Mister Speaker, would the Honourable Minister for Health and Social Development please tell this Honourable House whether the new arrangements for garbage collection are working out to be more cost-effective than the previous arrangements?

Question 1

Mister Speaker, the new arrangements for garbage collection cannot be evaluated simply in dollars and cents terms, important though that is. The value of this fundamentally important service to the country is far more.

The evidence is that since the institution of the district based system of collection, there is improved service and more regular and efficient collection of garbage throughout the Territory. The total cost per annum of the present contracts for Districts one to nine is $1,467,764.

The total cost per annum under the previous arrangement was $613,296. So the difference in the figures is clear, Mister Speaker, but the overall value to the Territory and to its people, of what is being received now, is far more than what had been required of, or received under the prior arrangements for garbage disposal.

Answer 1

I wish to point out too, Mister Speaker, that financial cost was not the only factor considered when the new district based solid waste collection system was introduced. It was also anticipated that the new system would result in a faster and more efficient removal of garbage from the different communities throughout the Territory.

Mister Speaker, with the new district based collection system, contractors are more directly accountable to the local community and employment opportunities are more widely distributed among the districts than in the past. In fact Mister Speaker, employment opportunities for our people have increased.

The system is not perfect, Mister Speaker, and we are well aware that a great deal more needs to be done to address the matter of garbage collection, but the new system has brought some definite improvements.

Thank you.

Mister Speaker, would the Honourable Minister for Health and Social Development please give this Honourable House an update on the Partnership for Peace Intervention Programme, which began last year, indicating, among other things, the number of persons who have been repeat offenders after being involved in the programme?

Question 2

I am grateful for this question and in fact it pre-empted, if I may say that, a statement which I had intended to make to this Honourable House.

Answer 2

Mister Speaker, on 13th July, 2010 I made a statement in this Honourable House about the successful completion of the first cycle of the Partnership for Peace, which Mister Speaker, is a batterers intervention programme against violence.

It is a programme against violence. I am pleased Mister Speaker, to now provide a further update on the Programme. Since that first cycle was held from February 3 – May 19, 2010, we have completed two more cycles of the programme. The second cycle ran from May 27 to September 9, 2010 and the third cycle commenced on January 5, 2011 and concluded on April 20, 2011.

To date, Mister Speaker, a total of 19 participants have completed the programme. I am very pleased to report Mister Speaker, that during each cycle, men have responded well to the programme and to date, none of them have been a repeat offender for domestic violence. Participants of all cycles displayed a high level of commitment to the programme.

The men say that they felt empowered using the techniques learned during the programme. Furthermore Mister Speaker, they have said that the programme does more for their personal development and that it has changed their lives. The programme is for men and many of the participants, Mister Speaker, have in fact recommended that a similar programme be implemented for women.

Mister Speaker, our Partnership for Peace Programme has come in for high praise from among others, UNWomen, which is the new name for the United Nations agency that deals with women. It used to be UNIFEM. UNWomen has described our project as well managed, and as one of the best run programmes in the region.

Our Government, the Government of the Virgin Islands has been commended for its commitment and dedication to the programme. And this Partnership for Peace programme is one of the initiatives that I have highlighted overseas in my role as the Regional Representative on the Commonwealth Women’s Parliamentary Association.

Because Mister Speaker, the problem of violence against women in particular, the whole problem of domestic violence is a universal one and I have said in the forums that I have had the opportunities to speak in, I have spoken of the value of that we have gotten here in the Virgin Islands from this programme.

Finally Mister Speaker, I am pleased to inform this Honourable House that the fourth cycle of this Partnership for Peace programme is scheduled to commence next month, in September. To date the Magistrate’s Court, because the programme is court based, has referred six participants for the programme.

Thank you

Mister Speaker, would the Minister for Health and Social Development please give this Honourable House an update on the work of the National Drug Advisory Council (N.D.A.C.), reporting, among other activities, on its role in controlling the inflow of illegal drugs into the Territory?

Questions 3

Mister Speaker, our Drugs Act, the Drugs (Prevention of Misuse) Act in Section 3(2) makes provision for The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. This Council is commonly referred to as the National Drug Advisory Council (NDAC), and it has as its main responsibility and I quote from the law, “to keep under review the situation in the Territory with respect to drugs which are being, or appear to them likely to be misused and of which the misuse is having or appears to them capable of having harmful effects sufficient to constitute a social problem”, and to provide advice to the Minister accordingly.

Answer 3

In essence Mister Speaker, it is a body that is set up to provide advice to the Minister of Health on drugs and the misuse of drugs. The Council had been dormant for some time before I assumed the position as Minister.On 15th February 2009, with Cabinet’s approval, I appointed a new Council for a period of three years.

That as I said, was from 15th February 2009. Most of the Council’s activities over the past two years were centered on reviewing and making recommendations to strengthen the Drugs (Prevention of Misuse) Act because the view of the Council is that the Act needs to be strengthened.

The Chairman of the Council Mister Speaker, resigned on account of more pressing commitments and with his resignation, the Council was in-active for a period. I am pleased to report though Mister Speaker that on 5th April 2011, in the absence of the chairman, the Deputy Chairman, Dr. Sylvia Simmons, has graciously been performing the role of Chairman of the Council and chairing the meetings.

The Council at the moment is focusing on the development of a National Drug Policy with a Strategic Prevention Framework targeting the young people of the Territory.

I need not say Mister Speaker, but I do, that National Drug Advisory Council continues to review the situation with respect to drugs in the Territory and to collaborate with other agencies, including the police and other law enforcement agencies, to protect our borders with a view of controlling the inflow of illegal drugs into the Territory. But as we all know Mister Speaker, the role is not exclusively that of the National Drug Advisory Council.

Thank you.

Mister Speaker, would the Honourable Minister for Health and Social Development please give this Honourable House an update on students pursuing studies in the health field? How many of the students, seventeen (17) and ten (10) studying medicine and nursing respectively, who were due to have completed training in 2010, have returned or are returning to the Territory by December, 2011? Of those not returning, how many are specialising and in what areas?

Question 4

Mister Speaker, the Honourable Member, the Honourable Leader of the Opposition has quoted a total of 17 and 10 students pursuing medicine and nursing, respectively. However, Mister Speaker, as the scholarship records are constantly being updated, the statistics tend to change from one year to the next, and we have Mister Speaker, done our utmost to make sure that in response today, we have the most accurate figures.

Answer 4

What I am in a position to say now Mister Speaker, is that according to statistics obtained by my ministry from the Ministry of Education and Culture, a total of 11 students pursuing studies in the health field were expected to return to the Territory in 2010.

Of these 11 students, eight were pursuing medicine and the other three were studying nursing. Another 13 students are expected to complete studies by the end of 2011, with eight pursuing medicine and five studying nursing.

To date, Mister Speaker, three of the students pursuing medicine have returned to the Territory and I am very pleased to inform this Honourable House that they are expected to take up employment at Peebles Hospital during the first week of September. We welcome them back and we look forward to their good service to this country and its people.

Mister Speaker, there are various reasons why some of the students who were expected to return to the Territory have not yet done so. Some of the nursing students have received approval to pursue further studies, while some have been delayed because of the scheduling of certain required courses and related issues.

Still others have been delayed because of setbacks with various personal challenges. Some of the students pursing medicine, Mister Speaker, have also experienced some short term setbacks with their studies, while I am advised that at least four students have changed their course of study.

They no longer wish to pursue studies in the health field. At least two of the students who were expected to return in 2010 and 2011, Mister Speaker, are specializing in the areas of Urology and Radiology. I am also aware, Mister Speaker, of other students who are currently specializing in the fields of Emergency Medicine, Pediatric and Anesthesiology.

And I am also very happy to report to this Honourable House Mister Speaker, that we have had recently returned, a young man, he is under 25, but who has pursued studies in the field of medical technology - Mister Earl Harry and he has taken up appointment with the BVI Health Services Authority in that important field.

So Mister Speaker may I just welcome all of those students who have returned and have taken up their positions and really hope that more and more people as they study, return to their country to serve.

Thank you.

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