FINN (COM) Daily Record for 23 October 2003

Compiled by J. Brock (FINN)

Energy Advisory Committee, 0930, Tuesday, 28 October, FIDC Board Room

PWD Committee, 1330, Tuesday, 28 October 2003, Gilbert House

Historic Buildings Committee, 1330, Tuesday, 28 October, Archives Building

Standing Finance Committee, Friday, 31 October, 0800, Liberation Room, Secretariat.

PENSIONER:

A 65 year-old British man is due to call into the Falklands as he sails a yacht around the world, to highlight the plight of Albatross killed by longliners. John Ridgeway and his volunteer crew onboard the English Rose 6 will come ashore to give a talk on Albatross deaths. He and his wife, Marie Christine, are due to leave Cape-town on Saturday. They will also stop in Australia, New Zealand and Gough Island before returning to Cape Town. Mr. Ridgeway is asking the people to sign a petition, which he will present to the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation next June. It calls on authorities to stop the death of Albatross, beat pirate fishing and end the practice of vessels registering under flags of convenience.

ENVIRONMENTAL:

The Environment Committee and Falklands Conservation have given their backing to a consultation on the future use of Cape Pembroke. At the Environmental Committee meeting this morning, Dr. Douse said he had no desire to stop people driving on the cape but stressed that the unusual dune habitats had been damaged by drivers, motorbike scramblers, cruise ship visitors and others. Possible solutions include restricting particular activities to certain areas. Becky Ingham of Falklands Conservation told the committee she thought the move was long overdue.

CABLE & WIRELESS:

Cable & Wireless Bosses defended the cost of the company’s service during last night’s FIBS phone-in. Brian Summers and Dave Lewis took calls from their customers across the Islands, including a query from Bill Luxton (BL) about the cost of international calls. Mr Summers (BS) told him:

BS: There is a cost in bringing communications to the Islands as there is a cost in bringing any other commodity. So, the tin of beans in the West Store, for instance, costs more than it does in the High Street in the United Kingdom. In a way, there is a freight charge, if you like, via the satellite. Satellites are very expensive. Most of Northern Europe are all connected by fibre optic cables which makes it very much cheaper. The options of putting a fibre cable into the Falklands are not really on. We looked at it a couple of years ago. The nearest place is Argentina. When we looked at it, it was going to cost £60 Million to put the cable in and then an annual maintenance charge of £5 Million. So, it is not really an option.

Other issues raised included the quality of the Camp line, speed of responses to Camp Call-outs and the difficulty one caller had getting her name back in the phone book after a period overseas.

FIDC SURVEY:

FIDC recently sent out a questionnaire to businesses around the Islands requesting feedback. General Manager, Julian Morris (JM), tells us more.

JM: I think it’s important that we recognise that FIDC is here to serve the Falkland Islands economy. And, as such, we need to know how the businesses feel about the economy, about their individual businesses and also get some feedback as to how people in business perceive what are the barriers to growing their business, what are the barriers to growing the Falklands economy, and how they would like FIDC to work in addressing some of those issues.

LH: Am I right in saying this is the first time that FIDC have ever done anything like this?

JM: I am not aware of this exercise being done before. But I think it is very important because what we shouldn’t do is second guess what people in business want. People in business are our customers and it’s important that we act upon what our their wishes.

LH: I know you have had some pretty good feedback so far. There has been positive feedback from people saying that it is really good that you are doing this.

JM: I think people are generally pleased that we are doing it. Not all of the feedback in the questionnaire has been positive towards us. I think that’s important. I want to know how people feel about FIDC and the work that FIDC does. Whilst there actually has been a lot of positive feedback, there also has been not so positive feedback. That we need to know about because we can then address those issues going forward. So, it is important that people participate and people make their opinions known to us.

LH: Have you had many back?

JM: We have. I have actually been very surprised at the reaction so far. The number we have received has been quite surprising. Again, there is wine on offer. And, I know in the Falklands, people can be motivated by the odd bit of booze.

LH: Is it a good wine?

JM: I won’t mention any names but I had a phone call from a certain professional firm who said they were interested in filling in the form but they firstly wanted to know what is the quality of the wine. I can assure you it is good quality wine and not chateau cardboard.

LH: When are you hoping to have all the returns in by?

JM: Ideally, I would like them to come in over the next week to 10 days. We are already analysing them as they come in. But the sooner the better in terms of us looking at it and analysing it. One of the things we are also looking at is making this information available to interested parties. Obviously, this is quite a big exercise and people in business may well be interested in responses. This obviously doesn’t affect confidentiality but I think that people who are making plans about their businesses – it’s difficult for them sometimes to also judge what demand there might be for services and how people feel about particular sectors. Again, I think this is useful information that we would be happy to share with other people in business.

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