By
Premier Hon. Alden McLaughlin, MBE, JP, MLA

January
2020

Mr.
Speaker, I rise to announce that at its next meeting the Cabinet
intends to make a Commencement Order taking the Standards in Public
Life Law into effect on 1 March this year.

It
has been a long and involved process and thus I believe I should
provide some context to the House for the reasons for delay,

This
has been such a long and arduous journey, but we are now almost
there.

In
May of 2016, I wrote to persons appointed to serve on Statutory
Authority and Government Company Boards and Commissions about
proposed amendments to the Standards in Public Life Law.

The
reason for the amendments at the time was that after passing the
initial Standard in Public Life Law, I and virtually every Government
Minister at the time received phone calls and messages from many
members of Statutory Authority and Government Company boards and
committees stating their concerns with the Law and indeed we had real
threats of resignations from members of the public who were giving
their time to serve on public boards and committees. And so the law
was not brought into effect until a review could be done. 

The
Law was amended in June 2016 to address the identified concerns.
However, it was quickly recognised that there were still ongoing
concerns by the public, despite the amendments done in 2016.

Those
concerns presented the Government at the time with a dilemma; the
same dilemma we had in 2014 – should we bring into force the law as
amended and still risk many resignations from key Government SAGC’s
boards, committees, and commissions, or should we set it aside until
we had an opportunity to have another look. We chose the latter
approach.

In
the run-up to the 2017 General Elections - and indeed even after, the
elections because of the demands on Government’s time - the amended
law was not reviewed again, as intended. The truth is Mr. Speaker
that time just did not allow. The need was to again review the law
and proposed regulations and determine where we could draw a better
balance; a balance that allowed the public, especially those with
particular expertise, to be willing to serve the country without
feeling that their personal affairs were being unduly intruded upon
whilst at the same time ensuring that the law performed as intended.
We also understood that there may be areas where the law was being
misunderstood and therefore there was a need for further
clarification with SAGC board, committee and commission members. The
starting point though was for the Government to again formally
consult with boards, committee and commission members to understand
what, if any, concerns still existed and how we could resolve the
concerns in an even-handed way.  

So
in May last year, by way of a formal letter, I wrote and asked the
Chairperson of all Statutory Boards and Government Companies to
kindly poll their board members to understand what concerns they had
with the law as amended. I asked that this be completed
expeditiously, and that they should provide a report back by the end
of June detailing any concerns.

Responses
were received, including requests for clarity on various parts of the
law. Given the number of questions from board members, the reporting
deadline was extended to ensure that we got the things right this
time.

In
the latter quarter of 2019, sufficient feedback was received for an
analysis to be done by the Attorney General’s Chambers as well as
the Commission Secretariat. It was determined that some additional
changes were still required, but these could be done via the proposed
regulations.

It
is our intention, therefore, that at the next meeting of Cabinet that
a Commencement Order will be issued to bring the law into force as of
1 March, 2020. The Regulations will follow shortly.

I
will say again that what is important Mr. Speaker is that on this
occasion we get it right, so we do not have the concern again of mass
departures from important government boards. We will also include a
public education campaign as part of the roll-out of the law. 

Mr.
Speaker, I also wish to point out that despite what some protagonists
and naysayers in some parts of the media like to infer, the initial
delay in bringing the law into effect had nothing to do with elected
members not wanting to make our interests known. We in this House are
required by law to provide, and update, annually the register
prescribed by the Register of Interest Law at the Legislative
Assembly.   

  Each
year as the update period draws near almost every media member will
typically report on the changes to the Register of Interests as well
as on which Member, if any, is late in providing an update. That is
the scrutiny that is placed on members of this Honourable House and
we have no issue with that. 

Also,
Mr. Speaker, there are many senior civil servants, including Chief
Officers, Heads of Departments, and anyone dealing with financial
transactions who are also required by law to file their interests
annually and these are audited by the Auditor General’s Office,
also annually. 

That said Mr. Speaker
I do regret that we have been unable to move this review along at a
faster pace, but it is not that Government has been sitting on our
hands. We have been handling many urgent matters, including as we
were reminded yesterday, issues to do with protecting our
jurisdiction from blacklisting by the EU. None-the-less I am pleased
that we are now there and I assure this Honourable House that the
Standards in Public Life Law and Regulations will be in place soon. 
 

Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.