P R O C E E D I N G S O F T H E G I B R A L T A R P A R L I A M E N T AFTERNOON SESSION: 3.37 p.m. – 7.50 p.m. Gibraltar, Monday, 22nd March 2021 Contents Standing Order 7(1) suspended to proceed with Government Statement .............................. 3 COVID update – Statement by the Chief Minister .................................................................... 3 Standing Orders 7(1) and 19 suspended to proceed with Government motions .................... 6 Government Motions ....................................................................................................................... 6 Public Services Ombudsman for Gibraltar – William Ronald Coram appointed ...................... 6 Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Gibraltar – Christian Santos and Carmen Gomez appointed ... 13 Crimes (Amendment) Act 2019 – Referendum re commencement – Amended motion carried ..................................................................................................................................... 17 The House recessed at 5.10 p.m. and resumed its sitting at 5.30 p.m. .................................. 22 Standing Order 7(1) suspended to proceed with Government Questions ............................. 22 Questions for Oral Answer ................................................................................................... 23 Chief Minister ................................................................................................................................. 23 Q804, 819 and 843/2020 Sports facilities – Staffing levels; Lathbury construction costs; Sale and/or management of Europa facility and accommodation blocks ..................................... 23 Q805-07 and Q872-73/2020 Affordable housing schemes – Houses sold and remaining to be sold; construction completion and handover dates; concessions for purchasers on reduced incomes; progress re allocation; ............................................................................................. 24 Q808/2020 Pedestrian safety – Review of crossing points .................................................... 29 Q809/2020 Holy Trinity children’s play park – Rationale for motorbike bay ......................... 30 Q810/2020 Spanish authorities’ impounding of Gibraltar-registered vehicles – Investigation into claims ............................................................................................................................... 31 _______________________________________________________________________________ Published by © The Gibraltar Parliament, 2021 GIBRALTAR PARLIAMENT, MONDAY, 22nd MARCH 2021 Q811/2020 Tax refunds – Amount outstanding and whether delays in making repayments32 Q812/2020 Rooke site – Expressions of interest received and notification of preferred bidder ..................................................................................................................................... 33 Q813/2020 Parking spaces – Numbers sold at St Anne’s School and the comprehensives .. 34 Q814/2020 Government vehicle fleet – Arrangement with Bassadone Motors ................... 35 Q815-818/2020 Bassadone Automotive Group – Parking spaces at Lathbury sports facility and Europa Business Centre................................................................................................... 36 Q820/2020 Government borrowing – Terms of any new arrangements .............................. 40 Q821/2020 Victoria Keys development – Signing of loan agreement and drawdown .......... 40 Q822-23/2020 £500 million loan guarantee – Commitments made to UK government; plans for use of moneys ................................................................................................................... 41 Q827-29/2020 156 Main Street – Net annual values of Units 1-4; compensation agreed with tenants of Piazza; consultation with Opposition re works to Parliament building ................ 43 Q830/2020 Music festival – Government support for event in 2021 .................................... 49 Q831-32/2020 Telecom providers’ dispute – Government intention to broker a solution; TV channels – Continued availability in Gibraltar ....................................................................... 50 Q833/2020 Commonwealth Day public holiday – Retention on second Monday in March each year ................................................................................................................................ 51 Q834/2020 Select Committees – Resumption of meetings ................................................... 52 The House adjourned at 7.50 p.m. ......................................................................................... 54 ________________________________________________________________________ 2 GIBRALTAR PARLIAMENT, MONDAY, 22nd MARCH 2021 The Gibraltar Parliament The Parliament met at 3.37 p.m. [MR SPEAKER: Hon. M L Farrell BEM GMD RD JP in the Chair] [CLERK TO THE PARLIAMENT: P E Martinez Esq in attendance] SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDERS Standing Order 7(1) suspended to proceed with Government Statement Clerk: Meeting of Parliament – Monday, 22nd March 2021. Order of Proceedings: suspension of Standing Orders. The Hon. the Chief Minister. 5 Chief Minister (Hon. F R Picardo): Mr Speaker, I beg to move, under Standing Order 7(3), to suspend Standing Order 7(1) in order to proceed with a Government Statement. Mr Speaker: Those in favour? (Members: Aye.) Those against? Carried. COVID update – Statement by the Chief Minister Chief Minister (Hon. F R Picardo): Mr Speaker, the Minister for Health and I were delighted to 10 note yesterday that there were no COVID patients at St Bernard’s Hospital. This was the first time since late December that St Bernard’s was free of COVID patients. This will bode well for the restart of routine GHA work, which I know is so important to so many in our community. Additionally, it is an important demonstration of the effectiveness of our lockdown and the vaccination programme. Indeed, it is now four weeks since our schools reopened, it is now three 15 weeks since our catering industry reopened, it is two weeks since we started to relax restrictions even further, and today, for the fourth day in a row, we once again report zero new cases of COVID – zero cases in hospital and zero new cases reported. This is the direction of travel we all hoped, wished or prayed to see developing. In these circumstances, I can confirm that we will no longer have a curfew in Gibraltar. The 20 curfew will end on Thursday, 25th March. I know this will be a blessed relief for our Jewish community in particular, who will be celebrating their Passover feast starting this weekend. I wish all members of our Jewish community I hope I have pronounced that moderately well. Additionally, it will be a blessed relief for our Roman Catholic community, whose Easter Vigil Mass on Easter Saturday also starts late – on Saturday, 3rd April – this year. 25 In terms of the numbers of people who can gather, we will see the football and boxing bouts in coming days. These are almost public health experiments, in great measure. We will see people gathering for these events but in a controlled manner. I expect we will also be able to greatly relax our measures as to numbers in restaurants and more generally in coming weeks. We should also hope to be able to take a different approach to areas in which masks may be necessary. ________________________________________________________________________ 3 GIBRALTAR PARLIAMENT, MONDAY, 22nd MARCH 2021 30 We are at last leaving behind us our deadliest winter; we are at last entering our most hopeful spring. It is worth noting that we are making progress. We are all anxious, I know, to leave the pandemic behind us, but we are wrong to think that it is all over quite yet. We must continue with prudence, caution and care to progress safely, so that we do not have to suffer or inflict a further lockdown in the future. 35 Mr Speaker: The Hon. the Leader of the Opposition. Hon. K Azopardi: Mr Speaker, obviously we welcome the fact that we have zero cases, which was the platform for the Chief Minister’s Statement just now, and indeed we also welcome the 40 fact of the lifting of the curfew. As the Chief Minister indicates, the trend of cases allows the GHA to reopen in a more vigorous way its services that had been affected by the lockdown, which is something we welcome. I wonder whether, by way of clarification, the Chief Minister has anything to say on that, beyond what was already indicated by the Minister for Health a few days ago. I appreciate that it was only 45 a few days ago, so the answer might be that there is little to be said, but it may be that he has spoken to his colleague and is able to reassure people of specific steps. In relation to other restrictions, there are fewer now, obviously, which is something that we welcome, but can the Chief Minister give us a bit of an idea in terms of timescale, given the trend of these cases? And while of course he is right to say that we cannot let our guard down, COVID is 50 all around us and indeed there is still a chance, even vaccinated, that you can get COVID, although a smaller one, so we have got to be careful, can he give us an idea on timescales in relation to the restrictions on restaurants and social gatherings in particular, and indeed the call that has been made by some social groups and NGOs, and indeed the unions, as to the right to demonstrate in Gibraltar? 55 Mr Speaker: The Hon. the Chief Minister. Hon. Chief Minister: Mr Speaker, I am grateful