Oct 20 - Chief Minister’s Statement To Parliament On Cabinet Reshuffle
This is the full text of a statement given in Parliament this afternoon on this morning’s Cabinet reshuffle:
Mr Speaker,
This morning I met with His Excellency the Governor to advise him to appoint new Ministerial Portfolios under Constitution.
I want to start this afternoon, of course, by thanking all Ministers for the work that they've each done in their Departments to date.
I had spoken to all Ministers overnight and explained to them how it was that I proposed that the Government should now continue the discharge of its responsibilities and each, of course, are delighted to hear that they will be moving to new Departments and new challenges, whilst of course being saddened in the same measure to leave behind people who they've built very strong relationships with in the past five years.
The work Ministers have done in the Departments that they have been responsible for since the 9th December 2011 and then in the year building up to the Election last year was magnificent work and I want to thank them for it.
I was of course that work which led to the magnificent and unprecedented growth in our support from 200 votes in 2011 to 5,000 votes in the general election of 2015 last year when we were supported by 7 out of ten voters.
As Honourable Members will recall, I announced that there would be a Ministerial Reshuffle after the General Election by the time of the following Budget.
The small matter of the campaign in the Referendum on exiting the European Union got in the way and I must tell the House today that there are differences in the reshuffle that we will do today to the reshuffle that we would have done a year ago after the General Election, as a result of the Brexit referendum.
So, it is time now, almost a year after the General Election, to reshuffle, to refresh and to reboot.
We think that we have, in the announcements we are about to make, a better calibration of the spread of Departments in order to better align service delivery in areas where we've detected, perhaps, that we are doubling-up on efforts where we are delivering a service to our community.
As a result, when Honourable Members look at this reshuffle you will see that the changes obviously have nothing to do with any individual's capacity to deliver in one Department or not deliver in one Department.
You see Mr Speaker I have no doubt that I'm probably the luckiest Chief Minister in the history of Gibraltar in terms of the talent available to me and the undoubted ability of Ministers to deliver in any department or Ministry that I might ask them to deliver on.
This is therefore Mr Speaker the Ministerial configuration with which I would have wanted to start the lifetime of this Parliament with the additional changes that the Deputy Chief Minister and I have made as a result of the Brexit referendum.
So, if I can start now with the work that I'm going to the ask the Deputy Chief Minister to discharge on behalf of Her Majesty's Government of Gibraltar.
Mr Speaker, Joseph Garcia and I have been working together now for well nigh 25 years, a quarter of a century in politics together, and this manifestation of a portfolio is one which we have agreed is the best way for him to assist me in the discharge of my obligations and for him to apply his extraordinary talents.
Those of you who have known Dr Garcia as long as I do, know that his abilities are without rival in the context of making the case for Gibraltar.
He is no doubt, in my mind, the best Deputy Chief Minister Gibraltar has ever had and is able to deputise for me and in some instance do a much better job than I would, in terms of lobbying and ensuring that Gibraltar’s message is put across.
At this historic time in the affairs of Gibraltar, Joseph Garcia becomes the Minister for Exiting the European Union. He continues to have the responsibility for lobbying internationally and for representative offices abroad. And he continues to have responsibility for European Affairs, and for Joseph Garcia and Fabian Picardo it is indeed with a heavy heart that we create Ministerial responsibility for leaving the European Union.
In the process of doing so, the Deputy Chief Minister will retain responsibility for Lands and Government Projects, for Civil Aviation, for Information and for Political, Democratic and Civic Reform, as well as for the promotion of the right to self-determination and liaison with the United Nations.
Following on now to a major Ministerial change, John Cortes will become Gibraltar’s new Minister for Education and will relinquish responsibility for Health.
In doing so I think it is important to highlight that John Cortes is a magnificent political operator.
He has done a magnificent job, therefore, in Health. He has brought transformational changes to the Gibraltar Health Authority, where we have repatriated many, many services, which means not just a lower cost to the Gibraltar Health Service but also less stress for patients who are now able to enjoy the benefit of care in Gibraltar where previously they might have had to go abroad for the purposes of that care. He leaves what is the highest spending department in Gibraltar.
John leaves this post able to have the satisfaction of the huge number of projects that he has completed in the past year alone and in the five years that he has been in post.
There are many other changes also already on foot, some of them already very near to completion.
But I'm going to ask him also now to retain responsibility for the Environment and for the Upper Rock, which are the areas that all of us know are second nature to him, as well as Climate Change. The maintenance, administration and operation of tourist sites and beaches will also pass to him, which we think serves better in the context of the Department of the Environment than in the context of the Department of Tourism, where we're looking instead to develop a Department that promotes Gibraltar internationally. Minister Cortes is going to retain responsibility for public health and environmental health, and the big change is that he's going to become the Minister for the second highest spending department in the Government, which is Education.
Now with Education, I know that I am giving John Cortes a huge amount of responsibility and I'm going to ask him to do something which has never been done before in the history of Gibraltar.
Mr Speaker, I am going to ask him to deliver five new schools during the lifetime of this Parliament.
The planning of that work is already underway but the beginning of the projects is to start under his time as Minister for Education.
He is also going to be responsible for delivering on our commitment to bring school lunches into school. He is therefore going to become Gibraltar’s very own Jaime Oliver!
In education also, John will have responsibility for the further development of the University of Gibraltar, one of the flagship projects that Gilbert Licudi was the father off and which now is ripe for further development under the tutelage of Professor Daniella Tilbury as Vice Chancellor.
I am also giving him responsibility for Heritage, which we think sits well with his responsibility for the environment given that a lot of our heritage assets are in areas where he's going to be doing a lot of work also with the part of his portfolio that deals with urban renewal.
And he will retain responsibility for the utilities, including refuse collection and disposal, which again sits well with the environmental portfolio I'm asking him to take responsibility for.
In terms of heritage, I remind members that there will soon be a new Heritage and Antiquities Act and it will be his responsibility to see that Act through Parliament.
So he will be both our Jaime Oliver and our Indiana Jones all rolled into one! I can think of no one better to take on these very onerous responsibilities. So, those are the responsibilities I'm asking John Cortes to take on.
Gilbert Licudi will move from Education, which is now the domain of John Cortes, to take responsibility for Employment, for Tourism, Commercial Aviation and the Port.
Gilbert Licudi, as all those who have had the opportunity of working with him will know, is an incredibly gifted politician and professional. He's a man who has delivered in the lifetime of the last Parliament, in the early part of this parliament, probably more than most Ministers have delivered in all the time in previous Governments that they have been in Government.
He has already delivered two new schools. He's delivered a University and he's delivered a Small Boats Marina already.
I'm asking him, therefore, to apply his considerable ability to areas where we need to explore new possibilities in a post Post-Brexit world.
Tourism is one of those responsibilities. I think it is an area where we can do things in a different way and that is why the Department for Tourism, the Ministry for Tourism that Gilbert Licudi will lead, will not be responsible for the maintenance of the tourist sites and the beaches.
It is a Department which I will now ask to look out to the rest of the world and not in to Gibraltar, to promote Gibraltar in the rest of the world as a tourist destination, with responsibility for keeping the sites in the order that they need to be up to the standard that they need to be passing to the Ministry for the Environment.
I'm also asking him to head a Department of Commercial Aviation which will include responsibility for Gibraltar Air Terminal Limited and new commercial aviation projects - another area we believe that there are opportunities for Gibraltar after Brexit - and to take responsibility for all entry points to Gibraltar, including the Port. I'm consolidating all responsibilities in respect of the Port - which was previously split across Ministries - in one Ministry for the Port to include Maritime Services and ship and yacht registration, another potential area of business for Gibraltar.
And in respect of employment and social security, which will move together with the industrial tribunal to Gilbert Licudi, he inherits from Neil Costa the lowest level of unemployment in recorded history in Gibraltar and his job will be to maintain those low levels of unemployment in the ballpark of where they are today.
Gilbert Licudi will retain responsibility for coordination of international exchange of information, Civil Contingencies, the Gibraltar Fire & Rescue Service and the Airport Fire and Rescue Services.
Mr Speaker, I move on now to Albert Isola.
Albert Isola will head a new Ministry: a Ministry for Commerce.
It is important in my view to consolidate in one Ministry what we do for the Financial Services industry, what we do for the Gaming industry and what we do for the e-commerce industry and what we do in e-government, and therefore also he will take responsibility for government I.T, together with the responsibility for Business and Commercial Affairs and Postal Services.
Albert Isola, is undoubtedly a very, very safe pair of hands.
Members of the financial services and gaming communities know that they have in Albert Isola a Minister who listens and who understands the issues that affect business in Gibraltar.
He is undoubtedly an excellent conciliator who has the capacity to deliver on the most sensitive projects and as we move into this post-Brexit world we need to ensure that what we do for commerce in Gibraltar we do well and we do in a joined-up way, and hence the creation of this one Ministry that will deal with the concerns of business in Gibraltar.
I know that Albert will have a very big job on his hands to ensure that Gibraltar's financial services remain attractive post-Brexit. He is already doing an excellent job of working with me and with the Deputy Chief Minister in recalibrating the nature of our relationship with the United Kingdom post-Brexit to ensure that Gibraltar does remain attractive to the financial services community.
He has the depth of understanding of those industries to be able to assist us and to deliver for us and for those industries.
I move on now to two extraordinarily talented young people who have done an excellent job in Government since the 9th of December 2011.
Neil Costa has done a magnificent job in every Ministry I have asked him to oversee. He will become the Ministry for Health, Care and Justice.
Health is not a new area for Neil as he held shadow responsibility for Health in the Opposition under both Joe Bossano and myself.
And in creating this new Ministry of Health and Care, we have thought it important that we consolidate the way that we deliver care across the board in our community.
Until now we have had a Ministry dealing with Health, a Ministry dealing with Elderly Residential Services and a Department of Social Services and another for the disabled.
So today Mr Speaker we create the Ministry of Health and Care: a Ministry that will deal with all the care services that we give in our community in one joined-up way.
Neil will take on responsibility for the Health Authority, for Elderly Residential Services, for Social Services and for the Disabled, all under one Minister.
We think it's time to stop doubling up the work that we do and to seek efficiency in the way that we deliver these services so that we get the best value for money and therefore have more to plough back into the provision of care that we give in our community, and this Ministry of Health Care is one that I have been very keen indeed to create since the 26th of November last year and I'm very happy that Neil Costa is going to be heading it.
His record in each of the Departments that I've asked him to lead is one of delivery and one of efficiency and it's absolutely right that he should have the opportunity to now head this new PIONEERING Ministry of Health and Care.
I sincerely believe that creating the Ministry of Health and Care is the most revolutionary aspect of what the Government is doing in this reshuffle and it will be good for our community in the long term.
One of the things that I am also asking Neil Costa to do where Gilbert Licudi has done a huge amount of work is the Ministry of Justice.
Neil Costa becomes also today Gibraltar's Minister for Justice and the youngest ever.
He will take on responsibility for the legal system, for the probation service, for tribunals, for the community service schemes, for access to justice, legal aid, and assistance, which we all know is in an issue that has to be resolved as soon as possible and where Gilbert Licuid has done a huge amount of work already with the Bar Council and with the judiciary to find the right parameters.
Neil also takes on responsibility for law drafting.
So Neil Costa becomes today Gibraltar's Minister for Health, Care and Justice.
In dealing with issues which relate to health and care I am conscious that the issues that face Gibraltar are not just issues for our community. They are issues for all of Europe for the United Kingdom in particular. Wherever health services are provided free at the point of delivery there is a problem in all communities as our communities age, and we have to ensure that we are able to continue to provide the standard of care that we want to see provided across the board.
It is also important to note that there is a huge interplay between Care & Justice particularly in the areas of mental health and in respect of some young people in care and this ministry will be best equipped to deal with those issues under the auspices of one minster.
The other young talent that is done extraordinary work in the time that she has been working with me in Government has been Samantha Sacramento. This is a very, very talented and passionate young woman who cares not just about the politics of what she does but for the people in her care as a result of her Ministerial portfolios.
She is, I must tell you, the unsung hero of the building of Charles Bruzon House and Seamaster Lodge for the Elderly.
She has been, as Minister with responsibility for Social Services and the Disabled and responsibility for Housing, the person who has ensured that those developments are prepared for people with disabilities and the elderly in a way that works for them.
She's also done extraordinary work in the remedial works required at Albert Risso house and Bishop Canilla house and therefore creating a new Ministry today within the concept of housing which will be a Ministry of Housing and of affordable housing.
No longer will the government deal through its Housing Ministry just with the rental of Government property.
We will now also deal through the Housing Ministry with the development of affordable property, something which has traditionally been done through Number Six Convent Place alone. In the post-Brexit scenario that we face, it is important that I be able to continue to do the international work for now I have to do with the Deputy Chief Minister, but that should not delay the development of affordable housing in Gibraltar and given the work that Samantha has done already in property development for the Government of Charles Bruzon House and at Seamaster Lodge and the deep understanding she has ,therefore, of building requirements, I think it is absolutely right and proper that she should be given the additional responsibility of taking on Gibraltar's affordable housing schemes and the responsibility and obligation that we acquired at the last general election to develop approximately 1500 more affordable homes during the lifetime of this Parliament.
Work is quite advanced on paper in respect of these. The time has come now to start the process of delivering them and I'm going to ask her to start and lead in that process herself.
Samantha has also done fantastic work in the area of collection of arrears, as many of you will know in the work that she's done at Housing and she's going to continue with that responsibility as well as with responsibility for Equality and the Minorities where she has done ground breaking work in the past five years. Gibraltar has changed dramatically in the way that it deals with minorities and how we approach equality, and it is right that she should continue to have that responsibility.
Samantha also takes on responsibility for Civic Rights, Citizens' Advice the Ombudsman, Consumer Affairs and Protection, Data Protection and Health and Safety and also, with a heavy heart I announce that she will take responsibility for the control of drugs misuse including substance abuse, and responsibility for Bruce's Farm.
The reason I say that with a heavy heart is because you will know that I wanted to take on that responsibility myself after the last General Election. I am very keen to see us do a lot of work in that area but it is impossible for me to do that work at the moment given the work I have to do internationally in respect of Brexit.
Therefore I have asked Samantha to take on that responsibility. I know that she will do it well and what I propose to do is to create an Inter-Ministerial Committee on the prevention of the Misuse of Drugs and on rehabilitations of drug offenders which I will chair, and which will include Samantha and which will include the Minister for Justice and Health Neil Costa. So that I can do some of the work that I wanted to do, but I do not delay the important work that needs to be done more efficiently in respect of that particular area of responsibility.
Steven Linares will continue to be the Minister for Culture, Youth and Sport but he will relinquish responsibility for Heritage, which as I've told you will become the responsibility of John Cortes. Steven has done an absolutely excellent job in respect of the work he's done in Sports and in Culture. It's in his time that you've seen the development, the real development of events-led to tourism as a result of the events that are organized by the Ministry of Culture, in particular the Gibraltar Music Festival, which I think is something that now will continue to grow and grow. And in the context of the work that he has already done, this fantastic political operator who is vivacious and convivial and all who know him get on with, will also assist me by taking on responsibility for broadcasting and the media, which until now has been my own responsibility, and which I also reluctantly relinquish in order to be better deal with the international issues facing Gibraltar today.
Paul Balban is a serious operator who knows his areas of responsibility better than absolutely anyone in Government or in Parliament and I'm going to ask him to head a new department, which will be a Department for Infrastructure and Planning, bringing together all the areas of Technical Services, Town Planning, and Transport and Public Service Vehicles, and Public Transport, together with his existing responsibilities for Traffic, Parking, Roads and Licensing, and Vehicles and, of course, the implementation of the Sustainable Traffic and Transport Plan.
That is best described in our view not just as a Department of Technical Services but a Department of Infrastructure and planning, which is really what it is and I have confidence that we are now very close indeed to being able to make major announcements in respect of the implementation of the strategic Traffic and Transport Plan.
And last and most certainly not least, of course, is the man that Joseph and I are lucky to have as a political mentor within the Government the former Chief Minister of Gibraltar the honorable Joe Bossano, who will remain Minister for Economic Development and Inward Investment, will continue to have responsibility for international trade and telecommunications and enterprise, but who will see the creation of a new Ministry today which I am asking him to head, which is Public Sector efficiency.
I think it is essential in the context of the world into which we are going to start operating that we understand that the public sector that we fund is as efficient as it can be.
We don't believe in austerity and we don't believe in cuts and we are and remain committed to the manning level of the civil service.
But we do believe in efficiency and we think that one of the biggest selling points for Gibraltar is to be one of the most efficient places in the world in which you can do business.
In order to do that we have to keep constantly under review how our public sector works and what it delivers for the community that it is designed to serve.
As Chief Minister of Gibraltar, my first obligation is to serve the public in Gibraltar and I head what is in fact the public sector.
Each of my Ministers has a responsibility to taxpayers and to voters. Every single civil servant, everybody who takes their emoluments from the Crown has a responsibility to the public to be the most efficient in the way that we discharge our obligations to them, and it is absolutely right, therefore that we constantly check and review how we do public sector efficiencies in Gibraltar to ensure that we get the best result that we can and that we are dealing with inward investors and that we are dealing with those who are in business in Gibraltar in the most efficient way.
And Mr Speaker I think that creating the responsibility for public sector efficiency through Joe Bossano, who understands the public sector intimately having been Chief Minister and having been a leading trade unionist in 1970s and 19080s, will work very well with me retaining responsibility for the Civil Service and Albert Isola taking responsibility for Commerce.
In that way, together we can work to calibrate how best to ensure that the public sector delivers for this community as efficiently as it should.
I'm also asking Joe Bossano to take on responsibility from me for Procurement because this is one of the areas where I believe that the public sector can do better.
I have believed that passionately since we were elected.
I believe that we've done a lot of work already with the excellent people in that department making our procurement better but I think we can improve it even more.
Finally, Joe will also retain responsibility for training and for the Gibraltar Savings Bank. This is a government of huge Gibraltarian talent. We don't do everything right, but we try to do as much as we can as well as we can. And with this reshuffle I believe that we can go further in doing so.
I believe that these new Departments will make for a better layout of Ministries which are better suited to deliver our Strongest Foundations manifesto and to deal with the many challenges that Brexit presents to us.
It may be necessary to tinker a little more around the edges of this reshuffle because we are creating new Departments.
We need to make sure that everything is picked up in the right effect in the right places as some of these changes take effect.
But I'm sure that with the energy and the enthusiasm and the vigor that my Ministers will bring to the work that they will continue to do now in their new ministries, we will be able to produce excellent results again, not just for the GSLP/Liberals at the next election but for the whole of Gibraltar in the delivery of the service that we provide as a Government.
And in reshuffling and in rebooting I am conscious that it is important for us always for the political philosophy that we hold to ensure that we never feel that we have become the Establishment.
We are not.
We are the representatives of the electorate in the heart of Government and with this reshuffle I hope we'll be able to do more for those we that we serve.
In this House Mr Speaker I hope that Ministers with new responsibilities will be able to work well with members opposite in respect of the discharge of our respective parliamentary responsibilities.
Pic: Photo of this morning's press conference announcing the reshuffle
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