Minutes Deputy Governor and Chief Officers’ Meeting 1st October 2012
Attendees:-Deputy Governor; Ms. Jacqueline Wilson; Ms. Dorine Whittaker; Mr. Eric Bush; Dr. Dax Basdeo; Mrs. Sonia McLaughlin; Mrs. Mary Rodrigues; Mr. Dalton Watler; Mrs. Gloria McFieldNixon; Mr. Orrett Connor; Mrs. Leyda Nicholson-Makasare; Ms. Jennifer Ahearn Apologies: - Mr. Kenneth Jefferson; Mr. Leonard Dilbert; Ms. Cheryl Richards; Mr. Alan Jones; Mr. Kevin McCormac; Mr. Stran Bodden 1. Welcome The Deputy Governor welcomed everyone and prayer was offered. 2. Formal Approval of Minutes The September 24 meeting minutes were approved by all attendees for circulation. 3. Visit by His Excellency the Governor His Excellency the Governor greeted everyone and thanked the Deputy Governor for inviting him to attend.
HE The Governor advised Chief Officers of training courses being offered by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office through Civil Service Learning in line with commitments in the Overseas White Paper to increase engagement and to help develop the capacity of the public services in the Overseas Territories. It is a good online learning programme which offers hundreds of training courses. It provides a Common Curriculum, which covers the core skills that every civil servant needs to do their job effectively. It complements the learning and development programmes that are specific to individual departments. Although the programme is based in the UK, many of the principles taught that are applicable here. He passed on the relevant information to the Deputy Governor and encouraged him to consider the benefits that the programme could have for the Service. The courses are being paid for by the FCO for a trial period of 6 months and are free for over 3,000 Civil Servants in the Overseas Territories.
HE the Governor wished the Deputy Governor, the Chief Officers who would be attending the upcoming Heads of Public Service Meeting in London, a very productive and enlightening trip. He acknowledged that this would provide a great opportunity for Chief Officers to gain knowledge from other Public Services and would allow for networking and relationship building accross Territories. 1
4. Matters Arising from Minutes CO McField-Nixon advised of the development of “Dashboards” for monitoring compliance with the HR related components of the budget, which will be available to Chief Officers. The PoCS will be able to prepare reports based on this programme. CO Whittaker asked that Chief Officers follow up with their Heads of Departments in regards to the vehicles available for use by Social Workers. 5. Comp time Policy It was acknowledged that there is a need for a consistent policy throuhgout the Civil Service. The draft policy provided by the Ministry of Education, Training and Employment was reviewed. Amendments were identified and CO’s McField-Nixon and Rodrigues will meet to make the necessary changes.
6. Update on Budget Delivery Committee A pre-meeting of the BDC’s Government members was held to review the Terms of Reference and the data that will be used by the Committee. 7. Performance Agreements All Performance Agreements for Chief Officers have been completed. The Deputy Governor thanked all Chief Officers for their cooperation during the process and for all of their hard work and dedication. He reinforced that performance management is a key driver that we need to deliver this year. Performance Assessment training will be available online, and in classrooms towards the end of the year. 8. Review of Progress to date The status of projects undertaken since the weekly CO Meetings commenced was discussed. The following projects have been completed: 1. GAB Work Hours Policy 2. Cultural Day 3. Employee Orientation Programme 4. Deputy Governor’s Awards 5. New Performance Management Template 6. Use of GAB as a Shelter 7. Civil Servant Voluntary Activities Policy 8. Submission of Policies to the AG for Bill of Rights
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9. Any Other Business October is Breast Cancer Awareness month There are 10 days left to nominate a hero in Youth Services. Reminders will be circulated via CS Messages Healthcare 20/20 will be held from 18th – 20th October, 2012 Dolphin experts will be visiting the Island this week, at minimal cost to CIG, thanks to CITA, NOAA and other tourism partners All of the tagged captive stingrays have been released today October is also the Month of the Elderly. A schedule of events will be circulated There is a telephone monitoring system in place which will provide reports on phone usage to designated persons within Departments. Chief Officers will be able to monitor usage of this Government resource. Departments will be provided with a report on average fuel usage, based on usage over the past few years, to assist with managing their fuel budget The inaugural opening of the Clifton Hunter High School (CHHS), for public use will be announced shortly Tours of the CHHS facility have commenced There will be a CO Meeting held at CHHS, at a date to be announced. The Deputy Governor added that this would allow for Chief Officers to greet the students, teachers and Principal Chief Officers were reminded of the Credit Union 5k run on the 6th October There was a meeting held with the CEO of the HSA in regards to services provided to Civil Servants, including the following: o Proposal to operate a remote pharmacy from GAB o Mini health checks twice annually for Civil Servants which will cover glucose testing, blood pressure checks, cholesterol testing and BMI. Information will be provided at a later date. The meeting adjourned at 3:30pm.
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