Madame Speaker, I rise to bring clarity to the recently implemented Fee Schedule for services delivered by the BVI Health Services Authority, and to allay any fears regarding our people’s continued ability to access affordable healthcare here at home.

Madam Speaker, members of the public would have noticed a flurry of activity taking place at the cruise ship dock area on Wickham’s Cay in Road Town, since the middle of last year, 2014.

Madame Speaker, thank you again for the opportunity to make a brief statement to this Honourable House on the Scholarship Trust Fund. Government grants a certain number of scholarships every year Madame Speaker but recognizes that it is impossible to meet all the funding needs of every single person in the Territory, and hence the need for the Scholarship Loan Fund.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to report that Government is steadily advancing works under the Caribbean Development Bank CDB Loan Funded Projects, to rehabilitate the roads, drains and bridges infrastructure throughout the Territory.

Madame Speaker I thank you for the opportunity to make a brief statement to this Honourable House on the restructuring of the Ministry and Department of Education.

Madame Speaker, the Ministry of Education and Culture is preparing to introduce an Information and Communication Technology programme into the Grade 5 curriculum beginning Trinity Term 2014-2015.  The programme will be piloted for one (1) year and will be conducted in eight (8) public primary schools in the Territory of the Virgin Islands.

Madame Speaker, I rise to give this Honourable House an update on the Emerging Fellows Award Programme. The Virgin Islands Emerging Fellow Award is a grant administered by the Ministry of Education and Culture on an annual basis to young people, ages 10 – 20 who have excelled in various fields of sports, academics and the Arts who demonstrate a keenness to commit to excellence in their chosen area.

Madame Speaker, it is with a sense of great pride that I make a statement on the Virgin Islands National Youth Policy 2014-2019, which will be laid in this Honourable House today. Madame Speaker, young people are the fastest growing demographic in the world with an estimated 3 billion youth population worldwide by this year, 2015.  This unprecedented youth bulge provides an opportunity for new innovations, energies and a fresh appetite to use creativity as a means to solve some of our most challenging issues.

Madame Speaker, at this time I wish to make a statement on the payment for performance increments for public officers.

In 2014 when many countries experienced financially rigorous times, and governments began to cut their costs by downsizing public offices and jobs, the Government of the Virgin Islands committed to deploying strategies and initiatives to improve the financial and economic future of this country.

Madame Speaker over a year ago, I took up the position of chairman of the Overseas Countries and Territories Association (OCTA). 

Upon taking up this position I set out in my agenda, a number of Objectives for the advancement of the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) that I wished to pursue within the framework of the revised Overseas Association Decision (OAD), and across four areas of work that included political visibility, programming, partnership and participation.