Personnel Department and UK Rep

To Manage Overseas Training

 

 

Every year the St Helena Government tries to get at least 10 of its employees into overseas training under the Technical Cooperation Training Programme, which is funded by the Department For International Development. Training usually takes place in the UK for a few months or a few years and some people study by distance learning.

 

The British Council was sub contracted by DFID to manage the training, and this included everything from identifying the courses to sorting out accommodation. Now, however, the Personnel Department and the UK Representatives Office have taken this on board. Chief Personnel Officer, Barbara George said that she is pleased about this change, as her department is now able to have full control of the programme.

 

Barbara said that it was the former Financial Secretary Bob Dolan who came up with the idea of managing the training programme in the Personnel Department. Before this, the British Council performed this role and had to be paid for the work they did. Bob Dolan felt that it would allow for more money to be spent on training and less on administrative fees if St Helena were to manage the programme with assistance from the UK Reps Office.

 

Barbara put this proposal to UK Rep Kedell Worboys and then more formally to DFID, and both were in favour so it was agreed that this would be the way forward.

 

Kedell said that she is positive about the new approach, and she feels that it will be more cost effective. She also feels that her Office will be able to understand the needs of the people of St Helena and hopes that she and her assistant will be able to provide a good service.

 

With this new approach, Kedell or her assistant will meet all officers on arrival in the UK, if requested, and will ensure that their banking and travel needs are attended to. The UK Reps office will be the first point of contact and in cases of emergency, officers will be able to contact Kedell outside of normal working hours.

 

As well as dealing directly with persons on training, the UK Rep will deal with all financial matters relating to their visit.

 

Public Relations/Information Office

Office of the Chief Secretary

26 May 2004 

 

Air Access Update No. 16

 

Feasibility Study Progress

 

 

Work on the feasibility study to identify the best option for access to St Helena is progressing at high speed.  Steve Proctor of WS Atkins and his exploratory team have now completed their on-site topography survey and preparatory work in readiness for the geotechnical investigations. 

 

Whilst on the island, Steve and his team have identified and marked out, suitable alternatives for the runway alignment and the terminal location.  Several alternative access routes for the transporting of construction equipment and materials have also been identified and are currently undergoing further geotechnical investigations.  Throughout the whole process, great care was taken to ensure that the protected ecological areas were appropriately safeguarded and a management plan was drafted to prevent uncontrolled access to these protected sites.

 

All data retrieved by the team, will be taken back to the UK when they leave on the RMS at the end of this week.  The data will help Steve to complete the study and develop a more accurate cost model for an airport development on St Helena. The costs will then be used in the overall assessment of access options for St Helena.

 

Last Thursday, saw the arrival of Liz Harrison, an Atkins Geotechnical Engineer who will be progressing work where Steve left off.  During her stay, Liz will be carrying out more detailed ground investigation - mainly to determine the ability of the ground to support the runway and the extent of rock that has to be excavated.

 

Liz will also be looking at the geological nature of the ground at the various locations that have been proposed for the construction of access roads.

 

She will remain here until the 7^th July and once her investigations have been completed, she will prepare a report on the rock structure and Steve will use this to evaluate the results and determine the appropriate requirements for construction of the runway and the routes for access.

 

Last Thursday also saw the arrival of the drilling rig supplied by Smith Capital Equipment of Cape Town.  This piece of equipment was required for the Prosperous Bay Plain coring project during Liz’s visit.  Negotiations with the rig manufacturer ensured that the rig arrived two months earlier than scheduled.  The rig was offloaded on Friday morning and moved to Prosperous Bay Plain on Friday afternoon and set up for immediate use.

 

Smith Capital Equipment offers an on-site commissioning service for their newly manufactured equipment and the services of Johnny Agostinelli, their most experienced driller, were negotiated.  Johnny arrived with the rig and has already started work at Prosperous Bay Plain. He is working to a tight programme with more than 30 bore holes to drill.  The intention is to retrieve around 400meters of cores i.e. soil and rock samples for logging and analysis.   The results will help to give a more accurate estimation of airport costs.

 

Working closely with Johnny at Properous Bay Plain, are four newly appointed trainee drillers.  It is intended to use this opportunity of on-site training so that Saints can continue the use of the rig for future coring exercises if needed, and for well drilling for the water department, which is the long term intended use of the rig.

 

 

SHG Press Office

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Progress on Recruiting for Senior Positions

 

 

Recruitment for a new Financial Secretary and Attorney General is still incomplete, although, progress is being made towards this and as an immediate measure senior officers have taken the posts on in an acting capacity.

 

With the departure of Matt Young, Locum Financial Secretary, Dr Corinda Essex has once again taken on the acting role and she will remain in this position until the end of May. Dr Essex also continues to serve as Chief Development Officer. Meanwhile, the Financial Secretary post has been advertised along with that of Chief Auditor, as the currently serving Chief Auditor, Mary Stewart will complete her contract in July 2004.

 

Chief Personnel Officer, Barbara George said that DFID will shortlist applicants for the posts of Financial Secretary and Chief Auditor and will require them to attend workshops where their performance will be assessed by a panel. As an example, she said that they would be given an issue to deal with as a group and the panel will assess how well they cope individually in regard to leadership skills, interpersonal skills, etcetera. They are usually given a psychometric test as well as this helps to determine ones ability, aptitude, and personality so that a panel can see if they are suitable for the job - a common method when recruiting people. This is followed by an interview. DFID will recommend a preferred candidate and in most cases, a reserve candidate, and the St Helena Government will then make the decision. It is expected that interviews for Financial Secretary and Chief Auditor will take place on the same day as the required qualifications and skills for both posts will be similar, and are likely to have the same panel. The SHG UK Representative Kedell Worboys sits on the Panel to represent SHG.

 

Alan Nicholls continues to be the Acting Attorney General within the Legal, Lands and Planning Department, although interviews for this post took place last week with SHG UK Representative Kedell Worboys sitting on the panel. While it is difficult to say when the new person will be in post, Barbara estimates that it could be in about three to four months. She explained that this is because successful applicants will have to go through security and medical clearance as well as ‘give notice’ if they are currently in employment and all of this could take time.

 

In speaking about the current situation, Barbara said: “ Having DFID carry out recruitment for SHG can be a long process, as SHG are not their only clients. With more devolvement of responsibility to SHG after the recent budget negotiations, I am optimistic that SHG will be able to undertake much of its own recruitment in the future.”

 

 

Public Relations/Information Office

Office of the Chief Secretary

26 May 2004

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rehabilitation for Prisoners

 

 

The St Helena Police Force is in the process of creating a new rehabilitation workshop for the 11 prisoners who are currently serving time at Her Majesty’s Prison in Jamestown. This will replace the one located in the prison basement.

 

Chief of Police, Derek Thomas said the new location will be at the Government Pipe Store which is located near the prison. Part of the store will be used as the workshop. This will be more suitable for prisoners in terms of natural lighting and ventilation. Before the store is ready some works will need to be done. The first phase is to repair the roof, and this is expected to commence soon. Phase two will see the interior being refurbished.

 

Derek said some prisoners are “interested in carpeting”, so the new workshop will mainly be used for this purpose. The Police Force is pleased that the new workshop will allow prisoners to engage in this skill while in prison. The prison already has the necessary tools and benches and all of this is to be moved to the new location when ready.

 

This initiative supports one of the Islands strategic objectives: Continue to Develop and Establish the Democratic and Human Rights and Self-Determination of the People of St Helena. Derek is positive about it and said that it “will really go some way in prisoner rehabilitation”

 

Other rehabilitation work has been taking place with prisoners. Already they are successfully operating their own farm at Harpers and at the end of the financial year they had a new batch of chickens, and six pigs. A good crop of green beans and potatoes was also harvested. Prisoners will also be constructing a toilet at the farm. At the prison, some have been taking computer courses, as the prison has its own IT equipment. The Police Service also encourages prisoners to study towards academic qualifications.

 

Public Relations/Information Office

Office of the Chief Secretary

2 June 2004

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scholar Nicole Peters

 

 

 

Having embarked on a Degree Course in Computers, Networking and Communications Technology with Coventry University, Nicole Peters has now completed two of her three years of study.

 

Her course is a technical one, which allows candidates to learn computer programming, to engage in media design and movie clip development, to develop hardware design solutions, and to become skilled in setting up networks.

 

Nicole is currently doing a year of work experience with Debenhams, before completing her third study year after which she should gain her degree. She is due to return in 2005 to the Finance Department (IT Section), who has sponsored her third study year based on Nicole’s commitment to return to that department.

 

In Nicole’s last report, her Line Manager at Debenhams commented that she has been working well and has taken initiative. She was last working on a project to offer enhanced planning functionality to an International Division, and despite being thrown in at the deep end she has been managing well. Her Line Manager has commented that she had dealt with the pressure, and continues to work well within the project delivery team. In addition, she has been exposed to other working environments and will be involved in other projects in the future.

 

The UK Scholarship Placements Coordinator is also pleased with the progress Nicole is making.

 

The degree will allow Nicole to compete for many career opportunities including software engineering and computer programming, multimedia design, network and communication engineering, and network and Information Technology administration.

 

Next week, we will publish an article on another Scholar.

 

Ref: www.coventry.ac.uk

 

Public Relations/Information Office

Office of the Chief Secretary

26 May 2004

 

 

 

 

 

Security to be tightened at Wharf

 

 

 

St Helena will be signing up to the Safety of Lives at Sea Convention, and in readiness a three-person team has attended an International Ship and Port Security Training Session on Ascension Island.

 

Now back on Island, the team comprised Barry Williams, Port Manager/Harbour Master, from the Development and Economic Planning Department, Keith Brinsden, Senior Customs Officer from the Finance Department, and Clarence Roberts, Training Officer from the Police Department. Persons from Ascension Island also participated in the training as Ascension is also planning to sign up to the Convention.

 

In order to comply with the convention, the team will have to ensure that security is tightened up at the Wharf and the sessions on Ascension showed them how to do this. Their intensive training covered many areas including handling cargo ships and stores, monitoring security in the port facility, crowd control, search procedures and techniques, and more. Along with taking a written examination, they also engaged in practical exercises using the Ascension Island Pier Head. The course has equipped them to be Port Facility Security Officers.

 

Having returned to the Island, the Team has been busy with carrying out the preparatory work so that St Helena will be able to sign up to the Convention. They have already carried out a risk assessment of the Wharf area, and are in the process of preparing a plan of action. A committee is also to be formed to take security matters forward and the team will be delivering port security training to relevant stakeholders.

 

Barry Williams said people can expect to see some changes at the Wharf with security being tightened. As Port Manager/Harbour Master he has to ensure that vessels are safe when they leave St Helena, and responsible officers from other ports will have to ensure that vessels are safe before they arrive at St Helena.

 

While on Ascension, Clarence Roberts also took the opportunity to deliver training to the Ascension Island Police Detachment.

 

Public Relations/Information Office

Office of the Chief Secretary

2 June 2004

 

 

 

 

St Helena and the Comprehensive

 

Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

 

 

 

A radionuclide station is to be erected on St Helena and in preparation for this, the Island recently saw the visit of Fausto Medici, Radionuclide Officer from the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), based in Vienna, Austria, and St Helenian Alan Hudson, a consultant who is working with him.

 

The purpose of Fausto and Alan’s visit was to identity a suitable site to erect the station.

 

After three years of hard work, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 10 September 1996. It was in 1999 that Executive Council agreed that St Helena and its Dependencies could be considered as sites for the setting up of radionuclide monitoring stations as part of the UK’s commitment to the Treaty, which prohibits all nuclear tests. A site has now been identified and Fausto is hoping that the site will be set up near the Metrological Weather Station in Longwood.

 

Fausto explained that a worldwide monitoring network is being set up and will consist of a total of 321 stations, one of which will be on St Helena. It is hoped that the installation of St Helena’s station will begin at the beginning of 2005 and installation will take about three weeks. When complete the station will transmit data to the headquarters in Vienna showing if any nuclear particles are present in St Helena’s atmosphere.

 

 

When complete, the station will be operated by someone on Island and all related costs will be borne directly by the CTBTO.

 

 

Public Relations/Information Office

Office of the Chief Secretary

18 May 2004

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scholar Tina Dillon

 

 

Studying Business with Human Resources Management at Thames Valley University in London, St Helenian Student Tina Dillon is continuing to do well in her studies.

 

Tina is now in her second year, and her tutor has commented that her first semester has been most successful with good grades in all areas. She has also been doing well for her second semester.

 

Tina’s UK Scholarships Placements Coordinator said that she continues to gain much from her studies, and has made an effective contribution in class and continues to develop her personal and professional skills.

 

Her course allows her to look at a variety of business problems and to use a wide range of management tools and techniques to come up with creative solutions. Tina will cover many key areas including economics, accounting, law, human resources management, marketing, and business operations and information systems. She will also look at business strategy and strategic management along with other areas.

 

Her experience will be particularly useful to St Helena’s business community as well as personnel areas since it covers both Business Studies and Human Resources Management. With her degree from Thames Valley, Tina will be a good candidate for any business or personnel type of job, and would be particularly valuable to a department or company who requires someone with both business and personnel skills.

 

She is due to return to St Helena in 2005  after completing three years of study.

 

Further articles on scholars will follow next week.

 

Ref: www.tvu.ac.uk

 

 

Public Relations/Information Office

Office of the Chief Secretary

2 June 2004