Premier Dunkley Tables DNDC Grant Report

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table in this Honourable House the “Annual Programme Performance Report for FY 2013-2014” which highlights community partners that receive grant funding through the Department for National Drug Control [DNDC].

Mr. Speaker, this Government considers it important to provide the people of Bermuda with a clear picture of how their tax dollars are put to use. The introduction of this Report into the Legislature is another step along the road to greater transparency in government.

Mr. Speaker, The goal of the report is to provide information for the DNDC and Ministry of National Security to evaluate the agencies and their fiscal performance and to allow for input into the overall implementation of the activities outlined in the approved work plans of each grant recipient agency.

The other goals of this performance evaluation are to assess achievements, outcomes, and likely impacts – both positive and negative, learn from the implementation so that lessons can be drawn that can be the basis for enhancements/improvements to planning, delivery, and management, and to assess sustainability of the assistance provided to the grantees.

The evaluation will also be of interest to the grantees as this will be the basis for granting additional funds.

Mr. Speaker, for decades the DNDC has been providing substantial grant funding to support the provision of drug prevention and drug treatment services through established charitable organizations such as PRIDE, CADA, FOCUS, and Salvation Army’s Harbour Light and Community Life Skills programmes. The DNDC has also provided a grant to the Bermuda Addiction Certification Board [BACB].

Mr. Speaker, this past fiscal year the DNDC collaborated with PRIDE by providing funding for the implementation of the PRIDE Clubs at the primary and middle school levels; with CADA for their Alcohol awareness campaigns, Life Skills programme in middle schools, and the TIPS programme; with FOCUS for the provision of supportive housing and Life Skills for adult males; and with Harbour Light to partially support its 10-bed residential drug treatment programme and community Life Skills programme.

DNDC also supports the administration of the Bermuda Addiction Certification Board [BACB] to provide addiction professional examinations [prevention and treatment], training, certification, and re-certification.

Mr. Speaker, without the continued work of these agencies, drug prevention and drug treatment services would be severely diminished, leaving minimal drug education in schools; minimal focus on the challenges caused by alcohol misuse and abuse, and inadequate supportive services for those recovering persons following treatment.

Mr. Speaker, in the fiscal year 2013/2014 a total amount of $667,000 was disbursed to these six grantees to support their services. As part of the DNDC’s fiscal responsibility and management, all grantees are first required to provide proposed work-plans before grants are issued, which, when approved, then grants are disbursed. In addition, all grantees are required to submit quarterly performance reports and financials, specifying how the grant funds are being utilized. The report being shared today provides a summary of the programmes’ activities by quarter, throughout the last fiscal year 2013/2014 and highlights challenges that arose.

Mr. Speaker, in light of the current economic challenges affecting the whole of government; grants to these programmes have been decreased significantly over the past five years with no change in the last two. Despite the major reduction in funding all grantees demonstrated efficient use of resources during the FY 2013/2014 and produced outputs that were consistent, for the most part, with the expected results identified in the agreed work-plans. Financial reports were submitted each quarter and reflected appropriate expenditures for related programme activities.

Mr. Speaker, there were some operational challenges resulting from reduced funding for all agencies. Prevention and treatment agencies struggled to provide the needed services within the community and have indicated exhaustive efforts to secure non-governmental funding without great success. In addition to financial challenges, there were programmatic and organizational issues within most agencies.

The fiscal year 2013-2014 saw CADA minimally able to implement the LifeSkills programme due to reduced funding and BACB provided a reduced number of addiction-specific trainings during the year. Of great concern, and continuing since the previous year, was Harbour Light’s inability to conduct LifeSkills day classes and to hold evening classes. This is the second year that this component of programming has not been delivered due to staffing challenges resulting from reduced funding.

Mr. Speaker, the DNDC is challenged with finding creative ways to assist in sustaining these needed services during the current economic crisis. Efforts are being made to encourage better collaboration between services and the sharing of resources where possible. The DNDC has consistently tried to place greater emphasis and priority on funding programme services and projects as opposed to administrative salaries and/or supplies.

However, programmes require persons to actually facilitate their implementation. This creates a dilemma especially with funding being consistently reduced. The DNDC already has identified the critical programme components for each agency and directs the available funding only to those components; however, the majority of the grants support the staffing to do the work.

Mr. Speaker, drug prevention and treatment are areas where public/private support has been successful in the past in Bermuda. Charities received funding from both private and public sources to operate. Unfortunately, financial support has diminished from both sectors over the past five years.

Mr. Speaker, we encourage collaboration between the private and public sectors to assist in sustaining these necessary services in any way that they can. Impacting the issues of drug misuse and abuse in Bermuda requires a whole community approach.

Thank you Mr. Speaker.

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