March 12, 2018

Good morning, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I would like a letter of congrat ulations and thank -you sent through the Pompano
Beach resort up there in Southampton, to the organi sers of the Pompano Ladies Pro- Am, Ms. Joy Bonhurst
and Ms. Bailey Scheurer, from the Washington, DC,
area. I have known these ladies for 30 years, because
they were able to carry on with an event exclusively
for ladies that I founded 30 years ago. And they first
came to Bermuda— well, I know Joy Bonhurst, the golf
professional, first came to Bermuda for my Easter Lily
Ladies Event back at St. George’s and played at Port
Royal, as well, back then.
But they have soldiered on, with limited r esources and, recently, with some assistance with Goslings, Ltd. This week, they have some 70- plus ladies
from all over North America, golf professionals and lady amateurs, many of whom are very successful
businesswomen in their own right. And this tourn ament has been going on very quietly for many, many,
many years. And I would certainly like to thank the
Honourable Minister Jamahl Simmons for taking time out of his busy schedule on a Saturday, when he was
up in the West End, to come there and meet them.
And they much appreciated that, and we much appr eciate them. Honourabl e Member Zane De Silva would
like to be associated with those remarks to the Pompano Ladies and the Pompano.
On a sad note, and I will add to this, I want to
send condolences to the Port Royal Esso family on
the passing of Barbara. Anybody who goes to Por t
Royal, we were shocked yesterday to learn of her passing. I promise to bring greater details. But we up in Port Royal were very, very sad just to know that, in
the morning, we will miss her smiling face. I will bring
greater details.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to commend Argus Insurance.
They donated $13,000 to Sandys School’s STEM
programme. Mr. Speaker, this is a good development.
We certainly need more investment, and we need
more in the Bermudian and IB [international business]
corporate sector to contribute even more than they do, particularly in this area. I am sure that many of us are
cognisant of what I call growing digital divide in the
country, with respect to our education systems, between the private schools, which are amply funded
and have invested significant resources in their IT i nfrastructure, and teaching around coding and al l the
rest. We need to ensure that this digital divide b etween public and private school is narrowed.


Bermuda House of Assembly So, by way of a modest investment here, I just
want to say that is a good sign. We need to encourage them to do more, along with their other corporate
colleagues.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Ooh. Condolences to the fam ily of the late Clarence Leroy Jones, commonly known
as “Bonky” or “Chicken.” He was part of that Jones
Village family. He will be certainly a loss to them. He
was certainly known as a good carpenter, so other
people will, obviously, miss him as well. So I ask that condolences be sent, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

We have one Government Bill in the
name of the Minister of Health.
Minister Wilson, you have the floor.
FIRST READING

PROCEEDS OF CRIME (MISCELLANEOUS)
ACT 2018

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Thank you and good morning,
Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I am introducing the following
Bill for the first reading so that it may be placed on the
Order Paper for the next day of meeting, namely, the Proceeds of Crime (Miscellaneous) Act 2018.

The Orders of the Day. The first Order
is the resumption in Committee of Supply for further
consideration of the Estimates of Revenue an d Expenditure for the year 2018/19.
I recognise the Honourable Premier.

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Speaker, I move that the
House do now resume in Committee of Supply to
consider the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure
for 2018/19.

Thank you, Premier.
And before I call on the Member to chair this
session, I would just like to take the customary time to
inform the public of where we are. Today is day 7 of
the annual Budget Debate. There are eight hours allotted, as normal. The first three hour s will go to the
Cabinet Office, and the remaining five hours will be for
the National Security debate. This will be the last day
of our Budget Debate, for members in the public audience who are listening.
I will call on the Honourable Member Commissiong to take the Chair at this time.

House in Committee at 10:34 am

[Mr. Rolfe Commissiong, Chairman]

COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY

ESTIMATES OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
FOR THE YEAR 2018/19
[Continuation thereof]

Members and to the listening public,
as the Speaker indicated, we are now in Committee of
Supply for further consideration of the Estimates of
Revenue and Expenditure for the year.
We will be debating, at this point, Head 9 with
respect to the Ministry of Government R e1650 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly form/Cabinet, and I wi ll now turn over the floor to the
Minister, the Honourable Ms. Lovitta Foggo.
You may proceed.

CABINET

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
and good morning, all.
Mr. Chairman, I move that the following
Heads, 9, Cabinet Office; 13, Post Of fice; 14, Depar tment of Statistics; 26, Department of Human R esources; 43, Department of Information and Digital
Technologies; 51, Department of Communications;
and 80, Project Management and Procurement, be
now taken under consideration.
Mr. Chairman, I am pleased today to lead the
Cabinet Office Budget Debate. And as pointed out, there are seven heads scheduled for this debate. And
I will be dealing with these heads in sequential order,
and I will just read them again for you really quickly:
Heads 9, 13, 14, 26, 43, 51, and I will be ending with
Head [80]. And I hope, Mr. Chairman, that this is acceptable.

HEAD 9 —CABINET OFFICE

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Mr. Chairman, it gives me
great pleasure to present the budget for Head 9, the
Cabinet Office, found on pages B -42 to B -47 of the
Budget Book.
The mission: The Cabinet Office and its Go vernment Reform Ministry are at the heart of Gover nment, providing high- level support services to the O ffice of the Premier, Ministers of Government, and Cabinet Committees. It sets out strategic direction and
co-ordinates cross -Ministry initiatives. The Cabinet
Office acts as a corporate headquarters for the public service, providing advice and guidance to the government departments and, by extension to the people
of Bermuda.

Expenditure Overview

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: The total expenditure is est imated to be $7,562,000 for 2018/19 and represents
an increase of $748,000, or approximately 11 per cent
more than the budget for 2017/18, Mr. Chairman.
The subjective analysis for the Cabinet Office
is on page B -44 of the Estimates Book. The following
object code description increases or decreases are attributed to the following:
Salaries. The estimate of $3,621,000 repr esents an increase of 1 per cent over the revised est imate of 2017/18, or $40,000. This increase is owing to the restructuring of the Cabinet Office at the senior
level; that is, the combined post of Secretary to the
Cabinet, Head of Civil Service has now been separat-ed and two posts have been re- established. Wages. The estimate of $156,000 is an i ncrease of 17 per cent, or $23,000. These funds are required to support a re- instated housekeeper post.
Other Personnel Costs. A nominal amount of
$2,000 has been set aside.
Training. $24,000, representing an increase of
$15,000, or 167 per cent over the revised estimate of
2017/18, has been budgeted. While training has been
cut repeatedly in previous years, the allocation repr esents a return to continuous learning for the Cabinet Office staff.
Transport. A nominal increase of $1,000 has
been budgeted.
Travel. An estimate of $180,000, representing
no material increase in the allocation, a difference of
$4,000, or 2 per cent.
Communication. The allocation is decreased
slightly, by $1,000, or 1 per cent, for a total allocation of $95,000.
Mr. Chairman, Advertising and Promotion.
$106,000, a decrease of $5,000, or 5 per cent, repr esenting a contribution towards the consolidated advertising fund, moved to the Department of Communic ations.
Professional Services. An allocation of
$1,710,000, an increase of $767,000, or 81 per cent.
This increase represents shifts in funding from the Ministry of Finance to the Cabinet Office, to support UK and European public relations efforts, as well as
representation in Brussels. Funding for this ac tivity
was formerly included in the Ministry of Finance
budget. There is also an increased allocation for the Washington, DC, lobbyist, as well as funding to su pport specialist consulting services via the Policy and
Strategy Unit, for Project Management an d Implementation teams.
Mr. Chairman, Rentals. A budget of $1 million,
representing a nominal decrease of $5,000.
Repair and Maintenance. Again, a nominal
decrease in this instance of $7,000, or 4 per cent, r esulting in a budget of $174,000.
Insurance. For the most part, the allocation
remains static, at $11,000.
Energy. No material change to the energy a llocation. Mr. Chairman, it is down $2,000, or 2 per cent, to $101,000.
Mr. Chairman, Materials and Supplies. An a llocation of $181,000, resulting in a $44,000 decrease, or a 20 per cent reduction. This reduction is primarily
attributed to the removal of America’s Cup expenses.
Mr. Chairman, Equipment or Minor Capital.
$7,000 has been allocated for safety and health equipment. The Health and Safety Officer w ill procure
items such as a light meter, indoor air quality particle
counter meter, camera and other essential tools to
ensure effective monitoring and measurement of
health and safety conditions across government.
Other Expenses. A decrease of $48,000. T his
decrease is specific to hospitality allocation. Again,


Bermuda House of Assembly the decrease is mainly due to the removal of the
America’s Cup expenses.
And finally, Mr. Chairman, Grants and Contr ibutions. The allocation of $50,000 is set aside for
overseas aid in the event of an unforeseen, cat astrophic occurrence.
Capital Expenditure. Mr. Chairman, you will
note that in accordance with pages C -4 and C -8, there
are no capital developments and/or capital acquis itions funds allocated for Head 9.
Manpower. Mr. Chairman, whilst t he Manpower estimates for the Cabinet Office and its Reform
Ministry are outlined on page B -45, for 37 full -time
equivalents, which is an increase of 8, or 28 per cent,
when compared to fiscal year 2017/18, it is not ex-pected that the two posts in the Washington Office will
now be filled, as a decision has been taken to defer
the re- opening of that office at this time. Meanwhile,
the Cabinet Office has been restructured. The exec utive level now comprises two lead officers, as indicat-ed previously, the Secretary to the Cabinet post, and the Head of the Public Service post. The Deputy Head
post remains in the structure, and this post -holder will
continue to serve a dual role in fulfilling the obligations
of the Permanent Secretary post for the Cabinet O ffice M inistry.
Mr. Chairman, the additional posts include the
reintroduction of support posts for the Office of the
Premier, as well as administration support services for
the Ageing Well Office.

Output Measures

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: I now turn my attention to
Output Measures. The performance measures developed for the Cabinet Office are found on pages B -46
and B -47. For the calendar year 2018/19, performance measures have been added under business
unit 19040, Administration Government Reform.
These measures will track programme implementation
related to the work of the Ministry. New measures
have also been added under business unit 19020,
Safety and Health. These measures are intended to demonstrate and communicate this Government’s
commitment to ensuring a s afe and healthy workplace
for public offices and for the general public whom we
serve.
Mr. Chairman, generally, all performance
measures, as set out in 2017/18, are forecasted to be achieved. Certain administrative measures will be di scontinued in 2018/19 fiscal year owing to general pr ogramme changes. It is important to note, however, that whilst the performance measures have been di scontinued, the performance standards within the Cabinet Office remain unchanged.
Major Policy Direction. The Cabinet Offic e has
set out an operating plan for the service entitled An Agenda for a Better and Fairer Bermuda. The plan
provides the basis for a shared understanding of the Government’s direction and the direction it intends to
create for the citizens of Bermuda. The Government’s
vision, values, and goals are included to ensure effective coordination and delivery. The Cabinet Office,
either directly or in partnership with stakeholders, is deeply engaged in the high- level strategic planning
with a focus on the external public policy and internal
administrative policy. The outcome of these strategic planning initiatives will influence priorities in the upcoming year.
Plans for the Upcoming Year. Mr. Chairman,
in 2018/19 fiscal year, the Cabinet Office will, through its partnership with Bermuda First, develop a socioeconomic plan for Bermuda. Cabinet Office resources
have been assigned to assist with coordinating the
delivery of the proposed plan. The Cabinet Office will
redirect the activities of the Policy and Strategy Unit to
ensure precision focus on priority projects and impl ementation. Specialist resources will be retained on a
consulting basis via the unit to lead implementation on
various projects that are designed to grow the econ omy and create jobs, in accordanc e with the Gover nment’s commitment.
Mr. Chairman, with the increased pressure
from the European Council through the published list
of non- cooperative tax jurisdictions, it is evident that
Bermuda needs to enhance its representation with Brussels. You have already heard that a represent ative office in Brussels is planned. The office will,
amongst other things, provide for a broad- based di alogue on economic and trade cooperation between
the EC [European Council] and Bermuda. Steps will be taken to enhance knowledge and understanding
between Bermuda and the EC on issues of economic
and social development.

Ministry of Government Reform

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Mr. Chairman, the Gover nment has established a dedicated ministry to focus on
reform. In 2018/19 fiscal, the Ministry of the Cabinet
Office, with responsibility for government reform, will,
with the assistance of a strategic planning consultant,
produce a comprehensive roadmap to achieve public
service reform. The plan will highlight the current state and articulate a vision and future state. At the end of
the process, we will produce clear, quantifiable objectives, as well as an implementation plan. The process
to be employed is one that will engage and encourage
stakeholder involvement.
Mr. Chairman, the Government will simult aneously work to streamline specific functions via the
effective use of technology. For instance, the Official
Gazette , historically a designated local newspaper,
will move to an electronic government -owned platform. Over time, Gaze tte notices will no longer be
published in the local newspaper. In the short term,
however, to accommodate the segment of the community that does not have access or who do not use
1652 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly computers, alternative media may be used to communicate critical and/or time- sensitive notices.
Mr. Chairman, other technology projects being
driven by the Ministry for Cabinet Office with responsibility for Government Reform include an interactive citizen forum to change the way that Government
communicates with the people of Bermuda on matters
of public policy. The forum will achieve the Gover nment’s two- way communications objective, and it will
serve as further evidence that the Government is
committed to listening to and working with the people of Bermuda on major policy initi atives. Also, to further
enhance communication, a Communications Act is
anticipated to support the widest and most convenient
distribution of government information.
Mr. Chairman, efficiency projects such as the
consolidation of many of the approximately 200 go vernment boards will be progressed with the intention
of reducing the number of government boards and
committees. The Cabinet Office will also allocate human resources to participate on the Finance Ministry’s Efficiency Teams.
Mr. Chairman, I take t his opportunity to extend
my thanks to the staff at the Cabinet Office for their
ongoing contributions; in particular, I would like to
echo the sentiments of the Honourable Premier in extending thanks to the former Secretary to the Cabinet and Head of the Civil Service, Dr. Derrick Binns. In
January 2018, it was announced that there would be a
re-organisation of the senior level of the civil service,
splitting the roles of Cabinet Secretary and the Head
of Civil Service, in line with the recommendations of
the SAGE Commission. On Friday, February the 23
rd,
Major Marc Telemaque was sworn in as the new Ca binet Secretary, by Governor Rankin. And Dr. Derrick
Binns transitioned to the role of Head of the Public
Service.
Whilst the Premier has already extended
thanks to Dr. Binns for his dedication and his sound
advice over the last seven months in his role as Cabinet Secretary and Head of Civil Service, I would be
remiss if I did not acknowledge his contributions t oday. I look forward to an enhanced working relat ionship with Dr. Binns as Head of the Public Service to
advance the important aim of public service reform.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That concludes my
presentation.

Minister, if I may, I neglected to me ntion that today, in addition to Head 9, you would also
be dealing with Heads 13, 14, 26, 43, 51, and 80; you
did note that. I just want to let the listeners know and
confirm that. You may proceed now, Madam.

HEAD 13 —DEPARTMENT OF THE
BERMUDA POST OFFICE

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Thank you, Mr . Chairman. I move now to Head 13, which is the Depar tment of the Bermuda Post Office.
Mr. Chairman, it gives me great pleasure to
present the budget for Head 13, the Bermuda Post
Office [BPO], found on pages B -48 to B -52 of the current Budget Book. Mr. C hairman, the Bermuda Post
Office is governed by the Post Office Act 1900 and the
Post Office Regulations 1933. Postal services are
provided from the General Post Office located on
Church Street; the Mail Processing Centre [BMPC],
also known as the BMPC, located at New Venture House on Mill Street; and the eight sub- post offices
located throughout the Island.
Mr. Chairman, the vision of the Bermuda Post
Office is To be a more innovative, customer focused
and sustainable postal service. To achieve this vision,
the Bermuda Post Office mission is T o connect people
and businesses by providing efficient, courteous , and
affordable products and services. The BPO is a me mber of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and works to ensure that it meets its universal service obligation to provide access to affordable communication to all residents of Bermuda. The department aims to deliver
mail consistently within four working days, and to pr ovide other postal services. The BPO also plans to i ncrease its relevance in this digit al age and take advantage of global opportunities in e- commerce.
Mr. Chairman, the UPU requires all of its
members to be e- commerce ready by 2020. To this
end, the Bermuda Post Office is already setting itself
in place to meet this requirement. Kindly refer to the
targets and performance measures indicated on the
lower section of page B -52, pertaining to EMS (E xpress Mail Service) and parcels. I will not walk you
through, but wish to highlight that the Post Office has
and expects to achieve its objective for on- time deli very for the EMS and parcel products, as well as the EMS data transmission targets and benchmarks set
by the UPU and necessary for e- commerce readiness.
Mr. Chairman, the BPO has set its strategic
priorities for 2018/19 as follows: implement new postal
operation solution; introduce strategic alliances with
other entities; generate additional revenue; and renovate the General Post Office Building.
The Post Operations Solution is an information technology solution that will consolidate four
legacy systems into one system while improving eff iciency, effectiveness, and accuracy. This system is
also critical in that it provides the platform needed for the BPO to introduce new revenue- generating initi atives.
Mr. Chairman, in order to fulfil its visi on, the
BPO must enter into strategic alliances with other organisations. A number of entities are interested in
partnership with the BPO on initiatives that are mut ually beneficial. These opportunities must be explored
and, where feasible and practical, s eized. The BPO
recognises that, in order to survive, it must generate
additional revenue. The BPO plans to do this by intr oBermuda House of Assembly ducing new products and services, improving customer service, and by introducing a more effective marketing strategy.
Mr. Chairman, the Post Office comprises the
Corporate Services Division and the Operations Div ision. The Corporate Services Division includes A dministration and Finance, Information Technology and
the Philatelic Bureau; while the Operations Division is made up of the BMPC, the General Post Office, the
sub-post offices, and courier services. As indicated on
pages B -48 to B -49, the BPO has been allocated a
total of $10,677,000 for the financial year 2018/19, reflecting the same amount as the budget of 2017/18.
I now refer you to the subjective analysis of
the current account estimates indicated on page B -49
of the Budget Book.
Salaries and wages continue to be the largest
expenditure item for the Post Office, at 82 per cent of total expenses. This percentage has decreased from
87 per cent in 2017/18, due to an increase in oper ational expenditure for the new location of the BMPC at
the new Venture House. The sum of these expenses
is expected to be in the region of $513,000 for
2018/19. In order not to exceed the 2017/18 expenditure budget, as directed, the budget for staffing for
2018/19 had to be reduced. The budgeted staff nu mber for 2018/19 is 142, down 10 from 152, established
posts in the 2017/18 budget. This means that certain
positions will not be filled in 2018/19.
Mr. Chairman, Operational Expenses for the
Post Office make up the remaining 18 per cent of the expenditure for 2018/19. The major operational expenses included in the 2018/19 budget are rent, r epairs, maintenance, and energy costs, as previously
explained, as well as materials and supplies. These
are explained in the next paragraph.
Rent is estimated to increase by $305,000.
This is the rent for the new Venture House, where the BMPC was moved to in October 2017. The BMPC
was previously housed rent -free at the airport facility.
Rent for the Perot Post Office, which is paid to the
Corporation of Hamilton, is expected to remain the
same as 2017/18, at a cost of $27,000 for the year.
The repairs and maintenance line items i nclude charges for building repairs, software maint enance, cleaning contracts, cycle and vehicle repairs, and security services, and is estimated to increase in
2018/19 by $131,000, or 31 per cent more than the
2017/18 budget of $424,000. This is mainly due to the
annual service charge for t he New Venture House.
Energy costs are also expected to increase by
$140,000, or 111 per cent, again mainly due to elec-tricity charges for the above- mentioned property —that
is, the New Venture House.
Materials and Supplies include costs for
stamp product ion, printing, stationery, and general
food and office supplies. The 2018/19 estimate for this
line item is $246,000, down 6 per cent from the
2017/18 budget of $262,000. This decrease is due to savings in printing and toner costs, as well as general
stationery costs, as the BPO works to increase eff iciency in its processes.
Mr. Chairman, going back to the smaller line
items. Budgeted Training costs include estimates for
training on the new postal system, as well as various
UPU, CPU and staff development c ourses. The
2018/19 estimate of $40,000 is closely aligned to the
2017/18 budgeted amount, which included funding for
training for an IPS system upgrade. IPS is the Intern ational Postal System, which records movement of mail
between different postal jurisdictions.
Transport costs, which include freight charges
for the carriage of mail, as well as handling charges, are expected to decrease in 2018/19 by 13 per cent,
to $56,000, from $69,000 in 2017/18. This fall is due
to the lower mail volumes being transp orted.
Travel costs are expected to increase, by
$4,000 to a total of $12,000, due to workshops for operational readiness for e- commerce and terminal
dues.
Communication and Advertising and Prom otion expenses for 2018/19 are expected to be mai ntained at t he 2017/18 levels. Advertising expenses
include subscriptions for various philatelic magazines,
both local and international, to promote our philately
product.
Professional Services include annual dues for
the UPU, CPU, and EMS, cooperative and consulting
fees for the Stamp Advisory Committee. The 2018/19
figure is at a level close to the 2017/18 original est imate, with a $5,000 increase due to additional char ges estimated for drafting of policies and procedures
documented for the new postal solution.
Unifo rm expenses are estimated to decrease
in 2018/19, by $10,000 to $60,000, due to a reduction
in staff numbers.
Minor Equipment is also expected to decrease, to $40,000, a drop of 22 per cent from the
2017/18 budget of $51,000 . That concludes our commentary for the Post Office Expenses.

Revenue

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Mr. Chairman, the total Re venue estimate for the year 2018/19, which can be
found on page B -50, is $4,563,000. This is close to
the original estimate for 2017/18. The revised est imate for 2017/18 includes a one- off provision for a
long-outstanding terminal dues debt. This relates to
receivables dating back to 2004 when the terminal
dues billing system was not comprehensively set up,
resulting in delayed billing, which has proved difficult
to collect.
The BPO also collects a significant amount of
revenue on behalf of other government departments,
such as Customs, Education, Youth and Sports, Pub-lic Transportation, and Environmental Protection.
These revenues average about $2 million each year,
1654 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly or 30 per cent of total revenue collected by the BPO
over and above the revenue estimates indicated
above.
This amount is not included in the revenue
figures in the budget estimates for the BPO, but is recognised in the respective departments’ budget estimates, as well as within the BPO’s performance
measures on page B -52. The role of the BPO in this
context and the BPO’s opportunity to increase eff iciencies government -wide is therefore an area of
great opportunity, Mr. Chairman.
Other than inter -departmental collections, the
main revenue earners for the Bermuda Post Office are
frank post, or metered sales, bulk mail, post box ren tals, terminal dues revenue, and stamp sales. All of
these line items, with the exception of bulk mail and
terminal dues, are exp ected to remain close to the
2017/18 levels, based on trend data versus the impact of declining mail volumes.
Terminal Dues are expected to decrease due
to the decrease in international mail volume. We,
however, expect to continue to see growth in the bul k
mail product for 2018/19, a 10 per cent increase com-pared to 2017/18.
The BPO continues to offer businesses and
charities direct daily access to a combined total of 39,000 residential and business postal addresses. Therefore, this product is targeted to wards providing
an avenue for marketing and advertising for custom-ers.
There is significant potential in the areas of
parcel delivery of online purchases through e-commerce, and processing of receipts on behalf of other departments, which could increase efficiency
and generate savings. The BPO’s new IT postal sol ution is expected to provide a platform for the provision
of these services, and more.
Mr. Chairman, the total estimates for Capital
Acquisition expenditure for 2018/19 can be found on
page C -8 of the Capital Acquisition, Schedule C. The
BPO has been allocated an amount of $78,000 for the
purchase of a cancelling machine, a van, and five d elivery cycles. This is against a 2017/18 allocation of
$102,000, a decrease of $24,000, or 24 per cent.
These assets are expected to promote efficient mail
processing and delivery.
The BPO will also undertake a stakeholder
consultation process to better understand what the
public wants from the Post Office today and in the f uture. The public’s views will be an important consideration for the Bermuda Post Office, as the Bermuda
Post Office assesses its business model, structure, and vision.
Mr. Chairman, in 2018/19, the Bermuda Post
Office will also update the Post Office Act 1900, as well as the Postal Regulations 1933. Both of these Acts are outdated and do not reflect the postal service
of today or of the future. The BPO also plans to have
four stamp issues in 2018/19. This will include the Turtle Project, in coordination with the Bermuda
Aquarium and Zoo.
Mr. Chairman, the objective, goals, and pr ojects set by the Post Office for 2018/19 will move it toward the vision of being a more innovative, custom-er-focused, and sustainable postal service. The ou tcome will be that Bermuda will soon have a postal
service t hat meets the needs of residents whilst, at the
same time, moving towards sustainability.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I would like to
thank all of the dedicated workers of our Bermuda
Postal Division.

HEAD 14 —DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS

Hon. Lovitta F. F oggo: Mr. Chairman, we now move
to Head 14. It gives me great pleasure to present the
budget for Head 14, Mr. Chairman, the Department of
Statistics, found on pages B -53 to B -55 of the Budget
Book.
The mission: The department’s mission is to
collect, proc ess, 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 sound, quality data that align with
international standards and best practices to facilitate
a culture of evidence- based decision- making and pol icies and programmes. As such, the Department of
Statistics actively seeks 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 and Overview

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Mr. Chairman, the total current expenditure of the Department of Statistics, found
on page B -54, is estimated to be $2,493,000 for
2018/19, which is unchanged from 2017/18 fiscal
year.
Mr. Chairman, the following is the Subjective
Analysis of the current account estimates of the D epartment of Statistics, found on page B -54:
Salaries, line item 1, decreased by $6,000,
due to the estimated reduction in acting pay which will result after filling vacant positions. In addition, it is a nticipated that there will be a reduction in overtime, as it
will be no longer necessary to resolve census -related
queries.
Mr. Chairman, on page B -54, Other Personnel
Costs, line item 3, increased in spending by $1,000, or
25 per cent. Mr. Chairman, funds allocated for staff
training, line item 4, increased by $5,000, or 500 per
cent, to acquire specialised software trai ning at the
United States Census Bureau, which would assist the department in streamlining and improving the efficien-cy of our data- collection processes. It is important that
the department keeps abreast of changes in technolBermuda House of Assembly ogies and becomes aware of new initiatives deve loped in the global statistical system, through intern ational and regional involvement.
Mr. Chairman, you will note that Travel expenditure, line item 5, decreased by $5,000, or 31 per
cent. As Bermuda is an associate member of the Caribbean Community, CARICOM, and a member of the
Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre,
CARTAC, the department has been able to reduce its
travel expenditure by seizing all opportunities offered
by these regional organisations to participate in fully or partially funded technical workshops and seminars.
These monies have been allocated to support officers’
participation in some overseas statistical conferences
and technical meetings organised by the CARICOM and the CARTAC.
Mr. Chairman, budget monies for Communications, line item 6, increased by $1,000, or 25 per
cent. Advertising and Promotion, line item 7, expenditures set aside increased by $4,000, or 67 per cent.
These additional monies will be used to continue the advertising needed for the announcement and prom otion of annual business surveys undertaken in the regular statistical programme.
Mr. Chairman, the budget for Professional
Services, line item 8, increased to $10,000, or 14 per
cent. Monies have been allocated for the remuner ation of temporary survey workers. For the first time,
the Department of Statistics will undertake two labour -
force surveys in 2018. The data collected from these
household surveys will provide more frequent
measures of unemployment and employment.
Mr. Chairman, the budg et for Rental expend iture, line item 9, increased to $9,000, or 6 per cent. There is a reduced expenditure for Repair and
Maintenance, line item 10, by $8,000, or 14 per cent.
Mr. Chairman, the level of expenditure allocated for
Energy, line item 11, decli ned by $10,000, or 11 per
cent as a result of the department adopting energy -
efficient initiatives.
The Manpower for the Department of Stati stics, on page B -54, remains the same as in 2017/18,
at 24 full -time equivalents. There are nine vacant
posts. Due to the hiring freeze and budget reduction,
one post was frozen and another was unfunded. Per-mission has been sought to recruit for five positions and granted for four. The department will aim to fill
these positions in the next four months. Steps will be
taken to seek permission to recruit for one or the other
vacant post. The decision for the other post will be pending the outcome of the departmental review.

Output Measures

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: The Department of Statistics
Output Measures is found on page B -55 of the Budget
Book. Some selected indicators include the following:
Business unit 24015, Administration —indicate
that a number of documents on the website allow eas-ier and wider accessibility of publications and reduces
printing costs. Target 2016 /17, at least 40 documents
posted during the year; actual outcome 2016/17,
achieved 44 documents posted during the year.
Business unit 24020, Core Statistics —the i ndicated timely completion of statistics that measured
gross retail sales performance in the retail sector.
Target 2016/17, retail sales index released six weeks
after reference month; actual outcome 2016/17,
achieved retail sales index completed six weeks after
reference month.
Business unit 24025, Business Surveys —
indicator, conduct annual labour force survey for delivery of more timely unemployment measures. Target
2016/17, unemployment rate pending completion of
2016 Census. Actual outcome 2016/17 not achieved.
Unemployment was pending release of the 2016 Cen-sus results.
Business unit 24055, R esearch and Surveys—indicator, use of technology during the conduct
of Business and Household Survey, for greater eff iciency in data collection and reduced cost in pr ocessing survey data. Target 2016/17, a minimum of
30 per cent for e- census questionnaire submission.
Actual outcome 2016/17, achieved 51 per cent r esponse rate for the e- census questionnaire submi ssions.

Plans for the Upcoming Year

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: The department will produce
the following core publications in the upcoming year:
• Monthl y:
o Retail Sales Index ;
o Consumer Price Index .
• Quarterly :
o Balance of Payments ;
o Bulletin of Statistics ;
o Gross Domestic Product .
• Biannually:
o Labour Force Survey Executive R eport.
• Annually;
o Digest of Statistics;
o Bermuda Job Market Employment
Brief;
o Facts & Fig ures;
o Fact Sheet of Labour Market Indic ators;
o Gross Domestic Product;
o Information, Communication and
Technology Profile;
o Environmental Statistics Compendi-um;
o Tourism Satellite Accounts Report.
Mr. Chairman, the department will participate
in activities su ch as quarterly hotel gross receipts surveys, surveys of construction projects, and hotel em1656 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly ployment surveys, and the annual employment survey
and economic activity survey. Mr. Chairman, the department conducts ad hoc surveys, provides survey
samples, and undertakes in- depth research and analysis of data. In addition, the department provides st atistical advice and provides professional consultancy in collection, processing, and analysis of data for the
government departments.
Mr. Chairman, the department wi ll engage in
activities such as processing and providing trade st atistics, preliminary work for the Household Expend iture Survey, fulfilling statistical data requests from l ocal and international organisations, and making presentations to internal and external stakeholders.
In alignment with the Throne Speech initiative,
the Department of Statistics will examine the feasibility
of collecting immigration statistics by method and fr equency. The Department of Statistics will begin the preliminary work for rev ising Bermuda’s population
projections, based on the 2016 Population and Housing Census. Further, Mr. Chairman, it is anticipated that the Department of Statistics will undergo a comprehensive review by the Management and Consul tants Section of the Cabinet Office, as we seek to maximise efficiency 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 to processing the 2016
Population and Housing Census data.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This concludes my
budget presentation for Head 14.

HEAD 26 —DEPARTMENT OF
HUMAN RESOURCES

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: I move now, Mr. Chairman, to
Head 26. I am pleased to present this head, and this
is the Department of Human Resources, and it can be
found on pages B -56 to B -61 of the Budget Book.
The mission: The mission of the Department
of Human Resources is to partner with internal and
external stakeholders to provide professional, strat egic, value -added solutions to maximise human capital
and enable operational success.
Expenditure Overview . Mr. Chairman, t he total
expenditure is estimated to be $3,813,000 for 2018/19
and represents a decrease of $33,000, or approx imately 1 per cent lower than the budget of 2017/18 .
Mr. Chairman, t he subjective analysis for the
department is on page B -57 of the Estimates Book.
The following object code des cription increases or
decreases are attributed to the ensuing:
Salaries —an increase of 5 per cent, or
$114,000, which is due to the 2.5 per cent salary i ncrease negotiated between the Government and Bermuda and the Bermuda Public Services Union, and some m onies removed from another area to assist
with funding a position that was previously vacated and left unfunded due to the voluntary early retirement
incentive plan, also known as VERIP.
Training— an increase of $62,000, or 63 per
cent, is to replenish funds which were primarily used in 2017/18 for Professional Services costs for skills
analysis as part of the Future State Human Resource
organisational structure.
Professional Services —a decrease of
$85,000, or 17 per cent, as funding vired to fund pr ofessio nal services for skills analysis, as part of the
Future State Human Resource organisational structure are no longer required. In addition, some funding
was eliminated to assist with budget savings.
Rentals —a $71,000, or 17 per cent, decrease
is representat ive of funds to reflect the current amount
required for office rental. The excess funding was
used to cover the negotiated salary increases.
Materials and Supplies —there has been a
$38,000, or 43 per cent, reduction. This primarily is
attributed to funds being vired into 2017/18 to cover shortfalls in other areas. Also, $10,000 was vired to
salaries to assist in providing funding for a training
manager position, which was previously left unfunded
due to VERIP.

Capital Expenditure

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Funds budgeted for Capital
Acquisition for 2018/19 amount to $9,000. These
items are listed on page C -8, and the allocated funding will be used to purchase equipment to provide
employee identification cards to client departments
whose employees require them in order to fulfil their
duties within the public service and the community.
Manpower —the manpower estimates for the
department, as outlined on page B -58, are 26 full -time
equivalents, which remain the same as fiscal year 2017/18. There are currently eig ht vacancies. Two
posts were vacated in 2015 as a result of the volu ntary early retirement incentive plan, and funding was no longer available. However, funding for one of these
posts has now been identified with the department for
2017/18 fiscal year, and permission to fill the post will
be sought. Active recruitment for four other positions
has been completed, and the necessary approvals for
three of them have been received.
A recommendation for the fourth position is
pending submission to the Public Ser vice Commi ssion. Due to the introduction of the Human Resource
Information Management System, two positions with
the former Recruitment Unit remain vacant and are
partially funded. These positions will be redefined as
part of the Human Resource re- organisation, which is
part of the Government’s reform initiative.




Bermuda House of Assembly Output Measures

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: The performance measures
developed for the Department of Human Resources
are found on pages B -59 to B -61.
Mr. Chairman, with the support of the depar tment [staff], the Department of Human Resources
achieved most of their performance objectives. I will take this opportunity to highlight a few.
For calendar year 2016, the Public Service
Commission held 45 meetings, 2 of which were spe-cially called. The commis sion dealt with 110 recommendations, which resulted in 61 Bermudians, 4
spouses of Bermudians, and 30 non- Bermudians being recommended and approved for appointment. The
continued aim of the department is to improve the r ecruitment and selection process. And I am pleased to report that the average time- to-hire was reduced, on
average, by 65 per cent for both local and overseas
recruitment. Additionally, the turnaround time to pr epare employment contracts was reduced, on average,
by 73 per cent, thereby improving efficiency in the r ecruitment process. To ensure the Government attracts and acquires the best talent, the department will e ndeavour to further reduce the time- to-hire to improve
the candidate experience and to have the right person in place at the ri ght time.

Major Policy Direction

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Major policy direction—Mr.
Chairman, the challenges facing the Human R esources Department is neither unique to the human
resource as a business function nor the jurisdiction.
Globally, the human res ource function has been
evolving, similar to the strategic transformations in
finance and information technology, to add more value
to the business. For instance, many large organis ations in the public and private sectors, including the Government of Bermuda, have created chief information officer positions. Similarly, the human resource
function is evolving beyond personnel and human r esource management to strategic human resource
management wherein the human resource function
takes a pro- active approach i n supporting and a dvancing the organisation. The new human resource
organisational model will address the challenges facing Human Resources and will be designed, verified,
and validated in phases to be effectively structured
and implemented.
Mr. Chairman, a leadership competency
framework has been approved. Competencies are observable and measurable skills and behaviours
which are critical to superior individual and organis ational performance. By using a competency -based
approach to leadership, the Governm ent of Bermuda
can better identify and develop its next generation of
leaders. The leadership competencies are arranged in
five clusters: 1. setting direction ;
2. managing change;
3. fostering collaboration ;
4. delivering service excellence;
5. communicat ing effectively .
The competencies, reflecting leadership at
every level, were tailored to the specific needs and
operational structure of the Government.

Plans for the Upcoming Year
Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Mr. Chairman, in fiscal year
2018/19, the Department of Human Resources will
continue to work towards achieving its vision of building a competent, engaged workforce which drives a
vibrant world- class public service, in addition to
achieving its goals of service excellence by understanding and responding to its stakeholder s’ needs
with the highest level of competency, ingenuity , and
professionalism. The Department of Human R esources will commence the partial implementation of a new human resource model. This will include estab-lishing a project transition team and developing a detailed implementation plan.
Mr. Chairman, there are four principal policy
documents that serve as the foundation to harmonis ation of the Government Human Resource service i nfrastructure, which are critical to the organisation.
These include the V alues and Ethics Code, Framework on Service Standards , and Policy on People
Management. During the upcoming year, an impl ementation plan will be delivered.
Mr. Chairman, a re- energised succession
planning initiative will see the development of a pilot
leadership programme to prepare employees for upward mobility within the service. The Learning and
Development Section will introduce e- learning for
course delivery. This will enable employees to have
an alternative method for learning at their conven-ience.
Mr. Chairman, in partnership with the Depar tment of Health, the Department of Human Resources will develop a Government of Bermuda Employee
Wellness Programme. This is in response to the
Throne Speech, in which the Government committed to lead the way of w ellness by encouraging its employees to make healthy choices.
Mr. Chairman, the offices under Head 26, the
Department of Human Resources, have persevered
throughout the 2017/18 fiscal year despite staff shor tages , and by developing strategic partnerships with
their stakeholders, with a focus of providing value-added solutions to achieve operational success. I
would like to thank the Director, Mrs. Carlita O’Brien,
and her dean for a job well done.

1658 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly HEAD 43 —DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION AND
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Mr. Chairman, I now move
over to Head 43, which is the Department of Information and Digital Technologies. It is a pleasure to
present Head 43 for the Department of Information
and Digital Technologies, and you can find the information on pages B -62 to B -65 of this Budget Book.
The mission is to empower ministries, departments , and civil servants to improve productivity
and services by providing IT consulting services and core IT infrastructure at reasonable cost.

Expenditure Ove rview

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Mr. Chairman, the current
expenditure is estimated to be $6,690,000 for
2018/19, and represents a decrease of $286,000, or
approximately 4 per cent , lower than the budget of
2017/18. I will now walk the Honourable Members
through the subjective analysis of the current account
planned expenditure, found on page B -63.
Mr. Chairman, Salaries —this expenditure is
estimated to be $3,814,000 for 2018/19, and repr esents a decrease of $150,000, or approximately 4 per
cent, lower than t he budget of 2017/18. This change is
due primarily to not funding the Deputy CIO [Chief Information Officer] post.
Mr. Chairman, Other Personnel Costs —this
expenditure is estimated to be $60,000 for 2018/19, and there is no change from the budget of 2017/ 18.
Training— this expenditure is estimated to be
$37,000 for 2018/19 and represents an increase of $7,000, or approximately 23 per cent , higher than the
budget of 2017/18. This is due primarily to the need
for staff development.
Travel —this expenditure i s estimated to be
$11,000 for 2018/19 and represents an increase of
$4,000, or approximately 57 per cent , higher than the
budget of 2017/18. This change is primarily due to
increased travel due to staff training.
Mr. Chairman, Communications —this e xpendit ure is estimated to be $1,279,000 for 2018/19
and represents a minimal decrease of $1,000, no si gnificant change to the budget of 2017/18.
Professional Services —this expenditure is
estimated to be $77,000 for 2018/19 and represents a
decrease of $21,000, or approximately 21 per cent ,
lower than the budget of 2017/18. This change is due primarily to reduction in funding for consultants.
Rentals —this expenditure is estimated to be
$998,000 for 2018/19 and represents no change from
the budget of 2017/18.
Mr. Chairman, Repair and Maintenance —this
expenditure is estimated to be $359,000 for 2018/19
and represents a decrease of $128,000, or approx imately 26 per cent lower than the budget of 2017/18. This change is primarily due to the reduction in sof tware mai ntenance funding.
Mr. Chairman, Energy —this expenditure is
estimated to be $5,000 for 2018/19 and represents no change from the budget of 2017/18.
Mr. Chairman, Clothing, Uniforms , and Laundry—this expenditure is estimated to be $2,000 for
2018/19 and represents an increase of $1,000, or a pproximately 100 per cent , higher than the budget for
2017/18. This change is primarily due to the need for updated resources.
Mr. Chairman, Materials and Supplies —this
expenditure is estimated to be $45,000 for 2018/19
and represents an increase of $2,000, or approx imately 5 per cent , higher than the budget of 2017/18.
This change is primarily due to increase in staff.
Mr. Chairman, Other Expenses —this expenditure is estimated to be $3,000 for 2018/19 and repr esents no change from the budget of 2017/18.
Mr. Chairman, I would now like to draw Honourable Members’ attention to page C -9, Capital E xpenditure, 76074, I nfrastructure and Computers . Mr.
Chairman, the expenditure in this cost centre is est imated to be $400,000 for 2018/19 and represents an
increase of $100,000 higher than the budget of 2017/18. This change is primarily due to increasing
the funding for purchasing computers. Mr. Chairman,
the plan is to replace desktops and laptops that are more than five years o ld and unable to support the
latest Microsoft operating system and related IT government services. Also included in this allocation is
$150,000 for upgrading Microsoft software licenc es
and security on remote devices.
Mr. Chairman, line 76169, Network U pgrade— the expenditure in this cost centre is estimated to be $680,000 for 2018/19 and represents a d ecrease of $642,000 lower than the budget of 2017/18.
The budget of 2017/18 was increased by $642,000,
which was carried forward from 2016/17. These funds were for the upgrade of the core government network
switches in LinkBermuda. Mr. Chairman, the alloc ation is primarily used to maintain and upgrade the government network and support departmental reloc ation and renovation projects. The plan is to continue to upgrade the core network primary data centre infr astructure and gateway security.
Line item 76172, I -Series Systems Servers —
Mr. Chairman, the expenditure in this cost centre is estimated to be $350,000 for 2018/19 and represents
a decrease of $150,000 lo wer than the budget of
2017/18. This change is due primarily to a decrease in
software maintenance. The plan for 2018/19 is to i ncrease capacity to accommodate department projects ,
complete an ongoing project to replace the old 2003 operating system , and t o continue to upgrade the
email and I nternet border security systems core government server farm capacity, refresh email systems
to the latest standard, and Microsoft server software
licences.

Ber muda House of Assembly Mr. Chairman, line 76591, Government Portal
Website —the expenditure in this cost centre is est imated to be $250,000 for 2018/19 and represents an
increase of $250,000 higher than the budget of 2017/18. The change is primarily due to ongoing con-tent changes to the government portal. IDT facilitates
the Department of Communications content changes
on the portal and other key government projects that require developmental work , such as e- Gazette.
Line 7639 [sic], e-Government Initiatives —the
expenditure in this cost centre is estimated to be
$500,000 for 2018/19 and represents an increase of $350,000 higher than the budget of 2017/18. This
change is primarily due to deliverables for digitising
identified business systems. The allocation provides funding for a pilot project for application integration to connect legacy applications and feed digital services ,
front and portal systems, the development of e-payments , and other government IT projects.
Mr. Chairman, 76866, Security —the expenditure in this cost centre is estimated to be $200,000, or—
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Mr. Chairman, I am just
looking to find the cost centre, and I cannot see the number that you are . . .
Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Chang e to page, I think it is
C-9, Capital Expenditure.
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, Mini ster.
Ho
n. Lovitta F. Foggo: Yes.
Mr. Chairman, line 76866, Security —the expenditure in this cost centre is estimated to be
$200,000 for 2018/19 and represents an increase of
$150,000 higher than the budget of 2017/18. This change is primarily due to requirements to deliver an
IDT s ecurity programme that will address identified
vulnerabilities. The allocation will be used to invest in
systems to enhance cybersecurity and mitigate omnipresent and increasing Internet threats.
The initial investment will be used to procure
and set up systems that will continuously monitor the entire IT infrastruc ture for threats and vulnerabilities.
These systems will raise alerts that will trigger a r esponse to rectify weaknesses. Mr. Chairman, this concludes the Capital E xpenditure explanations.
Manpower —located on page B -63 in the
Budget Book. T here are 40 funded posts in IDT, of
which 4 are unfilled.
Ou
tput Measures
Ho
n. Lovitta F. Foggo: Output Measures, pages B -
64 and B -65 of this Budget Book. Mr. Chairman, line
item 53030, Device Support —for 2017/18 fiscal year,
74 per cent of the service tickets were resolved within the allotted service level target. The 2018/19 forecast
is projected to achieve 85 per cent of the allotted service level target. This will be achieved by deploying a
remote government desktop and application service. A vacant operations analyst post will be filled to assist
with the workload.
Line 53035, Network Support —for 2017/18
fiscal year, 68 per cent of service tickets were r esolved within the allocated service level target. The 2018/19 forecast is projected to achieve 70 per cent of the allotted service level target. This will be achieved with the recently upgraded core network infrastructure that provides greater capacity, capability , and resili ency against communicat ion failures.
Mr. Chairman, line 53040, Service Support —
in the 2017/18 fiscal year, 76 per cent of service tic kets were resolved within the allotted service level tar-get. In the 2018/19 forecast, it is projected to be i mproved [to] 80 per cent , with the introduction of self -
service user password and account unlock system.
Line 53090, Security —in the 2017/18 fiscal
year, the planned disaster recovery exercise was not conducted. The disaster recovery system was fully tested, however, by virtue of a plan technical failover
to the IDT backup server farm and was accepted by the stakeholders as a completed 2017/18 disaster recovery exercise. The 2018/19 forecast is projected to improve to 100 per cent with scheduled disaster recovery planning and coordination.
Ma
jor Policy Changes
Ho
n. Lovitta F. Foggo: In 2018/19, IDT will introduce
a policy that will formalise the Information Technology Governance Team, or ITGT, formerly known as the IT Secretariat, to advance Government thinking and
standards in directing and controlling Enterprise i nformation technology; ensure that IT supports bus iness goals, optimises business investment in IT; and
appropriately manages IT -related risks and opportun ities, as well. The IGDT offers research, electronic resources, case studies , and access to consulting expertise to assist G overnment Enterprise leaders, directors , and government -affiliated stakeholders in
their IT governance responsibilities.
Plans for the Upcoming Year —the IDT will
deliver a 24/7 user s elf-service system that will allow
autonomous government password account and lock -
out resets, without the need for a service analyst as-sistance. Mr. Chairman, IDT will formalise the IT gov-ernance team to oversee IT projects and acquisitions, and will ensure that IT business needs are properly aligned, thereby strengthening government’s return on
investment.
IDT will continue to introduce the government
email and desktop file encryption as part of the ong oing government -wide security enhancement. IDT will
continue to roll out advanced external- and internal -
facing cybersecurity systems to thwart increasing per1660 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly vasive cyberthreats. IDT plan to modernise the email
system to the latest industry standard, thereby making
the email servers more stable, reliable, and secure. It
will deliver a new IBM I -series server to facilitate the
Account ant General’s Enterprise 1, known as E1, u pgrade.
Mr. Chairman, the IDT plan the launch of two
or more proof -of-concept pilots for legacy application
integration to enable these data to be made available
to front -end digital services. The IDT will investigate
the provi sioning of one universal person- identifier for
use with all systems, and tying together the multiple
digitisation initiatives. IDT will focus on enhancing and
finalising the current digital service strategy. It will
launch e- payment service for payment of parking tic kets and use with other digital services.
Mr. Chairman, the Department of Information
and Digital Technology is critical to sustaining the effective operations of the Government. They will have
continued to realise cost reductions while maintaining
a discerning watch on the Government’s core IT infr astructure. During the next fiscal year, ongoing network
upgrade system digitisation and continued IT securi ty
will be the priority , with the overriding objective of protecting and sustain ing reliable IT services for depar tments.
Mr. Chairman, the Chief Information Officer
hired has stepped down. And the recruitment process for a CIO has begun. Mr. S hawn Lightb ourne has
been appointed to Acting Chief Information Officer.
The IDT continues to play an intricate role to service
and support Government’s technology requirements. I
would like to take this opportunity to thank the entire
staff of the IDT for their excellent service that they
continue to provide to Government.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my Budget
presentation for Head 43.

HEAD 51 —DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Mr. Chairman, I now begin
the budget for Head 51. It is the Department of Co mmunications, and it can be found on pages B -66 to B -
69, and C -9, of the Budget Book. The mission of the
department is to be the source of trusted communic ation between the Government, public service, and residents of Bermuda, using media and technology to educate and to inform. Using an integrated approach,
the department will fulfil its mission by developing a
coordinated communications approach that incorp orates an enhanced strategic social media presence.

Expenditure Overview

Hon. Lovitta F. F oggo: The expenditure overview,
Mr. Chairman. The total expenditure is estimated to
be $3,150,000 for 2018/19 and represents an i ncrease of $247,000. This is a 9 per cent increase over the revised budget of 2017/18, which was $2,903,000. Mr. Chairman, I wi ll now give an overview of the subjective analysis of current account estimates, found on page B -67, for Communications.
Under Salaries, the estimate for 2018/19 is
$2,480,000, an 11 per cent increase over the 2017/18 revised figure of $2,238,000.
For t he line item Wages, the estimate for
2018/19 is zero. The revised figure for 2017/18 was $170,000. This is a 100 per cent decrease, in anticip ation of [no] full-time employees in the department, and
there will be no requirement to pay weekly salaries.
Mr. Chairman, the revised Training figure has
been increased from $13,000 in 2017/18 to $14,000 in
2018/19, an increase of 8 per cent. This slight i ncrease is due to the anticipation of a full -time co mplement being trained throughout the year.
The Travel budget was reduced from $4,000
in 2017/18 to zero because there is no overseas travel
expected to take place in 2018/19.
Mr. Chairman, the Communications expend iture is expected to decrease, from $53,000 to
$48,000, in 2018/19, a reduction of $5,000, or 9 per
cent. This savings is expected due to the anticipated
consolidation of telecommunications services within
the department.
There is a significant variance in the Adverti sing and Promotion line item for the department. In
2017/18, the budget allocation was $29,000. This i ncreased by almost 800 per cent, to $260,000, as a
result of centralising a portion of Government’s overall
advertising budget. This consolidation allows the d epartment to create a coordinated, planned approach
to informing the public of new and existing services,
initiatives, programmes , and policies, especially those
highlighted in the Throne Speech.
Mr. Chairman, under the line item for Professional Services, there is a 7 per cent decrease from $60,000 in 2017/18 to $56,000 in 2018/19. This is due
to the anticipated upgrades in equipment at CITV,
which will require less time from the engineer who is
dedicated to maintaining and fixing the current equi pment. The new equipment will require less hands -on
maintenance.
Mr. Chairman, there is a decrease of 12 per
cent under Repairs and Maintenance for the depar tment. This is due to the fact that, in 2017/18, u pgrades were made within Communications which do
not have to take place this coming year. Therefore,
the expenditure in 2018/19 of $131, 000 has been r educed by $16,000, to $115,000 for this year.
Mr. Chairman, in 2018/19, the anticipated expenditure for Materials and Supplies is $53,000, a
15 per cent increase over 2017/18, which was
$46,000. This is due to the anticipated renovations
that will take place in Communications, allowing the
Creative Services Team, who are currently in the
basement of Global House, to move to the ground floor.


Bermuda House of Assembly The Equipment, which is a minor capital line
item for the department, decreased from $109,000 in
2017 /18 to $60,000, or 39 per cent, in 2018/19. This is
due to much- needed electronic equipment in 2017/18,
which does not need to be purchased in 2018/19.
Mr. Chairman, Other Expenses increased
from $4,000 in 2017/18, to $12,000 in 2018/19. This is
an $8,000, or 200 per cent , increase. The line item
provides expenditure for the general running of the
department in three locations, which includes drinking
water, addressing health and safety concerns , and the
efficient running of the office.
The estimated Capi tal Expenditure for Communications, which can be found on page C -9, is
$35,000. The funds will be used to complete the furniture purchase for the customer service represent ative’s office at $4,500. The bulk of the funds, $31,000, will be spent to buy new equipment for CITV. As tec hnology continues to evolve in broadcasting, more i nformation is being put online for consumers. The pur-chase of additional equipment will allow CITV to broadcast Government press conferences and other
events live from the field. T he broadcasts will be seen
on CITV channel on www. gov.bm, and will be transmitted on social media.
Manpower —Mr. Chairman, the Manpower for
the department can be found on page B -67 and r emains at 30 full -time employees. There are currently
six vacant posts . The current round of recruitment is
near the end.

Output Measures

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Output Measures for Communications can be found on pages B -68 and B -69.
The department’s overall measurement objective is to determine customer satisfaction with the services pr ovided. The goal is to increase by 5 per cent customer
satisfaction with administration services, Communic ations Section, customer service representatives, and creative services. For portals management, the customer satisfaction increase wil l be by 10 per cent. The
framework to put these measurements in place will be
completed in 2018/19. A baseline measurement will
be established through initial project -based surveys,
after which the department will have an understanding
of where improvement s need to be made and will
place focus there, as needed.
With targeted focus on social media, the department is averaging three to four social media posts
a day, which takes the number of posts per month to
over 100. This includes Facebook, Twitter, and I nstagram. The goal of at least 40 posts per month has
been achieved.
Mr. Chairman, another key measurement is to
increase by 10 per cent the number of government
employees who visit the Intranet at least three times a
week. With the improvement in the search function on www.gov.bm, the output measure set for portals management has been achieved.
Major Policy Changes —Mr. Chairman, in the
upcoming year, the public will have a greater say on
proposed introduction and changes to legislation and policies. An online consultation form will be created
and implemented so that Bermudians can review le gislation and policies before they are finalised, and thereby have a greater say in the democratic process.
Mr. Chairman, the consultation process,
where appr opriate, will be built into the communication
strategies for ministries and departments. The interactive forum, which will live on the government portal,
will give stakeholders an ability to provide feedback on
how the policies/legislation will impact them, what a dditional changes they would like to see, whether the policies/legislation will achieve the stated objectives,
and general information that will help to inform dec ision-makers.
The forum will be introduced during the second quarter of 2018/19. As mentione d earlier, the decision to centralise a portion of Government’s adver-tising money is a significant change in the direction for
the department. The Communications team will be
able to quickly assess the impact of the advertising of
the various programmes, i nitiatives, and policies that
will be introduced in 2018/19.
The department will take advantage of bulk
buying from media outlets and provide a consistent
message and a coordinated approach to the problem.
This will ultimately provide greater accountabil ity for
how advertising dollars are spent by the Government.
A Government Notices and Information Act
will be created and introduced that will allow members
of the public to receive government notices and announcements on their mobile devices. This will b e introduced in the second quarter of 2018/19.

Plans for the Upcoming Year

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Mr. Chairman, the public is
looking for information in short, interesting, and easy -
to-digest sound and visual bites. The department will
provide information that is accessible and layered.
The first layer will be radio and print ads, 30- to 60 -
second social media videos and online postings.
These tools will give brief descriptions of Gover nment’s programmes, services, and policies, with the
second layer of detail available on the government
website.
Mr. Chairman, social media will continue to
drive how the department communicates with the general public. The Bermuda public is increasingly
turning first to social media and online news sources
for their inform ation. The department will enhance and
fine-tune how it communicates with online users, employing analytics and other measurements to deter-mine what works and how users want to receive their
information.
1662 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Chairman, the Communications team continues to provide outstanding service, and I want to
thank the entire department for their hard work. That
ends this brief.

HEAD 80 —OFFICE OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT
AND PROCUREMENT

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: And we will now move, Mr.
Chairman, over to Head 80. Once again, Mr. Chai rman, it gives me great pleasure to present the budget
for Head 80, the Office of Project Management and
Procurement, which you can find located on pages B -
70 to B -72 of the Budget Book. Mission, Mr. Chai rman—the mission for the Office of Project Management and Procurement is to provide oversight and
guidance to public authorities regarding project management and procurement 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 and Overview

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: The total current account expenditure is estimated to be $772,000 for 2018/19 and
represents a decrease of $142,000, or approximately
16 per cent lower than the budget for 2017/18. Prov isions for Salaries, line item 1, accounts for most of the
decrease. Further details are found on page B -71 in
the Subjective Analysis of Current Account Estimates.
Capital Expenditure, Mr. Chairman. T here are
no funds budgeted for capital expenditure for 2018/19.
The budget for Capital Acquisitions is found on page
C-9.
Manpower —Mr. Chairman, the Manpower
budget is found on page B -71. The budget for salaries
has decreased by $146,000. The difference i n the
budgeted amount for salaries resulted from the trans-fer of two employees from the former Department of
Airport Operations to the current Office of Project
Management and Procurement.
The estimates for 2018/19 do not include
these salaries. Mr. Chair man, there are three vacancies within the established posts. The office comprises seven professionals including a director, procurement
manager, senior project manager, project manager,
quantity surveyor, contracts and compliance manager,
and administrativ e assistant. These professionals
have expertise in procurement, project management, quantity surveying, contracts, compliance, and admi nistration.

Output Measures

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: The office’s performance
measures for 2017/18 are set out on page B -72 and
are as follows: 1) Assist authorities to save, reduce, or avoid
5 per cent of costs in managing capital projects. This
performance measure was not met. The office has
developed guidelines for managing capital projects
that will be implemented during the first quarter of
2018/19. It is anticipated that, over time, cost savings
will be realised by the introduction of a consistent
standardised approach to project delivery.
2) Deliver a report on the operation of the office during the preceding year with in three months
after the calendar year. This performance measure
was not met, as the office is working to compile lessons learned on the airport redevelopment project that
will, in part, inform the annual report.
3) Provide training to at least five publi c authorities on project management and procurement
best practices. The office trained public officers on
procurement best practices. Guidelines for project
management and procurement best practices will be
released in the first quarter of 2018/19. This is an ongoing initiative that will also i nclude quangos.
4) Perform five project management procur ement and contract compliance audits on capital pr ojects. No audits were performed during the course of the year. Further work is being done to develop guid elines, 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 purchas ing
power.
Once the implementation of the code is complete, the office will assist public authorities to negot iate fram ework agreements and implement approved
contractor lists to take advantage of opportunities to
reduce costs.

Major Policy Changes

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: The Cabinet has authorised
the office to implement the Code of Practice for Pr oject Management and Procurement. The office has
started the process of implementing the code as a
policy and will complete the exercise during the first quart er of 2018/19. The office is working with the A ttorney General’s Chambers to develop procurement
legislation to support the code.
All public officers will be required to procure
goods and services according to the procedures and
requirements set out in the code. A policy will be i mplemented to ensure that all infrastructure projects are
subject to a competitive tender process unless there is
sufficient justification to use an alternative procur ement method, according to procurement best practice
standards.
Mr. Chairman, the office will also assist the
Government to use its purchasing power to promote equality of opportunity with regard to disability, genBermuda House of Assembly der, and race. Procurement rules that give preference
in the awarding of contracts to companies that hir e
Bermudians will be enshrined.


Plans for the Upcoming Year

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: The office will work with the
Bermuda Economic Development Corporation to ensure that 20 per cent of capital spending will be directed towards small and medium -sized busi nesses
that have traditionally been unable to compete for
government contracts. Progress on this initiative will
be measured on an annual basis. In collaboration with
the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation, the office will host workshops to educate s mall and medium-sized business owners on the public sector pr ocurement process and opportunities to contract with
the government. Efforts to standardise procurement
documentation and streamline processes will continue
so that more Bermudian entrepreneurs c an participate
in government contracting opportunities. Mr. Chai rman, the office will train public officers on procur ement and project management best practices so as to
raise the level of expertise in these areas across government.
In closing, Mr. Chairm an, the office is diligently working to provide oversight of all government pr ocurement. Mr. Chairman, please let me take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank the Acting Director, Mr. Graham Simmons, and the hard- working and
dedicated staff of the Off ice of Project Management
and Procurement.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This concludes my
Budget presentation for Head 80 and concludes my
presentation, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Minister.
Are there any other Members who wish to
speak to the respective heads?
The Chair now recognises the Opposition
Leader, Mrs. Jeanne Atherden.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Mr. Chairman, can you
just confirm for me how much time we have, just so
that I can make sure that I leave enough time for my colleague to deal with reform, and also to give the
Minister enough time to respond?

That is correct.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Okay. If I then, Mr. Chai rman, can start off with my discussion on . . . this is
regarding Head 9, which is Cabinet Office. And that is
found on page B -43. And I must say I will thank the
Minister for giving additional information, because some of the information answered questions that I
had. But some of the other information just gave me
additional questions.
So, when you look at page B -43, programme
0901, and I am looking at the general summary, which indicated that the general administration went down
by $220,0 00. The protocol on hospitality went up by
$126,000. And the Policy and Strategy went up by
$146,000. Now, I think that I remember that the Mini ster indicated that some of this was related to the Sec-retary to the Cabinet being separated out and the
housekeeper post being reinstated. And so, I am pr esuming, but I do not want to turn around and . . . just
because she said that, I would much prefer her to tell
me, what was the $220,000 reduction for the general
administration, and what was the reduction for the
protocol and hospitality?
When you start looking at 19050, Public A ccess to Information, can you just remind me, what was
that transfer made to? And the reason I am asking is
because, in 2016/17 there was $93,000 in there. In
2017/18 the money allocated was $142,000, but act ually the revised budget ends up being zero. So, it just
begs the question of, if you put the money in there but
you have nothing in there and nothing going forward
to 2018/19, was some decision made after last year’s
budget was starte d to not have it in this department?
Or was a decision made to put it somewhere else, in
total? I think it is to another department. But I would like the Minister to confirm where it was.
Now, with respect to programme 9020, Ec onomic Policy and Foreign Aff airs, I must admit I had
some questions with respect to the London Office. I
did not hear any mention of the London Office . . . I
did not hear any reference to the Belgian Office. And
the reason I am asking this is because there was actually, Mr. Chairman, an advertisement in the new spaper for a consulate officer. And I just wondered
whether this consulate officer had anything to do with
the Belgium Office that the Premier had mentioned.
And I do not think the Minister (and I tried to make notes) made any mention of what was going to ha ppen with respect to Belgium.
With respect to the Washington Office . . . and
the reason with respect to London Office is the fact
that $403,000, which is a 39 per cent increase, is
happening in that particular office. So, it makes me
think that something is going to occur. But it was not
in the brief, and it was not anywhere. So I think it
1664 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly would be nice for us and the people of Bermuda to
know how it is going to work. Because it then begs
another question . . . (Sorry. Can someone give the
Minister some water, please?)

[Pause]

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: And the reason I am as king is because $403,000, which is a 39 per cent i ncrease, if you started to look at whether it could be
staffed, because this one says the consulate off ice, it
just talks about the consulate officer, it is only
$70,000. But the whole London Office has gone up by
$403,000. So I am presuming that there might be
some additional staff that are also going to be added.
But, more importantly from my perspective is that, will
there be a physical office? And what additional staff will be added? So, one, physical office; what additional staff will be added?
So, when you then go to programme 19045,
there was going to be an increase of 94 per cent. But I
know that the Minister did say that the Washington
Office opening will be deferred. So, I guess what I would like to ask the Minister is, because I had the
other side of the question, which was, who did we use
before, and what were we going to do in the future?
But now that you are telling me that the office opening
will be deferred, then I just wondered if the Minister
could confirm who will we be using in the meantime,
or will those . . . although the office will not be open,
who will we be using to make sure that all of our concerns with Washington are actually dealt with? Is the Government anticipating that there will be less money by utilising the consultant or whatever, or are you a nticipating there will be a need for more?
The next question came down to . . . oh, yes.
And I wondered if you could tell us the name of the consultant who was paid to act for Bermuda, and as I
say, whether that person is going to continue. And my
question about the Washington Office is . . . there was
a space being rented. Well, that goes away.
And with respect to page B -44, Rentals, if the
Minister could indicate what space has been rented and where, because I am mindful of the fact that there
is a significant amount of money in Cabinet Office, but
I thought, now that the Cabinet Office has been renovated, et cetera, I presume that everybody should be
back down at Cabinet Office. So, could the Minister
indicate, where are the locations that have been ren ted and when are their leases due to expire?
And I am asking this for the second reason,
because I know that there was an indication that there
were plans to re- house ministries in other government
buildings. And I just wondered whether this might be
impacted by that.
Professional Services —there was going to be
an 81 per cent increase. And I am just looking to see
whether the Minister said anything in her brief, because I put my questions out. I obviously started to raise my questions before I actually got the brief; so I
could not wait. Okay. If the Minister could explain what
the increase for Professional Services was going to
be? I think I made a little notation, something with r espect to partnership with Bermuda First and specia lists that might be retained to grow business. But I just
want to make sure that this was the connection. So, if
the Minister could confirm the growth in Professional
Services going up by 81 per cent, that would be hel pful.
Then we go to page B -43. This is the Policy
and Strategy. And the reason I am very intrigued
about this is because there is an increase of $148, 000
for Policy and Strategy. But when I look at the hea dcount, according to this, the Policy and Strategy, you had five. You budgeted for seven last year. But last
year you only had five, and this year you are having seven again. So, I always find that you intended to
add two additional staff members, but they did not
happen. So I wondered if the Minister could explain
what happened, whether those funds were utilised in
other ways? And I am going to use this as an example to drill down into something which came up in other
areas. But I think this one, perhaps, makes it easier so
that not only me, but the people who are the listening
audience can understand this whole issue of funded
posts, frozen posts, and how the money is spent.
Because if you look at page B-45, the original
(this is Policy and Strategy) indicated that, as I say, you were planning for seven. You revised it down to
five. And that might indicate that the funds were funded, but not frozen. But if that is the case, it should r esult in savings. And I start to drill down into savings
because, too often, we hear about posts being frozen,
but if they are frozen that means that nobody filled
them, which means that the money should be sitting
there for savings. But you never end up seeing sal aries bei ng less. Because B -44 says that the salary
item is . . . it was 322 . . . 349 was the original;
$3,581,000 was the revised. So, somehow, the funds are being utilised for other purposes, whether it be
vired to take care of something else or whether consulta nts were used to take care of the services.
And I think it is important because, if they do
not result in savings, then the public needs to know that the Government dithered away to get the required
programme taken care of, and not have people belie ving th at programmes were not handled because the
Government did not have the money. And so, if you had the posts and you did not use them, the savings
should be there. And if the savings are not there, then it means that the funds were used for something else.
And I just want to know, were the funds used because
consultants were used to take care of what they
should have done? Or was the expenditure vired to
another place?
And if I then go to the whole question of the
policy analyst for Policy and Strategy, the r eason I am
asking this is because, with respect to when you start


Bermuda House of Assembly to go to the performance measures, you start to realise that the performance measures for the Policy and
Strategy, which is business unit 19015, you will start
to see that a number of the things that this unit should
have done appear not to have met the type of stand-ard that one would expect. And I say that because if
you look at page B -45, it says, liaise with departments
and ministries to increase their uptake of advice and
service at the i nitial stage of policy development. Last
year, the actual outcome was 50 per cent. The original
forecast was 25—sorry. The year before was 50 per
cent. The original forecast for 2017/18 was 25 per
cent. The revised forecast is 25 per cent. And the target o utcome is 25 per cent.
And I do not understand that, because the
performance measure seems to imply that the Policy
and Strategy department would want to be getting in
there and helping departments to be able to do the
right thing in their departments at an early stage, because that makes sure that they do it in the right way.
And so, I do not understand. If one knows that this is something that you want to achieve, why is 25 per
cent acceptable, to say that the other 75 per cent of
the people are going of f and not being able to have
the benefit and advice of the department?
The second thing that I found was interesting
was, if you talk about General Administration, this is page B -46, there was an indication of public service
. . . it says, General misconduct cases will be adjudicated within an eight -week period. I think for me, and I
think for most Bermudians out there, what would be
more interesting and telling would be, how many
gross misconduct cases were adjudicated? And what constitutes gross misconduc t? And the reason I am
saying that is because it is important to understand
there has been a lot of talk about the orders that ev erybody should know. Everybody should know what the accounting orders are and making sure that you live
up to that and making s ure that you do not bury that.
But you obviously have gross misconduct cases, which means that somebody has not followed the pr ocedures. And so, I would think that it is not so much
an indication of the fact that they were actually adjudi-cated within an ei ght-week period, but more interes ting, how many gross misconduct cases did you have?
And on top of that, the indication here is that
80 per cent of them were done within an eight -week
period. And I just wondered, how long did it take the
other 20 per cent? How long did it take those to be
adjudicated? And what is the impact in terms of . . .
what impacted the department’s ability to meet the
target?
I must admit, and maybe this is just something
that the Minister can explain to me, when I looked at
the perf ormance measure that says, The number of
temporary relief employees will be reduced, and it
said 2 per cent, I am afraid I did not understand what
that was saying. And I must apologise right at the get -
go. I said right at the beginning of the Budget Debate, I said even when I commented on the Minister’s
Budget, that I believe that it is important that performance measures indicate what departments (I should
be talking to you) are doing, how they are going to be
measured, so that the performance measures tel l you
something. They tell the public about what was su pposed to be achieved; was it achieved? So that if
there is something that needs to be done differently,
you know that it is in hand. So that is why it is i mportant that these performance measures have some
degree of accuracy.
With respect to . . . if I then go to . . . this is
programme 19010. This says, To complete the review
of official events within seven days of the event’s occurrence. I just wondered what the review of official
events was designed to do. And I know, and I am going to say this now because I see that the Finance Minister and Premier is here, I have seen some other
performance measures in some of the other depar tments, which are tidier and tighter. So, it is not that every department is not tidy and tight. But I am just
making a notation that some of these will, obviously,
need to be tidier and tighter as we go forward, in line
with what the Finance Minister was saying.
I have more to do, so I am quite happy to stop
now, because I think the Finance Minister and Premier is here to say that we can go to lunch.

Good afternoon. Honourable Members, we are now in Committee of Supply for further
consideration of the Estimates of Revenue and E xpenditure for the year 2018/19. We are debating Ca binet Heads 9, 13, 14, 26, 43, 51, and 8 0.
1666 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly I believe, Opposition Leader, that you have
the floor. Please proceed.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Thank you, Madam
Chairman, and I will try and proceed quickly so that
my colleagues can have time to ask some more questions and the Minister will have tim e to respond.
If we then now go to 19015, which is on page
B-45. And I was talking about policy and strategy and
I was talking about performance measures and I had
turned over to page B -46. And the question that I had
was that when you look at B -46 they w ere talking
about the performance measures and I was struck by
the number of items which indicated that production of
a set of SD (which is Sustainable Development) ind icators, that this is no longer in there. And they also
talked about the number of polic y programmes and
project decisions that are subject to sustainability i mpact assessments, and then it talked about embedded
sustainability principles into government policies and
programmes. And all of this was not applicable.
So I guess my question is . . . if you look at
that, it almost sounds like sustainable development is no longer a part of the unit’s mandate and I wondered
if that could be confirmed one way or the other. And if
it is no longer part of the unit’s mandate, then whose
mandate is it a part of? Because it had always been indicated that sustainable development was very i mportant from the point of view of policies and pr ogrammes, so I have a real concern about that.
I have skipped because there were some answers about the London Office, et cetera, so I am not
going to ask anything that is not there.
There was . . . the Minister said something . . .
and I normally would not deal with this, but I am just
asking a real quick question, and then I will leave the
rest for later. It says that Gov ernment notices are no
longer going to be published in the Gazette. So I just
wondered if the Minister could explain in the future
how will those persons . . . and they tend to be more
[among] our seniors, et cetera, who . . . the newspaper is their way of getting information. They are not
those people who have the cell phones and they are not people who have the Internet, et cetera. If the Mi nister could indicate how that problem is going to be overcome, recognising that the publishing of information, especially the Gazette notices, are a central
part any Act, and making sure that people are aware
of it. So, I would like to think that she can give us
some answers on that.
Okay, so then with respect to the Post O ffice—I am going to switch over, moving along —there
was . . . and I am now going to B -50, on B -50 there
was an indication, when I look at the Revenue, that
seemed to be that, and I think it was said right at the
very beginning, that on B -48 it says to promote exis ting services and products and develop new services
and products to increase revenues by 10 per cent.
That is what was said in terms of the department ob-jectives. If you look at page B -50 you will see that,
whether we like it or not, the goal of revenue increases by 10 per cent has been a tar get for a while. The
target was not met in 2017/18, and so I just wondered if the Minister could tell us when it was last met. B ecause, you know, to keep having a target that is not
met makes one start to wonder about how realistic
you are with respect to target setting, and especially
because the Government needs to collect all the revenues that it is expected to because the expenses are
not going to stop, the expenses are going to put some stress on the Government.
So, with respect to page B -52 this is a performance measure, again, which indicated that local mail is going down, international mail is going down, so I
guess I just wondered if the department can indicate—and this is where you are talking about page B -
52, Output Measures, it says local mail v olumes pr ocessed and it showed for the 2016/17, 2017/18, and
2018/19 that they are all going down. So I just wondered if the Minister could indicate what is being done
to adjust for this. You know, what is being done . . . I
mean, I know at one time we had conversations about
why it was going down and things were suggested like
people are sending emails rather than sending mail,
people are using outside courier service, so all of
these things, I know the people in the Ministry are
knowledgeable and, therefore, I am assuming they are adjusting or taking these things into consideration,
and I wondered if they can indicate to us what is being
done to adjust for this.
I think on page B -52 there was talk about the
mail delivery. When I read performance measures and
it is talking about . . . it is the third from the bottom,
percentage of letter mail delivered locally within two
working days of reception and it says 90 per cent delivery standard. But I thought that the Minister said
something to the effect that four days was the standard. And the reason I would like to know whether she said four as opposed to the two is because I was going to ask the Minister if two was the standard, whet her there was any thought of making it delivered in
three days. Because I have a real concern when you
start to look at mail delivery and the effect on the number of people that you have as letter carriers that if you ended up reducing the delivery time you can
have fewer people and those people could then be
allocated to other jobs within the service or within the
Government. So, if she can indicate whether any
thought was given to reducing the delivery to twice a
week and that would, as I say, have some positive knock -on effect.
My next question relates to the Minister indicating t hat there was going to be a renovation of the
General Post Office building. And I just wondered
what the future target is for this area. And I am asking
that with putting two hats, two questions, and they are related. The Minister also indicated that the r ent was
going up because of the rent for, I think she called it,


Bermuda House of Assembly New Venture House. So I wondered if she could tell
us how long it will take to renovate the Main Post O ffice, what is the target date for completion, and also,
what is the target for utilising this area once it is renovated? Because I would like to know whether this ren-ovation would allow the New Venture House property
to be given up. And so if she could tell us when the
New Venture property . . . when the lease is up for
renewal, because that will also help me understand
the renovation of the Main Post Office and what it is
going to be used for.
I am going to skip that one. Okay . . . let us go
now to the Department of Statistics because, as I say,
I want to leave some time for the Minister. When I
looked at the Department of Statistics and when I saw
that according to this there was no favourable var iance, i.e., according to this the salary budget is pretty much on target in terms of what the original 2017/18
was, what the revised is, what th e estimate is for
2018/19, because I thought there was an indication
that there was a vacancy within the department.
So I wondered if the Minister could explain
how it is . . . and if you look, it is page B -54, you see
all the employee full -time numbers, I just wondered if
the Minister could indicate . . . if there is no vacancy in
the Budget Book, there is no variance in the Budget Book, but there was an indication that there were some people within the department, and I think a
name or two was called of people that were not there,
so I was just wondering whether the vacancy just occurred at the end of the year, which meant that most
of the year you had somebody there so that it really
was not, what I call, a vacancy that would impact on the service.
But, for me, the most important thing, the concern that I had with respect to the Department of St atistics related to performance measures. I have al-ways maintained that the Department of Statistics is a
very important department and I always felt that if we
could get some more timeliness in terms of the pr oduction of their information that this would go a long
way to helping people plan, helping people draw co nclusions. And I say that because if you look at page B -
55, business unit 24020, Core Statistics and Public ations, I guess I look at it and I say that you can do the
measure of retail sales, you can produce that six weeks after the reference month; you can look at the
rate increases for price of goods, you can do the rate
of inflation five weeks after the r eference month; but
when you then start to come down to things like the
unemployment rate, those things are done semi -
annually in July, but the information that you tend to
get is very much after the fact.
So I just wondered whether, especially now
that y ou have technology, I just wondered why we
were not able to have those type of statistics pr oduced quarterly because then it will help us as well as
the Government know how well they are doing in
terms of getting new people hired. And there has been lots of emphasis put on
growth and jobs and hiring, so if you have quarterly statistics more information is going to be out there in
terms of people coming forward to be able to get i ncentives, people being able to have rebates or reductions, so there is a lot more reason for people to pr oduce this information in a timely manner because they
have incentives. So I would like to think that maybe
the Statistical Department can start to say that it
makes sense to start to have this done on a quarterly
basis because (1) it should be easier, and (2) it has a
very significant benefit.
I then go down to the Census and Survey R esearch Unit and I guess I was a little concerned that this is saying . . . this is page B -55 and it is unit 24055,
“use of technology during conduct of business and household surveys for greater efficiency and data col-lection and reduced costs in processing survey data.”
And the target for 2018/19 was a minimum of 50 per
cent response to e- Employment survey. And I guess
part of me said that this is the —what I am talking
about in terms of technology —50 per cent still means
that you have got a lot of extra work you have to do in terms of people reaching out and trying to get information. We should be able to . . . we should be trying
to get this up to a much higher level because people
have been doing this for a long time and, therefore, to
try and get that closer up to 75 or 80 per cent would mean that you have a better opportunity of being able
to produce these reports on a quarterly basis.
And also because, when you look at the next
one, which is indicators for measuring economic
growth, it says “quarterly GDP estimates completed
16 weeks after the reference quarter.” Well, if it takes
16 weeks you pretty much . . . quarter one is not fi nished until quarter two. So the [time it takes], I just
think, becomes something that makes you wonder. It
makes you feel that it has got to be reduced. And I put
it all in the context of how some of the other things are done within six weeks, et cetera. So I am not going to
be able to discuss how or the why, but I would like to
think that if the department is able, especially if they
are going to have the resources, and we are talking
about technology, if they are able to look at that. I
know from the point of view of the people who use this
information that if it was more timely, then I think it
would go a long way to helping people do their planning and also giving feedback as to whether some of
the policies and incentives are actually working.
Okay, I am now going t o move on to Human
Resources because, as I say, I want to make sure that I have enough time. There was some information with
respect to the department when I looked at the performance measures, and I know that the Minister
talked a lot about a new plan whi ch was going to be
an implementation which was agreed over a phased process. And so the partial implementation, there was something that was going to be implemented by
March 31, 2018 —and I am on now page B -59, Corpo1668 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly rate Administration, unit 36000 —and then there was
an indication that there was another partial implementation of the phased plan for March 31, 2019. And I
would like the Minister, if she could indicate to us and
the listening public as to what was going to happen in each one of those phases.
And the reason I say that is because the H uman Resource function is so important to Gover nment, the size of Government, the efficiency of Government, which as you know, it goes without saying
that whatever we are going to be doing with respect to Government, we have to make sure that this is wor king. And I say that because I was mindful of the fact
that in the pre- budget report the Finance Minister ind icated (and this is talking about making Government
more efficient, if you will allow me to read this for one
second, Madam Chair man): “ Moving forward, the
Government will take a revised approach in order to
implement further savings by way of increased eff iciencies. To achieve the Government’s desire to make
the public services more efficient, an Efficiency Team
will be created to implement efficiencies across government. ”
So I just wanted to just find out how this Eff iciency Team will tie into what the Human Resource Department is doing with respect to implementing
their phased processes, the one that is just fi nishing
right now and the new one that is going forward.
There was also an indication in terms of . . .
the Minister talked about competency basis, and I
think what concerned me was that there was a lot of
indication about what was going to be in the competency basis in terms of what people would be as-sessed on, but if the Minister could tell me and the
people of Bermuda, who has the responsibility to ensure that what the department asks for is what the
department needs? Because it does not make sense
that the department puts in a request for something if
there is not clarity and making sure that what they ask for is what they need. Because there is nothing worse
than spending money on something that . . . the department has evolved or it is no longer utilis ed b ecause there is some better way to do it.
And that made me come to another question
that I had, which is related to two things which came
up, which is this question of succession planning b ecause if you are doing succession planning that
should mean th at you are looking at what the depar tment has, who is in there, who should be developed
to take over their role, but also, if you are doing it at
the same time, looking at how the department is organised and efficiencies, that looks at it from a differ-ent way. And furthermore if the department is turning
and making sure that with respect to their recruitment,
things like job descriptions, that the job descriptions
have been looked at. I know at one stage— and I put
an old hat on when I was a Minister —when we were
getting ready to recruit for some positions and we were advised that we could not do anything yet be-cause the job descriptions had not been (and I will not
say the number of years) updated for a number of
years, so you had to wait for that.
And whet her we like it or not, and I know that
Minister Burch will understand what I am saying be-cause I think he has had the opportunity to be the
beneficiary of this, maybe “beneficiary” is not the word
I want to say, but I know that there is nothing worse
when have got the permission to go and hire the person and then you are putting in your request and all of a sudden you realise that it is taking so much longer because either the job descriptions are not up to date
or there is some process that has to be fulfi lled and,
therefore, what you hoped would be getting the people right on board, it is a protracted length of time.
So, it is important then as the Human R esource Department develops its succession planning, develops its efficiencies, that the things that will slow
the process down, that those things are actually taken
care of. Because the bottom line is once you have
finally got permission to hire, you want to go at it right
away. You really want it right away because it has taken you a while to get the permission, and also you
want to help the people who have been struggling to
get some relief.
So, I will then go to . . . right, I asked about
the Efficiency Team. Okay. And I have asked about
succession planning. Okay. I will just do two more and then . . . this relates to Head 43 which is Performance
and Digital Technology, page B -64, this is the measurement. I think what I found interesting was I was pleased to see that there was an indication that there was going to be an introduction of some more self -
service. And I say that because I know that som etimes, you know, you have got passwords to be
changed and other things that need to be done, and
by the time it happens you are waiting for somebody to come and do it, but in many other organisations
that is something that has been automated almost. So I am pleased to see that this happens because then it
means that the rest of the work that the people in that
department have to do, they can spend more time on
work which they actually really need.
Now, there was on page B -65, the Minister
. . . this is talking about Disaster Recovery Planned
and Executed. The target outcome . . . the forecast
said that it was zero in terms of nothing happening,
and next year we were talking about 100 per cent.
Now I just wondered, I know that the Minister said that
it did not happen and, therefore, there was failover
that happened and, therefore, it was deemed to be the equivalent of a disaster recovery. And I just want to
make sure that, from the perspective of what happened in t he failover, that the department is sufficient
that it ticked all the boxes as it relates to what things
you were trying to prevent and made sure that the
system was sufficiently robust. Because disaster r ecovery and disaster recovery planning is very i mportant and, from a Government perspective, we need


Bermuda House of Assembly to make sure that these things are up to date and we
need to make sure that something is not compromised
with respect to making sure that the system does not
fail when we need it.
With respect to the . . . and I am going to
move now to Head 51, this is getting now to the D epartment of Communications, this is now on page B -
67. There was an indication that these . . . and I am
looking down at Portals Management and Telephone Customer Service Repair. I think I heard, based on
what the Minister said, that even though it said original estimate three, revised estimate three, and the
2018/19 that there were still three, it sounded as if
those positions had actually not been filled. So I just
wondered, you know, what we were doing with r espect to utilising that aspect of the service.
And I did notice that (this is talking about
Communication) there was an indication that there
was going to be a Government Notice and Information
Act that will be introduced to allow peo ple to get noti ces on their apps, which is fine. But, as I said before,
you still have to worry about those people who are not
technologically savvy and those people who are set in
their ways. And we go on the basis that they are r equired to be informed and I just do not want the Government to turn and have something where people
could say, Well, I never knew anything about it and,
therefore, use that as a way to be not held account able for something that they failed to do, to say that
they did not know.
And last but not least, I am now down to Pr oject Management and Procurement. Just to indicate, I guess I just want to make sure from the Minister, I know she said that there was a transfer of two employees from Airport Services and there were some
vacancies, my impression is . . . and if the Minister
could clarify it, my impression is that because if you
look at the performance measures for this department
there were so many things that either were not measured or discontinued, et cetera, my impression was
that the department had not really gotten up to speed.
And I just wondered if the Minister could ind icate what the department did from the time it was actually, if you will, incorporated. The reason I say that is
because no compliance audits were performed, et
cetera, those are the type of things that, you know,
once they are up to speed you would think that things
like compliance audits and other things would be
there.
Now, there is an indication, and she said under major policy implement the code of procurement,
to be completed in the first quarter. And I thought that
the procurement code, if you will, had been developed, and I just wondered where we are with respect
to the legislation because I would have thought that
the legislation should be tracking al ong with this so
that when they are doing things to make sure that they
do like the 20 per cent and they make sure that the people with disabilities, et cetera, are utilised, that
those things have to be in place.

So with that I will stop so that my coll eagues
can have time to ask some questions.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.

Thank you, Member.
The Chair now recognises the Member from
constituency 10, the Honourable Michael Dunkley.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you , Madam
Chairman, and go od afternoon.
I will try to do a little legal speeding here to
allow us to get through the last 30 minutes or so. I
thank the Honourable Minister for her presentation
and I will start off in Cabinet, Head 9.
I think the big thing that jumps out there,
Madam Chairman, is the fact that the expenses have
increased by $748,000, or 11 per cent. And if you
break it down, you can break it down, simply put, that
$357,000 of that would be in the area of Government Reform, and you will find that on page B -43 on subheads 0903, of about $119,000 and $238,000; and
the rest of that would be roughly speaking for increases in the London Office and the Washington DC O ffice. So we are not surprised to see an increase in those two areas because the Government, under the leadership of the Premier, has made it very clear that
they want to continue with government reform, which
the former government started and a lot of work was
done. And, secondly, that we have vital challenges to face in our overseas negotiations and relations hips
with people. So I accept that 11 per cent increase, but there are some questions that come off of that, Madam Chairman.
And before I get into some more comments in
asking questions, just on page B -43 I note that [for]
Public Access to Information there is no allocation. And so I am assuming that it might be rolled into the
Policy and Strategy section with the increase in funding there of about $148,000 because PATI had last
year, or this financial year an allocation of $142,000,
so I would assume that that might be the rollover, but
it was not mentioned anywhere in the Honourable
Minister’s brief, but we all know that PATI is very i mportant. The OBA Government and the previous PLP
Government were very keen to move PATI legislation
forward and we managed to do so and I hope that it
continues on. And I look forward to some understanding from the Minister that this is the case or, if not, where is it?
And then, secondly, a question to that, Madam Chairman, would be we have heard rumoured
concerns from var ious Government ministries that
they do not have the resources to dedicate to PATI requests. How will that challenge be dealt with in the next financial year going forward?
1670 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Madam Chairman, in looking at the London
Office and the Washington DC Office, cert ainly, we
have always heard good comments about the work
that is done in the London Office and I am well aware
of the great work that they have done there, having worked closely with them. I am pleased to see that the
Government, the Premier, has decided t o defer the
decision of the Washington DC Office, so the question
to the Honourable Minister is : What is the reason for
deferring that decision? And is there any reconsider ation for the commitment to actually open up an office? We looked at it, we did some in-depth review of it, and
we thought that based on our proximity to our closest
trading partner, based on relationships we already
had in Washington DC, based on relationships we had with individuals in Bermuda—businesses or alphabets
associated with bus inesses —that we could manage
that relationship in the most important way.
Another question for the Honourable Minister:
In 2016 an External Affairs Strategic Planning Committee was put in place and I am not aware of any up-date in the brief in regard to that, so is that Committee
still active? Has the membership changed? And what
is their current focus on the External Affairs Strategic
Planning Committee?
Obviously, Madam Chairman, we are well
aware that we have tremendous issues overseas,
such as Brexit, such as our AML/ATF reviews, and tax
reform. So we need to get the expenditure of money
in the various overseas areas put in the most appr opriate way to get value for money. Because it seems
like as soon as we resolve one issue, two issues
come up. Tax ref orm was an issue that was on the
radar very quickly after President Trump took office
and he moved on it very quickly and it has had some
implications to Bermuda. There was no update on any
of these overseas issues. There have been very little
updates on B rexit. I would be interested to know what
the approach is because the clock is ticking on Brexit right now. It has real strong implications here in Bermuda as well.
Madam Chairman, if we turn to pages B -44
and B -45, I will make a general observation throug hout all the various Cabinet Office ministries, in one of them, Madam Chairman, I believe it was under H uman Resources, the Honourable Minister said that
there was a 2.5 per cent increase included in that for
the uplift on salaries. But in none of the other Cabinet
areas that fell under that . . . in none of those other
heads did I hear of that 2.5 per cent increase. So is that 2.5 per cent increase encapsulated in these
budget numbers that we have here? And if so then it draws some interesting comparisons on the budget
estimates for those different heads.
For example, in the Cabinet Office, if you look
at [the] Salaries line item, it is estimated that it will be $3,621,000 for this next financial year, which is
$40,000 more than the previous financial year. It
seems like a small increase if a 2.5 per cent increase is included there. It also seems like a small increase if
now the role of Cabinet Secretary and Head of the
Public Service has been split out because that would
be another salary in the range of another $210,000
added into that.
Madam Chairman, if you stay on page B -44
and take a look at Professional Services, the Honourable Minister, in the brief, did say that the Professional
Services head was going to increase by $767,000, or
81 per cent. And the Honourable Minister attributed
that to shifts in funding from Finance. That appears to
be correct, but on page B -99, if you look at the F inance section, under that there is $216,000 that was
listed in the previous . . . in the current financial year,
and so if it is an increase of $767,000 [and] Finance
had previously $216,000, there is $550,000 that is not
accounted for. So I would like to ask the Honourable Minister to give some explanation on the extra rev enue that has not been clarified at this poin t.
Continuing on, Madam Chairman, I note there
was no discussion during the brief on CARICOM membership and we pay $187,000 a year to that. I wondered two specific questions: How will the
CARICOM membership be used? And what are the
most important issues that we are dealing with in the
next financial year?
My honourable colleague, the Opposition
Leader, talked a bit about building rentals. There are a
lot of building rentals that have taken place within
Government and we are pleased to see the desire to
try to bring more in- house and be more efficient with
it. And just a question to the Honourable Minister: In
the next financial year will there be any movement
within the Cabinet departments, because some of
them right now are outsourced, like 129 Front Street,
will they stay there or will we be able to make some
improvements in that area going forward?
In regard to Government Reform and Public
Service Reform, Madam Chairman, I was surprised
we did not get more detail of what was taking place.
Obviously, a lot of work has been taking place. And I
will say that before any final decisions can actually be
made there has to be a lot consultation [that] takes
place, there has to be a lot of discussion about the
best way forward.
The current Government has talked a great
deal about public sector reform, has expressed some
support for SAGE recommendations, but I have heard
very little in the brief today about it. So a few questions to the Honourable Minister: Is the public sector
negotiating team still in place? And how long does the Honourable Minister believe that they will stay in
there? That team started work under the former Government to . . . as I understand it, the remit of them
was to negotiate the six collective agreements that
Government has with various un its and also to try to
harmonise those agreements where possible. So, are
they still consulting? And how long do we expect to
see them retained to do that?


Bermuda House of Assembly The Honourable Minister would appreciate
some update on the agreements that have not been
updated si nce the last update a couple of weeks ago.
I understand that there were a few that were still in the process of being renegotiated and we look forward to some update on that.
One area of Government that gets little fanfare and little attention is Management Consulting Services [MCS]. In the brief last year there was an
extensive report on MCS and I would ask the Honourable Minister if there could be a report on what the main areas of focus are for MCS. Last year the commitment was succession planning/talent management,
which is always very important; financial instruction
refresher courses; and always, Madam Chairman, we
know that there is a focus on efficiencies in service
and departmental reorganisation if possible. And there
was an update given last year, I am sure that work
has continued on, and I would like to get an update on
that if we can.
Madam Chairman, the Government has expressed some interest in some of the SAGE recommendations. Also they have expressed very little i nterest in any of the Commissi on of Inquiry recommendations. But those . . . there were 50 recommendations in the Commission of Inquiry which, I think, are
still pretty germane to any improvements in efficien-cies with the civil service. And if you will allow me just
to highlight some of them which I think are the most
important, and the Honourable Minister or the Premier, if they can give an update at some time, obviously,
now at the end of this budget session it will not be
[time], but sometime in the future.
One of the important ones was holding Government quangos more responsible. They have a tr emendous responsibility within the public service, and
we look forward to an update on that recommendation.
I would like to know from the Honourable Mi nister what approaches are being taken to make sure
that there is more efficient timing of government r eporting, holding those in the c ivil service responsible
for answering to the Auditor General’s reports. Obv iously, Madam Chairman, you are well aware that over
the past 15 or 20 years there has been a lot of pivoting back and forth about report of Auditors General. But one of the key things is, in my humble opinion,
with the Auditor General’s reports is that the civil service must be able to provide answers to answer some
of those reports so when the final report is given we
get an update, rather than way down the road. That was one of the challenges that have gone on for many years. And once we found out that the timely answer
to some of those questions was given, politicians on
either side of the House were clear on what was done
to improve the situation.
I wonder what the approach of the Gover nment is on strengthening the offices responsible for safeguarding the public purse. We have had a lot of
talk about that.
Financial instructions is one that has become
very popular in political discussions back and forth, so
I would ask the Honourable Minister what her focus is on Government Reform and improving the effectiv eness of financial instructions.
And one that, Madam Chairman, I think is i mportant that we focus in on as well, especially in a
small community like Bermuda, is improving transpar-ency and safeguards in regard to conflicts of interest. You know the conflicts of interest are going to arise
quite often in public service, it is just natural in a small
place like Bermuda, but what is the focus for this
Government on improving the transparency and saf eguards against conflicts of interest so that there are proper procedures in place to deal with eventualities, so people have to declare things, y ou can deal with
them in an appropriate way?
And so, those are some the recommendations
that have been out there, not only from what we have heard from SAGE, but from the Commission of I nquiry. And in the work that the Government tries to do
to reform the public service, which we fully support,
we would like to try to get some answers in some of
those areas.
Madam Chairman, I know that we only have
about 20 minutes left in this head so I will try to run through some things real quickly.
I am pleased to see the focus in on public r eform, and the question that is probably more suited to the Premier than the Honourable Minister is, I see the Honourable Minister has tremendous responsibility
with public reform, but I also see in another ministry,
the Ministry of Finance, there is another person who
has a tremendous responsibility in Junior Minister
Furbert. And I want to know what the difference between those two is because one is paid a Junior Mi nister’s salary and one is paid a full ministerial salary
and fit i nto the Cabinet Office without any increase in
staff or a ministry in themselves. So what is the justif ication for two of those areas?
Madam Chairman, turning to a couple of other
heads, I will go in the order of the Budget Book so you can follow it. Just a comment in regard to the Post Office, which runs from page B -48 right through to
page B -52, successive governments have talked
about trying to reduce the losses in the Post Office—and it runs about $7 million a year now. Let us face it,
in preparing for the debate and thinking about the
Post Office as the Minister who had some responsibi lity before, it is very clear to me that as we talk about
generating additional sources of revenue— and I
would like the Honourable Minister to explain what
some of those additional sources of revenue are —that
if you would poll everyone under 35 I would challenge the results if they showed that more than 5 per cent of people under 35 ever went into a post office.
1672 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly And therein lies the problem that we have b ecause as technology has changed, as people get i nformation in different ways, the bodies that we have to
service, we have to take a look to restructure those in
an appropriate way. And we tried to take a look at the resources we were putting in places, we closed a few
sub-post offices, we tried to get more revenue i nvolved in certain areas, but I think that we have to
take a comprehensive look at what we are doing because mail volume is down, it is going to continue to
fall.
And so in light of the fact that mail volume is
down, when I hear generate additional sources of revenue I would like to know what those are and what
level of revenue we think we are getting there. B ecause I think that unless we have a total overhaul of
what we are trying to do, we are going to bring in a
small amount but it is still going to make the loss a significant number.
More specifically on page B -50, Madam
Chairman, the Terminal Dues, the Honourable Mini ster did say that there was a challenge in collecting the Terminal Dues, so the estimated rev enue of $700,000
ended up at $100,000. I would just like to know some
more details of when that was discovered and why it
has taken $600,000 of lost revenue to clear that up.
Madam Chairman, the Department of Stati stics, I am pleased to see that the Government is committed to two labour force surveys. As the Honourable Opposition Leader has said, the key thing is
to have timeliness of information at all times. Our
world moves much quicker than it did before. If information is not at your fingertips very qui ckly, in six
months’, seven months’, eight months’ time it might
not be of much use because time has moved on from
there. So two labour force surveys are good and the
ability for that information to be disseminated quickly
is the critical part about that. And then, I think, if that is
the case, then Government will be able to have access to information that they can use very quickly in
planning for everything they have to do, and also the
community can rally and support that, and decisions
can be made in a more appropriate way.
I would like to congratulate the Department of
Statistics for the work that they did with the census. As the Minister responsible at the time I am pleased to see that . . . I think it started out, the budget was about
$1.7 million, an d in the Budget Book today it shows
that the revised estimate last year was about $664,000 and it ended up at $568,000. So I think that
department needs to get some credit for managing
that process in an appropriate way and utilising sav-ings where they could. And this is very significant. And
I think along with that much of the savings, I believe,
were relating to the fact that the department was able
to do a lot of the work online with an initial estimation of maybe 10 to 15 per cent online that probably
pushed well over 40 per cent. If we can continue to do
that, effect those savings, but also potentially as we refine the process, we should be able to refine the
timeline in collecting that information. And so I congratulate the department in being aggressi ve in that
regard and making it happen.
A question for the Honourable Minister is,
When will the full census for 2016 be released? And
what is the timeframe on trying to get it out there to
the public so that there is a better understanding of
what is taki ng place there?
Cognizant of the time, Madam Chairman, I am
just looking through my notes here . . . because the
Minister does need some time, I think that I have co vered just about everything important. But if the Mini ster does answer some questions and I think of an ything else I will stand up and come back.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.

Thank you.
The Chair now recognises the Minister of
Government Reform, the Honourable Lovitta Foggo.
Please proceed.
Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
And I will attempt to answer as many questions as possible. And I do believe that in answering
some you will hear the answers to both Members from
the Opposition side, [as] some of these answers cover questions asked by both Members.
One of the questions that we fielded was with
respect to Public Access to Information funding, which is under line item 19015, in the Policy and Strategy unit.
Funding for the Brussels Office is under
19035 and it is included in the London Office. The i ncrease in t he London Office line item is funding for . . .
well, just as I said, these funds as stated in Head 9
were previously in the Ministry of Finance. The lobb yist activity in Washington DC is currently being handled by a company called The Group.
On page B -44 regarding Rentals, it indicates
that Cabinet Office units, including Management and Consulting Services, Policy and Strategy Unit, Safety
and Health Office, continued to be housed at 129
Front Street. Also included in the Rental line item is the allocation for the Washington DC Office.
In the Subjective Analysis the Professional
Services line item is all of the consulting services u nder Head 9, funds for Policy and Strategy, Brussels
and the London Office.
The Policy and Strategy Unit started the year
with seven posts, two officers resigned, which resulted
in five posts, and recruitment will be sought for two
posts to take it back up to the seven staff compl ement.
Performance Measures for the Policy and
Strategy Unit, [they] consulted on 25 per cent of the
policy being developed and work is a measure pecul iar to cross -Ministry initiatives.


Bermuda House of Assembly Gross misconduct offences are set out in the
Conditions of Service and Code of Conduct. The
measure that seeks to reduce the handling of matters
to eight weeks is specific to those cases referred to
the Cabinet Office for handling only. In the current
fiscal [year] 11 cases have been referred, 9 cases
have been heard to date in accordance with the PSC
Regulations. Only certain cases are referred. Other
cases are handled els ewhere. Delays in the hearing of
the cases are typically related to the complexity of the investigations.
A reduction in temporary relief employees by
2 per cent is a measure tied to the hiring freeze. Temporary relief employees are sometimes used to fill vacancies during recruitment, leave and/or long- term
illnesses.
A review of an “official event” is one that looks
at the quality of event, operational effectiveness, and
quality of vendors.
Sustainable development remains a part of
the overall Government direction.
Government Gazette notices will . . . notice
will, over time, no longer be published in the newspaper. Other media, as was stated in the brief, other
media will be utilised, but the official Gazette will be
online. In the short term the newspaper will continue
to be used.
Post Office targets are currently under consideration. A consultation period will commence shor tly with regard to the future of the Post Office. The v ision is to offer new products and services, for i nstance, like home delivery of parcels —you asked for
some ideas, Member Dunkley —and there are things
like that in this modern- day society. Some of the bus iness has changed for the customers that the Post O ffice serves and with direct respect to those changes
the Post Office is looking to modify the services, enhance the services, continue some services, and pr ovide new services as you know a lot of business takes place online and we are seeking to accommodate all
of that, especially based on the feedback that we get
from the public at large. As you can appreciate, the
vision for the Post Office will impact the physical plant
and the requirements for all locations. And in terms of
the final model that we end up with, when you are
talking about the physical structure and locations, that
will be done in consultation with our Estates division.
Statistics experienced two resignations during
the year. Statistics quarterly labour reports are more timely reports. I think I have to come back to that one
and I will look at my book for some of the answers.
The timeliness of releasing publications is
contingent upon the survey respondents submitting.
And that is obvious; you cannot force people to answer. You can send out a survey, but typically you do
rely on them responding in a timely manner. And you
do hopefully get more participants than fewer. The
Annual Employment Survey’s deadline, for instance,
was in September and the department is still following up with outstanding respondents. So you can apprec iate that this is dependent upon those who c hoose to
participate.
Okay, in terms of salaries, there were no v acancies in salaries as it was planned to hire persons during the fiscal year when . . . then vacancies occurred at different periods throughout the year. So you
can appreciate why you see the figures the way that
they are.
In terms of Human Resources [HR], plans are
underway to introduce a new centralised human r esource model, and that was pointed out in the brief.
Currently there are 10 HR Offices and we are looking
to consolidate them and t raining the HR Officers, and
in so doing provide a much larger HR force that can
better service Government and thereby the public.
The Department Head has the responsibility
to ensure that what is asked for is needed. Manage-ment and Consultant Services wor ks with Department
Heads to review the structure, processes, and oper ations.
The Efficiency Teams do fall under the Mini stry of Finance and their remit is specifically tied to money savings. I can say that the Efficiency Teams,
with our Strategic Plan tha t we are in the process of
putting in place with our consultant partner, will be
working in concert to ensure that we are heading in
the same direction, so to speak.
In terms of Communications the telephony
posts are filled, persons were transferred last y ear
from Works to the Department of Communications.
With respect to Human Resources, I can say
in general that the Human Resource Department is
working diligently to make sure that job descriptions
are up to date and the Public Service Commission has
mandated that job descriptions must be updated every
five years. And as a result, job descriptions are r eviewed in a timely manner to, I guess if you will, enable recruitment to be carried out with updates. So that is basically how that area works. And I can sa y, as
pointed out in the brief, you saw a very significant i ncrease in the timeliness of recruitment. So in doing what they are doing they have been able to bring that
recruitment time down.
And I want it to be understood that many of
the people who are hi red into Government positions,
this takes place within the department, within the r espective ministries. After the HR has done their role,
then it transfers over to the specific departments.
Okay. You asked a question about what is going to happen in each phase of implementation of the
HR Centralised. The agreed phase had to be r escheduled to the 31 March 2019, it was anticipated
that the Skills Assessment of the current staff would
have been completed. And you asked who is responsible for the department ne eds; the Head of the Public
Service and the Deputy Head of the Public Service
directs [the] departments.
1674 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Vacant posts in Communications. The seven
positions that are vacant in the Communications D epartment are at CITV Communications and Creative
Services. And Communications is now at the end of
their recruitment process and the positions will be
filled in the upcoming weeks.
For Project Management and Procurement,
much of the focus has been on the finalisation of the Procurement Code. The framework for legi slation is a
work that is in progress.
Member Dunkley asked about PATI; it is under the Policy and Strategy services. Resources are
available via PSS and within departments via information officers. So, basically, that is how it is working
thus far.
For Wa shington it has been deferred given
the priority to be placed on Brussels. Washington is being handled via consulting resources.
For the Strategic Planning Committee and the
Brexit update, this matter is being . . . is under constant consideration and is b eing handled.
The Salaries increase, basically, is low because it compares to the revised estimate which was an increased post on July 2017. I think that is for o bvious reasons.
The Professional Services is increased as a
result of funding being set aside for CARICOM rel ationships . . . (I think I have dropped a page som ewhere) CARICOM relationships continue to be sup-ported, especially with respect to matters of mutual
interest.
The Public Service Negotiating Team conti nues to negotiate, and currently outs tanding are pri sons, police, and the principals. New negotiations will
commence with the BUT. I can say that we will be
bringing a paper, probably on Friday.
MSC continues to work on organisational development, focused on consolidation of departments and r eorganisation to address increased efficiencies.
The focus on Government Reform is, basically, on efficiency and effectiveness. There are six high
level goals. Strategic planning has commenced for
that and so, Member, it is underway.
I cannot hear you. I will put my glasses on; I
can hear better when I can see.

[Laughter]

One of the goals.

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: We are looking at, for i nstance, examples like making sure that the IT platform
is where it needs to be to service Government. So it is
the, if you will, the nuts and bolts of government, we
are looking at that and making sure it is where it
needs to be in order to service Government and make it a more streamlined, efficient, effective cost -saving
operation.
Hon. Michael H. Dunk ley: Point of clarification, just a
question, that work was already ongoing?

Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: What was the question?

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: The IT platform, that work
was already ongoing prior to this year?
Hon. Lovitta F. Foggo: There were works that were
underway, but as you can imagine with systems becoming outdated and to ensure that our Government platform has the security levels that it needs, is able to
be interfaced with each of the systems that make up
that Government platform, you can ap preciate that
that work is still ongoing and will continue to be ongoing until we have a Government platform that is a
springboard to carry us forward in years coming. And so—

It has been moved that Heads 9, 13,
14, 26, 43, 51, and 80 be approved.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Heads agreed to.

[Gavel ]

[Motion carried: Cabin et: Head 9, Cabinet Office ;
Head 13, Post Office; Head 14, Department of Stati stics; Head 26, Department of Human Resources;
Head 43, Department of Information and Digital Tec hnologies; Head 51, Department of Communications;
and Head 80, Project Management and Procurement
were approved and stand part of the Estimates of
Revenue and Expenditure for the year 2018/19.]

Honourable Member s, we are now in
Committee of Supply for further consideration of the
Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the year
2018/19. We are now going to debate National Secur ity, Heads 6, 7, 12, 25, 45, and 67.
I call on the Minister in charge to proceed.
Minister, you have the floor.

B ermuda House of Assembly MINISTRY OF NATIONAL SECURITY
Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, with your
leave I would like to begin.
Madam Chairman, just before I begin I have
some health challenges and will ask for one of my
brother or sister ministers to just take over a page if
that need arises. I might have to step out for a minute.
The Chairm an: Yes, that is fine.
Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, Head 6
comprises of the Royal Bermuda Regiment.

Thank you, Minister.
You may proceed.
HEAD 6 —DEFENCE
Hon. Wayne Caines: Thank you, Madam Chai rman.
Madam Chairman, Head 6 comprises the
Royal Bermuda Regiment. The Regiment’s role is to
provide operational capacity to support the civil authority. It performs a number of cruci al functions i ncluding natural and man- made disaster relief, internal
security, state ceremonial activity, routine and specialist sup port to the Bermuda Pol ice Service, military
training, social cohesion, and youth development.
The pri mary legislation affecting these d epartments are: the Defence Act 1965 (as amended in
2015); the Royal Bermuda Regiment Governor’s O rders 2015; His Excellency’s Directive to the C ommanding Officer, dated 4 July 2009; the Bermuda Vo lunteer (Reserve Force) Act 1939; and the Royal Ber-muda Regiment Junior Leaders Act 2015.
The original estimate for 2017/18 is
$7,272,152. The estimate for the year 2018/19 is
$7,208,885. The decrease of $63,627 is a percentage
decrease of 0.87. The mandate, Madam Chairman, is
under the Defence Act 1965 (as amended in 2015). The Royal Bermuda Regiment’s mandate is to be a
military force maintaining the necessary standards of
manpower, training, and equipment to enable it to perform its assigned operational roles efficiently and ef-fectively. The Bermuda Regiment is continuously
training to remain at a state of readi ness in order to
accomplish its important missions and tasks .
The mission and roles , Madam Chairman, of
the Regiment were confirmed by formal reviews in
2000, 2006, and 2014. The extant mission of the Ro yal Bermuda Regiment is to support the Civil Authority
with the security of Bermuda, its peoples, property, livelihood, and interests in order to maintain normality.
At this time the Bermuda Regiment is conducting an internal strategic review so that a five- year plan can
be produced in order to restructure and organise the Regiment for its current and potential missions and
tasks.
To support this mission statement, there are
four main roles :
1)To provide regimental assistance to the ci vil authority, consisting of unarmed assistance to the
governing authority —for example, disaster relief and
routine support to the Bermuda Police Service, includ-ing maritime support, but also general contingency for the unexpected and crises —as Bermuda’s “insurance
policy.”
2)
To pr
ovide regimental assistance to the ci vil power. Comprising assistance to the governing a uthority that makes use of the Regiment’s ability to act
as an armed military force in order to provide assistance in preserving, maintaining, or restoring law and
order , for example, by countering civil disorder and
key defence point security .
3)To pr
ovide regimental assistance to Bermudian society. This includes social cohesion through
the shared military experience, youth development
through our Junior Leaders Programme, state and
ceremonial activ ities, and to support the Bermuda s ociety.
4)And lastly, to provide regimental assistance
to the internatio nal community. The Regiment provi ded first class humanitarian and disaster relief during Operation Ruman in Turks and Caicos Islands last year. It clearly demonstrated the Regiment’s ability to
deploy, integrate, partner, operate, and support an overseas territory devastated by two hurricanes.
Finally, Madam Chairman, the total funding for
Defence for this coming year is $7,208,885, a de-crease of [$63,267]. This new cash limit represents a decrease of 0.87 per cent for Defence.
Capital Acquisition and Fund ing
Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, the Ministry
of National Security has approved Capital Acquisition funding for:
•One boat
engine for $19,517. The Royal
Bermuda Regiment has an a geing fleet and
is in dire need of replacement of boats and
engines in order to continue to support the
Bermuda Police Service and potentially tak-ing over policing the waters around Bermuda.
1676 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly • Two immediate response trailers for humanitarian aid and disaster relief and emergency
measures organisation support, $17,000. These spec ially tooled trailers will have all of
the necessary kit and equipment stored on
them so that they can be deployed at a m oment’s notice and leave the precious vehicle
space for troops being deployed for oper ational tasks.
• Column capacity lift for repairs, $38,553. The
current oil maintenance pit in the maint enance room has been deemed unsafe and
declared unusable as per Health and Safety
Regulations. This new vehicle lift will be ut ilised to carry out necessary and routine Ro yal Bermuda Regiment vehicle mai ntenance
on the engines and the undercarriages of the fleet.
• Replacement vehicle funds of $200,000.
These funds will be used to replace an ageing vehicle fleet.

Personnel

Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, the Bermuda
Regiment employs 31 full -time staff. All of these, but
three, are military personnel. The three civilian staff
are employed in the Administration Recruitment, A ccounts Payable, and Grounds and Maintenance at the
Warwick Camp. Due to historic reductions in cash li mits since 2008/09, the total strength of the Bermuda
Regiment has been held at just under 400 full -time
and part -time personnel. Salaries are the greatest
Regiment expenditure.

Output Measurements and Objectives

Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, the Reg iment has successfully compl eted its preparations for
the past hurricane season. On January 18
th the Reg iment had Recruit Camp with 40 volunteers taking part
and there will be an additional Recruit Camp in July
2018. This year presents the Royal Bermuda Regiment with a golden opportunity to change how we r ecruit, retain, and invest in our people to better achieve
our missions and roles. The time for change is now.
Building on proven successes and support of
the America’s Cup, the Bermuda Regiment’s disaster relief operations in Bermu da and also supporting the
Turks and Caicos Islands in 2017 after hurricanes I rma and Maria, it is now time to transform how we do business. And to achieve this next set we will need to
cancel for the second year in a row exercises in Camp
Lejeune, North C arolina. The savings reaped from
cancelling this year’s overseas training exercise will
be redirected to assist in funding a start -up of the full -
time inshore maritime role.
The Royal Bermuda Regiment will invest in
our people, allowing them to reach thei r full potential, professionalising and expanding roles and capabilities
of the Regiment on land and at sea. We will also effectively communicate with the people of Bermuda
and our overseas partners how we are progressing.
In 2025 the Royal Bermuda Regiment will be
better manned and will offer a path to a professional career and unparalleled personal development and
opportunities on- and off -Island through a mix of full -
time and part -time services. We will be effectively
trained and able to secure Bermuda’ s maritime d omain, maintain [the] safety and security of the people
of Bermuda, and be able to respond to disasters, firs tly, at home and in the region by working on our own
and with our international regional partners.
The Royal Bermuda Regiment will conduct a
scaled- down local camp to exercise the units that
would have been deployed on the overseas training
exercise. This local camp will focus on interoperability
with our sister agencies on- Island as well as educ ation, training, and development for our s oldiers. R emaining in Bermuda will increase opportunities for engaging with schools, the public, and potential r ecruitments. Opportunities for the 2018 Junior non-commissioned Officers Cadre Camp are currently being worked on.
The Royal Bermuda Regiment Boat Troop
and Operational Support Unit will continue to be special constables with the Bermuda Police Service. Re-certification of the special constable training will continue to advance in 2018.
The Regiment is currently conducting defence
engagement plans with the United Kingdom Ministry
of Defence and with USNORTHCOM [ U.S. Northern
Command] to provide collaboration and transport in
the case of the Royal Bermuda Regiment being deployed on an overseas mission in the Caribbean and
in overseas territories.
The Bermuda Regiment will continue to work
with the Bermuda College in order to provide courses
to soldiers at a discounted price. And the Regiment
has just commenced a 10 -plus-week general educ ation diploma programme with a course for 11 soldiers.

Major Ac hievements

Hon. Wayne Caines: In 2017 the Regiment, again,
demonstrated its durability, its utility, and its resilience when 30 soldiers were deployed to the Turks and Caicos Islands for two weeks post Hurricane Irma. They
were in location and on site wit h hurricane Maria.
They worked along with the UK military forces and
conducted internal security operations and ad hoc
operations.
The Royal Bermuda Regiment was self -
contained and they were equipped with weapons, live rounds, and specialised kit.
The Berm uda Regiment provided security and
maritime assistance for the America’s Cup. This was a
six-week operation that saw most of the Royal BerBermuda House of Assembly muda Regiment soldiers deployed on a rotation and a
shift basis in order to have complete coverage. Duties
included: bomb ordinance clearing; land and water
security; vetting; security patrols; security monitoring;
command and control activities; [and] incident reaction to any security breaches in an inter -agency joint
command centre with local and overseas agencies.
The Regiment continued to work closely with
the Bermuda Police Service, including a joint service
explosive ordinance disposal unit. The team was
called out at Chaplin Bay to assist with the destruction of legacy munitions. Twelve such munitions were
found in the waters off of the South Shore. They continue to work together on a joint holiday operation and
continue to conduct regular training.
The Regiment conducted their annual cer emonial parades for 2017 and are prepared to continue their parade schedule for 2018.
The Junior Leaders Annual Training Camp
was conducted in East Anglia, UK where they partic ipated along [with] United Kingdom cadet forces for two weeks. During the summer camp they participated
in weapon handling drills, adventure training, low -level
conventional training, and it concluded with a tour of
London.
The Royal Bermuda Regiment hosted the
fourth meeting of the Caribbean Region Information
Operations Council between the 27
th and 30th of
March 2017. The meeting was facilitated by NORT HCOM and USSOUTHCOM. Their aims were to mai ntain trusted partnerships, foster international collaboration and to enhance information operations capabil ities to counter common threats affecting the Caribbe-an and Bermuda regions. This meeting took place
over three d ays from March 28 to 30 at the Fairmont
Southampton Princess Hotel, the Royal Bermuda
Yacht Club, and the Warwick Camp, respectively.
The aims and objectives were met and they
identified common threats to the Caribbean partner
nations initiated by the dev elopment of the CROP
(Caribbean Regional Ocean Partnership), sponsored
Caribbean Regional IO Plan and military intelligence security operations. This product series was used to
counter common threats and establish an annual Caribbean region exercise to inc rease collaboration and
interoperability and fostered a Caribbean IO community of interest.
The Royal Bermuda Regiment deployed four
regimental soldiers to the United Kingdom to partic ipate in the ongoing internal security operational trai ning with the Bri tish Army units for a three- week period.
This training covered, to date, methods of public order [and] internal security, and these individuals are now
qualified to teach live public order and internal security
training.
The Royal Bermuda Regiment in 2017: their
training exercise year courses were achieved and they comprised a mass casualty [course], a medical
trauma course, a range management course, public order recertification courses, and emergency
measures organisation/hurricane preparedness
courses. There was a Bandmaster course sending
potential officers to Sandhurst for an eight -week
commissioning course in the United Kingdom. Over 250 troops took part in these new or recertification
courses.
Madam Chairman, the Royal Bermuda Reg iment has been embodied on average every other year
in its 52 -year history. And again and again, we have
demonstrated relevance over the last two months with the hurricane and disaster relief O peration Ruman in
the Turks and Caicos, and the military security support to the 2017 America’s Cup.
We continue to transition into a volunteer i ntake and this year we have a second Recruit Camp in
July 2018. Over 10,000 soldiers have been issued
regimental numbers demonstrating the reach and si gnificance of the Bermuda Regiment. It play s a vital
role in the life and safety of . . . and unity in our country. Their values stand for duty, service, patriotism,
and their values help make our country strong.
Our young and not -so-young have been a nswering the call to service in large numbers as a result
of their rewar ding experience and benefits of regimental service. I ndividuals have been re- enlisting way
past the di scharge dates for a number of years.
The Regimental Command Group is working
together with the Ministry for a lead regimental mar itime role which will see 14 new posts created esta blishing a hybrid unit with the BPS in order to undertake a fully phased- in approach to complete the maritime
inshore policing around Bermuda.
We will be working with the Bermuda Fire and
Rescue Service and are exploring the possibility of
soldiers being trained as auxiliary fire fighters. The
Regiment thus will be set to provide valuable services
to the Government as it moves through its second half
century and will continue to receive strong support from t he Government.

HEAD 7 —POLICE

Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, I would like
to now move Head 7 for the Bermuda Police Service.
Madam Chairman, the mission statement of
the Bermuda Police Service [BPS] is Making Bermuda Safer by engaging in three priori ty areas of oper ations: tackling crime and antisocial behaviour; community engagement; and making the roads safer.
To achieve these goals the Bermuda Police
Service proposes that the 2018/19 operating budget be at $65.8 million, a decrease of 1.4 over the prior
year. This decreased budget will result in additional austerity measures. I will now read the following highlights of the BPS 2018/19 budget.



1678 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Manpower

Hon. Wayne Caines: Seventy -eight per cent of the
Bermuda Police Service budget covers the cost of
manpower and associated benefits. Police officers
budgeted under cost centre 17000, includes: 1 commissioner; 1 deputy commissioner; 2 assistant commissioners; 4 superintendents; 8 chief inspectors; 24
inspectors; 60 sergeants; 312 constables; and 13 c adets.
These 425 officers are budgeted at $39 mi llion plus overtime at $3.5 million and other ancillary
expenses. The budgeted cost of manpower was decreased by $1.3 million and a proposed $0.5 million
reduction in overtime. Police officers are supported by 84 civilians at a cost of $5.6 million.

CCTV

Hon. Wayne Caines: The Bermuda Police Service is
responsible for the proliferation of security cameras
throughout the Island. The programme was initiated in
2015 and has proven beneficial by capturing vital ev idence required in crime solving. The CCTVs are
budgeted for under cost centre 17025 at a cost of $1.5
million per annum. Included under the contract are the
maintenance of the system and the monitoring of the cameras throughout the Island.
The BPS contin ues to collaborate with the
Government on opportunities to expand the capability
of the public CCTV network through the addition of
new cameras and by enhancing video analytics. The
system has the ability to have one or more analytics
such as facial recognition, traffic compliance and
speed cameras.

Radios

Hon. Wayne Caines: The Bermuda Police Service is
currently working with the Government and with other
emergency services to transition toward a modern
radio system that will enable better communication
across the Government and emergency services on a shared platform.
The BPS currently pays $1.3 million for co mmunication systems. Modernisation will provide eff iciencies and cost reduction.

Training and Travel

Hon. Wayne Caines: During the 2017/18 fisca l year
the Bermuda Police Service has budgeted $712,000 for training and associated travel, with the 2018/19
budget providing $650,000. Training and Travel has
been reduced by 15 per cent, and the Bermuda Police
Service has studied its Training budget and revised its
long-term plans in order to ensure that, despite reductions, critical training requirements are not sacrificed. The 2018/19 budget continues to provide
$80,000 for further education awards for deserving cadets. There are currently three gradua tes in the
programme who are now serving police offices, with another four are enrolled in the programme. The pr ogramme has proven beneficial in preparing future
leaders for senior management within the BPS.

Overseas Investigative Assistance

Hon. Wayne C aines: In response to the rapidly esc alating gang violence associated with gun crime in 2009, the Bermuda Police Service has implemented
strategies to build extra capacity to cope with higher
caseloads of serious crime. One such initiative was
the assistance of overseas investigators. This initiative
has run for nine years and has resulted in significant clearance of current and cold cases. The reduction of
gun crime can be partly attributed to the increased
capacity.
The budget of $1 million, which comes under
cost centre 17140, provides for the employment of
temporary additional staff with the specific expertise
not currently available in the BPS. The roles that temporary staff fill are criminal investigators; financial i nvestigators; intelligence analyst s; case reviewers; and
scene investigators. The Bermuda Police Service is
working with the Ministry to find opportunities to em-ploy directly into specific areas of policing and provide
additional training as necessary in an effort to decrease reliance on t his overseas assistance.

Bermuda Reserve Police

Hon. Wayne Caines: The $523,000 budget has been
allocated for the Bermuda Reserve Police and sits in
cost centre 17220, and provides for the cost of its r eserve constabulary. As reserve numbers decrease as
a result of competing agencies vying for human r esources, the Reserve Police are putting an increased
emphasis on recruitment, training, and incentives. E ntry requirements are being reviewed to ensure that
there are no obstacles preventing capable candidat es
from coming on board. This body of men and women provide over 20,000 hours of volunteer duty per year. Their contribution is significant to policing our comm unity.
Madam Chairman, 511 men and women of
the Bermuda Police Service are committed to ensuring tranquillity on the island adhering to our mission of
making Bermuda safe.

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Just continue on?
Okay.

HEAD 12 —CUSTOMS
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: The Department of Customs, Head 12 is found on pages B -285 through B -


Bermuda House of Assembly 288 of the Est imates of Revenue and Expenditure and
Capital Items Expenditure found on page C -14.
Madam Chairman, the Customs Department
is responsible for assessing and collecting customs
duty and fees on imported goods; enforcing customs laws; administering other statutes controlling the i nternational movement of goods and people; and pr eventing the smuggling of drugs and other illegal com-modities and providing information and assistance to
the public regarding customs laws and regulations.
Mission, page B -285—

Yes, the question I have
is can a Backbencher read a Ministerial brief? I think it
needs to be another Minister . . . ess entially because
we have got collective responsibility here and a Bac kbencher does not have that.
It is not that Mr. De Silva is doing a bad job; I
think it is just a question of protocol.

It is fine. Minister, you may proceed.

Hon. Wayne Caines: The mission of the Customs
Department is To promote compliance with Bermuda’s
Customs Laws through quality service and respons ible enforcement, thereby contributing to the economic
and social stability of our community.
Madam Chairman, the mandate is as follows.
The department has the following mandate: To facil itate legitimate trade, to assess and collect revenue,
and to interdict dru gs and other contraband. In carr ying out our mandate, we will encourage and promote
voluntary compliance, communicate and coordinate
with our clients and stakeholders, adhere to high
standards of integrity and professionalism, and treat the public and each other with respect.
As indicated at page B -28, the department
operates under eight cost centres, namely: the Airport Shifts A & B; Investigations Audit; Hamilton Commercial Operations; Administration; Vessel Clearance;
Interdiction; and the Airport Enfor cement Team.
The budget allocation for the Airport Shift A is
$1,988,000. The allocation for Airport Shift B is $2,309,000. The objective shared by these cost centres are as follows:
• the examination and control of all civil aircraft, passengers, and air f reight arriving in Berm uda;
• primary immigration control of all arriving passengers;
• to enforce customs laws and regulations with respect to passengers and their baggage;
• collection of customs duties and fees;
• supervision and control of all bond exports of
liquor/tobacco that come by air;
• agency work for the Departments of Health,
Environmental Protection, and the police;
• the prevention and interdiction of all restricted and prohibited goods entering Bermuda.
These goods include plants, fruit, animals, firearms, pornography, prohibited weapons,
and illicit drugs;
• carrying out inspections for courier cargo.

Investigations and Audits

Hon. Wayne Caines: The budget allocation for Investigations and Audits is $1,178,000. The objectives of
this section are as foll ows:
• the investigation of all suspected revenue offences;
• completion of case files, including recommendations for disposal of the case, where appl icable, and the level of penalty to be applied;
• to carry out the inspection of imported and
exported cargo;
• audit declarations of imports and exports for the accuracy and compliance, with a particular
focus on bonded operators and local in- land
clearing agents.

Hamilton Commercial Operations

Hon. Wayne Caines: The budget allocation for the
Hamilton Commercial Operations section is $868,000.
The objectives of this section are as follows:
• authorise the release of imported goods;
• the interdiction of illicit goods and the control of restricted goods;
• the maintenance of prescribed services at all levels to clients;
• the acknowledgment of correspondence wit hin 3 working days and responding within 10 working days; and
• providing guidance to the public with reference to customs laws and processes.
1680 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Administration

Hon. Wayne Caines: The budget allocation for the
Administrat ion section is $4,590,000. The objectives
of this section are as follows:
• to process all entry declarations in accor dance with our prescribed quality of service
levels;
• to ensure that all customs correspondence
are dealt with in accordance with our pr escribed quality of service levels, a two- day r esponse;
• to provide all personnel, legislative, financial, budgetary, administrative, and general operating services to and for the department.

Vessel Clearance

Hon. Wayne Caines: The budget allocation for Vessel Clearance is $1,178,000. The objectives of this
section are as follows:
• the examination and control of all sea- bound
vessels arriving in Bermuda, including private
yachts, cruise ships, and cargo carry vessels;
• the primary immigration control of all indiv iduals arriving in Bermuda via air or by ocean;
• the enforcement of customs laws and regul ations with respect to cruise ship passengers
and their baggage; and
• the collection of customs duties and fees.

Interdiction
Hon. Wayne Caines: The budget allocation for the
Interdiction section is $3,787,000. The objectives of
this section are as follows:
• the collection, analysis, and the managed di ssemination of intelligence on the cross -border
movements of illicit items, suspected persons;
and data on suspicious ac tivities to enable a
risk-based focused customs enforcement environment;
• to carry out inspections of courier cargo and
postal packages;
• the interdiction of illicit goods and control of
restricted goods.

Seaport Enforcement Team

Hon. Wayne Caines: The budget allocated for the
Seaport Enforcement Team is $1,041,000. The objectives of this section are as follows:
• the examination and control of cargo contai ners arriving in Bermuda;
• the interdiction of illicit goods and control of
restricted goods; and • the ver ification and matching of declarations
of imports to the contents of those imported
containers.
Madam Chairman, the total budget for the
Department of Customs for this fiscal year is
$16,041,000. The 2018/19 budget allocation in the
name of the employees’ numbers, the department has registered 237 approved positions. At the time of pr eparing the budget estimates the department had 177 members of staff and is in the process of recruiting an additional 13 members. The department’s staffing level during 2018/19 is expected to be 190, a net decrease of 2 employees from 192, the original estimate
for 2017/18.
The line item analysis for Head 12 opera tional
budget, page [B -]286, Salaries is $14.3 million, a decrease of $241,000, or 2 per cent. The decreased a llocat ion in funds is reflective of the projected staffing
levels for 2018/19. The projected salary expenses are 85 per cent of the total budget allocation for 2018/19.
The plant staffing consists of 138 customs officers, 28
supervising and managing customs offi cers, and 24
non-officer support staff.

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Wayne Caines: Say it again?
The plant staffing consists of 138 customs
officers, 28 supervising and managing customs offi cers, and 24 non- officer support staff. Other Personnel
costs of $193,000, a decrease of $7,000, or 4 per
cent. The decrease represents or reflects the actual
expenditure for 2017/18. The principal expense under
this heading is a call out for allowances. Since Customs offers a 24- hour-a-day service, it is necessary t o
pay officers a call -out allowance to ensure their attendance when they are required to attend outside of normal business hours.
Training— $20,000, an increase of $10,000, or
100 per cent. The increase reflects the expected i ncrease in training activities as a result of the recrui tment of additional customs officers.
Transport —$3,000 or a decrease of $5,000,
or 63 per cent. Transport costs represent the Depar tment of Air Freight, shipping costs, customs duty, and
for the most part, these costs result from i mportation
of uniforms and to replace parts for the scanning m achines.
Travel —$20,000, an increase of 54 per cent.
The main reason for customs’ staff travel is to attend
conferences hosted by international customs and law
enforcement bodies. Attendance at some of these
conferences is essential to maintain memberships or
executive memberships to relevant bodies. Member-ship of these bodies bring with them many benefits
including access to international best practices, stati stical information, legal advice, an d training materials.
Attendance at these international conferences affords
staff members with rare opportunities to develop co nBermuda House of Assembly tacts vital for intelligence gathering with customs offi cers.
Overseas colleagues —The decrease in
budget allocation is reflectiv e of the 2017/18 actual
expenditure in this area, which has proven to be less
than originally budgeted.
Communications —$150,000, or an increase
of 11 per cent. The increase is a reflection of the actual expenditure for 2017/18.
Professional Services —$102,0 00, a decrease
of 4 per cent. The Professional Services cost consists
of the contractor charges and membership fees for the
World Customs Organisation and the Caribbean Customs Law Enforcement Council.
Rentals —$480,000, a decrease of 1 per cent.
The decrease is not significant as the current leases
are scheduled to continue through the 2018/19 fiscal
year. The department is, however, currently reviewing
alternate facilities with the intention of securing suit able facilities at a lower rental cost. If successful, this
will result in savings on rental expenses over several years and, therefore, an under spend in the allocated
budget.
Repairs and Maintenance —$964,000, an i ncrease of $68,000, or 8 per cent. The increase in this allocation is to provide for scheduled increases in the
maintenance contracts of the Hamilton docks x -ray
scanner and to provide a contingency for unexpected
repairs.
The Energy —$219,000, an increase of
$74,000, or 51 per cent. The increase in the allocation is to provide a contingency for uncertainty with the
price and the fluctuation of the oil prices.
Clothing, Uniforms and Laundry —$150,000,
an increase of 8 per cent. This increase in costs is
due to the increase in new customs officers.
Materials Expenses —$299,000, a decrease in
the al location is due to the department’s commitment
to reduce materials costs.
Equipment —$20,000, an increase of 25 per
cent. The increase is [because] the department is
planning to purchase replacement office furniture as
well as to purchase new office equipment for new f acilities which Customs are required to operate.

Output Measures

Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, Output
Measures have been established for the department as shown on pages B -287 and B -288. I am pleased to
provide the following results as m easured against
these output measures:
Airport Commercial. Since 2016 the Airport
Commercial Operations section ceased to operate,
therefore, there are no performance forecasts, including targets.
Airport Shift A. For the 2016/17 year Airport
Shift A has c ollected forced duty in the amount of
$35,236. It is forecasted that during 2017/18 the forced duty collected will be $65,000. The target for
2018/19 is $60,000. For 2016/17, Airport Shift A
seized illicit items on nine occasions. It is forecasted
that dur ing 2017/18 that this shift shall seize illicit
items on 10 occasions. The target for 2018/19 is 10.
Airport Shift B for 2016/17 collected forced d uty in the amount of $106,318. It is forecasted that during 2017/18 that forced duty in the amount of
$100,00 0 will be collected. The target for 2018/19 is
$60,000. For the year 2016/17, Airport Shift B seized illicit items on 13 occasions. It is forecasted that dur-ing 2017/18 that this shift shall seize illicit items on 40
occasions. The target for 2018/19 remai ns the same
at 40.
The Investigations Audit section completed 54
investigations during 2016/17 resulting in, amongst
other things, the collection of $111,642 in additional duty. By the close of the fiscal year 2017/18 it is for ecasted that the Investigatio ns Audit unit will complete
54 cases resulting in $111,642 in additional duty. The
target for 2018/19, the Investigations Audit unit will
complete 100 cases, resulting in $20,000 in additional duty.
Hamilton Commercial Operations. During
2016/17, Hamilton Commercial Operations complied with prescribed quality service levels at 95 per cent.
All of the declarations were processed, 77,243 decl arations were processed through the same period. In 2017/18 it is forecasted that the Hamilton Commercial
Operations wi ll meet quality service levels 95 per cent
of the time. It is forecasted that 70,000 declarations
will be processed in 2018/19 and the target outcome is that the minimum quality service levels will be
achieved in 95 per cent of all of the occurrences and
65,000 declarations will be processed.
Administration. In 2016/17 the Administration
section has met its established goals [and] ensured
that the BCD’s [Bermuda Customs Declaration] were
processed in compliance with the prescribed stand-ards 100 per cent of the time. The average time between receipt of purchase invoice and authorisation or
rejection of payment was five days. In 2017/18 it for ecasted that the BCD’s will be processed in compliance
with the prescribed standards 100 per cent of the time
and that the average time between authorisation and
rejection of a payment will be five days. The targets for 2018/19 will be that BCD’s will be processed in
compliance with the prescribed standards 100 per
cent of the time and that the average time between
authori sation and rejecting of payments will be 10
days.
Vessel Clearance. In 2016/17, Vessel Clearance processed 100 per cent of cruise ship passengers and prepared and issued invoices with a value of
$1,687,616. In 2016/17 it is forecasted that the Vessel
Clear ance section will process 100 per cent of cruise
ship passengers and that they will prepare invoices
with values in excess of $1,078,615. In 2018/19, the
target is the Vessel Clearance section will process
1682 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly 100 per cent of cruise ship passengers and issue i nvoices with a value in excess of $1 million.
Interdiction. In 2016/17 the Interdiction section
made 195 seizures and had an 86 per cent success
rate of positive results from all search detentions. In 2017/18, it is forecasted that 200 seizures will be
made and an 85 per cent success rate with searches
and detentions. In 2018/19, it is targeted that there will
be at least 200 seizures and they will achieve an
85 per cent success rate with search and detentions.
Seaport Enforcement Team. In 2016/17, the
Seap ort Enforcement Team (SET) inspected and r eviewed 100 per cent of import cargo manifests and
used the Hamilton docks x -ray scanner to scan 95 per
cent of the containers imported into Bermuda. In
2017/18, it is reported that SET will inspect and review
100 per cent of cargo manifests and scan 95 per cent
of all containers into Bermuda. In 2018/19, the target is that SET will inspect and review 100 per cent of the
cargo manifests and scan 100 per cent of all contai ners into Bermuda.

Capital Projects

Hon. Wa yne Caines: I would like to provide a brief
summary of Capital Projects which will be active under the department during the next fiscal year as listed on C -14.
Computer Equipment —$5,000 is the allocated
budget to be used on the replacement of PC units
where required.
X-ray Inspection Equipment —$70,000 is all ocated in the budget to be used to replace an x -ray
machine to be used for scanning imported documents
arriving via our airport.

Achievements

Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, the
Achievements for 2017 and 2018.
In closing, I would like to inform Members of
some important achievements by Customs and the
Ministry of National Security during the 2017/18 fiscal year to date.
Customs worked closely with a number of key
stakeholders to assist in making the 2017 America’s
Cup a success while ensuring that Bermuda’s borders
remained secure. A strategic plan for the department
was developed with a number of departmental sub -
groups, making arrangements which ensured that everything ran smoothly.
Customs al so provided the facility at Morgan’s
Point to service private vessels. By facilitating this
new reporting centre, Customs is providing an i mproved service for the public which is hoped to co ntribute to making Bermuda more and more attractive
as a tourist destination.
HEAD 25 —DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, it is my
pleasure to present Head 25, the Department of Corrections.
The department’s mandate is to administer
sentences imposed by the courts under conditions of
safe custody and well -ordered community life so that
convicted persons can lead good and useful lives on
discharge. The main objectives being:
1) To protect the public by holding inmates
securely, reducing the risk of re- offending; providing
safe, humane, well -ordered and lawful regimes.
2) To provide a humane but demanding r egime aimed at reducing re- offending by presenting
inmates with a range of opportunities in which reward
is linked to effort (incentives and earned privileges), and to prepare for life after rel ease.
The department outcomes are as follows: The
Bermuda Government endorses the aim of the D epartment of Corrections to achieve and, where pract icable, to exceed the United Nations [Nelson] Mandela Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. The people of
Berm uda are satisfied that the Department of Corrections makes an effective contribution to public safety and the rehabilitation of offenders.
Madam Chairman, in multiple ways the D epartment of Corrections remains a vital part of our criminal justice system and, by extension, the well -
being of Bermuda. We provide safety and security for
those in our custody, while at the same time providing
them with opportunities to make positive changes in their lives.
Madam Chairman, the department is divided
into 12 major cost centres which comprise: Headquarters, the Farm, Co- Ed, Westgate, the Therapeutic
Community at Right Living House, Psychological Services, Social Services, Case Management, Health
Services, Educational Services, Vocational Services, Recreational Serv ices, and the Chaplaincy.
The department’s mission is To empower i nmates to be responsible and productive citizens. We
(the department) adhere to the following legislation:
• Treatment of Offenders Board Act 1979;
• Prisons Act 1979;
• Prison Rules 1980;
• Young Offenders Act 1950;
• Senior Training School Rules 1951;
• Prison Officers (Discipline, Etc.) Rules 1981;
• sections of the Mental Health Act 1968;
• sections of the Parole Board Act;
• sections of the Criminal Code Amendment
Act.
The current expenditure is found at page B -
289, which is estimated to be $25,337,000. This re presents a decrease of $255,000, or 1 per cent of the budget of 2017/18.
Madam Chairman, the 2018/19 budget pr ovides funding for 229 full -time employees. In addition


Bermuda House of Assembly to full -time employees, it will fund facilitators and
teachers for inmate programmes.
Cost centre 35000, Headquarters, represents
$4,035,000, 16 per cent of the total Corrections budget. Corrections Headquarters is under the general di-rection of the Commissioner and the Assistant Commissioners, and provides directives to a decentralised
organisation staff to administer and coordinate the
training, security strategies, human resources, pr ogrammes, financial resources, and policy direction. This budget will fund salaries and operating expenses for Corrections Headquarters.

[Mr. N. H. Cole Simons, Chairman]

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, c ost centre
35020, the Farm Facility, represents $3,469,000, or
14 per cent of the tot al budget. The budget will allow
for staffing at the Farm, operat ing expenses, and i nmate care. The Farm Facili ty is an adult all- male mi nimum security facility with a capacity to house 93 i nmates. In mates must have completed the core of their
sentence plan which requires them to be classifi ed as
minimum (low risk) [ security] in order to be housed at
that facility . Inmates are also involved in work release
programmes, charity programmes, and all ongoing
projects within the facility.
This year 21 inmates were enrolled in the
work release programme, 15 inmates participated in
the Charity Work Programme, and t he plan for the
upcoming fiscal year is to increase the number of i nmates on work release and working with charities. The
work programme is being geared to more facilitated
requests from Government departments. This wi ll be
done in an effort to provide cost savings for the Bermuda Government as a whole.
The Farm Facility’s garden supplied all of the
facility’s fruits and vegetables. The crops included:
beets, onions, lettuce, string beans, and cabbage. In
total, the Fa rm Facility gardens reaped approximately
10,000 pounds of produce and have been an i mmeasurable cost savings.
The highlights from the 2017/18 budget i nclude the Bee Initiative. The Bee programme was very
successful and will continue to be budgeted for thi s
year. The second accumulation of honey resulted in
82 bottles that were sold to staff or members of the
public, or 21 pounds.
The Farm Facility will introduce new initiatives
and the second phase of these initiatives introduced
last year will include:
The Decorative Plant Regime. The plans are
to erect a greenhouse to grow and house plants by
April 2018 and the plants will be sold locally at market.
The Farm Cooperative, a therapeutic pr ogramme where animals that are owned by local far mers will be tended to by the inmates until such time as
they have matured. The inmates will be gaining skills
in animal care and farming. The Pre- release Programme will be reintr oduced. It has been designed to focus on improving
inmates’ employability and social human relat ion skills
in order to facilitate a successful integration back into the community.
An eight -week Yoga Programme was instituted at the Prison Farm and the Co- Ed Facility, which
culminated in certificates being given out to the grad-uates after eight weeks of a yoga programme.
Mr. Chairman, the cost centre 35020, the CoEd Facility, represents $3,095,000, or 12 per cent of the total budget and will provide funding for 36 staff
and operational costs. This facility with the capacity of
[56] cells has separate and distinct provisions to
house 40 adult females and 16 young male offenders
between the ages of 16 and 21. Educational and v ocational programmes are offered based on the needs
of the inmates and trainees that are identified through
the case management process. During the 2017/18
budget year, two inmates participated in the Work R elease Programme.
Mr. Chairman, the cost centre for the Wes tgate Correctional Facility represents $9,680,000, or
39 per cent of the total budget. Westgate Correctional
Facility is an adult male establishment with the capac ity to house 208 prisoners in conditions of maximu m,
medium, and minimum security. The majority of the
assessment and treatment programmes for inmates
take place at the Westgate Correctional Facility.
During this b udget year [a] number of inmates
participated in the core offender programmes, such
as: Thinking for a Change, violence reduction pr ogramme, sexual offender programme, drug and alc ohol treatment, and education. Additionally, the educ ation and vocational co urses are offered to inmates.
The Westgate Work Programme continues to
provide an opportunity for inmates to reintegrate back
into the community and gain additional skills. A total of
three inmates participated in the programme in 2008. The Westgate Correc tional Facility continues to help
with charity programmes which allow inmates to give
back to our community. The department partners with
other Government agencies and community organis ations such as Parks, Works and Engineering, WE DCO, and the Packwood Home, assisting with small projects.
Mr. Chairman, cost centre 35090 for the
Therapeutic Community Centre represents $1,352,000, or 5 per cent of the total budget. The
Therapeutic Community, also known as the Right Li ving House, is located at the Farm Facili ty and is a segregated residential substance abuse programme with
the capacity to house 18 residents. The programme is
developed for adult male offenders with a history of
substance abuse and associated with criminality . The
goal of the Therapeutic Communi ty is to return the
residents to the broader community with an increased
potential for a life free of drugs and crime, providing
them with an opportunity to realise their potential for
1684 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly change as well as an inherent potential for health and
success for ever y person. The funding for this department covers staffing, operational costs, and i nmate programmes.
In addition to regular treatment scheduled during the 2017/18 budget, the Right Living House is ge tting ready for a treatment class for inmates at Wes tgate Correctional Facility. The aim of this class, firstly,
is to prepare inmates for admission into the treatment at Right Living House. However, it also prepares them
for treatment that is provided at the Westgate Correctional Facility. Residents completed a number of small
maintenance projects at the Matilda Smith Rest Home
and partnered with Works and Engineering in an initi ative to provide suitable housing and employment for
inmates. Overall, the inmates who participate in the
programme have benefited trem endously both while
being incarcerated and post -release by way of the
aftercare programme.
Madam Chairman, inmate services and pr ogrammes that are designed to meet the needs of i nmates are identified by their individual case plans. The programme team is multi -disciplinary and provides
various services and programmes, including psychological, social and case management, health, educ ational, vocational, recreational, and chaplaincy. Fun ding for inmate services is necessary as the pr ogramme provides tools and resources for offenders to
assist them in returning to society as positive, productive, and contributing citizens.
Mr. Chairman, cost centre 35105, Psycholog ical Services represents $429,000, or 2 per cent of the total budget. The funding provides for sal aries of three
psychologists, including one temporary additional
psychologists at three facilities: the Westgate Correctional Facility, the Farm (including the Therapeutic
Community Centre), and the Co- Ed Facility.
It must be noted that currently the depar tment
has only one psychologist; however, we will be recrui ting to fill the other posts. The psychologists complete
various assessments on offenders including: asses sments of criminogenic need (and this a risk associated
with reoffending); emotional well-being and adjus tment; personality fac tors; and cognitive functioning. In
addition to these assessments, psychologists focus on
the provision of intervention to meet offender needs and include, but are not limited to: Substance Misuse
Programmes ; Drug and Al cohol Treatment and R elapse Prevention; Violence Reduction Programme;
Sexual Offender Programme; and Cognitive Skills
Programme (Thinking for a Change).
The psychologists bring an evidence- based
approach to working with offenders which assists with
making more objective and risk-focused decisions.
The psychologists also report to the training and r ecruitment team with help to assess basic offender a pplicants as well as to provide training to recruits and
custody programmes for staff. In addition to individual
assessments, the therapy session, a total of 53 i n-mates participated in offender behaviour programmes.
In the upcoming year it will be a challenge to maintain
the increase gain due to anticipated staff shortages.
However, the staff is committed to exploring the outside resources in this regard. The intent of the 2018/19 fiscal year is [to provide] a variety of offender
behaviour programmes to our inmates which include:
alcohol and drug treatment programmes, relapse pr evention, cognitive behaviour psychot herapy, sexual
offender treatment, violence reduction programme.
Mr. Chairman, the cost centre 35106, [Social
Services and Case Management] represents
$712,000, or 3 per cent of the total budget. Funding
provides for staffing of two Social Workers and five
Case Managers/Assessment Officers and inmate pr ogrammes . The department’s two social workers who
are members of the department’s multidisciplinary
team assist inmates and trainees with offence- specific
associated problems and help to address behavioural,
social, and financial problems and provide a variety of
services to the inmates and trainees including the following: anger management; parenting programmes ;
narcotics anonymous; modified cognitive and intervention programmes; and risk assessment.
The soci al workers also assist inmates in s ecuring employment and housing prior to their release. In addition, they facilitate family support and intervention meetings.
Key activities that took place during the
2017/18 fiscal year included: Father’ s Day and Mot her’s Day activities that were held for inmates housed
at the Farm , Co-Ed Facility, and Westgate. The aim of
these activities was to strengthen the relationship b etween fathers and their children. Seven inmates participated in Thinking for a Change. This is a n integrated cognitive behavioural change programme that assists inmates improve their problem -solving skills.
There are five case managers and asses sment officers. They provide planning that is a key e lement for inmates in the process that ensures inmates
are placed in the appropriate environment for treatment. And the objective is to prepare them to return to
the community as law -abiding citizens.
Mr. Chairman, the cost centre 35107, [Health
Services] represents $1,657,000, or 7 per cent of the total budget. This funding will provide for staffing and
health care services for inmates. Health care services
include , but are not limited to: physical examinations;
dental treatment and hygiene; chronic disease management —diabetes, asthma, hypertension; mental
health evaluation and treatment; drug screening and
detoxification; suicide prevention and counselling.
Health Services is staffed by a senior nurse
and five registered nurses and they provide for services for the entire inmate population at all of the f acilities. The extent of services is basic to comprehensive, and they are provided to inmates based on the
inmate’s level of need and length of incarceration.
Health Services are also responsible for health educ aBermuda House of Assembly tion for inmates as well as they have a variety of il lnesses include, but are not limited to diabetes, ast hma, hypertension, and occasionally HIV/AIDS, et
cetera.
Some highlights from the 2017/18 year i nclude:
• All posts in Health Services have now been
filled, which allows Health Services to opt imise th eir services to inmates.
• Completion of the Annual Oral Hygiene Pr ogramme, which is a joint initiative between
Corrections and the Department of Health.
• Health Services were able to conduct all outstanding annual physicals on inmates and
bring them all up t o date;
Some of the goals and targets for Health Services in 2018/19 are as follows :
• HIP Health Insurance is provided to a select
population of inmates . It is intended that this
will reduce the risks and costs of unpredict able health care expenses and the overall
healthcare budget.
• To implement an inmate Health Service
Handbook .
• To increase inmate health education sessions
by at least 50 per cent. This was not achieved
during the last year due to some staffing
shortages.
• Continuation of the i mplementation of an electronic medical records system, which is a
long-term project.
• Continue Mental Health Clients in Corrections
meetings with external partners such as the
Mid Atlantic Wellness Institute, Court Services, and Parole Board. Note carefully that
this target was met during the previous fiscal
year.
• The continuation this year of the Summer Oral
Hygiene Programme, which is a joint initiative
between Department of Health and the D epartment of Corrections.
Mr. Chairman, cost centre 35108, Educational
Services, represents $300,000, or 1 per cent of the
total budget. The allocation provides for salaries and
educational supplies. The Educational Services pr ovides educational programmes at all c orrectional facilities to those inmates who wish to obtain their GED
[General Educatio nal Development certificate] as well
as to those who wish to strengthen basic numeracy
and literacy skills. Educational Services include:
• English Language Arts;
• Mathematics;
• Science;
• Social Studies;
• Remedial studies in Mathematics and English
Language Arts;
• Computer Studies;
• Personal Development Programme; • General Education Development [ Certificate ];
and
• College Level Courses .
During this year 39 inmates have actively e ngaged in educational courses. Only one inmate was
able to complete the GED . During this fiscal year the
Education Department plans to introduce a secure Internet in order for inmates to do technological lear ning, preparing those who have alternative styles of
education.
Mr. Chairman, cost centre [35109] for Voc ational Services is $299,000, or 1 per cent of the total
budget. Vocational Services functions as an integral
part and these services are afforded to inmates and
trainees. These services are designed to assist i nmates and trainees with vocational interests with a
view to i ncreasing their employability upon release.
Funding allocated for this cost centre provides for
staffing and vocational services, materials , and su pplies.

We have the Minister of Social Services continuing on this debate.
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Vocational pr ogrammes and services that will
be offered in this fiscal year at Westgate, Farm, and
Co-Educational fac ilities based on the population and
needs include: carpentry, auto body, welding, m echanics course, and clas ses that will lead to certific ation in the National Centre for Construction Education and Research courses. We continue to evaluate current programme outlines and goals to ensure that we
are offering the best programming and using r esources efficiently.
For 2017/18 versus 2018/19 the revised est imate for 2017/18 was $299,000. The estimate for 2018/19 is also $299,000.
Mr. Chairman, cost centre 35110, Recreational Services, represents $49,000 of the total budget.
The role of Recreation Services is to provi de structured leisure time activities in sports, hobbies, and
cultural events at Westgate, Co- Ed, and Farm facilities to promote construct ive leisure time activities for
offenders. Allocation of funds will provide for activities
such as: a rt, cerami cs, woo d sculpture, and sports.
This also includes the organising of annual Arts and Crafts shows to displa y inmate/trainee artwork to the
public.
For 2017/18 versus 2018/19 the revised est imate for 2017/18 was $49,000. The estimate for 2018/19 is also $49,000.
Mr. Chairman, cost centre 35111, Chaplaincy
Services, represents $41,000 of the total budget.
Funding provides for two part -time chaplains who continue to offer spiritual enrichment and guidance for
inmates. The chaplains coordinate services and rel igious i nstruction from the various denominations and
also provide counselling to inmates. Prison Fellowship
1686 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly whose focus is on restorative justice and religious
programming continues to partner with the Depar tment of Corrections in providing programmes for i nmates .
For 2017/18 versus 2018/19 the revised est imate for 2017/18 was $41,000. The estimate for
2018/19 is also $41,000.
Mr. Chairman, the Department of Corrections
Strategic Plan for 2018– 2020 will be rolled out at the
beginning of the fiscal year. The Strat egic Plan will
focus on the following goals: effec tive rehabilitation
programmes; high standards of security; operational
efficiency ; physical plant up dates; staff development
and training; efficient and prudent financial manag ement.
Highlights of the 2017/18 budget year include:
• Local training included in-house training and
Department of Human Resources sponsored
training;
• Secondment of two officers to British Virgin I slands;
• Overseas training sponsored by the Foreign
Commonwealth Office, Middle Management ,
and Control and Restraint instructor training
and certification;
• Training for three intelligence officers;
• Recruitment of six correctional officers and
four nursing officers;
• Fourth Annual Corrections Week 2017;
• Upgrades to the fire alarm system and dur ess
systems;
Mr. Chairman, the department’s performance
measures forecasted for 2018/19 are outlined on pa ges B-291 and B -292 and include the following:
• The average daily inmate population for the
fiscal year 2016/17 was 186 [and] 45 admissions for
the year were first -time offenders who received cust odial sentences.
• The forecasted outcome of inmates released
on parole was 24. To date, 17 inmates were succes sful in receiving parole for this fiscal year. Parole pr ovides an opportunity for inmates to return to the community under supervision and receive the necessary
support during their re- entry.
• There were nine assaults, major or minor, i nmate on inmate, inmate on officer, or trainee on trai nee reported for the 2016/17 fiscal year. It must be noted that staf f are challenged constantly by inmates’
negative behaviour and the d epartment has a zero
tolerance to any assault of any category.
• [There were] 492 enrolled in development and
treatment programmes aimed to address the offending behaviours, address educational and vocational
needs, and improve skills development.
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 wit h-in one, two, and three years of their release. The ac-tual outcome for 2016/17 is 3.4 per cent, year one to
two is 2 per cent, [and] year two is 8.96 per cent.
Mr. Chairman, despite the many challenges
faced by the Department of Corrections, staff r emain
dedicated and seek ways to address them including
working with union representatives and other stak eholders and partners in order to achieve our mission
and mandate.
Security breaches remain a concern as there
have been breaches to the outer perimeter that have been intercepted by Corrections staff.
Maintaining staffing levels due to resignations
and retirements : The department has taken advantage of legislation which allows officers to defer
their retirement based on the needs of the depar tment. Management of high- risk inmates, particularly
those who are gang affiliated.
Mr. Chairman, the Department of Corrections
will undertake the following initiatives for the 2018/19 budget year: conduct a legislative review so that our
legislation meets current s tandards; recruitment to fill
various vacant posts, including civilian and custodial
staff; implementation of the 2018– 2020 Strategic Plan.
And that concludes that head, Mr. Chairman.
It completes Head 25. Moving on to Head 45, Berm uda Fire and Rescue Serv ice.

HEAD 45 —BERMUDA FIRE AND RESCUE
SERVICE

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Bermuda Fire and Rescue
Service —Head 45 [is] found on pages B -229 to B -300
of the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure.
Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to present the
Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for Head 45,
the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service. Mr. Chairman,
the mission of the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service
is: To provide adequate Fire Protection—

You may proceed.

Hon. Wayne Caines: Thank you, sir.
The mission of the Bermuda Fire and Rescue
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 Regul ations .
The departmental objectives for fiscal period
2018/19 are:


Bermuda House of Assembly • to replace fire hoses and nozzles, thus en abling a reliable water supply delivery system;
• to acquire inshore and offshore fire- fighting
pumps to facilitate extinguishing of fires on the
island’s boats and ships;
• to replace the ageing ambulance, which pr ovides emergency medical care for the East
End;
• to replace the expiring self -contained breat hing apparatus required piece of equipment
which protects fire fighters and facilities with
clean air when faced with toxic and hazardous
atmospheres;
• to employ 15 new recruits to augment the r eduction of the establishment;
• to pursue and to continue leadership training courses for middle managers;
• to continue executive development training for
senior management;
• [to continue with] specialis ed training recently
employed by technicians of the fleet maint enance team with an emphasis on airport crash/fire vehicles;
• to focus on filling vacant supervisory posts in
accordance with the organisational structure
and staffing requirements for the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service.
Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to provide an
analysis of the changes for the budget estimates pr epared for fiscal period 2018/19.
The Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service was
budgeted an allocation of $13,127,002 and represents a decreas e of approximately $133,560 due the loss of
FTEs compared with $13,266,562 as indicated on
page B -299, or a 1 per cent decrease from the
2017/18 budget.
The Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service has
made adjustments in cost centres, thus reducing the
overall expenditures for the fiscal year 2018/19.
For your convenience, Mr. Chairman, I will
highlight a few of the more notable changes.
Cost centre 55060, Central Emergency Fire
Service. The Central Emergency Fire Service cost centre covers the provision of the Fi re and Emergency
Services from the Hamilton Fire Station at King Street. This station responds to fire, road traffic accidents,
and hazardous material incidents as well as pro viding
support to all the other f ire stations when required.
The Hamilton Station has a total of 56 personnel
providing 24/7 emergency coverage on a four -shift
system. The cost centre has been reduced by
$22,362. This represents a 0.4 per cent decrease in the overtime budget.
The St. George’ s Emergency Fire Services
cost centre covers the provision of Fire and Emergency Medical Services for the Clearwater Fire Station,
located in Southside, St. David’s. This station r esponds to emergency medical, fire, and hazardous
material incidents, as well as provides support to the Airport Operations Division of the Bermuda Fire and
Rescue Service for aircraft incidents. This business
unit also provides joint Island- wide joint ambulance
service with the Bermuda Hospitals Board. This Div ision has a total of 13 personnel providing 24/7 emergency cover age on a four -shift system.
This cost centre has been augment ed by
$197,07 0. This represents a 13 per cent increase of
new recruits which means manpower. The cost centre
provides General Administration at Southside Headquarters and the Hamilton Station. The General A dministration section provides corporate management
and support service. This cost centre has a total of 10
personnel. In total this section has been reduced by
$20,346 due to the new temporary FTEs in the lowest
pay grade, which represents a 2 per cent decrease.
This cost centre, Emergency Dispatch
[55190], provides Emergency Dispatch coverage for all 911 emergency calls covering all parishes. The
total complement of this cost centre includes 14 personnel who, in the year 2017, answered 8,766 ca lls,
of which 3,947 required the attendance of fire personnel. All Emergency Medical Dispatchers are required
to be re- validated biennially in accordance with the
Association of Public Safety Communication Officials.
This section has been reduced [by] $154,328 due to
retired and resigned firemen, which represents a 24 per cent decrease.
Airport Fire Station. This cost centre provides
emergency aircraft rescue and firefighting services at
the L. F. Wade International Airport, as prescribed by
the Overseas T erritories Aviation Requirements
[OTAR], Part 140, and the Bermuda Civil Aviation A uthority. The L. F. Wade International Airport operates
as a Category 9 Airport. This cost centre has approximately 24 personnel in total. This cost centre was
reduced by $203,000 due to two retired fire fighters,
which represents an 8 per cent decrease.
Eastern Volunteer Division. Funding allocation
for this cost centre represents costs associated with the Eastern Volunteer Division, which currently consists of seven volunteer fire fighters. These volunteers
continue to support the full -time staff during emergency incidents, in particular being recalled for aircraft incidents and hurricanes.
Mr. Chairman, Capital Expenditure for the
Bermuda Fire and Rescue Services is $2,143 ,740.
This figure includes a turntable ladder truck. This truck
is essential for city fires and requires three years to
build, based on the specifications, at the cost of
$1,381,000. [It also includes] f ire hoses and nozzles at
a cost of $38,000; to ensure offshore firefighting salt
water pumps at a cost of $32,000; an ambulance for
the East End at $121,000; a replacement for our
breathing apparatus to protect the life and health of
our fire fighters cost $570,000.
Manpower. The full -time complement has decreased from 133 in 2015/16 to 128 personnel for
2017/18. And in 2018/19 this new complement repr e1688 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly sents unfilled, unfunded posts, in addition to the loss
through attrition, retirement, and death. Notwithstanding, the Fire Service has recruited 12 new fire- fighting
positions during 2018/19 starting on February 1, 2018.
Mr. Chairman, to meet our mandate of provi ding fire protection and emergency medical services on
these islands and to continue with succession planning, the following has been accomplished this fiscal
year: Senior Fire Lieutenant Jason Smith and Lieutenant Albert Donawa completed the International D ivisional Command Course at the Fire Service College
in the UK. In August five Recruit Fire Fighters completed the National Fire Protection Associati on, Pr ofessional Fire Fighters Certification Programme. The
training course commenced in Bermuda in April be-fore continuing at Texas Agricultural & Mechanical
University, Engineering Extension Services, in Texas.
In January the Recruit Fire Fighters also c ompleted
the EMT Course at the Bermuda College. Dispatch
Supervisor Ms. Zita Bean and dispatcher Ms . Janae
Foley completed an online Medical Dispatchers I nstructors Course prior to completing the Emergency
Medical Technicians Course at the Bermuda College.
These courses were necessary to become accredited
with the Association of Public Safety Communication
Officials instructors.
[There were] 22 fire fighters from the Airport
Operations Division who travelled to Toronto and suc-cessfully completed their re- certification as Aircraft
Rescue Fire Fighters. Chief Fire Fighter Reginald L.
Burchall completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Fire Service and Management.
Supplementary Estimates . The Bermuda Fire
and Rescue Service has historically required suppl ementary funds in the aftermath of hurricanes or major
incidents to cover operational costs such as overtime,
salary, wages, gas, fuel, food supplies, and other
emergency supplies.
Mr. Chairman, as Honourable Member s of this
House are aware, the fiscal period 2018/19 w ill indeed
be a challenge. The Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service will, however, endeavour to continue to provide
emergency services at a high standard of operational efficiency. The dedication of all personnel has been
confirmed on numerous occasions by lett ers of appr eciation from members of the community for the Service’s emergency operations or for their community
service efforts.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank
the Chief Fire Officer and members of the Service for
their continued efforts on behalf of the people of Bermuda.
HEAD 67 —DEPARTMENT OF ICT

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, I present the last
Budget Head 67, ICT Policy and Innovation, found at
pages B -296 to B -299 of the Budget Book.
Mr. Chairman, the mission of the Department
of ICT Policy and Innovation is To develop sound pol i-cies and regulatory framework to promote cyber -safe,
and cyber -secure ICT -enabled industries and to facil itate a secure and advanced digital economy.
The department has set the following objectives to support this mission in fiscal year 2018/19:
• to protect the public interests;
• to promote Ber muda as an innovative, sophi sticated and security -conscious technology and
e-business jurisdiction;
• to ensure the appropriate policies and legisl ation are in place to support Bermuda’s digital economy, which includes but is not limited to
cybersecurity, cyber safety, e- business, ICT,
and the protection of personal information;
• to facilitate opportunities for technology education, mentoring and training, as well as encouraging e- entrepreneurship;
• to lead the change in the jurisdiction for the
safe use and adoption of the evolution of
technology across all sections.
Information and technology are today’s greatest enablers of progress in Bermuda and employing
them to advance innovation and to pursue opportun ities that will benefit the jurisdiction and residents. The Department of ICT Policy and Innovation provides
invaluable results for the Government through policy,
legislation, programme development, skills, and initi atives that build delivery and awareness for ICT Policy
and Innovation. It also plays a critical role in advocacy
and ensuring that Bermuda is considered well -versed
in today’s technology.
The total budget expenditure allocated for ICT
Policy and Innovation is es timated to be $1,475,000
and represents a decrease of $156,000, or approx imately 10 per cent lower than the budget of 2017/18.
This decrease is primarily due to coupling the ICT Policy and Innovations technology and the Department of Telecommunications. I note that with the separation IBI has taken on a broader innovation mandate and
will continue to evolve as we focus on transforming to
change in our country’s economy.
Administrative cost centre is primarily responsible for operational requirements in accordance with
relevant legislation. There has been a 30 per cent r eduction in the Administration budget and represents
the uncoupling of the telecommunications and the
creation of a unit for cybersecurity. In 2017 the Throne
Speech had a declaration that: “B ermuda’s economy
is in desperate need of economic diversification as a
means to provide additional jobs and careers for Ber-mudians. The Government will ensure that Bermuda
is poised to meet new demands and will be aggressive in reaching out to new global areas of growth.”
Mr. Chairman, the global technology -driven
economy has changed the way we do business, the
way we educate, and the need for everyday activities
and how they are all done. Bermuda must be respon-sive in both adopting and taking advantage of new
technologies. We must build on our reputation as an


Bermuda House of Assembly Island of innovators. The benefit of doing so will
change our trajectory. The Premier stated in his
Budget Statement our aim is to focus and to build an
economy that puts Bermudians first by creating and
providing more opportunities for Bermudians to work
and more importantly, more opportunities for Berm udians to become owners and not just employees .

FinTech

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, last year we undoubtedly heard a lot about the Government’s FinTech ambitions. FinTech is broadly defined as any
technological innovation in the financial services.
Many also describe it as new technologies that are developed to disrupt traditional financial markets. The
Government plans to do many things in FinTec h including establishing an innovation and learning hub.
This will attract and support entrepreneurs
and people involved in innovation and new business
ventures, but also develop and drive robust and regu-latory fram ework to sustain Bermuda’s reputation and
to bring confidence in this evolving space. Currently the main focus is on digital currencies. There will be
many more areas of development in blockchain- based
technol ogies that have the ability to alter the way the
world does business and security.
The G overnment intends to position Bermuda
to leverage the opportunities and what the technology
value brings in that space. The Government’s objective is simple: To provide opportunities for economic
growth through job creation. FinTech embodies tec hnological innovation that kindles financial markets and
business systems to become more efficient, to i mprove customer experiences, to provide additional
avenues for problem solving. Bermuda’s FinTech environment will motivate a broader local economy by
attracting t alented, ambitious people to come to this
centre for creative thinking and business activities.
Additional benefits to the Island include ec onomic di versification, bringing new business to our
shores, enhancing GDP, and creating new and mean-ingful jobs.
There will be a clear focus on regulation, a
clear focus on balancing the ecosystem, and making sure that our Government continues to develop our stellar international reputation with absolutely no di sruption to our ongoing financial assessments. IPI will,
therefore, support and develop several major FinTech
initiatives including the Smart Island Innovation Lab; digital currencies; a digital asset exchange; raising
awareness and engaging in community education ef-forts; and partial office work so that the Island can
move forward and reap the benefits in our economy.

Cybersecurity

Hon. Wayne Caines: In September I said that cybersecurity will be a critically important issue. The Chairman: Honourable Member , can you tell me
which head you are speaking to, please?
Hon. Wayne Caines: [Page] B -296, sir. This is under
cost centre 77015, Cybersecurity.

Thank you, sir.

Hon. Wayne Caines: In September I said that cybersecurity is critically important and that all Bermudians
must take it seriously. Wit hout strong cybersecurity
awareness and preparation our safety, economic
prosperity, and national security will all be at risk. It is
therefore my view that we —and by “we” I mean the
Government as well as those in private industry —
share the responsibility to ensure that Bermuda is well
prepared to defend against threats and manage c ybersecurity risks wherever they are and wherever they
may appear.
The Bermuda Government is dependent on its
information systems to provide essential services to
the public. These systems store and process a great deal of sensitive information including financial, personal, health data, and payments —in a word, perpetually connected digital services. The Government’s
information systems are subjected to an ever -
increasing number of sophisticated and persistent
threats.
This year’s Budget Statement affirmed that
cybersecurity is a national priority for Bermuda. Internally, IPI will continue to lead the effort, not only by
ensuring that the Government’s information systems are secure and operated in accordance with industry
leading standards, but also by supporting the Cybersecurity Working Group as it finalises and launches
the National Security Strategy for better addressing
the cyber environment for the Island’s critical national
infrastructure.
Mr. Chairman, IPI will also continue to ensure
that the regulatory and legislative environment is r obust and that it will bolster the aforementioned cybersecurity work and that the benchmark and advocacy
work will continue to feed into the Government’s pol icy. And its training and its education activities will co ntinue to enhance the awareness and the importance of cybersecurity and cyber safety and our readiness
throughout our Island.
The cybersecurity work undertaking will undoubtedly u nderpin the aforementioned FinTech development. IPI will continue its work to establish a
framework that is established to utilise blockchain and digital ledger technologies to invigorate the local wor kforce by attracting foreign investment and strengthening secure electronic environments and creating jobs.
I will highlight, again, that we are cognisant of
our responsibilities in the legal and regulatory space
and we will not do anything to jeopardise our global reputation or our upcoming international ass essments.

1690 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Cyber Safety

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, we live in a world
where information communication technologies are in
high demand at levels never before experienced. All of this information is readily available to the majority of
the world’s population, providing tools and outcomes
to all technology users. However, with increased i nformation and knowledge we also need to make a
conscious effort to help keep the channels through
which we access the information safe for all of us and, particularly, our children. Cyber bullying, Internet
predators, fraud and sexting are online threats to ev ery Bermudian citizen and to our safety and well -being.
We are keenly aware that Bermuda is not immune from what we witness in the news from other jurisdi ctions. T herefore, it is important for us to be conscious
of the ways that we can use the latest technologies in
our homes and in our businesses while keeping those
safe who are most vulnerable.
The IPI offers the community Cybertips initi atives, a proactive awar eness programme that imparts
technology users with information tools to be safe and
smart in the online environment. Whether they are 5
years old or 105 years old, if our citizens know the
dangers they can work to avoid them. Additionally, if
they know the particular behaviours that can get them
into trouble they can make informed decisions not to
engage in those behaviours at all. In promoting cyber
safety, Cybertips encourages the use of safe online
behaviours that will ultimately protect them from many
online risks that come with everyday technology usage.
Mr. Chairman, on May 7, 2018 the department
will be hosting Bermuda’s first student -led Digital Cit izenship Conference. The aim of this conference is to
teach our young people how to be good digital ci tizens
and how to successfully and safely enjoy the benefits
of social media, using it as a tool for communicating
and as a part of learning. The school -based pr ogramme and conference will be both designed and
managed by our young people. With the guidance
from industry professionals, middle and high school students will be trained as agents of change to work
towards addressing social, emotional, physical, and
legal consequences of cyber bullying. Additionally, they will have the opportunity to model the pr oper use
of social media and other technology to authentic real -
life situations so that their parents will not only know how to use the applications responsibility, but they
also understand why doing so is important.
Cost centre 77004, Skills Development. The
Department of ICT Policy and Innovation advocates
and plays a key role in exposing students to various
aspects of the technology industry as it takes the lea ding role in developing Bermuda’s infrastructure and
technology challenge. The collaboration of the tec hnology leaders for the [TLF] Forum is a registered charity which, in partnership with the private sector and technology companies and organisations, is a
response to proven consistent qualified Bermudian
talent. Over the last 10 years TLF’s missi on has been
effectively to circulate student interest in technology and address the technology challenge shortfall through a unified approach and philosophy to ICT c areer development.
The TLF participates in many initiatives but is,
perhaps, best known for its internship programme
geared towards college students, which provides them
with an opportunity to work at technology driven com-panies during the summer while being exposed to the
industry at large. So during these classroom training
sessions students are focused on modules such as
business continuity; project management; cybersec urity; data warehousing; programming; and networking
to name just a few. Then outside of the classroom they are provided with networking opportunities with
local ICT professionals and will work on team projects
focused at using state- of-the-art technologies to solve
a local problem.
At the end of the summer the interns will r eceive a certificate of excellence which represents a
well-recognised level of expertise that they would
have garnered as a result of completing the curric ulum. The success of the programme is reflected in the hiring of the TLF internship graduates by organis ations such as the Bermuda Hospitals Board, ORBIS,
Deloitte, CCS, Elbow Beach, ACT, and the Ascendant
Group.
Mr. Chairman, in January the Department of
ICT Policy and Innovation supported the Youth Entr epreneurship Initiative and introduced a Youth Maker
Showcase. The Showcase provided parents and st udents with the opportunity to help organisations and Bermuda’s youth in learning opportunities with character building activities. The said organisations gathered at CedarBridge’s gymnasium to model the latest innovation, education, and school technology leadership opportunities. Topic discussions at each tec h talk are
carefully selected to be of interest to a broad spectrum
of organisations and professionals, especially to those
in the IT sector.
Mr. Chairman, enjoying technology is not
solely reserved for the young; it is also available to the
young at hear t. You know, earlier in last month I addressed this Honourable House about the recent Safer Internet Day, which is a global event when Berm uda chooses to focus on the Island’s seniors. Every
year they are presented with a full pallet of present ations and exhibits to help them fully enjoy the benefits
of their mobile devices and the worldwide web without
falling prey to the risks that that entails. I am pleased
to report that the IPI will continue to support this event
and encourages seniors to never take this digital
world for granted by practicing safe cybersecurity i nteractions.
Cost centre 77005—



Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Hang on there, Minister. Just for clar ity, you were speaking to head . . . line 77004, and it is
entitled “Marketing and Promotion.” You spoke quite a
bit about education and the young people. I recognise
the promotion that you spoke to in regard to the sen-iors.

Hon. Wayne Caines: Yes.

But I was trying to link the Marketing
and Promotions into your presentation. Can you help
me?

Hon. Wayne Caines: Yes, indeed.
So the Marketing is that you learned about
three programmes and they all connected into one.
When you looked at technology you saw the pr ogramme for the seniors, you saw the programme for the seniors and then you saw the tech programme
that was at the CedarBridge Academy. That was a
technology programme that was advertised and it brought all the young stakeholders together for the
promotion and outreach. So that was a technology
piece intertwined with the promotions piece.
The last piece that you look at is the pr ogramme that has been geared around our seniors, giving the Cybertips, and making sure that our seniors understand the cyber threats. And that was intertwined —all of those elements —were marketed by the
Department of I CT to make sure each one of those
elements took place.

Thank you very much.
Hon. Wayne Caines: Leveraging opportunities. In
today’s increasingly interconnected world new entr epreneurial ideas can be born anywhere, but to truly
flourish they must be nurtured. Middle and high school
students are exposed to business opportunities through the free week -long BizCamp, which allows
budding entrepreneurs to develop their business savvy. The Young Entrepreneur Initiative in conjunction
with the Depar tment of IPI regularly leads these
camps during school breaks and the summer hol idays. The programme is designed to cultivate the en-trepreneurial mindset in our future business leaders by inspiring them to launch their own businesses. At
the BizCamps parti cipants develop the necessary
skills to receive mentorship to help them in their interest to develop viable business ideas.
Mr. Chairman, Inspire eBusiness was
launched in 2014 with the objective of supporting and
encouraging the development of local e- commerce in
Bermuda. It educates existing potential entrepreneurs
about the process of starting an online business and
setting up e- commerce websites, mobile devices, and
social media platforms. When attending Inspire
eBusiness workshops participants learn a bout starting
an e- business, complying with the Electronic Transac-tions Act 1999, to register for payroll tax purposes,
and preparing their systems for eminent privacy legi slation.
Manpower. Mr. Chairman, the Department of
ICT Policy and Innovation has a llocated six full -time
equivalents for its work. The total current salaries allotted to the Department of ICT Policy and Innovation
is $669,000 for 2018/19 which is at the same level as
the budget for 2017/18 with the exception of one Telecommunications vote.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I thank you, and
this concludes my remarks on the Department of ICT Policy and Innovation and brings to a close the budget
brief for the Ministry of National Security.

Thank you , Mr. Chairman.
I would like to s tart by thanking the Minister
for the comprehensive brief. I know we have allotted
five hours for this debate. I do not anticipate taking so
much time, but a few housekeeping matters.
The Minister did mention a health matter so,
of course, if the Minister needs to excuse himself I will
have all these questions that I have prepared in wri tten form anyhow. So if it would be easier, if we do not get to them all today, Minister, if you would like me to email them to you at another time I think really the
impor tance for the listening audience and for the pr ocess is to discuss some of the things that were not mentioned or clarify things that were mentioned. So,
in the spirit of transparency, of course, I will happily email you those questions.
And another housek eeping matter, I just
wanted to, again, of course, when comparing the cur-rent budget for the heads requested for National S ecurity or the entire National Security budget, we must
not compare apples to apples because last year the
Ministry of National Secur ity was a bit different. For
instance, Head 67 was not part of the Ministry, and as
a result, Mr. Chairman, Head 67 . . . I will be led by
the Honourable Dr. Gibbons after I move through all
the other heads since Dr. Gibbons was the substantive Minister fo r Economic Development when Head
67 was there in the last year. I say we cannot com-pare apples to apples because, of course, the Post Office used to be in National Security as did National
Drug Control. And so when we hear that there has
been a $2 million reduction overall, et cetera, that is
tempting to jump at, but it is not an apples to apples
comparison. So we must not do that. I certainly will
not do that and I will keep my comments quite speci fic.
1692 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Now how did I come up with some of these
questions? T he lion’s share of these questions, Mr.
Chairman, [came] through meetings with the very men
and women who work in our uniformed services. For
instance, the Royal Bermuda Regiment Executive, the Defence Board, the Bermuda Police Service Exec utive, I was inv ited to the Annual Police Retreat where
they discussed the Annual Police Plan. It was about two weeks ago. I know the Minister was there just before I was. He was actually treated to a free lunch. I
got coffee, but nonetheless that is the life of a Shadow Minister, Mr. Chairman. We discussed many things.

POINT OF INFORMATION

Hon. Wayne Caines: Point of information. I was not
able to partake of the lunch.

You know they could have wrapped it
up for me, Minister, but they did not tell me that.
Thank you.
Thank you , Mr. Chairman, I do not want to
digress, but I appreciate that.
I say that because a good amount of conversation occurred with the members of the Bermuda
Police Executive and the Unions who were represented there for that annual r etreat. Roads Policing Offi cers . . . the members of the BPSU for each of these
departments, so on and so forth. So a lot of the ques-tions that I will be asking here and that I have pr epared actually have been answered by the Minister in
his brief. And so I will not . . . and I apologise in advance if I ask something that has already been mentioned, I will happily take a nod from you or the Permanent Secretary. And let me pause and congratulate
Secretary Telemaque on his new appointment to Cabinet Secretary . It was a pleasure working with him as
the PS for National Security last year, so I wish you
the best in your endeavours going forward.

[Desk thumping]

I shall start, Mr. Chairman, with Head
6, Defence, which is found on pages B -276 to B -279.
The Minister quite rightly highlighted some of
the achievements that the Regiment has had in the
last year and I am going to assert something that I
hold firmly, that the Regiment —many of the uniform
services, but particularly the Regiment —in the last 18
months have gone through or experienced or been
deployed in conditions never before experienced by
those in the Royal Bermuda Regiment. And there may be some who have dealt with hurricanes, they have
gone overseas, they have not done it all in one ye ar.
You had hundreds of officers qualify for var ious security qualifications to work for the America’s
Cup, in the same year we had a deployment to TCI, in
the same year we had a lot of other EMO activities.
And so I really want to say, first of all, kudos to every single man and woman who was working in the Royal
Bermuda Regiment and kudos, frankly, to the Commanding Officer who, again, made a gutsy move, but
an exceptional move, by cancelling the Annual Overseas Camp. It is clear that he is looking for t he value
for money and if we can do some local training cour ses then I think that is fantastic.
Right up from the front, I know the Minister
addressed this, but if you are looking at the Budget
Book and, perhaps, you did not hear the Minister’s
brief, there is something that needs to be corrected. So the Budget Book reflects a small increase in their
budget, however, the Minister did mention that there is
actually a decrease of $63,627, or 0.87 [per cent] d ecrease. That is simply, again, because of the env ironment for the TCI deployment. So those of you who
are listening or who have just come in and are looking at the Budget Book, that is incorrect. And I appreciate
the Minister highlighting that right out front.
So, Department Objectives, page B -277, I am
going to start with Role Expansion. It is one of the D epartment Objectives for the Royal Bermuda Regiment.
There is a bullet point there and it actually gives a
fixed date of no later than June 17
th for Inshore
Coastguard Operations. So the following ques tions,
Mr. Chairman, for the Minister will be regarding this Role Expansion. Can the Minister tell us how many
full-time soldiers will be employed by the RBR to ex ecute this objective?

[Inaudible interjection]

Thank you. Will there be any police
officers attached to the Royal Bermuda Regiment as a
handover period, assuming there is a handover per iod, Mr. Chairman? And how many —if the Minister can
let us know —how many Bermuda Police officers will
be attached if there is a handover period?
Will the Royal Bermuda Regiment seek to
create separate or new legislation that speaks to their
role and powers afforded to Regiment soldiers now
operational on duty on our waters? So I suppose I am
asking whether they will seek special constable status
and go through PACE training and officer safety trai ning, et cetera, or will they seek to create a separate
legislation that will speak specifically to the ability of a
Regiment soldier (or officer of various ranks) being
deployed, will they have the power of arrest, power of
seizure, et cetera, et cetera? Just some clarity regar ding that.
Next, is it the intention ––as we know we have
heard some success stories with regard to the Royal
Bermuda Regiment’s training and upgrades in we aponry, et cetera. The ques tion here though is with
their Role Expansion. Mr. Chairman, will the Minister
please let us know if it is the intention of the Ministry and the intention of the Royal Bermuda Regiment to
deploy soldiers on our waters with or without fir earms? Will they be deployed with firearms? Traditio nBermuda House of Assembly ally you have Regiment soldiers who are deployed
and are not armed or are not, shall we say, carrying
loaded weapons. But I just want to know what the i ntention is. Is it the intention that the Royal Bermuda Regiment soldi ers will be patrolling armed, with fir earms? Will they be patrolling armed with less lethal
technology? Or will they simply be patrolling, as offi cers do now, likely without any firearms?
Will the Minister let us know what type of soft
skills training the Royal Bermuda Regiment will r eceive to absorb this role? So, specifically, soft skills
training would be almost like customer service trai ning, Mr. Chairman. While you have the Regiment soldiers who likely will learn very quickly where reefs are and are not, will learn how to turn the boat on and off, the issue we will have is that they will have to attend
various calls on the water, and it will not necessarily
be a water -borne crash, fire, fight, et cetera. It may be
something that requires soft skills fr om those atten ding, officer skills, such as, perhaps, a domestic di spute on Hinson’s Island. They may be the first ones to be there. There may be some type of altercation on
one of these party boats. That is why I ask the question: what type of soft skills training will the Royal
Bermuda Regiment receive to absorb this role? And,
again, we are speaking of . . . in the department objectives, this is going to happen, according to the
Royal Bermuda Regiment, no later than June 17
th.
How many marine vessels, Mr. Chairman, can
the Minister let us know that the Royal Bermuda Regiment has operational, currently fit for use for this role? We spoke a little bit about the actual allocation
and I will get into that shortly.
The next question I was going to ask was r egarding new vessels. I know the Minister mentioned that the actual money is going to new boat engines so
that the engines can be redone. I know some of these
boats are quite old. Can the Minister clarify that no
new vessels will be purchased, instead new boat engines will be purchased? And, of course, the big question, Mr. Chairman, is will they be purchased and
ready for operations for June 17
th?
And part of the handover, I think, is important
because there is also a financial aspect to a handover like t his, particularly when we are talking mid- fiscal
year. My question, Mr. Chairman, is : Will the Royal
Bermuda Regiment be receiving any funding from the
BPS budget this fiscal year once that transfer of r esponsibility of Inshore Maritime Operations goes from
the Bermuda Police Service to the Royal Bermuda
Regiment? I suspect salary budgets, but I do not want
to presume, hence the question. I suppose it is appr opriate for me to ask, in light of that, how many . . . I
have already asked that question, how many police
officers will be attached that will help out?
Will the Regiment seek . . . essentially, where
are they going to work? Are they going to seek a new Operations Centre or will they occupy the current Bermuda Police Marine Section Station? Or will it just be a handover of the keys as well? Or will it be som ething a bit more substantive? I remember that some of the numbers that were thrown around previously, and
I do not know, hence my question was that there will
be 14 full -time Regiment soldiers deplo yed for Mar itime Operations. That is a significant uptick in human resources working our waters. Of course, I support
that. I am just wondering what other support they may
need as far as office equipment, et cetera, particularly
the boats.
Moving on, Mr. Chairman, to business unit
16000, again, I believe that is on page B -277. The
Minister mentioned that the number of volunteer soldiers that recently passed out of the Annual Camp . . .
I cannot call it Annual Camp anymore because it is
not . . . it is goin g to be the Biennial —

[Inaudible interjection]

Yes, I will get to that. I applaud that.
The number of soldiers was 40. Can the Honourable
Minister let us know beyond, I suppose, holding an-other course, how these funds will be used to bett er
address recruitment of Bermudians. I say Bermudians, Mr. Chairman, because I am led to believe that
there were approximately 20– 25 per cent of those 40
who were non- Bermudians or spouses of Bermudians,
which I applaud. I believe that if you are here legally in
Bermuda and you want to give back to your community then, by all means, I would completely encourage
that line of employment. However, when you look at
the total number for the year, you go to 30- ish Berm udians. So, that may be plus or minus one or two, but I
suppose, what is the plan for this money? How are we going to get more Bermudians or what is the strategy
to attract more Bermudians to this second course?
The department’s Performance Measures on
B-279, bullet three, Number of Volunteers for Service
in the Royal Bermuda Regiment. Look, I am pleased
to see that the target outcome is 100. So, you know, the target would be 60 for the July intake. I suppose
that may not be aspirational . . . the plans that we
made here, particularly if we are talk ing about a July
course, and the Royal Bermuda Regiment are already
on the waters patrolling, that is a bit of attraction, a bit
of soft power for that industry and people may be
signing up. I do want to note, obviously, the target
outcome for the 2018/19 is 100, but we have approximately 40 already, will the Honourable Minister inform
how the Government intends to attract an additional
60 with this current allocation of money that they have?
Again, moving to business unit 16060, that
would be on the same page B -277, Junior Leaders.
So I note there is a minor reduction of $12,000 in the
Junior Leaders. There were years where they had
zero. I was grateful last year to be able to provide them funding and they went away on an Overseas
Camp to the UK, which was by all accounts quite r e1694 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly markable and really speaks to some of the objectives
of what the Junior Leaders are all about when you
look at some of the personal development, et cetera.
My question is : Will the Honourable Minister explain
why there had to be a 12 per cent cut for those Junior
Leaders?
I know that the allotted amounts are, I think in
the performance measures, but what is the exact number of Junior Leaders who are enrolled as of t oday’s date? I know there is a target number, but I just wondering what the exact number is as of today’s
date. And will this fund, will the $88,000 with a small
reduction, will that funding allow for another overseas
training and experience trip for these Junior Leaders
as they went on last year? And I suppose, what other . . . or what adventures training or community service
will the Junior Leaders be exposed to in this fiscal year? They have a budget, they have $88,000 and I
suspect they are going to make good use of it. I am
big fan of the Junior Leaders. I am just wondering
what that money is going to go to. Will they be going overseas? Will they be doing something local? What
community service will they be doing here?
Mr. Chairman, I am moving on to business
unit 16040, Local Training. So, again, we have heard from t he Minister that there will be an additional recruit
course taking place likely in July. Look, I applaud the
Commanding Officer for that, I am just wondering how
the reduction of $12,000 to Local Training will impact
this course, particularly given the fac t that your target
outcomes have gone up significantly, which, again, I
applaud. I am just wondering how we make ambitious
target outcomes yet we have . . . even the smallest
cuts will make an impact, so a $12,000 impact, how is
that going to impact this additional course? And just,
just for clarity, if this course is to happen, will the
course be of the same duration? Will it have the same
aims and objectives as the other one? Or is this a h ybrid course? I would assume, if we are churning out . . . if we a re looking to churn out the same type of
soldier, that it would be the same type of course. I do
not want to assume here, hence, the question.
Looking at Overseas Camp, which is business
unit 16075, again, we are aware that the Commanding
Officer has deci ded to cancel this year’s annual camp
and instead, in a value for money proposition, hold
some local training sessions and joint operations with
other public safety pillars. Again, a stellar decision, I
applaud the Commanding Officer for this move. My
ques tion is to the Minister: Can he clarify the amount
of savings that this will have to the RBR’s budget? I
know that in a Ministerial Statement there was, I b elieve it was, an estimated figure of something between
$285,000 to $450,000. I am just wondering if . . . given
the fact that the $290,000 will not be needed for the
air charter flight alone, what is the make- up of the r emaining savings? And how will that go towards the
course?
Yes?

All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
and welcome, of course, you did the welcome much
better than I did, Mr. Chairman.
That was the question regarding Overseas
Camp. So, moving on to 16080 Courses and Attac hments, can the Minister confirm if any of our soldiers will be attending the Sandhurst Military Academy this
fiscal year? If so, how many soldiers will be attending?
What overseas attachments are planned for our s elected soldiers, if any? And where is the target d eployment location? We had, a few years ago, the Royal Bermuda Regiment sent, I believe, there were
two soldiers . . . I am not aware of the rank, sent to
Kenya on attachment. I was just wondering if there was anything planned for this year [that is] similar?
On page B -279 under Performance
Measures, turn our attention to 16010, Regimental Headquarters. It speaks to the operational strength of
the Royal Bermuda Regiment and so . . . look, to me
these numbers look a little bit outdated, if you will, or
aspirational. So, it says the Regiment establishment of
630, the minimum manning of 406. The Minister mentioned a five- year plan. I am going to alter my question
and just simply ask, as a result of that i nformation he
has offered us, will this five- year plan intend on addressing a more contemporary number and realistic
number of Royal Bermuda Regiment soldiers that is
aimed to have in the establishment? Between 406 and
630 is quite a swing, so I am just wondering if that
five-year plan will speak to that.
Mr. Chairman, I would like, with your permi ssion, to move to Head 7, Bermuda Police Service.
That is located on page B -280 for those of you follo wing. With your permission, Mr. Chairman.

“The Government has redirected resources
to education, training, and entrepreneurship to better
tackle the root causes of violence. ”
That is a noble endeavour. And I certainly do
not take away someone who has studied criminology
and th e impact of root causes, secondary crime r eduction efforts, et cetera, et cetera. However, when
we talk about not funding or reducing funding for some and giving to others, there is always a trade- off
and that is okay. But my role as the Shadow Minister
is to highlight what some of those trade- offs are, what
some of those trade- offs may be by redirecting those
resources. Nationally we know education needs more money. We know that training for Bermudian soft
skills, et cetera, jobs need to be created, but th ere
come trade- offs. And some of those trade- offs are
quite evident when we look at the Police budget.
So, if we are looking at business unit 17190,
Training and Development, again, Mr. Chairman, I am
on page B -281. I mentioned earlier there is a . . . that
statement from the Budget Statement about redirec ting resources. However, Mr. Chairman, two par agraphs north of that statement it says that: “The Ber-muda Police Service . . . are in various stages of
swelling their ranks.” Yet, in the budget we hear that there are going to be reductions. So I am wondering if
the Minister can let us know how this can be characterised as “swelling the ranks” of the Bermuda Police
Service.
How many Recruit Foundation Courses will be
held this year? The budget clearly says there will not
be any, but my question . . . my question is: Will the
Minister reconsider? Will the Minister find the money to have a Recruit Foundation Course this year? I understand, Mr. Chairman, from conversations with the
Bermuda Police Executive at t he retreat that they are
concerned about their numbers, through attrition, b eing reduced to under 400 officers for the first time in a
little while. That is a concerning thing for the Bermuda Police Service. I, of course, as Shadow Minister, e ndeavoured to find that answer and that is why I stand
here proudly today.
I also understand that two- thirds, Mr. Chai rman, of all senior officers in the Bermuda Police Service—of all senior officers above the rank of Inspector
—Chief Inspector, Superintendent, Assista nt Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner and the Commi ssioner, two- thirds of those people are eligible or, sorry,
are up for mandatory retirement in three years. Mandatory retirement in three years —two -thirds of them!
One- half of that pool that I just mentione d is up for
mandatory retirement in two years or less. My question is: Can the Minister inform this House of an i mmediate plan to address a real potential, what I will call an executive vacuum? So, again, under Training and Development, I
appreciate we hav e—and the Minister said it twice—
the amounts of staff in the various ranks . . . 13 c adets. Will there be any cadets recruited this fiscal year? The budget does not reflect that but, perhaps, it escaped me. I am just wondering, again, how the
Bermuda Polic e Service is in any stage of swelling
their ranks when we do not have a Recruit Foundation
Course planned for this year that is funded, we do not
have a Cadet Course planned or funded for this year,
and through natural attrition we are likely to be under 400 officers.
On page C -14, Capital Accounts Estimate, of
the Budget Book, I draw attention to numbers in bus iness unit 76078, Vehicles. So Vehicles have been a
thorn in the side, I believe of both Government and
the Police Service for quite some time. Ther e was an
agreement . . . I am not going to use the word
“agreement,” there was a time, Mr. Chairman, when
there was simply $500,000 just allotted to the Police
Service for Vehicles. That was it. That is what you
need every year. These vehicles run 24 hours a day,
7 days a week. They have to be replaced, et cetera, et
cetera. That is clearly not the case and it has not ha ppened in quite some time. It has been a slow, slow,
reduction and shaving of that money. And that is clear
and we see that. And we see the results of that austerity in other places.
I get lovely updates twice a day on Bernews
about which buses are not running and where they
are not running. So we feel the effects of austerity. My
question is this: Why the additional austerity measures? It i s now down to $136,000 for the year.
Why? Can the Minister tell us why the additional aus-terity measures with regard to the Bermuda Police
Service’s fleet of vehicles for this year, given the public emphasis on overt enforcement and our staggering
road saf ety challenges? We continue to experience
those. I am just wondering how this budget of
$136,000 is planning to equip the Bermuda Police
Service with addressing poor, reckless, careless, dri ver behaviour on our roads. How are they planning on
doing that wi th $136,000?
And I guess a more direct question would be:
How many police vehicles are currently operational that are “past their due date” according to their manufacturer and the Bermuda Police Fleet Manager? I
think that is important to state as well.
Business unit 1040, Eastern Area Command,
a simple question, but these are never simple questions in politics. This is a question that was raised at the Bermuda Police Annual Retreat . So when I mention the St. George’s Police Station, I do not want to
hear a ll the hissing and hawing . It was a question that
was raised from a member of the Police Service itself .
I endeavour to be here. It is quite simple. Can the Mi nister clarify if there are any plans to open temporarily
or permanently a police station in St. George’s?
1696 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Again, this was posed to me at the Annual Police R etreat, thus I am posing this question here.
Moving on to business unit 17150, Drugs and
Financial Crime Division. That is located, Mr. Chai rman, on page B -283. I apologise, that would be B -
281. P age B -283 speaks to the amount of employees,
so page B -281.
Mr. Chairman, we have discussed and the
Premier has discussed publicly the Paradise Papers.
Both sides have come out and discussed the impact
or potential impact of such an incident (shall I say).
And look, despite the global attention, we do not have
jurisdiction. That is not a Bermuda issue. We are not
investigating that. That is, of course, Jersey. They are
in charge of that, and thankfully because the Paradise Papers highlighted two things, not only in a public
safety circle, but I think in an international business circle as well. And I have heard the Minister mention
[it] many times and even in his brief today, there is
clearly a need for robust mitigation efforts and sy stems in response to gl obal financial, global cybercrime. There is no doubt about it.
We are a bit behind on that and I applaud the
Minister for standing and addressing that by way of the budget. And secondly, we have also highlighted
Bermuda’s limited capacity to investigate s uch an i ncident. It is a huge amount of work. And for context,
Jersey, which is a little bit smaller than Bermuda and,
I believe, a little less populated than Bermuda has
double the amount of financial investigators that Bermuda does. I will get to that shortly.
I will ask for the record if the Minister can i nform this House how many financial crime investigators the Bermuda Police currently have. I ask that, of
course, because I frankly do not know the exact number and I am not going to guess. But more importantly, I understand that in the NAMLC or AML/ATF [and]
various national risk assessments Bermuda scored
quite favourably with our legal regime. You know, we
identified gaps legally and we have addressed them.
There have been numerous amounts of updated
amendments here in the House and in another place
over the last five years. Where we are rated high risk is where we have low numbers and low ability for f inancial crime investigations . . . investigators. So that
is a high risk for this jurisdiction.
Given the fact, Mr. Chairman, that we have a
CFATF audit, I believe in September, why was the
budget for Financial Crime Investigations reduced?
This is a monumental year for Bermuda. We have already been highlighted as high risk in our national risk
assessment. Why are we here and we have not ad-dressed the number of financial crime investigators?
In fact, not only were we informed of this, this year’s
budget reduces the number of financial crime invest igators.
I do understand and know that there may be
two ov erseas consultants hired as financial crime i n-vestigators, but not until April 1 or beyond. That will be
from the Consolidated Asset Fund.

[Inaudible interjection]

Secondly, my question to the Minister
is: If we are hiring two people to address a gap and
we are making the money available sometime in April
or May, and we have a CFATF audit in September,
what type of impact are two people (who are going to
be learning where Reid Street is and Church Street is
in May and June) going to have on a massive audit in
September? Why now? Why April? Why not before? Why has this been reduced? I appreciate the money
is not coming from the police; it is coming from anot her fund, but why?
A more general question, but I think it speaks
to maybe some of the forward- looking budgets that
may occur if we had an asset sharing protocol. So, again, this is something I heard at the Police Retreat.
Bermuda apparently . . . I cannot . . . I would love to
FactCheck it, but I am told by the Bermuda Police E xecutive that Bermuda is one of the only regions, one
of the only jurisdictions in the Caribbean basin in the Eastern Caribbean that does not have an asset sharing protocol. So an asset shar ing protocol, quite sim ply, Mr. Chairman, is we have . . . of course we have a
Confiscated Assets Fund. The protocol for asset sharing would simply prescribe a percentage every year of
what the police would get out of the total amount of
that, so that ther efore the police can say, Look, we
have . . . or we are going to get 10 per cent next year.
We’re going to get 15 per cent next year. We do not
know, of course, what the entire Confiscated Assets
Fund is going to look like as far as the total balance, but if we had an asset sharing protocol, there would
not be, as we know, a lot of guesstimating when we
are trying to find additional financial crime investigators.
We have now looked at other funds to fund
this. The question is (and if I glossed over it I apol ogise): Will the Minister consider implementing or a dvancing an asset sharing protocol?
I heard the Minister mention . . . again, I am
under the Capital Accounts, CCTV and that was under
the IT 10725. He did mention that there were going to
be additiona l cameras for the CCTV, the Island- wide
CCTV system. Can the Minister let us know how many
additional cameras will be funded, purchased, and
installed this calendar year?
Mr. Chairman, I would like to move on now to
business unit 17120, Marine and Road Policing Unit, which is on page B -281. Can the Minister explain the
financial fraction of the total estimate of $475,000 to
this unit which will specifically go towards the Marine


Bermuda House of Assembly section? In other words, this business unit has been
given money. We understand now that on the 17th of
June the Regiment will be taking over Marine Policing.
So my question is: How much of this $475,000 goes
towards the Marine Police and how much is it going to . . . or will that goes towards the Royal Bermuda Re giment? How many st aff are currently operational —
underline “operational” —on the Marine Unit?
Mr. Chairman, I would also like to ask the Mi nister what the operational deployment plan is for those
officers currently operational once the Royal Bermuda
Regiment assumes control over the Maritime Oper ations. So, for instance, if we have . . . let us indulge
hypothetical’s here. [Let’s say there are] 10 police officers who police the waters right now, 3 of them will
go to the Royal Bermuda Regiment for the handover, what happens t o the remaining 7? Where are they
deployed? Is there a plan for that or will they have to seek some type of new employment?
Moving on, again, I have spoken . . . it ove rlaps nicely with the Police and the Regiment to di scuss the budgets for the new Mariti me Role. Under
this same business unit, Mr. Chairman, is Roads P olicing Unit, one of the more significant contemporary
issues we face in Bermuda today. I have a series of
questions for the Minister so we can clarify and pr ovide this House and those members of the uniformed
service who are listening today and members of Ber-muda with some answers regarding our Road Poli cing.
Firstly, how many police personnel are ded icated to the Roads Policing Unit? My next question is: Is this number sufficient? Is it of t he Ministry’s opinion
that this number of officers is sufficient to sustain the
Roads Policing Strategy? I believe that was made public approximately three years ago. They probably
updated it since then, but there is a Roads Policing
Strategy and my questi on to the Minister is: Is the current amount of police personnel sufficient to actually sustain that strategy?
So I mentioned in my opening remarks that,
while I have absolutely no problem with the Gover nment’s pivot and redirecting of resources to educat ion,
training, and entrepreneurship from National Secur ity—it says that in the Budget Book —I do not necessarily have a problem with that. But what I have been tasked to do as a Shadow Minister is to discuss some
of those trade- offs. And here is one of thos e trade- offs
when we discuss road safety. There are currently 12
Bermuda police motorcycles operational for the Roads Policing Unit. As of this morning, Mr. Chairman, six of
them are off the road. Six of them are off the road be-cause we have a Police Motor cycle Course that will
last three weeks.
I notified the head of the Road Safety Council
who is an Honourable Member here. I have also made
it very clear that these trade- offs are real. They only
have 12 motorcycles, they needed to train 6 people, so now t he entire fleet, as I understand it, has been cut in half for three weeks in a time where we are seeing unprecedented issues on our roads and challen ges on our roads. So, again, given this reality, Mr.
Chairman, I would like the Minister to explain why the
further austerity measures for this unit for these offi cers? Why now?
I had a question regarding the KTM fleet. KTM
is the brand, but essentially the KTM fleet of the Ber-muda Police Service are the on- road, off -road, dirt
bike looking motorcycles. There w as a fleet of those—
a small fleet —I am not exactly sure of the number, but
they are no longer in operation simply because they
have run their course. But they do not have any more
now and it proved quite effective because you had
armed response officers, qualified armed police offi cers who were armed and would use not just the cars, but also these KTM- style motorcycles when dealing
with antisocial incidents, behaviours, shootings, et
cetera. They have been . . . we all know that chases
and high speed chases are not limited to Bermuda’s
roads only. So a simple question I promised I would
ask would be, Is there or does the Ministry intend to fund the Bermuda Police Service to allow it to purchase these or similar on- and off -road motorcycles in
the future?
Mr. Chairman, let us move to Performance
Measures on page B -284, if we could. Very briefly
under Community Policing, which is 0703, the first
section there reads —if I may, Mr. Chairman?

Thank you . The number of hours delivered by anticrime and anti -gang awareness in Bermuda’s schools and the community at large. My question to the Minister is: Can the Minister inform this
House how many school children have graduated
from the Great Programme to date during the 2017/18
school year? So, look, from September to the winter break there were Great Programmes and graduations
held because it is not an entire year long. So my
ques tion is : How many . . . looking at the performance
measures because they are saying that the targeted
outcome was 500, I believe that would be students . . .
or hours, sorry, 500 hours. How many children have
graduated from the Great Programme to date for this
school year?
I have glossed over a simple question for the
Minister, of course. Is the Great Programme still in
use?
Mr. Chairman, I would like to move on to
Head 12, which is Customs. That is found on pages
B-285 through B -288. Okay, these are some probably
granular simple questions [that] I simply just do not
know the answers to. The Minister ment ioned the various allotments for Airport Shift A and B. Specifically,
Mr. Chairman, I would like to speak to business unit
22040, Airport Shift B on, again, page B -285.
1698 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The question is simple. Can the Minister i nform this House about why there is a $300,000 differential between Shift A and B? Is that simply because
there are . . . actually, I know the answer, there are
more staff on Shift B than there are on A. Can the
Minister clarify that these are just salary items, or are
the duties and scope or demands of Shift B broader in
any way? Or is that $300,000 differential simply because they have, I believe, five or six more staff
members on that shift? It just stood out, so I thought I
would ask. And is there any intention to have parity between the two shif ts? And so, my other question is:
Are the duties different, scopes different? If that is not
the case, then are they seeking parity between the
two shifts?
Business unit 22100, Interdiction on page B -
285. Mr. Chairman, there is a significant reduction
with the financial support given to the Customs D epartment for Interdiction efforts, just over $470,000.
Yet just above that it says that one of the central o bjectives of the Customs Department is to prevent the
smuggling of drugs and other illegal commodities, e nforcing international conventions for environmental protection, money laundering, et cetera, et cetera.
Can the Minister explain, given this core objective,
why the Ministry has cut the Interdiction budget by
nearly half a million dollars?
Business unit 22110, Seaport Enforcement
Team, on the same page, Mr. Chairman, page B -285.
So there is a small reduction in this business unit, approximately $57,000. But again, for the same reasons
mentioned above, why has there been a reduction in
financial support to the Customs Seaport Enforcement Team, especially when we are hearing day in and day
out how St. George’s is going to see more cruise
ships, more tourists, et cetera, et cetera? I am just
wondering, if we are going to have one of the busiest
cruise sh ip seasons in years, why we have reduced
the budget for the Seaport Enforcement Team.
I would like to turn to page C -14, Capital A ccounts and speak about the Customs IT Development. So, under Customs, 76009, Computer Equi pment, can the Minister inform thi s House what IT developments the Customs Department will undergo, if
there are new products to be introduced or enhanced
with this budget? There is nothing in this business line or the Capital Accounts whatsoever that mentions
unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS, or drones. So will
the Minister inform Members if there is an intention on
furthering the use of a UAS asset? I say “further” because the Ministry trialled the use of a UAS in the late
part of the spring and early summer, which was led by the Customs Department. I am not aware of the overall findings, whether they viewed that was value for
money, whether they viewed it as even effective,
hence, my question, if the Minister will inform us: Is there any intention on using a UAS asset for the Bermuda Cus toms Department or any other enforcement
agency here in Bermuda? And again, it is just a clarification I am seeking
on Performance Measures on page B -288. Sorry, we
moved back in the Book. Under Performance Measures, the very last business unit 22110, Seaport
Enforcement Team, on the second to the last perfor-mance measure, the number of imported containers
scanned by the Hamilton docks Gantry X -ray Scanner
to exceed 60 per cent. The number that is on the target outcome is 100. It does not say 100 per cent. The
Minister has said there would be a 100 per cent target outcome, so every single container would be scanned by the Hamilton docks. I am just wondering if that is,
in fact, correct, or is the number of containers 100 and
it is not 100 per cent. I just w ant some clarity on that
because above the percentage of positive searches
makes it clear that there is a percentage mark next to
that. One hundred containers versus 100 per cent is a massive difference, Mr. Chairman, as you can appr eciate, so I just need some clarity from the Minister on
that.
Nonetheless I am pleased to see that the target outcome has increased. I applaud Customs for that, for what they have done, and particularly the
work that they have done over the last year because
even they were tax ed quite a bit with the number of
vessels coming into Bermuda for the America’s Cup,
et cetera. And I know that the collector does a fine job
and I applaud her and her staff for all the work they do day in and day out.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to move now, with
your permission, to Head 25, the Department of Cor-rections. This is page B -289 through to page B -292.
So, on glance the annual budget for the D epartment of Corrections is somewhat static. There is a minor general reduction. As the Minister mentioned
last week on a motion to adjourn, the number of i nmates is approximately 191. Those numbers have been static for the past few years and, in fact, I believe they are even stated as an average number of inmates per year in the performance measures. I read
that somewhere . . . yeah. I will get to the point. Under
the expenditures on page B -290 there is a reduction
of $69,000 despite there being an increase in the total amount of employee numbers. I hear now and I read
that the Minister . . . I heard that t he Minister, rather,
would be seeking to have a recruit course for I believe
six officers, is what I heard. I am assuming there is . . .
so there was a reduction of $69,000 and you are g oing to hire six new people, new officers this year. My question is: I s there a net decrease overall in manpower for the Department of Corrections? And what is
that number? So you are hiring six, what is the net
decrease? Because you have got a reduction here of
$69,000 and I am just wondering if that is purely on
salaries.
Business unit 35105, Psychological Services.
So, we have established that the $429,000 is essen-tially salary for three psychologists. However, our
business unit 35105 on page B -290, when you are


Bermuda House of Assembly looking at full -time employees it shows the number of
psycho logists increasing from one to two. The Minister
mentioned that there are three . . . or, sorry, there are
posts for three psychologists. The Book says it has
gone from one to two; a 100 per cent increase.
I am of the view, of course, with the job that
psychologists have to do in the corrections facilities
that if you can afford more, then more is better. So I support three psychologists. I am just a bit confused
when I read the Estimates Book that the number is
just going up from one psychologist to two psychol ogists. The Minister mentioned three psychologists. I
just wanted some clarity on that. Of course, I support
that and I support, obviously, the on- boarding as I believe there is only one currently, and I wish the Mini stry and the Department of Correc tions well on those
endeavours. It is a very, very important job.
So there is no specific performance measure
if we look over at the Department of Corrections, Per-formance Measures. I cannot point to a specific one
because that is my point. It is on page B -290. There
are no specific performance measures regarding the
desired number of psychologists or, sorry, the desired
amount of psychological service hours to be completed per annum. Will the Minister inform the House if
the Ministry or the Department of Corrections will co nsider including psychological service hours in a Performance Measures chart for subsequent budgets? I
suppose, you know, getting as much psychological
treatment and services to inmates inside of all of our
correctional facilities is not only critical —and the Mi nister has identified that and that is why he has mentioned three psychologists —but I am just wondering if
we can include that in a Performance Measure. How
many hours are they getting per annum? How many
hours on average are they getting? And that is, again,
a consideration question.
Business unit 35107, Health Services. So, the
Minister gave a good breakdown. I know that there is
one, I am going to call him or her a Head Nurse, and
then five nurses, so six total. There is a $200, 000 r eduction. With roughly the same amount of inmates
and the same amount of staff, can the Minister explain why there is a reduction in financial support for Health
Services in the Department of Corrections? The numbers of people seem static, the services, the number of staff seem static, so I am just wondering what the
$200,000 in reduced financial support represents.
And Capital Acquisitions on C -14 under Corrections, 76201, Vehicles for Corrections, $21,000 is
given to Department of Corrections for v ehicles. I am
just wondering what that is actually going to purchase
as far as the vehicles. Is it just maintenance? Is it like
the Regiment boats; is it new engines or new equi pment? Or what is that $21,000 going to? It just
seemed like an odd and quite a small number. But
their fleet may be in good condition.
On the same page, Capital Accounts, Corrections, 76595, Security or CCTV. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to see an increase in the CCTV budget.
CCTV, as we know, not just inside of corrections facil ities or Island- wide is a force multiplier. It is an effective crime prevention tool. It is a reliable aid in internal
investigations. We see statistics here of assaults on prisoners, assaults on officers, and certainly the use
and audit of CCTV footage is cri tical, not just for the
attending officers and investigating officers, but for
Treatment Offenders Board and so on.
So I am pleased to see the increase. I think it
is going to make the facility safer for the officers who work there and ultimately make it safer for the inmates
as well. Can the Minister, on that vein, inform this
House how many additional CCTV cameras will go up
onto the current system? I am assuming that they are
going onto the current system. Most bolt -on cameras
or CCTV go onto their exis ting . . . I know they have
quite a big pool of existing cameras, so I made an as-sumption in my question and I hope that is accurate
that they are going onto the current system. How
many cameras though will be purchased and installed
this year given the bu dget?
And Mr. Chairman, if I could move on to Head
45, Fire Services, which is located on pages B -293 to
B-295. So, my first question, I believe, was answered
by the Minister regarding an estimated $135,000 in
salary reductions. I did hear that there were some r etirements and resignations under that, on page B -24
under Expenditures . . . sorry, Mr. Chairman. I believe,
and the Minister can correct me if I am wrong, that a
bulk of the $134,000 in salary reductions were as a result of attrition or loss of st aff through resignation,
retirement, et cetera. I am also just confirming from
the brief that there will be, or there have been, 12 new
fire recruit officers that have started this budget year
or, sorry, this calendar year, which again will address
some of the staffing numbers of the Fire Service.
However, I must ask again, Mr. Chairman: Is there a
net gain this year or a net loss on staff?
The numbers seem to suggest that despite
hiring 12 new fire officers the reduced money,
$134,000 in salaries, may ref lect that there will be a
net loss in the amount of staff working for the Berm uda Fire and Rescue Service. Or, perhaps I am being
simplistic. But I would like the Minister’s clarification on that, please.
Under performance measures, these are two
[that] I am just simply a bit miffed by, confused by, so I
just want some clarity. Regarding 55090, the St.
George’s Emergency Fire Services, the actual bus iness unit sees quite an increase, and I think that has
something to do with hiring, or perhaps redirecting
folks who work down at the Clearwater Station. I do
not know, but there is an increase for this budget.
However, the target outcomes for both percentages of road traffic accident attended, and percentages of emergency calls remain static. I am just wonder ing because I do not know. Are those percentages just simply based on an average of incidences or
1700 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly accidents, et cetera, or calls for service that they get
annually despite the amount of people that they have
there? If that is the case, then that number would
probably remain static. I get that part. I just do not
know the answer to that.
The same question would go to business unit
55090, the West End Emergency Fire. It sees an i ncrease, but the numbers again for road traffic acc idents attended and percentag es of emergency calls,
again, they remain static. So I just wanted to clarify what exactly those meant.
For those who are like me, challenged with
nomenclature, on the . . . let’s go to C -14, Mr. Chai rman. Just for clarity, I wanted to confirm the turntable ladder. Are we talking the Bronto, the turntable?

[Inaudible interjection]

Yes. Okay. Okay, I figured that.
So it appears that the money . . . and kudos
for identifying that. The remaining money, the 345, is
to pay the balance of t he monies paid to basically say,
Hey, can you start to build this? I know that it takes
some time. I know that we have had some struggles
with the Bronto, and I know that we have done all we
can to attend the incidents in fires that we have had,
and actual ly any dep loyment whether it is a storm -
related deployment where they need to get up on
roofs, et cetera. I support, obviously, the remaining
funding of the turntable ladder. I do not think at this
point we really have a choice. It makes good sense. It
is right and it is just, and I am glad to see that. I just
wanted to confirm that we are talking about the same
thing, the Bronto.
Mr. Chairman, I mentioned before as I intr oduced, I suppose my comments for all heads, apart
from Head 67 . . . I did inform H onourable Members
here, and the Minister, specifically, that the Honour able Dr. Gibbons would be leading on Head 67 as the
former Minister for Economic Development, where this
in fact used to sit. I think that makes good sense. That
is why I introduced that.
Before I take my seat and yield to Dr. Gi bbons, again, I just want to make a simple point. That
we have . . . if there were a theme, I think for this N ational Security Budget, it is, Reduce Government
funding, sustain national challenges. Their problems
are not going away, of course. They are not going anywhere. We have contemporary social problems; we
are trying to address it. We have road safety policing
issues; we are trying to address it. We are engaging
the community a lot more; they are trying to a ddress it
as well. The daily is all over this; I applaud that, Mr.
Chairman. But I am confused, or a little bit misled by
the statement in the Budget Book that says, with r egard to National Security, that the Bermuda Police
Service, Corrections, Fire Servi ce are in various stages of swelling their ranks when we heard today —

So my comment with regard to the
Police was under Head 7, on page B -281, and the
comment regarding Fire Services, Mr. Chairm an, was
page B -293, which speaks to the overall budget. And
the comments regarding the Department of Corrections, Mr. Chairman, is on B -289, the overall budget.
So we have heard, Mr. Chairman, that the
ranks will swell, but we have not seen that in the numbers. We have heard what they have said, but we see what they do. It appears, and I stand corrected,
and I will wait for the Minister to respond to my various
questions after the Honourable Dr. Gibbons addres ses Head 67, but we have heard from, whether it is the
executive of the Police Service, or the various me mbers of the union during the police retreat, that they are concerned that in fact their numbers will not swell. They will be reduced. And the same question goes to
any net losses that we will see i n Fire Service and in
Corrections.
So I will now take my seat, Mr. Chairman, this
concludes my specific [comments] on those heads.
Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chai rman.
I appreciate the introduction from my honourable colleague, Mr. Baron.
Mr. Chairman, as the Honourable Member
said, we thought it was probably appropriate on this
side that I deal with Head 67, which, as you can pro bably s ee, is on page B -296 of the Budget Book. It is


Bermuda House of Assembly entitled, Information and Communications Technology
Policy and Innovation.
Mr. Chairman, you will remember this. Last
year this used to be under the Ministry of Economic
Development. But going back quite a few years this . . . I think it goes back to probably about 1998, was
the original E -Commerce Department. A couple of
years ago it just seemed to be a little dated to call things “e- commerce.” It certainly was a currency back
in the late 1990s. But a couple of years ago it was pretty clear that, given the changes in technology and given the direction that essentially information tec hnology and communication was going, it was more
appropriate for it to be named the Department of I nformation and Communication T echnology Policy and
Innovation [Department of ICT Policy and Innovation].
The “policy” part is obviously an important
part, and certainly the Minister who introduced the
brief referred to “innovation” as well. I will get there in
a few minutes. But for t hose listening, because it has
been a little while, it might be worth just mentioning
that the mission statement of this particular head and
department is to develop sound policies and regulat ory frameworks that promote and enable innovative
cybersafe and cybersecure information communic ation technology enabled industries and to facilitate the
adoption and growth of a secure, advanced digital
economy.
On page B -296, it is a little difficult, Mr.
Chairman, as you can appreciate, to essentially compare apples and apples with last year. As the Minister
did mention when he introduced this particular head,
this used to include telecommunications. That has been stripped out and, as you will know, has gone
over to the Ministry of Transport and Regulatory A ffairs. I n fact, for the most part it resides under the
Regulatory Authority as well. Just in terms of comparing some of the heads and the increases, it is a little
bit difficult here.
I am going to start actually on the Cybersec urity head, which is 77015. That, as you can see, had
no allocation last year. It was handled actually under
the administration part of this particular head. But that has been allocated $194,000. I have a few questions
for the Minister, but one of the questions that I do
have is . . . that $194,000, is that essentially salary or
is it professional services? What is in that $194,000?
Because if you flip over to page B -297, and you look
at the actual headcount, it has actually gone down
from seven to six. One of the reasons, I guess it was
essentially explained, was with telecommunications
moving out, this was a reflection of why the headcount
has gone down by one.
I was of course intrigued to see that if you
head up to the top of the page under salaries, that the salaries line has not changed at all. That is 699. It was
699 as the original estimate last year. It was 699 under the revised numbers and $699,000 under the estimate for the coming year. So the question I guess I am really asking is, If a telecoms body moved out, is
there a salary or something under cybersecurity here?
Just so I have an understanding of how that is partic ularly working.
While I am at it, I might as well just ask anot her question. That is again on page B -297 under the
object code description. Communications has gone up quite appreciably, some 7,000 per cent. I know that is
kind of a little odd because it was estimated at 7 last
year and then under the revised it is now 356. And
now it has gone up to 554. So the obvious question is, What is in that communications line t here? I would
appreciate it if the Minister could provide a little bit
more detail when he gets a chance to answer questions.
So I am going to switch back now to some of
the general line items under this particular head. As I said, I would like to start wi th the head which is C ybersecurity, which is on page B -296, and that is
77015. It would be $194,000. Introducing this partic ular line, the Minister confirmed what I suspect we all know and fear. That the Bermuda Government and particularly all the ministri es and departments are at
some significant risk from cyberattacks and the general issues that come now in this new day and age
with cybersecurity.
I think, Mr. Chairman, you will know that, I
think it was May last year, when the WannaCry virus swept throug h a lot of different countries. It did enormous damage in the UK, I think particularly with the
health services there. It shut down a number of hospitals over there. It was followed not long after that by the NotPetya virus as well, which was again sort of
ransomware and attacked a number of major Europe-an companies and others. I think it is probably fair to
say, and certainly that was my experience, that we
have been probably a combination of both lucky and
adept at avoiding, and I do not want to put my mouth
on it, so I am going to tap wood here, but we have been pretty successful in avoiding any major issues
within government. I think the ITO [Information Tec hnology Office] department needs to be commended
for that.
A couple of years ago we started, it goes back
about three years now, I think the then- Government
recognised the importance of cybersecurity [and] actually set up a Cabinet sub- committee. I think that is
still going, but I would be interested to know what the
Minister’s perspective is on that. It was done at a Cabinet level because I think we understood the overall
importance of collaboration and coordination here, and simply relying on ITO to do it was simply not suff icient. So there was a regular series of meetings with
various areas, and I th ink it has become even more
challenging these days because earlier this year, you
will remember, that there were two additional items
which were called “Meltdown” and “Spectre.” (It sounds like one of those 007 films.) [These] were actually discovered to be huge cyberthreats. They were
1702 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly in fact vulnerable, not just in the software with the
WannaCry and the rest of it, these were actually in
hardware as well, and were imbedded in the chips. I
think they are still trying to sort out how that goes and
how Intel and others are going to plug those particular
gaps in security. It is not just the Government, obv iously. It is business as well.
I think one of the other issues that we have
seen is the importance of being prepared. As I said, a
couple of years ago we st arted working in the NIST
framework, which was the National Institute of . . . oh,
dear, what was it? The National Institute of . . . anyway. It will come to me in a second.

[Inaudible interjection]

In technology. That was
set up by President Obama probably about five years
or so ago. Standards and Technology . . . National
Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST.
They put out a framework which is used both
by the US Government and also by a lot of US bus inesses as well, t o in a programmed and careful way
address your vulnerabilities, address how you should react to those vulnerabilities, and it is quite a useful
matrix.
One of the things that has also come out is it
frequently takes quite a long time for entities, gover nment, and also businesses, to actually detect that they
have been breached. One of the interesting facts was
that it is currently running around on average of about
100 days, sometimes, for some businesses and governments to understand that somebody is in t heir
software, in the system. And as the Honourable Mini ster said, we have a lot of sensitive information, whet her it be in this particular Ministry or in the police or in
the hospital medical records, and things of that sort.
And we have been subjected to, obviously, a number
of persistent threats over the years. I know some of
the businesses that I am involved with may see well
over a couple thousand threats every week in terms of
people trying to get in. So it is a clear issue which
needs to be addressed.
The Minister mentioned the Cybersecurity
Working Group. That used to be a sub- committee,
what was known as ECAB. You will remember ECAB, Mr. Chairman, that was the E -Commerce Advisory
Board. I would be curious to know as to whether that
is still operat ing or not because that was a useful way
of getting the private sector involved in coming to the table also with their concerns, their solutions, and how
they were addressing not only cybersecurity but some other areas as well.
Now, one of the things tha t is also very clear
is that cybersecurity is not just a software or IT prob-lem. It is also a security problem as well, because you do not need to get in through a computer to be able to
hack a system. You can actually walk in the door of
one of the server rooms and plug in a flash drive and create havoc as well, or get into some of the telecoms
nodes, the Internet racks and also create a lot of problems. So there is clearly a much broader need to look
at this. I am not sure all of what falls under it, but I will
get to this in a second.
The other thing that is happening is that there
has been a huge increase in the number of things that
are actually connected to the Internet. You will recall,
Mr. Chairman, I think about a year ago that people
were hacking i n through some of the cameras that sit
on top of computers. There are a slew of other things.
I think over the next two or three years they are expecting almost over 40 per cent of all Internet connected devices are going to be machine to machine,
so there are not humans involved. So if you have essentially easy ways and the security is old in these things, or whatever, that is another issue in terms pr otecting against cyberattacks as well.
So those are some of the key issues that sort
of need to be faced. I think the point, I guess . . . and
the Cybersecurity Working Group is part of this, but one of the things that I think is also really key here is to have a collaborative and sort of joined- up approach. I am not sure where it is, but one of the things
that did start under the former Government, I think it
was coming out of the Cabinet Office, so I would be
interested to know where that stands . . . in order to
provide that kind of coordination the need for a chief
information officer who would essentially be at a fairly
senior level, who would sort of pull together some of
these strands.
One of the issues that the ITO had was being
able to sort of try and get people to follow directions,
make sure that, as I say, patches were in place for
some of the older software and that particularly d epartments like Education, which manages a lot of its
own IT work, and then you have quangos out there as
well, that all of these were being sort of appropriately
coming up to speed in terms of protecting Bermudian and res ident data and some of the other sensitive i ssues that are out there. I am hoping that the chief i nformation officer position (and I am not sure whether it would be under the Information and Communications
head, or if it is under the Cabinet Office or under ITO,
I am not sure where that is) . . . but I think that this is
actually pretty critical in terms of making sure that this
cross- Ministry, cross -department communication and
collaboration is actually managed properly. So that is I
think a pretty key iss ue.
There are some other things that I think are
important as well, and that is, and we certainly see this in the private sector, that third- party vendors have
got their systems up to speed because if you are dependent, for example, on outsourcing to a service
provider, oftentimes one of the ways into these sof tware platforms is through a third party who may be rather lax in terms of their own cybersecurity prov isions that they have got in place. So I would be interested to hear what the Minister has to sa y with regard


Bermuda House of Assembly to, I would say, addressing some of the third- party
issues that both government and certainly the private
sector need to address as well.
One of the other things that was pretty apparent and that was that there were always resource constraints, as we know. But one of the other things
that was really important was that there are certain
things which are referred to as SIEM, or Security Incident and Event Management software that goes into
place. I think that was being brought in. It allows you
to track intrusions. It allows you to track where people are trying to get into your system. I am hoping the
Government now has something like that in place and
operational. I know the Minister does not want to
comment in any depth on this, but those are the kinds of things that I think are pretty critical in terms of pr otecting government systems.
I guess those are the main points that I wanted to raise with respect to cybersecurity. The final
piece, which the Minister did mention in his brief, was
this issue of critical national infrastructure. Critical n ational infrastructure, as you will appreciate, means
databases that the police might have, the hospital, but
also non- government databases as well. I think certainly the utility, BELCO, was a key concer n for us,
and there are others out there, some of the telecoms companies which are probably reasonably sophist icated, but all those are critical national infrastructure. I
think one of the provisions here under . . . this is 299,
under the cybersecurity, t hese would be the performance measures, is the issue of initiating the deve lopment of a national cybersecurity strategy.
That work had started probably about at least
a year ago. I would be interested to know if the Mini ster would comment on where we are in that particular
process. This particular department, ICT, had reached
out to the private sector with questionnaires and other
efforts to try and get an understanding of where some
of these (I will say) major critical infrastructure players
were in terms of having their cybersecurity in place
and up to date. As I said, if the Minister could give us
a little bit of an update as to where that stands and
when that particular cybersecurity strategy would be completed or developed and perhaps where we are in
that particular process.
I will just comment briefly on some of the ot her things that this particular department does. I think
the Minister gave a bit of an overview so I do not need
to dwell on it for too long. They do a very nice job in
terms of some of the programmes they run like the
Technology Leadership Forum which essentially
brings along younger members of the community who
are interested in working in the technology, in IT
space. He mentioned the Youth Maker Showcase.
There is also a lot of work done by the department in
terms of Cybertips, not only for younger people but all
of us, and also for seniors as well. And another pr ogramme which has been running for a number of years is BizCamp, which is essentially trying to bring out some of the entrepr eneurial talent and develop
that in young Bermudians. That is run during the summer with Education as well. Again, my hats off to
this particular department because I think this is an
area that they have done a good job in, in terms of marketing these issues and getting the communic ation out there in terms of the importance not only of
cybersecurity, but the importance of developing talent
in this particular area. It is particularly important with
respect to some of the Government’s initiatives that
they ha ve talked about with respect to innovation and
FinTech.
I would like to change direction a little bit, still
under the same head on page B -296, and get into a
little bit of the discussion that the Minister laid out with
respect to the broader issues of innovation and ec onomic diversification. He talked about FinTech and the
importance of FinTech from the Government’s strat egic direction going forward. I guess I would like to
make a couple of comments in this area.
I guess the first is that FinTech, and he gave a
definition of it as sort of a disruptive technology in the
financial services area. FinTech itself is not a strategy,
per se. It is really a means to sort of a strategic end,
and really represents a collection of new tools and
technologies. And som e of them have to be tested
and sort of very carefully introduced.
I am reminded a little bit . . . I think there is
kind of an interesting parallel with the insurance- linked
securities [ILS]. Really, they go back actually to the
late 1990s with cat [c atastrophe] weather bonds and
things of that sort. Starting about 2013 [it] really took
off, and took off particularly in Bermuda. —

[Inaudible interjection]

Yes, yes.
And the reason I think it is an interesting parallel is because traditional reinsurance had relied on
essentially more standard contracts and their own
capital to be able to cover risks. But insurance- linked
securities went out to the capital markets and essentially started getting a huge amount of money, it could
have come from pension funds and others putting into
these insurance- linked securities. They could be cat
bonds; there are a lot of different types of them. They were all, however, collateralised. And what that did is, it was a tremendous disruptive force in the insurance
area.
And I think what we have seen over time is
that a lot of the traditional insurers, and I am thinking of the RenRes [ RenaissanceRe] , and the XLs, and the
Chubbs, and the rest of it . . . and Validus, among
others, essentially came to the conclusion, if you can’t
beat them, join them. And they all set up internal, or
1704 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly partnerships, to effectively do insurance- linked secur ities. So, in essence, it was another tool in the toolbox
for covering risk.
It is interesting because in many respects
FinTech is something that, again, is a tool which is out
there. I was looking at the McKinsey report recently,
there are over 6,000 FinTech- type applications out
there right now. You will remember, Mr. Chairman,
some of the older ones like PayPal, which essentially dealt with payments and disintermediated banks from
the process. In many respects it is disruptive.
I guess I would like to say that, just so that it is
absolutely clear, we on this side of the House do not
have a problem with FinTech at all. It started a num-ber of years ago. It has been going on. Clearly it is an area that I think Bermuda needs to be involved in. It is
area that I know Bermuda Business Development
Agency was starting to look at it a few years ago. It
certainly is an area that I think we talked about when
we dealt with the head under Economic Development.
It is something that clearly is a space that we have to be in.
I think the issue from my perspective is t hat
there are a number of different parts to it. I was hoping
the Minister would give a little bit more information
than what I would call a very conceptual or abstract
sort of perspective on it. In terms of his particular brief, he mentioned innovation and a learning hub. He mentioned digital currencies, which could include obviously cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum , among
the others. There is probably well over a thousand of
them out there. He mentioned blockchain technol ogies. He talked about f inancial markets and also setting up a digital asset exchange.
I would be interested to get, as I said, a little
bit more of an understanding of what the Minister has
in mind here and how he is going to approach this. I
recognise that he did mention that . . . I think it was at
a Lunch & Learn, or something of that sort, going back maybe a month or so, a couple of weeks, that he was
aiming at . . . again, there were three key aims, he
said at the time: The creation of ICO legislation. ICO
is Initial Coin O ffering, which involves a company rai sing funds by offering investors tokens in return for
their cash or cryptocurrency, as opposed to the more
standard way or raising money which is through a s ecurities offering as well.
He mentioned digital asset exchanges. I am
not quite sure what he intends there. Whether that is a virtual currency exchange or there are other assets
that would be involved, or whether they are things like,
as I said, cryptocurrency, bitcoins, and things of that sort. And he also talked about the creation of electro nic IDs. There was no mention of that in his brief, so I
will wait to see if he wants to talk any more about that.
But the issue again is that there is a tremendous amount of work going on out there in these par-ticular areas, particularly with respect to distributed
ledger technology [DLT]. He mentioned that as well. I think not everybody understands what a distributed
ledger is, but it is a type of database that is shared
across a network of multiple sites, jurisdictions, or i ndeed, institutions. It does not have a single authorit ative copy in the same way that other means of keep-ing track of securities or currency or things like that
do. Instead all the network participants have identical
copies of the ledger and distributed l edgers can also
use blockchain or other similar tools to be able to put
these things together.
I mention that, Mr. Chairman, because as I
said there is an extraordinary amount of work which is actually going on out there at the present time. For
example, t here is a huge consortium, it is called i3
Digital ledger technology consortium. Over 80 banks,
everything from the Bank of America through to . . . I
had a list here somewhere. I am not going to read 80
banks, but Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citi, Deutsche
Bank, HSBC, and others. There is also a tremendous
amount of work going on.

[Inaudible interjection]

Thank you for asking.
The issue here is, this stuff is all around us
and I think you can be sure that the reinsurers . . . I
know AIG is very involved in it, are also doing work.
So it is going to be interesting to see how this area
develops over the next few years. There are a lot of
people who feel that some of the global technology
companies, the Amazons, the Googles, and others
are going to be tremendously disruptive in terms of setting up banking and other things, in terms of getting
into capital markets, securities exchange, and things
of that sort.
But I say all that, as I said, because it is going
to happen whether we want it to or not. One of the areas that I think is pretty important is how we actually
approach it here. That is where I would like a little bit
more information from the Minister. He has made sort
of a promise that we will see essentially legislation this
particular month, I think in March. I am not sure
whether he is actually going to meet that goal or not,
but I would be curious to know where he i s.
The thing that concerns me is, again, how we
are actually approaching it. I think one of the exam-ples that is really key here is . . . and there a couple of
countries out there. The one that I think certainly
caught my attention was Gibraltar, which came out in
May of last year with . . . and I am sure the Minister
may have seen this. It is actually a really useful White Paper (I will call it) and it says, “Proposals for a DLT
[Distributed Ledger Technology] Regulatory Fram ework.” Now, the key here is t hat this is both headed by


Bermuda House of Assembly the Minister for Commerce, a fellow called Albert Is ola, who was actually in Bermuda three or four years
ago. (The Premier remembers.) But it is also co -
authored by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commi ssion. That is the Gibralt ar equivalent of the BMA
[Bermuda Monetary Authority].
I say that because the Minister was very keen
to underscore the fact that we are going to be very careful about reputational issues here. He stressed
the importance of Bermuda’s reputation. I think none
of us disagree with that. But the concern again is, Where is the BMA in this particular process?
If you are talking about a digital exchange, if
you are talking about initial coin offerings, if you are talking about some of this technology, all these th ings
are really key from a regulatory perspective. I kept
hearing the word "regulatory” but I did not hear the
word “BMA.” Mr. Chairman, you will be aware that the
Bermuda Monetary Authority spelled out some of
these risks back in essentially . . . about a month ago
or so, I think it was January or February. And Mr. Jeremy Cox who was commenting, warned that “unreg ulated initial coin offerings have no investor protection.” He basically was saying the BMA has no ability to be
able to regulate any of this, to protect . . . whether it
be Bermudians or residents or others. And he said
“these forms of investment vehicles are not subject to
prudential regulation, which among other things r equires regulated entities to hold sufficient capital and have adequate risk controls in place .”
Now, this is not too far off what the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] and others have been saying as well. That you need essentially a way to make sure that people who are going to do initial
coin offerings, people who are mayb e involved in a
digital exchange of some sort, need to be working
very, very closely with the regulators.
So the question I have for the Minister is, How
is that working? Where is the BMA in this process?
Where is the (I guess) paper which sort of sets out in
a lot more detail the public consultation which would
be required here?
It is not just a question of what the Gover nment wants to do. The Minister himself touched on
this. There are a lot of other players in the financial
services market here who will have concerns about
this, who may wish to be involved, who may feel that
there are threats to Bermuda’s reputation. So, as I
said, I think the Minister . . . I am guessing . . . I am
hoping the Minister is seeing this. But some sort of a discussion paper or consultation paper which includes
the BMA and, as Gibraltar has done, sets out some of
the key issues that the Minister and Government are
trying to effectively address here. The Gibraltar Fina ncial Services Commission was very clear in terms of
the pri nciples that they wanted these things to operate
under, and very clear in terms of the type of legislation
and how they were going to approach legislation. We have heard a lot from the Minister but it
has been at a very high level. Some would call it
“hype.” I know there is enthusiasm there, but it has
been at a very high level. And I think it is time, if it is not being done already, to set out the kind of regulat ory framework and the various areas that are going to
be targeted and how the Government is going to do
that. Gibraltar has done a nice job . . . or I will say a
credible job (we will have to see how it works out) in
terms of talking about how they are going to put t ogether a regulatory framework for digital ledger tec hnology, that any work in thi s area would need to be
authorised by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (the BMA equivalent) and that it will cover any
activities that are not subject to regulation already but
that use, whether it be blockchain or distributed ledger
technology, for the transmission or storage of value
belonging to others. In other words, it could be secur ities, it could be cryptocurrencies, it could be other
things.
There are a number of capital markets who
are now starting to move into distributed ledger tec hnology. I think the Minister mentioned Australia; they
are quite far advanced. Singapore, Japan, and others
are doing a lot of work to set up exchanges. Now, we
all know that exchanges . . . we have our own BSX
here. But there needs to be, I think, really good stan dards in place to make sure that investors are protec ted and to make sure that some of the money laundering and other cyber breaches that have happened
with iCoin and others are not replicated here.
One of the reasons this is so important with
cryptocurrencies is because to some degree they
have been notorious. Bitcoin was a huge method of
transaction on the dark web. Because of the nature of
the, I guess the lack of transparency, it is tailor -made
for money laundering. I do not need to reinforce it . I
think Government is aware of this. But clearly, at this
particular point in time, with the oversight and the scrutiny we are going to be under with respect to
CFATF and others, some sort of a clear pathway,
some sort of a clear indication of how this i s going to
play out —the role the Government will take, the role
that the BMA will take—all these pieces need to be
spelled out, dare I say, in a lot more detail than we have seen up to this point in order to manage to do
the things the Minister has talked about, which is to
maintain reputation and to ensure people that these
particular changes and things are not going to affect
the type of business that we have already.
I think those are some of the major points that
I wanted to raise. One of the things that . . . I guess I
have a question for the Minister. He did talk about
jobs and the creation of jobs in his brief. It would be
very useful to know the kinds of jobs that he sees. He
did talk about bringing and attracting talented, ambitious people. Hopefull y some of those are Bermudians
as well. We do not have a lot of the talent here in
Bermuda at this point, to do some of these—
1706 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Member, I think you are anticipating
the debate that will probably happen when the legisl ation comes. I think you are —

—talking about . . . yes. I
will be careful here.
I guess the issue here is, this department is
about policy. I think part of what goes into policy is the
issue of, okay, you have got these tools, this a pproach, what are you going to get out of it as a country? I think we need a little bit more from the Minister as to how that policy is going to translate into sort of
concrete stuf f. It is all very well to say “jobs.” We all
know what happens when you say “jobs” and they do not appear.

[Inaudible interjections]

Well, you know, they did
in certain respects.
But again, I think this department is also i mportant in terms of, what I will call, helping to develop
some of the talent. The Minister did talk about that in his brief, the Technology Leadership Forum [TLF] and
others. But we need to have a way to essentially pr ovide some of the talent that would be required to
achieve some of the policy initiatives the Minister has talked about. I do not have a clear understanding of
how that is going to happen.
The other thing of course is that our intellectual property legislation is outdated. We need to do
somet hing about that, to have people actually set up
here. And the fact of the matter is startup capital is simply not here to the degree it is required either.
So those are some of the issues that I think
need to be addressed. As I said, I think Gibraltar has
done a very credible job in terms of setting out how
they are going to approach it. I think it is in many r espects a good template. We need a little more “beef”
in terms of what is actually going to be done here,
how it is going to be done, what the timel ines are, and
that kind of thing.
So, Mr. Chairman, with those comments, I will
take my seat. Thank you.

Thank you, Member.
Any further speakers?
The Chair recognises the Honourable Member Michael Dunkley. You have the floor, sir.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
and good evening to you. I am pleased to be able to
contribute to this debate this evening on the various
heads within the Ministry of National Security. I will start off on Head 6, Defence, which you
will find on Budget Book, [page] B -277. Mr. Chairman,
I was quite intrigued last week. I think it was Friday when the Honourable Minister read a Statement in
regard to the change within the Bermuda Regiment as far as the Overseas Camp goes. And he then made
the fir st touch on the start of an inshore maritime role
within the Regiment.
Now, Mr. Chairman, we know that this has
been discussed for many years, and it has had su pport for many years in doing it. The reason for me f ocusing in on this after the Shadow Minist er has pr ovided a very thorough overview of various budget
heads is because, if you look at page B -277, you see
under the department objectives, the role expansion,
and it refers to the Royal Bermuda Regiment is to establish and maintain an inshore Coast G uard in order
to secure Bermuda’s territorial waters out to 12 miles.
And it says that no later than June 17
th. But if you look
through all the various line items in the budget, you
cannot see any money specifically related to that. So
that means that with the cancelling of the Overseas
Camp, and what is [entailed] with that as far as the
charter that goes with it, all the expenses that goes
with these, those monies will be vired to the Coast
Guard.
So the question here to the Honourable Mini ster is : Is there a specific budget set out for the inshore
maritime role for this next financial year? And out of
that budget what will be involved and what will the
maritime role be? How elaborate will it be? I see very
little investment in the C pages in it; I think there was
$20,000 for an engine. But most outboard engines
now, one strong outboard engine costs about
$20,000 —

[Laughter]

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: —so we put . . . are we
buying one engine to put on the back of one of the
boats we row up there right no w and that is the extent
of our maritime role? I mean, even the Minister is
laughing at that. But I am serious.
Now, I know Minister (and Mr. Chairman, I will
speak through you), that last year there was some new maritime equipment bought within the Berm uda
Police Service [BPS]. But in the brief, I did not hear
any detail to get some comfort that all the maritime
equipment will be transferred from the BPS to the
Regiment to have a seamless transition. Will that
equipment be transferred over, the equipment and the
manpower to run it at the same time?
Because what we do not want to happen is
. . . this is an initiative that is supported by both sides
of the House. And a lot of work has been put into it. There have been a lot of discussions, a lot of consultation on it. The Bermuda Police Service [and] the
Regiment have talked about it. We have seen that with the America’s Cup last year. We have seen very


Bermuda House of Assembly successful maritime patrolling during a very busy time.
We have seen for a number of years now (and the
Minister probably can update on that) where the police
have had Regiment officers on their boats as they pa-trol. So we have seen the first step toward having it implemented in a way that will not only provide the
level of coverage we have now, but will prov ide an
expanded level of coverage. But we have to get it
right.
The Shadow Minister mentioned a number of
different potential changes that will have to take place to legislation to allow those officers to have the authority they might need to deal with man y eventualities
they will face. But now we need to make sure we get
this Budget Book right so we do not see virements, we do not see challenges to financial instructions, and we
do not see supplementary estimates coming forward.
So it is mentioned in the b rief, and it is mentioned in
the budget, but I do not see any specific line items to
it.
Mr. Chairman, I will go on to Head 6, Defence,
again. Just looking at the output measures for the
Minister on page B -279, I was interested to see that
the percentage of soldiers (halfway down the page)
who passed their military standard test has dropped,
what I would call, significantly from the original for ecast for the current financial year from 70 per cent to
55 per cent. And for the next financial year it is raised
again to 65 per cent. So I ask the Honourable Minister
if he can provide some answer on why that is the
case.
I also note that, if you go to the business unit
16010, Regimental Headquarters, the number of pr omotions that was estimated or forecast for the current
financial year of 40 has dropped to 12, and then it expands again to 30 next year. If the Minister could pr ovide some understanding of what that might be in rel ation to.
Mr. Chairman, I am aware as the former Mi nister of National Security and some time that I have
spent on the grounds up there . . . and I think all of us
are well aware that the Regiment occupies a facility
that in some areas is quite dated. And there is no money in the budget for this financial year for any i mprovements to faciliti es. So the question to the Ho nourable Minister is, [in view of] some of the pressing needs they have, is there a plan on how to upgrade
the Regiment’s facilities in an appropriate way, and
will it be in the next financial year or what is the plan
attached?
Obviously if the maritime roles are going to be
expanded, that is a bigger responsibility, that is going to be . . . the Minister has already alluded to the manpower required to it. So that is going to mean that the
footprint of the Regiment has to be or ganised to fit
that in. With that in mind, how are we going to make
sure that we keep an [ageing] facility in the best operating shape possible? I already touched briefly on equipment, C -14. I
note that there is a couple of hundred thousand dollars put to vehicles, but we will just buy one boat engine to support the capital acquisitions going forward.
Mr. Chairman, turning my attention now to P olice, on page B -281, Head 7. I was quite interested to
hear the Honourable Minister say that additional austerity measures will have to be taken this year. And in
going through the budget numbers of 412 personnel
within active duty, which consists of 412 active full -
time officers and 13 cadets, I believe last year it was
425 active officers and 12 cadets. So we have scaled
back there. One of the challenges that I was aware of
as the Minister, but I think as a politician I have seen it
for many, many years, when you have an organisation
as large as the Bermuda Police Service with over 400
active officers maintaining our safety and security throughout the country, you have a real potential for
attrition naturally.
With 400 officers it would not be a shock or a
surprise if you had a 10 per cent attrition in a year,
[and] 10 per cent is 40, and if you have that type of
attrition, you could be down to about 380 officers. And
you could really be struggling because then the $3.5
million overtime bill, which I think the Honourable Mi nister referred to, would have to be significantly greater
than that.
So I piggyback on the Shadow Minister, I
would like to get an understanding from the Honour able Minister on how we are going to ensure that the mandate of the commissioner and the senior exec utive there can be met with the heavy pressure on
them, not only for everything that we h ear with gangs,
and guns, and the renewed focus on road safety, but all the other issues that the police have to [deal with],
how can we make sure that there are the numbers on
the streets that they need to be effective in what they
have to do? Because there is critical pressure on
them every day in dealing with issues. That we can make sure that they can meet those demands, that we
can limit the overtime, we can keep the morale high,
we can keep the health and safety of those officers at
the highest level possible.
I remember last year and the year before as
we went through trying to harmonise some of the var ious agreements between some of the unions, the six
unions that the Government dealt with, the police was
one that there was a focus on looking at the health
insurance aspect. Mr. Chairman, this would be a
question to the Honourable Minister, [could we have]
an update on the negotiations with the Bermuda P olice Service on their new contract? Where are we?
Have they accepted the 2.5 per cent increase? When
do we see that it will finally come to some type of
agreement? And is the discussion still focused around
police paying some of their share of health insurance?
That was a major stumbling block, Mr. Chai rman. I think all Members are well aware of this because all the other unions have [to make] some con1708 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly tribution to health care, but the police do not at the
current time. And they had some valid arguments on
why they would not. They said they were slightly di fferent. Their health and safety was at risk. I t was one
of the benefits of the job that had been enshrined in the collective bargaining agreement for some time,
and their conditions of service and orders and things
like that. So I would like to know how the Government
is going to deal with that. Not o nly putting austerity
measures on the police, but how are they going to deal with the contract and get the morale to be mai ntained at an appropriate level?
My honourable colleague, the Shadow Mini ster, made some comments (and I am sticking to the
Police head, Mr. Chairman, on Head 7) about the ex-ecutive vacuum and the mandatory retirement of
many. The commissioner has already stated that he is
going to retire in June. What is the plan to make sure
that we have the expertise and the leadership provi ded to gi ve the direction that is required?
Like the Regiment, Mr. Chairman, changing
conversation a bit about the police, like the Regiment the police in Prospect are operating out of a very da ted facility. And I know that there have been some di scussions about w hat the longer term plan would be. I
have not been up there in any intimate way for some
time now, Mr. Chairman, but I would bet that of all the buildings in the so- called police compound, that half of
them would be empty because they are unfit for use. So, what is the plan to make sure that Prospect is a
viable, functioning police compound and a safe place
to work? Obviously with the high level of expertise that
the police have, whether it be the forensic support units, whether it be the special investigat ions intell igence divisions, they all need an acceptable location
to work out of to provide their duties. So I ask the
Honourable Minister what is the long- term plan, when
can we see some capital allocations to that? Even if it
is just a small amount to make sure that we are sta ying on top of very strong needs as we go forward.
Mr. Chairman, if you turn to page B -284, on
the performance measures . . . and I will make a general statement before I get to that. From my time in
Opposition and my time in Governm ent, I think the
performance measures in every Ministry need to have a stronger focus on them to make them more mean-ingful. I am pleased to see that this year we have
seen some changes, but there are still some performance measures that really do not make any sense.
And I will come to some of those. But one of the ones
that jumped out and caught my eyes, at the bottom of
the page, Mr. Chairman, [is] percentage of reserve officers to the BPS establishment.
Last year the original forecast of 22 per cent
dropp ed to 15 [per cent]. And for the next financial
year it jumps up to 25 per cent. Now, I am aware that
we had over the previous couple of years some pressure to keep reserve numbers up to an appropriate
level. I think all Members in this Chamber will agree that the Bermuda Reserve Police played an important
part of what the Bermuda Police [Service] does. I think
we would all like to see the numbers get up to that
level, so I would like to get an understanding from the
current Minister on how he believes that he can buoy
those numbers to get them to an appropriate level to
help the police and to serve the police.
I think because of the professionalism of
many members of the Bermuda Reserve Police, in fact all of them that I know, many members of the
public do not realise when a regular police officer is
serving with a reserve police officer, because it is hard
for them to tell the difference between their uniforms.
That is high praise for the Bermuda Reserve Police.
But we need to get those numbers up and I think that
is an important objective. I would be interested to see
how the Honourable Minister believes he can accom-plish that.
I cannot believe that the performance
measures are accurate in every aspect. Going back to
close to the top of the page on 0702, Corporate Service Division, Mr. Chairman, the number of formal
complaints made against the police, in 2016/17 it said
it was 31, forecast for this current financial year is 30,
and the total outcome is 28. I would find that difficult to
believe because there must have been a number of
formal complaints made against the police in 2016/17,
especially since the challenges we had around the House of Assembly here at that time. The numbers
seem quite stagnant, so I would ask the Honourable
Minister, Are those complaints made to the Police
Complaints Authority or are those complaints made directly to the BPS themselves? Or are both of those
added in together?
Mr. Chairman, turning now to Customs, Head
12. I am aware that there has been some retirements
in Custom s over the past number of months and
years. What is the plan for succession planning going
forward? One of the challenges with any large organ isation such as the Government of Bermuda and the
various departments is to make sure that we continue
to have ver y capable, qualified, and experienced senior level people to lead us going forward. I look for
some update from the Honourable Minister on succession planning.
I fully support the Honourable Shadow Mini ster’s comments concerning the reduction in the budget
on interdiction and seaport enforcement. I look for-ward for the Honourable Minister’s comments on that.
That is not an area where I think we can scale back in
any way. As we attract more and more people to our Island, we have to make sure that our borders are
secure in every possible way.
Mr. Chairman, turning to page B -286, the
Honourable Minister said that there are 237 approved
positions within HM Customs. So I assume, and if the
Minister can confirm that the assumption is correct, that 237 are not funded, just the 190 in the Budget
Book. If that is the case, and there are 47 that are unBermuda House of Assembly funded, why do we keep the allocation, the number of
approved positions at 237? The important number that
matters is the number of positions we are going to fill
and how many people can get the job done.
Now, having said that, if you go to the top of
the page, and you see Salaries, Mr. Chairman, the salary allocation has dropped by $241,000, or 2 per
cent. So I have two questions in here: Have the negotiations with th e Customs officers finished? And is the
2.5 per cent included in this head allocation? Secondly, and perhaps just as importantly, if there were (back to the bottom line again), 175 positions that are currently filled in Customs, with the revised estimate, and
there will be 190 filled for the next financial year, how
can the 175 positions cost $14.5 million and the 190 positions cost $14.3 million?
Staying with expenditure allocation on Energy,
the Honourable Minister said that the $74,000 i ncrease, or 51 per cent increase in energy cost was a
contingency for any increase in the price of oil. Ho wever, I note looking back at other energy costs, cer-tainly within the same Ministry, if you go back to page
B-282, with Police, the police energy budget is signif icantly more than what we are talking about in Customs. It is $1.178 million revised. And it is only $1.188 for the next financial year. It is a slight increase of
$10,000, or 1 per cent. So why are the police not
providing for contingency when they spent a lot more,
and Customs is providing a 51 per cent increase
based on a contingency for any changes in oil price
increases?
My honourable colleague, the Shadow Mini ster, turning to page B -288, Mr. Chairman, asked a
question about x -ray scanning. I am pleased to see
that scanning continues to be an important objective
of HM Customs. I assume that that bottom line is a
percentage figure. If that is the case, [I have] just a
couple of questions for the Honourable Minister. On
Sundays I believe containers still c ome off the dock,
but mostly refrigerated or chill containers. Are Sunday containers still scanned? I assume if it is 100 per cent
then everything that comes off next year will be
scanned. But have Sunday containers been scanned in this current financial y ear and in previous years?
Because of the importance of the x -rays
scanner, when I had the privilege of being the Mini ster, I saw some of the scans where goods were confiscated and apprehended at our border. It was quite
amazing what technology can do, but also the skill of
the people who read those scans. Because of that this
equipment is very important now. We have seen it
start out with a scanning rate of 35, 45, 50, [and] now it is raised its way up to what I assume to be 100 per
cent. Is the maintenance of the scanner under the
contract? And in what department . . . where does it
fall within this Budget Debate? Because obviously it
gets a lot of use. It is important with a machine, which
I would assume would be that critical and probably a
bit complica ted at times . . . is the maintenance of the scanning contained in this budget? What line item is
it? What is the budget for scanning maintenance g oing forward?
How often is it done? When is it done? Is it
done after hours or is it done on downtime and [t hen]
containers will not get scanned?
And finally, in regard to scanning, what is the
shelf life of the x -ray scanner we have on the dock
now? It has been around probably for about 10 years.
I know every year new equipment comes out. How
long do we expect that this machine will continue to
be effective and do what it has to do?
Mr. Chairman, I now turn my attention to the
Department of Corrections, Head 25, on page B -289. I
note with some concern the comments by the Minister
that psychologists . . . there are three that are typically
included in the budget, but only two for the last year,
and the revised number is one, and there will be two
for the next financial year. If there is one, is that person who is there now going to stay on? If they are not
stayin g on, when do they plan to move on? What is
the timeline for the two new psychologists, if it is two,
to come on? Or if it is one to come on?
I understand from my time within the depar tment that psychologists are very important for certain types of offenders. Certain types of offenders when
they come in they have to be assessed professionally by a psychologist. Those positions are critical to a successful operation of a correction institute and for
our young men and women serving their time and i mproving t hemselves as they go forward. So I think it is
important that we have an understanding of what is
going to take place with the psychologist.
In addition, I would assume, Mr. Chairman,
and I would ask the Minister to verify this, but with all
the courses t hat are offered within Corrections, educ ational courses and what I would call “helping” pr ogrammes, there are many of those helping pr ogrammes that can only be conducted by psychol ogists, such as, I would assume, violent and offender programmes, sex offenders programmes, drug educ ation and relapse programmes. If we are short of ps ychologists, Minister, are those programmes still able to function and can our inmates take advantage of
those programmes.
Staying with Corrections, I had to step out of
the Chamber just for a short moment during Corrections so I might have missed a couple of answers
here, but I will ask the questions anyway. On page B -
290, there is a significant decrease in professional services of $500,000. I was curious as to what that is. And t hree line items down, below on Insurance, a si gnificant increase in Insurance. I would like to know
what that pertains to.
Looking at some of the output measures, Mr.
Chairman, one of the output measures that makes no
sense to me is at the top of the line. Average total cost
of incarceration per inmate per annum based on maximum capacity. Well, from what I understand, our Cor1710 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly rections facilities have not been at maximum capacity
for probably four years, for a number of reasons. You
know, automatic tracking devices that have been i nstalled quite successfully on people, so they can be let out and monitored. So I do not even know why this output measure is in there, because if it is based on
maximum capacity, what measure does that really do
for us? I do not thi nk it adds any impact to what we
are trying to do.
Also, as per previous heads that I mentioned,
Mr. Chairman, I would like an update on union negot iations in this regard. Have they been concluded and is
the 2.5 per cent included in the current Corrections
head that we are debating now for 2018/19?
Throughout these various ministries of Corrections, Customs, Bermuda Police Service, I did not hear
much about canine. I know canine teams have been
very successful in many areas of our safety and sec urity areas. I would like to know, Are the canine teams
still assembled separately in Corrections, Customs, and the Bermuda Police Service, or do they still work very close in a shared relationship?
Mr. Chairman, I note that the Minister has left
the room, but the Ca binet secretary is here and not hing slips through him. I was always amazed when I
was the Minister that even at 11:30 at night when I
sent an email the answer would come back right away. So he was very efficient and it is sad to see that
he is leaving this Ministry because I think he did a
great job in that Ministry. I wish him well in his new
responsibility. He is a very efficient civil servant; he is
a good person. I put in a little plug for him, Major
Telemaque.
But, Mr. Chairman, one of the grave concerns
is always safety and security in Corrections. And the
Honourable Shadow Minister referred to some of the
challenges there. There was some reference to CCTV
cameras. But there cannot be any upgrade of the sy stem because there is no money budgeted for it . So I
would like to know from the Honourable Minister why
there is talk about improving the CCTV, because there
is no money allocated to that.
One of the big issues that we know exists in
Corrections, because it is publicised quite frequently,
is the use of cell phones. So the question for the Honourable Minister is: Is the abuse of cell phones still
prevalent and what steps are we taking to clamp down
on cell phones being in prisons to allow those i nmates, against the rules of the prison, to do what they
want to do? Because I know in the output measures
there is no reference to these types of challenges, and
the illegal use of cell phones in Corrections was one of the biggest challenges we faced and that is why we
looked at cell phone jammers and many other diffe rent things to deal with those challenges.
Mr. Chairman, I turn my attention now to Head
45, Fire Services. I [will] deal with the department’s
objectives straight off the bat, implement Home Fire
Service programme. This was discussed in the budget brief for this last year, so I am wondering what pr ogress has been made in the implementation of the Home Fire Service programme in the last year, and
what is going to be done in the next financial year going forward.
The next objective right there below it, Mr.
Chairman, implement the new Fire Safety Act 2014.
That was also in the budget last year so I am wondering what progress has [been] taken on that? I think
most Members are well aware that when the Fire Service Act 2014 was passed in this House it m ust have
been one of the most redrafted Bills ever to pass in
the House because I think it went up about 14, 15
times —for good cause—because there were some
particulars in it that we had to iron out. So I would like
to know from the Honourable Minister, Has anything
been done with that and where do we stand? Because I was the Minister responsible at that time and I knew
it was needed, but I was also very concerned about
the increased bureaucracy, Mr. Chairman, and the
potential increase cost that people would face [with] it.
So I would like to know where we stand on implement-ing the Fire Safety Act, which really is not new at this
time.
There has been talk in the Bermuda Fire and
Rescue Service, certainly over the last couple of years, about mobile data ter minals being installed in
fire apparatus. I believe there was a budget for five for
this current financial year. I would like to know from
the Honourable Minister if those five are installed or if
there is any budget for the next financial year.
There has been discussion, Mr. Chairman,
about a strategic plan. I would like to get an update on
the strategic plan for the Bermuda Fire and Rescue
Service.
Mr. Chairman, it is my understanding that the
land that the Hamilton station sits on is the property of
the Corporation of Hamilton. There has been some
back and forth contention about rent that supposedly
Government might be owed. So I would like to know
the current status of that discussion.

[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Chairman, you are not
supposed to get involved in the debate, but I apprec iate the elucidation. I was assuming that was the case.
[Laughter]
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Chairman, it will not be
fixed that shortly because I think you referred to some
legislation that just pushes the election back a year,
so it could go on for another year.
Mr. Chairman, I note the comment by the
Honourable Minister that there will be 12 or 15 recruits
in the next year. With any large organisation, attrition is going to happen just naturally. So I understand and
accept that. I know within the Bermuda Fire and ResBermuda House of Assembly cue Service that was one of the organisations that had
publicly stated how hard it was to find recruits to pass
the simplest of their tests. I ask the question through
you to the Honourable Minister, Have they got over
the hurdles of getting enough applicants to fill any
class that they might have?
Mr. Chairman, looking at output measures, I
have to say that these performance measures show
just how successful the implementation of ambulance
services in the East End and West End was by the
former Government. Because if you take a look at it, Mr. Chairman, business unit, 55090, St. George’s
Emergency Fire Service, the percentage of emergency medical calls from the total number of calls in the
current financial year, 70 per cent of the calls are
emergency medical calls. So what that means is that
70 per cent . . . that was a good number for me, if I got
that in a test in school. That means a large number of the calls, a signif icant number of calls in the East End
of the Island are for the ambulance service. This
means that those residents who live in the East End are getting quicker service, better life- saving service,
or quicker triage to a challenge that they might have.
The same applies to the West End of the I sland. [If you] go down to business unit 55120, West
End Emergency Fire Service, the percentage of medical calls from the total number was estimated to be 65 per cent, but they have raised that to 70 per cent.
So I am pleased to see that the intended purpose of it, which was to [improve] the response time, has had an
impact. I look forward for that to continue. We need to
make sure that we continue to train those fire fighters
on the ambulances and get them the equipment that they need to be successful in doing what they have to
do.
Mr. Chairman, my colleague just to the right of
me dealt with Head 67, Information and Communic ation Technology. I would just make one comment on it. Mr. Chairman, this is an interesting area of growth
where even those who are well educated [and] have a
great deal of experience in it can be excited about it
but they probably have a little bit of caution because
they do not know where it will go or where it will end up. I fully support, and I believe my colleagues do too,
any area to get some growth in Bermuda. Two things I
would like to say. One is, I think all people would like to see, not to have government growth, but to have
entrepreneurial growth. Secondly, if we need expertise from outsi de to come in to help us as we go, let’s
make sure that those Bermudians who are interested, or those Bermudians who have some experience in it,
because I know there are some, have the opportunity to get involved. So I will be paying close attention to it,
Mr. Chairman, because I think that this is an area
which will be exciting for Bermudians. I would like to
see them being given the opportunity to get involved and not be shut out from that. So with that, Mr. Chairman, I will now turn it
back to you and allow the rest of the debate to conti nue.

[Page] C -14. Capital A cquisitions, Fire Services, 76383.
There was some $345,000 in Capital Acquis itions earmarked for a turntable ladder for the Berm uda Fire and Rescue Service. But I want to start off by
thanking the men and women of the Bermuda Fire
and Rescue Service for the good work that they do in
our community. It is a job that when called into service, particularly when there is a fire, it is a life-threatening situation. We in St. George’s experienced a very serious fire all t oo recently, within the past year,
and I certainly feel that any modernisation of equi pment for the fire fighters of Bermuda is money well spent. I am sure that the Minister could elaborate if he so pleases, if he hasn’t already on that $345[,000].
Also, m ay I say that the Ambulance, under
76766 . . . and I believe a previous Member may have
spoken about the ambulance service, but I have n oticed that there are certain places outside of the City
of Hamilton where you would actually see an ambulance in wait. I think Shelly Bay, you might see one in
waiting. You may see one at the Rubber Tree in wai ting. I am sure there are probably other locations, and I
think that is a good initiative that is employed so that it
cuts down on the amount of time that it would t ake for
the ambulance to actually go to a medical emergency.
As we are talking about it, I am duty -bound to
share, as when you speak about these line items, you
are often reminded of what your constituents would
say to you. But I represent a constituency where the
roads are very narrow. And I know that there are other
Members, constituency 1 would attest, she probably
has roads that are even far more narrower than mine,
where emergency vehicles cannot even fit. I reme mber, this was . . . I actually have a picture of it going up
Old Maid’s Lane. Persons were—

[Inaudible interjections]

They had to reverse back.
And you know, it reminded me of the time of
my dear friend, Captain Jack, who lived up on the top
of Old Maid’s Lane up there. And there are other ar eas such as that area, where the zigzag would make it
very, very difficult to negotiate. Those are the things
that we certainly have to be mindful of. And, you
know, I understand. We cannot always get it right. We
cannot always have s tuff custom -fit. But we certainly
can forward plan, because the suppliers, and I am
sure those as ministries, and I am sure the ministries
will be talking to themselves. I remember (I am showing my age), having been in the Legislature a number
of years, seaming, a cross Ministry initiative, that was
introduced by a former Progressive Labour Party
Government, and whether it still exists or not, I am not
100 per cent sure. But the ethos of it was this. It was
to make sure that you talk to each other.
So as w e look at capital acquisitions, and I am
just offering this to this Minister and other Ministers
because certain ministries will purchase a number of vehicles, far more, that if we can make sure that we
can take best advantage of the companies that are
building vehicles, they may have affiliate companies in
other parts that build other vehicles. So we can start
saying, Look, you are going to be getting a certain
amount of business from Bermuda. We, down in St.
George’s, in particular, it is a very important part of the
country, and if when you are building for another
country [and] so forth, keep us in mind, and build a
nice couple of smaller vehicles so they can fit through
those lovely streets down there in St. George’s. I am
sure, Mr. Chairman, you would appreciate that as well
as I do. Ambulances and certainly fire rescue vehicles
fall in that category, so we save some money.
And while I am there, let me just acknowledge
the good men and women who are the first responders in Bermuda . . . response teams when a 911 call
comes in. We in the East End (and also because I work in the West End), those of us that live around the Death Valley area would always hear an ambulance
because no matter where an accident occurs . . . and
sometimes if you live in that ar ea, you could come up
with I -hear-the-ambulance -too-much syndrome. B ecause when they hit the siren you would be the first
one to hear it. Now we do not hear it as much in St. George’s because we do not have the volunteer fire
service that we once did, whic h leads me into another
area that I feel duty -bound just to mention.
In the line item, under Fire Services, I did see,
Minister, that there was an allocation for volunteerism.
Let me say this, as we look at the reforms, and I am
very pleased [with] the ref orms that are taking place in the Regiment, but I am speaking right now to volunteer fire service. I know in St. George’s, in particular,
there are men and women who gave us great service.
I just want to salute them, the ones who may still be
hanging on, i f any, for the service that they provided in
the community. And it is important because when that
fire is located on Needle & Thread Alley, it is always
nice to have someone who knows how to get there.
And not only that! With the challenges that we
have w ith vehicles, not only is it nice to know how to
get there, it is always nice to know where I can go b ecause I cannot get there! And with gravity feed, if in
fact we can know that I can then locate myself up on
the hill, up above the St. George’s Club, and I can get
there through going down through Secretary Lane or
Somner Lane or somewhere like that and then drop a
hose down the hill and I can get that. That is important intel.
And thankfully in St. George’s when . . . and I
am sure in other communities as well . . . forgive me,
Mr. Chairman, if I mention St. George’s once or twice, but I happen to be a lot more familiar these days with St. George’s than I might be with those other small
little lanes. But it is important when we look at the fire
service that we appreciate how much the community
feeds in to that. I just want to encourage the Minister
as we are looking at vehicles to be mindful of the cha llenges that we face.
Also, the dangers that we experience as I
watched . . . and pardon me for just asking what that
turntable ladder is, because I remember how dangerous it was for that fire fighter to be hovered over that flame (as it was) down there at Robertson ’s [Drug
Store].
This debate ends at nine, Mr. Chairman?

Okay. All right.
As we speak to the Police and I think it is i mportant maybe if the Minister could . . . I know manpower is always an issue, Mr. Chairman. And very
topical within p olicing and investigating is the amount
of time that is being expended on investigating Dr.
Brown. I would be interested to know whether or not
some of the manpower shortage could be because
persons might be finding themselves focused on those types of inv estigations, where otherwise they
might be otherwise deployed. I put that forward for
consideration, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, has Defence . . . as the Mini ster has moved to fulfil a long- serving promise . . . and
certainly when it comes to eliminating conscription
and looking to redirect, it is a work in progress. I certainly see the opportunity as it relates to looking at the


Bermuda House of Assembly opportunities for our young people to get more training
as it relates to our marine environment. I often have
talks with a gentl eman from right down there in Cut
Road, Mr. Trott, whom I consider (and many others)
. . . and he works in the field, an expert in the marine
environment, as it relates to the opportunities that go
begging. If we can move in this direction, as we have
territorial waters, and we have challenges with defence as it relates to the way in which drugs come into
the Island, and the like, there might be certain synergies that might be able to take place as we look at redeployment.
I mentioned redeployment as it came to offi cers working up there on a certain floor, maybe invest igating Dr. Brown, who could be redeployed if they were so minded to. But we could certainly look at opportunities to train our young people to be more
versed in the waters that surround us. C ertainly many
of us in Bermuda, and in this House as well, have
grandparents or relatives who were fisherman and
certainly have a great understanding and natural love for the water. What better way . . . I have a young
cousin, Mr. Chairman, when it comes t o Defence, who
only came home last week unfortunately for his
grandmother’s funeral, Ms. Astwood. But I know that
my cousin, Hakim, spends many, many hours on the
high seas as far away as Australia in submarines and the like and he enjoys it. There is no s ecret; his grandfather , John Anderson spent many hours out in the
water as well. I am sure there are many examples
where a young person might appreciate service that
ties into something they may like doing, and then as
they see other opportunities in the private sector or government as well that might hinge around the
ocean.
But we certainly have to make sure that we do
things that make good sense in the long term, not just
the short term, because the young people who pr otested against conscription looked down the road and
looked at the situation and did not see that working for
them. So the generation we are looking to entice to be
a part of our Defence, Mr. Chairman, as we talk about
Head 6, ever so briefly, would be well served consi dering the opportunit ies that are aligned with the mar itime service. That may be military or non- military.
If I can, Mr. Chairman, there was some talk in
the information on this Ministry . . . I am going to Head
67 as it relates to Information and Communication
[Technology]. And there was some talk about —

I am going to page B -297.
There was talk about cryptocurrency and blockchain.
Now I am no expert in that field, but I just
happened on a Sunday to have some guests that
came in to a talk show, and I was very enlightened
and enthused by the level of energy that the Minister of National Security responsible for Information and Communication [Technology] was able to share with
me by bringing some persons who are experts in th at
field into the studio.
I heard Members likening what we should be
doing and copying what another overseas territory
may be engaging in. But from what I could gather just
by trying to follow what is going on is that we are looking to be ahead of the cur ve in this area and to be the
leader. I was encouraged . . . there was a lady by the
name of Ms. Loretta Joseph (not the Joseph’s of my
cousins down in Saint Kitts, but she was a Loretta J oseph from Australia) who represented the Australian
Government. If you only google her you would see
that she is well sought -after around the globe in this
particular area. She was in Bermuda recently and she has been doing, I believe, some work on behalf of
government. But she is the go- to person that many
countries are going to, even the OECD on this matter.
And to think that the Minister is very . . . and he is a
very passionate person. I think he has the . . . I think
he would declare his interest if prompted that in an-other life he also worked in the telecommunications field.
I believe that there is a level of passion that I
see coming from him in this regard and I believe in another field that he is a lawyer, so I believe he is well
trained to know that he has to cross his t’s and make sure his i’s are dotted. And I think that if we want to set ourselves apart from other jurisdictions the way we
set us ourselves apart from other jurisdictions in rei nsurance and in the captive field and the like, then we
have to be bold enough to expect to do something different and better than them. And it may not mean
doing things the same old way that benefits the same
old people, Mr. Chairman.

[Desk thumping]

I was excited because as
persons called in to question these experts from overseas, one or two persons said, You sound too excited.
Can you slow down a little bit? And anybody knows
that in the world of finance, in the world of IT, the people who are excited, the people who are bold, the
people who believe get on with it. And that is why you have the new emerging persons in the world, they do
not dress traditionally.

And they get it done! And
they defy the odds.
So I have a young Minister who is around
people who are equally as excited, who want to bring
1714 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Bermuda to the cutting edge the way in which . . .
look, I have been on trips representing Bermuda before, Mr. Chairman, and I want to tell you. I have stood
up ther e and defended Bermuda as being the leader
when it came to tourism. I have gone to Alabama and
spoken at Troy University right down there in the heart
of the Wiregrass and told people that when it came to
reinsurance you can count on us because we are the
ones who are going to come and pay the freight when
things go bad.
But let me say this, Mr. Chairman. In this i ndustry I have a Minister who is well qualified, that I have confidence in, who is portraying some conf idence and excitement about a new industr y, and we
need to give him encouragement. Do not put the
roadblocks in his way or come as a doubting Thomas.

And I know how doubting
Thomas works. Doubting Thomas would come there
and tell you all the time all the hundreds of things of
why you cannot make it; while the persons w ho are in
captive industry are hiring people who are trained like
me to be able to concentrate on the positive. They will
go and hire psychologists or counsellors to keep their
people confident in fields where people are jumping out of windows because they are not passing exams.

Yes!
Ask me how I know.
I know this because I have been trained by
some of the best in the world to be confident in spite of . . . and when I meet persons like Ms. Loretta J oseph here, on Head 67, B -96, that is looking . . . that
we are talking to, that is trying to help us be a world
leader, I am going to listen to her. Because if the persons . . . and no disrespect to the BMA, but if they
were the persons who were going to lead us there,
they would have taken us there by now!

Mr. Chairman, when it
comes to getting passionate about making a dollar, that is what we need to start instilling in our young
people as well. And that is the excitement that I got
just by being in the presence of the young Minister who is speaking for blockchain and cryptocurrency.
And I glory in his spirit for that. If we can switch our young people on to a new
technology . . . our young people are bright. They
have the aptitude. But they need to be switched on . . . and I am going to Head 25 now, Corrections.

Because if we can switch
our talented young people on to mathematics, dare I
say, where many of them have the aptitude but do not
realise the talent that lies within them, if we can bring
out of them what is really in them, because they are
good . . . some of them end up in prison, and they are
very good at what they do to get there!

[Laughter]

It is like a person . . . and
you will understand this analogy.
You will understand this analogy, Mr. Chai rman. I transform people in what I do. I take a slicer
and I do not try to teach them how to make it . . . hit
them straight. I have to change them to the opposite
of what they are. You have to understand that if a person hits the ball this way all the time, that is all they
see. But you have to show them the other side of life.
And certainly, as it comes to Corr ections, I
would like to see the partnering up, Mr. Chairman, with my good friend right here, who has spent a lot of
time dealing with persons on both the front end and
back end of the problem, because I am tired of us being able to look at the recidivism rate. I am tired of us
having to talk about who occupies the prisons in great
populations. The day has come when we must be
bold enough to go there and work with them to make
them better. And there are persons who are commi tted to doing that. The Minister is committed to moving
in that direction. He has certainly taken on board persons and worked on initiatives to do just that, to a ddress the problem head- on like with persons like Reverend Bean.
Minister?
Mr. Chairman, I will yield because the Minister
is looking at me.

Again, line item . . . sorry,
some chirping going on here, Mr. Chairman. The line
item is on the police. Anyway.
Mr. Minister, will this matter be going to court?
When will this matter be going to court? What is the
total spent on this matter thus far, Mr. Minister? Is that
cost still accumulating? And finally, is this separate
from the $4- plus million spent on the Lahey case that
was just thrown out? Thank you, Mr . Minister.

Thank you.
Are there any further speakers?
The Chair recognises the Honourable Member Michael Dunkley.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Obviously, if the Government has funded i nvestigations, they must support any investigations.
But, Mr. Chairman, back to Fire Service, Head
45, [page] B -293. The question for the Honourable
Minister . . . obviously, we do not have that many
large and disruptive fires in Bermuda because of our
building code, and for many other reasons. But not too
long ago Robertson’s Drug Store had a fire in St.
George’s and it burnt the building to the ground. The
Honourable Member from constituency 1—

Robertson’s did not burn to the
ground.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Well, th e second floor did.
The honourable gentleman from constituency 2 made
a comment about out on Front Street, and that is
where I was going. On Front Street there was an i nvestigation into the fire. I ask the Honourable Minister, Is there an ongoing investigation into the fire at Ro bertson’s and when will the investigation be finished and will the report be made public? Thank you.

Thank you, Honourable Member.
Any further speakers?
The Chair recognises the Minister, the Ho nourable Wayne Caines .

Hon. Wayne Caines: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, the budget supports four hundred and . . . will there be a recruit? This is Mr. Baron.
MP Baron asks will there be a Police Recruit Foundation Camp this year? The budget supports 414 police
officers and 13 cadets. If the numbers fall below that,
there will be an opportunity to run a small recruit foundation course of Bermudians before the end of financial year 2018/19.
Two-thirds of all the senior ranks were due for
mandatory retirement in fiv e years, not three as stated
by MP Baron.
The next question by MP Baron was, What
plans are in place to deal with the executive vacuum? The answer is promotions will be made this financial
1716 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly year to position young officers to take on new roles
and ranks and to gain experience to be considered for
executive promotions in the coming years.
The next question by MP Baron. Will there be
any cadets recruited this year? Cadets are kept by
statute at 13. New hires are made as cadets move out
of the programme and become full -time police offi cers.
How is the Ministry addressing the vehicle
fleet with $136,000? Funding will be reviewed against
actual need for replacement vehicles. It was not pos-sible to grant $500,000 every year for vehicles. Fun ding must match the actual requirements.
The Shadow Minister asked to clarify the
plans on opening a police station in St. George’s. The commissioner is agreeable to the move of the police
station in St. George’s, especially if the plans to d evelop the new town come out. What cannot be done is to run two separate police stations at the East End. If
a suitable building is identified in St. George’s and
there is a legitimate demand for enhanced police ser-vices, then the idea will be carefully considered.
Financial investigations. This was asked by
the Shadow Minister. There are 12 full -time detectives
that have been committed to financial crime investigations. Two additional consultant investigators have
been approved from April 1
st, funded by the Confi scated Assets Fund.
I will then pivot to the questions asked by MP
Famous. Can I state if [there are] ongoing investig ations into the Progressive Labour Party MPs, past,
present? I cannot speak to that investigation.
Can I say if the police investigation into the
matter [of th e] PLP MPs will go to court? I cannot
speak to that matter.
He asked for the cost of that police investigation to date. The answer is $3.5 million; for the ongoing police investigation, criminal investigation that cost
$3.5 million.

[Inaudible interjecti on]
Hon. Wayne Caines: The question was, Are the
costs to the Lahey investigation and the cost for the
ongoing police criminal investigation separate costs?
The answer is yes.
Additional cameras for CCTV, asked by the
Shadow Minister. A number has not been set yet. We
are looking at the needs, based on individual areas.
Obviously, there is a cost factor and we cannot buy
another 150 cameras due to the double numbers. But
we can expect another dozen or so cameras will
augment the system as it is in the most needed areas.
A question by the Shadow Minister. How
many officers in road policing? There are 10 full -time
officers in road policing, but roads policing is enforced by all uniform patrols, and officers at all three police stations are trained to use t he laser and conduct
speed checks. That is also balanced with the cam-paigns that are being led by the Road Safety Council
and Dennis Lister III. It is an impactful campaign and the campaign is run in tandem with the Royal Gazette.
There are several element s to the private campaign,
the Government campaign, and the [Bermuda] Roads
Policing Campaign.
The MP Shadow Minister [asked], How many
graduates? There are likely to be more than 200.
How many police officers will be attached to
the Royal Bermuda Regiment Marine Patrols? It is envisioned that there will remain a liaison between the Royal Bermuda Regiment and the Bermuda Police
Service. When the full -time duties are assumed, the
liaison may be one or two police officers on a full -time
basis. However, the B ermuda Regiment will employ a
contingent of 14 full -time maritime officers.
Will the Royal Bermuda Regiment take over
any of the Bermuda Police Service budget for mar itime duties? The answer: It is anticipated that the
Royal Bermuda Regiment will assume the Bermuda
Police Service budget for the maintenance of boats and equipment, including fuel. Approximately
$500,000 is the annual operating cost.
How many Bermuda Police Service officers
will be attached? The answer is: One or two liaison officers.
The Shadow Minister asked, Will there be legislation to augment the marine officers? The answer is yes. There are several . . . the Summary Offences
Act, the Defence Act, the Criminal Code, there are a
number of Acts that will be amended, the Firearms
Act, there are a number of Acts that are in train to be
amended to allow for the maritime police officers.
The special constable training is ongoing. The
Bermuda Regiment Maritime officers will have the power of arrest. Will they have firearms? Not per se,
but—
[Inau dible interjections]
Hon. Wayne Caines: Intelligence led. Obviously, this
is an ongoing process. For basic security purposes it
will be unwise to go into the operational side of this at this junction.
Will the Bermuda Regiment soldiers be given
soft-skill training? Yes.
Funding. There will be no transfer of funds of
salary from the Bermuda Police Service.
Where will the location of the Royal Bermuda
Regiment Marine section be? At the old BPS Somerset barracks at Boaz Island.
There were a lot of ques tions, Mr. Chairman,
asked about the Bermuda Regiment and its new role
with reference to the falling numbers in recruit camp.
There is a plan that is in place. The Bermuda Reg iment and the Colonel have looked at the Bermuda Regiment. They have made a decis ion to halt recruit
camp for this year and do two local camps. The ethos
behind not having the overseas camp this year is for


Bermuda House of Assembly the Regiment to look at where they are, to triage, and
to see if they can have a new position.
Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda Government has
made a decision not to go any further with conscri ption. Yes, we only had 40 recruits this year for recruit
camp when the average is between 100 and 120. The
plan is to have another recruit camp in June, but we
cannot look at that in a vacuum. The pl an for the Bermuda Regiment is, number one, to stop and look at all the constituent parts. In other words, what is the core
purpose of the Bermuda Regiment?
There is a gentleman in Bermuda (his name
escapes me at present) from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and [one from] the Royal Barbados
Police Maritime Unit, they are currently in Bermuda.
The plan for the Bermuda Regiment is to look at how
the Regiment has performed over the last 50 years, to
indeed look at if that is the best way forward.
The decision was made that they cannot continue in the same vein and that there is a plan that starts with the Maritime Unit of 15 men. The Bermuda Regiment will then make a determined plan to look at
the constituent parts. So right now we are looking at
having our young men and women trained for internal
security, which is an ongoing process.
The second element of it is to look at the
Bermuda . . . as you know we went to the Turks and
Caicos for a tour after the hurricane to help our brot hers and sisters [there]. A decision has been made in connection with the Foreign and Commonwealth O ffice, as the Bermuda Regiment evolves, to create a
full element within the full -time battalion that will take
on a long- term humanitarian role.
So we will see the Regiment that has numbers that go up to 400, looking at a determined number far less. The young men and women of the Bermuda Regiment will look at being a part of the Mar itime Unit and being part of the Humanitarian Unit. The
plan is to link arms with one of the engineering reg iments in the United Kingdom so when our young pe ople have training in the Bermuda Regiment, like the
Police Service, like the Fire Service, like Customs,
they can get full -time employment and indeed find a
career so that they can feed their famili es.
Additional Bermuda Regiment questions. How
many junior leaders? How many vessels on the Mar itime Unit on handover. Concurrently we are doing
strategic planning. Again, the number is 14.
Looking at new legislation . . . currently we
have the Barbadian Coast Guard assisting with direction, the Maritime unit. They will be based in Boaz I sland, currently equipping the building now requires
some small funding to complete.
Junior Leaders . . . there are 22 enrolled. The
camp will be local with the potenti al of hosting the UK
Junior Leaders. There will be no Overseas Junior Leaders Camp this year. There will be adventure
training and community service linked with the Duke
of Edinburgh Awards. Local training, the second r e-cruit camp, will have some of the same focus as the
regular recruit camp with minor adjustments to cover
staff that will be done by the full -time training staff.
The Overseas Camp: There were savings of
approximately $300,000 to $400,000. The current budget will be reassessed to cover the local training
exercise and the junior non- commissioned officer c adre, and an annual assessment will continue to be
conducted in Camp Lejeune. Sandhurst, a potential of
two candidates. There will be other courses offered for
non-commissioned officers. Curr ently, we are planning on sending two soldiers on overseas attac hments. There is a plan to increase that depending on
the course availability. Currently the Bermuda Reg iment is developing a five -year plan with an aim of
identifying the future strength of t he Royal Bermuda
Regiment.
Customs: Currently there is a $300,000 differential between shifts A and B at the L. F. Wade Inter-national Airport. The rationale was based on the r eduction in the amount of interdiction, the reduction in
Seaport Enforcement, and team rationale. The $300,000 differential is caused by two things: shift B
has more officers . . . currently five additional (one
cashier and four officers). Shift A has more exper ienced officers. The department regularly reviews the
comparable levels between two shifts. However, it is
not always practical to make frequent and numerous ad hoc changes to the shifts throughout the year. The
budget for the temporary relief immigration primary
officers work across both shifts. However, the budget
is allotted to shift B for the simplicity of budgeting.
Corrections: The decrease in staff. We have
had a decrease in staff due to resignation and natural attrition. However, we have approval to hire 23 me mbers of staff: 20 basic officers, 2 psychologists, and 1
is corrections . . . sorry, let me do that again, that is
corrections and not customs, Mr. Chairman. The decrease in staff . . . we have had a decrease in staff
due to resignations and natural attrition. However, we
have approval to hire 23 members of staff: 20 basic
officers, 2 psychologists, and 1 case manager. The
senior accounts officers and one salaries clerk. Additionally, we have approval to promote one senior custodial post, i.e., an assistant collector of customs, cor-rections officer, principal officer, and a divisional officer.
Psychological Services: Out of the three
posts, one is temporary additional. Performance Measures: We currently do capture key performance
indicators for all programmes. Consideration can be given to capturing all of the total number of hours for
psychological services separately.
Health Services, 76201, Vehicles: There is a
K-9 vehicle. Additional CC cameras, the number of
cameras were upgraded in the 2017/18 budget. We
have a total of 140 cameras. Additionally, some r ecording equipment has recently been upgraded.
1718 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly BSU Negotiation: The BTA did give notice to
the commencement of negotiations and the BSNT are
so engaged. As a result, it will be improper to discuss
matters while further negotiations are ongoing.
Complaints against the police: The question
was that the number does not look accurate. The events of 2 December 2016 were dealt with as one
complaint. That is the way we deal with multiple offi cers at one single event. There were 26 separate complainants on 2 December, but it constitutes one inc ident.
Cybersecurity: The cybersecurity codes do
not include any salaries. The six positions are being
reviewed by management consulting for the new organisational structure.
Communications number appears to . . . how
it has been grouped, the Cabinet Committee is still active. The cybersecurity working group is active and
working on a national strategy. As a matter of fact, the
national Caribbean Telecommunications Organisation
is currently in Bermuda this week. Monday, Tuesda y,
and Wednesday they will have a committee meeting
with our local committee with the Ministers and with
key stakeholders in ITO and through our Government.
They are putting together, as we speak, tomorrow i ncluded and Wednesday included, the national cybersecurity plan. They have indicated that prior to this that there are 10 areas for concern. The plan is being
worked. It will be shared with the members in Cabinet
tomorrow and with the cybersecurity Minister subcommittee team on Thursday.
The ECAT team is still active and still advises
the Minister. The CIO is being recruited after Lloyd Fray’s resignation, and consideration is being to
whether or not the post should be evolved into a PS,
or permanent secretary, level.
CNI, the CTO, the strategy: We wi ll have the
strategy and the implementation phase that will start
the first in June.
With reference to the blockchain initiatives, we
have a clear plan that will be articulated in legislation
that will be tabled in the not -to-distant future. We are
exceedingly concerned with what our FATF asses sment . . . the visit that will take place in the next week
and the ongoing . . . excuse me, the first part of the
assessment will take place next week. The second
part of the FATF assessment will take place in September. We have been looking at this in a very sy stematic way. We have had an ongoing consultation
process. Mr. Chairman, just for the memory and recollection of those, we have two committees. We have a legal and regulatory committee and I will tarry there for a moment.
The legal and regulatory committee are made
up of members of industry —law firms, significant pe ople in the global blockchain industry and the local blockchain industry; members of the cybersecurity
community in Bermuda and the IT community i n Be rmuda; members from Conyers Dill & Pearman; me m-bers of the Attorney General’s chambers led by Lydia
Dickens. That body is responsible for putting together
the legislation and making sure that the legislation is
compliant. We have been working in lockst ep with the
BMA. The BMA and the Ministry have been meeting
on a regular basis —

[Gavel]

Are there any objections to the
movement of those heads —the approval of those
heads?
There appear to be none.
No objections.
Agreed to.

[Motion carried: The Ministry of National Security :
Head 6, Defence; Head 7, Police; Head 12, Cus toms;
Head 25, Department of Corrections; Head 45, Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service; and Head 67, D epartment of ICT were approved and stand part of the
Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the year
2018/19.]

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, I move that the
Committee rise and report progress —

No, no, just wait. I call on the Premier.
Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Chairman, I move the follo wing heads be approved as printed. Heads 1, 2, 5, 56,
63, 85, 92, 98, 101, 84, 3, 74, 75, 11, 12, 28, 39, 59,
19, 31, 57, 73, 83, 50, and 46 together with the heads
already approved during the debate on the Estimates
of Revenue and Expenditure for the year 2018/19.

Any objections?
Approved.
[Motion carried: Heads 1, 2, 5, 56, 63, 85, 92, 98, 101,
84, 03, 74, 75, 11, 12, 28, 39, 59, 19, 31, 57, 73, 83,


Bermuda House of Assembly 50, and 46 were approved and stand part of the Est imates of Revenue and Expenditure for the year
2018/19.]

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Chairman, I move that the
Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the financial year 2018/19 be approved.

Good evening, Members. We are now
back in the House. Are there any objections to the
Committee having the report . . . reporting back in to
the House with the Estimates and Revenue?
No objections. Mr. Premier?

BILL

FIRST READING

APPROPRIATION ACT 2018

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Mr. Speaker .
Mr. Speaker, I am introducing a Bill entitled
the Appropriation Act 2018 with the Governor’s recommendation signified.

No objections?
The Bill do now pass as printed.
1720 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly [Motion carried: The Appropriation Act 2018 was read
a third time and passed.]

MESSAGE TO THE SENATE

APPROPRIATION ACT 2018

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Mr. Speaker .
Mr. Speaker, I move that the following message be sent to the Senate:
“To the Honourable President and Members
of the Senate: The House of Assembly has the honour to forward herewith the undernoted Bi ll for the concurrence of your House, the Appropriation Act 2018.
Copies of the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure
for 2018/19 are also forwarded for the information of your House.”

Thank you, Honourable Member ,
Premier.
This now brings us to a close of the debate
that has taken place for the annual Estimates of Revenues for this current year.
We now move on to the next item on the O rder Paper which is [Order] No. 2, the consideration of Government Fees Amendment Regulations 2018 in the nam e of the Minister of Finance.
We recognise the Junior Minister.

REGULATIONS

GOVERNMENT FEES AMENDMENT
REGULATIONS 2018

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Speaker .
Mr. Speaker, I move that consideration be
given to the draft regulations entitled t he Government
Fees Amendment Regulations 2018 proposed to be
made by the Minister responsible for Finance under
power conferred by Section 2 of the Government Fees
Act 1965.

Continue.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Speaker, the Gover nment Fees A mendment Regulations 2018 represents
the conclusion of the biennial review of Government
fees. By way of standing policy, Government review
the fees on a regular basis to ensure that there is reasonable cost recovery for the provisions of the various servi ces offered by a range of Government depar tments. Each of the 81 heads described in the sche dule are to be increased generally by 5 per cent.
Mr. Speaker, each of the heads includes in
these regulations identified as the principal Act herein
the authorit y exists to permit the charging of each of
the fees set out in the regulations. Each of the fees
therefore makes reference to a section in the principal Act where the specific authority exists for the charging of a particular fee.
Again, Honourable Member s will note that any
one different laws governing the issue of licences or
permits or the provisions of a service where a Go vernment department are covered by the amendment
regulations now before the House. This is indeed an
omnibus statutory instrument.
Mr. Speaker, in the majority of cases the fees
have been increased by a factor of 5 per cent. For
ease of administration, a number of small fees have
been rounded up to the next whole dollar.

[Electronic disturbance]

Sorry, Mr. Speaker .

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Based on the general i ncrease of 5 per cent of their overall financial impact of
these revisions is estimated t o be an increase in yield
of about $1.5 to $2.5 million in 2018/19.
As part of the biennial review, departments
are also requested to consider whether fees are ad equately covering the costs incurred in delivering the
service. In some cases, fees were incr eased above
5 per cent to reflect this consideration. In cases where
utilisation has decreased and more specific legislation is under review, the fees remain at the 2016 levels
and/or were reduced.
Also as part of the biennial review, new heads
and a num ber of additional provisions have been added to existing heads in the new 2018 fee schedule. The additions are as follows:
• Head 1: Agriculture Act 1930, provisions (10),
(12), (19), (20), (24), (30), and ( 31).
• Head 3: Allied Health Professions Act 1973,
provision (5).
• Head 6: Bermuda Immigration and Protection
Act 1956, provisions ( 5)(b)(iv), (9)(b),(c), and
(15)(c).
• Head 7: Bermuda National [Parks] Act 1986, provisions (2) through (14).
• Head 10: Building Act 1988, provisions
(1)(b)(i)(B) and (C)(i), (ii) and (1)(c)(iii).
• Head 11: Building Authority Act 1962, prov isions (2)(f)(g).
• Head 16: Companies Act 1981, provision (45).
• Head 17: Condominium Act 1986, provisions
(4), (6) through (14).
• Head 18: Customs Department Act 1952, pr ovision (6).


Bermuda House of Assembly • Head 20: Dental P ractitioners Act 1950, prov isions (7) and (9).
• Head 21: Development and Planning Act
1974, provisions ( 2)(c)(i) and (ii), (9)(a)(iv ) and
(b), and (13).
• Head 24: Electricity Act 2016— this is a new
head. All the fees are there.
• Head 31: Fire Safety Act 2014— this is a new
head. All fees.
• Head 35: Historic Wrecks Act 2001 —this is a
new head. All fees.
• Head 37: Land Title Registrar (Recording of
Documents) Act 2017 —this is a new head in
here. All fees.
• Head 38: Land [Title] Registration Act 2011, provisions (6) and (12).
• Head 40: Limited Liability Company Act 2016,
this is a new head. All fees.
• Head 45: Medical Practitioners Act 1950, pr ovision (6).
• Head 49: National Training Board Act 1997—
this is a new head. All fees.
• Head 51: Optometrists and Opticians Act
2008, provisions ( 2) and (6).
• Head 54: Pharmacy and Poisons Act 1979,
provision (7).
• Head 61: Public Lands Act 1984, provisions (12) through (36).
• Head 78: Tobacco Control Act 2015—new
head, all fees.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, as announced in the
prebudget report and budget statement as an additional revenue measure, the Government has i ncreased fees on cell phones from $9.50 to $12.00 per
month and the Government authorisation fee cannot be passed on to customers.
These measures are projected to yield $3.7
million in additional revenue. Most, if not all, of these
telecommunication companies should be positioned to
contribute their fair share of taxes.
Mr. Speaker, Government has tried to be balanced and fair, taking into consideration the situation
that we must face as we increase our efforts to balance the budget.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker .

Thank you, Junior Minister.
Does any other Member wish to speak?
No other Member? I recognise the Honour able Leader of the Opposition.
Honourable Member , you have the floor.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Mr. Speaker, I am glad
that the Junior Minister quickly ran through the new
heads. I had been making all the observations, so I
was aware. I had two questions, Mr. Speaker . On page
46, which has the Head 53, the Pension Trust Fund
issuing a tax assurance. In the previous regulations,
there were some other fees that were charged, and I
just wondered where those other fees are now. I am on page 46 now, and the only thing that is shown under Pension Trust Fund Act is issuing a tax assu rance. There used to be something that used to say
registration of a pension fund, so I just wanted to find
out where has that gone now? It could be somewhere
else, but I could not find where it has gone.
And, also —oh, sorry —go ahead.

Okay, continue on.
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: There is also . . . and I am
trying to find it right now . . . there is actually . . . I think
there might be a typo, and I say typo in terms of . . . I
think one of the heads is doubled up, and I will try and
see if I . . . I notated it and I just cannot find it right at
this moment. So, let us just say where you had a 52 and then another 52 that was the head for something
else. So, I will . . . by the time the Junior Minister r esponds I will have put my finger back on it.

[Inaudible interjections]
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Okay —

Thank you, Mr. Speaker .
Mr. Speaker, I have had a look through the
electricity and electronic communications fees and
what . . . most of them have not changed at all because ther e is a proportion of kilowatt hours or things
of that sort or of a . . . $13,000 for particular frequencies. The one that did catch my eye was on page 30
under Head 25, the Electronic Communications Act.
The Minister said that the total fees, as I understood it,
would be increasing from something like $1.5 million
to $2.5 million. This particular line item, which is au-thorisation for ICOL licences, has gone from 2.5
per cent up to 3.5 per cent in a year. That is a 40
per cent increase.

[Inaudible interjec tions]

Page 30, the very bottom of the page. It is Head 25.
So, the authorisation fee there has gone from
2.5 per cent last year up to 3.5 per cent. This is a pre tty large number because it is based on the relevant
taxable tur nover of telecom providers.
Last year the estimate was about $196 million
for the relevant turnover. So, at 2.5 per cent that
would have worked out to about $4.9 million. If you raise it as you seem to be doing to 3.5 per cent that
works out to $6.9 milli on—that is a $2 million increase
just in that one line item itself.
So, the question I have is, I do not think you
mentioned it, but the question I have is . . . that is a
fairly substantial increase, a 40 per cent increase, a
$2 million increase. Is that something that you had
planned for that you would care to speak to?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman . . . Mr. Speaker, I
beg your pardon.

The department currently offers a variety of goods and services that have
been provided to the public for a nominal fee since the
inception of the Bermuda National Parks Act 1986.
These include the provision of venues for social
events and weddings, the rental of buildings, and admission into attractions.
After a review of the Act with the exception of
the camping fee prescribed in the Government Fee
Regulations Head 7 titled Bermuda National Parks Act 1986, it was disco vered that the collection of all other
fees over the years had not been authorised. Under
the parent Act there was no provision for the numerous fees for services and related goods. This discrepancy was detected in November 2016 and as a result
all fees were suspended until they could be formalised through legislation which was completed in November
2017 with the passing of the Bermuda National Parks
Amendment (No. 2) Act 2017.
Therefore, all of the fees under Head 7, with
the exception of number 1, the camping fee, are new. However, as the public has been consistently charged
for most of the services offered by the Department of
Parks over the years, they already have an expect ation of having to pay a fee for the various services used within the park syste m.
Head 17, the Condominium Act 1986, Mr.
Speaker, the uplift in fees under Head 17 is very
modest and are reflective of the increase in the cost to
provide the services. You will note items number 4
and 6—sorry, items number 4, and 6 through 14 are
all new and are introduced to cover the administrative
costs for these services. The fees are as follows —I
am not sure I need to read all of them. Mr. Speaker,
do I? Okay, I will not, people can read.

Head 38, Land Title
Registration Act 2011. Mr. Speaker, with the recent
passing of the amendments to the Act in 2017, the Land Title Registry office is working hard to become
operational and commence registering private land
with a plan to go- live date for J uly 2, 2018. The fees
under Head 38, Land Title Registration Act 2011, are
related to application under sections 21 and 24 and
schedule 3 for a first registration of the freehold esBermuda House of Assembly tate, and the schedule of fees list from 1 to 13 have
been amended to reflect the new registration process.
Head 39, the Land Valuation and Tax Act
1967 . Mr. Speaker, there is one fee under Head 39
which is on the hearing of an objection by the tribunal
under section 20, and the fee has increased from
$567 to $600.
Finally, und er Head 55, Public Lands Act
1984 , the uplift in fees under Head 55, Public Lands
Act 1984, are reflective of the increase in costs to pr ovide the services. You will note items number 1, 4, 5,
and 9 have been uplifted, and items 12 through 36 are all new and are introduced to cover the cost for these
services.
Mr. Speaker, these new fees cover services
related to water distribution, pumping of bilges from
yachts, collection of waste, lubrication oil, cutting
roadside vegetation belonging to private propert y,
seawall and dredging applications, and the production
in copying of official documents and permits.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker .

Thank you, Minister.
Does any other Member wish to speak? No
other Member?
Junior Minister, you can wrap up.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Honourable Member from [constituency] 22 asked a question and the . . . we were up front.
As you may be aware, Mr. Speaker, we had a pr ebudget report. We laid out very clearly what we would
do— increasi ng the fee from, the first one from $9.50
to $12.00 per month, and then we also said that we
will increase from 2.5 to 3.5 [per cent]. We met with
some people in the industry and they were very clear . . . we were very clear to them what we had planned
to do. Thank you.

Continue.

REGULATIONS

GOVERNMENT FEES (TRADE MARKS AND
SERVICE MARKS) AMENDMENT
REGULATI ONS 2018
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Speaker, I move that
consideration be given to the draft regulations entitled
Government Fees (Trade Marks and Service Marks)
Amendment Regulations 2018 proposed to be made
by the Minister responsible for Finance under powers
conferred by section 2 of the Government Fees Act of
1965 .

Continue, Junior Minister.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to
rise today to introduce the amendment regulations
entitled Government Fees (Trade Marks and Ser vice
Marks) Amendment Regulations 2018. The amendment regulation seeks to increase fees and introduce
a new fee structure for trade and service marks regi strations.
Mr. Speaker, the Intellectual Property (IP)
section of the Registry General facilitates t he protection of IP rights so that Bermuda remains a place
where creativity and talent can thrive. Intellectual property is the term used to describe a class of prop1724 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly erty rights that emanate from creations and expressions of one’s mind or intellect. In general terms, Mr.
Speaker, IP rights are the products of thought, creati vity and intellectual effort. Examples of such include copyrights and related rights, patents, design, trade, service marks and other matters such as trade s ecrets.
Mr. Speaker, trade and service marks are i mportant in their role in the creation of products and the
provision of services since the origin of commercial
trade. They serve the purpose of associating the quality of a product or service from a particular source
while alerting t he consumer to origins of the commodity. Trade and service marks also serve to protect the
good will of the entrepreneur’s business operation and is also to show that customers are not deceived into
purchasing inferior products or acquiring the services
that bear a mark that is confusingly similar to their
own.
Mr. Speaker, one of the key functions of the
IP section of the Registry General was to administer the Trade Marks Act 1974 (the Act), under Trade
Marks and Service Marks Regulations 1993 (the Regulations). These regulations provide for the registr ation of trade and service marks and therefore afford
protection and control to the proprietors of trade and
service marks against infringement and unlawful use of these marks. Examples of the services provi ded are
the registration and assignment of trade and service marks in respect of specified proprietors.
Mr. Speaker, on the 27
th of February 2018,
the Registrar General, under whose purview the Re gistry General falls, advised the local trade mark pract itioners and members of Bermuda’s Bar Council of the
proposed increase in trade and service mark fees.
Although the increase is at 5 per cent, the proposed
new fees are comparable with, and in some instances
lower than, fees in other jurisdictions which will allow
Bermuda to remain competitive and attractive for trade and service marks registration.
Mr. Speaker, these fees in the most part better reflect the amount of work and effort required by IP
staff in carrying out the various processes required
under the Act and compare favourably with relevant
fees charged in other jurisdictions. A highlight of some
of the more significant increases in fees together with
supporting rationale is as follows:
Fee 1 of the schedule, requests for Registrar’s
preliminary a dvice: The proposed fee of $118 repr esents a 5 per cent increase over the current fee of
$112. This activity involves extensive research on the part of the examiner who is required to search and
compare a proposed mark against all similar marks on
the regi ster and advise as to its register -ability. Advice
must be given not only with the respect to similarity
that the proposed mark might have with one already
on the register, but also in respect of any objections which may be raised based on lack of distinct iveness
of the proposed mark. It is felt that the proposed fee better reflects the amount of effort required to complete this activity.
Fee 3 of the schedule, application to register
trade mark in a single class: The proposed fee of
$256 is a 5 per cent increase over the current fee of
$244. It is believed that the increase to $256 is quite
reasonable, given the fact that other jurisdictions
charge a much higher fee for trade mark application.
For example, the US charges $600. Singapore char ges $282. The UK charges $250 (Bermuda dollars). (We should have increased our fees.) The proposed fee is justified as it reflects the time and resources
involved in processing each application.
Fee 4 of schedule, requests for grants of a
decision: The proposed fee of $321 is a 5 per cent
increase over the current fee of $306. This activity
involves extensive research on the part of the Regi strar which is required to search all marks on the regi ster and may be required to consult case law, trade
mark textbooks and other legal precedents in order to
validate his decisions in any matter arising under the
Act. Although a 5 per cent increase has been imposed
on the current fee, the proposed fee is still considered inadequate in a complex case.
Fee 5 of schedule, notice of opposition: The
proposed fee of $176 is a 5 per cent increase over the
current fee of $168. A trade mark which has been accepted for registration must be advertised to allow for
opposition from a third party on the grounds that its
registration is infringin g the rights of the third party.
When an application is opposed the role of the Regi strar changes from administration to judicial and the Registrar is required to act in a quasi -judicial capacity.
The proposed increase in the current fee is slight and
some what inadequate given the quasi -judicial nature
of the proceedings that are being initiated.
Fee 7 of schedule, hearing of opposition: The
proposed fee of $122 represents, again, 5 per cent
over the current fee of $114. This increase is not substantial gi ven the legal expertise the Registrar must
exercise in conducting the hearing, the parties i nvolved and the opposition at issue at the end, a dec ision which can be appealed to the Supreme Court.
Fee 8 of schedule, registration of a trade mark
or a service mark: The proposed fee of $256 repr esents a 5 per cent increase over the current fee of
$244. This fee covers the cost of the certificate and
entry of the mark on the register. Registration of a
trade mark or service mark is granted for a period of seven years in the first instance.
Fee 13 of schedule, application to register as
an assignment of a trade mark or service mark: The proposed fee of $206 to register an assignment within
six months represents a 5 per cent increase over the
current fee of $196. Two hundred and thirty -five do llars to register an assignment between the 6- to 12month period represents a 5 per cent increase over
the current fee of $224; and $265 to register an assignment after 12 months represents a 5 per cent i nBermuda House of Assembly crease, which the current fee is $252. The recoil of an
assignment requires a review of the deed of assignment which accompanies the application. A certain
level of legal knowledge and expertise required to ascertain that the document has been properly executed and to ensure that the Registry General does not incur
an undue legal liability. The proposed fees better r eflect the work required by the IP staff, that the applic ation complies with the legislation before processing the assignment.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, fee 17 of schedule, application for renewal of a trade mark. That fee will go [to] $376 [from $358] , again, a 5 per cent increase.
This is a major revenue earner for the department.
This application for renewal requires the officer to r eview the trade mark or service m ark file to ensure that
the application for renewal has been filed in the right
name and that the address of the applicant corr esponds with that on file. Changes may have occurred
in the preceding seven years and the officer must ensure that the register i s correct. A fee of $376 grants a
right for a further 14 years’ protection.
In closing, Mr. Speaker, the proposed i ncrease in trade mark and service mark fees will bring
the fee structure more closely in line with comparative
fees charged in other jurisdi ctions. The Government
has taken the comments of the local trade mark practitioners in consideration and it has produced a new
fee structure which it believes is acceptable to and not onerous on other local and overseas clients. The pr oposed fee structure will enable Bermuda to retain its
attraction as a recognised and valuable jurisdiction for
registration and protection of trade and service marks.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker .

Thank you, Junior Minister. Does any
other Member wish to speak?
I recognise the Honourable Leader of the O pposition. Honourable Member , you have the floor.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Mr. Speaker, as the Junior
Minister indicated the Government had signified that it
was going to be increasing most of its fees in what they te rmed the biennial fee uplift , and when you go
back and look at the fees that were there for 2016,
you are able to see that they have been uplifted 5 per
cent.
I think also that we obviously want to make
sure that the fees are appropriate, and we keep our-selves on the right side of the market. And so we accept the fee increase. The only thing we have to do is make sure going forward that the people that register their trademarks are getting the service that the fees
will warrant. And then it will all be ver y good for Bermuda.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker .

That brings us to an end with that item.
We now move on to the next item which is
[Order] No. 4 on the Order Paper, the second reading
of the Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment Act
2018, in the name of the Minister of Finance. And I
believe the Minister himself is going to do this one.

BILL

SECOND READING

BERMUDA MONETARY AUTHORITY
AMENDMENT ACT 2018

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I move that the Bill entitled the
Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment Act 2018 be
now read the second time.

Continue.

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker .
Government wishes before this Honourable
House to give consideration to the Bill entitled the
Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment Act 2018.
Honourable Member s are aware of the Government’s
strong desire to diversify the economy with the intr oduction of blockchain- based technologies. These
technologies have the potential to transform the way
in which business in the world is conducted, and Bermuda will be well -served by the economic growth in
jobs that this emerging industry can bring to our economy.
In keeping with Bermuda’s international reputation for sound regulation, the Government has assembled leaders in this area of emerging technology
to develop a legal framework and regulatory regime
that is strict but does not stifle innovation.
Mr. Speaker, the Government is currently
working with the Bermuda Monetary Authority developing legislation to provide the framework for this
emerging sector. To ensure that the BMA is involved
1726 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly at the outset and to ensure their input is received in
the early stage of the development of this industry, it
is proposed to amend the Act to increase the number
of non- executive members from 10 to 11. The purpose of this increase is to provide the Minister of F inance the capacity to appoint persons, not only with experience in traditional financial services, but also
with experience in emerging technologies such as
FinTech and distributed ledger technology.
Mr. Speaker, I can confirm that the BMA has
been consulted and has no objection to this proposal. The BMA has also confirmed that they have di scussed the quorum requirements for this amendment,
and upon reflection they decided to l eave them as
they currently are. As soon as this new amendment
has been passed in the legislature, a new member
with the requisite experience will be appointed.
With those introductory remarks, Mr. Speaker,
I now read for the second time the Bill entitled the
Bermuda Monetary Authority Amendment Act 2018.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker .

Does any Member wish to speak to
that?
I recognise the Honourable Leader of the O pposition. Honourable Member , you have the floor.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Mr. Sp eaker, the Minister
and Premier answered the question that I think we
had on this side, which was why we need to add a nother person. And I think that is clear. And as we want
to make sure that we have individuals in the Monetary
Authority that have the exp ertise to be able to help us
not only regulate but also make sure that we monitor
the growth and make sure that anything that happens
in Bermuda we have the individuals there have the
expertise to make sure that we can be satisfied that it
grows in the right direction.
The explanation has been received and we
appreciate it and we will look forward to the appointment of the individuals that are going to be added.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker .

Thank you, Member. Does any other
Member wish to speak? No other Member? Minister —
Premier —

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the Opposition Leader
and Shadow Minister of Finance for her support in this
item. It would not technically be normally necessary to
add a member to the board. However, the board
members are set for a fixed appointment and none of
those appointments expire. There is one vacancy on
the board; however, it has to be filled by an accountant as there are no accountants on the board to chair
the audit committee.
So, in consultation with the BMA it was deci ded to add a member at this point in time. At the end of the year eight appointments will actually come up for
re-nomination, and given that these members are r emunerated, it is not anticipated that we are going to appoint another eight to fill those eight and we may go
down. But we need the flexibility at this point in time
on the board to provide insight as the BMA is being
tasked with various items related to virtual currencies
and other things inside of the blockchain space.
The question f rom the Honourable Member
for constituency 8 asked whether or not the BMA’s
mandate needs to be amended in any way, shape or form. It is not the view that the Bermuda Monetary
Authority’s mandate needs to be amended. But as the
Minister who has responsibil ity for ICT policy and i nnovation, the Minister of National Security, has stated
and the debate that we had earlier is that we will be
looking to bring a number of items of legislation in the
near future dealing with this and if it is found that we
have the amend the Bermuda Monetary Authority Act
itself as part of that omnibus piece of legislation to provide for these types of regulations we will make
sure that that happens.
All right, with that, Mr. Speaker, I move that
the Bill be committed.

The Speake r: Deputy?

House in Committee at 8:47 pm

COMMITTEE ON BILL
[Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr., Chairman]

BERMUDA MONETARY AUTHORITY
AMENDMENT ACT 2018

Any objections to moving the clauses? No objections.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much, Mr.
Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, clause 1 is self -explanatory.
Clause 2 am ends section 4(1)(d) of the Bermuda Monetary Authority Act 1969 (which states 10
members appointed by the Minister from persons with
experience of the financial services industry) to i ncrease this to 11 such members who will serve on the
Board of Directors of the Authority in addition to the
Chairman, not more than two executive officers and
the chief executive officer.

The Bill will be reported to the House
as printed. Any objections?
No objections.
[Motion c arried: The Bermuda Monetary Authority
Amendment Act 2018 was considered by a Commi ttee of the whole House and passed without amendments.]

House resumed at 8:49 pm

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

REPORT OF COMMITTEE
BERMUDA MONETARY AUTHORITY
AMENDMENT ACT 2018

Members, any objection to the Bill being reported to the House as printed?
No objections.
So moved.
We now move on to [Order] No. 5 on the O rder Paper which is the second reading of Cost of Li ving Commission Am endment Act 2018 in the name of
the Minister of Finance.
Minister —

BILL

SECOND READING

COST OF LIVING COMMI SSION
AMENDMENT ACT 2018

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I move that the Bill entitled the
Cost of Living C ommission Amendment Act 2018 be
now read for the second time.

Continue.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker .
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present the Cost
of Living Commission Amendment Act 2018 for consideration of Honour able Member s of this House of
Assembly.
Honourable Member s will recall that in a first
step to tackle the cost of living that materially impacts the quality of life for so many hard- working Bermudians, the Government introduced and passed the Price Commis sion Amendment Act 2017 in December last
year. Mr. Speaker, this legislation provided for the following: it changed the title of the Act to the Cost of
Living Commission Act 1974; it changed the title of the Price Control Commission to the Cost of Living C ommission; it ensured that companies complied with i nquiries from the Minister and the Cost of Living Com-mission by increasing the fines under section 6 and
section 10 of the Act from $500 to $5,000 and also
provided in the case of noncompliance for an add itional daily fine of $500.
Mr. Speaker, bringing down the cost of living
will require a collective effort and innovative thinking in
order to be successful and sustainable. Commission
members will have to work with all stakeholders i ncluding the general public to formulate ideas and get
suggestions on how best to reduce the expense of Bermudian grocery baskets and for other goods.
Currently the Act provides that the Commi ssion shall consist of a chairman and two members. However, the Government desires the legal authority
1728 12 March 2018 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly to appoint more members with the required exper ience, qualifications, diversified backgrounds and skil lsets to formulate ideas and suggestions on how best
to reduce the cost of living.
Therefore, it is proposed to amend the Act to
incre ase the number of members from 3 to between 7
and 12. Honourable Member s are advised that the
Commission will also include an ex-officio officer from
the Ministry of Finance and one from the Department of Statistics to provide additional support to the Commission.
Mr. Speaker, it should be noted that the following persons have been identified to serve on the
Cost of Living Commission: Senator Anthony Richar dson will serve as chair; Jonathan Brewin, Tianny Butterfield, Z ina Darrell , Renee Jones, S aadia Savory,
Robert Stubbs, Letitia Washington and Georgine Z anall.
Mr. Speaker, these persons were presented
on 8 February 2018. However, their appointments
cannot take full effect as the Act as currently written allows space for only three members. As soon as the
amendments I am presenting today have been
passed in the Legislature, the members of the Cost of
Living Commission will be re- gazetted and its work will
commence in earnest.
With those introductory remarks, Mr. Speaker,
I now read for the second time the Bill entitled the
Cost of Living [Commission] Amendment Act 2018.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker .

Thank you, thank you, Minister.
Does any other Member wish to speak?
We recognise the Honourable Leader of the
Opposition.
Honourable Member , you have the floor.
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Mr. Speaker, through you
to the Minister, I understand the rationale for increasing the numbers from three because, as the preamble
indicated, you sometimes have conflict of interest and
you want to make sure that you have individuals there
that will be able to speak and discuss the issues.
I was just curious, though, having come up
with an indication of . . . I think it is 7 and up to 11 . . .
it just seems to me that that is such a wide . . . a large
number. I w ondered if the Minister could indicate, as it
stands I think the members are paid once they are
members of the committee. And so, if you then turn
around and if you have all of these other individuals
from let us say up to the maximum of 11, does that
mean that each one of those become a member of the
committee and you are trying to hedge your bets so
that if they have an interest then they . . . they are
then not just stepping aside and declaring their interest, but they are still remaining members of a larger committee. I just wonder why we have to go that high
of a number. I understand getting up to 7, but 7 to 11 just
seems like a wide discrepancy.

Thank you, Honourable Member . Does
any other Honourable Member wish to speak? No
other Hono urable Member ?
Minister. Premier.

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, some of the questions that the
Honourable Opposition Leader asked will be answered in Committee, specifically, the amendment
which was stated in clause 3, which speaks about the
conflicts of interest provisions, which will be removed.
We have to remember that the Price Control
Commission as was originally envisaged in 1974 had
different functions. It had a statutory function such as
the regulation of food prices . . . not of food prices,
sorry, the regulation of energy prices and fuel prices. As well, electricity rates sometimes were in there.
There were lots of different things that were under the Price Control Commission a t that time . Those things
no lo nger exist and so as we had decided to convert,
seeing that this Commission already had power to request information from businesses inside of the public domain, we decided, as opposed to coming up with
a new piece of legislation, that we would amend an existing piece of legislation, give them a little bit more
teeth to go ahead and do that. It was an error that the
item was gazetted.
This was without question an oversight that I
accept responsibility for. Mr. Speaker, this should
have been done the first time when we admitted the
Bill, but it was not. As you can know, the chairman
who had been identified when we first did the Bill had
gone to various members, whether it be the Chamber of Commerce, the unions to get various represent atives to serve on this Commission. We did gazette the
names. However, the law only allows us to gazette
three, and we gazetted nine.
So, we are going to amend it to fulfil the purpose of which we intended it to fill to as wide a cross section of people who can participate. Thei r payment
will be as the standard payment as the Government
Fees Act allows —I think $50 per meeting.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I move that the Bill do
now be committed.