted in the performance of . . . okay,
let’s go with business unit 61070, customer service representatives, [page] B -69. But the customer sati sfaction seems to appear in numerous lines. But I am just curious, what mechanism are you using to measure customer satis faction, and how are those surveys
delivered and how often?

Hon. Jamahl S. Simmons: If the Honourable Member would give me a few minutes to get that information for her, I would be glad to provide that for her.

I will start by, one, thanking
the Pos tmaster General, who I understand has been
seconded into that post. And I will ask the Minister, When will we have a more permanent person in that
post? And my next piece is to transition to the location
of the post office.
So, I understand that the Post O ffice did have
to move out of its original facility down at the Civil Air Terminal and has moved into a private facility, in a
place in which we are paying what I would consider to
be a substantial amount of rent. And I am just curious
how long the Governm ent is thinking that they are going to maintain that kind of high cost of rent for the
post office? Given the fact that we do have the Ge neral Post Office on Church Street, I am just curious
why that building has not been able to be converted,
and used for the mail processing centre, as well as
using it for the General Post Office?
In addition to that . . . let me get on a line item.
There was . . . I am going to go for sub- post office, so
it is line 345, [page] B -48.

There has been, well, first of
all, I am just questioning why $6 million has been all ocated in that space. And also, I understand from public releases that there is a move to have multiple go vernment payment locations at the sub- offices. So, a
person can go into the sub- post offices throughout the
Island, and they would be able to pay their land tax,
they could pay for dog licences and mooring fees, et
cetera. And I noticed in your brief that there was not
any discussion around that. And I was j ust wondering
if you might be able to expand on that a little bit, and why there might be such a large amount of money that is going to be spent on the sub- post offices, and if
it is related to the change in use of those sub- post
offices?

I noticed that you had mentioned that the General Post Office is considering g oing into or diversifying their business, and you mentioned an online shopping feature as a possibility. And
I am just curious if you might be able t o give a little
information around the costs to purchase the IT
framework that would be supported by an online
856 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly shopping platform, and the costs that would be ass ociated and the timeline to get that?
And certainly, understanding the complexities
of having s omething like online shopping, there are
payment features there, there are security issues and
compliance, and I am just curious how the post office
is preparing for that kind of added demand on their
day-to-day operations? And if they are going to have
the online shipping, does that mean that we will have
the additional costs of having some sort of overseas
collection and distribution facility? So, once the pur-chases are made by a client, a customer here in Bermuda, the goods would have to be consolidated overseas somewhere and then shipped to Bermuda, and
then how the post office would afford that and how they are planning to put such an operation in place in,
I would imagine, the United States, in the first i nstance? And it may be interesting to know too whether
it is going to be just the United States, or whether UK
and Canadian online shopping will be available as
well.
You mentioned that . . . and I am on now the
next line, 350, Courier Services. So, there is $204,000 allocated for courier services, and you mentioned that
there was a move to enhance that service. And so I
would like to know how that will work, and whether
there will be an increase in revenue from that? If you are expanding that courier service to not just include
. . . I am not particul arly sure what the criteria is now,
but I am thinking it might be more of an internal cour ier service that may deliver to Government House, to the airport, to the Cabinet Office, et cetera. And if it is
diversifying out into the private sector whether ther e
will be revenue- generating opportunities and whether
there are any projected costs or revenues that will
come in for that?
And you also, I believe, mentioned something
around a bonus for parcel services. No? Okay. I will
leave that alone. I am going to j ust take my seat at
this time and . . .

Hon. Walton Brown: Sure. First of all, with regard to
the acting Postmaster General, that position is a s econded position. The substantive Postmaster General has been seconded to another position. So, it just r emain s to be seen when this position is going to be
changed.
The lease at the New Venture building is a
five-year lease that the Post Office has with the New
Venture Holdings. That is a five- year lease which is in
place. We are looking to expand the services of the
post office to a variety of areas. Online shopping is a big part of it.
In terms of consolidation of packages, it will
be outsourced to a company to facilitate the collection of parcels overseas and then shipping them to Ber-muda. So, it will be an outsourced facility of an overseas company to provide for that service. With regard
to the sub- post offices and the fee of $6 million, that is the operational cost. And you are correct that the post
office and the sub- post offices will be providing a wi der range of government services, in particular, bus
passes, licence requirements, and so forth. So, a v ariety of additional services will be added to the deli very of services at the Post Office.
The software that is required for the online
service, it is going to cost a few hundred- thousand
dollars to bring it online completely. And that is the
cost of bringing it online. So, there will be a line item
expenditure for that amount.
[Pause]

Hon. Walton Brown: We are exploring new courier
services with different individuals to provide additional
courier services to the Island. We are exploring new courier services. Okay?

Touch screen kiosks and
public Wi- Fi, which I would imagine is nominal. But I
am curious where those expenses will be housed
within the Head 13? And whether any of those costs
are incorporated into, let’s say, Materials and Supplies
for this year, which is at $239,000? And I am curious
too, getting back to the online website, whether we
have done any kind of feasibility study to see whet her
we would even have the demand from this community
for the online shopping?
Hon. Walton Brown: Yes, there has been extensive
assessment of the local demand for online services,
and there is high demand for online services and that
is why we have decided to go this route, to provide
online services.

The Chair recognises the Opposition
Leader, Mr. Cannonier.

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Thank you, thank you, Mr.
Chairman. I still was not quite sure about on page B -
48, obviously under Head 13, 340, Central Mail Pr ocessing Unit. I was not quite sure if the Honourable
Member is saying that they are doing away with this
processing unit? So, I just wanted some more clarif ication as to exactly what is this processing unit? I see
it is—

Hon. Walton B rown: Where are you?

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: —on [page] B -48.


Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Walton Brown : Okay.

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: [It is] 340, under 1310,
subsection 340.
Hon. Walton Brown: Yes.

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Yes. I am just trying to get
a better understanding. The reason I was asking that,
I understand they are going into, Mr. Chairman, the
online shopping because on [page] B -50, under Performance Measures, it says at the very bottom , “Status of completion of the implementation and rollout of
a single new postal software solution to replace the
various curr ent systems.” That does not refer to online
shopping as well, right? That is something completely
differently?

Hon. Walton Brown: That is different.

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Yes. Okay. So, I guess
what I am trying to understand then, if this under performance measures then what is this actual system
that we are rolling out, as far as a central system
throughout the whole of the post office? I will ask my
last question after that and then we will move on.
So, I was just curious as to what that new
software package is and what is so different about what we had before as to why we are now going after
a new software package? And actually, how much did
that software package cost that we are able to now
have thi s? It is probably good that we do. I am just
curious as to being able to let the public know exactly
what that is.
Also, if we would go, Mr. Chairman, to [page]
C-8, on Capital Acquisitions , I also noticed on the Post
Office Capital Acquisitions, [page] C -8, 76013, Cycles.
I see that there is no allocation for, I am assuming, the
purchase of new cycles. But if I go back and look at
2016/17 budget, $15,000 was spent on cycles. Let me
rephrase that. In 2016/17 we purchased $15,000 of
cycles. In 2017/18 we di d not. And then again in
2018/19 we spent $12,000 on cycles. I am curious as
to how many cycles do we require within the postal
system? And is that two- year turnabout typical for getting new cycles? Because if you look at the history, it
looks like we are getting them every two years. So
how many cycles do we typically have within the fleet
of the post office? And what kind of cycle are we looking at that we would be buying cycles approximately
every two years to keep up the fleet?
It may very well be, I me an, these guys are
out on the road every day, right? All day. But I do not
know if that is realistic or not. The reason I ask that
question is because I know that, especially with our
vehicles, you know, they have a lifespan. And quite frankly, sometimes, as governments we allow them to
run until they just completely die out, and we have got issues in trying to keep up with maintenance of these kinds of things, whereas in other countries they will
give the lifespan of a car five years, per se, and then
they just go out and get new ones and sell the ones
that they do have, to receive something back. And I do not know if we are looking at a plan like that, or are we just taking these bikes and within two years they
are done? So, I was just curious as to how th at works.
Also, on the same page, on C -8, Computer
Equipment, I am assuming that the computer equi pment that was purchased was to . . . I am assuming
that it has to go along with the online shopping? I do
not know whether that is the case or not. But what
was the particular reason for it, or maybe the computers just died out, they were old? Whatever the case
may be, that could be it.
Oh, also, I am just going to flip back, Mr.
Chairman. Sorry for going back and forth here. On [page] B -49 down under the sect ion Employee Numbers, 345, Sub- Post Offices . . . I see that we are i ncreasing by three members. Is that due to the acquis ition of this new software package for online shopping, or is that just to keep up with the demand? What was the purpose of the increase of three employees under
sub-post offices? And bearing in mind that, you know,
we were tending to look at the sub- post offices, and
the amount of work that they are doing was under
question at some point in time. And so, I was just c urious as to why we are adding three on? And it could
be because we actually do need them. Thank you.

Hon. Walton Brown: Well, with regard to your first
question about the Central Mail Processing Unit, that
is the heart and soul of the processing of all the mail.
That is where all the mail gets processed. All the mail
comes to the Central [Mail] Processing Unit, it gets
distributed, it gets allocated, and the machine is very
manually driven. It is very manually driven, okay?
With regard to the other questions, I am just
going to wait for my answers to come.

[Pause]

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Okay.

Minister, I am going to allow one of
the other Members to pose some additional questions
while you try to straighten that out.
Are there any other Members who would c are
to speak to these respective heads?
The Chair now recognises the member for
constituency 19.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Right. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
This question relates to the Minister’s suggestion about online shopping, and I guess . . . and this
goes back to [page] B -49, recognising that anything
that happens with respect to online shopping, et
cetera, is put together to generate more revenue. That
858 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly is the only justification for putting something in, that
you can get the revenue to make it worthwhile. I
guess . . . and the Minister said that some sort of survey or something had been done. I just wondered if he can perhaps give a little more indication about what the survey was saying? The reason being I remember
in this House we had, when the Gover nment decided
that it was going to introduce courier services, there
was a lot of discussion as to whether that was going
to actually be viable, recognising that you had a lot of
private sector courier services, and the question arose as to whether the Gov ernment would make enough
money to make it worthwhile.
And I am looking on [page] B -49 where cour ier services last in 2017/18 there was only $45,000, but in the original budget for 2018/19 was going down
and we are still talking about it going down. So, it just
makes one wonder why if the courier service revenue is not up to the level that we want, why would we start
to go into online shopping when you are going to be in
competition with the private sector which has a lot of history and is very nimble? And courier services and
online shopping . . . you have to be nimble and be
there and I just worry about whether we are able to
make it work.

Thank you, Member.
The Chair now recognises the Minister. Mini ster, you have the floor.

Hon. Walton B rown: First of all, we are not going to
be in direct competition with courier companies. We
offer a different timeframe for delivery of packages than the courier companies. So, we are not in direct
competition at all.
With regard to the number of cycles, w e have
30 cycles. We have 30 postmen; we have 30 cycles.
They last about five years each. So, it just is scaled
along those lines.
Also, with regard to the increase in positions
at the post office, it is to fill a position that has just
been reduced through attrition. Just to refill positions,
that is it.

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Walton Brown: Right. And just one correction:
Online shopping will not cost $250,000. It is the increased number of parcels in growth which is part of a
growing trend. It is not going to cost $250,000, it is
going to cost much less than that to implement online shopping.

The Chair now recognises the Opposition Leader. You have the floor.
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
There was one particular question on the performance measures that I did not get an answer to, and that was the status and completion of the impl ementation and rollout of the new postal software. I was trying to get a better idea, if we can let the public
know exactly what thi s is, how is it building efficiency,
per se, within the service that we are providing and
the like?

Hon. Walton Brown: That is a work in progress. We
are not quite ready to roll it out yet, but we are working
on it.

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Okay.

The Ch airman: The Chair now recognises the Member for constituency 20, Ms. Jackson.

Thank you. I am still on Head
13, [page] B -48, and I believe it is going to fall under
Equipment and Other Expenses. But I am just curious
what kinds of charges and payments we might be up
against after the security assessment.
I have read that we have already incurred
costs to secure the general post office where the pu blic, where the mailboxes are kept. So, there is a swipe
card now in order to get into t hat facility, and I would
imagine that we had to incur some costs to get that
security up, and to distribute swipe cards to all of the
customers. And once we have a further and more complete security assessment by the sounds of the
brief, what kinds of cos ts are we putting aside in preparation for the need for any particular security equi pment that we may have to put in place that we do not
have now?

The Chair recognises the Opposition
Leader.

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Yes, I don’t mean to be labour the point, but I am just a bit confused now. At [page] B -50 the Performance Measures , the Honourable Member says that it is a work in progress . And I
can tell why this here is a work in progress. If you look at the numbers here [for the] 2018/19 [fi scal year]
30 per cent completion, revised forecast approximat ely 70 per cent, and we are saying going into this next
year it will be 95 per cent, and I am assuming that this
completion is a new software package, so, it obviously
is already in play. If you are looking at the performance measures here, it is already in play.
So, it is not something that they are about t o
acquire, it is something that we already have and I am
just trying to get a better understanding, you know.
And the reason I am asking thi s question is [you] hear
all the time, Oh, well, what is the postal service doing?
You know, from the public, and I know these people are working hard. And it would be nice to be able to
give them some detailed information about, you know, how we are performing. I mean, this whole idea of
online shopping is brilliant. I am so glad to hear that


Bermuda House of Assembly we are moving in this direction. And the public needs
to know this here. So, it would be nice to be able to
give them a little more detail as to how we are making
it more efficient as we go forward, that is all, and what
it is.

Minister, you have the floor.

Hon. Walton Brown: It remains a work in progress.
We are making it more efficient. We are streamlining
procedures, and we are providing for more thi ngs to
be delivered online. That is the extent of what we are
doing. Online greater capability and streamlining of
features, that is what we are doing. That is our focus.
We are streamlining features, and we are providing more measures online.

Hon. L. Cra ig Cannonier: Yes, but you said it did not
have to do with anything online when I asked that
question.

Hon. Walton Brown : It is in the implementation stage.
It is being developed.

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: So, we haven’t . . . we h aven’t acquired . . . I am just looking at the performance
measures here and it says 70 per cent, that, you
know, if you look at it . . . I’m sorry, Mr. Chairman, I’m
sitting down. I guess what I am asking, it says “status
of completion of the implementation and rollout of a
single new postal software solution.”
So, are you saying then that we are still in the
process of trying to identify what this software solution
is? I was assuming that because of the performance
measures that we were already training people. Ma ybe I got that w rong. Maybe it is just that we are still in
the explorative stage of this hearing, that we are sa ying that for the 2018/19 [fiscal year], 70 per cent of
that explorative measure has been taken in 2018/19.

Hon. Walton Brown: That is phase one.

Hon. L. Cra ig Cannonier: Okay.

Hon. Walton Brown: That is phase one.
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Okay. We are getting
somewhere. Well, what is phase two? If you are going
to tell us this is phase one?

Hon. Walton Brown: Phase two will be the further
implementation of it. Phase one is the developing,
phase two will be implementation.

Thank you.
Are there any other Members that wish to
speak to these heads?
The Chair now recognises the Shadow Mini ster. Ms. Susan E. Jackson: I am still on Head 13 for the
Post Office, and I am curious. Now, I grew up enjoying
stamp collecting and I noticed . . . and so I have a real
appreciation for the effort that goes into creating the artwork, and obtaining the images that are used on the stamps, and I certainly get the rewards that come
from that, not only from the artistic world, but for those
who enjoy collecting stamps. But I am noticing that we
have a substantial decrease in revenue for this, and
we are still spending a significant amount of money
each year. Line 335 has the service at $433,000, estimated for 2019/20, and yet the revenue is estimated
at a thousand?

Hon. Walton Brown : A thousand.

A thousand. A thousand dollars. So, I am just curious, I mean, is there some law
why we have the Bur eau? I mean, I get it from a phi lanthropic perspective, but . . .
Hon. Walton Brown: It is not cost efficient. Right. It is
not going to be cost efficient. But that is a part of our service that we provide to the public, and it is of great
value to those who are stamp collectors. And so, we
continue to provide it, even though it is at this cost. It
is just something we feel is important to do, to conti nue to do.

For the cost of $433,000 a
year? Is there any initiative or any work bei ng done to
investigate other ways in which we might be able to provide this service at a less expensive, at a lower
cost?

Hon. Walton Brown: Well, we will certainly consider
other options. But we will need to explore those other
options to see what is viable.

[Mr. Rolfe Commissiong, Chairman]

Thank you, Members.
Are there any other Members that wish to address these heads at this time?
The Chair now recognises the Member from
constituency 19, Ms. Atherden.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
My question goes to [page] B -55, which is, I
am going now to talk about the post office, and I will
say right from the get -go that I have always been i nterested in statistics, and my whole question relates to
how we can get information and use information and
the timeliness. So, I would like to ask the Minister, and
if he can get his technical staff to perhaps provide this
response. If you go to [page] B -55, there is an indic ation talking about surveys, and to me, I always —

Hon. Walton Bro wn: [Page] B -55 is Stats.
860 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Pardon?

Hon. Walton Brown: [Page] B -55 is Department of
Statistics.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Well, that is what I said. I
said I would like to talk about statistics.

Hon. Walton Brown: You did not say that. Go ahead.
You did not say that. That’s fine.
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: So, we have gone from
post office and now I am talking about Statistics.

Yes. You may continue.
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: [Page] B -55. Okay. All
right. So, my quest ion is because I have always mai ntained that the more timely the information you get,
the more you can do with it. So, this is talking about
the surveys. And on business unit 24025, there is an indication that timely completion of statistics relating to
the current job market for informed decision- making,
and it was saying that the completion of the emplo yment brief is nine months after the reference week. And then when you go down to the other performance measures, it says “Conduct semi -annual
Labour For ce Survey for delivery of more frequent and
timely unemployment measures.” And it says, “The
target outcome for 2019/20 is complete Labour Force
Survey Reports five months after ref erence week.”
And I guess I have two questions: One is, Is the reference week for these two particular surveys the same
reference week, or different? And my second question
relates to . . . is there any way that the completion of
the surveys is able to be shown, i.e., in the sense, one
is done five months after the reference week , and the
other one is done nine months [after].
So it just begs the question if there is any way
that both of them could be done five months [after]
because it means that if the other one that is done in
nine could be done in five, then you get the information faster.
So, my question is what is the reference week
for each one of those? Is it the same reference week? And is there any way . . . is there anything that pr events the Statistics Department from shrinking that to
get the one that is done in nine months closer to five?

Minister?
Hon. Walton Brown: Well, they have two different
reference dates, first of all. Secondly, with regard to shrinking the timeframe, that is always possible. It is a
question of devoting more resources to gett ing it done
more efficiently. We will have to explore that, the vi ability of doing that.
I take the point that nine months is a long time
to wait for a report, especially for sensitive economic data. Timing is very important. We will look into this
matte r and see what can be done to rectify the long -
time delay.

Thank you, Minister.
The Chair now recognises the Member from
constituency 10, [Honourable Member] Dunkley.
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
This is on Head 51, D epartment of Communications, page B -67. During the Minister’s presentation,
he talked about bulk media buying. I am just curious,
because, obviously, it has been put greatly into that
line item, because in 2017/18 there was $29,000 in itially allocated, and that changed to $118[,000], and
we see 260, 229 and 250.
So, the question to the Honourable Minister is,
have all the government contracts for the bulk media
buying been advertised, and can the Honourable Mi nister list those current contracts? Another question to the Honourable Minister,
do all Ministers have support from DCI as far as their
own personal public relations officer? Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.

The Chair now recognises the Member from constituency 33, Minister Simmons.
Hon. Ja mahl S. Simmons: Yes, to answer the Ho nourable Member’s first question, when it comes to ad-vertising buys, you do not advertise for advertising
buys. How it works is you buy advertising based on the audience you are trying to target.
For example, an ad mi ght be chosen for
Bernews, the Royal Gazette, ZBM, wherever, based
on the audience we are trying to target. So, it is not
advertised. I do not know if it has ever been advertised, that is just not how it is done. If you check the
government portal, all of the contracts are listed, as required. So you would be able to get them there. And
I would be glad to provide the full list if you like. But
they are all posted.
The Honourable Member says, We hope.
Yes, we do hope. But, if they are not, they will be by
the time I sit down!

[Laughter]

Hon. Jamahl S. Simmons: I think in your other question relating to the actual budget, what happened was
that all of the individual advertising budgets from each department which were previously held under them
was pooled. So that is where that number shifted.
Does that help?

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Jamahl S. Simmons: Okay.



Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Thank you, Minister.
The Chair now recognises the Member from
constituency 10 again.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: I appreciate the answers.
I have been following the government portal. I
have not seen them posted yet. So, I look for a follow up from the Minister.
The last question, do all Ministers currently
have a public relations officer in the Ministry?
Hon. Jamahl S. Simmons: That is correct. Most are
being shared, however. So there is . . . basically each
public affairs officer normally will carry two ministries.
For example, the public affairs officer for the Cabinet Office also shares with Finance. I believe the one for
Tourism and Transport also does National Security.
So, that is the arrangement as it is.

Thanks very much, Mr.
Chairman.
I would like to move on to Head 26, Depar tment of Human Resources. So, I definitely support the
idea (and I have mentioned this before) that the H uman Resources Department is looking to restructure
itself. I just have a few questions around how, and
what that is going to look like.
I wou ld like to begin with salaries, which is . . .
page B -57, under Salaries. Now, it has been mentioned publicly that a chief employee and organis ational development officer, an HR business partner,
an employee relations advisor, a talent acquisition
manager, an HR systems specialist, will all be new
posts. Now, I do not know if that is attributed to Head
61 and the salaries that are posted there, $1,999,000
. . . Head 61?

[Inaudible interjection]

Okay, thank you for that.
Now, given the fact that the Government is
looking to take all of the HR departments within the
various ministries and pool them into one centre of
excellence for HR services for government, I guess
my big question is, What is actually going to be different? And how are you going to restructure? The Budget Book looks very traditional to me, in that the
structure is still laid out as it always has been under
Head 26. And I am curious how the restructure is actually going to look in the end.
My concern is that it will just end up being the
exact same thing that it has always been, it is just that everybody will sit in the same place, versus sitting in
other areas. And you have mentioned how you are
hoping to improve the recruitment process, and speed
up, and have more efficient processes within the D e-partment of Human Resources, but it also seems to
me that if we are going to go through the expense of
restructuring and pooling these departments, that
there is an opportunity here to create a different culture, and it is an opportunity for a different culture for government.
When it comes to education, to me, this is
probably one of our real diamonds, because we are looking at a population of Bermudians that is skilled,
that is talented, and that is working. And if there i s
ever a place where we have an opportunity to create an incubator for skilled personnel that will be able to
manoeuvre through government, private sector, wherever they want, because we are going to make that
investment in making sure that they have the t raining
and the skill set necessary to become the senior management or subject manner experts in their field, then, to me, the Department of Human Resources
needs to have very close scrutiny so that we are able
to provide the best support, and that this does not just
become a reshuffling of the deck to make things look
efficient.
This is an amazing opportunity for Bermuda
and for Bermudians. And I would not want us to
squander our funds at a time when we really have an
opportunity to invest and escalate th e skill set of Be rmudians in this situation.
With that, I would like to move to line 2602,
Learning and Development, 36030, learning and development administration. That has an allocation of
$595,000 this year. I am just curious if this is where
the succession planning programme will lie, given the
fact that there has been much talk within this Chamber about creating and upskilling and having devel-opmental plans for our members of the civil service
who can move up the ranks and, in particular, move
into positions that are deemed hard to fill, and whether
we have looked at those individual positions. And I
believe there are probably about 12, maybe as many
as 17, difficult to fill, hard to fill positions within the civil
service, and how much, and whether that $595,000 is
an allocation for that succession programme.
The next line item 36050 for training courses,
of $93,000, which is a drop from last year of $9,000 (i t
was $102[,000] ), but with that $93,000, whether that
training is going to be allocated to t he Human R esources staff to prepare them to support and create the documentation and development plans for people
who are within the succession programme, because
the training of the HR personnel is going to be critical
in the success of the succession planning.
In line 36110, public service bursary, there is
$220,000. I would like to know what the demand for
that bursary is now. How many people are currently
recipients of that bursary? How many will be alloca ted, or given an opportunity to access that bursary this year?
I am going to take my seat at this point and let
the Minister answer those questions.
862 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: The Chair recognises the Minister of
Government Reform, Cabinet Office.

Hon. Walton Brown: Head 26 will disappear with the
change. Head 61 will be the permanent fixture. And it
is not simply a coming together of different depar tments with HR into one. It is a complete restructuring of the entire enterprise. It will bring together the different heads of HR from different departments in government. It will be a complete revamping of it. It will
bring management and consultant services on board
as well. So it will be a complete revamping of the e ntire process. We will be able to get economies of skill
in the delivery of HR services and we will be able to
fine tune policy across the spectrum and bring about a
greater unanimity of function in the delivery of HR services. That is the important point there.
Twenty individual HR personnel will be pr ovided and it included under the corporate line it em,
$18,000. Succession planning funding is included in
the Learning and Development allocation. There are 10 bursary award recipients in the areas attached. So
there are 10 bursary awards. I can give some names
of people, Jodi Ming, Ministry of Public Wor ks;
Shuntelle Paynter, Ministry of Legal Affairs; Destynie
Mallory, Ministry of Legal Affairs; Doreen Burgess,
Ministry of Health and Seniors; and Tabia Butterfield, Ministry of Public Works. These are some of the people who received bursaries.

Okay. I stand corrected. We have
over an hour left, just a little over an hour.
But you may proceed, Member.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I know you wanted to keep us own our toes.
I would just like to ask the Minister a couple of
questions with respect to Head 26. The Minister indicated in his brief that there was . . . this is on [page] B -
58, the Department of Human Resources. He had i ndicated that there were six vacancies. But if you look
at the Budget Book, it says the actual people for
2017/18 was supposed to be 26, the original —

Okay.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Okay. I am talking about
the Department of Human Resources. If you look at the employee numbers, full -time equivalent, it says
that the actual for 2017/18 was 26. The original for
2018/19 was also 26. The revised for 2018/19 is 26,
and the revised for 2019/20 is 26. But the Minister in
his brief said that there were six vacancies. And the reason I am asking is that there is a real problem
when we try to see how many people are in the departments. Say, “bums on seats,” so that people u nderstand what I mean.
How many people are actually in the depar tment as opposed to what the Budget Book says? And
the reason it is important is because if you do not
have the people there, then it means that you cannot
produce the results that you intended to. And the reason I am asking is because when you start to look at
some of the performance measures on [page] B -61,
the tendency might be to say, Well, they didn’t deliver
on th is and they didn’t deliver on that; therefore, they
didn’t perform well. But if any of this related to not
having staff with vacancies, then at least it would be
good for the public to know that.
And I say that because if you look at Recrui tment, this is business unit 36080, and you are talking
about turnaround time, the original outcome for
2017/18 was 48 average turn around to prepare employment contracts. And then after that the next for ecast was a 70 per cent average turnaround time to
prepare employment contracts. Now, the revised for ecast says, “not applicable.” But I am sure that does
not mean that the revised forecast is the same as
what you had before. I am sure it does not mean not
applicable.
And then afterward, the target outcome for
2019/20 is once again 70 per cent. And especially
when it comes to human resources, if the people are
not there to be able to go out and recruit, that has a
knock -on effect to all the departments. So I just wondered why is it that we are not able to show the actual
numbers that are in the department and the actual vacancies so that people can be aware of the vaca ncies and explain why they do not always deliver on the
outcomes that they have put in place.

Hon. Walton Brown: Well, the vacancies were never
shown, is j ust part of how the information is presented. But this is a point that we can note and take it on
the stride. We might be able to do that in the future.
But the vacancies are never noted.
Someone will relate some data, some information I have received abo ut the timeliness of data of
the surveys. The Labour Force Survey has a reference period with reference being May 13
th through the
19th. Now, one of the reasons that it takes so long to
get the report out is that there are tremendous delays in getting information from customers. So as of February of this year, there were 1,100 businesses that
had not submitted their data. So it is a delay in getting the data from the clients sometimes which creates a
long delay as well. And the Staff Department works


Bermuda House of Assembly very h ard, very diligently, to try to process this information and get the data out. But they need to get the
data from the clients themselves.

Thank you, Minister.
The Chair now recognises the Opposition
Leader. Mr. Cannonier, you have the floor.
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I am just trying to remember to put on my microphone.
On [page] B -60, at the very bottom in the performance measures, we see that we are looking to
improve the recruitment and selection process from
20 weeks to 10 weeks, that is locally, for locals; 24
weeks to 12 weeks for overseas recruitment. So, essentially, 50 per cent. And just taking into consider ation that Human Resources, probably the most vital first part of the step of ensuring that we have r ight
people and efficiencies in place . .
. we are not i ncreasing the numbers of people that are within this
department head.
I am just curious, how are we meeting these
measures of 50 [per cent] and 70 per cent? Yet, we
have not needed to increase our numbers of emplo yment, per se. What efficiencies are we putting in
place?
I mean, this is great news, actually. It is fantastic that this is the case, quite frankly. And if we are
pulling this off already then I must tip my hat to the
Human Resource Departm ent. They tend to take a lot
of licks, the Human Resource Department. And, quite
frankly, I think that they are understaffed as it is and,
you know. Again, it is the first measure of getting the
right people, then training them and keeping them
here, keepi ng people motivated and the likes. I always
felt that the Human Resource Department needed
more resources. So the numbers have not changed,
quite frankly, at all as far as in the general summary.
There are no increases, there are no decreases. So I
am just curious as to how we are meeting these
measures without having increased our spend, wit hout having increased our numbers of employees. It
would suggest some other things, potentially, but I do
not want to make any assumptions.

Hon. Walton Brown: Well, it is part of the internal
processes and changes of internal processes. The
other part has to do with the changeover to Head 61,
the migration of HR function to Head 61, and the fixes
that are going to be created move. So we expect to
have more efficient del ivery of services.

Does any other Member wish to address the respective heads at this time?
The Chair now recognises the Member from
[constituency] 19.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: I guess I should . . . because the Opposition Leader mentioned it, and it ties right into what I was going to ask, this is the whole thing of Head 61. I think everybody is looking forward
to see the creation of the department and the fact that
you are going to bring all these individuals from Fire,
Police, Post Offi ce, et cetera. But I guess the question
that I had . . . and to me it comes back to this about
Human Resources and how well we are going to
make this happen. One would normally operate on the
basis that there should be performance measures to
determine whether programmes are successful, and
performance measures to be able to say whether you are delivering.
Now, I know that there was an indication that
this department has just been created. But I have to ask the question. I would have thought that when the
department was being proposed that there would
have been some indication as to why it was going to be proposed, and what type of interim objectives
would be able to be achieved over a particular
timeframe in this next year. I cannot believe that we
are goi ng to go through 2019/20 and not have some
deliverables because, surely, that would have been
part of the Cabinet paper that was created to say,
Let’s create this department.
I wonder if the Minister, even if it is not in the
Budget Book would be prepared to say to us and the
public out there what you hope to achieve in this next
year. Leaving aside just putting the department’s t ogether, I am sure there are some things in the Budget
Book, when we look at the other head which talked
about things being disc ontinued and other things not
taking place, I cannot believe that they were not di scontinued because the assumption is that this new
department is going to create and deliver on them.
So I wonder if the Minister could tell us what
type of performance meas ures are going to be considered for this new department that he is going to create.

Minister, you have the floor.

Hon. Walton Brown: Let me first say that there was a
very detailed analysis that went into the formulation of
this new departm ent. It was a very prolonged process.
A lot of assessment was done; a lot of assessment
was undertaken. So, there were very clear guidelines
that were established to create this new department.
In terms of outputs, we expect to see greater
efficiencies. I am not in a position now to specify what
all of the output measures are, but there will be greater efficiencies in delivery of service in the HR realm. There should be shorter time periods for the delivery
of decisions, and there should just be greater ef ficiencies all around. That is what we are looking at accomplishing in this regard. I am not in a position to specify precisely what the details are in terms of accomplis hments, but there will be a number of accomplishments coming out of this new department.

864 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Thank you, Minister.
The Chair now recognises the Member for
constituency 20.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
So does that mean that the existing team under Head 26 will create their efficiencies and continue to do what they are doing? And that under Head 61
with the members who have been seconded from the
likes of Cabinet and Economic Development, et
cetera, will be heading up what will be the sort of new culture of HR within the civil service? Is this where the
successi on planning framework will be created under
this whole new head and this new team of seconded
heads of department versus the Head 26 team?
Hon. Walton Brown: The Head 26 team will migrate
to Head 61 to a very large extent. They will be operating under a w hole new set of procedures and policies.
So that is where you get the synergy coming from, the
whole new framework for the delivery of services un-der Head 61. [Head] 26 will effectively disappear for
all intents and purposes.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Mr. Chairman, maybe if I
pose this question in this way it will make it very obv ious why we have this question.
On [page] B -61, this is Head 26, it says, “to
further streamline the performance appraisal process
through the use of automation ensuring simplifi ed pr ocesses and maximising data collection.” So this said
that this was going to be a targeted outcome for 2019/20, “continued revisions from lessons learned completed by March 31
st, 2020.”
So all we are trying to sort of say is that some
of these things have to continue. You just don’t have
new departments created without some measures in
place. All we would like to make sure is that these
things will exist and somebody will be reporting on it.
And so if the Minister could at least undertake to take some time over this next quarter or so, once the department is up and running in the new fiscal year, to
be able to at least come back and report some of
these things . . . this is one of the greatest things that
the Government is saying that it is going to do.
HR is important. We know that there are i ssues with respect to recruitment in terms of . . . I know
that in Health, you are taking the people out of Health and putting them into the other departments. So it
would be nice to be able to see that the recruit ment
process gets faster, the appraisal process . . . which is
really important, because the appraisal process is so
significant in terms of how you are going to groom
people and have them develop.
So, I wish the Minister would at least consider
doing som ething that would produce some outcomes,
especially bearing in mind that you say that [Head] 26
is going to disappear, and [Head] 71 is going to be the
next one. Thank you. The Chairman: Minister.

Hon. Walton Brown: Mr. Chairman, I can undertake
to come back within three months to report on the objectives of Head 61, as requested by the Opposition.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Thank you.

Yes, so my question was
when. What is the timeline for this transition from
Head 26, effectively to Head 61? And then my additional question is, within Head 61, although I am not
seeing a line item for it in particular, whether there will be any additional software programmes and such. I
have heard of using a Government HR information
resource system. I don’t know whether these are new
purchases or whether these are existing and will transfer with Head 26 to Head 61.

Hon. Walton Brown: These are currently in place and
we will just be adopting it for Head 61. That is what we
will be doing.

And the timeline?

Hon. Walton Brown: This is a gradual process, so it
will take place over the course of a few months. But it
is a gradual process; there is no rigid timeframe by
which . . . we will transition from [Head] 26 to [Head]
61. It is a gradual process, which will take place over
a series of months.


Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Sorry, Mr. Chairman, I just
want to be clear. So, if the Honourable Member is saying that we are going to transition within a few
months; I was just looking at the numbers of $1.6 mi llion for Head 61 and also for Head 26, $1.3 million.
So, are we saying, then, the allocations for the first
couple of months will be doubled up? Is that what we are saying? I am just trying to understand this whole
transition period.

I hate to go on about this.
So, the positions within Head 61 now, I thought they


Bermuda House of Assembly were in position because they are the ones that ar e
going to lead the transition and create the strategy
and carry it out. However, you are saying that the positions that are being formed in Head 61 will be the
new heads of the Department of Employee and O rganisational Development?

Thank you, Chairman.
I would now like move to Head 80, Project
Management and Procurement.
So, to me, this is another example of a department within the civil service that is evolving. When
I was first introduced to the Department of Project
Management and Procurement, it was my understand ing that they were going to be providing a platform for smaller contractors to be able to m ake a bid
for Government work. They would make a bid based on the fact that if the Ministry of Health needed to order widgets and the Ministry of Education needed to
order the same widgets, then the management . . .
that Head 80, Project Management and Procurement,
would create through, I guess, an electronic fram ework, approved vendors, so that the Ministry of Health
and the Ministry of Education could purchase the exact same goods and they could go to this one central
vendor in order to make that purchase. Which, made it
more efficient and the oversight and transparency and
control is better because it did away with the fact that
the Ministry of Education would go west and find a
supplier and pay a certain amount of money, and the
Ministry of Health would go east and purchase the exact same goods for yet a different price. So, this
area provided a more centralised area for government
purchases.
Then, I understood on the other side of Management and Procurement, that when there were
larger projects that cou ld potentially sole sourced, this
would be maybe projects over $50,000, rather than following the Financial Instructions, which would go for
the three tenders, et cetera; that the Office of Project Management and Procurement would then be able to
navigate through that process and then oversee and
project manage some of these larger projects without
individual ministries having to go through a gruelling and time- consuming RFP process. I am just wondering if the Minister will be able provide some clarity on exactly what this office is doing. And then, I am a bit concerned or interested in
finding out about the small entrepreneur. So, in your brief you mentioned that the Office of Project Management and Procurement has been going to organ isations, such as the Bermuda Economic Development
Corporation, and speaking to entrepreneurs, so that
they can understand how the contract process, the
application for Government contract processes, is carried out and encouraging smaller businesses to get
involved. I am just w ondering if you may be able to
provide some clarity on how that is going and the
number of people and companies that are actually a
part of and within the departments remit at this point.

Minister, you have the floor.
Thank you.
[Inaudible interjections]
Hon. Walton Brown: First of all, let me say that the
Office of Project Management and Procurement is not
in the business of going around and figuring out who can best provide a range of products and services, as
you suggested. In a limited number of cases, they try
to figure out who they can identify as prospective vendors in particular industries as that has been very li mited in its application. Normally, what they do is, if someone wants to get out of a contract, the contract has to be put out to tender. Any size over $5,000 has
to be put out to tender. An OPMP assesses that pr ocess. They do not normally sole source a contract. It
is under very limited circumstances that they would sole source a contract. The rule of thumb is that ev erything goes out to tender, unless there are particular
reasons why it should be sole sourced, and the pr ospective department can make a case for sole sour cing; but, it under very limited circumstances. So, ev erything goes out to tender and they assess the pr ocess and the tender documents and they make a re commendation based on that. That is how it is operated.
With regard to reaching out to companies,
OPMP has conducted some training sessions with companies about the application process for tendering
and submi tting tender documents to help companies
to be able to be in a better position to bid on contracts.
There is an ongoing effort that they are undertaking,
and it is working very well. They have had some success in getting small businesses in a position to be
able to bid on the different contracts.

The Chair now recognises the Member from constituency 19.
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Minister, with respect to Head 80, which is the
Project Management and Procurement, if I am reading
on [page] B -78, the Performance Measures, it says:
“Deliver to the responsible Minister a report on the
866 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly operation of the department during the preceding
year.” It said, “not delivered” for 2017/18. Has the r eport been delivered for 2018/19, or i s it due to be delivered momentarily?
Hon. Walton Brown: The report has not been deli vered, and the report is not due.
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden : I just want clarity, because
it says: “Within three months after the calendar year.”
So, is it really calendar or is it fiscal year?

Hon. Walton Brown: It is calendar year, as it says in
the document.
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden : Okay, so, by March 31
st
we can anticipate that there will be one.

Hon. Walton Brown: You can anticipate it, yes.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden : Okay, no, that is fine.
The second thing is, it says, “Perform project
management, procurement and contract compliance
audit on capit al projects.” And then, it indicates that
five had been completed. Could the Minister tell us
which five?

Hon. Walton Brown: I do not have that at my fingertips, but I can get it from my tactical officers, I believe.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Okay. And, then, the other
question that I have, this is talking about: “Assist pu blic authorities to achieve cost savings by implementing
procurement strategies that leverage the Gover nment’s purchasing power.” And a number of 5 per
cent is there. I just wondered, on what basis is 5 per
cent created? Recognising that I thought that Pr ocurement’s job is to try and use all of Government’s
leveraging capabilities to try and reduce the amount of expenditure that we have and to get the greatest value for money. And I just wondered, why was 5 per
cent [created] and how is leveraging achieved for
5 per cent?

Hon. Walton Brown: Well, leverag ing is achieved by
negotiation. When you have a company, or a number
of companies, that provide a similar service, for example, let us say telecommunications. You know that
we have to buy telecommunications, but you try to negotiate a price reduction. That is how you leverage
it. Because the Government has a tremendous buying capacity, you try to use that buying capacity to leverage discounts. And that is the way it is done.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: A second, supplementary
. . . or another question—
[Laughter]
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Sorry about that.
When it says 5 per cent, is 5 per cent the cost
savings that we are hoping to achieve?
Hon. Walton Brown: Yes.
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: So, then, if you are looking 2017/18, which they said they achieved 5 per cent
cost savings, is the Minister able to indicate the sa vings and which areas these savings were achieved?

Hon. Walton Brown: I will have to get those pages
from my tactical officers.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Thank you.

The Chair now recognises the Opposition Leader.

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier : Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Just a question, not much here, although this
also is a major part of what Government does, this
Project Management and Procurement, but it has always brought up a lot of other kinds of issues. I see
on page B -77 under, Employee Numbers, that we are
increasing it by one. I can see, obviously, that it is a
salary that is in correspondence to that. I wonder if the
Honourable Member can let us know what the title of
that p osition is. And, if it is not for the one person,
what does it do? But I am assuming that is the case,
because that is the only change that I see there.
Also, it has always been a challenge with Pr oject Management and Procurement, and having been
the Mini ster of Public Works, [I know] some of the
challenges that come with it. Invariably, we will always
attempt to monitor some of the requirements on these
contracts, these bids, where they would say (and we
weighed heavily on it) that they would hire . . . they
have 10 Bermudians that work for them and one for-eigner. So, that weighed very much into the process. Invariably, as the project got going we would find out
after the fact, that those numbers were not true, that
those numbers were not in actual fact the case, al though they had been put down on paper. And I am
wondering if the department head has been able to
make some headway into being able to, under its
mandate of departmental objectives, to monitor the
compliance with the applicable rules. This was one of
the main things that continued to be brought to the
Ministry of Public Works that this was not the case. Although they were saying that they were 90 per cent
Bermudian, 100 per cent Bermudian, that was not actually the case. So, I am hoping that we c an find out
that we have made some headway there.
One of the other issues that I know that we
were looking at and that this head was looking at was trying to work with is, invariably, people will come up
with ideas, and I like to bring them to the Ministry .
They are going to bring new ideas to you about how


Bermuda House of Assembly we can do this and how we can do that. Invariably, the
difficulty is that Government in its transparency has to
put that bid out to everyone that it is looking for som ething. But, someone comes with an i dea, and they
lose the opportunity . . . no one else has brought the
idea to Government, no one else has thought of this
here, now this person brings this wonderful idea and
loses it because somebody (a heavier weight that has
more pockets) moves in on the situation, finds out i nformation about it, and can bid less on it. And the per-son who actually brought the great idea to Gover nment, now has lost that opportunity. Have we made
any headway . . . and I know that other Governments
are doing things with this here, ensuring that first -tothe-table gets some consideration and is weighed into
the actual awarding of a contract. Have we moved in any direction towards dealing with this particular situ ation?

Hon. Walton Brown: Right, well, just to answer the
last q uestion first. There are very strict guidelines in
place for how you handle submission of proposals.
We are under very strict conditions not to disclose
anything that is of a proprietary nature. So, if someone
has an idea that has to go to tender, you stri p the idea
of the critical elements and just present the base idea.
So, that is how you get around giving out all the ex-clusive information. But, it is a challenge, I know, because it creates a difficulty for someone who is not
well-capitalised to be able to submit a proposal. And
that is a challenge that we are trying to work to sort
that sort of a challenge out. But it is an issue and we
understand that it is an issue.
With regard to the employee numbers, the
one position that is being filled is an unful filled position
that is just being filled. I cannot remember the title. I
am going to see if it is here.

[Pause ]

Hon. Walton Brown: It is not here, okay.
The other question related to . . . What was
your second point?
[Inaudible interjection ]

Hon. Walt on Brown: Right. So, they say one thing
and they do something else. It is a question about
whether or not that detail is actually in the policy document that OPMP approves. If it is in that policy document, then they have the right to follow up on it and
ensure that things are adhered to; but, if it is not in the
policy document, then they have no remit to assess it.
But, clearly, if someone is misrepresenting the facts,
that is an issue for being challenged and OPMP would
have the right to do something abo ut it.
The position is a Contract and Compliance
post in the department.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
You mentioned in your brief that two airport
operation staff were going to join the Office of Project
Management and Procurement. Are they being
brought in for their expertise, or is it just that they happen to be in Airport Ops and moving over?

Hon. Walton Brown: They are absolutely being
brought in for their expertise.

I have an additional question.
I do not mean for this to be a curveball, but I am still
wrapping my head around the (I want to back and this
is my final q uestion) Head 13, the Post Office and the
online shopping. So, when it comes to the Office of Project Management and Procurement, would that be
a concept that would go through Head 80? And if so, would that go out to tender for local businesses to
provide part of the courier or US address?

Hon. Walton Brown: Yes, that has already been out
to tender. It has been thoroughly vetted already. It has
already been out to tender. They have identified a potential supplier.

Do we contract in . . . I am
still trying to wrap my head around how that is going
to work. So, does the General Post Office already have a contract for the way that its mail gets here and
that would be a part of t hat? Or is this going to be a
separate operation completely?

Hon. Walton Brown: Right, under the Universal
Postal Union, there are protocols in place for the delivery of mail.

Okay.

Hon. Walton Brown: And there are well -established
airline routes coming in to Bermuda delivering the
mail. But this particular service is going to be contracted out to a private company who has their own
routes established for delivering the mail or other
products to Bermuda. That is what they will work out.
That will all have to be factored into the cost.

It has been moved that the Commi ttee rise and report progre ss and ask for leave to sit
again.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Agreed to.
[Gavel]
[Motion carried: The Committee of Supply agreed to
rise and report progress, and sought leave to sit again
on Friday, 8
th March 2019.]

[Pause]

House resumed at 7: 23 pm

[Hon. Dennis P. Lister, Jr., Speaker, in the Chair]

REPORT OF COMMITTEE

ESTIMATES OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
FOR THE YEAR 2019/20

I do not have that kind
of float and they would be wasting their time.
Mr. Speaker, it was the worst kind of journalism in this country —gutter, tabloid journalism —of the
[National] Enquirer ilk. And they wonder why I will not
speak to them. I do not buy their rag. I cancelled every
subscription in the Ministry of Public Works, and I encourage anyone who will listen to me not to buy that
trash. I will say though, Mr. Speaker, people save it for me and I read it. I look at the pictures, at least. I am
not surpris ed though, Mr. Speaker, it is what I expect
of them —the worst.
And to add insult to injury, they import socalled reporters from Brighton who have no idea how to do basic research about this country and ask the
most ridiculous questions that a simple Goog le search
of their very own rag would provide the answer. And, of course, the usual cast of anonymous, racist blog-gers take the bait, hook, line, and sinker, and are so
dumb they cannot even connect the dots between the
story and the date of the event. The y simply revert to
their normal stance of vilifying everything and anything
PLP. And, no, Mr. Speaker, it is clear and at the end
of the article, after there has been the usual schiz o-phrenic online feeding frenzy which says I am not b eing sued personally, does not cut it.
Everybody knows what they are up to, Mr.
Speaker. They are the enemy of the Progressive Labour Party Government, and in some cases, the en emy of progress in this country. I would ask that they
cease and desist, but I know that that would fall on
deaf ears. So, I encourage them to press on with ev ery negative story that they write. It puts another nail in
their coffin.
If you do not believe me, then simply ask the
last editor of the Mid-Ocean News . He knows and
they see him every day worki ng in those offices on
Par-la-Ville Road. Now, I expect the real editor will
write the rebuttal to this assault. And in token, one will take the bullet for it.
So, let me repeat what I have said countless
times before; and I hope their representative in t he
Gallery gets it correct. So, I will say it slowly. I do not
care what they write about me. I do not care what they
write about me. They are irrelevant and the majority of
people in this country know that to be so. Mr. Speak-er, they are so dumb that they could not even dec ipher the real story in this suit. And what is that, you
might ask. And when I tell you, you will know why they
glossed over it, because they would have to throw
their partners, the former Government, under the bus for delivering a project almost 50 per cent over budget.

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Point of order, Mr. Speaker. Point of order, Mr. Speaker.

Wait, wait, wait. I am just asking you
. . . it is not factual that they are partners. So, just be
mindful of that.

870 6 March 2019 Official Hansard Report
B ermuda House of Assembly Lt. Col. Hon. David A. Burch : Okay, Mr. Speaker. I
take that point. It is my opinion and the opinion of
many others in this country that they are in partnership with the Royal Gazette .
[
Inaudible interjection and Laughter ]

So, to be clear, Mr.
Speaker, I am talking about the mismanagement by
the former OBA Government.
And, yes, you heard me correctly, almost
50 per cent over budget. A target price at the outset was set at $22,369,961.93. The revised target price
was then set at $32,561,440.07. And for the nonBerkeleyites in the room, I will give you the math. That is an increase of $10,191,478.14. And the same art icle reports the then- Minister, and I quote:

1“The OBA MP explained: ‘What normally
happens at the end of jobs is there’s a holdback per iod, so you normally have an amount that’s held back for a period of time to make sure everything’s OK; sometimes it’s as much as 5 or 10 per cent.’
“‘I don’t know whether we were holding the
money to see whether the work was good. I’m not
aware of any outstanding money or any arguments
about outstanding money with SunRise Construction. ’
“‘These sorts of disputes in big construction
jobs are not unusual but normally you don’t need to go to court. ’
“‘You can settle them by negotiation, remediation or arbitration, so it’s a bit of a surprise that that’s the way it’s going. ’”
“He added: ‘Overall, we thought the project
came off very well.’”
Really, Mr. Speaker , “very well ”? [When it
was] $10 million over budget?
That Minister was followed by two other OBA
Ministers. So, are you telling me that they were so
clueless that this matter had to languish for almost
four years until a change of g overnment?
It smacks of incompetence, three times over.
[Inaudible Interjection s]

So, “these sorts of
disputes in big construction jobs are not unusual but
normally you don’t need to go to court.” So, why didn’t
one of the three OBA Ministers of Public Works fix this
before they were replaced?
And, “overall, we thought the project came off
very well.” Seriously, Mr. Speaker? Well, if it came off
so well, why are we, six years later, still trying to r esolve it?
Mr. Speaker, can you imagine the howls of
criticism all across this land were this to happen under
a PLP Government? We would never hear the end of
1Royal Gazette , 27 February 2019 it. We would have had daily banner headlines and
most likely, a special report from the Auditor General.
[Inaudible interjections]

Sheer incompetence,
Mr. Speaker. That is what it is, almost 50 per cent
over budget.
Did you hear me, Mr. Speaker? The “Captains
of Industry,” the “Masters of their Fortune,” the
wealthy of this country, the “to- the-manor -born,” the
only ones self -ordained to govern and manage this
country ’s financial affairs —almost 50 per cent over
budget, Mr. Speaker. And not a whisper from any
quarter.

I know, Mr. Speaker. I
won’t need all of that. I am going to give them an o pportunity to reply in a moment or two.
Mr . Speaker, the document said the firm
wanted $2,995,015.50 plus interest and costs from the
Minister of Public Works. Mr. Speaker, that is a lot of
money. And, no, this Government will not roll over and
play dead and simply capitulate. While it is not my
money, albeit some of it is, because I pay taxes, we
will review the documents with the greatest scrutiny to
ensure that the Bermudian taxpayer does not pay one
penny more than is lawfully due.
And again, we are left to clean up another c olossal OBA mess, and we shall. Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
[Desk thumping]