The recently formed government Department of Labour and Pensions is now moving into its new digs at the Midtown Plaza complex in George Town.
The agency – created from the existing Department of Employment Relations and National Pensions Office – will not be going into the Government Administration Building, which is located just down the street on Elgin Avenue.
Employment Minister Rolston Anglin, who has responsibility for both national labour and pensions issues, said the move was largely due to reasons of public access and accommodation of those who need services from the new department.
“The nature of the business would mean [customers] would not come into the central administration building,” Mr. Anglin said.
“I felt that labour and pension had previously been put on the back burner.”
The Department of Employment Relations Office at the old RBC building in downtown George Town had limited parking and the National Pensions Office, tucked away in an office building off Dr. Roys’ Drive, was not easily accessible, the minister said. The new location off the Cayman National Bank roundabout is both visible and accessible with plenty of parking spaces, he said.
The Government Administration Building, which opened last spring, is under fairly strict security and has no parking directly on site for visitors. Generally, those with business in the administration building must park across the street in the Immigration Department lot.
In its initial plan for the government office project, the former People’s Progressive Movement government had planned to move the National Pensions Board into the complex.
It’s not certain if that included staffers of the National Pensions Office, which would become part of the Department of Labour and Pensions under the reorganisation.
The Department of Employment Relations was not included in the 2007 list of government agencies that would move to the new administration building.
Mr. Anglin said even the previous government had never intended every government agency to move into the new administration building.
“There are some that would never move into that building,” he said, listing the Department of Counselling Services and the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service as being among those.
The government has since also declined to move the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority into the administration building, even though the third floor of the complex was outfitted specifically for that agency.
Premier McKeeva Bush said government felt CIMA should stay at its current Elizabethan Square location so it could be seen to maintain the office’s autonomy.
Former Leader of Government Business Kurt Tibbetts said he saw no reason why CIMA shouldn’t be in the Government Administration Building.
The Caymanian Compass has requested information on the number of government entities and employees who work inside the administration building, and those who work outside the building. The newspaper has also requested the locations of government entities based outside the building.
Part of the information request included costs incurred by government entities for leasing office space, utilities and insurance. We will publish this information when we receive it.
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