A delegation from the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office is set to come here early next year to discuss constitutional matters, Minister Alden McLaughlin told the Legislative Assembly.
The FCO delegation would sit down and talk to the government, the opposition and others about what was possible and what was not, Mr. McLaughlin said on Monday.
And following that the country could move on to have a referendum on the issue, hopefully towards the end of 2006, he told the House.
Cayman needs a more modern constitutional framework in which to operate and has to prepare to take more responsibility for its own affairs, he said.
Mr. McLaughlin – making his contribution to the debate on the Throne Speech and Budget Address – also laid on the table of the House the final, complete report on education in Cayman.
The document – based on the findings of a two-day education conference and further fine tuned after a debate in the House – now forms the blueprint for educational reform in Cayman.
Mr. McLaughlin said a copy of the report would be delivered to teachers and others.
Focusing on education, Mr. McLaughlin said there was a proposal to build two new high schools, one at Frank Sound and one in West Bay, and the John Gray site and George Town Primary would be redeveloped.
Questions such as whether the high schools should have the same curriculum, or if one should be biased more in favour of technical and vocational training, would soon be answered, he said.
Mr. McLaughlin said people knew his position on making sure that contracts should go through proper procedures.
But after he came into office in May he found that tenders for bus contracts for the schools had not gone out earlier, as they ought to have.
Things had gone so far down the track that it was then impossible for the proper bidding process to take place, he said.
He had explained things to the Central Tenders Committee and proposed that the contracts simply be renewed, but they would not agree.
Through neglect that was not his own, he had been faced with having to quickly deal with the matter. So, he took a paper to Cabinet proposing that, as an interim measure, the contracts simply be renewed and that the bidding process could be started later. And that was what had happened, he explained.
On the subject of pensions, Mr. McLaughlin made a plea to all employers to collect what was due in pension payments and pay that, with their portion, to the pension provider so the future was secure for the people they employed.
Those who did not comply need to understand that it was a criminal offence.
Arrangements were being made to do work restoring sports and other facilities, such as the repair and replacement of lights, he also told the House.
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