Politics
CS bosses ask that experts make final cuts
(CNS): Records released by the deputy governor’s office of a civil service managers’ meeting show that the public sector bosses want outside experts to be the ones that make the major cuts in the size of government. Minutes from a chief officers’ meeting on 16 September show that while Deputy Governor Franz Manderson believes that good progress had been made in reducing the cost of the civil service, more work is needed and this must be achieved by structural changes. With civil servants doing much more work with fewer resources and some mergers of departments having already happened, the next step will require a comprehensive report, which civil servants should not be asked to do, he said.
“The deputy governor stated that it was important that a comprehensive report be prepared that will allow Ministers to determine what services provided by the government should be abolished, amalgamated or privatized. It was agreed that civil servants should not be asked to perform this work and that expertise from outside of government was necessary,” the minutes record.
Although the civil service heads said it was important for ministers to also hear the views of chief officers, the public sector leaders are clearly reluctant to carry the can for future cuts.
However, as well as the civil service's own internal reviews and reports over the last four years, the Miller-Shaw report, which was published in 2009, also pointed to areas to cut or privatize but it is believed that the document has largely been ignored. That report pointed to the possible sale of the Port Authority, the airport, Water Authority, UCCI, the Development Bank and the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange, as well as the Cayman Turtle Farm.
Speaking at the Chamber Legislative Lunch meeting last week, the premier pointed out the main problem government faces when it came to the privatization of its companies or statutory authorities: the only ones people are interested in are the profitable ones. Answering questions after his key note speech, Alden McLaughlin said if anyone wanted to buy the Turtle Farm to let him know.
Despite another $12 million being shaved off operation costs this year, the government still needs to drive down the civil service bill further unless it can find a new revenue source. McLaughlin pointed out, however, that government was fast reaching the point that it would need to make decisions about divestment if it was to continue to drive down costs.
He explained that already some cost cuts were not sustainable, such as putting recruitment on hold or not buying what a department really needs. The premier warned that continuing to make unsustainable cuts would leave the public sector in crisis and so divestment was the remaining solution.
“We need to shave off some services but when it comes to true privatization, the only ones people want are profitable ones … thatis the stark reality,” he said. He also warned of the dangers of creating private monopolies by selling government companies, as well as the costs of regulating private sector entities that deliver public services.
In the meantime, with the civil service wanting to hand over the tough cuts, the minutes show that the policy for voluntary separation has now been approved by Cabinet and an implementation schedule is being finalized and will commence this week. This is expected to also help cut costs and reduce headcount during the coming year. Civil servants who accept the separation package will depart from the service in January 2014.
In a step towards a more transparent public sector, the document posted below also reveals that the performance assessments deadline is today, 30 September, and public sector bosses were reminded that the assessments were a key component of driving accountability across the civil service.
CIG’s Europe trip costs revealed at just over $14K
(CNS): With accommodation costs covered by the Joint Ministerial Council in Gibraltar, the Jersey government providing accommodation for the trip there and a chief officer depending on friends in London, as well as flying premium economy rather than first class, the recent trip by a Cayman delegation to Europe, led by Premier Alden McLaughlin, was kept down to $14,256.20, government officials have said. With travel still a contentious issue, government released the costs of the trip taken by the premier, the financial services minister, a backbench councillor and a chief officer earlier this month, which began with a trip to Gibraltar.
McLaughlin and his Joint Ministerial Council "Sherpa", Jennifer Ahearn, CO in the health ministry, travelled to Gibraltar on 11 September to attend a three-day pre-Joint Ministerial Council meeting of the overseas territories.
McLaughlin and Ahearn travelled premium economy on all flights, at a cost of $2,738.95 each. They were each allotted a $150 daily per diem allowance for a total of $1,200 each for eight days and accommodation was provided by the JMC.
Following Gibraltar, Ahearn travelled to London for a meeting of Sherpas to help set the agenda for November’s Joint Ministerial Council meeting in London. She had no accommodation costs in London as she stayed with friends.
In London, the premier was joined by Financial Services Minister Wayne Panton and the FS ministry’s councillor, Roy McTaggart. The three travelled to Jersey at the invitation of the islands’ chief minister, Ian Gorst, and the Jersey government provided accommodation. Airfare for Panton and McTaggart was $2,439.15 each for premium economy seats and they were each given $750 to cover expenses for the five days.
Officials said that during the meeting in Gibraltar the premier met with his counterparts to discuss issues affecting the overseas territories ahead of the main JMC meeting in November to explore how Cayman and other OTs can work together collectively when they all go to London.
The UK trip included a visit to the Cayman Islands Shipping Registry at the Southampton office, which continues to promote Cayman as one of the world’s most respected jurisdictions for registering yachts and commercial vessels.
“The expertise of the Cayman Islands Shipping Registry, the reputation of the Cayman Islands flag, the ease with which a vessel can be registered, the security of the Cayman Islands, and the determination to personally monitor and uphold high standards, have made the Cayman Islands Shipping Registry one of the top 13 registries in the world,’ government stated.
The delegation also joined the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism’s European team at the Southampton Boat Show on Friday, 13 September, to lend support to the team’s efforts to bring the Cayman Islands to the forefront of the affluent yachting fraternity.
The delegation was invited to Jersey to review that government’s procurement process as part of the preparations for the CIG’s review of its own procurement systems, as well as to discuss how Jersey deals with immigration and the budgeting process.
TLEPs getting only 45 days
(CNS): The more than 1,500 ex-pat workers holding term limit exemption permits that were due to leave the country next month have only been given an extension of 45 days from when they expire, the premier explained Thursday. Despite what he called the propaganda surrounding this issue, Alden McLaughlin has made it clear that all TLEP holders must apply for permanent residency before 9 December. During that 45 day time period their employers will also need to apply for new work permits and to advertise every one of the posts, opening them all to local workers. The country’s new leader said that if there are Caymanians willing and able to do the jobs, permits will not be granted and the ex-pat workers will still have to leave.
However, McLaughlin told a packed room of Chamber members Thursday that around 900 of the TLEP holders were in low paid, low skilled jobs that had not been of interest to local people and that kicking out all of these workers next month instead of taking steps to regularize their status would not translate into 1,500 new jobs for Caymanians.
“The view has also been put abroad that if these 1,500 TLEP holders were sent home that 1,500 Caymanians would find jobs immediately,” he told the gathering at the Chamber of Commerce Legislative Lunch yesterday
“The truth is that of this number over 900 are for jobs as domestics, gardeners, caregivers and other jobs which Caymanians have clearly demonstrated they have no interest in filling. It is also worthy of note that, in effect, the TLEPs are only being extended for 45 days, to December 9th. During this period the jobs will have to be advertised in the usual way and Caymanians will have ample opportunity to apply for these jobs. If a Caymanian is willing and able to do the job, a new work permit will not be granted to the TLEP holder,” he assured the audience.
With controversies mounting over the proposed changes to immigration and the plan to allow this group of workers to stay, McLaughlin explained the motivations behind the decision to allow all TLEP workers to stay past their already extended term.
“The previous government legislated this category into law and ought to have acted on the report it commissioned to regularize the status of this group,” he noted, outlining what his new administration was faced with. “On coming to office, we quickly realized that the term limit for the TLEPs expired on October 28th and we would have to resolve the problem.
“There are just over 1,500 people who fall into this category, all of whom by October 28 will have been living here for more than seven years. In the interest of fairness, the committee who reported to Cabinet on the TLEPs found that it would be discriminatory to treat them any differently than other work permit holders and that time spent here should count towards the eight year requirement that already exists in the law as the point at which an application for permanent residence can be made,” he added.
McLaughlin also warned, as he had at the time when former premier McKeeva Bush proposed the TLEP as a solution to the problem of a mass exodus of more than 2,000 workers, that there was a real possibility that government could be sued. He said there was a danger of legal action on human rights grounds if government allowed a discriminatory system to prevail.
“It was therefore thought advisable to let the new system work to determine whether the TLEPs would be eligible for permanent residence status rather than to expel more than 1,500 people all at once at the end of next month,” he said. “The last thing the country can afford at this time is a rash of law suits claiming human rights abuses. Our reputation in the international community is still too fragile to take this risk.”
With the entire immigration system being overhauled, the new law will allow anyone who comes to Cayman and stays here long enough the right to apply for PR. Only following a PR application refusal that a worker would be forced to leave. If they are fortunate to succeed they will be allowed to live here permanently, if they follow the law, and then go on to apply for status.
He emphasised that under the new regime the pass mark for PR would rise to 60% from current 48% of points available as the process became more robust. Plus, the fee was increasing from $250 to $1000.
With the TLEP issue being tied directly to Cayman’s growing unemployment problem in the public domain, McLaughlin tried hard at the luncheon to dispel that notion as he also pointed to action that his government was taking to address unemployment.
Phase 2 of the immigration changes are expected next year and these will address the work permit process and the recruitment of foreign workers when locals are available, which the premier insists is where the problem lies and not with the workers who have been here for many years. The PPM government is also focusing on the National Workforce Development Agency, which has taken the brunt of criticism as it has appeared incapable of matching unemployed Caymanians to the more than 22,000 jobs out there currently held by ex-pats.
McLaughlin said the Progressive government was taking a proactive approach to placing Caymanians in available jobs through a re-invigorated agency.
“The agency has a diverse, multi-dimensional series of placement and training programmes, some in partnership with private enterprise, that cover the needs of a wide range of clients who register with them,” he told the Chamber members, but he also noted the part they could play.
“I therefore urge you, as employers, to participate in their programmes and use the services they provide to find Caymanians to fill vacancies you may have in your businesses. Of course, if you can give the government the commitment to each employ at least one new Caymanian over the next six to nine months, this would go a long way to reducing unemployment,” he pointed out.
See list from immigration of posts filled by permit holders – TLEPS are coded as WTG WTR.
Interested parties are urged to contact immigration or the NWDA if they wish to apply for any of the posts currently held by TLEPs.
Premier: ‘Bill misunderstood’
(CNS): The premier defended his proposed immigration changes Thursday, maintaining that some people misunderstood what the reforms were meant to achieve and what the result would be, and he accused some of spreading falsehoods about the changes. In the face of a planned rally next month against the immigration amendment bill tabled last week, Alden McLaughlin said it was the democratic right of people to demonstrate but he really hoped that they would take time to understand the changes and the bill's intent. Admitting that there had been much internal discussion in government around the bill, he said his Cabinet was not split and he was confident of safe passage once it reached the floor of the LA.
Nevertheless, the premier raised concerns about the current opposition to the bill during his presentation at the Chamber of Commerce annual legislator’s lunch.
“It has not escaped my attention that either through ignorance or mischief there are people who have been playing on the emotions of Caymanians to try to convince them that their interests are not being protected by the Amendments to the Immigration Bill,” the premier stated.
He said that the rollover policy had not been abolished, even though all ex-pats will now be allowed to stay long enough to apply for permanent residency, and said those who are refused PR will still be rolled out. McLaughlin said the term limit was not being removed but extended from seven years to nine for all work permit holders. What has been abolished, the premier said, is the key employee status, which will level the playing field for permit holders.
“The change means that all work permit holders will be treated in the same way,” he said. “Under the current system, it is the employer who makes the determination as to who is a key employees and who can stay beyond the seven years to eventually qualify in terms of time spent on island to apply for permanent residence. By extending the length of time a work permit holder can remain to nine years and allowing all work permit holders who reach eight years to apply for permanent residence, government can now decide through an open and transparent points system who will be granted permanent resident status rather than having this determined by employers, he told the audience of Chamber members.
Speaking to the press after the lunch presentation, McLaughlin said that the new PR point system would change and be more robust. He said applicants would require 110 points instead of the current 100 to qualify and more factors would be considered.
The premier said that, despite the debate and the opposition from some quarters, he believed that the majority of peoplewere in support of the changes and that they would see that this would not “open the flood gates” for all ex-pat and permit holders to become Caymanian. He said that although the criteria for PR would be fairer, it would be more stringent and therefore everyone would not get through.
In the face of the planned rally, McLaughlin said he hoped that when people saw the reality of the situation they would come to a different view as their fears will not be realized, and said their concerns were entirely unfounded. However, if government believed there were significant numbers of people opposed to what was happening, it was prepared to listen to those concerns.
“We have paid attention to concerns all along,” he said, adding that this was why government had pulled back from the original ten year limit and why it was clamping down on what have been seen as fraudulent job descriptions by employers, designed to tailor jobs to specific individuals.
McLaughlin said that the real problems for Caymanians were happening at the other end of the process, when employers were seeking ways to employ ex-pats in the first place while Caymanians were available, and that would be part of the next phase of reform.
“The entire immigration and work permit application process is being strengthened and protections built in to protect the integrity of the system,” he added.
The premier said he would be talking widely over the next few days about the various specific provisions of the bill ahead of the debate in the Legislative Assembly.
The strategy to reform the immigration policy was to make it more responsive to the employment needs of Caymanians, he added, while at the same time ensuring that the labour needs of the market are adequate to service the areas where Caymanians are either not qualified or not available.
McLaughlin stressed, “Immigration legislation is, among other things, used to protect the jobs of the local population.” But he added, “It is not, in and of itself, employment legislation,” as he emphasised that the government was also tackling unemployment through the National Workforce and Development Agency and various other initiatives.
Protest planned against immigration changes
(CNS): Although the PPM made it clear on the campaign trail that, if returned to office, a Progressive administration would remove the seven year term limit, known as 'rollover' and reform the immigration policy, the backlash against the decision is mounting. The government, which has been in officer for just four months, is now facing its first demonstration rally. Organisers of a protest march are calling on all Caymanians and those who "love the Cayman Islands", to join the demo scheduled for 10am on Friday 11 October, aginst the extensive and recently published Immigration Amendment bill. Having taken part in a number of rallies themselves while in opposition, it remains to be seen if the march will move the PPM to reconsider the proposed bill and halt its planned presentation to the Legislative Assembly next month.
Organisers said that this was the “final opportunity to save Cayman” and an effort to stop the proposed immigration reform bill, which was published this week and is expected to be debated in the LA later in October and before the expiration of some 1,500 Term Limit Exemption Permits.
“We will gather at the Government Administration Building on Elgin Avenue at 10am and proceed to the Legislative Assembly Building,” protesters stated in an email circulated Thursday.
The government's decision to eliminate rollover and allow all of those who live in Cayman for eight years to apply for permanent residency, switching the decision of who gets to stay in Cayman from employers back to government, is being strongly opposed by a number of Caymanians who see it as a further stumbling block to local workers' ability to advance in the local economy.
With more than 2,000 Caymanians unemployed and many blocked from advancing in the jobs they currently hold, the prospect of more expats being allowed to stay for longer has increased concerns significantly about future localemployment.
It is understood that not all of the members of government are in support of the reform, which is being spearheaded by Premier Alden McLaughlin. Questions submitted by CNS to government concerning the alleged Cabinet and government bench split on the issue have so far been ignored. During his time as leader of the opposition, McLaughlin had criticised the previous leader McKeeva Bush for not listening to the concerns of the people and ploughing ahead with unpopular policies.
See bill below.
Affordable housing stalled
(CNS): The problems relating to building truly affordable homes that people on low income can actually buy still exist, according to the National Housing Development Trust general manager, Julio Ramos, who explained to Public Accounts Committee last week that there are still significant issues surrounding the initiative. After several years of turmoil, Ramos revealed that with no board in place for quite some time and no new policy directives about how the not-so-affordable housing initiative can now go forward, the Trust’s work is stalled. He said there are 41 people still living in homes declared unfit for human habitation and new tenants in the government's housing project are renting and not able to buy.
This has raised concerns among many of the new tenants, one of whom recently contacted CNS to say that some of the government’s tenants who wanted to buy their homes and moved in on the premise of a 'rent to buy' transition are now moving out because they cannot afford to pay rent and invest in a property that they will not be allowed to buy. The former tenant said that he and many others now believe they were tricked into the homes under the impression of 'rent to own' when they paid the deposits and collected the keys.
“The National Housing Development Trust claims these low income homes were for people that couldn't get or afford a mortgage but who would be able to afford these homes. But I was living in one under the impression of rent to own, but clearly that was just another way for people to take these houses to build up government's budget in my opinion,” Ruben Whittaker, a former tenant, told CNS recently after he was forced to move out. He said that what were meant to be socially affordable homes were turned into expensive rentals.
Despite the promise of better quality homes with the new wave of properties built during the previous administration, Whittaker said that the houses were poorly maintained and the Trust took a long time to address the frequently needed repairs. Whittaker said that something had gone seriously awry with the initiative and the poor people investing rental money now understand that they won’t own.
“The houses were built to get Caymanians on a path to own their home but no one in their rightful mind would go and rent from the government if it was just rent. We would have gone elsewhereand rent places that came furnished,” he added, referring to the hardship of having to buy furniture and appliances on low incomes. Whittaker said that after frequently enquiring with the trust what the status on the rent to buy issue was, he got little response. Seeing a red flag, he made the decision not to spend any more money on the property and moved out.
During the PAC hearing last week Ramos indicated that the policy goal was still 'rent to buy' but it had not been sanctioned and he did not know what would happen next until a new board was functioning. However, he pointed to a significant number of problems.
Ramos said he had families occupying 41 of the old condemned original AHI homes that could not be re-housed in the new properties because they were not in good standing with their rentals. He said the trust needed some direction about what to do with these government tenants who owed back rent and could not, under the current policy directive, be re-housed but who were living in substandard properties. Ramos said this was a major problem but no one had any solutions or suggestions on how to fix it.
With the trust struggling to collect its bad debt, he said that it was now forced to lease the empty newly-built homes to new tenants as the 'rent to buy' programme had been placed on hold, even though he admitted that tenants had been selected on that basis. The issue of the affordability of the homes has also undermined the 'rent to buy' policy because the homes are far more expensive than the original properties.
Although there has been no official government announcement about a new board, Ramos told the committee that he believed it had just been appointed and this issue would be the top of the agenda for its first meeting. Ramos spoke about the frustrations of his position, as his many recommendations to the past board were ignored.
Answering questions from the committee about the scandal of board fees, he said the directors had voted themselves a massive fee increase for their meetings but had never justified that decision.
In October 2011 the board was embroiled in a major corruption scandal and the deputy chair was eventually arrested and charged with theft. Edlin Myles is scheduled to be tried in the case later this year, having been accused of using his position on the board to con new tenants into buying insurance from him. Following his arrest and the subsequent investigation into the entire trust and board, a number of concerns were raised about what had been going on.
Auditor General Alastair Swarbrick also found that $4.2 million worth of contracts had been awarded and funded with public cash during the previous government to build the new homes. However, no tendering process was ever completed as the project was broken down into individual house by house contracts and pre-cleared local contractors were all given a chance to build one of the homes.
Swarbrick described this as “a novel way to procure services” but recognized that this was a social programme and the policy behind it was not only to provide low cost homes but work for local contractors. Nevertheless, the auditor said, the trust should have engaged the CTC when it made a decision to tender the contracts in such an unusual way.
The minister with ultimate responsibility for the initiative at the time was the community affairs minister, Mike Adam, but the direct political oversight had been passed to George Town backbench counsellor Ellio Solomon.
Locals wanted for TLEP jobs
(CNS): In the face of continuing controversy regarding the 1,522 Term LimitExemption Permit holders who are all about to get the go-ahead to stay in Cayman, government has said that Caymanians will have an opportunity to apply for all of the jobs. The premier’s office has said that local workers interested in filling any of the jobs for which they are qualified are urged to apply so that the immigration department has all of the relevant information required in determining the grant or refusal of new work permits. With the pending change in the law, if employers do not disclose that a Caymanian applied for a job, they will face a hefty fine.
“Employers should note that it will now be an offence, carrying a fine of up to $20,000 in the first instance, for an employer to fail to disclose to the Immigration Department when making an application for a work permit that a Caymanian, a spouse of a Caymanian or a permanent resident has applied for the position,” the release from the premier’s press secretary said, following the publication of the new Immigration Law Amendment bill, which is expected to be debated in the Legislative Assembly next month.
However, There is still no comment from the premier’s office regarding the suspected Cabinet split over this element of the proposed new law, which will see over 1,500 people returned to the work permit system next month who would have been rolled over last year. Government is pressing ahead with the change in the law, which will allow all of these workers to make a permanent residency application before the year’s end under what will also be a new processing regime that government has indicated will be much more robust and efficient, if the bill makes it through the Legislative Assembly next month.
The TLEPs were created by the previous administration and they effectively kicked the can down the road to the current government to deal with this pressing but controversial problem. Cayman was in facing the problem of around 2,500 work permit holders departing from the islands in a relatively short period, many of whom were in the tourism sector. This was as a result of many workers beginning then seven year term limit more or less at the same time in the post Hurricane Ivan recovery period.
The UDP government came up with the special permit to allow them all to stay for up to two more years, but now all of the 1,522 remaining holders of TLEPs are, as the law stands now, due to depart Cayman on 28 October. Fearing the negative impact of such a mass exodus of these workers and their families on the economy, the new PPM government is proposing to regularize these workers into what will be a new work permit regime, which will allow all foreign workers to stay in Cayman for up to nine years and make a residency application.
In order to ensure greater efficiency and transparency of the immigration policy, the chief immigration officer and people designated by her will now be allowed to process all types of work permit applications, including those where a Caymanian has applied for the position.
Going forward, permanent residence applications will be processed administratively as well as by the Caymanian Status & Permanent Residency Board. Accompanying the new regime will be much stricter rules, and to discourage abuse of the work permit system, it will no longer be possible to work beyond the date of refusal of an application for a work permit while awaiting the outcome of an appeal.
Among the many other changes proposed in this, the first two major overhauls of the immigration law and regulations planned by the new administration, is a new solution to tackle bad payers. To address the problem of permanent residence fees not being paid on time, or at all, it will now be required that all fees must be paid at the time of making the application for permanent residence. This includes the application fee, issue fee, fees in respect to dependents and the annual fee in respect of the first year. The fee to make an application for permanent residence is being increased to $1,000.
Stronger grounds for the removal of permanent residence right are also in the bill, which would see holders who are delinquent in respect to payment of their annual fee lose their residency. Working in an occupation that is not authorized on a certificate or failing to make the required annual declaration could also see residency revoked.
Bush comes face to face with the new governor
(CNS): What could have been a sticky moment went off without a hitch, according to government sources, when Opposition Leader McKeeva Bush formally met the new governor Monday. Although Bush has met the Helen Kilpatrick before, he was in South Africa at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association meeting when she arrived in Cayman, so the former premier missed the first round of official meeting and greeting with the UK’s latest representative in Cayman. After an extremely prickly relationship with her predecessor, Duncan Taylor, whom Bush accused of trying to undermine the economy and advancement of the Cayman Islands and of conspiring against him, it is understood that the opposition leader had a cordial first official meeting with Kilpatrick.
Now in opposition, the UDP leader will not be working as closely with Kilpatrick as he was forced to do with Taylor, when Bush held the political reins of power. However, as leader of the opposition, father of the house, a member of the National Security Council and a leading political figure in Cayman, Bush will still interact with the governor.
Bush formally met Kilpatrick at her offices in the Government Administration Building.
Rollover’s last days approach
(CNS): The government is pressing ahead with the decision to remove the seven year term limit and allow all foreign workers in Cayman an opportunity to apply for permanent residency after being here eight years. Despite unconfirmed suggestions that not all of those sitting on the government benches are supporting the changes, the premier is pressing ahead with the first phase of the promised immigration reform. The amendment bill which is expected to be debated in the Legislative Assembly next week, when legislators will be meeting for the budget session, has now been released and sets out a number of changes that the PPM government hopes will be a first step in dealing with a myriad of issues relating to immigration.
The bill, which is being driven by the new premier, Alden McLaughlin, is not without its controversies, however, as it will allow for more than 1,500 workers currently holding term limit exemption permits to stay and apply for PR. These certificates were an emergency measure introduced by the UDP government to prevent a mass exodus from the island when all of the workers that had arrived in Cayman post Ivan were coming to their seven year term. The goal had been to give employers time to replace the staff gradually. But very few TLEP workers left, and as a result, the new government was facing the same economic problem that the departure of so many people and their dependents on the same day could cause.
With local unemployment soaring, however, this move has caused controversy. Even Cabinet was said to be divided on the issue and it is not clear if McLaughlin has managed to persuade enough of his team to support the amendments and see the bill’s safe passage. Questions sent from CNS to the premier about the split have been ignored.
Among other changes will be a much tougher PR regime but one which seeks a wider cross-section of people that can benefit the country and not just employers. The 'key employee' designation, which had allowed employers to select which people it wanted to keep and allow them to pass the eight year residency barrier, will be removed and enable government to approve or reject PR applications for everyone who stays. Those who do not apply must leave at the nine year point and not ten as anticipated, and PR applications are expected to be processed more quicklyso those who are refused will be leaving more promptly as appeals will be more tightly controlled.
The extensive new bill also provides for the chief immigration officer or her designate to decide permanent residence applications and work permits instead of the boards, cutting down the time applications take.
The board system for immigration has long been a problem since the significant increase in work permit holders and, as such, on the campaign trail McLaughlin promised to deliver a review of the administrative process to speed things up. The new bill also proposes removing the final one year work permit. Instead, those who choose not to apply for PR or who are turned down must leave within three months.
Although the overall result of the bill is that more foreign workers will get to stay a little longer, PR grants will be controlled by government and not the private sector, but in tandem there will be tighter parameters for employing foreign workers and stiff penalties for employers that ignore Caymanians during the recruitment process. The bill makes it an offense for employers not to report any applications they receive from local workers, introducing a maximum first-time fine of $20,000.
Permanent residents will also be monitored and required to declaration their investments, employment and other factors on an annual basis and inform the relevant immigration board or chief immigration officer if there is any change to their employment situation.
If it is passed next month, the bill will not impact any applications being made before it is law so current PR applications will be dealt with under the old law.
Despite the controversies, McLaughlin has persistently argued that the rollover and the process leading to PR has nothing to do with the problems Caymanians face in the workplace but that it was deigned to limit the number of people who can go on to get status. The difficulties some Caymanians have finding work are created through a number of other factors which were unrelated to the seven year rollover.
See bill posted below.
Minutes reveal issues over civil service survey
(CNS): Although problems were not spelt out in the minutes of the 26 August chief officers meeting, more work is needed on a survey of the civil service designed to take the pulse of public sector workers after cuts and austerity measures. The minutes, released by the deputy governor’s office, show that thechief officers discussed the pros and cons of two sample surveys and have identified a need for further research, which will be under taken by Acting CO Ian Fenton. He has also been tasked with refining the objectives in consultation with Deputy Governor Franz Manderson to ensure that the results of the opinion survey will be useful.
The minutes also record that civil service management needs to look at promotional possibilities to ensure maximum participation in the survey, which will be used to create new policy and deal with the need for further operational cost reductions. A chief officers sub-committee has been established to provide outcomes of the research and detailed feedback to the deputy governor and agree the next steps towards implementation.
The external examination results for Year 12 show significant improvements in the passes gained, the ministes record. 61% achieved 5 or more high level passes (A-C or I-III) compared to 49% last year.
In addition, Manderson thanked chief financial officers as government entities submitted their respective financial statements for the 2012/13 financial year on time for the third year in a row.
However, while they all made the deadline again, Auditor General Alastair Swarbrick, speaking at the Public Accounts Committee meeting last week, made it clear that the quality of the submissions was still very poor, describing some as “abysmal”.