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Turks and Caicos Islands post Cabinet meeting statement

His Excellency the Governor, Peter Beckingham, chaired the 18th meeting of the Cabinet on Wednesday, 8 June 2016, at the Hon. N J S Francis Building on Grand Turk.

From:
Governor's Office Waterloo Grand Turk
Published
9 June 2016
TCI Cabinet Meeting

All Ministers were present except the Hon. Deputy Premier.

At this meeting Cabinet:

  • Received a presentation by the Caribbean Development Bank on the Medium Term Development Strategy for TCI;

  • Approved policy recommendations proposed by the Regulations Sub-Committee of the NHIB that will inform amendments to the National Health Insurance Ordinance and Regulations to deliver a National Health Insurance Plan that provides 100% universal health coverage and access, is affordable and sustainable, and protects the vulnerable;

  • Advised His Excellency the Governor to endorse the process for the allocation of Crown Land to the thirty six TC Islander applicants who were successful in ballots drawn on 29 April 2016 under the Providenciales Residential Land Allocation Scheme PLS002/Block 60811 in accordance with the Crown Land Ordinance 2012. Cabinet further noted the order of priority for the unsuccessful applicants, as determined by the ballots drawn, for the allocation of any parcel of Crown Land that successful applicants fail to take up;

  • Advised His Excellency the Governor to issue an Exemption Order to enable people who are lawfully present in the islands but without the right to work to do unpaid volunteer work with registered charities in the islands;

  • Noted Cabinet’s previous decision to approve amending the Fisheries Protection Regulations to allow fishing for bonefish with nets of 1¼ inch mesh or mesh size equal or greater than 3½ inches and approved the commissioning of a study to determine which of the net sizes would be most appropriate;

  • Advised His Excellency the Governor to approve a settlement payment with Caicos Pride Products Ltd and Day Boat Seafood LLC in respect of losses that both companies claimed they had incurred as a result of TCIG suspending a 2 year pelagic fishing research study in 2014 for which the Department of Environment and Maritime Affairs (DEMA) had previously granted the companies a research permit;

  • Approved the Adoption Regulations 2016 which give effect to the Adoption Ordinance which came into effect in May 2015;

  • Approved extensions of the appointments of the following non-executive members of the TCIG Audit Committee – Mr Nigel Hearnden (Chair, for one year from September 2016); Mr Bennett Stubbs (Member, for two years from September 2016); Mr Neville Adams (Member, for one year from September 2016) and Ms Edith Cox (Member, for one year from September 2016.

Further information on these matters will be provided by Ministers in due course

Published 9 June 2016