Jun 27 - GSD Opposition Member Edwin Reyes' Budget Speech - Full Text
‘Mr Speaker
I wish to commence my contribution this year by reiterating our collective congratulations to the Gibraltar Football Association on the success of their application to become the 54th member of UEFA. Gibraltar as a whole rejoiced spontaneously upon hearing the excellent news of attaining full membership of UEFA and, therefore, I sincerely hope that Gibraltarians in even bigger numbers than in the past will support our team in all future competitions.
I am glad to note that Government continues with the already existing GSD policy to assist all local sporting bodies to overcome any foreign Government’s politically inspired attempts to block our membership of international sporting bodies. This policy will certainly continue to receive the Opposition’s support and I wish other sporting associations, such as Rugby, Tennis and even the local branch of the I O C amongst others, all the very best in their continuing battles to obtain their respective international memberships which are rightfully and legally theirs.
The Government is presently working closely with the Gibraltar Football Association towards the provision of further football pitches and related facilities. In fact quite large sums will be sent on projects, which will be of direct benefit to the football fraternity. These extensions of facilities carries our “in principle” support, but I must take this opportunity to remind Government that facilities for other sporting associations, like Rugby and Cricket, cannot be sacrificed in the process of enhancing only football. I urge Government to be ever mindful that a level playing field must be provided for all sporting associations, more so as it is a Manifesto commitment of theirs “to monitor the demand for additional facilities for all other sports to ensure that existing facilities are developed further in line with our community demands..... The Government is committed through its election promises to provide renewed facilities for the playing, teaching and development of both cricket and rugby at Europa Point”. If circumstances have changed over the past 18 months then the affected sporting bodies should be fully informed and not left in a state of limbo. I must also remind the Minister for Sports of Government’s commitment to provide separate premises for martial arts clubs and associations in one large Martial Arts Centre.
Although I am also a firm believer that individual Sports Governing Bodies should be allowed to manage their own affairs with no political interference, I urge Government to take a particular interest, perhaps through the Sports and Leisure Authority, to ensure that publicly owned facilities are used in a fair manner for the benefit of all sports lovers. A case that immediately comes to mind is the discontent that is presently brewing in respect of usage of the 25 metre swimming pool and which ultimately falls under the auspices of the GSLA. There is both a duty and moral obligation for the Sports Authority to ensure that, where desired by a citizen, membership in individual clubs and even their relevant Governing Body is open in all in an equal and fair manner. Therefore, I again urge the Minister, as Chairman of GSLA, to look into the discontents which exist in respect of some Governing Bodies – in particular matters pertaining to swimming and boxing. I believe it is possible to resolve these with proper guidance and monitoring of fair membership accessibility.
Mr Speaker,
Through the collective celebration of social events, participating Gibraltarians contribute towards reinforcing our identity, culture and history as a people and a community. Both the performing and fine arts fraternities always prove themselves to be very proactive within their own specialised areas and I take this opportunity to congratulate all the groups and individuals who have done Gibraltar proud through their international participations and in some case even top awards gained. Through its Manifesto the GSLP / Liberals adopted the slogan “... culture needs to be nurtured” - now that they are in Office Gibraltar hopes that this promise will be delivered and, therefore, I remind Government that it committed itself to provide:
- facilities for teaching of music and instruments to young people
- establishment and funding for a Gibraltar Philharmonic Orchestra
- run a “learn an instrument” campaign amongst young people
- establishment of an academy of the performing arts, administered by an Arts Council
- refurbishment of the Ince’s Hall area and enclose the patio in a modern way to allow its use even in winter
- seek to establish Gibraltar as part of the touring circuit for UK and Spanish theatre productions
I therefore have to ask: when will these projects become a reality alongside the pledge to move the housing department out of City Hall which would then be exclusively used for cultural and historical events?
Mr Speaker
The GSD continues to recommend the Government Archives be transferred into a refurbished ex-Chronicle Printing Works building next to the Garrison Library so that together they may operate as a modern, well resourced Gibraltar Archives and Reference / Research facility including digitalized searchable data.
Updated legislation for the management and preservation of our heritage and the listing and preservation of buildings needs to be completed. In this respect work was already at an advanced stage, thanks to the GSD’s initiative whilst in Government, with drafting undertaken in close consultation with relevant experts and the Gibraltar Heritage Trust. It is now up to the present Government to complete drafting legislation in this important area, this is something which the community hopes will be undertaken as soon as possible.
The present Government has acted responsibly in continuing to pursue UNESCO World Heritage status for Gorham’s Cave and adjacent sites. Indeed, work in this respect had commenced via the Museum Team during my tenure as Minister for Heritage and, therefore, I continue to wish the Museum Team all the best for the future in their ongoing excavations at Gorham’s and Vanguard’s Caves.
Mr Speaker
There is widespread consensus across society and political parties in Gibraltar that our educational system is both our most important investment as a community and also a justifiable source of pride for a community our size. Given this, the GSD believes that any significant changes to our education system and to our schools should only be made after a wide process of consultation between Government, teachers and parents.
The Opposition welcomes Government’s recently announced plans to transfer both St Bernard’s First and Sacred Heart Middle Schools into newly purposely refurbished buildings which were once part of the Old St Bernard’s Hospital. This project is extremely similar to that which the GSD had developed to an advanced planning stage and which would have seen the light of day had we been returned into office. There had already been a high level of consultation with the Gibraltar Teachers’ Association in respect of this project and the only major deviation to what will finally see the light of day seems to be that whilst we would have also transferred St Bernard’s Nursery onto the new site, Government has confirmed that the nursery will remain in its present location - albeit continuing to fall under the direction of St Bernard’s First School Head Teacher. Projects which help to enhance educational services will always be supported “in principle” by the Opposition and, therefore, we wish teachers and pupils alike all the very best for the future.
I wish to take this opportunity to recommend to Government that it looks into, through a consultation process with teachers and parents, the possible desirability of the following:
- The establishment of a co-educational sixth form college in order to best offer as a wide a range of Advance Level subjects to both sexes and also as a further means of preparation towards co-educational University life.
- A review of the geographical distribution of our first and middle schools to better suit our changed and future changes to catchment areas. It is important that we plan ahead whilst still in the design and construction phases of new housing estates. The review should include updated assessments of the optimum locations and / or relocations of all schools, College of Further Education and a possible sixth form co-educational college.
- We believe the teaching profession would welcome the establishment of an independent unit to assess educational standards and school performances.
- A detailed programme should be embarked upon to ensure that our less academic children who may not necessarily follow a full range of GCSE examinations obtain as good as possible and relevant education programme to prepare them for future adult working life.
- Greater inclusion of Gibraltar history and other aspects of Gibraltar in our schools’ curriculum.
Given that substantial sums of money have already been paid in respect of consultancy fees, Gibraltar patiently awaits to hear of concrete plans for the establishment of a University in Gibraltar, inclusive of its curriculum and costs. The Minister for Education has recently said that he hopes to make announcements in this respect during the course of the year so I shall wait till then to make any further comments in this respect.
We welcome the announcement made by the Minister of Education that as from this coming September students at Bayside School will be able to receive further tuition so as to re-sit public examinations they may not have successfully passed upon completion of Year 11, just as their counterparts at Westside School. However, we would also welcome the implementation of Government’s pledge to provide a Second Chance Education Programme through the establishment of their promised National Institute of Adult Continuing Education as soon as possible.
Mr Speaker
At last year’s Budget Session the then Minister for Housing announced that amongst its priorities Government would be reforming the Housing Works Agency inclusive of how its services were discharged and directed. Although I have asked for details of progress in this respect during the course of the past year, Government has still not signified in any shape or form how it intends to reform said Agency. All that has happened so far is that an ever increasing number of home refurbishments are contracted out to private companies without going through any type of accountable tender process. Staff members employed at the Housing Works Agency continues to be reduced, so does this mean that what the future holds is that all refurbishment works will simply be allocated to private contractors without being subject to an adequate competitive tender process?
Will the Housing Works Agency be simply run down through natural retirements, despite the existence of an agreement with Unite the Union to the effect that staff levels would be replaced in future with 1 new employee employed by the Agency for every 2 who retire. The GSD worked hard in consultation with Unite to reform the old Building and Works Department and its transfer into the Housing Works Agency. This project provided brand new workshops and depots - and from its origins delivered vastly improved services to Government tenants. Therefore the question now is: what plans does Government have for the Housing Works Agency and its employees? Like the Opposition, Government knows there are many excellent craftsmen and professionals within the Housing Works Agency, so I must stress that it is important to ensure that the correct and proper administration procedures and resources are in place for housing maintenance and repairs to be carried out. Therefore, it is regrettable to see that not only was the Agency’s workforce reduced last year from a grand total of 160 employees to 146 – but again this year there are further cuts which see the 146 reduced to 139. Given the annual reduction in employees we must ask for clear answers in respect of how will the Agency be expected to carry out its duties, more so with a promised increase in housing rental stock, if the Agency is not given the human resources required to meet workloads and targets?
At last year’s Budget Session, Government announced that one of its major priorities was “commencing the construction of co-ownership and rental housing schemes”. We know from answers given at Question time that consultancy fees have been paid for projects pertaining to the building of new homes but, regrettably, no actual construction of any type of homes has commenced – so far we simply know that some 1,000 homes will be built and sold on a co-ownership basis.
In this respect I urge Government to ensure that any new homes eventually built do not suffer from numerous defects as history shows was the case in the construction of co-ownership homes when the GSLP were last in Office. Quality in construction of family homes should not be compromised under any circumstances.
Under their section dedicated to Youth the GSLP / Liberal Manifesto states that young people who are entitled to housing will not wait more than 3 years for a home. Given that there are presently a large number of young people registered as applicants seeking their own homes I must ask on their behalf for a firm date when Government will deliver on this promise.
The Opposition is glad to note that Government is committed to the refurbishment of Housing Estates. The GSD whilst in Government carried out a major refurbishment of Varyl Begg Estate which included re-roofing and lifts installation - and commenced refurbishments at Alameda Estate. Our manifesto commitments included further refurbishments at Moorish Castle, Glacis and Laguna Estates. Therefore, we are also glad to note that Government did eventually listen to tenants concerned and modified their respect refurbishments plans so as to abandon the building of additional floors on these estates. Again I stress my advice to Government that monitoring of the quality of refurbishment works becomes a priority, after all existing tenants in rental estates deserve nothing less.
At the last Question Session in Parliament the Minister for Housing gave a brief rundown of measures that will be taken to ensure House Rules are adhered in Mid-harbours Estate. The Opposition will always be supportive of sensible action taken by pertinent authorities in this respect and highly recommends that House Rules be revised and updated where needed in respect of all Estates – I strongly urge this as the vast majority of tenants are decent law abiding citizens and deserve all the support they can get to ensure that their homes are decent and worthy places of abode. We are willing to work together to ensure that anti-social behaviour is stamped out and not become the norm within any housing estate. Once again, Mr Speaker, I stress the importance of close workings with Tenants Associations before projects are finalised. As Members of Parliament I consider it a duty to listen to what our electorate wishes for and I hope that this really becomes a reality in respect of all housing matters.
Mr Speaker, given all Government has said and promised in relation to the provision of new homes – I wish to end my contribution today by simply saying: “enough has been said by politicians, now let’s deliver the product”.’
