2020/2021 SESSION of the BERMUDA HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY OFFICIAL HANSARD REPORT 26 MARCH 202 1 Virtual Sitting Sitting number 16 of the 2020/2021 Session (pages 1243–1352) Hon. Dennis P. Lister, Jr., JP, MP Speaker Disclaimer: The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for informational purposes only. The printed version remains the official record. Official Hansard Report 26 March 2021 1243 BERMUDA HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY OFFICIAL HANSARD REPORT VIRTUAL SITTING 26 MARCH 2021 10:00 AM Sitting Number 16 of the 2020/2021 Session [Hon. Dennis P. Lister, Jr., Speaker, in the Chair] [No audible response] The Speaker: Good morning, Members. We are The Speaker: Minister of Finance, are you with us about to start the session. this morning? Ms. Beale will lead us in prayer this morning. We will move on and come back. Minister Furbert, are you available to do the PRAYERS matter for the Minister of Sport? [Prayers read by Ms. Kara Beale, Assistant Clerk] Hon. Tinee Furbert: Yes, Mr. Speaker. CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES The Speaker: Thank you. Could you table your matter [Minutes of 19 2021] now, present your matter now? The Speaker: Good morning, Members. The House is BERMUDA SPORT ANTI-DOPING AUTHORITY now in session. ANNUAL REPORT 2020 The Minutes from March 19 have been circu- lated. Are there any amendments or corrections re- Hon. Tinee Furbert: Mr. Speaker, I have the honour quired? to attach and submit for the information of the Hon- ourable House of Assembly the Bermuda Sport Anti- None, they are approved as printed. Doping Authority Annual Report 2020. [Minutes of 19 March 2021 confirmed] The Speaker: Thank you, Minister. nd Is the Minister of Finance available? The Speaker: The Minutes of the 22 of March have been deferred. [No audible response] MESSAGES FROM THE GOVERNOR The Speaker: I am looking . Minister of Finance? We will move on. The Speaker: There are none. PETITIONS ANNOUNCEMENTS BY THE SPEAKER OR MEMBER PRESIDING The Speaker: There are none. The Speaker: There are none. STATEMENTS BY MINISTERS AND JUNIOR MINISTERS MESSAGES FROM THE SENATE The Speaker: We have three Statements this morn- The Speaker: There are none. ing. The first is in the name of the Minister of Finance. I am assuming he still has not been able to connect. PAPERS AND OTHER So I am going to ask the Minister of Public COMMUNICATIONS TO THE HOUSE Works to do his Statement, and we will come back to the Minister of Finance. The Speaker: This morning there are two such Pa- Minister of Works, would you like to present pers and Communications. The first is in the name of your Statement at this point? the Minister of Finance. Minister of Finance. Lt. Col. Hon. David A. Burch: Yes, Mr. Speaker. Good morning. Bermuda House of Assembly 1244 26 March 2021 Official Hansard Report The Speaker: Good morning, Minister. Go right received and processed with an award due early next ahead. week. Several other sites have been put out for quotes, including the following: STIMULUS PROGRAMME—FURTHER UPDATE • Artemis Building A fitout work; • Artemis Building B fitout work; Lt. Col. Hon. David A. Burch: I am pleased to pro- • Highways fencing repair works; vide another update on the short-term stimulus pro- • Elbow Beach access stairs replacement gramme that was launched on December 17, 2020, to works; and a maximum value of BMD [$13,385,000] where small • New Plant Inspection Building at the Botanical to medium-sized contractors were invited to partici- Gardens construction work. pate. Additionally, Mr. Speaker, the Department of Mr. Speaker, the programme was launched as Workforce Development have come on board with there is an urgent need to provide stimulus to the local their Apprenticeship/Training Programme to present economy in order to retain and boost employment opportunities for Bermudians to gain valuable experi- numbers in the wake of the economic downturn ence and training, which is critical in strengthening the sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the country’s economic and social development. Ministry of Public Works compiled a list of shovel- Mr. Speaker, the Department of Workforce ready projects that are executable almost immediate- Development provides training and development pro- ly. These projects are mostly infrastructure improve- grammes and initiatives in a broad range of occupa- ments and will not add further burden to government tions and sectors across multiple disciplines in the operational expenses. The project’s selection princi- workforce. They will adapt the current framework of ples are to maximise the employment of the private Apprenticeship/Training agreement contracts to be fit sector while providing much-needed refreshing of ne- for purpose to encourage contractors to engage indi- glected infrastructure. viduals to participate in various jobs and potentially Mr. Speaker, to ensure allocation of the stimu- provide opportunities for part-time and/or full-time lus funding across the participating businesses, the short- and long-term employment. Ministry will maintain a register of approved contrac- In summary, Mr. Speaker, Workforce Devel- tors and awarded contracts to ensure that no one opment can provide financial assistance in the form of company monopolises the project list. Once a compa- payment and oversight as an incentive and benefit to ny obtains a project, they will be rotated to the bottom contractors to hire a Bermudian for each of their re- of the list to allow other companies an opportunity for spective companies at no cost to them. In return the work. The guiding principle is to prioritise all compa- Bermudians gains entry-level skills and/or upgrades nies that provide the most employment benefit per their existing skill set, utilises their transferable skills dollar spent while spreading the work among Bermu- and become gainfully employed as contributing indi- dian owned and operated businesses. Many of these viduals to society on the path to the economic recov- small to medium-sized businesses have never worked ery of the country. for government before, and oftentimes the challenge The department’s Training and Assessment is cash flow. In light of this we have arranged with the Officer will provide oversight and supervision for the Accountant General’s Department to accelerate the individual/employee as the liaison between the em- payment schedule to every two weeks, noting that ployee and the employer. The Government believes those who owe government money must engage in a this is a win-win construct and return on investment payment plan in order to secure the work. for all parties involved as a cross-Ministry initiative. Mr. Speaker, we have received a total of 98 We are very pleased with the response to the stimulus submissions by the deadline of February 15. Re- programme from contractors and likely employees, all sponses to the RFSQ [request for statement of qualifi- of whom want to get to work and help the economy cations] continue to be evaluated. To date, 67 compa- improve. This template of bundling projects together is nies have been approved and are prequalified to work proving to be quite efficient, and we shall look to using with the Government. Several of these have been this concept in the future. asked for quotes for various jobs. The Evaluation Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Team has been working flat-out to evaluate those re- maining applications. The Bermuda Economic Devel- The Speaker: Thank you, Minister. opment Corporation assisted a total of 74 contractors The next Statement this morning is in the with completing their submission packages for the name of the Minister of Education. request for statement of qualifications. Minister of Education. Mr. Speaker, as the RFSQ phase is now over, companies have received requests for quotes for vari- [No audible response] ous stimulus projects and are submitting their re- sponses. Responses to the Darrell’s Wharf repair pro- The Speaker: Minister of Education. ject and the Flatt’s Bridge handrail project have been Bermuda House of Assembly Official Hansard Report 26 March 2021 1245 [No audible response] the view of the Ministry of Finance, does not cause the audited financial statements to be misleading. The Speaker: I do note that the Minister of Finance is Mr. Speaker, under the Audit Act 1990, sec- present at the moment. tion 6(1)(b), the Auditor General is able to include in Minister of Finance, would you like to do your her report any comments she considers appropriate. Statement? And then after we finish the three State- Accordingly, the Auditor General has for the 10th con- ments, we will seek the indulgence of the House so secutive year included an Other Information section you can table the communication that should have on matters she deems appropriate. For the 2020 re- been done earlier. port she has also included an “Emphasis on Matter” section. The Other Information relates to the following: Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. • Public Debt and Guarantees. The Auditor Apologies for the technical problems that we had this General has highlighted that while the Gov- morning. ernment is within the legislated debt limit of $2.9 billion, there is a further $952 million in CONSOLIDATED FUND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS guarantees to various lenders by the Consoli- YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2020 dated Fund; • Increasing Net Debt. The Auditor General has Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Speaker, I rise today noted that net debt, as calculated on the to advise Honourable Members of the completion of Statement of Changes in Net Debt, increased the audit of the Consolidated Fund Financial State- by $329 million and continues to grow. (This ments for the year ended 31 March 2020, which will can be found on page 8 of the Financial be tabled in this Honourable House henceforth.