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The Department of Information and Public Relations shares news and information with the media in a variety of ways as it relates to each story. Information Officers write news releases, bulletins and press advisories.  We may also contact key reporters and editors directly to share news and information based on the individual story or event.

The Office of Gender Affairs supports victims by guiding them to the relevant agencies that could provide assistance.  This is usually done through an intake process.  The office is policy oriented and does not have the capacity to offer any other services to the client.

The RRL will rehabilitate and rebuild infrastructure, re-establish early warning systems and emergency communications, provide sustainable support to persons with psychosocial needs and help build community resilience among parents, teachers, students, youth and other vulnerable groups. Government also engages communities to participate in the different phases of the implementation of the loan.  In addition, the RRL project tendering processes provide business opportunities to local contractors and suppliers and training on preparing tender and CDB guidelines.

i.    Tender Notice is advertised in the local newspapers, radio and on-line (2-3 weeks)

ii.   Persons interested in are required to pay the stated fee by cash, money order or bank draft and thereafter tender documents are issued.

iii.  A public meeting of all tenders is convened by the Central Tenders Board on the date specified in the Tender Notice to open received tenders.

iv.  The Central Tenders Board Sub-Committee reviews the bids and formulates an Evaluation Report.

v.   The Central Tenders Board discusses the Evaluation Report and makes a recommendation.

vi.  The Minister of Finance submits the recommendation to Cabinet.

vii. The successful and unsuccessful tenders are informed in writing.

viii.The Ministry/Department prepares and organises the signing of the contract with the successful tenderer.

The Projects Unit (PU) of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) is responsible for the planning and management of the RRL. The unit is headed by the Director of Projects, who acts as the Project Coordinator for the RRL and reports to the Financial Secretary (FS), Ministry of Finance.

The RRL is being implemented in collaboration with various ministries (Office of the Deputy Governor, Premier's Office, Ministries of Natural Resources & Labour, Communications & Works, Education & Culture and Health & Social Development) and departments (Department of Disaster Management, Town and Country Planning Department) and the Recovery and Development Agency. 

A Project Steering Committee has been established to facilitate the involvement and oversight of the major stakeholders of the RRL. In addition to the Project Steering Committee, Project Coordination Committees (PCC) have been created to facilitate collaboration between the technical teams of the different ministries involved in the RRL projects. 

In support of the Projects Unit, and per an agreement between the Government of the Virgin Islands and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) signed in April 2018, an Implementation Support Team (IST) tasked with supporting the Projects Unit with the implementation of the RRL has been established. The UNDP IST provides project management, procurement, strategic sourcing support, financial management and other technical expertise. Furthermore, UNDP supports government capacity development related to international best practices on procurement principles, project management, monitoring and evaluation, communications and gender.

Where an employee works part-time for at least four months in a year, he is entitled to vacation leave and is calculated on the basis of one day’s leave for every month.

Visitors are ordinarily admitted for one (1) month in the first instance provided they meet entry requirements at the ports of entry.

It is our aim to contact the applicant within two weeks of initial contact with the Department.

If all required documents are submitted with the application, it should take four to six weeks to process.  However, if additional information or an interview is required, you will be contacted by phone with three (3) business day of receipt of your application.

Answer:  This process takes a minimum of two (2) working days once the application form (Animal Import Meat Permit) is filled out correctly.

Answer:

  • After all the required documents, including the certified Carving and Marking Note are returned and the fee paid, the Certificate of Registry is electronically generated and immediately issued.
  • Commercial vessels are required to provide proof that they comply with the rules and regulations relating to safety, pollution prevention and maritime security, as applicable to the type of commercial vessel and operation involved, before registration can be completed.

Provided that all the correct informations is submitted and there are no challenges with the application, all applications usually take at least three to four working weeks to reach a decision. Larger developments or those likely to have significant impacts on the environment usually would take a longer period.

The permanent food handler's certificate is valid for one year from the date of issue, while the temporary food handler's certificate is valid for three months from the date of issue.

The minimum time for the certification process (registration, presentation, post-test, and issuance of certificate) is two hours.

Registration is valid for one year and a certificate of registration will be issued for that period. An application for renewal of the certificate of registration should be made no later than one month after the certificate expires.

An employee who has successfully completed his or her probationary period is entitled to vacation leave as follows:

  • twelve normal working days leave for employees with less than ten years service
  • fifteen normal working days leave for employees with ten and less than twenty years service
  • twenty normal working days leave for employees with twenty or more years service.

 

We currently have a total of 58 Fire Officers. 48 of them work directly in responding to emergencies. The other 10 work in administration, but also respond to emergencies when needed.
 

There are seven (7) Fire Stations in the Virgin Islands. They are located in Beef Island, Anegada, Virgin Gorda, East End, Road Town, Cappoons Bay and Jost Van Dyke.

The Fire Station in Beef Island operates under the auspices of the BVI Airports Authority. The other six (6) stations belong to the Virgin Islands Fire and Rescue Service, under the umbrella of the Ministry of Transportation, Works and Utilities.

 

An officer is eligible for 14 days sick leave with pay within a calendar year.

Three adults and any children. Children are persons under 18. Children must be accompanied by an adult.

Each premises in the territory is visited at least twice per year by the Vector Control Unit.  Special visits are made in response to mosquito nuisance complaints and high risk areas identified.

You must be at least 18 years old and no older than 35 years old.

If you have an employment problem you should ­first follow your internal grievance procedures. If that internal grievance procedure does not resolve the problem then you should ­file a complaint with the Labour Commissioner within six (6) months when the problem arose. To make your complaint you can follow the steps outlined on the Department of Labour and Workforce Development’s page at https://bvi.gov.vg/services/dispute-claim.

If within 30 days (approx. 1 month) the Labour Commissioner is unable to resolve the complaint by mediation or conciliation, the matter must be transmitted to the Minister for settlement. If within 21 days (3 weeks) after the Minister receives the complaint from the Labour Commissioner and is also unable to resolve the dispute the matter must be referred to the Tribunal for settlement. The Tribunal is the ­final step in the dispute resolution process, except it is possible to appeal to the High Court only on points of law.

There are only two (2) situations where you can make an application directly to the Tribunal without going through the normal complaint process, namely:

  1. If you are a non-established worker within the public service and you have a complaint against the Crown as your employer for which there is a breach that would result in criminal proceedings, but because no criminal proceedings would be commenced against the Crown, an application to the Tribunal can be ­led; or
  2. If you have been dealing with the Department of Labour and Workforce Development and you are dissatis­ed with any exercise of any power and have written to the Labour Commissioner, but you are aggrieved by the Labour Commissioner’s decision, then you can apply directly to the Tribunal to review the Labour Commissioner’s decision.

Once the complaint is delivered to the Tribunal, the Secretary to the Tribunal will issue a Notice to all the parties setting down a date for the Case Management Hearing and outlining the timeline that both parties will be required to follow leading up to the Case Management Hearing.

Once a decision has been made on your application, we will inform in writiting.

 

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