Minister Scott: $36 Million Spent On Assistance

Good afternoon:

Welcome and thank you for being here today, as we discuss some of the initiatives within the Ministry of Community, Culture and Sports.

In the Throne Speech we shared a few new initiatives, policy and legislative changes that we will introduce during this Parliamentary year.

But first, I’d like to give you some context and statistics which will help to frame the state of affairs that we are dealing with and demonstrate why this Ministry and this Government is committed to a program of Social Recovery. A program that is critical to moving this country in the right direction towards social and economic recovery.

In keeping with the overall theme of the Throne Speech, this Government is committed to assisting families in need of social services and financial assistance. We also want all Bermudians to have access to the jobs that can support their families.

We will continue to work with business, charities and community organizations to provide the support for our people. We are all in this together and we will work collaboratively to get the best results for everyone in need. We will do this while simultaneously working to rebuild our economy.

Providing adequate financial relief while tackling a social recovery agenda has been a mammoth task for this Ministry. We have seen an unprecedented increase in financial assistance and child day care relief such that, between January and October 2013, this Government has spent well over $36 million on assistance. This is approximately $1M less than the previous Government budgeted for with their last budget, and we still have a way to go with this budget year. We understand the need of our People and are committed and have spent the money which shows it.

This type of spending cannot be sustained in the long term. We will implement policies that will streamline our way of doing business and at the same time get the required services to those who are in need in our community. We will address our social recovery through policy changes, prudent fiscal management and new progammes to improve the lives of our people.

I would now like to brief you on a few of our plans for this legislative session.

The Ministry has identified an opportunity to improve its ability to serve clients by beginning the process of consolidating client data from multiple human services agencies into one information system. The Human Services Information System will enable Cross Ministry Teams to be more effective and efficient in their work. This system will facilitate linking disparate human services data for more coordinated and structured decision-making. It will also serve as a common intake portal for clients known to various agencies.

This new way of collecting and sharing data will increase service delivery efficiency, streamline the process, and allow for our clients to get the best possible services in the most affordable and expedient manner. We must ultimately address the underlying societal issues, and not simply keep putting out more funds. We must begin teaching our people how to fish.

Provisions for Shared Parenting orders that recognize the importance of both parents in children’s lives will be introduced. The Ministry also sees the need to strengthen family mediation under the Children Act 1998 by offering mediation as a prerequisite to co-parenting orders rather than as a result of non-compliance with such orders.

The Act will be amended to require courts to order mediation before co-parenting orders are issued in child custody and access disputes. The Ministry will also spearhead efforts to use mediation in ways that shift the consequences for failing to pay child maintenance from prison to more creative solutions that take account of the possible harm to children. We believe these amendments will:

Promote more use of mediation to resolve child custody issues (separation and divorce)
Save on court time and expense and be less adversarial
Use mediation to promote voluntary parental agreements
Use mediation to seek more creative solutions for non-payment of child maintenance
Reduce costs for financial assistance by getting more fathers to support

The Department of Youth, Sport and Recreation has made significant progress toward the development of a National Sports Policy. A draft National Sports Policy will be forwarded to all stakeholders, including the National Sport Governing Bodies, for feedback. The policy envisions sporting organizations working in partnership toward the goal of sporting success in all areas such as wider community participation, early recognition and development of sporting talent, training and respect for coaches, volunteers and administrators; a world class reputation for hosting international events and a worldwide reputation as a sporting country. We believe this new policy will:

Promote continuum of sport from youth development through Olympic participation
Increase National Sports Centre use for international sporting events
Target international sporting events for sports tourism

The Ministry of Community, Culture and Sports, through the Department of Human Affairs, will develop a National Gender Policy which will establish a framework for including gender perspectives in all activities of Government and society, helping to bring equitable considerations to decision-making that involves the differing needs, constraints and priorities of men and women. During this legislative year we will sign on to the Convention for Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). This commitment to affirm CEDAW has been discussed for several years. We intend to join and add Bermuda to the world voices of change and support CEDAW.

In March, we introduced the Community Driven Development programme to help women transition from needing financial assistance to becoming self-sufficient. There were twenty participants in the first cohort of women. I am pleased to report that 10 of these women have enrolled in GED courses and a further 2 have started PACE (Professional and Career Education) courses. The focus is on training unemployed and under-employed people to develop skills and competencies for defined business projects, including preparation of a business plan.

The initiative involves a 4-pronged approach including a) workshops and seminars b) field trips c) education courses and d) volunteer and work shadowing opportunities. In the coming year the Ministry will expand this programme using the same model to involve men on financial assistance.

We are looking forward to working together with our community partners and moving forward to the benefit of us all. This process of social recovery is critical in order to drive better social outcomes for our people.

Thank you.

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