j Q13#l I LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL HELD IN STANLEY ON 31ST MAY - 4TH JUNE 1993 , I-,. I ____________ 1 1 1 1 1 1 RF.CORD OF THE MEETING OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 1 HELD IN STANLEY ON 31ST MAY - 4TH JUNE 1993 1 I 1 I I I I I 1 1 1 1 I I CvoL/Us ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR I MOTION OF THANKS TO HIS EXCELLENCY’S ADDRESS The Honourable T J Peck 17 The Honourable W R Luxton 18 The Honourable Mrs Norma Edwards 19 The Honourable K S Kjlmartin 21 The Honourable G M Robson 22 The Honourable H T Rowlands CBE 23 The Honourable G P Short 25 Commander British Forces 26 The Honourable the Financial Secretary 26 The Honourable the Chief Executive 27 CONFIRMATION OF THE RECORD OF THE MEETING OF COUNCIL HELD 20 NOVEMBER 1993 27 PAPERS LAID ON THE TABLE BY THE HONOURABLE THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE 28 QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER 1/93 The Honourable H T Rowlands CBE 28 (24 hour radio watch - Fisheries Department) 2/93 The Honourable H T Row lands CBE 29 (Minerals Legislation) : 3/93 The Honourable K S Kilmartin 31 (FIG delegation to New Orleans. - Houston and Dallas) 4/93 The Honourable K S Kilmartin 32 (EC Falklands Fishery Agreement) 5/93 The Honourable K S Kilmartin 32 (Camp Roads: progress, plant and costs) 6 93 The Honourable Mrs Norma Edwards 33 (Compensation to those Officers selected for retirement at 1 July 1993) 7/93 The Honourable W R Luxton 34 (F1GAS - 5 day flying schedules) 8/93 The Honourable W R Luxton 35 (Affordable freight services to Camp) THE APPROPRIATION 1993/94 BILL 36 REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE APPROPRIATION BILL 1991 44 i THE CUSTOMS (AMENDMENT OF IMPORT DUTIES) RESOLUTION 1993 46 I I I 1 1 ORDERS OP THE DAY BILLS 1 The Old Age Pensions (Amendment) Bill 1993 47 The Non-Contributory Old Age Pensions (Amendment) Bill 1993 47 I The Finance and Audit (Amendment) Bill 1993 47 The Special Funds Bill 1993 47 1 Supplementary Appropriation 1991/92 Bill 1993 48 1 The Supplementary Appropriation 1992/93 Bill 1993 48 The Marriage (Amendment) Bill 1993 48 The Control of Drinking by Juveniles Bill 1993 49 The Customs (Amendment) Bill 1993 53 The Building Control Bill 1993 53 Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 1993 59 MOTION FOR ADJOURNMENT The Honourable T J Peck MBE CPM 60 The Honourable W R Luxton 60 The Honourable Mrs Norma Edwards 62 The Honourable K S Kilmartin 62 The Honourable G M Robson 64 The Honourable H T Rowlands CBE 64 The Honourable G P Short 65 The Commander British Forces 65 The President 66 The Honourable W R Luxton 66 The Commander British Forces 66 The Honourable the Financial Secretary 66 The Honourable the Chief Executive 67 The President 69 ADDRKSS BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR TO THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ON 31st MAY 1993 Honourable Members, this is my first budget UigCo and I look forward to it. It gives me as Governor and President of Legislative Council the chance to deliver a formal review of the work Administration and to discuss with Councillors and official members me direction in which we are going. Before I come to the departmental reports may I make some general comments. My arrival last August nearly coincided with the start of the Falklands financial year. It certainly coincided with the first signs that our income from fisheries would not be as healthy as in previous years. Our financial problems dominated the last meeting of LegCo in November when in the space of one week our traditional jigging vessels seemed to desert us and we found ourselves looking at a very large hole in our pocket. The financial situation seems to have over shadowed the year since then In the end we have come out far better than I at least feared. Rather than a deficit of, say, £10 million we in fact have a small surplus of around £6 million. The reserves have not been touched and interest on our reserves has provided the second largest source of funds to the state budget in a difficult year. How have we achieved this turn around? In a year when our fishing revenue has effectively fatten by £7 million, how have we managed to still show a surplus of over £6 million? In part, we have come through because of the severe cut backs which were imposed especially on the Government’s capital programme but also on running costs of Government which largely means on its employees. The Administration has had to take the measures which were open to it. Through administrative action we could cut overtime and make various changes to working methods. We could not increase the tax burden to share the misery or reduce the salanes of established civil servants - these are measures which can only be taken by Government, by Legislative Council. The measures we took were painful, but they certainly achieved their objective. However, the vital factor was completely beyond our control This year the lllex squid have been exactly where we wanted them: off the high seas and in our zone. And we were able to exploit this good fortune because of the agreement negotiated on Z3 December whereby the Argentine Government restricted the number of licences issued to Oriental jiggers in their zone to 45. This agreement obliged jiggers which could find no fish on the high seas - principally the Taiwanese - to turn to Falklands waters rather than to Argentine waters. The result as we remember in February and March was the dramatic arrival m Stanley Harbour of dozens of jiggers. By April it was clear that the shadow of a budgetary deficit had passed away. J I set this out because as far as I can see we could face similar problems this year If we cannot coordinate the fishing effort for straddling stocks - principally illex - in the South Atlantic we shall face another financial shortfall without any guarantee of a happy outcome. We shall have the same uncertainty hanging over us until the season begins in March. Only then shall we know whether we shall see a surplus or a loss on the financial year. It is to avoid this sort of uncertainty, to conserve the illex stock and to ensure that we in the Falkland Islands obtain the maximum sustainable benefit from it that talks will start in the sixth meeting of the South Atlantic Fisheries Commission in London in June. As before our Director of Fisheries, John Barton, and our advisers from Imperial College will be kev members of the British delegation. * In the meantime the Financial Secretary has designed a commendably cautious budget which includes a modest capital programme, aimed to maximise the benefits to the Islands and minimise expenditure abroad. I shall turn now to the reports from individual departments. 1 TREASURY : THE HONOURABLE DEREK HOWATT The revised estimate of Government revenue for 1992/93 is £39.7 million. This shows a drop of £4.4 million from the previous financial year. The main contributing factor to this decrease is a reduction in fisheries revenue of approximately £7 million. This decrease was partly offset by increases in investment income and capital with the sale of the Dornier aircraft and receipt of EEC Stabex monies. The revised estimate of Government expenditure for 1992/93 is £33.4 million. This shows a decrease of Vh million from 1991/92. This decrease can be attributed to a reduction in operating expenditure over the previous year of £1.2 million partly offset by a small increase :1 in capital expenditure. After taking into account proposed transfer to pension funds of £5.5 million the estimated 1 surplus for the 1992/93 financial year is £800,000. As a result the general reserves at 30 June 1993 are estimated to reach £50 million which represents 32 months of operating expenditure I or 22 months of total expenditure at the 1993/94 level. The 1993/94 Financial Year: I Projections of operating revenue total £28.5 million for the 1993/94 financial year. £15.4 million or 54% of this total is fishery revenue. This shows a decrease of £4.5 million from the revised fisheries revenue against 1992/93. Through the imposition of budget targets operating expenditure is estimated at £18.8 million, a reduction of £2 million over revised operating expenditure for 1992/93. Capital revenue and expenditure is estimated at £2.4 million and £8 million respectively. The 1993/94 capital programme shows a decrease of £4.5 million over the revised 1992/93 programme. After taking into account proposed fund transfers of £3 million the overview for 1993/94 shows a budget surplus of £1.1 million. Treasury Department During the past year there have been no staff changes and this continuity of employment has contributed to the effective operation of the Treasury function of government. Mr Richard Wagner, the Deputy Financial Secretary, continues to play a key role and work in connection with the recent Budget Review' absorbed a significant amount of Treasury time and effort. Lack of office space, particularly in the Income Tax Office, continues to be a problem, but the staff have not allowed the less than ideal working conditions to affect the performance of their public duties. The review of the Old Age Pensions scheme has slipped behind schedule and it is planned that this should be resumed shortly. It is intended that a review of the government service pension scheme will take place during 1993/94.