Politics
Minister plans school sell-off
(CNS): The local education system could be facing a dramatic change in the near future as the minister considers the creation of grant-maintained, charter-based academies or independent schools financed via a combination of private sector and government money. However, such schools that choose to adopt to the new system will be able to pick and choose students, rejecting those that have learning difficulties or behaviour problems and running the risk of creating a two tier system. The education minister has confirmed that she is “critically reviewing the education system” and the law to facilitate independence for public as well as private schools.
Caymanian parents won’t necessarily have to pay for their children’s education if they do not have the means, and the cost of attending private or grant-maintained schools will still be met by the public purse. However, which school a child attends would, under such a system, have a great deal more to do with their ability to pass entrance exams, auditions, tests or other selection criteria rather than the catchment area in which they live.
Tara Rivers, the education minister, said that the review of the current system would prioritize tackling behaviour concerns, governance, vocational services and the introduction of an independent and objective inspections regime. However, the minister also appears to be taking a very different approach to that set out in the PPM manifesto, which pointed to equality in the education system and the need to implement the law drawn up by Premier Alden McLaughlin when he was education minister between 2005 and 2009.
Rivers told CNS that she will also be looking at that education law, which was passed just before the end of the PPM’s previous term but was never implemented by Rolston Anglin, who held the education reins during the UDP government.
“The intention is to revise and update the Education Modernisation Law … over the coming year to facilitate the changes, and to deal with technical breaches and other requirements necessary to update the Law in light of the new Constitution of the Cayman Islands and other relevant legislation coming into effect since the passing of the original law,” shesaid.
“The proposal is to establish a governance model that will revolutionise the delivery of public education services through public-private partnerships. A board or boards of governors or similar entity is anticipated to be established and will manage the operational aspects of each of the schools under their purview, with regulatory oversight provided by the Ministry of Education, and each school will be assessed regularly by the independent inspections unit to be established,” the minister added.
Rivers said the aim with a public-private model of education is to raise the standard of education and to facilitate the Cayman Islands in becoming a centre of excellence for education.
“The proposal is still under discussion and development within the ministry and has yet to be discussed in full detail with Caucus,” she revealed
Although in its early days, it appears that while the minister has the full backing of her Coalition for Cayman colleagues, who ran a double page advertisement in the local paper on Friday calling for reform, CNS understand that she may not have the full backing of the PPM government.
CNS has contacted the premier for comment but is still awaiting a response.
Rivers’ elected C4C colleagues are understood to be backing the plans, as does the wider membership of the C4C, the platform of the political group on which Rivers campaigned. It is understood that C4C members are doing the rounds to persuade local NGOs and associations, such as the Chamber of Commerce, to back this radical departure from the vision of the premier. When Alden McLaughlin was education minister he spoke often about creating a world class modern, education system based on equality and the learning needs and abilities of the children in the system.
In its campaign advertisement the C4C heralded the idea of adopting an ARK type system akin to the UK but which has come in for considerable criticism.
Those who have concerns about the system say it leaves kids who can’t make the grade in the specialist schools concentrated in under-funded government schools, creating a two tier system not unlike the much maligned grammar and secondary modern system, which was changed in the 1970s because of its inequality, segregation and early labelling of children as failures.
In the face of recent genuine concerns in the government school system, not just about the poor standards of behaviour among students, but teachers as well, the clamour for an overhaul from those parents engaged in their kids’ education is loud and clear.
However, when the examination statistics are all confirmed by the education department very soon, the public high schools are all expected to post record breaking results this year which far outrank schools in the region. Despite the difficulties faced by a not insignificant number of children, most of Cayman’s students in the public school system are not failing anywhere near as badly as people believe.
Nevertheless, there is still a significant number of children with special educational needs and who have behavioural problems as a result of the neglect or abuse they are facing in their home environments. But the ability for private, grant-maintained, charter or academy schools to choose their students via entrance exams and other criteria will marginalise these most vulnerable kids and the ones that need the most attention.
The public purse will then be left to pick up the full tab for all those children and create schools especially for failing students, not only marking them from the very beginning but placing them in more overcrowded disadvantaged environments. With funding cuts and a higher concentration of lower socio-economic parents, these schools will thenstruggle to attract private sector money of any kind.
The segregation of children is not always very successful and rarely so for those at the bottom of the socio-economic or academic pile.
This issue was brought to the fore by the previous minister, Rolston Anglin, when he closed the Alternative Education Centre. The unit had been created for children with behavioural problems with the intention of creating a specialist learning environment for those kids who were struggling in the mainstream. However, the centre's only claim to fame was that almost all of its former students have either been killed in gang related violence, are currently in jail or have been released after serving at least one prison term.
See related story on CNS:
Clock ticks on PS review
(CNS): The deputy governor said he is expecting the final recommendations as well as the road map for implementation on government’s major public sector reform project before the end of this month. Ernst & Young (EY), the consultants who won the contract to examine which public authorities and services can be sold off, centralized, privatized, restructured or amalgamated to cut the massive $710M+ annual spending by government, are expected to provide the solutions to a modernised civil service in matter of weeks. The firm has been engaging in consultation with civil service bosses and private stakeholders for several weeks in order to offer solutions for cutting the size of the CIG.
“I am pleased that the project is progressing according to schedule and look forward to receiving the final report,” Franz Manderson said Friday but has given nothing away on the specifics of the review so far and those areas identified for sale.
There is considerable anticipation over exactly what government will sell off, what it will cut and what the consequences will be for the existing army of people who depend on government for work. The much talked about Public Services Rationalisation Project (PSRP) is expected to cut the operational costs but there are concerns that government cannot afford to lay off hundreds of workers without finding them new jobs as a result of the impact mass redundancies would have on what is already a very tight job market for local people.
So far, neither government nor EY have given any hints about what the major changes will be, though the premier had stated at a recent press briefing that changes would begin to be implemented even before EY completed its final report. But with just four weeks or less before the report is due, there have been no official announcements on what government will be tackling first. Premier Alden McLaughlin has said, however, that there are “no sacred cows” and his administration is willing to consider any possible suggestions that would improve efficiency and the government’s bottom line.
EY has been examining information from over 80 core-government entities, 25 statutory authorities, government companies, and numerous boards, committees and commissions. Consultation has included Chief Officers, Heads of Departments and representatives of government as well as the Chamber of Commerce, the governor, Cabinet and elected officials, including opposition leaders.
Keiran Hutchison, a Partner, with EY Cayman and a Restructuring Specialist who is part of the consultants team on the project, said, “I have been very pleased with the response in providing operational information, as well as the level of engagement by stakeholders as they share their professional insights and contribute to solutions for consideration with the EY assessment team."
Mac pushes for duty cut
(CNS): The Legislative Assembly will be debating further duty cuts when the members next meet as well as amendments to the immigration law to equalize the status of foreign spouses married to Caymanians to that of permanent residents' spouses and to reinstate the special provisions for caregivers. Two of the motions were brought by Opposition Leader McKeeva Bush and one by government back-benchers but all three were deferred from the recent budget meeting in order to accommodate motions brought by Bush regarding the airport issues and the marinas in Cayman Brac. Bush’s motion on duty presses government to meet its election pledge to cut the duty he had placed on fuel.
In an ironic twist, the opposition leader’s motion asks the current administration to consider cutting the import duty levied on fuel to bring down “the cost to the consumer in a meaningful manner”, in line he says with election promises. Bush points the finger at the PPM over the duty’s imposition as he states that his UDP government was forced to levy the extra duty because of the cost of the high schools, the Government Administration Building and the high deficit of 2008/09.
So far, government has only cut duty on fuel imported by CUC by 25 cents a gallon and this will not come into effect until January 2015. Although the Progressive administration has said it plans to make further cuts, that won’t be until government finances have stabilized further.
The tone of the opposition leader’s motion, however, is likely to continue to stir up the animosity, on full show during the recent budget meeting, between Bush and Premier Alden McLaughlin. Regardless of the passage of time since the 2008/09 deficit, the opposition leader is still pointing to that and the high schools as the cause of all Cayman’s public finance ills.
Bush will also likely provoke argument with his motion asking for the reinstatement of special provisions for caregivers, which was removed in October when government amended the term limits to remove the seven year rollover and allow all work permit holders to stay long enough to apply for permanent residency. This means that caregivers can also make the application but Bush is seeking to allow those taking care of elderly people in particular to be allowed to stay indefinitely.
Meanwhile,a motion filed by veteran member and government backbencher Anthony Eden, backed by Alva Suckoo, is expected to raise less concern as it is aimed at addressing an inequity in the immigration law as it relates to foreign spouses of Caymanians and residents.
The current immigration law provides for a spouse of a permanent resident to be added as a dependent, allowing both to apply for naturalization as British Overseas Territories Citizens of the Cayman Islands following one year of such grant. However, a foreigner married to a Caymanian who is granted PR has to wait for seven years of marriage before they can apply for status.
In his motion Eden says the apparent anomaly has been in the law for many years but it appears to be that the restrictions on foreign spouses of Caymanians is causing tensions within the community and viewedby Caymanians as unfair treatment.
Chamber takes members pulse on PPM government
(CNS): After more than one year in office the government is the subject of the Chamber of Commerce’s latest on-line survey. The business organization is asking its members to take fill in the electronic questionnaire which takes just a few minutes and poses a number of questions about how the PPM led government is performing. It asks employers about their concerns and priorities, their thoughts on the privatization of government and how it is handling the major projects, as well as how well they think the premier and the opposition leader are doing their $100k plus per annum jobs. (Photo Dennie Warren)
In his request to the membership Johann Moxam, the chamber president said the Chamber wanted the membership views on the top issues that matter most to them and their businesses and how they think the elected Government is performing after completing one year in office.
“This is your personal opportunity to get involved in shaping the Chamber's public advocacy agenda. Your response will be treated confidentially so we encourage you to be frank with your responses,” he said. “The survey should take less than five minutes to complete unless you wish to elaborate on any question in the comments section.”
To take part in the survey click here https://www.surveymonkey.com/
Rivers pushes for better pay for teachers
(CNS): The minister of education has said that she is expecting a proposal from the deputy governor in regards to a review of teachers’ salary and that she has the backing of her Cabinet colleagues in her advocacy of better pay packages, which will not only improve the lives of teachers already within the system but will help in the recruitment of capable and competent teaching staff. “I have from the very beginning been advocating for the civil service to look at the provisions for teachers and remuneration packages, the structure, the hiring practices,” Tara Rivers told CNS in a video interview. However, she noted that the salary of civil servants is not in her domain but in that of the governor and deputy governor as head of the civil service.
“As minister of education I am a strong advocate for professions such as teaching because we know that the quality of your educational experience is very much dependent on the quality of the teaching that is delivered and offered in our schools," she said.
The remuneration of civil servants is in the hands of the governor and deputy governor but she has been in constant dialogue with them, she said, "and they have given a commitment to look at the situation with respect to teachers and how we can improve that system in order to improve their lives as well as improving the prospects of ensuring that we have and we can attract capable and competent teachers."
Rivers said she wants to reward teachers "for good and excellent performance". However, she also said that "for performance that is not necessarily up to par", there would be "appropriate sanctions as well".
"As minister for education I will continue to advocate for very strongly that our teachers need to be given the latitude to teach as well as being given the ability to live and to afford to pay their bills … I know it doesn’t just affect teachers but obviously, as the minister responsible for education, that is the one area that I will be continuing to advocate for," she said.
MLA info access to improve
(CNS): The register showing the commercial interests and possible conflicts faced by the islands’ political representatives is to be improved to make it easier to understand, more accessible and contain more information. The chair of the Legislative Assembly’s Register of Interests Committee, Wayne Panton, told CNS that he is meeting with the clerk of the parliament this week to begin reshaping how MLAs declare their interests, blazing the trail for how all public officials will reveal their interests once the Standards in Public Life law is implemented. Government is reviewing the legislation following concerns from volunteer board members that the law will force them to resign, but in the meantime Panton wants elected officials to be more transparent.
The Register of Interests kept at the Legislative Assembly is not currently up to date, not easily accessible and doesn’t provide for full and frank disclosure from members. Anyone wishing to see the register has to make an appointment to do so and their viewing of the information is constantly supervised. Neither the public nor the media are allowed to copy the contents and the historical record of MLAs is not available.
In a review of the files in March CNS found a fragmented, disorganised file that hadn’t been updated sinceNomination Day. Members’ declarations are not always clear and they currently reveal their business interests in hand written submissions that vary in presentation and completeness.
However, with the passage of the Standards in Public Life law, the members will have to declare much more detail regarding their interests and those of close family. The ethics law also requires senior civil servants to show their interests but the law has encountered problems with volunteer board members.
As a result of the broad requirements under the law to reveal all related interests, some volunteers serving as directors on government companies and statutory authorities working in the private sector have raised concerns that they could be in professional conflict if they are required to declare details relating to their firms or even clients.
In an effort to avoid mass resignations and future difficulties recruiting members the law is set to be changed.
However, Panton said that he did not want to see that delay the changes needed to improve the Register of Interests and its accessibility. Panton told CNS that the current state of affairs is not sufficient and he will be seeking a way to make the information about himself and his political colleagues in the first instance far more accessible and easier to understand.
With many of the local politicians and ministers having extensive business interests, including Panton, who has nine directorships, and Moses Kirkconnell, who has interests in more than a dozen different business as well as land holdings, the purpose of the register is to make it easy for the public to see potential conflicts.
See related story with the Register of Interests, as compiled by CNS from notes, made during an appointment at the LA.
Mac pushes marina row on
(CNS): Seizing yet another opportunity to air his grievances over what he claims is the unfair treatment of a hotel owner in Cayman Brac for a proposed inland marina next to his property, the opposition leader was given leave by the Legislative Assembly speaker to bring yet another motion about the issue Thursday. Having raised the subject several times in the LA and Finance Committee recently, McKeeva Bush once again attacked the environment minister over the handling of Cleveland Dilbert’s application and the requirement that he undertake an environmental impact assessment (EIA). Bush has not only raised this in parliament, he has also taken every chance he has had to berate government over this particular project in public forums as well.
Going out to bat in earnest for Dilbert, the owner of the Alexander Hotel, Bush appears to have made it his personal goal to press this matter until the project is given the green light without an EIA.
The proposal was first raised during Bush’s time as premier and tourism minister but the coastal works application was not considered by his UDP government at the time and it is not clear why it wasn’t, though Bush has pointed to civil service stumbling blocks.
It eventually came before the PPM Cabinet along with two other smaller marina proposals by MMCB Ltd earlier this year and all three were approved as a result of pressure from the Brac business community to boost the economy. With the two marinas proposed by MMCB being less complex and in areaswhere the Department of Environment (DoE) could predict the impact, the department had advised Cabinet that if it must approve such proposals, these projects were limited in their environmental harm.
However, the DoE had advised that the Dilbert proposal was far more extensive and complex and the experts in the department believed that the risks associated with it were far more significant, and with no way to mitigate the potential risks, they advised Cabinet to reject the proposal. Despite that advice, Cabinet still approved it after Dilbert made a presentation saying he believed the DoE’s concerns were unjustified. Given the potential dangers however, Cabinet said Dilbert should undertake an independent EIA, which, if he was right, would show that the DoE was wrong and demonstrate how the proposal could be mitigated.
Since then Dilbert has claimed that he is being treated unfairly and does not want to undertake the EIA.
Bush has become increasingly incensed over the issue on every occasion he has raised it, suggesting that the two other marinas, which he says he supports as well, are just as environmentally threatening, and asking why, if they don’t need an EIA, should Dilbert be required to undertake the costly assessment.
The opposition leader spoke about his support for the family hotel, which was suffering because it was built next to a brackish pond that can give off a strong smell, and pointed to the removal of Saltwater Pond's status as a bird sanctuary. However, efforts to address the smell were understood to have failed and the Dilbert family then proposed the idea of a marina, which he said his government backed.
Bush hurled insults at the DoE director and the environment minister, made allegations of corruption and cronyism, nepotism and bad governance surrounding the owner of MMCB and Cabinet members. He accused government of trying to besmirch the Dilbert’s name and a concerted effort by the environment department to turn a blind eye to the environmental damage of the other marinas, while trying to stop the Alexander project due to a bias against Dilbert. He said that it could not be that one developer “can get so much and the other pounced upon and called names”, as he insisted, in contrast to the DoE scientists' assessment, that the impact on the environment by the other marina proposals was potentially just as damaging as the Dilbert proposal.
The opposition leader said he found government’s “behaviour appalling” and was tired of the “self-serving actions" and their excuses.
Responding for the umpteenth time to what he has insisted are Bush’s unfounded allegations, Environment Minister Wayne Panton said he had a sense of déjà vu about the accusations and the opposition leader’s motion.
He said the opposition leader was totally misrepresenting the situation and Dilbert’s application was processed and reviewed in accordance with any coastal works application. Panton emphasised the scale and scope and complexity of that project and how it had to have an EIA to prove that Dilbert was right and the DoE wrong as the risk were significant.
The minister said it involved a canal that was 700 plus feet long, 12 feet deep and 100 feet wide cutting through the reefs and the marine park to connect into the interior pond, which was startlingly different from the other proposals, with layers of complexity that would be impossible to mitigate. The other two proposals, he added, had far morelimited impact and it was not possible to compare the projects.
However, regardless of the potential environmental disasters presented by the Dilbert’s proposal, the Cabinet had approved it dependent on an EIA. “Cabinet felt that the only responsible reaction, in wanting to support the Brac, was to ask for the EIA and have experts demonstrate that what he was saying was correct,” Panton added.
Legislative changes pave way for conservation law
(CNS): Some six months after the historic passage of the national conservation law in the Legislative Assembly the minster for agriculture brought two amendments to the House on Wednesday when parliament resume after the long finance committee hearings. Minor but necessary changes to the plants and the animals laws will enable Cabinet to implement the much anticipated conservation law and allow the formal creation of the environment council. Cayman, will once the necessary formalities are in place, final have some limited protections for its terrestrial wild life.
In addition to the passage of the animal laws the government also dealt with amendments to the tax information exchange laws to pave the way for automatic exchange. The LA had resumed on Wednesday after it had dealt with the finance committee to pass the budget through.
However, the proceedings were dominated by the opposition leader over Wednesday and Thursday as he sought to bring emergency motions dealing with the airport scandal and the question of what he has called the unfair treatment of hotelier Cleveland Dilbert and his application for a marina in Cayman Brac. (Check back for story on CNS later).
Following the heated debates on the two motions which both failed, the premier adjourned the parliament ‘sine die’. As a result the government was also forced to carry over three private members on immigration and import duty from the opposition leader and government back benchers.
Although the premier has said he is keen to set a more formalized time table and regular hours for the country’s parliament to meet so far this goal has remained elusive.
Mac calls for porn probe
(CNS): The opposition leader argued hard on Thursday for a parliamentary enquiry into the reinstatement of the airport’s IT manager over allegations that he was using his government- issued computer to view porn and download sexually explicit images and how the former acting CEO came to leave the airport. McKeeva Bush was given leave to move a motion in the Legislative Assembly calling for a privileges committee to be formed to get to the bottom of what he said was direct interference by the board in the two related human resource matters. Bush also said the board chair had lied to Finance Committee when he insisted the board was staying out of personnel issues when there was significant evidence to the contrary.
The opposition leader argued that Finance Committee had been misled and members needed to enquire into all of the circumstances surrounding the series of events. He warned that if they didn’t, the matter would never be heard of again. He pointed out a number of issues that were being kept under wraps and said the public ought to be told the truth. Bush also laid a letter on the table of the LA from the airport’s lawyers to the board chairman, which he said the airport staff had denied knowledge of until the chair admitted its existence and brought the letter to the House.
Following revelations in Finance Committee and from evidence which Bush had following an FOI request, he expressed significant concerns about the catalogue of issues and events at Owen Roberts International Airport (ORIA).
This included an employee who on the face of the evidence had been merely reprimanded for behaviour which constituted gross misconduct in relation to the pornographic material, and a second employee who had nothing to do with the porn scandal being wrongly besmirched as well. Then, after Kerith McCoy had said the IT manager should be sacked and raised concerns over board interference and while he was on leave, the board had maneuvered him out of his job. The board was then later forced to settle with McCoy, who was paid an undisclosed sum to take early retirement.
Bush also said it was very clear that the current board chaired by Kirkland Nixon was directly involved in many other staffing and operational issues, despite his direct denials to Finance Committee and the authority law, which does not allow such interference.
Although he pressed his point home hard to get the probe, making it clear that if the members did not deal with it, the issue would be swept under the carpet, Bush still lost the day. He had argued that a privileges committee could call all the witnesses and the full details would come out and it was not just about castigating people in public but to get at the truth.
Demanding once again that the current board be sacked, as he compared the situation to the previous board under his administration, Bush said what was good for the goose was good for the gander.
During his response to Bush, the premier made it clear that there would be no privileges committee established. He claimed that no one had lied to the committee and Bush’s motion didn’t establish a reason why a parliamentary privileges committee was the right way to deal with the issue.
Alden McLaughlin defended the present board and said that when they took over, Owen Roberts was in such shambles and facing such a crisis from the previous board’s tenure that the airport was in danger of having to close. Defending the current board as upstanding people, McLaughlin accused Bush of wanting revenge because all of the scandal and allegations of corruption surrounding the previous board that he had appointed.
The premier insisted that the airport staff had not lied about the letter as they had said it could very well exist but they had not seen it. McLaughlin said that while there may have been wrongdoing, and he could not say either way, regarding the IT manager or personnel interference and an enquiry may be required, the privileges committee was not the way to handle the matter.
He also claimed that the exposure of the letter between the airport lawyers, Ritch and Connolly, and Nixon to members, despite being in-camera, was unlawful as the correspondence was protected by client-attorney privilege. He said that Nixon was intimidated into given up the correspondence.
Nevertheless, Bush laid the letter on the LA table making it a public document as he said the people needed to see it. (CNS will publish the letter as soon as it has a copy.) Bush, also said it was absurd to suggest the chair had been intimidated as he said no one could easily intimidate Kirkland Nixon. He pointed out that the former fire chief also knew all about Finance Committee having appeared many times to defend the fire service budget.
Despite his pressure on the government benches and pointing out the message they would all send if they voted against his motion when they claimed to be the purveyors of good governance, the opposition leader was defeated when government members voted it down.
Cabinet member Tara Rivers, however, abstained as she said she was not present during the questioning of the airport staff and board as she was at a school graduation. Anthony Eden also declined as he had been acting as speaker when Bush had first attempted to file the motion.
Budget passed in nick of time
(CNS): Government has been given the green light to spend almost three quarters of a billion dollars next year after legislators completed the work of Finance Committee and passed the appropriations bill on Wednesday when elected representatives returned to parliament. The bill will now go before the governor and be implemented in the nick of time before Monday’s 30 June deadline. MLAs spent eleven days examining the appropriations before finally voting on the bill which predicts that government will collect over $872 million in revenue. Tax payers were given only small breaks as government's hands remain tied by the UK's surplus requirements to address debt and the depleted reserves.
However, the man in the street can look forward to a small cut in fuel bills in January and import duty cuts on some retail goods.
The reduction of duty on diesel for CUC from 75 to 50 cents a gallon should see power bills come down by around 4%, and if merchants pass on the cuts to consumers the duty reductions for licensed traders of 2% starting in July may offer a tiny piece of relief at the tills, but there are no guarantees that retailers will cut prices.
The only other break is a cut in licence fees for small businesses with 10 or less workers, which will be cut as much as 75% depending on the location of the business. Civil servants are still without their 3.2% cost of living allowance but they will all receive a one off bonus in this month’s pay-packet of 2.5% of their yearly salary.
During Finance Committee no changes were made to any of government's spending plans but Ezzard Miller said he had welcomed the fair and transparent manner in which the finance minister had handled the questioning.
He said through the probing of the appropriations the public has a much better idea of what government is spending and why. Miller pointed out that no one knows what’s in a government annual budget until “it is plonked in front of us”, and as a result it is important that the opposition benches and government members all examine what the money is being used for.
The independent member for North Side said he had some concerns that in some cases ministers did not seem fully briefed about the spending that they are responsible for. “The ministers were not as tuned in as they could be and were deferring to their chief officers when they should have been able to answer questions. If a minister has gone through developing the budget they should know what is going on.”
Pointing to inconsistencies and the failure to justify some spending, he said, “When we see $2 million being spent on security guards opening doors at government buildings, that’s alarming,” Miller stated, as he pointed out that none of these employees are in a position to actually make anything secure.
He also raised concerns about areas where government departments are clearly not talking to each other, as in the case of the planned half-way house rehabilitation centre in West Bay. While government is giving money to the project, the facility has not actually got planning permission.
Incidences when the committee was misled were of particular concern, he added, especially over the airport porn scandal and the issue of the board’s interference in that reinstatement of the employee concerned and the circumstances surrounding the departure of the former CEO.
“We would expect people to put up their hands and admit what happened and what was going on,” he said, but remarked that the culture of rewarding people for “messing up”, as was seen last year at the ICTA, has lead to people believing that they will not be held accountable no matter what they do, Miller warned.