POST-CABINET BRIEFING FOR MONDAY JANUARY 31, 2011 Citizens and residents of St. Kitts and Nevis, Good day and I bring to you the post-Cabinet briefing for Cabinet meeting held Monday January 31, 2011. TVET ROAD MAP Minister of Education, the Hon. Nigel Carty, presented to the Cabinet of Ministers a Road Map for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis. It was presented that a critical challenge faced in our local economy is the development of a competent workforce and the establishment of a vibrant and effective entrepreneurial climate for sustained economic growth. Bearing in mind that TVET is essential to helping individuals gain access to decent and sustainable work, and thereby escape poverty and marginalization through the achievement of full employment, the Ministry regards it as critical that a road map for TVET be developed and pursued, and that after full consultation with our development partners, a comprehensive policy framework on Technical and Vocational Education and Training be designed and adopted. Present at the Cabinet to help articulate the vision for the development of the critical area of TVET development were Mr. Fritzroy Wilkin, the ministry’s new Director of TVET Development or Principal TVET Officer and Mr. Clyde Christopher, Chairman of the TVET Council and Director of AVEC – the Advanced Vocational Education Centre. The Ministry’s TVET plan is in sync with CARICOM’s guidelines and it anticipates a dovetailing with international standards and frameworks. The plan, importantly, is consonant with the federation’s Post-Sugar Adaptation Strategy and it was through the support of the EU for that strategy that support was received for major study to be undertaken in respect of the TVET sector, and for producing recommendations for the way forward. Critically, the TVET plan will integrate with the programmes in our secondary schools, AVEC, CBFC, Project Strong and NSTP, and will bring better articulation among these programmatic areas. TAX INFORMATION EXCHANGE AGREEMENTS Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Dr. Hon. Denzil Douglas, presented to the Cabinet a request from India to enter into a tax information exchange agreement. The purpose of TIEA is to promote international co-operation in tax matters through exchange of information. The Agreement grew out of the work undertaken by the OECD to address harmful tax practices. The lack of effective exchange of information has been identified as one of the key criteria in determining harmful tax practices. Already, St. Kitts and Nevis has signed such agreement with 12 countries and over the years has been able to work its way from the OECD’s black list to the white list. It was approved that a Tax Information Exchange Agreement be signed with India. It was also approved for negotiations to be entered into with four other countries – Guernsey, South Korea, Greece and Mauritius – with a view to concluding Tax Information Exchange Agreements. THE YES PROGRAMME In her attempt to bring some response to particular needs identified by the wider community, Minister with responsibility for Health, Social Services, Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs, the Hon. Marcella Liburd, unveiled to the Cabinet her plan to streamline and make more efficient a component of the YES programme that assisted with the cleaning and beautification of the island. The Minister revealed that the most disciplined trainees will be re-embodied in the programme to perform a number of critically important tasks over the medium term. These tasks include 1. Cleaning of public cemeteries 2. Consistently clearing and beautifying the roadsides and green spaces in the various communities 3. Clearing abandoned and overgrown properties that produce a health or security hazard to the community The Minister emphasized her ministry’s intention to strengthen supervision and monitoring of the programme to ensure that all its objectives are fully achieved. The YES programme is undergoing reform to ensure that training is more relevant, better managed and more resource-efficient. The plan is that other components of the YES programme will be incorporated into existing programmes in the ministry of Education. THE SCHOOL MEALS PROGRAMME Recently, there has been some attention brought to the school meals programme as a result of adverse comments made about it. As a consequence, the Minister of Education delivered an update on the programme to the Cabinet. He reminded the Cabinet that it was only in 2007 that the School Meals programme had undergone a comprehensive overhaul of its menu and its management system. Recently, in 2010, the Ministry of Health assisted further by recommending an assortment of menus for the feeding programme. In visiting schools, the Minister witnessed first-hand that the quality of the meals provided was that which was expected by the Ministry and the government.