Members
Parliament
Transparency
Dr. Douglas De Couto, JP, MP

Dr. Douglas De Couto, JP, MP

1768
Speeches
616,883
Words Spoken
69
Sittings Active
21 Mar 2024 Senate
Official Hansard Report - Senate
248 words
Thank you. I have a couple of additional questions. Is now an okay time? Thank you, Madam Chairman. Page B -161, Department of Health, Professional Services last year was budgeted at just under $1.5 million, came in at $2 million. If we could understand what that was about, that would be useful to know. Actually, I just want to say …
21 Mar 2024 Senate
Official Hansard Report - Senate
76 words
Well, that is the question. Has that been considered by the Government? And the second question is, that revised forecast of 90 per cent and that target outcome of 95 per cent, How do those rates compare to, let us say the OECD countries or some other similar (I will call it) developed world benchmark? I would say not the …
21 Mar 2024 Senate
Official Hansard Report - Senate
152 words
Yes. Thank you, Madam Chairman. The Department of Health, Subjective Analysis, Professional Services, was budgeted at $1.5 million. This is page B -161. [To be exact, it was] $1.457 million last year and came in at $2,080,000. I would ap-preciate a brief explanation of the variance. Thank you, Madam Chairman. [Pause] Sen. Arianna Hodgson: I am sorry. As I await …
21 Mar 2024 Senate
Official Hansard Report - Senate
96 words
Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There is one more on that head before we leave it. And it is on page C -4, Education ReformClassrooms grant, $3 million revised in the past finan-cial year, and $5.7 million budgeted. If the Minister could provide us with the number of classrooms that were . . . I am assuming this is like …
21 Mar 2024 Senate
Official Hansard Report - Senate
241 words
Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Page B -137, Paraprofessionals. It has kind of been ticking up in 2022 with $6.1 million; 2023/24 was budgeted at $7.6 million and came in at $8.1 million. But in this year’s budget it is only budgeted for $6.4 million. I am a little concerned that the Ministry will not have enough support for paraprofessionals. …
21 Mar 2024 Senate
Official Hansard Report - Senate
47 words
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This question will be related to the school listings on pages B -138 and B -139. I know there is a lot of debate in the public. Some of you have seen presentations by people like the Chamber — [Electronic device sound] [Laughter]
21 Mar 2024 Senate
Official Hansard Report - Senate
361 words
People may have seen like the Chamber of Commerce presentation that looks at things like number of students in the public system and the private system. And then a lot of people are putting their children into private schools for a variety of reasons. And I am trying to just give a context to help make sure we get the …
21 Mar 2024 Senate
Official Hansard Report - Senate
207 words
Programme 1702, Central Administration, “Percentage of performance appraisals completed for school and Department of Education staff.” They have been discontinued for a while So can the Junior Minister inform us of how the school and department staff are . . . like what is the process? I do not know. Maybe the answer is, Well, of course it is 100 …
21 Mar 2024 Senate
Official Hansard Report - Senate
66 words
Excuse me, Mr. Chairman. Point of order. I have been misquoted. Point of clarification. Often people say that the private schools have the pick of the litter, i.e., they have it easier than the public schools with the students. That is what peo-ple say in these public discussions that I have attended. Sen. the Hon. Owen Darrell: That is a …
21 Mar 2024 Senate
Official Hansard Report - Senate
19 words
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do have some follow -up questions relating to the answers, if I may.
21 Mar 2024 Senate
Official Hansard Report - Senate
90 words
The Minister indicated that they will rely on natural attrition to reduce the staff numbers. Okay, totally makes sense. Does he have an estimate over what time frame and where they expect the final staff numbers to end up under the newly reformed system? And then if I heard right, they are not currently doing any student performance evaluations is …
21 Mar 2024 Senate
Official Hansard Report - Senate
77 words
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Could the Minister refresh our memory as to what fraction of the operating budget comes from the grant? That is the first question. We have heard earlier about the . . . and I am not going to say the name of the firm because I do not have it correct in my head, the programme …
21 Mar 2024 Senate
Official Hansard Report - Senate
37 words
The College Promise, thank you, thank you. That is a great programme. How many students take up that opportunity and how many of those students then complete their two years at the college? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
21 Mar 2024 Senate
Official Hansard Report - Senate
94 words
Yes. Yes, I do. Thank you, Madam Chairman. The grant to the A irport Authority . . . And I think we heard about the . . . is it the air service team , the committee or the team that is in charge of promoting and getting more air service? Can the Junior Minister advise how many revenue guarantees …
21 Mar 2024 Senate
Official Hansard Report - Senate
346 words
Thank you, Madam Chairman. Senator Robinson covered quite a few things in there. Right. I will go through by order. On page B -206, I see $500,000 for private boat registrations. And we did hear in the brief about the collaboration to clean up (I guess ) abandoned wrecks. I wonder if the Junior Minister could comment if the Gov-ernment …
21 Mar 2024 Senate
Official Hansard Report - Senate
17 words
I believe I had a pending question on the delivery of the new ferries and future payments.
21 Mar 2024 Senate
Official Hansard Report - Senate
191 words
Thank you, Madam Chairman. It is partly a follow up on some of those answers and partly new questions. Back to page B -210, the registration has about a 10 per cent increase but there is no increase in staff, so I don’t understand that. I understand that in general there was a raise, but I thought it was more …
21 Mar 2024 Senate
Official Hansard Report - Senate
256 words
Thank you, Madam Chairman. Right. Okay . . . Page C -14, revised estimate for buses. That is Capital Acquisition 76293 was $6 mil-lion for this financial year we are wrapping up. There is nothing for next year and I was sure I heard that we are continuing to acquire new electric buses and that is part of the strategy …
21 Mar 2024 Senate
Official Hansard Report - Senate
21 words
Madam Chairman, I think that was my question. Head 34, page B -211, Subjective Analysis for Transport Control Department. Thank you.
21 Mar 2024 Senate
Official Hansard Report - Senate
19 words
Thank you, Madam President, and thank you for the opportunity to speak on this important Bill. The President: Mm-hmm.